The kids absolutely, positively LOVED the balneario. There was a gigantic tobaggon which swooped down from dizzying heights to a large bowl the eventually dumped you out into a small pool. The boys found this “slide” to be the best of Mexico. The people there are incredibly nice also and the kids were able to pick mangos for the first time. There was a seperate little kids area and Ellen pumped up her courage and took her first (of very many to come as we found out) water slide ride. She was so dissapointed when the other kids rode down the slides and she didn’t feel comfortable and was SO excited when she was able to conqueour her fears and ride the slide to the bottom. We had planned on staying only one night but when the boys found out that the tobaggon would be open the next day there was simply no choice but to stay another night.
The next day dawned cloudy and only one busload disembarked. The lifeguards at the 
balneario said that when it was cloudy (irregardless of the temperature), people in the city simply didn’t come to the balneario. It really was lovely to share the park with just a few families. Sissy made a number of “new friends” (as she usually does) – mostly teenagers. We had planned to leave very very early the next morning to make the epic journey to Puebla. From memory of travelling the same stretch from Puebla to Villahermosa, it should have been 
8-9 hours of driving. We had planned to leave at 6am and take a number of stops along the way. We stayed out late that night, looking for a Soriana (where we spent the absolute most money we’ve ever spent at a grocery store in Mexico – some 778 pesos). That night, I reviewed the Church’s book and decided that we’d stop at Lake Catameco instead of pushing to Puebla and spend less time in the interior. It was also raining very very hard and we were concerned that we might be stuck in the mud the next morning.
Morning dawned and we ambled out of camp by 10am. We started on the libre as it paralleled the cuota and we didn’t think we’d need the time savings. We also realized that we had very little money (about 1500 pesos) and needed to find a bank. No banks on the cuota in Tabasco, Chiapas or anywhere in sight. Unfortunately, we found none on the libre either. Jamie quickly decided that he didn’t want to go to Lake Catemaco and we made a quick decision to head to Puebla.
The route was just as beautiful as the first time – the journey up the astounding grade from just about sea-level to 7000 ft was incredible. The kids were champions and as we pulled into Puebla we were hit with ferocious winds, hail and rain. What an end to a long day of driving. Creeping along the freeway at 20mph, we inched closer and closer to Cholula and finally found ourselves back in familiar territory.
At Las Americas, the trailer park, we met a Canadian family with two adult girls and one Jesse’s age travelling. They spent the winter and spring in Aculpulco and will be heading to the interior in a week or so. I was really tempted to stay another night in Puebla/Cholula, but the duena of the trailer park really changes her fees with the winds – from 180 pesos/night to 220, that I simply didn’t want to give her any business.
