2017 - 2018:  Punta Mita Mexico to Quetzaltenango Guatemala

Dec 2, 2017.  Villahermosa, Tabasco, Provincia Express hotel 

• No more stomach ache, so nice breakfast in hotel.  A quick visit to the Santa Clara cigar factory (San Andrés is Mexico’s cigar capital) to watch the fine art of hand rolling (the guy I watched had been rolling cigars for 35 years), followed by a long bus ride via Catemiaco and Acayucan, with a change in Coatzacoalcos.  Wore man diaper for the first time, and it came through with flying colors.  

• Checked into hotel around 7 PM, and discovered for the first time that the rate for my booking.com was higher than available at the hotel, so I paid the cheaper price: sure hope I don’t pay twice.  

• And I have left Veracruz, and am in Tabasco for the very first time.  By the way, the Rough Guide explains that though Tabasco peppers are named after the state, they actually aren’t grown here, and Tabasco sauce is an American invention, created from peppers grown in Louisiana.