December 27, 2006
Where should I start...................defensive driving, defensive driving, defensive driving. That's what we've been doing all day. It started with a 2-hour fiasco trying to leave Tampico. I got lost again and stayed lost, even after I tried getting directions several times. It's just been a madhouse of bumper cars fighting for position. Finally, I used a method I picked up on Horizons Unlimited and paid a taxi cab driver to lead us out of town. He charged us $5 (US), but Dick was so glad to have the escort he paid him $10. We would have never got out of there. The gps as well as the paper maps were totally useless. Immediately, when we left town, we went across a very neat and modern bridge. It was hard to imagine it being a part of the town we had just left. Just some more of life's contrast as my neighbor would say. In fact, I've been having plenty of contrast over the last two days. We're very fortunate to live in the country that we do. The roads were very rough today and the other drivers were very aggressive. Mexico's population must be 10 billion? We came up on three car accidents today. Caution is very important to our safety right now, and at the same time, it was a thrilling day. It took us all day to only cover 325 miles. I guess we stick out like a sore thumb to the Military police, because every time we passed an inspection they motioned for us gringos to pull-over. There were no problems, but it is time consuming. The temps started out in the 50's and lifted up to the upper 70's. One additional note, if you are planning a trip like this in the future, be sure and add more time to your trip. It requires lots of time to travel. I took many pictures today, but only a few survived. It's hard to be vigilant and take pictures too. There are many more that I would have liked to take.

Holiday season has everything real busy and Veracruz is no exception. We had expected to be farther along than this, but nightfall has arrived. We stopped by at least 6 hotels trying to find "acceptable" or available accomadations before accepting Posada del Sol for $600 pesos a night. One of the rejected was a no-tell motel that had a tunnel-like entrance and exit with an attendant walking freely in the courtyard of this compound-like complex. Apparently, you just drive up to the attendant and he takes your money and guides you right into a garage door to conceal your identity. It was very interesting, but didn't look too appropriate for the two of us. I've always heard that infidelitly is commonplace in Mexico?