Our drive to & from Veracruz gave us new insights to driving in Mexico ...
While driving past many "towns" (I call them this because it seems to be the generic term used for any densely populated area of Mexican people who are in the lower economic class than the Mexicans that live in cities), the tiny houses usually have a black barrel on their roof. When I asked Patrick about it he explained it was their water tank, & it is black & on the roof so the sun can heat the water... It is their water heater, powered by the sun, for free, nice carbon footprint!
We experience Crazy traffic going thru Mex city...
Cars with many more people than seats or belts
A young Baby on a person's lap in the backseat climbing all over the back seat passenger, then clinging to the open window for leverage to pull himself up.... All while the car was driving. Naturally my mind worries about the baby.
Going thru mountain near Puebla passed a small pick up truck with about 8 people huddled in the bed of a pick up truck under a blanket...this is common means of travel for a few men, in work trucks, sometimes a family will put a few kids in back, not the small ones.. But to see this many people, men, a woman, an old lady, a young lady.. And it was cold...
At 9,500 ft passed a family riding uphill on bicycles, (temp 14 C ) each w/ a large pack on their back that extended from the bike seat & went up & over their heads.... At first I thought these packs were groceries, food staples.. But Patrick said no, that these people were on a religious pilgrimage! I had my doubts... But we passed more people like this group on our way to & from Veracruz..
Once, while in stop-n-go traffic we had a chance to watch a group of these people ride past ... In the rain.. So, in fact, these people were riding with STATUES strapped to their backs... Statues of Mary/our Lady of Guadalupe!
Saw several agua (water) pumps on this mountain road, so clearly people travel it by means other than high speed vehicles.. Further evidenced by the numerous mini shrines just off the side of the road.. Presumably for those who were less fortunate on their trek through the mountain trail.
Large garbage truck w/ 2 young men riding in back, on top of garbage..a few minutes later a bunch of garbage comes flying off the truck & hits the road... ???
I see 2 small boys, age 6 or 7, tops, riding alone in the back of a pick up truck..?? As completely unsafe as this seems to me, I am sure the family is feeling they provide safety & comfort for their kids because this truck was equipped with child size chairs in the bed of the truck!
Just when I thought I had seen it all, we were coming up on a semi truck, & its back doors were flapping open as it sped along on the road... As we neared the truck I could see into the back of it... It was empty, except for the the few old women I saw sitting inside the empty cargo container.. Made me wonder, does the semi truck driver even know about the passengers??
Driving to & from Veracruz we had to go over a mountain... Each way, the clouds had descended onto the mountain top, making the drive.. awe-some. As we climbed higher the clouds seem to meet the road. Then we were driving in WHITEOUT conditions, which we have done before,.. in the snow of Michigan. Driving was like crawling really, because could not see the car ahead of you, nor could you see the road before you..best not to drive off the side of the 2 lane mountain road, which did not always have guard rails! At some point we came through & were driving above the clouds.. Seeing fluffy clouds below the level of the road or right at the level as we came up & down each side.
The TomTom navigation system we have did its best to guide us through the densely populated Mexico City, but at any given major intersection, there can be 6 ways to go.. And even though we have the maps of Mexico loaded on it, poor TomTom doesn't speak Spanish at all!! This means when he gives guided directions, he says, take a Right on frdhhyfsdvubr. Often we take the wrong Right.. as the highways are overlapping & at high speeds you make split second decisions & the we & Tom recalculate... One of those times we ended up trying to get back to the freeway but found ourselves driving right thru an open street market. Unfortunately, this was a rougher looking street market than what I go to, so I was a lil' nervous.. and people ahead of us were basically window shopping out their car windows, so it took a long time to get back on track.
This trip was a whole new type of driving experience for us, one that is worth noting & remembering..
