We woke up early again this morning –
6:00 am.
We got ready and packed up the car, and the dogs got another walk in the big grassy yard – Cejas ran and Missy rolled and Bella sniffed everything that she could.
I found out that I had lost the “N” from my Crocs when we were walking back from dinner the night before, so I looked high and low for that, but couldn’t find it.
So, now the fun is gone.
(Foreshadowing….)
I can’t have FUN without an “N”, and now it is just FU… Not a good portend for the day.
We got on the highway and went to get gas. It was rush hour in Tuxpan, with people in the cars going every direction, without signaling, and lots of honking, and schoolchildren decked out in their plaid uniforms. Mothers had their little ones by the hand and would just walk out into moving traffic. I was amazed and dumfounded. It looked like something that you would see in China. But don’t ask me, I’ve never been.
We got gas at a Pemex station (the only kind there is since it is a government monopoly) and the attendant that was pumping it is learning English, so he and Bob were practicing their respective new languages together. After Bob finished pumping gas, I went to the OXXO store that was there to get some breakfast items for Bob, and they had DOG FOOD! I bought two small bags, so we will be sure not to run out before Akumal and I was ecstatic! I got Bob some muffins and some pan dulce (sweet bread, but not the brain type) and went skipping back to the car, holding a bag of dog food up for him to see. He was waving and clapping. I’m sure the locals were wondering what kind of loco gringos we are to be so excited and happy about dog food.
We set out. After we got through traffic, we found ourselves on this huge bridge over a wide river. This river is bigger than the Rio Grande, but heck if I know the name of it. And the map that we have lists NOTHING! We had seen a stained glass display depicting a river and a big bridge and a town outside of the gas station, but didn’t understand what it was – it was Tuxpan. As we drove on the toll road, we went through some more beautiful mountains, and orchards, and palm trees. It’s funny to see palm trees in the mountains, but it is a rainforest up there. As we came around a bend in the road, a big mountain rose up to our right, and there were sunbeams streaming down on it. Both of us thought that it was so beautiful (the picture doesn’t do justice) and we thought that it reminded us of Guatemala, from all the times that we have never been before. We continued through the mountains and then came to a flatter area. All of a sudden, there on our left, was a huge body of water – the Gulf of Mexico!
We drove along the Costa Esmeralda for a while, passing the typical Mexican gift shops and tschotke places, and some old, funky hotels and houses. This part of the trip reminded me of Florida from back in the 70’s before it was destroyed with high rises and developments. It reminded me a lot of Cocoa Beach, only with no space center. We pulled down a side road and walked down to the beach, leaving the dogs in the car. After our experience on Sunday, when we pulled into a gas station for a potty break, had Cejas and Missy out to do their business and found that there were two resident dogs there, we have learned to check the area before we get the dogs out of the car. Luckily, we got them back into the car before anyone became really interested in anyone else. Anyway, we walked on the beach and took some pictures, and of course, there were some beach dogs lying there, but I left them to enjoy the beach… I can’t fit any more in my car! Then it was off again… we passed a lighthouse and then back into the mountains, but you could see the Gulf on the left and it remided us a lot of Kauai. We passed through banana plantations, and plantain farms. The road was winding, but traveled well. We were making great time and were on schedule to hit Veracruz about 12:30. We would make Palenque in plenty of time!
When we got to the toll road for Veracruz, there was a police road block set up. We had gotten stopped at one on Sunday so we had our papers ready and our stories straight… we are driving to Veracruz and then on to Playa del Carmen to spend three months. We’re rehearsing saying this in Spanish (well, I am at least, anyway) and the nice policeman tells us (in Spanish) that there was an accident at the Pemex refinery on the road to Veracruz, and the toll road is closed. He tells us how to find the “free” road, so we head back following his directions. Along with 4,000 of our closest travelers. We managed to follow the signs and get on the right road (no easy task here) and then found ourselves in the mother of all traffic jams. Going up one of the mountains, a gas tanker truck had broken down (on the other side of the road) so traffic could only move in one direction at a time. We sat in the traffic for an hour and a half. Before we got stuck in the traffic, we traveled down a road that ran through country side full of wildflowers. There were hundreds of butterflies swirling around, twirling in the air like confetti. Yellow, orange, white, monarchs… all fluttering and flitting back and forth. So pretty! Hard to get a picture of them, but I tried. I’ve never seen so many butterflies at one time in my life.
After the traffic jam on the side of the mountain, we then came down the other side and followed the signs for the bypass that both Shirley and Redbeard had told us to take. We found the bypass (Paso del Torro) and started down that… only to run into a military checkpoint. Out of the car came Bob and me, while the dogs remained inside, and one of the officers started searching – the glovebox, the mapbox below my seat… he went to open the back door and I’m yelling “NO!!!!” and Bella started howling and that seems to be a good way to get them to stop searching! I explained to them as best that I could that Solavina would jump out and run away, and she doesn’t like other dogs, and the dogs at the house behind us were barking and she would run over there and start a fight…all in my broken Spanish. I think at one point instead of trying to tell them that she would bite the other dogs I told them that she was dead. By that time they were just ready to get rid of us. Back into the car we went, and off again. We traveled for about another 45 minutes, through hills and flat plains, and then another checkpoint. Out of the car again, but we have the routine down pat now… To Villahermosa then onto Playa del Carmen, no the dogs don’t bite, oh, please don’t open that door, the dogs will run out. We have nothing illegal or to hide, but having your car searched is still unnerving. Especially when it is being done by teenagers with machine guns. Back into the car we went again, and then off… we found the bypass and skirted around Veracruz – never even saw the city – and then stayed on the “libre” (free) road when the bypass ended, instead of getting on the toll road… we wish someone would have told us to stay on the toll road! It took us five and a half hours to travel the free road… it’s basically a paved goat path (and even that is questionable in some parts) that is two lanes, that winds up and down over mountains, around bends, and through these little tiny towns, all of which have a pedestrian crossing and speed bumps. You can go about 80 miles an hour for about 10 miles, and then you are back down to 5 miles an hour over the crosswalk and the speedbumps. Who in God’s name decided to put basically interstate highways through the middle of little villages?? It is like driving on an interstate in the US but at every exit, there is a cross walk and speed bumps… so every 10 miles, you are slowing down to nothing. Add in the trucks and buses that can’t climb the hills and that you either can’t pass because of traffic and danger, or won’t let you pass, and you have a guaranteed disaster on your hands. There was no way that we were going to make Palenque today and we really didn’t want to try to get there in the dark, so we decided to try to find a hotel/motel in Minatitlan. It looked like a pretty big city on the map – it was printed bigger and darker than the rest. So, off we go towards Minimousetown (as I ended up calling it because I couldn’t pronounce it and got sick of trying). The town is a disaster. First, it’s a huge city, not a town. Second, there are no motels in the city, and the hotels all seem to be residential hotels, or the kinds that won’t rent a room to an American. We drove around looking for a motel and got utterly and completely lost. I asked some women how we got back to highway 180 and they gave me directions that I couldn’t understand… so I told Bob to get to a Pemex station and ask them. By this point, I am in tears. All I can think is that something awful is going to happen and I’m going to lose all of the dogs. While Bob was asking for directions, one of the customers overheard him and told him that he was going the way that we needed to go, and to just follow him. He was in a red VW bug, so we followed him through twisted streets and strange intersections and took turns that we never would have found. At the entrance to the highway that we needed, he pulled over and put his flashers on and I rolled down the window and thanked him and he wished us Buen Viaje (good travels). Then he turned around and went back into town – so the sweet guy wasn’t even going in our direction, he was just being a good Samaritan and led us poor lost sheep to our path. We got back on the highway and decided to reach Coatzacolcos, which is on the Gulf Coast. Back at 3:00, when we were just finishing up the traffic jam and had no idea how long of a drive we had ahead of us, I had this little romantic notion that we could go there and spend the night on the beach and have a romantic dinner and a romantic evening. WRONG!!! By this time, it was after 8:00 and it was DARK and we really didn’t want to be on the highway any more than we had to be. We decided to head toward Cocacola (our name for it) and to stop at the first motel that we saw along the way, and just not tell them about the dogs. So, about five minutes out of Minniemousetown, we see a hotel – Holiday Motel. We pulled in and Bob got out and asked if there were any rooms available… the guy told us yes, number 24. So we drove down to 24. It has a garage in front and I’m thinking, fancy! The guy tells us that is is $300 pesos ($30 US) and is that ok? Bob told him that the dogs are going to stay in the car, but we can tell that he doesn’t believe us. So, we check into the room and unlock the door… it’s a bordello. X-rated movies on the TV, soft music playing, all the trappings of a romantic (?) evening. Yeah, that’s the first thing on our minds right now… we’re practically pulling our hair out from being stressed out over being lost! We put the dog beds and the dogs in the room, fed the dogs, and settled down and watched stupid American movies with Spanish subtitles. We were pretty much out of food, but neither of us had much of an appetite after our “adventure.” We weren’t feeling too romantic, either, after 13 hours in a car, and being lost, and following trucks over a goat path through every small town that there is. So, we spent the night in a bordello. It didn’t bother any of us. I was ready to sleep with the dogs in the Sorriano’s parking lot.
Tomorrow, we are going to drive to Palenque – hopefully only about 4 hours – tour the ruins and spend the night there, and then head over to Akumal on Wednesday. Wish us luck!
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