#1: [21-Mar-01]

09-Jan-2010 -- This is the fourth out of a series of five confluence visits that we attempted during a three-week vacation in Mexico and Guatemala.

If you have some time left, you may want read the report of 15°N 92°W first and then continue to read here.

After some unpleasent events in Guatemala, we returned back into Mexico as quick as possible. From now on the weather wasn't good at all, and this day that we spent in Villahermosa was no exception: it rained cats and dogs. From downtown, the confluence is only 9 km away. Still affected from the psychic trauma, we didn't feel like confluencing any more. However, the best way for healing is to keep on doing the activities you like in order to unlink them with the trauma.

We started walking with umbrella from downtown until we reached the barrio (quarter) named Tabasco 2000 (5.8 km from the CP). Here, Elionora preferred shopping, while I ran through the rain and flooded streets to the confluence and back. The downpour was nasty and the area around the confluence one big rubbish dump. On the main road (El Ejido Veintiuno de Marzo) 105 m from the confluence, one of these dumps was burning; people were loitering around it and staring at me. I wasn't feeling safe at all, so without stopping I turned from the main road into a track that pointed to the confluence. I took the pictures quickly before the people living in the slum around it noticed me.

Nine years have passed since this confluence had been visited in 2001. Meanwhile barracks have been built. The tall fenced plug valve which marks the confluence was a free-standing feature back in 2001, now it is overgrown.

An hour later I returned soaked with water back to the hotel. Looking back to this visit, I can say that I didn't have any joy. Unfortunately, our new camera (a very cheap one that we had bought in Guatemala to replace our lost camera) had a problem. The pictures could not be retrieved from the memory card. This problem is not new to me. Using several recovery / rescue software, I was able to get some pictures back, but most of them still have serious colour problems or have been minced.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to an asphalt road: 105 m
• Distance to a track: 0 m
• Distance to a path: 0 m
• Distance from hotel: 8.9 km
• Distance to houses: 15 m
• Time at the CP: 2:35 pm
• Hiking time (distance): 1:15 hours (8.9 km)
• Measured height: 12 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 15 m
• Position accuracy at the CP: 3 m
• Topography: flat
• Weather: rain, overcast, 10° C (felt temperature)
• Description of the CP: In state of Tabasco just 9 km west of the City Villahermosa. In a poor suburb.
• Given Name: The Burning Dump Confluence

Story finishes at 19°N 96°W.