In Tampico/Madera, we stopped at the car insurance office, as doubts had arisen whether anyone but David was covered by the insurance procured at the border. They checked things out and said we were all good. Also stopped at a bank there and changed money. But those two things, plus a little nursing time, took 2 hours out of the day.
And today, all the warnings of my Mexican friends about slow travel in Mexico came true! (our rate of travel has slowed down considerably) First there are the speed bumps. When you come into town, speed bumps slow you to nearly a stop. When there's a random place for people to cross the highway in town, speed bumps. And then there were places, not in town, where I didn't really see any reason for them, but nevertheless, speed bumps. But the speed bumps have their fun side, too. First, the reader must understand passing in Mexico. If you have someone coming up behind you wanting to pass, you slide over part way -or all the way- on the wide shoulder, to let him go by. IF oncoming traffic is paying attention (and they do), they slide over also, leaving plenty of room for the passing car (I like this system a lot, similar to European driving as well. I wish Americans could learn it). So, there's already an understanding that lanes are not absolute. But then out in the countryside, when there's a solid line of traffic, everybody trying to pass each other, and you come upon some little wide spot in the road with a business or two, and speed bumps appear, it becomes a free-for-all. With no oncoming traffic, our one lane spread into 3 or 4 lanes approaching the speed bumps, everybody trying to use them as a tool to get ahead of everybody else! Accelerating away from the speed bumps, cars go whizzing past on either side (this is a two lane highway). Craziness. And pretty comical.
Then the potholes. Long sections of the road today were as much pothole as they were highway. David was driving when we were on the worst of these sections, and was all over both lanes of the highway, as was everybody else, dodging holes and finding less rough surfaces.
Tonight we are in Poza Rica. Amy just mentioned that there doesn't seem to be any hot water in our bathroom. I talked to the guy at the desk and he says that it is a problem common to all the rooms, but hot water will arrive if we let it run for 10-15 minutes. Good enough, seeing as the hotel rate tonight is about half of what it was last night.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring a better rate of travel than we had today.
The Roads in Mexico from Darryl Smelser on Vimeo.
This is a mountain that caught my eye...looks volcanic to me.
And here's the updated road map, today's travel in green:
