A THOUSAND HOT HAIR DRYERS

melting, in Isla Aguada

So let us throw up some numbers out there for you.  Try 38 degrees Celsius with 62% humidity, that gives you a real feel temperature of 55 degrees Celsius.  Heat stroke probable, this is what the Canadian humidex calculator says.  Thats what we are living in.  We are hot.  We are sticky.  We are melting, all the time.

making coffee on the fender on the gulf

We needed to get the oil changed.  It actually wasn't due for another thousand kilometers but given the extreme temperatures the oil had thinned out so much that it started leaking out of the valve cover gasket.  Everywhere we stopped the truck marked its territory.  So we were in small town Isla Aguada and asked the hotel staff for the nearest mechanic and they gave us directions that we barely understood.  We found a house that had vehicles strewn throughout the property so we thought that must be the place.  Justin went over to the guy with the most grease across his big belly and started the charades on how to obtain some diesel engine oil.  For some reason, we got back in our vehicle and started to follow him in his to another house.  The guy started honking at the house and a women stepped out, shook her head and the the big belly man started to speak in rapid spanish, he shook his head and looked at Justin, said something angrily, hopped in his car and speeded off, leaving us in the dust - and lost.  "WTF just happened," we thought.  We believe he wanted the work and appeared angry at us because Justin kept pointing at himself and saying, "el mechanico," and the guy kept pointing at himself saying, "el mechanico."
So, we went on our way and figured we would get it done in a bigger town down the road.  We were randomly driving around checking it out when big belly man found us and started honking.  We have to say at this point this guy was a little intimidating.  So Justin got out, walked up to the car and out popped a man with a Tennessee accent.  "Hows it going, I hear you're looking for a diesel mechanic."  Big belly man had found us an interpreter and a diesel mechanic.  So after some chit-chat, we knew we had to source oil from a bigger town up the road.  In the end everybody was friends and parted ways.  Justin hummed and hawed and pulled out his coveted Autozone oil from Manzanillo went over to big belly mans house, rented a bucket and changed the oil on the street.  The Land Rover now runs with 25w60 engine oil.  The lesson we have learned from this is - we need to learn spanish.

The next day we drove to the city of Campeche where we spent the next three days.  We found a great hotel in the colonial district.

our hotel, Lopez

We loved the city.  The people were really nice, lots to see and do.  We spent most of our time wondering the streets and going to museums to escape the heat.  We had planned on visiting many ruins outside of the city but the heat held us back.  We did all of our sight seeing early in the morning and late at night, it was literally impossible to be out in the afternoon.

This area is so clean, they had garbage pick up twice a day and a small army of sweepers cleaning the streets.  The building are all pastel colored and instead of all the tile work we saw in Puebla the buildings here all have decorative concrete mouldings and metal work.  The streets are narrow and cobblestoned.  

the cathedral

above the square

We went to many museums and learnt about pirate attacks and the wall that was built around the city.

And last but not least, Justin got his haircut, by a man who had great chops.......

DOWN, DOWN WE GO, TO THE GULF OF MEXICO

After leaving Puebla we climbed an additional thousand feet bringing us back up to about nine thousand.  By the time be got down the last mountain pass we were at about fifteen hundred feet.  It was a drop over about fifty kilometers and the only time we ever saw runaway lanes in Mexico.  We were so happy to finally be done with Mexicos mountain roads.  Finally we didn't have a weight on our chest and were able to take great big thick gulps of air.  Our skin seemed to rehydrate instantly and the land rover regained its brawn.

just before we started the long descent down

we were a little concerned, a runaway lane in mexico!

 As soon as we dropped out of the mountains the landscape and the density of the foliage changed dramatically.  It was lush and green and the bugs were bigger and stranger.  The humidity was intense and sticky and it never cooled off at night.  This was a huge change from the pacific coast, at night you needed to wear more clothes because of the temperature drop.  Not here, there seems to never be any relief, four months in Mexico never prepared us for this.

hot and steamy

Our first day driving was suppose to be a short day.  We had our sights set on another colonial town, Cordoba.  But the town was so densely populated, it had no parking and an intense feeling of claustrophobia drove us to the outskirts of town where we found the el Silencio auto hotel.  We drove up and did our usual thing to book a room but we were having a big problem communicating with the staff, which is strange because we feel we have this part of our Spanish vocabulary down.  Finally we pulled out some money and they wouldn't take it.  So confused we pulled out a pen and a piece of paper so they could write down the cost for us.  Instead she leaves and comes back with the words written down "no sleeping".  "No sleeping," we said confused.  Aaahhhh, no sleeping!  For those of you who might not know what an auto hotel is, its a room with a garage or a curtain to hide your vehicle.  They charge by the hour and is for persons in Mexico who need some privacy - wink wink!  Note, from what we can gather auto hotels are big down here because immediate and extended families often live in the same home so if you want to make some noise and you don't want grandma to hear, thats where you go.

busy streets of Cordoba

Cordoba

So we pushed on and our short driving day became a very long driving day and yet again we found ourselves camping at a Pemex station - a very loud Pemex station.

Pemex sleep stop number two

The next day we hit the road really early and had our first military vehicle search.  Up until this point they usually just ask us a couple of questions and wave us on.  This time we had to get out of the vehicle while they poked around inside and they got us to open up all of our stowage boxes.  They asked us a bunch of questions took a look at our passports and sent us on our way.  They were really pleasant though and the whole thing took only about fifteen minutes.

three days of driving roads like this

hey, a car is coming...

"hey you got air conditioning!"

Originally, we had never planned on taking this route.  Its been a tough road but the people and the scenery have been great.  We are so happy that we got to see this part of the country, although most of it has just rolled past the window.  It took three days and we passed through four more Mexican states and finally, early in the morning we got to see the the beautiful water of the Gulf of Mexico.

IT WAS DARK, WHERE IS THAT STREET AND QUIT HONKING AT ME

the cathedral

And that is how we arrived into Puebla.  After about twelve hours on the road, we arrived exhausted and not up to big city driving.  At first we were a little disappointed, all we saw were skyscrapers and big chain stores.  But after seeing the cathedral and the colonial buildings we were thrilled and excited to go exploring in the morning.

inside the cathedral 

We loved this city.  Basically all we did was wonder the streets and tried to take it all in.  That was hard because everywhere you looked there were so many details.  The city is covered with beautiful hand painted tiles.  Every building is adorned with them.  I had to convince Justin that it wasn't a wise idea to pry up one with his pocket knife.

The city is so clean and mellow as opposed to everywhere else we have been in Mexico.  We loved the relaxed vibe.  We could of walked the streets for days and never see the same thing twice.  This city really needs more than a day to do it justice.  I guess that means we will be back.

the coolest vending machine we ever saw

our first time trying chalupas and mole sauce - so so good