Coast to Coast

I didn’t expect us to hit the other coast so quickly–well, almost two months after leaving Barra de Navidad on the Pacific Coast. Driving through Mexico these past few days, we’ve crossed Joshua tree-filled desert, forest-covered mountains, rivers, and plains. Whenever the terrain changes, Juan and I always remark, “this looks like Nebraska/Montana/Michigan!”

It was a welcome sight to see pineapples being sold roadside again. I stowed my wool socks and sweatpants and dug out my Baja clothes. The weather has changed as drastically as the terrain.

Leaving Mexico City was an all-day affair due to traffic. We only got as far as Puebla, where we spent a night camped, as usual, right downtown.

Puebla is a nice city with another beautiful historic center, but after a week in DF we were in sore need of some peace and nature. We’d hoped during our first two days after DF to get into the mountains to camp, but we’ve discovered that national parks here are not as accessible as their US counterparts. Several times so far we’ve been surrounded by greenery with nobody able to tell us where to gain entry. I guess that’s one way to keep them clean.

Anyhow, once we got out of Mexico City we were accompanied by the Carretera Guadalupana, the torch relays that leave Mexico City and arrive in cities all over the place by December 12, the day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

It made me feel pretty posh to be traveling the same route in such luxurious comfort, rather than running in the heat or clinging onto the back of a truck. Some of the runners go all the way to New York City!

After two nights of being thwarted from nature and hassled by police (more from Juan on this later), we landed in Los Tuxtlas, a national park that we’ve only just landed in, mostly due to locating–ahead of time–an established campsite, complete with grass and trees and walking distance to Lake Catemaco. The place is so perfect that we paid upfront for two nights.

It’s good to be retired.