Bill's Blog

The Trek South

This is a short rendition of journey south. There are almost no photos this time. But the next time there will be many.

We we left the cold and freezing northland on Sunday the 10th of January. We drove from early morning until the evening, stopping in Sikeston, MO. We left the next morning. We had been totally surprised by the cold weather in Missouri. Snow still blanketed the the ditches almost to the Arkansas border. We stopped to rest a few minutes in northern Mississippi and despite the warm air we saw a dusting of snow in the shadows of small building. By the days end we were in Ocean Springs and with my father.

Ocean Springs is a nice little town, which we enjoy. But we love visiting my dad. We spent about ten days there. My dad had a few things for me to fix, which I quickly dispatched. I also switched him to the more stable voip service of Vonage. With it he will be able to call his cousins in Sweden at no additional cost. We also helped him upgrade to a new HD-TV and a DVR. By old standards the TV is very large but the cost was less than what his very old set cost new. The LCD technology is just unbelievable. I am glad that my dad is doing so well. While there we did do some long walks. I have promised myself to take off all the weight that I have picked up in the past two years. There is a new long bridge over the Biloxi bay with a beautiful walk way. One day we walked most of the way across and back.

We left early last Friday morning, heading for Corpus Christi, where we couch surfed. It was a long, hard drive. I wanted to stay a couple of days, but not Betty. So we headed south again on Saturday. When we got to Brownsville we stopped to get Mexican car insurance, buy some wine and other things. We were in Mexico by 2:00 PM, but it was after 3:00 before we got our visas and auto registration. Already late in the day, we knew that Ciudad Victoria would be our stopping point for Saturday night. Again on Sunday, we drove all day, arriving in Veracruz at night fall. Yesterday, Monday, was another marathon. We started by taking the free roads, which were incredibly slow. We stopped in every village because the speed bumps, topos, force it. Finally we got on the toll roads. They are fast. The condition of the roadway can be great, but just as often as not they are pocked with rough spots and pot holes. They can be four lanes wide or two lanes wide. They are greatly overpriced, for example the two hundred mile run on Mex 190D cost 168 pesos, more than 12 dollars. Even when there are no tolls on the roads there are tolls on the bridges, even small ones, of 19 pesos ($1.50) each way.
The toll for the 47 kilometers (25 miles) from Tuxtla Gutierrez to San Cristabal de las Casas was another 56 pesos. But then we were at our destination. It was hard to see much at night, it did look a bit like Antigua, Guatemala. We found our guest house after a bit of searching and settled in for the night.

It was glorious this morning. The view from our guesthouse of the city is wonderful. We will stay here one week. Then move on to Merida. I will post stories and photos of what we find here on the weekend.

The View from Our Balcony in San Cristobal

Posted by bill at January 26, 2010 06:06 PM