We began our journey north from Merida leaving later than planned, but still early on Thursday morning. We had hoped to get all the way to Puebla, but instead around 11am, we were stopped, literally, by a flat rear tire. Both of us heard noise, but we first mistakenly thought it was a helicopter overhead and not the sound of a tire coming apart.
We were in the middle of nowhere at the time, north of a KM 59 sign, and a little over 4 hours and 200+ miles south of Merida, south of Escarcega a half hour or so. Eva and I are fairly handy and resourceful, but our car was packed full of stuff and heavy, so we could not get the jack to even begin to work. Even after we began to unload our stuff onto the roadside. Of course, it was the middle of the 104 degree temperature day and not a speck of shade in sight (first come the flowers and then the leaves come back onto the trees here) on the hot asphalt road. We had earlier seen a small car turned completely over onto its back like a sad turtle and so felt somewhat lucky.
We were close to tears when a truckful of helpful men stopped and took charge. They lifted the car and put a rock underneath to prop it up, since they could not get the jack to work either. The 7 angels who stopped to help us removed the very tightly screwed on lugnuts, inflated the spare tire, changed it, got the blown-apart tire into the back, and helped us reload our stuff. Off we went in search of a tire store, but we had to drive all the way to Villahermosa, a total of 390m miles from Merida.
Villahermosa is a pit of a town, dirty, noisy, with aggressive drivers who don't know their way around very well. We asked a waitress at the place we stopped for a most inedible dinner what the name of the street was directly in front of the restaurant and she didn't know. We wandered some and bought some pirate DVDs like Slumdog Millionaire. The man we bought the tires from (and we needed all four new tires), helped us find a hotel. He suggested and drove us over to the Howard Johnson's. We recommend that no one ever stay there who values his life.
Friday, exhausted from the stress but determined, we
drove on to Puebla and got there, 795 miles from Merida, around 3 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the town closes off several blocks of the centro area on the weekends so we could not reach any of the hotels at which we had thought of staying, so we found a taxi and asked him to lead us to a quiet hotel with secure parking, since of course, our car was still loaded to the gills. We could not call ahead anywhere because my telephone had died that morning. Eva had ordered a Coke and although it was not to have been opened, it apparently was, and spilled all over my purse, killing the cell phone. We entered high desert with very dry air, and the purple jacarandas in bloom. The taxi driver took us to the Presidente Intercontinental hotel and we were enchanted. Thought we might never get Eva to leave so we stayed two nights.
Saturday, we toured the town with Guillermo in a taxi. We saw many churches (Rosary chapel of Santa Domingo Temple, Guadalupe, and the main Cathedral by the zocalo), lots of talavera (Uriarte, Santa Catarina in Cholula, Casa de artesano, and barrio del artista area), lovely architecture, Museo Amparo, and were home by three in the afternoon following a fabulous 
lunch at the mercado del Carmen crowded with people waiting in line for cemitas. A cemita is actually a torta on steroids -- a round roll with sesame seeds on top. These at the mercado in Puebla are filled with avacado, cheese, onions, pickled chiles, and fried chicken pieces (near 4 Sur and 21 Poinente). The day ended with massages at the Clinique spa at the hotel and dinner at the Alfredo restaurant there.
Sunday we got up gradually, had a big breakfast in
the hotel, and left Puebla around 10:30. We drove the outskirts of Mexico City and finally found the autopista north 57 toward Queretero. Nothing on any of our maps matched the signs in the district federal, but at 5:30, we reached San Luis Potosi. On the way, we saw a man tilling a field with an ox!! There are many lovely churches here, carved facades in perfect order, more jacarandas, and lovely tile rooves. Here, we stayed at a no-tell-motel to keep our secure parking option.
Left early Monday after 1171 miles and decided we'd get out of Mexico and as far north as possible. We thought this would depend on our choice of city to exit, but determined it was not safe to exit at Nuevo Laredo, so headed for Reynosa. Once we'd circled Monterrey (and there may not be a reason to ever do this again since going through town is fast enough so long as it's not rush hour), we got stopped by a cop of some sort who claimed we were going 87 km/hour (a physical impossibility since we'd just exited around a sharp curve and could not have been going more than 40 km/hour at the most) and that to get out of "going downtown" with him, we could pay him 1500 pesos. Having been shaken down before, we knew to put much less than that in a wallet pocket and claim to have nothing more than that. We ended up paying 400 pesos and were off and running on fumes at this point to the nearest Pemex. We got through the Reynosa checkpoint (we were pulled over because of having entered Mexico three years ago and not exited since then) without incident and then slowly but surely and made it to a hotel south of Austin.
Tuesday morning, we had to wait for a hail storm to pass, but then since we were in the US and could find an AT&T store, we headed out to replace the Coked-up cell phone. In the process, we found a Target and could not resist checking out some things inside and across the 183 highway, we lucked into a BBQ hole in the wall that proved incredibly popular and delicious (Mann's BBQ). Headed north around 1 on highway 35, through Waco, Dallas, and Texarkana, to just shy of Hot Springs after 2455 miles on the road.
Wednesday, we visited Hot Springs and had breakfast at a wonderful pancake house on the main drag. Despite the cold 45 degree temps, we were wowed by wisteria, redbuds, and dogwood in bloom. Speed limits in Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri are 70, and gas only costs $1.99, so we were delighted with the turn of events. We stopped in Effingham IL at a Comfort Inn that was not too comfy despite having been given a giant room, so they moved us to a "suite" which was at least quieter.
On Thursday, we stopped in Paxton (to visit the Fredericks in the cemetary and check out the town) and finally made it to Glenview that afternoon after 3250 miles. Temps are in the 40s which is horrendous, but otherwise, we are getting rested and settled into a different speed of living, way different temperatures, and different choices in food. Friday, we organized our storage locker once again and saw Frost/Nixon and The Reader in a plain old movie theater (no VIP theaters up here!!). Tomorrow, we start the wedding stuff with a final fitting for Marilla's dress and then organizing the seating arrangements on Sunday with the Lane family. So it's been nice to have a respite for a few days before it all starts!
We were in the middle of nowhere at the time, north of a KM 59 sign, and a little over 4 hours and 200+ miles south of Merida, south of Escarcega a half hour or so. Eva and I are fairly handy and resourceful, but our car was packed full of stuff and heavy, so we could not get the jack to even begin to work. Even after we began to unload our stuff onto the roadside. Of course, it was the middle of the 104 degree temperature day and not a speck of shade in sight (first come the flowers and then the leaves come back onto the trees here) on the hot asphalt road. We had earlier seen a small car turned completely over onto its back like a sad turtle and so felt somewhat lucky.
We were close to tears when a truckful of helpful men stopped and took charge. They lifted the car and put a rock underneath to prop it up, since they could not get the jack to work either. The 7 angels who stopped to help us removed the very tightly screwed on lugnuts, inflated the spare tire, changed it, got the blown-apart tire into the back, and helped us reload our stuff. Off we went in search of a tire store, but we had to drive all the way to Villahermosa, a total of 390m miles from Merida.Villahermosa is a pit of a town, dirty, noisy, with aggressive drivers who don't know their way around very well. We asked a waitress at the place we stopped for a most inedible dinner what the name of the street was directly in front of the restaurant and she didn't know. We wandered some and bought some pirate DVDs like Slumdog Millionaire. The man we bought the tires from (and we needed all four new tires), helped us find a hotel. He suggested and drove us over to the Howard Johnson's. We recommend that no one ever stay there who values his life.
Friday, exhausted from the stress but determined, we
drove on to Puebla and got there, 795 miles from Merida, around 3 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the town closes off several blocks of the centro area on the weekends so we could not reach any of the hotels at which we had thought of staying, so we found a taxi and asked him to lead us to a quiet hotel with secure parking, since of course, our car was still loaded to the gills. We could not call ahead anywhere because my telephone had died that morning. Eva had ordered a Coke and although it was not to have been opened, it apparently was, and spilled all over my purse, killing the cell phone. We entered high desert with very dry air, and the purple jacarandas in bloom. The taxi driver took us to the Presidente Intercontinental hotel and we were enchanted. Thought we might never get Eva to leave so we stayed two nights.Saturday, we toured the town with Guillermo in a taxi. We saw many churches (Rosary chapel of Santa Domingo Temple, Guadalupe, and the main Cathedral by the zocalo), lots of talavera (Uriarte, Santa Catarina in Cholula, Casa de artesano, and barrio del artista area), lovely architecture, Museo Amparo, and were home by three in the afternoon following a fabulous 
lunch at the mercado del Carmen crowded with people waiting in line for cemitas. A cemita is actually a torta on steroids -- a round roll with sesame seeds on top. These at the mercado in Puebla are filled with avacado, cheese, onions, pickled chiles, and fried chicken pieces (near 4 Sur and 21 Poinente). The day ended with massages at the Clinique spa at the hotel and dinner at the Alfredo restaurant there.Sunday we got up gradually, had a big breakfast in
the hotel, and left Puebla around 10:30. We drove the outskirts of Mexico City and finally found the autopista north 57 toward Queretero. Nothing on any of our maps matched the signs in the district federal, but at 5:30, we reached San Luis Potosi. On the way, we saw a man tilling a field with an ox!! There are many lovely churches here, carved facades in perfect order, more jacarandas, and lovely tile rooves. Here, we stayed at a no-tell-motel to keep our secure parking option.Left early Monday after 1171 miles and decided we'd get out of Mexico and as far north as possible. We thought this would depend on our choice of city to exit, but determined it was not safe to exit at Nuevo Laredo, so headed for Reynosa. Once we'd circled Monterrey (and there may not be a reason to ever do this again since going through town is fast enough so long as it's not rush hour), we got stopped by a cop of some sort who claimed we were going 87 km/hour (a physical impossibility since we'd just exited around a sharp curve and could not have been going more than 40 km/hour at the most) and that to get out of "going downtown" with him, we could pay him 1500 pesos. Having been shaken down before, we knew to put much less than that in a wallet pocket and claim to have nothing more than that. We ended up paying 400 pesos and were off and running on fumes at this point to the nearest Pemex. We got through the Reynosa checkpoint (we were pulled over because of having entered Mexico three years ago and not exited since then) without incident and then slowly but surely and made it to a hotel south of Austin.
Tuesday morning, we had to wait for a hail storm to pass, but then since we were in the US and could find an AT&T store, we headed out to replace the Coked-up cell phone. In the process, we found a Target and could not resist checking out some things inside and across the 183 highway, we lucked into a BBQ hole in the wall that proved incredibly popular and delicious (Mann's BBQ). Headed north around 1 on highway 35, through Waco, Dallas, and Texarkana, to just shy of Hot Springs after 2455 miles on the road.Wednesday, we visited Hot Springs and had breakfast at a wonderful pancake house on the main drag. Despite the cold 45 degree temps, we were wowed by wisteria, redbuds, and dogwood in bloom. Speed limits in Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri are 70, and gas only costs $1.99, so we were delighted with the turn of events. We stopped in Effingham IL at a Comfort Inn that was not too comfy despite having been given a giant room, so they moved us to a "suite" which was at least quieter.
On Thursday, we stopped in Paxton (to visit the Fredericks in the cemetary and check out the town) and finally made it to Glenview that afternoon after 3250 miles. Temps are in the 40s which is horrendous, but otherwise, we are getting rested and settled into a different speed of living, way different temperatures, and different choices in food. Friday, we organized our storage locker once again and saw Frost/Nixon and The Reader in a plain old movie theater (no VIP theaters up here!!). Tomorrow, we start the wedding stuff with a final fitting for Marilla's dress and then organizing the seating arrangements on Sunday with the Lane family. So it's been nice to have a respite for a few days before it all starts!
