Edgy Driving

Left Tampico at 8 AM. The first photo shows the very modern bridge across the bay at Tampico. 60 degrees F/ 16 degrees C in the morning. We drive through many rolling mountains. Many hills and valleys were covered in orange groves; everything was green, the orange harvest was in evidence everywhere. Big, big beautiful country.

We had a lot of bad roads in the morning (40 mph max). In the afternoon we had a lot of great roads (75 mph/ 120 k/h). Found those notorious topes (speed bumps). We had a few that were so big we scraped the bottom of the car no matter how slowly we crossed them. But they do the job. You see a sign that says 40 kph and you find a tope that ensures that you will wreck you car if you go faster than 40 kph. No cops required.

The driving is fun. It is not difficult but it keeps us on edge a bit since we have never driven in this country and we can only read half of the traffic signs. Well, we can read more than half of them by now; we are learning Spanish as we drive dictionary in one hand and map in the other.

We had our first cervasa (beer) since entering Mexico (sorry to say) at a truck stop this afternoon. Photos attached. Watched two hombres change truck tires on the side of the road with a 10 foot wrench; no air hammers required.

Sugar cane is king of the crops as we come through Veracruze on the coast and turn into the center of Mexico and it is being brought into market in huge trucks. We drove 387 miles today pulling into Cosamaloapan for the night behind a wagonload of sugar cane illuminated by flaming torches at each corner of the wagon.

We are at N 18 degrees, 21 minutes, 59 seconds and W 95 degrees, 48 minutes, 52 seconds for you Goggle Earth freaks. The plan for tomorrow is to get within an hour of the Guatemalan border.