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| Our destination for today. "la Costa Esmerelda" |
Up long
before daylight, we load the van, say our goodbyes to Angeles and as soon as
it is light enough to see we hit the road. I have the goal of reaching “la
Costa Esmerelda” by late afternoon and I’m not sure how long it will actually
take to reach there so I want to give us as much daylight travel time as
possible.
It takes us
about three hours to reach Tampico. Coming into the city I miss the bypass and
proceed to get totally and completely lost. My GPS has a World Base Map only
and is no help at all. The screen usually shows us 60’ to one side or the other
of the road, driving in the field. Tampico is well known as having perhaps the most corrupt police force in Mexico. Shakedowns are expected with bribes starting at $300 USD. Most travelers do all they can to avoid Tampico, but it is necessary pass through a corner of it in order to cross the river. Here we are, pulling our trailer through the narrow streets of the old downtown section where heavy vehicles are not allowed. It seems as though on almost every corner there is a “transito” policeman, many busy writing tickets. I asked several times how to get back to the highway and almost always received the answer “straight ahead” no matter which direction I was headed. Finally a tow truck driver gave me good directions and we were out of there.
Crossing the toll bridge over the Tampico River we left the hustle and bustle of Tampico behind. The road, Mexico 180 which is the main north/south highway along the gulf, soon became a narrow two lane road with no shoulders and a considerable drop off on either side…kind of like a railroad bed. At times it was so rough that I only drove 25 – 30 mph because I was afraid that I would break a spring or the axle on our poor, overloaded trailer. Other vehicles flew by us, ignoring the potholes and oncoming traffic.
The landscape became more subtropical and the weather much warmer and more humid. Our A/C which still was/is not working fully struggled to keep up. For the most part, there is little habitation that we can see. Eventually we begin to pass through small villages and discovered, what to me has become the bane of Mexico…”topes”. Every village, no matter how small has at least two of them, one at each end. Sometimes they are every hundred feet or so. A “tope” is a speed bump on steroids. Some of them are at least 10” tall and come in different formations. Some are like a road length semicircle, requiring you to inch up and over at a crawl. Others are more like a plateau, climb one side, level off and drop down the other. Most of them are well marked; others sneak up on you causing you to slam on the brakes in hopes of stopping before you are launched into the air. All of them will eventually drive you crazy. It is impossible to make any time.
I get only slightly lost in Tuxpan and as we leave the town, once again crossing over another toll bridge over another river, we notice that we have also left behind the sense of fear, insecurity and hopelessness that we have seen and felt since entering Mexico. The villages have more life in them. People and dogs wander in and out of roadside stands and cafes. We see very little evidence of either Federales or the Army. People seem more content. It’s a good feeling.
It is later
than I had hoped for, but eventually we arrive on “la Costa Esmerelda”. This is
a beautiful stretch of the Gulf Coast. There are many hotels on the water. We
had wanted to camp along here, but the wind had gained strength coming off the
water so we decided to just stay in a hotel for the night. We checked in and
carried our camp stove and cooler down by the water and cooked a simple meal of
canned soup and fried egg sandwiches. It was a beautiful end to a good day. A
day without trouble.
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| Sometimes the simple things in life are best...like a simple meal on the ocean. (Tiger is behaving very well) |
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