To America

We woke up before the sun was rising and relieved Dad from his slumber in the truck. He took a shower in the hotel room, while we got the dogs ready for the trip ahead. No matter what lay ahead, I was resolved to reaching America this very day.

The drive was actually very pleasant. The road was virtual deserted by the time we had left Ciudad Valles, and the road curved through the gentle rolling hills. Somewhere along the way, we came across a donkey grazing in the middle of the road. I hope he was returned to his field without incident, he was so nice looking. Along the way ran into a checkpoint, but this one was different as these guys were equipped with an X-Ray scanner.

Later on we arrived at the modern city of Ciudad Victoria, and we were only a couple hours from the border. The highway after Victoria is actually pretty good, you can tell that this is a major artery for shipping in Mexico, as the road was packed with trucks heading to and coming from Texas. We had one last military checkpoint, and this was a big one. However when the soldiers saw the hounds they let us go on our way and we were at Reynosa, the border town.

Vega de Altorre and Ciudad Valles

We left Villahermosa the next morning and headed out for Tuxpan, a coastal city further north. The drive was fairly good the most part, but as is common in Mexico, a good highway can quickly turn into a narrow and crowded mess. How painful it is to go from 100 Km/h down to 70 or even lower for extended periods of time. Of course, the roads themselves are narrow and full of large transport trucks making passing range from hazardous, to impossible.

After 6 hours of merciless driving, we decided to end our journey at the tiny village of Vege de Altorre, 2 hours south of Tuxpan. These villages live off of American tourist dollars, so with the poor economy and fears of the narcos, the villages weren't at their best. No matter, we found the fairly nice Hotel Dorado on the main street and spent the night there. The place was kind of funny, on the surface it had this wonderful veneer, but when you looked closely you noticed that everything was actually cheaply made. Well, it doesn't matter as I had a nice rest.

Their food however, was irredeemable. Believe it or not, but the best thing we got from their restaurant was hamburgers for the dogs. I can't believe they have the gall to call that slop food, and charge money for it on top. I don't want to say anymore.