What happened to the heat?

We figured we had seen all we wanted to of Veracruz so we headed farther North to Tuxpan, passing through Poza Rica which is an oil town. Poza felt much like driving through Fort Mac or Lloydminster, dirty pickups everywhere and lots of road construction, plus the smell of crude oil in the air added a nice touch. This got me thinking about work for about 15minutes. Tuxpan is home to Pemex Oil’s port and tankage facility, the town itself is actually about 10km from the coast but has a large river that allows for ships to come inland to the docs. We rode down to the beach to see what it offered but were not impressed. The weather was not favourable, plus at one end of the beach there is a power plant belching out smoke from its stacks. Not a relaxing environment by my standards.

The next morning we headed to Tampico to see what that town had to offer. We figured there would be more to do there as it is a larger centre with a better balance of tourism and industry. We made good time by Mexican standards, 200km took only 3 hours, not bad at all. We have noticed that this side of Mexico is more open and less crowded, plus the roads are definitely straighter. With that come more toll booths though, it seems every time we have to go over a bridge we have to pay a toll, today we paid 4 tolls varying from 19-29 pesos for each bike. Thankfully they are not very expensive, and sometimes the bridges are quite impressive.

We managed to get into Tampico fairly early in the day which allowed us time to explore the town and still have a couple of hours to burn window shopping. They have a Sears here, Brenda was very proud of me for not going into the tool section. I am sure there was a table saw or a 12” Compound Miter saw on sale, but then again packing that home would be a hassle. Just kidding of course, 12” compound miter saws never go on sale. So once again our plan changed and we will be moving on in the morning, our next stop is a bit troublesome, we have to pick a place that is close enough to the border without being in the “Cartel Zone”. We have heard all kinds of stories about bandits close to the border, actually we have heard this about all of Mexico, however we have not experienced anything even close to this ourselves. Lucky or just expecting a pleasant experience, maybe both, you can decide for yourself.

Two days supply for breakfast. All this for $4.