Mexico!

After a brief scare last night when the water pump started running because the water heater over heated and the relief valve blew, we were packed as planned (with hot water since it’s a built in safety thing that just has to be reset, we discovered) and were on the road early this morning. We hit the Mexican immigration office before 6:00 this morning and got our 6-month tourist visas, then got vehicle permits for our truck and trailer. That was a little more involved than we expected, and took over an hour, but we think it was because the official was trying to save us money, and was trying to figure out a way not to register the trailer as a motor home, since it doesn’t have a motor. However, there apparently isn’t any option for trailer in their system, so since it was only a matter of a few dollars, our trailer now has a permit to remain in Mexico for 10 years. I can’t really imagine what it will look like in 10 years, but whatever condition it’s in, it’s allowed to be in Mexico.

We got through Matamoros, the town on the other side of the Rio Grande from Brownsville, and went through the inspection checkpoint with only a brief stop. Through all of these stops and registrations, nobody asked to even see a rabies certificate on any of the dogs, and they were all very visible jumping around and barking in the truck. We were then on the open road, which took a little getting used to. The road we traveled most of today is considered an interstate, but it’s basically 3 lanes, with 1 ½ on either side – a northbound lane, a southbound lane, and a shoulder about the width of half a lane on a dotted line. When somebody wants you to pass them, they pull onto the shoulder, straddling the dotted white line, and put on their left blinker. The overtaking car pulls as far as necessary into the oncoming traffic lane, and if any cars are coming, they move over the dotted line on their side to give the passing car room to pass. It’s all very civilized, and doesn’t appear to be as dangerous as it sounds. Traffic is pretty light, so we only saw the situation where two oncoming cars were trying to pass at the same time a few times, and every time one or both of them just moved back in line behind whatever they were passing, which was us in those cases. There are also some rules with left turns that are very different from what we’re used to, but they also make sense when you see the roads – like when somebody wants to turn left down a sideroad, they pull to the right, then wait for traffic to be clear in both directions, then make the turn. It makes sense because the edge of the road frequently drops off onto the sideroad, so the turning car has to go very slowly, so rather than get rear ended and/or broadsided, they wait until the coast is clear and then take their time.

We’d heard horror stories about the condition of the Mexican roads, but so far, 300 miles into Mexico, we haven’t found them to be true. The roads aren’t US interstates, and there are occasional potholes and bumpy patches, and horses, cows, and burros are just wandering around everywhere, but we maintained a pretty steady 50 mph without a problem, and just covered the miles. It becomes very clear why night driving is discouraged – you wouldn’t see the holes, you wouldn’t see the animals, and the shoulders are frequently nonexistent or drop off so that if you were to get one wheel off the road, you’d probably end up upside down in a ditch, which could happen pretty easily if you panicked when one of the big high speed buses came at you. We did see a lot of dead goats and one dead burro (Louie was very upset, he wants Tilly to know), so apparently the collisions do happen. The token "Mexican Racoon" dead in the road was also spotted this morning, so they aren't just a USA road kill phenomenon.


The view at our lunch stop - very open, very beautiful, lots of ranches with mountains in the distance




We’d also heard that a group called the Green Angels patrols the highways and provides help to stranded motorists. We weren’t sure if that was true or not, but 18 miles into Mexico, at 8:00 in the morning, we were passed by a Green Angel. The truck is running fine, so we hope not to need them, but it’s good to know they’re real. Regarding the truck, Tom is delighted with the auxiliary tank in the bed of the truck. We found out in Texas that it’s recommended that a double fuel filter system be installed for driving in Mexico. If our only option was to fill our tanks at the PeMex stations, we wouldn’t be able to do much about that at this point besides carry an extra for when one clogged, but we’re filtering all the fuel we get in Mexico through the auxiliary tank, which has its own filter, and provides the second filter for the Mexican fuel. It’s a little weird to use it – we stop, Tom turns the valve to fill the front tank, and then we drive along and watch the fuel gauge go up! It takes about a half hour to fill, and we’ve been using the Sanborn’s guide to make sure that there are two towns about a half hour apart to stop to turn it on, and then off, because as I said above, there aren’t any shoulders on the roads for really long stretches, and it would be way too dangerous to just stop and get out, even though it only takes a minute (but Tom did stop in the middle of a long straight stretch at one point to turn off the fuel transfer).

We crossed the Tropic of Cancer around noon today, marked by a big yellow ball with a line around it on the side of the road. I guess it’s significant, although we’re not sure why. (Edit - here's the Wikipedia line to its significance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_of_Cancer). We made it to Tampico, where we’re camping in a field in front of a hotel where they allow campers to pull in and plug into the hotel, and which(obviously, since I’m doing this) has wireless internet access. So far, despite our limited Spanish, and the limited English of most of the people we’ve talked to, we’ve managed to do okay and get everything we need. The people we’ve met have all been super friendly and helpful, and very willing to take the time to talk to us and figure out what we’re trying to say.

Tomorrow we’re off and down the Emerald Coast, heading towards Veracruz. We’re not sure how far we’ll get, since the beaches are supposed to be beautiful, and we’re told there are a bunch of places where you can camp on the beach. We’ll let you all know where we end up when we can get on line again!