Dashing through Mexico

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Trip Start Mar 31, 2006 Previous
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  Toluca, Mexico
Saturday, April 8, 2006

Well we are in Mexico although it is currently flashing by as we zoom down the so-called freeways - very expensive as the toll booths seem to pop up every few kilometers. The reason for the "zooming" is our tight schedule to get to Guatemala and a slight (!!) underestimation of how long it would take to get through Mexico. (NB this journal entry is a mixed contribution from both of us...normally it will be Chris)
Our journey south began at about 3pm on Friday 31st April with 2 send-offs. The first was Barbara and Marg who both came round to wave us on our way, and our second was as we drove past the Butts who came out to photograph us....thank-you guys! The weather was typically "April" the whole way down to LA as we had sun...rain...wind...sun...rain...wind. We had 2 stops on the way down sampling the delights of Motel 6 and the Best Western (Barbara - we opened the champagne here and collapsed into fits of giggles on our way to the restaurant!), and hit the 405 in LA at about 1pm on Sunday....what a culture shock. We were suddenly in the middle lane of 8 lanes as 2 motorways merged. Wow it was scary but we survived. Surprisingly LA was wet and windy the whole time we were there but since we were staying in the lap of luxury at Chris's brother's place in Malibu it didn't really matter.
We left Wednesday morning to drive across to Phoenix in Nevada and en route we discovered that the wheel balancing and alignment we had had done in Malibu the previous day had not addressed the judder we were experiencing. So as luck would have it we came upon a Big-0, in the middle of nowhere, which was the name of the supplier of our tyres in Vancouver. We would like to recommend that everyone buy their tyres from Big-O because the service they gave us was absolutely excellent and they didn't charge us a penny because our tyres were their make!
We entered Mexico at Nogales just south of Tucson and after an obligatory stop at the local Wal-Mart for those last minute items, like a fishing rod and Lypsol, we had an easy crossing into Mexico. A bit surreal actually as you go through a gate and if the light says 'Passe' then off you go and no one looks at your passport or speaks to you.
Incredible contrast between Nogales in US - very lean and spread out, and Nogales in Mexico - all hustle and bustle and full of life and packed together with narrow roads and masses of traffic. Sheila went to the bank (HSBC as it happens - Simon's bank) and we were off.
First stop for the tourist visa and car permit - slow but easy - and down to San Carlos on the coast for a our first night. The first thing we noticed on the road were the number of crosses signifying fatalities - hundreds of them and very sobering, although you quickly get into the style of driving.
San Carlos was quiet as the RV crowd had already left and we pitched our tent in a local RV park across from the Pacific. Town small but with a lovely outlook onto a big bay with pelicans diving into the water for fish. We left fairly early for another assault on the Autopiste....the current name for what were called toll roads in the previous state.
We are now, after a long day, in a little motel just outside Mazatlan getting ready for another long day in the car. Our target is to hit Guatemala on Tuesday, for a number of reasons that we wont bore you with.......
Apologies for such a short and uninteresting entry without any pics but quite honestly it will be Guatemala before we slow down to smell the roses....and we are definitely going to do that...this portion of the trip has definitely reinforced the fact that we don't want to be rushing from place to place for the year ahead. So guys, cheers for now!

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