Saturday 10th November
Up and
away by 7am. Mark wanted to investigate
a road that went north from Jaumave as it looked to
go into Parque Los Troncones
from the south. Unfortunately we took a
wrong turn and ended up about 50 km along a bad dirt road that went nowhere
interesting. So we got back to
civilisation and took the old mountain pass road that goes to Cd Victoria. Lots to stop and see along there – I’ve
photographed it all before so didn’t repeat myself, other than these lovely Yucca treculeana
(which are not suppose to grow this far south, but
they do)
Then
we hit the road for a fairly long stretch southwards
to a place called Gómez Farías, which was to be our
window into an adventure in the cloud forest biosphere reserve of El Cielo. Mark had a
book ‘The Road To El Cielo’ which was an account of
early pioneer settlers in the mountains there, which told exciting tales of
daring and courage, not to mention exotic birds. We really didn’t know what to expect.
Upon
reaching Gómez Farías to our surprise we discovered
not the dusty shacks and log cabins of settlers, but a rather swanky tourist
destination. The first hotel we
encountered was actually a far too expensive 5* job. We stopped in the main square and a man from
the tourist office rushed out to greet us, warmly shaking my hand. He effusively pointed out the various hotels
and delights of Gómez Farías and, all in all,
couldn’t have been more helpful or friendly.
We
plumped for the Hotel Casa de Piedra with
exceptionally comfortable and spacious rooms for 500 pesos including
breakfast. Our hotel owner arranged for
us to meet with a man who would guide us into the mountains the following day –
the only way in or out is via a 4x4 as the 25km track is steep and rocky. Then we drove to the visitor centre, arriving
as it closed but with enough time to wander around the grounds.
Below – harmless and nasty – but which is which?
The spider is mean-looking but harmless (or so I am
told…). The shrub is the ‘Mala Mujere’ which has stinging hairs that leave a painful
rash. In the interests of Medical
Research Neil put his hand in one and confirmed this. Below – orchids, one of 60 species to be
found in the reserve. And a gorgeous
begonia.
It soon became too dark to carry on so we returned
to the hotel. We were enjoying a beer
and a chat on the balcony when we were joined by a man who introduced himself
as Jean Louis Lacaille Múzquiz,
director of the El Cielo visitor centre. He similarly warmly welcomed us to Gómez Farías and told us of a bash being held that evening in the
town square for a small mixed nationality group of tourism promoters who
happened to be in town and to which, he enthused, all the tourists were also
invited (which, it transpired, was just us four).
At the appointed time we turned up and were plied
with free wine, tequila and as much food as we could manage from a magnificent
buffet of local dishes. We sat at tables
especially laid in the bandstand with the others and had quite the most
sociable evening, lubricated by the free drink, all lamenting the fact that
this superb tourist destination had been overlooked by the whole world apart
from us few.
Below is a snap taken by Jean Louis and posted with
his permission, of the group as they arrived with us lot in the background
already making headway into the tequila.
Jean Louis followed us back to the hotel and
treated us to a slideshow of pictures taken on the reserve – orchids, caves -
even jaguars‼
We weren’t sure what to expect at Gómez Farías but it certainly wasn’t the red carpet, 5-star
treatment that we received. We all slept
soundly that night. Especially, I’d
wager, the charming Italian gentleman in the bottom right on that picture.
2nd/3rd,
4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th,
9th,
10th,
11th,
12th,
13th,
14th,
15th/16th,