January 8 to 14, 2009 ; La Feria, Texas, U.S.A. to Veracruz (city), Veracruz (state), Mexico
Thursday ; Today was sunny and hot !
( sigh ) The ongoing saga of Daniel's colitis afflicted large intestine. After five days of an illness causing severe diarrhea, I have now been constipated for three days. A long term bout of diarrhea produces inflammation within my large intestine severe enough to block it. It's happened before. During the summer of 2005 while we were WorkCamping as campground hosts at West Hawk Lake Provincial Park, mismanagement of a similar incident resulted in me spending three days in the hospital in Kenora, Ontario. Since then I’ve been wiser about managing colitis and the hospital provided me with medication I had not had before, to manage this type of blocked intestine problem. I began taking that medication yesterday morning, and the problem was rectified ( hopefully ) by late this afternoon.
Today was a day for shopping in Harlingen. Lots of shopping, to replenish / reprovision for 2½ months in Mexico. Last year we found, while travelling through the Baja, that many of the household products and toiletries that we use are not available in Mexico, and we didn’t like some of the Mexican alternatives ! Mexican mouthwash tasted like kerosene ! And the deodorant was like battery acid ! First stop was PetsMart for dog food, cat food, and dog treats. Then while Joanne went to Dollar Tree I went to Hobby Lobby and bought something I needed to repair a broken magic prop. Then Sally Beauty Supply for Joanne’s hair care products. Then, of course, ( sigh ) the long, rest of the morning at Wal-Mart. I took my blood pressure at Wal-Mart. HMPH ! Abnormally low after being ill.
I refilled with diesel, again at a lower price. Every fill for the last three months has been at a lower price than the fill before. Joanne was hungry. I most certainly was not ! No appetite yet ! We went to Whataburger, where Joanne bemoaned that it might be the last time she ever eats at a Whataburger, since we don’t anticipate returning to Texas at any time in the foreseeable future. Hey, babycakes, don’t worry. In ‘N Out Burger in California is better anyway. HA HA HA ! Last stop was H-E-B for groceries and to refill our two five gallon drinking water jugs.
Back at Kenwood, after finding storage spots for all the groceries and supplies ( well done, Joanne ), and taking care of some other minor chores, we chatted with our next door neighbours for awhile. They are leaving tomorrow morning headed for the Daytona 500 in Florida. We took Bo for a walk, and garbage to the dumpster, and the last of the Christmas turkey scraps for the dumpster kitties. As soon as Joanne walked into the dumpster enclosure with a plate of turkey scraps, the little black kitten, the shyer of the two, came running over. "WOO-HOO ... THE TURKEY LADY IS HERE." HA HA HA ... how quickly they learn. We spent some time in the swimming pool and hot tub, the first time in the New Year that we felt healthy enough.
I helped Joanne with a large load of laundry. We didn't attend tonight's sock hop at the recreation hall, but I did enjoy the music while I was sitting in the clubhouse working on Wi-Fi. Very late in the evening, as we were coming out of the laundry room with a large load of clean laundry, the entertainers from tonight's sock hop were coming out of the adjacent recreation hall. One of them was an Elvis impersonator. As we climbed into our truck, and he climbed into his SUV, Joanne said "hey ... Elvis has left the building" and erupted in hysterical laughter at her wit ( rolling my eyes ).
Friday ; Today was sunny and hot. This morning we began to prepare for departure tomorrow morning. When I took the barbecue off its little table to put it away in the trailer pass through storage compartment, it dribbled grease all over the concrete patio pad beside the trailer ( sigh ). It was difficult cleaning grease off concrete. We left for McAllen, to meet Kevin and Sandy at the McAllen Travel Show at the McAllen Convention Centre. On the way there we made a quick stop at Wal-Mart in Weslaco to buy something I forgot to get yesterday. We spent about an hour at the McAllen Travel Show, then went for lunch at the food court in Simon La Plaza Mall. The travel show exhibitors were from all over Mexico and the southern U.S., mostly resort hotels, cruise lines, and tour companies.
When we got back home to Kenwood RV Resort I climbed up on the roof of the trailer and swept off the tops of the slides. A lot of leaves and twigs and stuff had collected up there over the last couple of months sitting in one place. We did a bit more preparation for departure tomorrow morning. We went to have a final happy hour visit with John and Eve. I took the laptop to the clubhouse for a final session on Wi-Fi before we leave. I have no idea when I will next have access to the Internet.
After supper, I repaired a magic prop that broke on Christmas Day. Well, it's repaired, but imperfectly. I will try to buy a replacement, although magic supply shops are few and far between. I used a strong carpet stain remover to clean the terrible stains on the bedroom carpet from the Damp Rid container I knocked over a few weeks ago. The stains appear to be removed, but we'll see how it looks after a few days of oxidation. I know from experience that some stains keep reappearing after a few days of oxidation.
Today was our first truly healthy day of the year. And what great weather today. How wonderful to be in a place where one can be outside after 10:00 P.M. in the first half of January, comfortable in just shorts, no shirt. We're ready to begin our Mexico adventure tomorrow ! ! !
Saturday ; La Feria, Texas, U.S.A. to La Pesca, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Today was mostly cloudy and hot, very windy when we arrived at the beach on the Gulf Of Mexico at La Pesca. As we prepared for departure this morning our new friends John and Eve came to say goodbye. We left Kenwood RV Resort, drove south on FM 506, then east on Military Hwy. 281 to Los Indios where we met Kevin and Sandy at the Valero gas station. As we crossed the Free Trade Bridge from Los Indios, Texas to Lucio Blanco, Tamaulipas, I bought enough American cigarettes at Brady's Duty Free to last for our entire Mexico trip. On the Mexico side of the bridge, we were stopped and inspected by a Mexican customs & border guard. We drove a few hundred feet forward and were stopped and inspected again by two Mexican soldiers. Apparently Customs and the military work completely independent of one another in Mexico. After all the inspections we parked and went inside for an hour and a half of bureaucracy. We obtained tourist cards and vehicle importation permits. There were lots of forms to fill out, lots of documents we had to produce, lots of photocopying to be done and paid for, and lots of fees to be paid. All at different windows with different agents. While still at the border crossing we bought pesos. The exchange rate was not quite as good as what we got in Hidalgo a month ago, but close enough. We were already entering Mexico and I didn't want to do any more exchange rate shopping.
Finally, we hit the road in Mexico. South on Hwys. 98, 101, and 180, then east on Hwy. 70 to the little fishing village of La Pesca where we boondocked overnight on the beach. We drove 363 km. / 226 miles today, a bit too much. We passed through countless small towns and villages. Frequently there were people on the side of the road selling things ; bags of corn, bags of pecans, bags of pan dulce / cookies, bags of freshly caught shrimp. There were a number of legless beggars at stop signs and at large topes ( TOH pays ... large Mexican speed bumps found frequently in Mexico, at all town entrances, at all school zones, at all pedestrian crosswalks, and often for no discernible reason ). The oddest "seller" was a man on the side of the road who held his "merchandise" up above his head as we drove by ; a live fox ! ! ! Squirming like crazy as it was held up above the man's head. Why would somebody buy a live fox ? ! ? Why would somebody sell a live fox ? ! ? Welcome to Mexico !
The procedure for "Mexican passing" is like this ; the vehicle being passed moves halfway onto the narrow shoulder ( when there is one, which is infrequent ). The passing vehicle straddles the centre line while passing. Oncoming vehicles move halfway over onto their narrow shoulder. No need to wait for oncoming traffic to clear. Just move onto the centre line and begin to pass. Everybody moves over. I'm okay with that process. I've learned to cope with it quite well. But today ... first day in mainland Mexico ... I encountered "double Mexican passing". I began to pass a slower vehicle. He moved halfway over. I was on the centre line passing him. The vehicle behind me passed both of us ! The vehicle behind me went all the way over, half in the oncoming lane, and half on the oncoming lane's narrow shoulder ! ! ! There we were, three vehicles abreast, highway speed, entire highway's width filled by the three vehicles. I don't know about the other two guys, but I certainly was hoping that there wasn't going to be any oncoming traffic anytime soon. This wasn't done on a straight stretch of road with long visibility. This was just done on the basis, I assume, of "let's hope for the best", by the guy behind me.
There were a lot of wrecked cars coming from the United States down into Mexico. Entire vehicle transport trucks loaded with wrecked cars. And lots of wrecked cars being towed along behind another vehicle. Sometimes there were wrecked cars being towed along behind other wrecked cars that were being driven. There seems to be quite an industry in Mexico rebuilding wrecked American cars.
The highways we drove on today varied from excellent to fair to poor to atrocious ! From fresh, smooth asphalt with narrow but paved shoulders, to dirt and gravel trails. We travelled comfortably at 100 km./hr. and uncomfortably at 40 km./hr.. Welcome to Mexico ! Hwy. 70 passes through the little fishing village of La Pesca, then ... just becomes the sand beach on the Gulf Of Mexico. We are on the beach tonight on a sandspit between two long rock jetties.
Oh, for crying out loud ! He always catches me off guard on the beach at night ! I just took Bo for a late night bathroom walk along the beach. Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, FLIP ... and he's rolling on something dead !
Sunday ; La Pesca to Tampico, Tamaulipas
Today was mostly cloudy and mild. The beach at La Pesca is a very popular sport fishing location. La Pesca translates as The Fishing. There were many people fishing last night when we arrived, some fished at night, and there were many fishing again by dawn or shortly thereafter. The Mexican version of "a fishing weekend" is very different than our concept of one. Some small groups of men, and some families, were obviously fishing for the weekend, Saturday overnight to Sunday. But ... no campers, no tents, no facilities of any kind. They just slept in their vehicles.
The Limeys had difficulty leaving the beach this morning because their motorhome has such a wide turning radius, and with the toad attached, the motorhome can't be reversed. They eventually had to disconnect the toad, and back up the motorhome. We drove the arduous 50 km. / 30 miles west on Hwy. 70 back to the main Hwy. 180 at the village of Soto La Marina. We refilled with diesel at Pemex in Soto La Marina, then continued south on Hwy. 180. The road today was not in very good condition for a major highway, but hey, it’s Mexico. We made it to the large city of Tampico, where we found our way to Bonitto Inn Hotel, which was listed in our Mexican camping directory as having space available for a few RV’s. Well, that’s true, but ... ! Getting our large RV rigs in there was quite an ordeal. And we have electricity, no water, no sewer ... for 300 pesos ( about U.S.$25 ) per night ! That’s an outrageous price by Mexican standards. The electricity is only 15 amps, and we had to run long extension cords over to the motel units. Oh, well ... our caravan leader on last year’s trip down the Baja taught us that RV’ing in Mexico requires “Flexico”.
We were tired, and not particularly motivated to explore Tampico. We spent what little was left of the afternoon after our arrival sitting outside, drinking tea made by Sandy and eating Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada fruit cake supplied by Joanne. While Joanne prepared supper, I downloaded and processed some photos I took this morning. After supper I went to the hotel’s lobby and used their Wi-Fi signal to send and retrieve e-mail. And I dumped our shower’s “grey water” waste holding tank on the hotel’s lawn. For 300 pesos, I felt entitled ! While I was working on Wi-Fi Joanne and Sandy went to the large supermarket across the street. WOO-HOO ... Joanne found her beloved Yomi Lala ( chocolate milk drink ).
Monday ; Tampico, Tamaulipas to El Tajín, Veracruz
Today was cloudy and mild. We drove 328 km. / 205 mi., and it took 8 hours ! Today was, without a doubt, the most challenging driving I've done in 4½ years of full time RV travelling. And it's only our third day in Mexico.
This morning, before leaving the Bonitto Inn Hotel, with very difficult manoeuvering, I backed the rig over to where there was a water spigot and refilled our fresh water tank. With full fresh water, and empty shower waste tank, we are ready for boondocking for the next two nights.
We are using Mike & Terry Church’s Mexican Camping book as our bible. They explain that large RV’s are not allowed to drive through Tampico, and all that do are fined. So, following the guidance in their book, we drove around Tampico. It took about 2 hours to drive 40 km. / 25 miles. Terribly bad roads, large, rough topes frequently, through industrial waterfront areas. Lots of big, stinky trucks. I don’t think commercial trucks in Mexico get tune ups regularly, if ever. Once around Tampico, we had a couple of hours of driving through an area of tropical jungle, with many small towns and villages on the route. We stopped for lunch in a small village whose name I didn’t get. While Joanne prepared lunch, I tried to chat with three children waiting for their school bus. They spoke no English. I was able to tell them in Spanish that I was from Canada, and I gave them each a CANADA pencil. We carry pencils imprinted with CANADA and the Canadian flag to give to Mexican children, who seem to really appreciate getting a pencil from a gringo foreigner.
After lunch we drove through an area of mandarin orange orchards. We stopped at one of the many roadside stands to buy some freshly picked mandarins. WOW ! ! ! I’ve never had mandarins as sweet and juicy as this before ! The vendors wrap twine around the stems, and sell a long “string” of twenty mandarins for 10 pesos. That’s less than a dollar ! We stopped to refill with diesel on the outskirts of Tuxpan. The police officer hanging around the fuel pumps tried to “bum” a cigarette from me. I said no. As my friend John back in La Feria would say ... “buck a gringo” ! That’s our code for the objective that many Mexicans seem to have to “rip off” each gringo that they meet.
Three times today we drove through toll booths. Once we paid the same as Kevin and Sandy, once we paid more, and once we paid less. One of the things that really irritates me about Mexico is the inconsistency in application of "rules". They often seem quite arbitrary, as and when applied to gringos ! Buck a gringo !
We missed the turnoff to Poza Rica, seeing it just as we zoomed by. We had just enough time to tell Kevin and Sandy, who were behind us, on our two way radios. They made the turnoff and waited for us. We had to drive 12 km. before I could make a u-turn, and even then, a very difficult one. The worst ordeal ... indeed, nightmare ... of the day was driving through the city of Poza Rica during rush hour. The traffic was gridlocked, with vehicles a few inches away on all sides. It was stressful ! And I thought driving through downtown Montreal was bad ? ! ?
Once through Poza Rica we made our way to the El Tajín archaeological ruins site where we parked overnight in their parking lot, which obviously doubles as a cow pasture. After we got parked, a man from the archaeological site came over to collect an overnight fee from us. We deserved a bit of a “happy hour” so we got out our lawn chairs, and I poured myself a very stiff Canadian rye and Diet Coke. I don’t drink much, so one large drink was more then enough to relieve my stress. And then some ! There was a pack of three dogs roaming around the large parking lot / cow pasture. Typical Mexican dogs, medium sized, non-descript mixed breed, brown dogs. One was a female, and she came over to visit ... to the extent that Mexican dogs will interact with people. She lay down near us, interested but afraid. With much effort I managed to persuade her to come close enough to take a dog biscuit from me.
At dusk, Sandy noticed there were “glow worms” near the trees at the edge of the pasture. We call them fireflies. She had only seen them previously in New Zealand. We have them in Canada. I enjoyed chasing and catching them as a child. I took Sandy and Kevin over to the edge of the pasture and caught fireflies for them so they could see what they looked like up close. Maybe I shouldn’t have made that drink quite so strong ? HA HA HA !
We will probably spend two nights here, spending all day tomorrow exploring the El Tajín ruins. I think they’re either Aztec or Mayan. We’ll find out tomorrow.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm, a bit humid in the afternoon. We spent the day exploring the ruins of the ancient city of El Tajín.
This morning while I was outside waiting for everyone to get ready I was joined by a pack of six dogs. Eventually three came close enough to be petted, and then I couldn't get rid of them. Bo was very envious of their free roaming status, as he always is of Mexican dogs. Bo wants to be a Mexican dog, unleashed, roaming free in a pack. The six dogs obviously accepted Bo as worthy of joining their pack. They all came over and each urinated on the lowest step of the trailer. Bo didn't much like that.
The city of El Tajín existed from 900 to 1150 A.D.. It was a political and religious centre for the Totonac civilization. We wandered around the main part of the site, covering about one square kilometre. I got separated from Joanne, Kevin, and Sandy, so spent half the morning exploring on my own. Thanks a lot, folks ! ! ! The main building on the site was the Pyramid Of The Niches, a stone pyramid with 365 niches in the walls, one for each daily offering to El Tajín , the God Of Thunder and Lightning.
Just before lunch time we returned to the square at the entrance to witness a performance by Los Voladores. This ancient ritual of the Totonac people from the Papantla region takes place daily. Los Voladores / The Indian Flyers launch themselves from the top of a 100 foot pole and slowly descend, swinging in arcs around the pole, as the ropes tied around them and wrapped around the top of the pole unwind. One Voladore stands on the top of the pole and plays music on a small wind instrument and small drum while four Voladrores "fly" down.
Since I had become separated from the group, I had explored more than the rest of the group. They wanted to return for more exploring after lunch. I read and napped. When they all returned to our boondock camping site in the parking lot, I did some maintenance on our trailer, then helped Kevin do some maintenance on their motorhome. Kevin and Joanne did some trip planning for tomorrow. I took Bo out for a walk through the parking lot / pasture to visit a burro. Oh, boy ... Bo's never been in a campground with a burro before.
Joanne and I went for a long walk into the nearby small village. We wandered around, seeing the people, men dressed in traditional rural Mexican worker garb, white, baggy trousers pinched around the ankles, baggy white shirt, and straw hat. We looked at the homes and small businesses. About every third building was a small enterprise, usually an aborrote, a very tiny combination of convenience store, restaurant, and bar. We went into the only real restaurant in town and checked out their menu. We watched a man making a clay pot. We've always enjoyed getting away from the "tourism" and seeing the "real" place.
Wednesday ; El Tajín to Veracruz ( city ), Veracruz ( state )
Today was mostly cloudy and warm. We left the parking lot of El Tajín early this morning. We have found that travelling by RV in Mexico is excruciatingly slow. Poor roads, very poor signage, lots of towns and villages to pass through, and countless ( seemingly endless ) topes. Most of today was on Hwy. 180 heading south along the coast of the Gulf Of Mexico. Shortly after leaving El Tajín we passed through the old city of Papantla. Narrow, winding, congested streets made progress slow. We drove through areas of coconut plantations. We stopped in the village of Vega de Alatorre to see what the roadside vendors were selling. Coconut cookies ! Very, very good coconut cookies, made with shredded coconut, sugar, and a variety of fruit juices ; pineapple, lime, strawberry, and "con leche" / with milk. Just before noon, as we passed through the village of Santa Ana, people were standing in the middle of the road selling tamales. Fresh, still hot from the oven. I stopped and bought a bag of cuatro ( four ) tamales con pollo ( chicken tamales ) por vente ( for twenty ) pesos, about $1.50 ! Gee, a pack of tamales like that in the Rio Grande Valley was $6.49 ! We shared our tamales with Kevin and Sandy. Well ... and Teddy and Bo, of course. We leaned last year in the Baja that Teddy and Bo both looooove tamales. HA HA HA !
Much of the afternoon was spent driving along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico known as Costa Esmeralda / Emerald Coast. Little tourist towns along the beaches. Despite the horrible condition of the roads, there were many toll booths along the road. I wonder where all that money goes ? ! ? The tolls are killing us, costing $15 to $20 per day of driving. I had a dispute at one toll booth about what the man was charging us. The dispute ended when a Policia Federale wandered over with his machine gun. Kevin had exactly the same experience at the next toll booth over from us. Hmmmmm ... can you spell "mordida" ( bribe / kickback ) ? ! ? The Limeys had a cupboard door pop open, and a cup fell out and broke. We had a one gallon jug of water burst in a cupboard from the rough roads. We drove around the large city of Veracruz, and stopped for the night at a campground in a beach town suburb south of Veracruz called Antón Lizardo. The sites at Campamento El Rey ( King Campground ) have electricity and water only, no sewer. The electricity flows at less than 100 volts, and the water is intermittent. We had to search through a number of campsites using my electrical polarity tester before we found two that had correctly wired outlets. After getting set up in our sites we went for a long walk along the beach. First time Bo has been off leash in a long time. He really enjoyed running and romping on the beach, finding little starfish. Fortunately he decided after the first bite of the first starfish that they don't taste all that great ... do they, Bo ?
Shortly after we arrived at the campground, an Adventure Caravans group of 19 rigs arrived. I'm glad we arrived before them, and had our pick of sites. After our beach walk, we sat out in our lawn chairs and watched the commotion surrounding the large motorhome that had become stuck in the sand while trying to manoeuver into a site. We chatted briefly with a couple from Ontario who are with the caravan, about the trials and tribulations of travelling in a caravan. They are actually not a caravan of 19 any longer. One rig turned back to the Unites States this morning, after 4 days in Mexico. They had damaged their suspension from driving too fast, and had given up on Mexico.
It takes at least three things to RV through Mexico with a large rig. The rig must be in excellent mechanical condition, the driver's skills must be extremely good, and ... one needs a lot of courage to accept and survive the myriad of challenges of a journey through a third world country. Many, if not most, RV'ers are lacking in one way or another. And those who do have what it takes ( and some who don’t ) almost universally choose caravan travel. I'm proud of our abilities, enabling us to travel independently, with one other rig only. With hindsight, I'm very glad that it is Kevin and Sandy that we are travelling with.
DSK
Thursday ; Today was sunny and hot !
( sigh ) The ongoing saga of Daniel's colitis afflicted large intestine. After five days of an illness causing severe diarrhea, I have now been constipated for three days. A long term bout of diarrhea produces inflammation within my large intestine severe enough to block it. It's happened before. During the summer of 2005 while we were WorkCamping as campground hosts at West Hawk Lake Provincial Park, mismanagement of a similar incident resulted in me spending three days in the hospital in Kenora, Ontario. Since then I’ve been wiser about managing colitis and the hospital provided me with medication I had not had before, to manage this type of blocked intestine problem. I began taking that medication yesterday morning, and the problem was rectified ( hopefully ) by late this afternoon.
Today was a day for shopping in Harlingen. Lots of shopping, to replenish / reprovision for 2½ months in Mexico. Last year we found, while travelling through the Baja, that many of the household products and toiletries that we use are not available in Mexico, and we didn’t like some of the Mexican alternatives ! Mexican mouthwash tasted like kerosene ! And the deodorant was like battery acid ! First stop was PetsMart for dog food, cat food, and dog treats. Then while Joanne went to Dollar Tree I went to Hobby Lobby and bought something I needed to repair a broken magic prop. Then Sally Beauty Supply for Joanne’s hair care products. Then, of course, ( sigh ) the long, rest of the morning at Wal-Mart. I took my blood pressure at Wal-Mart. HMPH ! Abnormally low after being ill.
I refilled with diesel, again at a lower price. Every fill for the last three months has been at a lower price than the fill before. Joanne was hungry. I most certainly was not ! No appetite yet ! We went to Whataburger, where Joanne bemoaned that it might be the last time she ever eats at a Whataburger, since we don’t anticipate returning to Texas at any time in the foreseeable future. Hey, babycakes, don’t worry. In ‘N Out Burger in California is better anyway. HA HA HA ! Last stop was H-E-B for groceries and to refill our two five gallon drinking water jugs.
Back at Kenwood, after finding storage spots for all the groceries and supplies ( well done, Joanne ), and taking care of some other minor chores, we chatted with our next door neighbours for awhile. They are leaving tomorrow morning headed for the Daytona 500 in Florida. We took Bo for a walk, and garbage to the dumpster, and the last of the Christmas turkey scraps for the dumpster kitties. As soon as Joanne walked into the dumpster enclosure with a plate of turkey scraps, the little black kitten, the shyer of the two, came running over. "WOO-HOO ... THE TURKEY LADY IS HERE." HA HA HA ... how quickly they learn. We spent some time in the swimming pool and hot tub, the first time in the New Year that we felt healthy enough.
I helped Joanne with a large load of laundry. We didn't attend tonight's sock hop at the recreation hall, but I did enjoy the music while I was sitting in the clubhouse working on Wi-Fi. Very late in the evening, as we were coming out of the laundry room with a large load of clean laundry, the entertainers from tonight's sock hop were coming out of the adjacent recreation hall. One of them was an Elvis impersonator. As we climbed into our truck, and he climbed into his SUV, Joanne said "hey ... Elvis has left the building" and erupted in hysterical laughter at her wit ( rolling my eyes ).
Friday ; Today was sunny and hot. This morning we began to prepare for departure tomorrow morning. When I took the barbecue off its little table to put it away in the trailer pass through storage compartment, it dribbled grease all over the concrete patio pad beside the trailer ( sigh ). It was difficult cleaning grease off concrete. We left for McAllen, to meet Kevin and Sandy at the McAllen Travel Show at the McAllen Convention Centre. On the way there we made a quick stop at Wal-Mart in Weslaco to buy something I forgot to get yesterday. We spent about an hour at the McAllen Travel Show, then went for lunch at the food court in Simon La Plaza Mall. The travel show exhibitors were from all over Mexico and the southern U.S., mostly resort hotels, cruise lines, and tour companies.
When we got back home to Kenwood RV Resort I climbed up on the roof of the trailer and swept off the tops of the slides. A lot of leaves and twigs and stuff had collected up there over the last couple of months sitting in one place. We did a bit more preparation for departure tomorrow morning. We went to have a final happy hour visit with John and Eve. I took the laptop to the clubhouse for a final session on Wi-Fi before we leave. I have no idea when I will next have access to the Internet.
After supper, I repaired a magic prop that broke on Christmas Day. Well, it's repaired, but imperfectly. I will try to buy a replacement, although magic supply shops are few and far between. I used a strong carpet stain remover to clean the terrible stains on the bedroom carpet from the Damp Rid container I knocked over a few weeks ago. The stains appear to be removed, but we'll see how it looks after a few days of oxidation. I know from experience that some stains keep reappearing after a few days of oxidation.
Today was our first truly healthy day of the year. And what great weather today. How wonderful to be in a place where one can be outside after 10:00 P.M. in the first half of January, comfortable in just shorts, no shirt. We're ready to begin our Mexico adventure tomorrow ! ! !
Saturday ; La Feria, Texas, U.S.A. to La Pesca, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Today was mostly cloudy and hot, very windy when we arrived at the beach on the Gulf Of Mexico at La Pesca. As we prepared for departure this morning our new friends John and Eve came to say goodbye. We left Kenwood RV Resort, drove south on FM 506, then east on Military Hwy. 281 to Los Indios where we met Kevin and Sandy at the Valero gas station. As we crossed the Free Trade Bridge from Los Indios, Texas to Lucio Blanco, Tamaulipas, I bought enough American cigarettes at Brady's Duty Free to last for our entire Mexico trip. On the Mexico side of the bridge, we were stopped and inspected by a Mexican customs & border guard. We drove a few hundred feet forward and were stopped and inspected again by two Mexican soldiers. Apparently Customs and the military work completely independent of one another in Mexico. After all the inspections we parked and went inside for an hour and a half of bureaucracy. We obtained tourist cards and vehicle importation permits. There were lots of forms to fill out, lots of documents we had to produce, lots of photocopying to be done and paid for, and lots of fees to be paid. All at different windows with different agents. While still at the border crossing we bought pesos. The exchange rate was not quite as good as what we got in Hidalgo a month ago, but close enough. We were already entering Mexico and I didn't want to do any more exchange rate shopping.
Finally, we hit the road in Mexico. South on Hwys. 98, 101, and 180, then east on Hwy. 70 to the little fishing village of La Pesca where we boondocked overnight on the beach. We drove 363 km. / 226 miles today, a bit too much. We passed through countless small towns and villages. Frequently there were people on the side of the road selling things ; bags of corn, bags of pecans, bags of pan dulce / cookies, bags of freshly caught shrimp. There were a number of legless beggars at stop signs and at large topes ( TOH pays ... large Mexican speed bumps found frequently in Mexico, at all town entrances, at all school zones, at all pedestrian crosswalks, and often for no discernible reason ). The oddest "seller" was a man on the side of the road who held his "merchandise" up above his head as we drove by ; a live fox ! ! ! Squirming like crazy as it was held up above the man's head. Why would somebody buy a live fox ? ! ? Why would somebody sell a live fox ? ! ? Welcome to Mexico !
The procedure for "Mexican passing" is like this ; the vehicle being passed moves halfway onto the narrow shoulder ( when there is one, which is infrequent ). The passing vehicle straddles the centre line while passing. Oncoming vehicles move halfway over onto their narrow shoulder. No need to wait for oncoming traffic to clear. Just move onto the centre line and begin to pass. Everybody moves over. I'm okay with that process. I've learned to cope with it quite well. But today ... first day in mainland Mexico ... I encountered "double Mexican passing". I began to pass a slower vehicle. He moved halfway over. I was on the centre line passing him. The vehicle behind me passed both of us ! The vehicle behind me went all the way over, half in the oncoming lane, and half on the oncoming lane's narrow shoulder ! ! ! There we were, three vehicles abreast, highway speed, entire highway's width filled by the three vehicles. I don't know about the other two guys, but I certainly was hoping that there wasn't going to be any oncoming traffic anytime soon. This wasn't done on a straight stretch of road with long visibility. This was just done on the basis, I assume, of "let's hope for the best", by the guy behind me.
There were a lot of wrecked cars coming from the United States down into Mexico. Entire vehicle transport trucks loaded with wrecked cars. And lots of wrecked cars being towed along behind another vehicle. Sometimes there were wrecked cars being towed along behind other wrecked cars that were being driven. There seems to be quite an industry in Mexico rebuilding wrecked American cars.
The highways we drove on today varied from excellent to fair to poor to atrocious ! From fresh, smooth asphalt with narrow but paved shoulders, to dirt and gravel trails. We travelled comfortably at 100 km./hr. and uncomfortably at 40 km./hr.. Welcome to Mexico ! Hwy. 70 passes through the little fishing village of La Pesca, then ... just becomes the sand beach on the Gulf Of Mexico. We are on the beach tonight on a sandspit between two long rock jetties.
Oh, for crying out loud ! He always catches me off guard on the beach at night ! I just took Bo for a late night bathroom walk along the beach. Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, FLIP ... and he's rolling on something dead !
Sunday ; La Pesca to Tampico, Tamaulipas
Today was mostly cloudy and mild. The beach at La Pesca is a very popular sport fishing location. La Pesca translates as The Fishing. There were many people fishing last night when we arrived, some fished at night, and there were many fishing again by dawn or shortly thereafter. The Mexican version of "a fishing weekend" is very different than our concept of one. Some small groups of men, and some families, were obviously fishing for the weekend, Saturday overnight to Sunday. But ... no campers, no tents, no facilities of any kind. They just slept in their vehicles.
The Limeys had difficulty leaving the beach this morning because their motorhome has such a wide turning radius, and with the toad attached, the motorhome can't be reversed. They eventually had to disconnect the toad, and back up the motorhome. We drove the arduous 50 km. / 30 miles west on Hwy. 70 back to the main Hwy. 180 at the village of Soto La Marina. We refilled with diesel at Pemex in Soto La Marina, then continued south on Hwy. 180. The road today was not in very good condition for a major highway, but hey, it’s Mexico. We made it to the large city of Tampico, where we found our way to Bonitto Inn Hotel, which was listed in our Mexican camping directory as having space available for a few RV’s. Well, that’s true, but ... ! Getting our large RV rigs in there was quite an ordeal. And we have electricity, no water, no sewer ... for 300 pesos ( about U.S.$25 ) per night ! That’s an outrageous price by Mexican standards. The electricity is only 15 amps, and we had to run long extension cords over to the motel units. Oh, well ... our caravan leader on last year’s trip down the Baja taught us that RV’ing in Mexico requires “Flexico”.
We were tired, and not particularly motivated to explore Tampico. We spent what little was left of the afternoon after our arrival sitting outside, drinking tea made by Sandy and eating Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada fruit cake supplied by Joanne. While Joanne prepared supper, I downloaded and processed some photos I took this morning. After supper I went to the hotel’s lobby and used their Wi-Fi signal to send and retrieve e-mail. And I dumped our shower’s “grey water” waste holding tank on the hotel’s lawn. For 300 pesos, I felt entitled ! While I was working on Wi-Fi Joanne and Sandy went to the large supermarket across the street. WOO-HOO ... Joanne found her beloved Yomi Lala ( chocolate milk drink ).
Monday ; Tampico, Tamaulipas to El Tajín, Veracruz
Today was cloudy and mild. We drove 328 km. / 205 mi., and it took 8 hours ! Today was, without a doubt, the most challenging driving I've done in 4½ years of full time RV travelling. And it's only our third day in Mexico.
This morning, before leaving the Bonitto Inn Hotel, with very difficult manoeuvering, I backed the rig over to where there was a water spigot and refilled our fresh water tank. With full fresh water, and empty shower waste tank, we are ready for boondocking for the next two nights.
We are using Mike & Terry Church’s Mexican Camping book as our bible. They explain that large RV’s are not allowed to drive through Tampico, and all that do are fined. So, following the guidance in their book, we drove around Tampico. It took about 2 hours to drive 40 km. / 25 miles. Terribly bad roads, large, rough topes frequently, through industrial waterfront areas. Lots of big, stinky trucks. I don’t think commercial trucks in Mexico get tune ups regularly, if ever. Once around Tampico, we had a couple of hours of driving through an area of tropical jungle, with many small towns and villages on the route. We stopped for lunch in a small village whose name I didn’t get. While Joanne prepared lunch, I tried to chat with three children waiting for their school bus. They spoke no English. I was able to tell them in Spanish that I was from Canada, and I gave them each a CANADA pencil. We carry pencils imprinted with CANADA and the Canadian flag to give to Mexican children, who seem to really appreciate getting a pencil from a gringo foreigner.
After lunch we drove through an area of mandarin orange orchards. We stopped at one of the many roadside stands to buy some freshly picked mandarins. WOW ! ! ! I’ve never had mandarins as sweet and juicy as this before ! The vendors wrap twine around the stems, and sell a long “string” of twenty mandarins for 10 pesos. That’s less than a dollar ! We stopped to refill with diesel on the outskirts of Tuxpan. The police officer hanging around the fuel pumps tried to “bum” a cigarette from me. I said no. As my friend John back in La Feria would say ... “buck a gringo” ! That’s our code for the objective that many Mexicans seem to have to “rip off” each gringo that they meet.
Three times today we drove through toll booths. Once we paid the same as Kevin and Sandy, once we paid more, and once we paid less. One of the things that really irritates me about Mexico is the inconsistency in application of "rules". They often seem quite arbitrary, as and when applied to gringos ! Buck a gringo !
We missed the turnoff to Poza Rica, seeing it just as we zoomed by. We had just enough time to tell Kevin and Sandy, who were behind us, on our two way radios. They made the turnoff and waited for us. We had to drive 12 km. before I could make a u-turn, and even then, a very difficult one. The worst ordeal ... indeed, nightmare ... of the day was driving through the city of Poza Rica during rush hour. The traffic was gridlocked, with vehicles a few inches away on all sides. It was stressful ! And I thought driving through downtown Montreal was bad ? ! ?
Once through Poza Rica we made our way to the El Tajín archaeological ruins site where we parked overnight in their parking lot, which obviously doubles as a cow pasture. After we got parked, a man from the archaeological site came over to collect an overnight fee from us. We deserved a bit of a “happy hour” so we got out our lawn chairs, and I poured myself a very stiff Canadian rye and Diet Coke. I don’t drink much, so one large drink was more then enough to relieve my stress. And then some ! There was a pack of three dogs roaming around the large parking lot / cow pasture. Typical Mexican dogs, medium sized, non-descript mixed breed, brown dogs. One was a female, and she came over to visit ... to the extent that Mexican dogs will interact with people. She lay down near us, interested but afraid. With much effort I managed to persuade her to come close enough to take a dog biscuit from me.
At dusk, Sandy noticed there were “glow worms” near the trees at the edge of the pasture. We call them fireflies. She had only seen them previously in New Zealand. We have them in Canada. I enjoyed chasing and catching them as a child. I took Sandy and Kevin over to the edge of the pasture and caught fireflies for them so they could see what they looked like up close. Maybe I shouldn’t have made that drink quite so strong ? HA HA HA !
We will probably spend two nights here, spending all day tomorrow exploring the El Tajín ruins. I think they’re either Aztec or Mayan. We’ll find out tomorrow.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm, a bit humid in the afternoon. We spent the day exploring the ruins of the ancient city of El Tajín.
This morning while I was outside waiting for everyone to get ready I was joined by a pack of six dogs. Eventually three came close enough to be petted, and then I couldn't get rid of them. Bo was very envious of their free roaming status, as he always is of Mexican dogs. Bo wants to be a Mexican dog, unleashed, roaming free in a pack. The six dogs obviously accepted Bo as worthy of joining their pack. They all came over and each urinated on the lowest step of the trailer. Bo didn't much like that.
The city of El Tajín existed from 900 to 1150 A.D.. It was a political and religious centre for the Totonac civilization. We wandered around the main part of the site, covering about one square kilometre. I got separated from Joanne, Kevin, and Sandy, so spent half the morning exploring on my own. Thanks a lot, folks ! ! ! The main building on the site was the Pyramid Of The Niches, a stone pyramid with 365 niches in the walls, one for each daily offering to El Tajín , the God Of Thunder and Lightning.
Just before lunch time we returned to the square at the entrance to witness a performance by Los Voladores. This ancient ritual of the Totonac people from the Papantla region takes place daily. Los Voladores / The Indian Flyers launch themselves from the top of a 100 foot pole and slowly descend, swinging in arcs around the pole, as the ropes tied around them and wrapped around the top of the pole unwind. One Voladore stands on the top of the pole and plays music on a small wind instrument and small drum while four Voladrores "fly" down.
Since I had become separated from the group, I had explored more than the rest of the group. They wanted to return for more exploring after lunch. I read and napped. When they all returned to our boondock camping site in the parking lot, I did some maintenance on our trailer, then helped Kevin do some maintenance on their motorhome. Kevin and Joanne did some trip planning for tomorrow. I took Bo out for a walk through the parking lot / pasture to visit a burro. Oh, boy ... Bo's never been in a campground with a burro before.
Joanne and I went for a long walk into the nearby small village. We wandered around, seeing the people, men dressed in traditional rural Mexican worker garb, white, baggy trousers pinched around the ankles, baggy white shirt, and straw hat. We looked at the homes and small businesses. About every third building was a small enterprise, usually an aborrote, a very tiny combination of convenience store, restaurant, and bar. We went into the only real restaurant in town and checked out their menu. We watched a man making a clay pot. We've always enjoyed getting away from the "tourism" and seeing the "real" place.
Wednesday ; El Tajín to Veracruz ( city ), Veracruz ( state )
Today was mostly cloudy and warm. We left the parking lot of El Tajín early this morning. We have found that travelling by RV in Mexico is excruciatingly slow. Poor roads, very poor signage, lots of towns and villages to pass through, and countless ( seemingly endless ) topes. Most of today was on Hwy. 180 heading south along the coast of the Gulf Of Mexico. Shortly after leaving El Tajín we passed through the old city of Papantla. Narrow, winding, congested streets made progress slow. We drove through areas of coconut plantations. We stopped in the village of Vega de Alatorre to see what the roadside vendors were selling. Coconut cookies ! Very, very good coconut cookies, made with shredded coconut, sugar, and a variety of fruit juices ; pineapple, lime, strawberry, and "con leche" / with milk. Just before noon, as we passed through the village of Santa Ana, people were standing in the middle of the road selling tamales. Fresh, still hot from the oven. I stopped and bought a bag of cuatro ( four ) tamales con pollo ( chicken tamales ) por vente ( for twenty ) pesos, about $1.50 ! Gee, a pack of tamales like that in the Rio Grande Valley was $6.49 ! We shared our tamales with Kevin and Sandy. Well ... and Teddy and Bo, of course. We leaned last year in the Baja that Teddy and Bo both looooove tamales. HA HA HA !
Much of the afternoon was spent driving along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico known as Costa Esmeralda / Emerald Coast. Little tourist towns along the beaches. Despite the horrible condition of the roads, there were many toll booths along the road. I wonder where all that money goes ? ! ? The tolls are killing us, costing $15 to $20 per day of driving. I had a dispute at one toll booth about what the man was charging us. The dispute ended when a Policia Federale wandered over with his machine gun. Kevin had exactly the same experience at the next toll booth over from us. Hmmmmm ... can you spell "mordida" ( bribe / kickback ) ? ! ? The Limeys had a cupboard door pop open, and a cup fell out and broke. We had a one gallon jug of water burst in a cupboard from the rough roads. We drove around the large city of Veracruz, and stopped for the night at a campground in a beach town suburb south of Veracruz called Antón Lizardo. The sites at Campamento El Rey ( King Campground ) have electricity and water only, no sewer. The electricity flows at less than 100 volts, and the water is intermittent. We had to search through a number of campsites using my electrical polarity tester before we found two that had correctly wired outlets. After getting set up in our sites we went for a long walk along the beach. First time Bo has been off leash in a long time. He really enjoyed running and romping on the beach, finding little starfish. Fortunately he decided after the first bite of the first starfish that they don't taste all that great ... do they, Bo ?
Shortly after we arrived at the campground, an Adventure Caravans group of 19 rigs arrived. I'm glad we arrived before them, and had our pick of sites. After our beach walk, we sat out in our lawn chairs and watched the commotion surrounding the large motorhome that had become stuck in the sand while trying to manoeuver into a site. We chatted briefly with a couple from Ontario who are with the caravan, about the trials and tribulations of travelling in a caravan. They are actually not a caravan of 19 any longer. One rig turned back to the Unites States this morning, after 4 days in Mexico. They had damaged their suspension from driving too fast, and had given up on Mexico.
It takes at least three things to RV through Mexico with a large rig. The rig must be in excellent mechanical condition, the driver's skills must be extremely good, and ... one needs a lot of courage to accept and survive the myriad of challenges of a journey through a third world country. Many, if not most, RV'ers are lacking in one way or another. And those who do have what it takes ( and some who don’t ) almost universally choose caravan travel. I'm proud of our abilities, enabling us to travel independently, with one other rig only. With hindsight, I'm very glad that it is Kevin and Sandy that we are travelling with.
DSK
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