245 Coatzacoalcos and on to Palenque

Friday 18th October 2013
Miles today  0 Total 25,231

Our bellies joint decisions to work over and above the call of duty kept us near to a loo for the day so we just stayed in the hotel room and watched telly. 


Saturday 19th October 2013
Miles today  7 Total 25,238

The loo was still our best friend but needs must so the mission for the day was to try and find a bank (ATM). Fortunately we were successful. Karen had been having issues with her card being refused whereas mine was accepted under the same circumstances. As you can imagine, in the situation we are in, that made us very nervous. However, it turned out to be a compatibility glitch and the card was fine. Apparently some places tried to process it as a credit card, which it isn't. 

Why can't we play with guns like this in the UK. The guy in front even has a grenade launcher under his gun. Just imagine how useful that would have been on the streets of Hackney.

In the evening we tempted fate and went out for some chicken wings. It was the first small but substantial food we have managed felt like eating. We were not however, completely ill, we still managed a couple of beers. We did have to replace our fluids. That is our excuse and we are sticking to it. Actually, this sounds bad but we have been cooped up drinking water for days and we needed a change.

Wallace sunbathing outside the bar.

There was a lot of flotsam and jetsam in the sea. They have had a few bad tornadoes in the area recently and this is the result.

The beaches were equally covered in dead foliage.

Previous tornadoes have dumped rubbish all along the beach. Our hotel in the background.

Sunday 20th October 2013
Miles today  218 Total 25,456

Having previously booked a hotel in Cancun, we had to get some mileage underneath us and had no choice but to set off today. Fortunately our bellies had settled enough for us to risk the 200 mile/4 hour drive to Palenque.

One of the many rivers transporting storm debris out to sea.

One of the things that has become very apparent is the change in climate and foliage. Since coming down to sea level from 8000 feet, we are now in the jungle, with the only clear areas being where farmers have cleared for crops and grazing. There are bananas growing beside the road and the foliage in the rain forest now has very broad leaves, many of which are used for roofing materials. On top of this the air has become very humid. The temperature has settled to around 30C (86F) but it feels much hotter and we are permanently sweaty. Nice isn't it !
On top of that the sky is now almost permanently (so far anyway) semi cloudy and rain is always nearby. Since arriving in Palenque this afternoon we have had 2 thunder storms.

One of today's storm cells growing.

We arrived at Palenque, booked into the 'Best Western' and went out for some proper food. The first proper food we have had for a few days and it was delicious. We are in Palenque to visit our first Mayan Temple. More on that tomorrow.
 
We are currently tracking hurricane 'Raymond' off the southern coast of Mexico (strange that the last one that caused us a problem was called 'Karen'). It looks as though we have just ridden away from the area that it will effect. Fingers crossed.

244 Puebla and Coatzacoalcos

Wednesday 16th October 2013
Miles today  174 Total 24,931

I am still not fully recovered and Ray has come out in empathy for me and got a milder form of whatever it is I've got.  Neither of us were looking forward to the journey, but we soldiered on..

Getting out of Zacatecus was slightly more of a challenge, but eventually we found the road we wanted and headed for Puebla.  This is supposed to be a lovely little place with ruins and a historic area.

Looking back down on Zacatecus

There was a lot of construction going on and the journey proved long and hot.

He was going faster than we were!

Our route took us towards Mexico City.  We have been in two minds over whether or not to stay here, we were not enamored by going to another city, but we had heard it had good points, however we hit the ring road that runs around the North of the City and our decision was made.  The traffic was awful.  Mexicans rate alongside Italians in the driving stakes, very scary, no judgement on distances, speeds or idea what an indicator is, they also don't use their horns.  The thing that makes it all work is that they are all at the same level, so quite happy in their old beaten up vehicles.  Me I was scared out of my wits.  Thank goodness Ray was driving, I would have parked up and cried like a big girl had it been me.  Suffice to say we "got out of dodge" pretty dam quick, well as fast as we could. 

Construction, buses, mad drivers and a screaming wife, Yeah go Ray!

A bit of variety, mad horse and cart men.  You can see the state of the roads from this too.

On the outskirts of  Mexico, we did another bit of a detour, and unfortunately this is another side of Mexico.  This was a massive landfill come rubbish tip, and these are make shift dwellings with families living in them.

Very sad.

After all the stress of getting out of New Mexico, we pulled over for petrol and a much needed caffine fix.

A rather warm Ray and some spooky friends.

The rest of the journey was reasonably straight forward.  The roads are pretty straight, but the tarmac is quite rough.  I'm sure there is a technical term for it, but they are quite slow going.

Lovely sky again

We finally got into Puebla just before the sun disappeared altogether and hunted down a hotel.  We pulled into one and asked to see the room.  It was awful and when I saw a sign saying charges were by the hour, that was it, I was off, no way Jose.
We did find one far more suitable, called the Aristol, we booked in and were given a room with no outside windows, it was actually quite weird.  The hotel was okay, but was very stark and cold feeling, absolutely no atmosphere at all.  We booked one night, thinking we could always extend our stay.
Tired as we were, we went out to have a look around and saw a couple more religious venues that looked lovely at night.

We ended up in a little bar for some food, although neither of us is eating very much and were entertained by a lone female doing a play on the stage.  I think it was the Spanish  equivalent of the Virgina Monologues but who knows, we could only pick out the odd words, the audience thought it was quite good though.


Thursday 17th October 2013
Miles today  300 Total 25,231
We were obviously a bit tired and grumpy yesterday, and we reached the conclusion that it was time to move on.  Again we had an extended tour of the city, trying to get out, but once we found the route we were flying. 

Leaving Puebla

The roads were usual standard, bumpy, lots of construction again, but the countryside was beautiful and ever changing.  We passed through agricultural areas, where the shepherds just sit at the side of the road, watching their flock feed off of the verges, horses pulling ploughs and men using scythes to cut grass and corn, all very physical jobs.

Then up through the mountains..

and then back down to the lowlands, where the vegetation changed to palms and the cacti disappeared.
 

We got into Coatzacoalcos just after 6pm and booked into a lovely hotel by the sea.  We are planning to stay here a couple of days.

243 More San Miguel

Monday 14th October 2013
Miles today 0  Total 24,742

Happy birthday Philippa.
Unfortunately today, I have been struck by the lurgy.  Both Ray and I have been feeling a little under the weather, tired, run down and Ray has been coughing quite badly the last few days, but nothing really developed until today.  I slept most of the day and night and so we have decided to stay another night and probably tomorrow.

Tuesday 15th October 2013
Miles today  15 Total 24,757

Due to the fact we are staying another night, we had to move rooms.  Apparently there is a coach load of kids coming in to the hotel.  I am still feeling a bit fragile, but we want to get out and do some sight seeing.
 .........  Later........
I (Ray) went to the local launderette and had a toss up between doing it myself for £1 or getting them to do it for £2.25. Guess which I did !
We then jumped on Wallace and rode to a little village called  Atotonilco. It has a square and a Cathedral with a live monastery run by Nuns. The Cathedral is the location that following the "Cry of Dolores", the declaration of independence mentioned in the previous Zacatecas posts, Miguel Hidalgo traveled to and took an image of the Virgin of Guadelupe to use as his banner for the impending revolution that eventually ousted Spain as the colonial power.

Miguel Hidalgo

The Cathedral altar

One of the wings

Looking the other way from the above photo.

The outside of the Monastery/Cathedral.

The village is tiny and very quaint. After visiting the Cathedral, which UNESCO describes as the Mexican Sistine Chapel. We went to the adjacent cafeteria which was run by the Nuns.

Opposite the Cathedral was the village main street

And Wallace making an appearance.

We then rode back to San Miguel and wandered around the town center for a bit.

The San Miguel Cathedral in the daylight.

The inside was beautiful.

Again, one of the wings.

...and the other.

It's not true, they do not dance on their hats !

The gardens opposite were beautifully kept.

We then wandered back to the hotel and collected the laundry on the way. As we approached the hotel I was reminded that Mexico is a mixture of poverty and affluence.

On arrival back at the hotel we discovered that the coachload of kids was actually 2 coachloads and it was complete mayhem. Fortunately the room they moved us to accounted for this and we could not hear them too much.

242 San Miguel de Allende

Sunday 13th October 2013
Miles Today  227 Total 24,742


Our usual slow start and we left the hotel at about 12noon. It was along ride with the only stop being at Walmart for some shopping and for fuel.

Most major junctions had street sellers taking advantage of the traffic lights.

Traffic laws are a bit more lax here.

The western influence is still here.

 The foliage was pretty amazing and the cactus' were everywhere.

This 'tree' was about 9 feet tall.

This will look fabulous when it blooms.

..as will this one.

There were horses everywhere. It was wild west all over again.

VW beetles feature prominently here. The old models were made under license till 2003. They were built to lower trim and emission standards than the European models to allow sales to the lower income Mexicans.. A total of 21 million were made over a 50 year period.

Anything goes here...

We eventually arrived at around 5pm at our pre booked Best Western Hotel. It is a fantastic place and like going back in time.
I had been practicing my Spanish whilst driving along, and in my best accent told the reception I had reserved a room and our name, that went well, but then Ray asked where the laundrette was and the guy quick fired back an answer.  We both looked at each other and I explained we only had a little Spanish, to which he replied, Okay and proceeded to tell us directions in perfect English.  It made us all laugh, but at least we tried.  We actually do understand more than we speak, but when they talk it is like they are running a Usain Bolt hundred meters. 
We had sore buts so chilled out for a bit and when darkness fell we walked into the town center.

Our room, simple, tidy and quaint.

The courtyard outside our room.

It was fantastic, as it was Sunday the streets ware filled with locals mixing with tourists and the town square had a fantastic atmosphere.

The Cathederal

A covered courtyard where we had dinner at Mama Mia's

We had a  lovely meal and a bottle of wine, but when the bill came, they had charged us for a much dearer bottle with a similar name.  We are naturally suspicious types and it was only because Ray had worked out what we should pay, that he checked with the waiter.  It is only a word of caution, but this is quite popular with American tourists and if they are doing this with all of the visitors, it is an easy way to make a few extra bucks.  It is very easy to get sucked in with the music, atmosphere and good food.  We had checked on the internet and the advice on tipping is much the same as that in America, 15% or more if warranted, needless to say, they missed out on this occasion.

....and as per usual. A bar we found on the way home.

241 Zacatecas

Thursday 10th to Saturday 12th October 2013
Miles Today  0 Total 24,515

On the Thursday we got a cab into town rather than have to park Wallace in town. The fare was £2. We got into town at about 1pm and we stayed in all day. The cab dropped us off at the catherderal (which was shut till 5) so we went for coffee and then got on one of those city tour busses. We were the only guests and the driver spoke good English.

Karen outside the Catheral

The bus was an ex San Francisco trolley bus stuck on a truck chassis and the Town, although small was magnificent. Even the new architecture was so well made that you cannot tell the difference between it and the old stuff. For example, the fountain below was only made in 1982.

A brief history of Mexico may be appropriate now. In 1512 Mexico fell into Spanish hands under Spanish King Charles V. They called it New Spain and set the capital as Mexico City, the next senior city was Zacatecas, where we are now. It stayed that way up until the 1810s when Napoleon invaded Spain. This gave the impetus for a revolution against Spanish rule and on Sept 16th 1810 a Catholic Priest called Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, who oddly enough, was a Spaniard by birth, whilst in a town called Dolores, declared "Grito de Dolores" (Cry of Dolores) which amounted to a declaration of war against the Spanish colonialism.   Hidalgo whipped up the revolution and slayed many Spanish colonials whilst going from village to village on his way to Mexico City.
Sadly in January 1811 he was captured, defrocked and later  executed by firing squad. He was then decapitated and his head placed on a post in a nearby city called Guanajuato till the revolution was over, as a warning to the revolutionaries.
It did not however stop the revolution and others took up the cause and Mexico was finally liberated from Spain in 1821 when the Treaty of Cordoba set up a monarchy under Augustine de Iturbide.
He did not last long and republican revolutionaries ousted him 18 months later and set up the republic that exists today.

Mexico is a strong catholic country and the architecture reflects this. Our cab driver scared us a bit when he crossed himself halfway into town !

One of the local parks.

Gonzales Ortega, Governor in the late 1800s

Bright colours inside the restaurant we had lunch in.

When the Cathedral opened at 5pm we went in but a mass was in progress so the photos were a bit surreptitious.

More inside the cathedral

As darkness started to fall, we found the oldest bar in Zacatecas, naturally.

Whilst having a beer, the local scholars were having their end of school prom.

One of the things we discovered whist in town was that there was a Fiesta due on Saturday and Sunday night so we booked another 2 days at the hotel so we could see it on Saturday. It just had to be done as we may not get to see another one in Mexico.

This made us laugh. You need to watch it all......

Friday came and went as another chill out day and on the Saturday, we went back into town for the Fiesta only to find that it did not start till 8pm so we went shopping for a couple of hours. The back street shops were a pure delight of cooking food smells and bright colours.

The Parador Hotel. £34 a night.

The cops here do not muck about

Even the bike cops have their own gang

This was to advertise a chemist shop

Setting up for the fiesta. In the center are acrobats practicing.

Crocodile shoes anyone. About £15 a pair to you sir.

A street food vendor.

Great back street shops.

Bright colours everywhere.

Well, we waited 2 days to see the Fiesta which was due to start at 8pm. We got there at about 7:30, wandered around for a bit in the crowds and watched some street performers doing their thing. At the same time we were watching the serious forked lightning in the background. We then popped into a bar for a beer (as we do) and 10 minutes later the heavens opened up. The whole thing was a wash out as it was all in the open air. The rain lasted 1 1/2 hours and ruined the whole night.

Oh well as they say: Into every life a little rain must fall.

Tomorrow we are off to a small old town called San Miguel de Allende. It has been reccomended to us by some local Mexicans.

As an aside, we have been here 5 days so far and before crossing the border, every other American (apart from bikers) could not belive we were going into Mexico and warned us to be careful.  Aside from the administration problems on the first day we have had a very pleasant stay so far and the Mexicans have been friendly and very accommodating.