Day 7 - Finally Made it to Jalapa!

Well, on the Mexico map it's Jalapa, but on all the road signs here it is more accurately spelled Xalapa (pronounced the same as Jalapa). So now it's our second day in Mexico, and our opinion of the roads here changed dramatically today. Drove just over 300 miles and it took over 10 hours! Trucks, potholes, road construction, trucks (really long ones hauling two 40 foot trailers each), truck accidents, speed bumps, trucks going r-e-a-l-l-l-y slow over speed bumps, well you get the message. So you can understand why we needed to stop for a beer break after 6 hours on the road (not to mention the view was great).

The scenery was quite beautiful and would have been even better if the weather was not lousy (cloudy, drizzly). It looks a lot like the highland parts of Guatemala, very green and forested with trees like Ceibas.

I forgot to mention that last night we were in Tampico. That was not an exciting city to spend the night but when you get to your destination after 7 each night you don't have time to get exceited. Tonight we got into Xalapa about 8 pm, and GPS Ginnie kind of by accident actually got us to drive by our hotel, which is in the center of Xalapa. Problem is this city is old, has very narrow streets, no parking and LOTS of traffic. Went by the hotel the first time after barely noticing it, and nowhere to park. Can't exactly go around the block here since it is very up and down and mostly (non-posted) one way streets. So we spent two more go-arounds the center of the city before we finally found a place to stash Old Red and check in to the hotel. What's another 45 minutes of sitting in absolute bumper to bumper traffic after 10 hours on really bumpy roads? I am beat...

The city here (at least what we can see in the drizzly night) looks very interesting and historic. Tomorrow we'll get some pics and post them.

Oh, and we only got pulled over once for a papers check...

Looking for an easy Christmas gift for someone hard to buy for? Donate to www.lampcharity.org/donate in lieu of buying something that probably will be regifted and you will make yourself and your recipient feel good, and you just may help save a life in Guatemala.

Tomorrow off to Vera Cruz...