3-La Barca to Comala and Fuego volcano

12:00, 29 Nov, 15 Laguna Maria Cenrto Turistico

After leaving La Barca yesterday we drove west through the lake district, then south towards Colima. We passed through many areas growing blue agave, the main ingredient for tequila. This state, Jalisco, is the only one that can call its product by that name.

 

 Raw tequila....

 Our destination was this camping area, way off the beaten track, that by the map, appeared to be difficult to get to. We are certainly glad that we decided to navigate the narrow, sinuous but decent quality roads to this lovely spot. The main attraction was the majestic view of the Colima volcano, Fuego, an imposing feature of the last hour of our drive. The last kilometer was not so much fun: a cobble stone roadway that had not been kept up in some time and the going was slow. Thanks God for the strong axles that Casita installed on their trailers.

 

A common sight in Mexico No pooping here.....

 

We arrived at this lovely little grassy campground with power and water hookups. Surprisingly, it is accurately described in our 2009 guidebook. What the guidebook couldn’t have covered was the Christian youth group here for a weekend revival meeting. A rough translation of their denomination is ‘The Apostolic Fire of Jesus Christ”. Never heard of them but they may be associated with Catholicism. Since we arrived we have been “entertained” with the hard-sell, hand waving and high-energy bible-thumping speeches of the group’s preachers, all trumped up with a live rock band accompaniment. The antics remind me of the religious groups that swept across Mexico and Central America in recent years, converting many poor and uneducated people who, as a result, were expulsed from their mainly Catholic villages and forced to become beggars in the larger cities, something we witnessed in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, several years ago. This group seems to be targeting the youth and I must say that I do not agree with the ‘indoctrination’ or brain washing of young people in the name of some religious doctrine.

 

Settled in for a few days

The Colima volcano, fairly young in terms of geological formations, is still very active and erupts occasionally, sometimes with spectacular results. Luckily there are no population centres nearby. Two years ago one of its major events spread ash over this area covering the lake and killing most of the fish life. We found a good vantage point and saw a spectacular mini eruption yesterday afternoon. No-one else seemed to be as excited and thrilled about it so this must be a regular occurrence but we did get some great photos. This morning the truck and trailer have a slight coating of, what must be, ash from last night’s activity.

 

Spectacular sight!

This area is touted as a bird watcher’s paradise but the only extraordinary (to us) species we saw was a Vermillion fly-catcher. We also found, what appears to be, the remains of a former coffee plantation down by the lake.

 

Vermillion fly catcher

 

 

Wild coffee plants

 

This will be a nice place to wind down for a few days after our week with the VOSH group, especially after the religious group departs this afternoon.

Tomorrow we head south to the coast to end up in Punta Perula on the first of Nov and where we will base for the next month or 2. It was highly recommended by Ellen and Ian last year so it should make for a nice winter haven. This is the area that was hardest hit by the hurricane last month so there may be some damage to repair and people to help.

Note: We must have missed a grand sight during the night. There was a significant coating of volcanic dust over everything when we awoke the next morning. The ground didn’t shake but the eruption must have been another spectacular sight.