Hi guys! Last night we stayed with Jorge and Elma in Edinburg, Texas, only a few miles from the Mexican border. We went to bed nice and early so we would be well rested for today. We had to get up at 7:00am. We had decided yesterday that today we would get to Tampico, Mexico by sunset tonight so after we woke up we had some homemade chorizo tacos for breakfast before starting to pack up. Last night we had gone to Walmart to buy some food supplies, bug spray, EOS lip balm (for me), a guide book for Central America and some MIO for our water that I bribed dad into buying so we were pretty much set for the long 6.5-hour ride ahead of us. When we finished packing up Jorge gave us some extra tacos for the ride and we headed out into the beyond.
We stopped a couple of times on the ride to the U.S-Mexico border: once to top up our gas and once to get some Mexican auto insurance for the bike. When we were finished buying insurance and filling up we came to the border! It all pretty much went downhill from there.
First of all, the border was the most confusing road/parking lot I’ve ever been to (it’s a bad sign that I wasn’t sure if it was a road or a parking lot). There were people in camouflage outfits and machine guns EVERYWHERE. There were no lines on the roads, just the odd speed bump every 30 feet or so and twisty paved paths with no signs. We parked after a few minutes of confused navigation, took off all the motorcycle gear and prepared to seek entry into Mexico from a building on our left when a man came up and told us that the border was a half kilometre further… so we put all of our gear on (again) and started down the road.
When we arrived at the immigration building, we stopped, re-removed all our stuff again and Dad went into the building while I stood guard in the mostly empty parking lot. He returned in about an hour with instructions for me to open up the tank bag (the bag on the front of the bike) and get him some papers. He then jogged up the stairs to immigration one last time and exchanged the papers I gave him for permits and licenses. Dad has crossed a lot of borders on his motorcycle journeys so he seemed to know how everything worked.
We then had a quick bathroom and taco break before leaving into Mexico. We gave the last taco to a man who was passing by which I thought was pretty awesome. In Canada, you don’t just walk up to a random person and offer them a taco. But then again, in Canada you probably wouldn’t even have a breakfast taco to offer in the first place. The best part was that the man accepted it and happily munched on it as he walked away. Gotta love Mexico!
There was a cute little town on the border called Reynosa with really weird roads and crazy curves. There were signs that we had never seen before and after a minute, we got so turned around that we noticed that the centre line wasn’t yellow; it was dotted and white! Before we could fully comprehend this we noticed a flurry of cars rocketing towards us at what seemed to be top speed! We couldn’t turn around because there were too many and we couldn’t cross to our side because there was a metre-high centre divider that would have stopped us so instead we had to wade through all of the blaring horns and angry faces until the crowd thinned and we could safely turn around. I, of course, was laughing hysterically (something I tend to do in the face of danger) for the next five minutes. I would swear that my heart stopped when I saw the mob of vehicles rounding the corner but I wouldn’t be here to tell the tale! My Dad took it in stride and said with a laugh, “That’s Mexico!”
We were soon zooming down the Mexican highway towards Tampico! As we rode along, we began to notice many changes between the USA and Mexico. For one, the air is thicker and dirtier. It smelled bad for most of the drive, which was a shame because of all the flowers and trees. Another reason is that there are way more bugs. Every few kilometres a bug would smack my leg, making me jump in pain. I. Hate. Flying. Bugs. In fact, just a few miles after the border crossing, I saw a beautiful, yellow butterfly… that soon decided to fly into the road… into the cross breeze… and onto my jeans.
There are also way too many military dudes in camouflage in their tanks and trucks just chilling on the highway. I’m not sure what’s scarier, the fact that there are about ten in every jeep or that there are always two machine guns with a different person holding each one with the ammo over their shoulder looking like they are about to shoot me. So, in a nutshell, the first little bit of the ride on the main highway was…an experience.
The second part was basically the same only there weren’t as many army guys.
After an hour or so it started to rain a little but we figured it would clear up in a while so we kept going. The rain gradually began to get worse, so we decided to stop for gas and put on our rain gear so we exited into the next town which, in my brain will be forever known as “Zombie Apocalypse Town” due to the lack of… well, everything. There was a fairly new gas station, but the pumps were either missing or ripped into bits and pieces that were scattered along the (abandoned) parking lot. We started to stop to put on our stuff but we both got a bad feeling and agreed that the town was too… dead to stop.
We continued. We found gas further down the road but by then the rain had stopped so we just gassed up and left. After a while, the rain HAD to recommence. How could it have let two harmless travellers and a motorcycle go on without having to be drenched? Why, that would be absolutely absurd! We got to a little National Police station before we got TOO wet, which was good but we were still damp so we told the officers on duty our story, put on our gear and borrowed their cell phone to call ahead to Jorge in Tampico to let them know we couldn’t come tonight… It was raining too much and it was too far to go before dark. Dad was not going to do any night riding in Mexico. We decided to find a place to stay in Ciudad Victoria, which was only a few hours from the station. We had some granola bars and peanut butter wraps as a snack and then went back to the road. It rained for a while before the sky looked like it might have mercy… then we noticed a dark, scary cloud. To the right. Thankfully, we weren’t going that way! We were going straight ahead! But, the cloud had other ideas. Of course.
By the time we got to Ciudad Victoria it was POURING. I had never been in a flood before and I wouldn’t recommend it. At all. The water was lapping at the bottom of the parked cars, the side of the road a series of rapids. It was interesting to witness all of the litter from the streets being washed away. Some of what I saw included a basketball, a Coke bottle, a bright yellow plastic thing and a child (just kidding). The lack of gutters and grates made all of the water flow downwards onto the streets. It was awesome! Dad didn’t think so because the streets were already greasy and the water didn’t help. Add the rush hour cars and trucks, all splashing us in their passing spray. It was a very challenging ride for Dad.
I saw a hotel, but there was a ramp going down to it and water + down = flood, so we kept looking for about 10 minutes. We couldn’t spot any other hotels so we drove all the way back to the first one. We parked the bike under the awning, checked in, grabbed our stuff and made ourselves at home. I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow…bye! ~Holly J 
Days 14 and 15: Into Mexico
