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27/7 – Cecillio spent the night last night and the three of us solved all the pertinent problems of the world and detected an error in theMayan calendar. Yes, the tequila was flowing. We were none the worse this morning as we closed up the house and headed for points south. I drove for a bit with Cecillio in charge of navigation and Sharon in the back on ice chest duty. We had a slight delay near Playa Adventuras, near Akumal. Cecillio really wanted to see a buddy of his who owned El Arbolito, a roadside taco stand on the highway access. This guy likes to eat at every opportunity. We met the owner and his extended family and were then treated to… tacos. 2 hours later, we’re back on the road and don’t stop till we’re in Chetumal. This is on the border with Belize. I was told there was an inspiring museum there that I had to visit. Though I thought the air conditioning was outstanding, we still left within a half an hour, ate on the street then headed for the nearest available hotel.
28/7 – The trip across the base of the Yucatan peninsula is straight, flat and makes a day at the kiddy park seem spine tingling. Sharon drove most of it while I languished in the back, enjoying the a.c. with our new friend Oscar. The military guys at the last check point asked us if we would drop him off in Escarega . It was on our way and… heck, if the Mexican military asks, we comply. Under Cecillio’s directions, we dropped Oscar off and then made it as far as Coatzacolcos. Somewhere along this post-Oscar path I managed to short-out our newly working a.c..
Lovely.
We checked out a couple of “No-tells” then grabbed dinner in the “Taco District” near the bus station. Once to the “No-Tell” I checked for a blown a.c. fuse. As of this writing, it has proven elusive.
29/7 – No a.c.? No problem. Yeah, right.
Today we head into the mountains and search for the micro-city of Huautla. Huautla is a mere 50 miles away that took a full four hours to get to. If it wasn’t for the speed bumps, chug-holes and random livestock, it was the 45 degree up hill climb that made for a long but beautiful white-knuckle ride. No matter how far the steep fall off the edge of the road might be, that doesn’t mean there needs to be some puny guard rail between you and your fate. Chacha did not dig the constant uphill and decided to not go above 25 mph for the bulk of the journey. That being said, “Wow”! What a spectacular view from up here in the nose bleed section.. Huautla is old, crooked and dirty, carved out of the side of a mountain side, near the top. Once we parked I didn’t dare drive anymore. We checked into a dingy hotel right where we parked, took a quick nap, then walked / climbed the streets. We happened to catch a couple of entertaining basketball games in the town square. It was some sort of tournament so it was evidently “the place to be”. As darkness crept over us we sauntered up to the “main” street, had some tacos al pastor and were further entertained by watching a tropical storm engulf the town. One crack of lightening in particular made our little group move away from any nearby metal objects.
30/7 – So, why Huautla? Huautla was the hometown of Maria Sabina. She was a world famous shaman. What makes her so different from all the other shamans, brujos and curanderos I’ve been researching? Marina Sabina used the power of her so-called “little angels”, and her little angels came in the form of psychedelic mushrooms.
Stop. I know what you’re thinking and no, I didn’t.
We grabbed an early taxi to take us even further up the guardrail-less mountain to the shrine of Maria Sabina. I got a couple of great interviews and live shots of some soon-to-be hallucinating followers. After a few hours in the magic kingdom we roller-coastered back down to town and ate lunch. We loaded into Chacha, released the emergency brake and never touched the accelerator till we were two hours and several thousand feet lower in altitude. We found a bar at the bottom of the mountain so I could let Chacha get the feeling back in her brakes. Sharon took over driving and got us to the outskirts of Puebla. We happened to pass the ADO, (Mexican Greyhound Bus). Cecillio asked if we would stop by it . He emerged with a one-way ticket toAcapulco in hand for a bus that left in two hours.
Well, this was a surprise. He basically explained that business called and that he needed to part company so he could handle blah, blah, blah, etc. We found our hotel, invited him up so he could freshen up before his long bus ride. After the obligatory tequila toast to a journey well traveled, he quickly disappeared in a Puebla taxi. Sharon and I had a quick bite at the hotel restaurant and soon after we snored in perfect two-part harmony.
31/7 – I don’t know about y’all but we felt pretty tired from all the previously mentioned driving so we slept in till practically noon. I shuffled out to the lobby, booked another night and went back to bed. We’ve been to Puebla before and didn’t feel the need to re-explore.
1/8 -After 20+ hours of rest, we got up and out pretty early. I made the Puebla rush hour my play toy and we quickly found our way intoTlaxcala, yet another gorgeous colonial town. We checked out a couple of historic cathedrals, had a cappuccino on the square then headed north. The scenery north of here is outstanding and we are still at a pretty high altitude. After this we somehow found our way back to Tampico, caught a few street tacos and off to slumber land.
2/8 – We bounced out of bed fairly early and decided to get on the road… and, well, that was about it. We thought we knew exactly how to leaveTampico. Unfortunately we didn’t let each other in on our individual plans. After a number of turns and miscalculations, we ended up on the road toVictoria, Mx. That was not in our plans but, what the heck. We scooted past on the outskirts of Victoria and found ourselves in 5 o’clock rush hour in Monterrey. Not fun. We knew there were hotels on the way to the Monterrey airport, so… seemed like a simple plan to seek them out. Except for the driving part. Before anyone suspected, we were ¼ of the way to Nuevo Laredo.
3/8 – We got to Nuevo Laredo right at sundown, headed for a nice restaurant we were familiar with, slammed a couple of Cuba Libres and… the rest is a blur. Not from the rum but from the looooong day of driving. However, today? Piece-o-cake. Got our “Turista” sticker removed, hustled out of town to the Colombia bridge and “Ta-da” we’re back safe, somewhat sound and in search of Whataburger, no beans.
