TAMPICO TO COSTA ESMERALDA

Costa Esmeralda (the Emerald Coast) is well named because of its tropical emerald waters, vivid green landscapes full of coconut trees, royal palms, orange trees and banana trees. This is not yet the area of beautiful subtropical Caribbean white coral beaches, but it is a great start. However, to get there we had to got through a steeplechase of tough driving for many hours.

We were ready at 6:00 AM. So far these are the worst roads we have found in Mexico. The potholes are real craters. I would say that they pose a greater danger to the suspension of our 5th wheel than the infamous TOPES (speed bumps) found at the entrance and exit of each small town and at schools and pedestrian crossing sections of the highway.

Today we came across two wrecks. This one was a rear-ender at a tope. The other was caused by reckless driving by someone in a pickup truck. We have witnessed much passing over double yellow lines as we approach a hilltop where you cannot see who is coming. One time a large semi began to pass us in a no-passing zone and he had to put his exhaust brake and began pushing us to the shoulder while ducking oncoming traffic.
At the river, the scene was reminiscent of some pictures of the river villages in Vietnam or China.
As we approach our campground we begin to notice a definite shift to more tropical vegetation and deep green landscapes. This is definitely the more beautiful Mexico so far.
Beautiful countryside.
Oranges and bananas everywhere. We stopped to buy oranges and they were selling them cheap. They were small but very sweet. The Aztec looking saleswoman told us they were Cuban, but I guess she meant from Cuban seed-stock.A banana plantation.

CIUDAD VICTORIA TO TAMPICO

This is our first refueling stop at a PEMEX. The petroleum industry is nationalized in Mexico, and PEMEX is the only gas and diesel stations in the country. They are widely distributed and are almost always together with an OXXO convenience store. Diesel costs about $2/gallon which compares with $3.40/gallon in parts of Texas.
Passing through many small and poor towns. There are many taquerias. There is a lot of mud around, as in small towns only the main highway is paved. We see a lot of donkeys. Many are tied to the side of the road grazing. Here is a "campesino' walking his dog while he rides his donkey.
As we travel south we encounter more mountainous terrain as we are near the Easter Sierra Madre (Cierra Madre Oriental). Here you see the other 5th wheel in the caravan belonging to Canadians from Ontario.

That evening we arrive at a hotel parking lot for the evening. This is our evening meal at the hotel restaurant. Below is the events area of the hotel. You can see our satellite internet dish at the top of our RV behind Teri.

The next morning we have to depart at 6:45 AM, at the crack of dawn because we have a long and difficult drive.

PHARR, TX TO REYNOSA AND ONTO CIUDAD VICTORIA

The caravan starts ROLLING at 7:30 AM sharp - that means departure preparation is complete and the rig is in position by that time. It is quite foggy.

Here we are about to cross the border in the fog.

Teri is driving, Wubie is dozing on his center console seat/bed, and I am the navigator for part of this segment. I operate the CB for RV 11 (us). Notice the mile-by-mile log that we follow.

Reynosa is quire poor and disheveled, with many shantytowns and a lot of mud everywhere. Drug gangs and crime is rampant here. My question is why does the Mexican govermnent permit this. Today's headline is that the federal police has taken over police duties for the town.

From the border town of Reynosa we take the Federal road 97 - a straight as an arrow road headed South through the state of Tamaulipas.

The first thing that happens is that the breakfast coffe takes effect and our bladders begin to demand action on our part.The caravan is in constant CB communication, and we announce that rig 11 is going to make a quick stop at an upcoming Pemex state gas station. The Wagon masters decide to give the opportunity to everyone and we all stop. There is barely enough room for the 22 rigs.

As you can see the fog has not lifted and it is still in the 50's.After some time the skies clear and we begin to pass fertile looking fields of enormous sizes - the famous Latin-American "latifundios", or huge agri-businesseses owned by wealthy land owners.

Here is a tiny truck loaded to the hilt with refrigerating store showcases. The load was totering and they pulled to tighten ropes.

There are numerous tiny restaurants selling Tacos and Carnitas Assadas for the local peasants and workers.

Here Teri is seated at our 5:00 PM Happy Hour listening to a very interesting presentation by the Mexican owner of the campground. Our RV is in the background. Notice the dish locked on the data satellite already. Our tandem gererators were humming quietly in the background. The VW Camper in front belongs to a German couple touring Mexico in their own German RV!

Here is Rosa. She was a teacher and a lawyer before being an RV Campground owner in Ciudad Victoria, and was teaching us in quite good English about the Mexican ways, a bit of useful Spanish, and how to frustrate the few crooked Mexicans that we may encounter. The woman in the red shirt is, Alice, the wife of the wagon master and lead navigator and CB communicator for the caravan

Tomorow we begin to drive toward the Gulf, and will stop at Soto la Marina near the water.

YUCATAN CARAVAN - PRE-DEPARTURE BRIEFING

Tonight we are already sharing our bandwidth with others in the caravan. I cannot get Blogger to post a picture for me, so this is a text only update.

The Wagon master announced a 7:30 AM departure. That is a lot earlier than we usually depart. We like to take it easy and depart for our next destination between 8:30 and 9:00 AM usually.

There are changes and correction to the trip log for tomorrow. We also could change dollars to pesos right there at the meeting. That was convenient. The Mexican Peso is worth a little less than 10 US Cents.

So far the preparation days in Pharr have been extremely hurried and busy. It is amazing how many little details, shopping, provisions, and preparations we have done in the past few days. As a result, we have missed or been missed from events, information, tickets, maps, etc. in a few occasions. This puts us on the alert - we have to stay on top of what is going on!

YUCATAN CARAVAN - SOCIAL HOUR AT PHARR, TX

There are 21 RVs in the caravan. We will be traveling over 3500 miles over 46 days. There are all kinds of RVs, from a huge 42 feet motorhome to a small class B - a van with a raised roof and really tight quarters inside.

This is a typical RV in the caravan. Notice the internet and TV satellite dishes they carry around.

Every evening at 4 PM we get together as a group.
Teri prepared meatballs in a sauce to serve to the group (I helped to stir and fry). Someone else prepared chicken and rice, and another RVer brought brownies and some excellent cherry cobbler prepared in a crockpot. That cherry cobbler was excellent. I enjoyed Teri's meatballs.

I offered to the Wagon Master to open our secure WiFi to the group so those without internet could do email, etc while on the road. He also got offers from two other RVs with satellite internet, so the group will have WiFi on the road from at least three RVs.