Huasteca Potosina: Puente de Dios, Tamasopo

On Saturday before heading back to Puebla (an short 12 hour bus ride), we went to the town of Tamasopo and then walked out to a place called Puente de Dios (God’s Bridge). If anyone is paying attention, we were also at a place called Puente de Dios last weekend while rafting, turns out there’s 2 in the Huasteca. So anyway, this Puente de Dio is also a big, rock formation that creates a bridge. There is an almost crater-like opening on one side that has several water falls pouring in. Then all the water is funneled under the “bridge” into a cavern/cave thing that you can swim into and that has the bluest water I have ever seen.

Huasteca Potosina: 2nd Week

I spent most if the second week in Valles in the cienaga (wetland) again. We finished the sample collection and had 2 days of tours around the cienaga with students from a local university. No pictures of this, but one night we were lucky enough to get a trip to a temazcal, or a sweat lodge. 1st we covered ourselves in mud, let that dry, and then washed it off in the hot spring. Then we entered the sweat lodge, a small, circular dome with a fire pit in the middle. Instead of using an open flame though, stones are cooked outside in a fire and then brought into the temazcal, where water is poured on them to create steam. During the process you are also rubbing various herbs and aloe all over you. Upon exiting, you’re treated to a very, very cold soaking and then wrapped in a towel, laid down on the ground and covered by a blanket, quickly massaged, and then given some tea to drink. The night was capped off by a dip in the hot springs.

Here are some picts from around the cienaga….

Huasteca Potosina: Work and Rafting in the Canyon de Tampaon

So while I am up here in Ciudad Valles, I am actually working on a project sampling aquatic insects from a wetland known as "Cienaga de Cabezas". This week was spent collecting some samples and getting a little more familiar with the wetland itself.




The main source of income in the area is sugar cane, and right now is the harvet time. Trucks like the ones pictured below, are running 24/7, transporting the cut cane (most cut by hand) to the "ingenio" where the raw cane is processed into sugar.


And finally here is a pict of me doing some sampling and one of the insects (megaloptera) that I found.

On Saturday, we ventured out to enjoy more of the amazing colored waters of the Huasteca and went rafting on the Tampaon River that cuts through a canyon.




The river at one point, appears to end at a place that is called Puente de Dios (God's Bridge) and from there the rafts have to be portaged about 100m to the other side.


What sugar cane looks like before it has been burned and cut.

Huasteca Potosina: Cascada de Tamul

I am currently in Ciudad Valles, San Luis Potosi for the next two weeks to do a macroinvertebrate sampling project in a wetland where other volunteers are working on projects. Ciudad Valles is located in the Huasteca Region of the country that includes a part of the states of Veracruz, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi (and a tiny piece of the northern part of Puebla). It is a very hot, humid area (gets up to 50°C in the summer), but is known for it’s amazing waterfalls and turquoise blue water.

So this weekend, before starting the project, a group of us took a trip to the waterfall called Tamul. It’s a canoe trip that includes a stop to swim in a cenote (basically a cave) and obviously the waterfall of Tamul.

The boats.....

The nuns (that were on a different boat)

The cave....

Cascada de Tamul

Our boat: The prettiest ugly one (La fea mas bella)