Mexico day 2, A day at the Races

After the first day I thought I was going to be able to make good time in Mexico. The reality of just how hard this trip could be, and how much I have to learn about travelling down here became obvious.

As I said in my last log I stopped about 120 miles north of Tampico on the Gulf Coast my first day. In the morning I headed out and got close to Tampico looking for the highway heading to Veracruz, the next big city doen the coast. As I got closer to Tampico there was suppose to be a road going off to the right that went around the city and headed south. I got the first turn right with the right sign, but then my problems with directions began. Often with Mexican Highways the highway going into town is numbered the same as the highway going around the town. In the U.S. if a freeway runs thru a city, it will be the main number of the freeway like I 35, any alternative routes around the city will be like 35w, or 35e. You know that it will hook up with the main one eventually. In Mexico not only are both routes the same number but if you take the one going into the city your a hundred more times likely of getting lost because while your first exit might say Veracruz and you take that, your next exit to Veracruz will not say Veracruz, it will say the name of another town which is likely not even on the map. So there is no way of knowing the exit or turn you just passed was the one you needed. It may or maynot have a number on it, or sometimes it may have the highway symbol, but there's no numbers in the symbol to let you know what road it is. Good maps are hard to find, and even good ones can have the wrong highway number on them. In fact I remember going into a gas station, pointing to my map, and saying Mexico. and the lady thought I was asking for directions to Mexico City. No matter how much I pointed to the map, and said Mexico she just didn't understand. I gave up some such attempts of communication after that.

So this leaves you with asking directions from someone who dosn't understand a word your saying but if I can pronounce the name of the city right, or show them on a map of where I want to go, they can at least, thru gestures (sometimes wild ones!) at least get me a couple of turns closer. One of the things I do feel badly about is not speaking the language. Most people have been very helpful and have try'd to understand what I was asking, it was just too hard to communicate. But I kept trying. Thru sense of direction, asking for directions, intuition, trial and error, I have gradually made my way along. I have gradually gotten better at it, but unless you have really detailed maps, which I'm not sure you can even get, or in my case afford for every country I'll pass thru, you just have to really pay attention.

The things that have slowed me down the most on this trip, and not necessarily in order are: getting lost, speed bumps, construction zones, roads that should be construction zones, heavy traffic with trucks all slowing down for these speed bumps, toll booths and really just bad roads. There also is an endless amount of small towns you go thru, like every 10 to 15 miles, you have to slow down because they have huge speed bumps. Sometimes 10 or 20 in a row and you have to come to a complete stop to get over them. Many times their not even marked so you have to pay attention. I don't know how many times I was cruising along and had to just about skid to a stop because of a speed bump. Many of them I would bottom out on their so big. Mexico has found the perfect answer to not having traffic lights out in the country. Bumps you can't ignore!

Also these speed bumps are a center of local commerce. Since everyone has to almost stop to get over them, street vendors selling fruit, water, flavored water, anything really will all come up to your vehicle and try to sell you something. This is pretty common in Mexico and Central America, street vending between cars. All this adds to the fact that getting cross country quickly in Mexico is not possible on the roads. I've learned making good time on this trip is going to be more the exception then the rule. And I guess really, making good time is a matter of perception really, here it means something different then in the U.S
In Mexico you can have just great stretches of road and be cruising along at 60, for about twenty minutes. Then you either run into a town, toll booth, bad road or something. In fact so much of the trip and in a sense, the tropics are like that. What ever is happening, good or bad, it will change. If not in minutes, probably in a few hours. You can be going along in the morning making great time, and in the afternoon find yourself in a thunderstorm surrounded by trucks going 5 mph for an hour or two. Followed by a great road, clear skies, and beautiful scenery, until the next change.

If you could make an overview map of Mexican roads you would probably find an equal amount of good paved roads to an equal amount of construction and roads that need repair. This is a guess of course since I've only been on 1200 miles, but then throw in the towns, speed bumps, toll boothes, mountain and city roads and I would say maybe a third of any cross country trip could be spent going more then 50 miles an hour.

So I'm just north of Tampico thinking I took the right road, and I did but somewhere there is another major highway heading south to Veracruz, that I absolutely can't find. And I have a pretty good sense of direction (that usually lets me know I'm lost) and I also was a cab driver at one point for 7 years. I'm using every skill I know and I can't find this road. Its funny just before my first toll booth someone pulls up next to me and points to my back tire, I can't figure out what their saying and they drive on. Someone else try's to tell me something too. Again, what a treat to speak the language of the country your in! They drive off too. So I come to my first toll road.

A word about these toll roads. One is their not everywhere in Mexico. In fact if you look at the map their spread out and concentrated only in certain parts of the country. Second you would think like in the U.S. a toll road would signify controlled access, good roads, and high speeds. To some degree all of these are true. They also mean construction zones, terrible roads, alot of stops, and really can be expensive. Like in some cases I might have spent 6-10 dollars to go a hundred miles. But the vast majority of these toll roads were on the central east coast of the gulf where there is only one highway for the entire coast, all the way to the Yucatan from what I was told. Not only was this some of the heaviest traffic I ran into in Mexico, it was where all the toll roads were.

Ok so I stop, pay my first toll which is 20 Pesos or something (about a $1.50) and then pull off at a little stop to the right. A guy comes out and tells me I have a chain dragging from my back wheel. Thats what the other drivers were trying to tell me! Its my lock I put on at the hotel the night before which I forgot was on and I drove off an snapped it. I'm not use to locking it up I forgot it was even on. I was lucky it didn't do any damage to the bike.

So I thank him for that and I decide to push my bike back to the hut where they have a restaurant. He helps push me back. One thing here is when people offer to help you, unasked for, they still expect you to pay them something... I think I gave him two Pesos or something later, he wanted five.

I went in, ordered my first breakfast in Mexico. My Spanish lacking, I had to think quick! My mind raced back to my time in Seward and the Seward Bakery. Ouevos Rancheros, fried eggs with rancheros sauce and refried beans with tortillas. I used to eat that all the time when I lived in Seward, Ak. and thats good, because I will be eating them a lot now. And of course bottled water to drink.

Ok so I'm on my way, I drive about 20 miles and realize I'm on the road to Mexico City. The place with 20 million people, clogged streets and pollution. The one place I don't want to go and get caught it. It could take days to get across that city. So I turn around and back track back to the only place I could have lost the trail. On the way back I see them towing an SUV away after driving straight into the back of a semi tractor trailer loaded with concrete bricks. The car was scrunched up in half and the trailer wasn't even dented. It was a good reminder, but really I didn't need any. Drivers down here for the most part drive fast Very simple... drive fast. Its like its so impossible to make any kind of good time going anywhere that when you can drive fast, they really drive fast, where ever possible

So I'm back to where I was and began making a wide loop south into the city hoping to find the highway to Veracruz. Reason says it has to be out there. One good thing about Mexican roads is there are so few that actually go long distances that as long as your heading in the right direction you have a chance of finding the right one, or only one. However here I'm simply getting deeper and deeper into a big city and all the traffic. And I know I'm not where I want to be. Not unlike driving in a big city anywhere else, your afraid of missing a turn, or being in the wrong lane, this was no different. All I could do was follow the traffic and finally find a familiar sign, unfortunately it was for Victoria, the way I had just come from, but at least I wasn't lost anymore.

I finally stopped at a gas station and got the usual hand gestures after showing them my map and saying Veracruz. Puente (spelling may be off) is Spanish for river, it has been the one direction I heard many times. Go over the river and hang a left. Ok I got you. So I take that left and suddenly I'm approaching that same toll booth again. The same lady takes my same $1.50 again (20 Pesos) and looks at me like you again. I explain I'm lost and looks at me like, thats no good. I agree and drive off. I take the same exit I did before, but this time I stop at another gas station. I get the what becomes usual, and good for me because at least I understand it, over the puente (river) and hang a left. This time I got it and I'm heading in the right direction. This happens to be a toll road as well, I pay, and then it turns into a construction zone and I'm stuck in the middle of these trucks, in the hot sun waiting to go somewhere. The road is grooved hard gravel and I'm having a hard time even holding the bike up straight. And I'm just sweating, I have no sign yet telling me this was the right turn just my sense of direction, I'm out of choices, and I did cross the Puente as I was told to do, so this has to be it. And here I just wasted nearly two hours and 40 miles at least, going in a big circle.

The trucks start rolling and finally we hook up with another main road. I just follow them but quickly enough there's another y in the road. No sign, nothing. I take a right and end up in a small village. Now before I get lost again I turn around to go back to the y, and guess that the left is the right way. Guess! How many times will I do that. Well it is and eventually hooks up with the main road coming out of Tampico heading to Veracruz. The one I was looking for to begin with. If I come back this way I'm going to follow that road right into Tampico and find that damn thing. And probably get lost again!

Ok so now heading south absolutely not wanting to get into any big cities anymore, you just waste time and their too confusing. But I feel I've already wasted a good part of the day getting this far. The road now is slow and winding, no breakdown lane for most of it, and lots of trucks. This is a road that should be approached at 45 to 50 miles an hour. Yet everyone including trucks are going seventy. I just let them pass as best as I can and if there's the slightest chance of a successful pass before the next turn they will try it. To say this is stressful driving is an understatement. No time to enjoy the road, scenery, or anything. At one point we come upon a tanker truck that is half off the road, with no shoulder there's not a lot of place to go. Its at a 45 degree angle and in danger of tipping over. Probably ran off trying to avoid someone coming the other way. Traffic amazingly slows down for this event, but only for a moment.

I notice the Police drive by non chalantly and seem to have more important business to attend to. There is really no traffic control or flag person or anything else happening to help the situation, and the Police drive right by. Now I don't want to say anything about the Mexican Police for so far they have left me alone. But I have yet to see them do anything, and maybe this is a sign of a good policing, but I have my doubts.There is a small building in most villages that is located at the end of town which is the Police Station. They are often parked out in front watching people drive by. I have never seen them pull anyone over, in fact the craziest drivers often pass them with no response. They never arrive on a scene of an accident, direct traffic or assist. Like I said I havn't seen them do anything, which may make them the perfect police, I don't know. Later down the road there was another accident which looked more like a fender bender. This was the third accident of the day I saw.

At one point I crossed a small bridge south of Tampico and stopped on the bridge to take pictures. It was a big river that had some big ships docked in it and also small flat bottom boats the locals use for fishing. Many of the houses were built right on the water front. Someone came up and wanted to talk about my bike but I said I didn't speak Spanish, that was that unfortunately, and they walked away.

Its interesting with so many of the small towns, once you get off the highway, the roads are more like cobblestone streets, or brick, very narrow, and you realize the villages themselves can stretch for a long way back with no street signs or anything. A world known really only to the locals, and the hardy traveller who ventures in. I don't think its so dangerous as much as rough on the bike and a waste of time looking for something, with no landmarks or street signs, even if you did know the language. So if you feel like a spectacle on the highway going thru these towns, which I often do, imagine how it feels when you do venture into the heart of these villages, you feel your going somewhere no bike has gone, or gringo may have ever gone.

I got to a town called Tuxpan later in the day and wanted to get something to eat. I got into town ok, ate something at a restaurant on the water front, took some pictures, tried to head out of town to look for a hotel and promptly discovered I was lost again. The third time that day. I stopped and asked for directions and got the proverbial over the Puente, (river) again (thank god there isn't any woods to go thru!). And finally found my way out, but was about ready to turn around and go back again after 20 miles when there was a sign for Veracruz and another toll road. At least I was on the right road. It seems these feelings of relief and at least I'm on the right road again are always short lived. Soon to be replaced by the next challenge.

I was determined not to drive past dark that night, but again not having good maps to go by and not knowing whats really out there, I ended up driving well into the dark on very narrow roads with trucks roaring by me at seventy mph while I looked for a hotel.

At one point I came around a curve into a residential area or something and there was probably 40 or 50 teenagers in their school uniforms (all the girls wear skirts, knee high socks and dress shirts and the boys wear dress shirts, ties and slacks, almost like Catholic school use to be here), all walking along this narrow road in the pitch black with trucks roaring by at 60 mph a few feet away. I couldn't believe it. To have a school outing on a pitch black highway........or whatever they were doing I have no idea. In ways death seems a closer a companion here, and maybe in ways that makes it safer. There's no room for errror for many of these people. Me either...

I had already seen one dead donkey on the side of the road, and with most of the livestock apparently having free range (they give a new meaning to the word free range down here) you can find anything anywhere at any given time. Even in the middle of a big city, on a two foot median between two lanes of traffic you can find a horse grazing.

Also in this part of Mexico in every village I came to I kept seeing the same looking dog come out to greet me. It kind of looked like a cross between a greyhound and a hound, kind of a skinny mutt. It was like the same DNA had been passed down in these villages for hundreds of years. Each dog looked exactly the same! Either that or the dog was running ahead of me and beating me to the next village. Which at the speed I was going was very possible!

So then it began to rain. With hardly any place to pull over and my new goggles not doing well, plus I had to get some rain gear on, or get soaked. I had no choice but to pull over with my emergency flashers on, in the breakdown lane and hope I didn't get run over. I did manage to get my jacket on and start moving again but it was raining so hard and I couldn't see anything with the oncoming lights, and like most of Mexico, there was no place to pull over. No where.

I kept moving a little and I saw a bus stop with its cover on it and I thought about going back to it and spending the night there, but of course there was no place to turn around, I was really almost beat at this point, like I was overmatched. I looked up ahead and I could see some lights in the distance, like a mirage I was hoping they were town lights, or they could be just more truck lights coming at me. Then I realized they were town lights and as I made it to that town, the first hotel on the right I pulled into. No shopping for the right place tonight!

I asked the guy for a room for the night, he said 250 Pesos which is about $20, and I could park my bike in a fenced area under a roof in back so it would be safe. It was just what I needed. His name was Daniel and spoke reasonably well English. After unpacking and taking a shower I went down stairs to talk with him. He and a truck driver who had stopped for food, (many of the hotels have restaurants in them, which often just amount to a kitchen and a place to sit down, I don't think many of them really have hours, if someone wants something to eat, somebody will make it for you, and usually for just a few dollars) both helped me figure out a way to avoid going into Veracruz the next day, wasting time, and getting lost. Daniel drew me an extensive map around the city, complete with toll roads, their costs, kilometers between towns and exits, everything. It was an impressive map, something told me I would soon be lost again! He really tried to help me and it was a good map. And it really did help but just then I was getting lost just looking at it, and had to go to bed. He wanted to make sure I understood it.

In case Daniel reads this, it did help, but of course at one point I ended up heading towards Mexico City, lost again and had to turn around. Its like the biggest city on the planet, and until you get far enough south of it, one way or the other, its going to suck you in on a road.

At this point the way my day went with being lost for almost 3 hours, the construction, the heat, the accidents, the mountain roads in the rain, I was seriously considering turning around and coming back to the U.S. I was thinking of Greg Frazier the guy whose book I have who road around the world 5 times. In one part in Brazil he says he thought that Brazil was going to beat him. I felt that way at this point. That maybe Mexico was going to beat me.

Daniel owner of the Guadalupe Hotel

But I also knew that as difficult as this was, and was going to be, there would be things that I could do to make this trip a little easier. Learning the language would certainly help. Doing it once and getting thru it would teach me a lot for my return trip. Trying to get better maps may help. Not being on too tight of schedule, having more time to make the trip, gear adjustments, there are things that could be done to help with all this. But either way, it was going to be a challenge. For now my day at the races was over and I could get some rest.