jill and i had spring break off so we headed down from new orleans to mexico for the week. i always love crossing into texas and reading billboards. they always remind you how big texas thinks it is and how proud you should be to be here. 'providing texas sized eyecare for texas sized eyeballs', 'delaware sized prices for texas sized insurance policies.'
we stayed in galveston texas on the way down and had sworn off texas bbq
but i was promised that i would be swayed if i stopped at praseks
smokehouse.
it still sucks
we crossed at mcallen, texas, into reynosa, mexico, late on saturday and looked for a hotel and dinner. we came across a lot of hotels with a line of garage doors and no recognizable office. i had heard about these new 'discrete' hotels where you drive into the open garage door, they take your money, the door closes, and you and your partner can continue undisturbed (or recognized).
we couldnt find any other hotels around so we drove in and saw this sign. single room x 4hrs = 230MEX pesos(20$), 6hr = 350MXP. we asked to see a room and about staying 12hrs the guy looked at us strangely and said 'i guess. why would you want to stay 12 hours?' the room was nice and clean albeit the weird undercounter lighting and lack of windows. 'ok we'll take it'
as we settled in 'maybe this isnt as seedy as we thought' jill looked by the phone and found the room service menu contained the normal food card and an extra 'menu' for different tastes of all shapes and sizes. just as i turned the tv on and found that this hotel had paid for the all the channels not included to normal subscribers and lots of them.
ok so maybe this was a little questionable start to the trip, besides a call at 4am to get out or pay more which i explained we had paid for 12hrs in broken spanish the night was normal.
we drove south to monterrey and stopped at Presa El Cuchillo, a dammed lake for a hike
tough hiker guy
mountains as we approached monterrey
monterrey is a beautiful city saddled up to the sierra madre oriental mountain range. we took a wrong turn and ended up in Parque Ecológico Chipinque, the last forested area near the city. its well maintained and popular for locals.
at the park there was this smooth, slick cement slide that families would bring cardboard and slide down. at the base of the slide was an infirmary with crying kids with bumped heads and skinned knees. my american brain couldnt help but see the liability that would keep this from happening in the states
we kept seeing people eating out of tostitos bags with a fork so we ordered one
tostitos with hot cut corn, nacho squeezy cheese, chile powder, salsa, sour cream. tastes like it sounds
jill loved it
specialized tostito stands?!?
i also ate some crickets with lime and chile
monterrey sculpture
fountain
monterrey architecture is really amazing
i told jill all her pictures were the same. this was her answer. notice the guy in the background
botero sculpture
monterrey built a riverwalk like in san antonio that winds through the city
the riverwalk ends at a park that has been transformed into a huge park from a steel mill
the old furnaces are now museums
sesame street land
huge convention center
lots of time driving
mexican roads are a bit different usually two lanes and everyone drives on the shoulder and you pass over the center line
invigorating
we spent a night in cuidad victoria and on to el cielo biosphere reserve
modern green facilities
shes never happy
green living roof at el cielo
close
closer
closer-est
jill wanted to spend time at the beach so we headed to tampico. she had school work so i went fishing.
good day
'tame' raccoons
we later read in the newspaper that rabid raccoons attacked 4 tourists
some celebration in tampico
fresh coconut
basking in the sun on the boat ride to this restaurant, chachalaco, on an island. the oil refinery in the background was a nice backdrop
la pesca was the last stop. a small cool beach town on a lagoon great food and friendly people.
jill had a fun time getting vegetarian food but she got great tostadas
back to new orleans we were welcomed by the mardi gras indians
