We spent another morning walking around Puebla before packing up and heading back to the bus. We thought Puebla was a nice city, but was lacking something for us. Pizzazz? I don’t know. Some places just do it for us and others don’t. We’ll miss that railroad museum, though.
Fingernail painting, and now she’s finally started to ask about getting her ears pierced. My little tomboy is growing up into a little girl.
Then there is this boy. The one who loves his mama above all else, and isn’t afraid to tell me about it. “Papa, I love you, but I love Mama the most.” Of course, I myself was probably ten before I stopped announcing that I was going to marry my mom. What boy doesn’t love their mama most of all?
Rides in the Cholula plaza. Lowe always looks so serious when he is riding, but what he’s really doing is watching how everything works. Watching the wheels spin around. Watching the chain pull the cars. Questioning.
Lately he’s started asking us, “How do people make tires?” or “How do people make puppies?”
All done with Cholula we set off for Oaxaca, a marathon two-hundred and twenty-five miles to the south. All right, that’s not exactly a marathon on a well-paved toll road, but still, it’s way farther than we are accustomed to traveling in a day.
Highway 135D ran smack dab into these mountains, and for a good thirty minutes straight we climbed straight up in second gear. Not sure what the elevation hit, but my ears were popping.
Ali hates these types of roads, but I think they’re great. The rules are simple—drive as far over to the right as you can at all times, leaving about half a lane for cars and trucks to pass. Oncoming vehicles do the same thing. So basically, right down that middle line is a passing lane available to traffic in either direction. As long as nobody has their head to far up their ass it all works out great. In this case I was overtaking the slow truck while being overtaken at the same time by a car. Works for me. Ali, on the other hand…
Pit stops were few and far between on this stretch of road.
Next up, Oaxaca.
16 Comments on “South to Oaxaca”
That last shot is fantastic!
Love the pics! Especially the one with the yellow rail!
Beautiful country and love your photos. You always capture so much emotion in your photos. The kids are adorable & I always enjoy hearing about their adventures and how they are growing as we have grands close to the same age. Our granddaughter, Kady, will turn 4 on Oct 13th & I see so many similarities between her & Lowe. Happy traveling!
Thanks, Lori. Yes, four is coming up fast now isn’t it?
It’s always amazed me the huge growth & development that takes place during a child’s third year. They start out three as a toddler & arrive at four having grown into a little kid (or big kid as my granddaughter likes to remind me!)
I also like the Mexican system of driving on two lane roads (at least those with adequate lane width and maybe some minor shoulders). I think its based on the assumption that drivers will be watching the road and actually -thinking-.
Beautiful pictures as always.
That’s why I like it as well. It actually allows drivers to use their common sense. We could eliminate about 50% of traffic lights in the U.S. if they’d allow drivers there to use it too.
Heading into the North Carolina mountains yesterday, we were exhausted after 200 miles. We average about 50mph, so that’s about 4 hrs. of driving. Plenty for one day. When you eventually head east, the High Country of NC is not to be missed! Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk are some of the towns. We’re in Banner Elk at Grandfather Mountain Campground. Beautiful views all around and great hiking, white water rafting, tubing and ziplining.
I love seeing Lowe playing with his toys. It reminds me of my childhood, most kids these days are sitting in the house on their video games.
Never being pulled over by the Federales this trip?
Not much. We got stopped outside of Puebla last week. They checked all our papers. By the time they were done there were eight of them standing there looking through the windows and joking with the kids. As we pulled away we made it a hundred yards before another one waved us down. We stopped and he asked what year we were? He was loving the bus and was disappointed I think that he wasn’t with the other gang further back down the road. But yeah, overall, very few stops compared to the VW bus. Maybe the Travco has a less “hippie pot smuggler” vibe to it.
“My little tomboy is growing up into a little girl.” Ignore it and don’t ask anyone about the teenage years.
Does Ali drive?
She has yet to get behind the wheel of the Travco. No real reason behind it. She’s never asked to, and I’ve never been too eager to encourage it (because I like driving too much).
Hi Pat. Just wondering what gas/diesel is running a liter down there lately? We have a diesel rig and are heading south of the border once again soon. Thanks.
Gas is about 13 pesos per liter, meaning that it’s about $3.25 a gallon. The price never seems to change. This is about what it was when prices were through the roof in the States, and now that prices have dropped in the States it is still the same price here. That’s what having the government set the price does, I suppose. Not sure what diesel is.