At Daniels Hotel in Guadalupe

Ok so Daniel's so cool, I had to give him a dual cameo! In the morning after an epic day (many more of those to come!) and staying at his hotel, I packed up and sat down and had breakfast while we talked.


Turns out he lived and worked in Mexico City for 30 years at an auto plant. It was all union, and sounded like he made a pretty good living. He has two sons still living there, but they don't do that kind of work I don't think. In fact though his English was a little rough, it sounded like the auto industry had been effected alot like ours, probably because they were making parts for ours! And like here, Toyota's and Honda's became the hot sellers. And like everyone seems to acknowledge, and he said,"they are good cars".


So he accepted a buy out and came to Guadalupe (a couple hours north of Veracruz) to own and run his hotel. He said while there are things he likes about Mexico City, like the fact you can get anything you want there, he doesn't miss the noise, pollution, or the traffic. It is so bad there pollution wise he said that you can only drive your car so many days a week, to help reduce smog. "20 million people" he says with a laugh. So he goes there one or two days a month on business stressing he comes back the same day, never stays. He likes it where he's at, he looks around and says "this is quiet, and peaceful". I would agree except being right on the main highway for Eastern Mexico with all the trucks gearing down as they enter town 20 hours a day is not exactly serenity. But I know what he means, for the most part it does feel pretty good. A small town feeling, though main street Mexico is a little different then main street U.S.A.

He also tells me that most of the farm workers in Mexico make about a 100 pesos a day, or about $10, for a long day of work (actually at the current exchange rate thats about $7.50 a day). He explains that is why there are so many Mexicans trying to get into the U.S. Of course thats not news to anyone. I worked for years off and on on some friends apple farm in Michigan helping them with harvest. If it wasn't for the migrant workers their crops probably would not get picked. I got along with most of them quite well, many of them were illegal, but really had nothing to lose. They didn't speak English, were living day to day, and really didn't have much of a future outside of the next job they could get. I did feel for them, many have been and still are exploited to some degree for being in a vulnerable position. I am a U.S. citizen and did work on farms off and on for awhile. The thing is you usually could never get any kind of health insurance, never get overtime, no matter how many hours you worked, and could never qualify for unemployment because so much of the work is seasonal. It is hard enough for an American to make a living working on a farm, you can imagine what its like as migrant worker, legal or illegal.

Of course this isn't to say all farms are that way at all, and things have improved a lot in a lot of different areas, pay wise, benefits etc. I guess I talk about this because like I said I have worked with migrants in the past, and understand a little of their situation, and being in Mexico and listening to Daniel talk of workers conditions reminds of what many of them face and why they risk it all to go north.

When I was in Texas I read an article about some Nicauragans that made it to a border town with the U.S. and were basically held against their will in a house. They had paid to be brought north, and were treated little better then slaves. They finally broke out of the house and ran into the village asking the locals for help. To many of the residents credit they banded together to hide them in their house away from their jailers and and the local authorities. In fact when the local authorities came to load them on a bus, the townspeople yelled for them to not get on the bus, that the local police were involved as well. So they didn't and stay'd with the townsfolk, apparently too many of them for the police to tangle with.

What happened after that I'm not sure, but I think it got the attention of national authorities who came in and took over. Only two of the "jailers" could be found, but they were to be put on trial with perhaps some of the local authorities. It was actually a heroic tale of the townspeople standing up for others against local corruption. A reminder again of how things can go in for alot of these people.






Its 8:30 in the morning and I can already feel the heat and I am soaked. It has gotten progressively hotter as I have come south. This morning feels more tropical then the last.

I am grateful for the rest and a safe place and the conversation. Daniel tells me there was a motorcyclist thru not too far back doing the same thing I was doing, though he was heading to Argentina. I say I maybe back thru in 5 weeks, and hopefully speaking better Spanish, we both laugh.


I ask him for a picture and we exchange business cards and email addresses. The nice thing about coming back is I'll have references on places to stay, and not to stay. Hotels will be a constant companion in my writings and travels at this point. For the most part they are have been safe and clean. I have had interesting contrasts in hotels. Some like Daniels have a cross and a picture of Jesus in their lobby, and the feeling is good about the place. Other places the owner greets you with a shot gun in his hand, one has faith in god apparently, while the other has faith in a weapon. Personally without making it a religous thing, I feel better about the guy with the cross (like Steven in Texas or Daniel) then the guy with the gun. Go figure!



For anyone travelling thru and wishing to find Daniels place, or contact him, his email is dbeniteze@hotmail.com ( I hope this is right the second e was hard to make out in his writing) and his place is The Hotel Sarita which is in Guadalupe about two hours north of Veracruz on 180. Of course the town is not on the map I have, but his place is the first hotel on the right as you come in from the north. I can only tell you its about an hour at least, south of Tuxpam, good luck!