03/12/24 La Venta - south - CycleBlaze

March 12, 2024

03/12/24 La Venta

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My choices were short day to La Venta or a long day to Cardenas. I intended to to the latter, but a sign indicating an archaeological site in La Venta was enough for me to abandon the long push and quit in the early afternoon before the museum closed. I’m glad I stopped, but mostly because it will mean an easier day tomorrow and not because the museum was awesome. It wasn’t, with most of the monuments fiberglass replicas, the originals hauled away to museums in Mexico City and Villahermosa. But the site was real, and a few stone originals remain, so I’m glad to have seen it. 

I had decided to ride up to Merida, but I’m finding being in the humid lowlands uninspiring and feel pulled to higher ground. So now I’m heading to Chiapas. 

I joined rush hour traffic going across the causeway out of Coatzacoalcos. It wasn’t too bad, the amount of cars kept speeds low
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Stopped to photograph the river before focusing on pedaling across
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The other side of the causeway
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Nice road on the other side
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Petrochemical plants remind me of my childhood
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I forget his name, but I was interviewed for the local paper
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Stopped to watch it rain
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Eduardo is on day three of his adventure through the Yucatán peninsula, Belize and Guatemala before returning home to Guerrero. He gave me stickers from his bike club
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A nice shoulder appeared, but with annoying rumble strips
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Crossed into Tabasco today
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Karen PoretCan’t resist asking “was it hot in Tabasco”? 😬
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6 months ago
Stateline
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Rio Tonalá, Veracruz/Tabasco border
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Lots of bicitaxis in La Venta
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La Venta embraces its Olmec heritage
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Fiberglass replicas of what used to be here but are now removed to other locations
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Real 2400 year old carved stones. There was some magic left in these
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A woodpecker of sorts
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Bill ShaneyfeltLooks like a Pale-billed woodpecker.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale-billed_woodpecker
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6 months ago
Bill identifies it as a pale-billed woodpecker
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The view from on top of the pyramid. This is pretty much all of La Venta
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The Pemex plant is the main business
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Lush
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Fake
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Fake
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That’s one way to put it
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I saw a squirrel scamper up a tree only to be an iguana
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Saw a colorful bird. Patrick thinks it a Kiskadee and Bill agrees. So do I
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Bill ShaneyfeltTo Patrick O'HaraLooks like it.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Kiskadee/id
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6 months ago
The nice hotel was fully booked, the second had terrible beds so this is where I’m staying. No hot water, no air conditioning but decent Internet and it has a fan. $17.
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Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 2,630 miles (4,233 km)

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