Sunday was a pleasant day without tire or mechanical problems. I really liked the countryside we passed through, it reminded me of pictures I’ve seen of the savannah in Africa. When we had first entered Mexico there were very big truck farms like I had seen in Texas, and gradually they gave way to ranches with cattle – a sight I saw for the rest of the trip. The ranches are managed by Mexican cowboys – the real thing. I saw no ATVs on the ranches, but many men on horses working the cattle. Because I was following David, and did not want to lose him, I tried taking photos with my little point and shoot camera through my windshield, but none of the photos do the scale of the landscape, or the ranching activity, justice. We covered about 450 miles, quite an accomplishment because much of it was over primary highways that went through villages, and not expressways.
Every village had at least two speed bumps, which have to be taken very slowly. In every case there would be enterprising people standing in the middle of the road offering peeled oranges, or bottles of orange drink, or some fruit I did not recognize to those passing through. Interestingly, I see none of that in Belize, although the villages the roads pass through aren’t as densely settled as they are in Mexico.
In some towns there were many, many fruit stands selling big bags of oranges or other fruit. What was odd was that it appeared everyone was selling the same thing, so I’m not sure how they fared with so much competition. We’re talking 40 +/- stands. Here’s a photo of one out in the country as I drove by.
We travelled over three basic types of roads. The best were the toll roads, which were two lanes in each direction, with fairly limited access. For the most part these roads had comparatively (to other Mexican roads) smooth surfaces. Here’s a picture of one.
The next step down were roads that were about 3 lanes wide. In each direction there were 1-½ lanes, and if a car or truck wanted to pass you, or if there was a car passing another and approaching you, you just move over into the ½ outside lane. These roads were less smooth than the expressways, which are toll roads, and better than the local highways. Here’s a picture of one:
The roads that were the harriest to drive on were what I will call here the local highways. These roads are major intertown highways, but were one lane in each direction, and narrow to boot. They have no shoulders, and are built so that they are 15 to 25 feet above the surrounding landscape in the towns they pass through, and less so in less settled areas. I could not take a picture, I had to steer with both hands to avoid falling off the road. In settled areas where they were at the surrounding grade, they had speed bumps that make the Stevens Ave bumps wimpy. We drove until 9 or 10 that night, and passed one bad car accident and one overturned 18 wheeler on that type of road after dark.
I think Mexico has variations of paving machines that create bumps in the roads. When you are towing a trailer, you are very aware of bumps because of the effect on the ride, and these local roads were very bumpy. We travelled over some fairly recently paved roads, and they had bumps. I nearly lost control more than once, the remedy being to brake moderately to stop the swinging motion. We only travelled on the main roads, there were many paved and dirt roads leading off our route.
We finally stopped at a hotel in Monte Gordo, which is about 40 miles south of Poza Rica. The village was full of trucks that had stopped for the night, but I think the drivers were sleeping in their trucks because I think we were the only occupants of the hotel besides the owner, whose room was 3 doors from ours. Like the other hotels we stayed at, the beds were actually like low concrete tables with mattresses on them. But the room was clean, and we had a bathroom/shower. At that hotel there was no lip to contain the shower water in the shower area, and because the drain did not work faster than the shower, it resulted in a major puddle in the bathroom.
It was hard sleeping there that night because there was a speed bump right in front of the hotel. Trucks that did not stop for the night would use their engines to break through multiple gears as they approached the bump, and then power up again through multiple gears. The rooms were basic concrete, there was no sound deadening material anywhere, so the sound seemed amplified. I might have gotten 4 hours of good sleep.
A lifetime of living in Maine and only receiving information about the Mexican people from the US media did not prepare me for what I observed. The media makes you think that everyone on Mexico is in abject poverty, and wants to come to the US, if they haven’t already. Lately, the media has given the impression of open warfare along the border. Both are wrong. The presence of soldiers, and even the roadblocks, was reassuring, we never paid any bribes or received indications we were expected to. Almost all the cars I saw on the highways were late model cars, primarily Japanese brands, although it was fun seeing the VW beetles that are still being made in Mexico. My truck was probably one of the oldest on the road, which may mean the bumpy Mexican roads are a way to wear out vehicles faster. I saw lots of people working. I understand Mexico has the 12th largest economy in the world, and like the US, it has its poor and indigent, who look to the US for opportunity. But I saw happy people working and enjoying various levels of prosperity.
And so went day 19 – day 2 in Mexico.
Every village had at least two speed bumps, which have to be taken very slowly. In every case there would be enterprising people standing in the middle of the road offering peeled oranges, or bottles of orange drink, or some fruit I did not recognize to those passing through. Interestingly, I see none of that in Belize, although the villages the roads pass through aren’t as densely settled as they are in Mexico.
In some towns there were many, many fruit stands selling big bags of oranges or other fruit. What was odd was that it appeared everyone was selling the same thing, so I’m not sure how they fared with so much competition. We’re talking 40 +/- stands. Here’s a photo of one out in the country as I drove by.
We travelled over three basic types of roads. The best were the toll roads, which were two lanes in each direction, with fairly limited access. For the most part these roads had comparatively (to other Mexican roads) smooth surfaces. Here’s a picture of one.
The next step down were roads that were about 3 lanes wide. In each direction there were 1-½ lanes, and if a car or truck wanted to pass you, or if there was a car passing another and approaching you, you just move over into the ½ outside lane. These roads were less smooth than the expressways, which are toll roads, and better than the local highways. Here’s a picture of one:
The roads that were the harriest to drive on were what I will call here the local highways. These roads are major intertown highways, but were one lane in each direction, and narrow to boot. They have no shoulders, and are built so that they are 15 to 25 feet above the surrounding landscape in the towns they pass through, and less so in less settled areas. I could not take a picture, I had to steer with both hands to avoid falling off the road. In settled areas where they were at the surrounding grade, they had speed bumps that make the Stevens Ave bumps wimpy. We drove until 9 or 10 that night, and passed one bad car accident and one overturned 18 wheeler on that type of road after dark.
I think Mexico has variations of paving machines that create bumps in the roads. When you are towing a trailer, you are very aware of bumps because of the effect on the ride, and these local roads were very bumpy. We travelled over some fairly recently paved roads, and they had bumps. I nearly lost control more than once, the remedy being to brake moderately to stop the swinging motion. We only travelled on the main roads, there were many paved and dirt roads leading off our route.
We finally stopped at a hotel in Monte Gordo, which is about 40 miles south of Poza Rica. The village was full of trucks that had stopped for the night, but I think the drivers were sleeping in their trucks because I think we were the only occupants of the hotel besides the owner, whose room was 3 doors from ours. Like the other hotels we stayed at, the beds were actually like low concrete tables with mattresses on them. But the room was clean, and we had a bathroom/shower. At that hotel there was no lip to contain the shower water in the shower area, and because the drain did not work faster than the shower, it resulted in a major puddle in the bathroom.
It was hard sleeping there that night because there was a speed bump right in front of the hotel. Trucks that did not stop for the night would use their engines to break through multiple gears as they approached the bump, and then power up again through multiple gears. The rooms were basic concrete, there was no sound deadening material anywhere, so the sound seemed amplified. I might have gotten 4 hours of good sleep.
A lifetime of living in Maine and only receiving information about the Mexican people from the US media did not prepare me for what I observed. The media makes you think that everyone on Mexico is in abject poverty, and wants to come to the US, if they haven’t already. Lately, the media has given the impression of open warfare along the border. Both are wrong. The presence of soldiers, and even the roadblocks, was reassuring, we never paid any bribes or received indications we were expected to. Almost all the cars I saw on the highways were late model cars, primarily Japanese brands, although it was fun seeing the VW beetles that are still being made in Mexico. My truck was probably one of the oldest on the road, which may mean the bumpy Mexican roads are a way to wear out vehicles faster. I saw lots of people working. I understand Mexico has the 12th largest economy in the world, and like the US, it has its poor and indigent, who look to the US for opportunity. But I saw happy people working and enjoying various levels of prosperity.
And so went day 19 – day 2 in Mexico.
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