Tuxtla - Our Last Day

Upon returning to Cahuare embarcardero from our cruise through Sumidero Canyon we drove the nine miles to Tuxtla Gurtierrez stopping first at the Museo Regional de Chiapas. This museum is noted for it's collection of Tonina reliefs that are pictured below along with ceramics, carved bone and teeth and statuary. We had seen the disc reliefs before at the Tonina Museum and wondered
which museum had the replicas.

We took advantage of the plaza benches at the museum for a relaxing respite under another tree with the pink blooms before going to
the Crown Plaza Hotel. The statue in the collage was in the lobby of the hotel. When the keys were passed out we were left standing, evidently a slip up in the reservations had occurred and Babu and Bibi were not included on the room list. After several minutes wait Steve gave us the keys to his room and the hotel, even though full, found a bed for him some where.

Farewell dinner was held at a dinner club featuring folkloric dances to the music of the marimba and served regional cuisine. The meal was served modified family style with many choices on one serving plate passed around the table. Group picture upper left and the other end of the table middle right.

The performance consisted of several ethnic dances and on conclusion the performers invited patrons to have their pictures taken with them. A high school marching band contest had been held earlier in the day and some band members were present that night in their white uniforms. Dave had his picture taken with the ladies lower middle. Other pictures of our group show we had a good time.

As we boarded the bus for our trip back to the hotel Babu and Bibi bid everyone a farewell as our departure was scheduled for 6:00 AM the next morning. The rest of the group were going on to a Mexico City extension.

We had breakfast at the hotel in the morning of February 26 and were met in the lobby by Ricardo and Axel who took us to the air port. Steve met us as we departed to say goodbye and we were off for the long trip home.

The last collage is a few pictures taken from the airplane as we left Tuxtla Gutierrez for Mexico City, Guadalajara, Los Angeles, Boise and home, arriving about 10 PM.

Center picture is of the Volcano El Chichon (3721Ft) taken soon after we were air born out of Tuxtla. This volcano came to life in 1982 after more than a century of inactivity. Besides killing 187 people it created havoc over a wide area of Mexico. It pumped more dust and debris into the stratosphere than any other volcano since 1912. The neck was situated straight up and although it only produced one fourth to one sixth the debris of Mt St Helen the dust cloud went up eighteen miles covering one quarter of the earth surface with in a few weeks.

And so we close the remembrances of wonderful trip !

Chiapa de Corzo and Sumidero Canyon

We had a leisurely breakfast and some time for a last look around San Cristobal before our mid morning departure. Descending from the mountains at seven thousand feet to the plains at about sixteen hundred did not take much time as the distance to our first stop was less than fifty miles. Chiapa de Corzo is noted for it's plaza and the mudejar fountain housed in a Moorish style pavilion. Arcades opening off arched sidewalks surrounding the square are typical colonial design. The city was built by the Spanish in the 1500s on top of an indigenous city occupied by the Soctona ethnic group. The indigenous occupation has been estimated by some to be as early as 1400 BC and the oldest recorded date at this site, December 9, 36 BC, was reconstructed from stone fragments found in the old city.

Foliage and blossoms on the trees confirmed the fact that it was early spring and of course it was February 25 .

After enjoying the plaza we traveled to the Cahuare embarcardero on the Rio Grijalva (the same river that runs through Villahermosa) to board the lanchas (launch) for a tour of the impressive Sumidero Canyon. The canyon was created by geological fault dating to the Pleistocene Period. This river was converted into a reservoir in the 1970s by the Chicoasen Hydroelectric Dam.

We donned our mandatory life jackets and prepared to board the lanchas. Steve made sure we had a smaller boat for just our group so that we were not crowded into one of the tourist boats as in the picture center top. Our captain took off at full throttle as is obvious by Darlene loosing her hat while taking pictures, top right. The highway bridge makes an introduction to the canyon as we leave the embarcardero. The rest of the pictures are scenery shots taken on our three hour cruise .

Several species of wild life were observed along the banks. A large flock of vultures were resting on one bank and a crocodile was sunning himself on another. One bank was growing a species of tall cacti. A grotto housing a religious shrine accessible only by a ladder too high to reach from an ordinary boat is pictured in the top row. On the right side of the collage are three pictures of calcium carbonate deposits from water seeping out of the face of the cliff. The locals call it the Christmas Tree because the deposition forms successive fan shaped layers one on top of the other pictured center right. The top picture was taken directly under the tree formation and the lower picture is the moss and grass at the bottom. A couple of pictures show other geological formations; one under the shrine, where a section has fallen away and the strata seems to dip in an opposite direction; the other shows tilted stratification upper center left. While some of this canyon is granite there is lime stone present which makes for interesting conjecture about how the geomorphology was created.

Center bottom are two merged pictures of the Chicoasen Hydroelectric Dam.

A story has been told about the Soctona natives throwing themselves off the cliff in this canyon to avoid conscription by the Spanish Conquistadors at the time of conquest in 1582. One of the museums we visited displayed paintings of the event with the implication that the Spanish soldiers tried to save the jumpers out of humanitarian concerns. In all likelihood, it was to save their slave labor force. The cliffs here are steep and sheer with a maximum relief of 2600 feet above the water. If the natives jumped from such a height their fate was surely certain.

The building center right is a modern restaurant located in the proximity of the dam.

Goup Party

Upon leaving Chamula we drove back to San Christobal and had lunch at the Zapatista Restaurant. Several of us ordered "Camarones Mojo de Ajo" ( Shrimp in Garlic Sauce). This is one of our favorite dishes, very rich and and certainly blows a hole in the diet. The dish was unlike any we had ever had else where in Mexico. Shrimp were complete with heads, not peeled and over cooked making it near impossible to extract the shrimp from the shell. Presentation was superb and sauce was quite tasty but not up to Oaxaca standards. We had it smeared all over everything by the time we finished!


On several occasions the group got together in the evening to share wine, snacks and conversation. Once in Palenque, on Dave's birthday the second night in San Christobal and again this night. It was too cold that evening to use the court yard so we invited everyone into our room for the gathering. Claudia had been the organizer of this get together and made sure there was the right wine available. She had also set it up have Babu and Bibi talk on the subject of "The Disappearance of the Maya Civilization". Obviously we had talked to much about the time we had spent at the Texas Meetings trying to learn the Hieroglyphics. Everyone joined in the conversation and it was a nice culmination to our stay in San Christobal.

Below inside our room, right to left, Claudia, Joan, Steve and Dave by the wine bottles.

Again, right to left, Babu's Bald head, Lorna and Sue, in the head scarf. (the accident victim). Later on that evening at Sue's request Bibi reverted to her role as nurse (she had served as school nurse at Kigari Collage in Kenya) and removed most of the stitches in Sue's head wound.


There has been little said about our intrepid traveling companions and so in honor of them we include this group picture taken by Ricardo during our visit to Yaxchilan.
Top row, Steve, Jim and Frank(Babu).
Bottom row, Lorna, Dave, Barbara(Bibi), Joan and Claudia and Darlene.
Sue was recuperating in Palenque when this picture was taken.

The group total was twelve including Ricardo and Axel.

Zinancantan and San Juan Chamula

February 24 and the 12th day into our trip. We were on the road by 8:30 after picking up Cris, our local guide. The main attraction for the day was to be the culmination of carnival celebrations on Fat Tuesday, today. Cris provided background for what we were supposed to witness in San Juan Chamula (a Tzozil Maya Community). The guide was very well informed and quite opinionated, not much sympathy for the rich people of the community and derided those who took advantage of the indigenous poor. He went into many more details about local village hierarchy and how the cuidad authorities pressured the villagers to contribute to the celebration. Refusing the request was not an option and those who did not contribute were ask to leave the community.

Cris also explained local attitude about tourists that come into their towns to take pictures to sell (photo journalism), exploiting the indigenous people. He suggested that we not take pictures for fear of offending the performers, even suggesting that after the participants had become drunk they might be belligerent enough to take our cameras by force. In no way did we, Babu and Bibi, want to offend our hosts, not because of the threat but we had learned while living abroad, that it is necessary and desirable to show respect for the host population.

Our first stop was Zinancantan, a Tzotzil Maya weaving village. The back strap loom used to produce the beautiful textiles is pictured in the middle where one of the daughters of the host family is demonstrating the technique. The matriarch and the obvious boss is pictured center left talking to Ricardo. The shawl over her shoulders is a sample of their products which incorporate weaving and embroidery. Many of the pictures show patterns learned by apprentice weavers to complete their training, one of the skills necessary to become "marriageable." Our guide Cris, is showing a special textile made from local wool, right, and Darlene is inspecting a blouse that she later bought, lower row. The usual ritual as before in Tenejapa, the shop liked to dress the tourist in the local costumes. Babu and Bibi dressed as bride and groom and Bibi is pictured lower left corner in a gorgeous wedding dress trimmed with feathers complemented with a shawl similar to the one upper right. There are no pictures this time of Babu dressed as the groom or David and Lorna who dressed as the grand parents.

The weaver's shop was also their home and we were invited to a lunch of traditional tortillas baked over an open fire on the floor in the kitchen/dining room. Cris is pictured in the center of the collage showing the different varieties of maze used locally. A daughter is processing maze lower left and upper right another daughter is using a press to make the tortillas. Cooking facilities are shown lower right and upper middle. The low serving table with meat and condiments is pictured upper left. The confines of the room dictated the high angle of the picture.

Center bottom is the family shrine located in an adjoining room.

Leaving the weavers village we drove on to Chamula where we found the crowds already gathering. Axel had considerable difficulty finding a parking place for the bus. We scouted out the town on foot and found the square with the church. The approach to the church as can be seen in the picture is covered with pine boughs. The cross in the foreground was festooned with pine boughs which is part of the traditional Maya customs. The Maya honored the cross as a tradition symbol representing the cardinal directions of the universe. Inside the church the walls as usual are lined with figurines representing Catholic saints a few also represent Maya Deities. Tributes in the form of candles were placed on the floor in front of each figure. There has been an interesting merging of Christianity and Maya beliefs which vary by locality.

Although there was a lot of milling around nothing seemed to end up as an organized running of the bull. We never saw a bull or a replica of a bull nor did we see the religious authorities walk on the burning coals! Perhaps they were saving all the fun until the mzunguwa (Swahili for foreigner) left for home! We found a place to sit down for a much need break. For next two to three hours we watched the people gather then finally gave up and left. Steve, however, spent a lot of time filming a group of men who wandered around town playing an accordion, dancing while consuming pulque and getting more drunk.

The picture below was taken as we were walking back to where the bus was parked. The congestion of both cars and people was being compounded as pictured here. People were crowded on the roof tops and on every vantage point that could be found and as we looked over the hillsides above town every trail leading into Chamula was crowded with more people coming for the celebration. It must have taken place some time, but when we don't know!

Our fellow travelers Claudia and Jim are the foreigners standing on either side of the white car and Joan is the white hat over Claudia's shoulder. Ricardo in the dark jacket just beyond Jim, is looking down the street observing the human and automobile traffic toward the center of town.

Day Eleven Continued

After lunch at Finca Santa Maria we drove down an unpaved road to the Late Classic Archaeological Site of Chinkultic but found it closed. The story told that might explain the closure is about an attempted robbery of the office by a group of villagers in August the previous year. They approached at night armed with machetes and an old shot gun. The shot gun was fired as they approached and the army guards opened fire with a machine gun killing six of the villagers. In the seventies this area was a camping site for refugees escaping the military purge in Guatemala and travel guides from that period warn travelers of danger, a possible reason for Army Guards.

The only structure that had been restored was the temple on the hill side to the left of the road. We have little information on this site but it is interesting to note the remnants of twin towers on top. Architecturally this seemed similar to the temples farther north in the Reo Bec region.

The hill to the right of the road looked like it might also have been part of this complex and a few of us searched through the brush for any signs of structures to no avail.

From Chinnkultic we stopped at Comitan on our way back to to San Cristobal. Comitan was a pleasant clean town, with impressive well maintained buildings. The presence of a Tourist Policeman who saved a parking place for the bus and welcomed us as we disembarked indicated to us that the town was striving to be a tourist destination. The Policeman greeted Babu as he got off the bus and in broken English gave a dialogue on Chiapas complete with a complimentary map of the region. Arriving late in the afternoon we did not have a lot of time to explore. After searching we finally found the Archaeological Museum just as it was closing.

Upper left is the City Hall where we found the rest rooms, next is the church on the other side of the square. Upper right is an attractive band shell with a fountain in the center located in the main square. The rest are random shots of the area around the square. Lower right are evening shots of City Hall after the lights were turned on.

It was late and it had been a long day and destined to be longer to cover the fifty miles back to San Cristobal. We think it was this night that Steve, Axel and Ricardo went out on the town to celebrate Axel's birthday, but the rest of us were too tired to take part!

Lake Country

We headed south on our eleventh day along the Pan American Highway to see the lakes next to the Guatemalan border some 85 miles from San Cristobal. Our start was delayed for some time because the man who had the key for the garage where the bus had been parked for the week end could not be found so we fidgeted in the hotel lobby for what seemed an agonizingly long wait. When we finally boarded the bus we headed straight for Lagunas de Montebello National Park in the high mountains. Located in Karst Topography, there are 16 lakes in this area noted for their varying colors due to mineral content. Basically these lakes are sink holes which are typically round but some are apparently a series of connecting collapses resulting in elongated formations. The top two pictures are of the main lake showing that rain fall in the recent past had been abundant indicated by the submerged vendors stalls.

We were scheduled for a mile and a half nature walk along the lake and a couple of our group opted to ride horses. The horse traffic had made some of the trail difficult but the hike was pleasant. The collage below depicts the trail including a watch tower, a sink hole lake (cenote), and the eatery and vendors stalls at the parking lot. This is obviously quite a tourist attraction at the right time of year.

Center right is a picture of green house donated to the Park by an individual who had assembled the plant collection it housed. The white tablet tells the details that we did not write down! Claudia was inspecting the specimens.

Pictured in this collage are some of the many flowers and plants along the trail. Jim and Darlene the travel photographers were taking pictures of every plant they saw. Jim is featured in the center. Interesting plants and flowers but we do not know their names.

Not much to say about the horses; it was a little humorous watching Joan and Dave mount and be led off up the trail.
We visited a famous pottery village, Amatenango, on the way to lunch, which featured unique and colorful pieces.

Lunch was scheduled for Finca Santa Maria a restored county hacienda. Our meal was barbecued pork or chicken. The meals were very good, served in an open thatched roof shelter, upper center. They also had rooms to let, upper left. It is still an active coffee farm complete with roasting facilities. Coffee trees are pictured with cherries ready to pick. New coffee plants were being nurtured next to a south facing wall, middle bottom. The tree, lower right, is full of weaver bird nests. The center pictures are the old kitchen oven, barbecue spit, and a bench like structure with a hole in the top that had once been used as a "cook top" fired with an open fire underneath.

From the veranda flower green houses were visible along the river. Upper picture lower left is an ordinary shot and the lower picture is a closeup. This set up appeared to be on the adjacent farm.

To be continued.

Tenajapa Carnival ( Running the Bull)

Cuidad Tenajapa had several plazas in different parts of town and the group of performers came to each to run the ritual eight counter clockwise circles chasing the runner in the bull costume. The bull is represented by a wicker cage with horns attached on top. The runners follow the bull in the order of their village hierarchy with the Major Domo leading. The purpose of this annual event is to prepare a clean start for the year by washing away all the bad things that happened in the previous year. The evil spirits are represented by the people wearing masks, lower right.

Traditionally the bull would have been sacrificed at the end assuring a clean start for the new year.

Day Trip to Tenejapa

Sunday was scheduled to be a free day for the members of our group to explore San Cristobal or follow their own interests. One of the options was to travel south to Cuidad Tenejapa where a carnival was to take place. Vicki, a local English speaking guide, and a van were hired to escort us to the event. Our first stop was at the town weaver's shop where they demonstrated weaving done on a back strap loom. The traditional costumes were on display and the owner took great pride in dressing the tourists as locals. Darlene, the travel photographer in our group, took on the role of the female and Babu was recruited to fill the male role. The hat is unique and is worn only by the Major Domo, leader of the town.

Upon finishing with the weaver and the clothing we ventured into the main plaza, upper left, then walked around town taking pictures of the people and the food stalls. The locals were a little reluctant of being photographed, so care had to be taken not to offend. Below are random shots of the streets we walked. Vicki is drinking a cup of the local brew in the picture center bottom, and Darlene is trying some in the next picture.

Continued on the next Blog-----We found that the collage could not be enlarged in the original post so we opted to continue to the next post as it took too long to upload a correction. The reason for the difficulty was that we had included a movie in the collage not realizing that would create a problem.

San Cristobal de las Casas

We arrived in San Cristobal from Tonina about 7:30 PM and checked in at the Hotel Casa Mexicana. San Cristobal de las Casas is a colonial city founded by Diego de Mazariegos and his fellow soldiers after a fierce fight with the native Zoques and Chiapanecos. Unlike many colonial cities it was not built on top of the ruins of an old Maya city. Mazaeriego's original settlement named Villareal de Chiapas de los Espanoles was established in 1528, now days called San Cristobal de las Casas in honor of bishop Fray Bartolome de Las Casas, protector of the common people in the sixteenth century. Located in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains at nearly 7000 ft the elevation made our next five days in San Cristobal very comfortable where a jacket was desirable most of the time.

The first picture in the collage below is of San Cristobal nestled in the valley with a population of 142,364 people, occupies 186 square miles, and is the third largest city in Chiapas. Our hotel is in the center of the city making it easy to walk to everything we wanted to see. Our rooms were on the first floor facing an interior court of a refurbished hacienda and the dinning facilities were across the street in another refurbished colonial building pictured in the upper right. The rest of the collage are random pictures from around the city, mostly within a few blocks of the hotel. Second picture down on the left side is Bibi with a mime who was preforming on the zocalo .

Next morning Ricardo took us on a walking tour of the city with the mandatory visits to the Cathedrals and several museums. The directory lists eight museums and we saw many of them. On the main plaza Ricardo pointed out where the slave auction and whipping block had been during colonial times. After the tour we were on our own and the two of us stopped at a coffee bar for a light lunch hoping to get a good cup of coffee but we were disappointed in what was offered. We found an ATM, got some cash with out any hassle and on our way back to the room stopped at Burger King (!) for ice cream.

The above collage is primarily of a museum housed in an old Cathedral that featured some interesting modern sculptures. Center left is the Zapatista Restaurant where we ate lunch one day. The Zapatista influence was obvious around that part of the city. Zapatistas took over the city in January 1994 and still have a presence even though many indigenous people do not approve of their tactics. The fisherman sculpture, upper right, appeared to be catching fish from the coffee cup Steve had left beside him.

One evening the group walked to Museum Na Bolom, a unique home made into a museum and library. This had been the home of Franz and Trudi Blom, Europeans who had lived and worked with the Lacandon Maya in the 1920's. They were renown collectors of artifacts and made themselves regional experts in local archaeology, anthropology and ecology. Now days there is a controversy brewing regarding the ownership of the collected artifacts. Below are pictures taken of the displays. A visit to the museum traditionally ends with supper served at the long table where in the past the scientists would discuss their day's activities over the meal. Our group participated in the tradition along with about sixty other guests. Our group is pictured upper right at the end of the table.

There were multitudes of markets throughout the city where you could find vendors of any kind plying their wares. There was of course a big city market also and we took the opportunity one afternoon to reconnoiter. The collage below shows the variety of merchandise.

Transit Day to San Christobal

Willie, with a hearty "good morning" was our our wake up call this morning. He personally went around to each bungalow about 5:45 to make sure every one was up and ready for breakfast which was served in a restaurant across the street. The jungle was once again the sidewalls to the facility and as the pictures below show it was still dark with daylight just breaking. Quantities of fruit, juice and coffee were available at a table as we entered and the entree, including eggs, bean burritos, fried bananas, etc. was available buffet style in a steam table adjacent to the kitchen doorway pictured center left. Tables were large cross sections of trees and chairs were stumps. Breakfast was great with lots of good coffee.

After breakfast we wasted no time in boarding the bus and heading for the Town of Palenque. We had left our injured compadre at the hotel there for a couple of days where she could get medical attention if needed as well as a nurse who would check in on her. We had also left the bulk of our luggage in the safe room at the hotel for the Piedras Negras portion of our journey, so with all collected we backtracked to Ocosingo where we were scheduled to have lunch.

Along the way we came across a coffee processing operation. The two boys were hulling the coffee beans then washing them in a concrete trough. There were canvas tarps spread out along side the road to dry the beans. One step seemed to be missing and that is the fermentation step needed to remove the sweet juice from the beans surface. After lots of pictures were taken by our photographers

we proceeded on to Agua Azul, a series of cascading water falls located on the Rio Perlus which flows north from the Lacandon Biosphere Reserve. This area is spectacular and has been developed into a tourist attraction, lots of vendors of all types with permanent booths along well developed trails and overlooks that take advantage of the river views. The collage below is an attempt to capture the essence of Agua Azul including the picture center right where we had to walk the plank to get to a viewing platform. We assume they were rebuilding the walkway but construction was not under way at that point in time.

From Agua Azul we drove on to Ocosingo where we stopped for lunch then on to the Archaeological site of Tonina.



Tonina is a Classic Period Maya city that is rich in hieroglyphics and iconography that tell the story of great rulers who conquered neighboring polities and captured dignitaries from other city states for sacrifice. Tonina has been loosely classified as a militaristic state because of the many inscriptions referencing war like encounters. Much of what is seen today is the product of the Classic Period from AD 514 when the first ruler's accession is noted to AD 909 on January 15, where the last long count of the entire Maya world is recorded on a broken monument. While the carvings at this site are exquisite during the florescence of this city there are gaps in the history that leave little information about the rulers. The quality of the inscriptions deteriorates over that period of time to the point that indicates the scribes may have lost understanding of the writing system. Worth noting however is the obvious influence of Teotihuacan which is displayed in the elaborate stucco partly visible in lower right. The picture center bottom is of a stela in the middle of a giant stairway that may be Ruler Four wearing the headdress of a centipede representing supernatural status.
Architecturally the complex is built on a mountain in seven layers with temples, monuments and rooms on every level. The picture in the upper left was taken from the Great Plaza at the bottom and does not give the feeling for the total height. The group of pictures center left are telephoto shots of the top from two layers below. First picture is of Jim, one of our traveling companions, standing on the very top, followed by a picture of Bibi and Steve on the second level down and the center picture was taken by Bibi looking down the many layers from the top. The picture directly below Bibi and Steve was taken by Babu standing two layers below showing the country side from that level. Babu pooped out and did not make it to the lofty heights.

Leaving the Sacred River

After leaving Piedras Negras (yokib') we cruised on down the Sacred Monkey River to our take out point just up stream from where Rio Bushilha flows into the Usumacinta. Pictured below are the falls at this confluence and the boats as we disembarked. Willie Fonseca in his life jacket is supervising the off loading and the boarding of his four wheel drive Dodge one ton, our method of transport to the settlement of Nueva Esperanza and Rancho Vallescondido. The picture in the lower left of the collage was taken from the back of the truck as we paused while workmen removed the rock debris they had created removing a rock ledge protruding into the bulldozer cut roadway. The road was definitely a project in progress! There were bench seats along each side of the truck bed but the road was too rough to use them so we all stood up and hung on to the top rack.

Pictures were impossible while hanging on! The track led though several fenced pastures and Willie's handyman jumped down from the truck to open and close each Morman Gate as we traveled along the winding hilly two track road. Someone had said that it was eighteen kilometers from the river to Rancho Vallescandido. That may have been true but it seemed a lot longer. The ride was not unpleasant, it was like riding through any ranch setting found in western US. The scenery was very special, lots of trees and grassy bucolic meadows full of grazing cattle. The ranch road intersected a paved road for the last part of this ride, smooth enough for us to use the benches.

As we approached the Ranch Headquarters we turned off onto a two track road where we found our bus parked beside a defunct Russian made tractor. Ranho Vallescondido grounds featured a beautiful pond with a winding stream fed by an artisan water source. Lodging for the night were bungalows scattered along the steam. Ours is pictured lower right.

The dining facility was a thatched roofed structure with open side walls and a gravel floor featuring a long curved bar made of polished tropical hard wood planks a full two inches thick with a stone pedestal. The planks made beautiful marimba like sounds when thumped with your fingers. Dining tables sat outside the bar to make up the perimeter of the dining area. The spotless kitchen is visible over the far end of the bar and had a concrete floor. Barbecued chicken, or fish, with vegetables was the menu, with flan for dessert. Excellent!


The center picture is our bungalow with pictures of the interior following. Stone work made the wall between the bedroom and bath and doubled as a headboard for the bed. Rock work had been produced by a creative and talented craftsman exemplified by the washbasin which was lined with limestone. The water valve is hidden under a ledge of stone. Interior doors were sculptured to fit the stone wall, lower right. Ventilation was provided by five feet tall one foot wide louvred wooden panels with screening the full length of one wall. Inset is the front door made of the same hardwood with panels of textured glass.

Upon finishing the evening meal and a little after dinner conversation we walked back down the roadway across the bridge over the pond to our bungalow. It was a pleasant walk, accompanied by fire flies and a gorgeous night sky. The stars were magnificent no lights to obscure the view, a grand finish to day seven.!