The freeways in San Luis Potosi were crazy cool. Now we are in a pretty land. The colors are: purple (mountains), grey (walls), green (plants), yellow (flowers), and bright colors (buildings). We just entered Guanajuato. We saw some stone fences. The state of Guanajuato is the best agricultural state. I just saw some big prickly pear. I just some some sheathes. Now we are eating strawberries.
- Elena
There are lots of states in Mexico. Dad is like Herbie. We passed by car junk. We are passing by a town. We passed two states. We are in the territory of Joshua trees. We just passed a police. It is fake. There is greeness. I am looking for the bean piece in Chinese checkers. Angela and Ginger are playing a game. There is a nice looking wall. There is a pond in the middle of a town. There is a toll booth. We are on the freeway. There is beautiful landscaping. Mexicans are picking their corn. It is raining.
- Augustus
After leaving San Luis Potosi we have driven through increasingly busy thriving communities, the last 50 miles 3-lane road crowded with trucks; some 18-wheelers from the US, about half are 24-34 wheelers from Mexico. The road is fair. Still 120 miles to Mexico. The land is well watered, a slight rain periodically. We see some water tanks, stock tanks – lots of agriculture. The houses are all typical Mexican, lots of variety in style, size, color. . . About 100 miles out the road has improved with landscaping – foggy – big trees, green. Rock, land, thin soil, but lush. We still see maguey plantations even with all the rain. 60 miles out, fog, rain, solid agriculture, seem to be going down into the basin. It is turning dryer.
- Grandpa
12 noon. Approaching Mexico with empty gas tank. Bus stop – about 30 males waiting. Periodic shepherds standing with small flocks of sheep or goats. Finally we saw a Pemex on our side and filled up. Drank tamarindo juice. Traffic backed up about 40 km out.
- Naomi
1 p.m. Yup, coming into DF sure slows the traffic down. Mom says we need to look at the odometer to see how many miles per hour. Grandpa says, “You mean hours per mile.” Apparently there was a wreck up ahead so once we get past that we got going faster again – so fast we couldn’t really tell where we were going. Bear right – no, that goes somewhere else – maybe that’s 57 and this goes to Mexico – get over there as soon as it turns right – where are we headed – maybe this is it here – no, no, keep going – oh, look, we’re on the right road, I guess we bore right when we were supposed to. Traffic got a little slower again. We passed another tile store. And another, Interceramic.
We know we’re going the right way when Dad saw the “art formations.” Skyscraper sized colored . . . formations. We thought they were buildings, but they’re just decorative, triangular, long prisms – red, blue, yellow, white, and black, of different heights. When Dad was a little boy all this was country – now it’s a big city. However, we have not seen an Oxxo station yet – the indication of a real town – like a WalMart in NM makes it a city. Finally after driving through city for so long we passed the sign that said “Bienvenidos a Mexico.” It’s actually the 3rd time we’ve entered “Mexico.” First building we see? WalMart! The kids are amazed at the street vendors in the middle of the freeway. “Don’t they ever get hit?” We contemplated stopping to complete a transaction. Traffic got really slow, probably because someone up ahead was buying a coke!
(23 miles in one hour)
- Angela
2 p.m. We just went under a mass of stacked freeways that reminds me of a roller coaster. On the right is a median full of green grass and stylish trees. What amazes me the most are the bright colors – on the buildings, bridges, billboards – everything! There are also many American references that are familiar. There is graffiti everywhere, even on the road signs. We see a hill in the near distance. Dad says Cuernavaca is over it. We’ve seen two HUGE Mexican flags – very impressive. Dad keeps braking. I’m glad I’m not driving. There are so many green plants here, very beautiful. There’s a church that looks like a banana. It’s very fancy. The buildings are expensive again – shiny, familiar. On the right are some huge magueys. There’s 7/11 without the gas tanks. We’re on a bridge now, so I can see the streets below. There is the first sign for Cuautla! Now we are in a smaller lane off the freeway. Dad bought from a freeway saleswoman! They are colorful, flat, and foamy paper tacos. Wow. They taste pretty good! Grandpa bought a puzzle foam map of Mexico – the states are divided up. The taco is even better with cajeta! It is still overcast. There are so many slugbugs here! We are taking the free way to Cuernavaca. It is more scenic. Wow, we can really see a view here, and it is more like regular traffic. There are a lot of green/white taxis. The stores are squat and close together and green growing in between with graffiti all over and people in front. We can catch glimpses of Mexico City as we wind swiftly up the mountain to reach Cuernavaca. Tiny houses with huge buildings and green hjlls underneath and beyond. To the right was a corn patch! Now we are on a two-way one lane road still going up. It is rather nerve-wracking to go fast up and around, then stop. There are random stoplights in the middle for little side streets. There are pine trees around us. It is so green! We aren’t even in the jungles yet! Mom says there is a Tlahuican ruin here. We are gong down now, and it is a much smoother ride. It is more country and fields and trees.
- Virginia
3 p.m. We took a picture of the wheat sheaves. We are by the freeway. Every five minutes we come to homes.
- Caleb
Unknown village behind sheaves
We are on a wild goose chase for the turista mercado. We went in a circle looking for it. Dad asked someone. He told us the way. We found it!
OK, we just came back from the market. We got an embroidery cloth, sugar cane, ice cream, fruit, and flowers. Ginger bought some clips and fingernail polish.
- Elena
We were going away from the market. A police pulled us over. We are trying to look at the volcanoes. There is sugar cane. Grandpa said that he heard that Mexico City is the second largest. There is a wedding on the left. There is snow. We are looking for a street. People like to honk at our car.
- Augustus
Drove to Cuautla. 120 miles out of DF the road became three lane and busy. Gradually the yucca went from 3 foot high to 20 feet high and much branched. A few miles out of DF when we went up to the rim the weather became foggy and rainy with pine forest. The land became better watered with more and more activity. Then we dropped down into the basin and it became drier. About 30 miles inside the metro area Edwin showed us an artistic structure that he remembers from his youth as having been on the edge of town. The houses are marvelously varied in shape and color, being built mostly of concrete by individual builders, there are no standard types and no incentive to standardize them to sizes of lumber. They can have rounded or peaked or any other shape of surface. One hill was covered with houses of all colors imaginable. Of course there are some areas with exactly alike buildings. Either they are all exact in tracts or they are extremely varied in individually constructed houses.
DF was crowded and traffic slow but we didn’t mind it. The buildings and landscaping were worth seeing. I thought of Houston, nothing worth looking at in a traffic tie-up. Of course for the natives it is a bother. There were vendors in the middle of the road selling all sorts of things. We bought a jig saw puzzle of the map of Mexico from one, a tortilla sort of thing from another and declined all sorts of other goodies, I’m not exactly sure they do not have shoe shine stands there.
Up the SE corner of the basin we again entered a pine forest with fog, rain and coolness. Right in the middle of all this congestion there was about 3 acres of corn planted. People must be fairly honest for them to be able to plant corn (and expect a harvest) with no fence around it in the middle of 20 million people. Mexico City is said to be the eighth largest economic market for a single city in the world. It is also said to be a dangerous city but they must not be hungry. It is the kidnapping center of the world. We saw signs asking for the death penalty for kidnapping, a radical change in Mexican philosophy because they are so much against kidnapping that under present law, if a person commits murder in the US and flees to Mexico, Mexico will not extradite him because it will expose him to the death sentence.
In Cuernavaca we visited a Mercado. It was impressive, said to be the best in Mexico. The flower section was large and varied, Edwin got some flowers for Tia Raquel. Cuernavaca looks like Costa Rica, only more extensive and crowded.
- Grandpa
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