Sunday, April 20, 2008

 

Day 10 Saturday April 19







typical of the homes we saw along the way and many restaurants looked like this.....


Left Saltillo, Mexico at 10:45

Temp: 30 degrees C

Winds light & Sunny

Today was our first full day on the free roads instead of the toll highways of mexico. It’s much slower going and very dusty. We traveled half the distance in the same time as we usually covered and were constantly dropping from 80km max to 60 to 40 for extensive periods of time. The upside is that we got to see parts of mexico that tourists don’t normally see. The poverty is incredible! It’s a severe hardscrabble life for the average Mexican.

We’ve also moved on to bigger fare in roadkill….cattle, dogs, cats, burros….

The heat is oppressive when we stop for any period of time in our riding gear but at least there aren’t any bugs yet, and we haven’t hit the rainy season yet!!

We rode through some amazing mountains today and pulled into San Luis Potosi around 8pm. We’ve decided to stay in an upscale hotel tonight to get the internet connection.

Kilometers - Daytrip: 457 total: 5202

Gas: $28

Lodging: La Posada $71(real breakfast for 3 included)



# posted by Richard and Susie @ 4:40 AM 2 Comments
 

We're in Mexico... Baby !


Just inside the Mexico border

Day Nine, Friday April 18

Left Laredo Texas at 09:30

Temp: 20 degrees C

Winds light & Sunny

Took Chloroquin

First order of business was to obtain Mexican motorcycle insurance from Sanborns at a cost of $469; next, the International Bank of Commerce to obtain pesos….then off to customs in Mexico and a fairly expeditious process of acquiring our tourist cards at $27 US and, next, the motorcycle importation permit at $313.93….Cheap huh???!!

The first 200 KM into Mexico was a repeat of southern Texas…Boring!....flat and nondescript landscape; but the WOW! Factor kicked in before monterrey when we first caught sight of the Sierra Madres. Now we were seeing cactus in large bright yellow blooms, Joshua trees and white flowering bushes with a background of highly sculpted canyons and peaks.

We made a serious mistake going into Monterrey in suppertime traffic, the third largest city in Mexico with notorious, intense traffic. We were an hour trying to find our way out!

Escaped on the “cuota” (toll highway-$17) to Saltillo by 7pm where we stopped for the night, had dinner and cervezas. Fajitas con pollo, nachos and salsa with quacamole for two and 3 beers cost us a total of $11.

So far the people have been really nice, extremely patient, and helpful!

My Spanish, I fear, is woefully inadequate. Mexican Spanish has a very different cadence and the inflections and many of the words are different from that spoken in Cuba!

Back to the books and dictionaries for me for a while yet….

Kilometers - Daytrip: 326 total: 4968

Gas: $27.90

Lodging: Mario’s Inn $55


# posted by Richard and Susie @ 4:33 AM 0 Comments

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