10/31/06     Yesterday was interesting.  Today is interesting also as we drive the bumpy road to Veracruz, on the East coast of Mexico, about half way to the boarder of Guatemala.  But first let me tell you the story of our adventure yesterday and why we had to leave 30 boxes of shoes and clothes in Texas…

We arrived at the border crossing in Brownsville at about 2:00 p.m. and began processing our truck with the 30 boxes of shoes and clothing packed by Morgan Guffey in California.  When the ‘Aduana’ or customs agent heard that the boxes we filled with shoes and clothes he refused to allow us to enter, explaining that we must return to the U.S. and drive to another border crossing about 30 minutes away,  There we would have to hire an export company to prepare paperwork so that we could drive through Mexico to Guatemala.  After talking with several agents and hearing the same story, we were resigned to the new plan and drove to the commercial crossing point some 30 minutes away.

Upon arriving we were immediately pulled from the line and questioned.  The agent demanded ownership and insurance papers for the truck and was not happy with what I provided.  He seemed convinced that we were trying to transport a stolen car.  When he was finally convinced that I owned the truck he would still not allow us to pass without additional information. 

At this point my son Jim exited the truck to see what was happening and a female agent, placing one hand on her pistol and pointing at him with the other, yelled “Put your hands where I can see them!”  Great, now we are going to get shot for smuggling old shoes and shirts into Mexico I thought!  I bet you’re thinking these Mexican border agents are tough people, huh? But wait, we never got to Mexico, this was the U.S. Bridge Safety People!

Meanwhile the agent I was talking to got a little more congenial with me.  He told me where to go to get the necessary papers and once again we were off.  We began where the officer recommended and they told us it was not possible to transport used clothes and shoes through Mexico.  We tried another place and they told us the same thing.  We decided we needed to give in and drop the boxes off at a local church just down the street from the export office.  We knew it was the right decision when we saw the name of the church:  Iglesia Bautista Emanuel-Immanuel Baptist Church!  The same name as our home church in Highland, California!

We spoke with the pastor, Francisco Montiel and he agreed to take the boxes and was very grateful for the gift.  He explained they have a shelter and most of the congregation is Hispanic and poor.  They could definitely use the help!  Once again, God is in control!  By the way, why not drop Francisco an email and let him know you will pray for his church?  FCO.2MONTIEL@NETZERO.NET

We finally proceeded through the border without further incident and drove into Mexico about three hours before stopping to spend the night at a motel.

Anyway, today we got up early and began the drive to Veracruz.  By our calculation it should be somewhere around 12 hours from our beginning point and we planned on spending the night there.  With only a few minor problems we were able to make our way to Veracruz and decided to find the first decent looking hotel we came upon.  It turned out to be the Hotel Playa Linda.

We asked what the rate was for two beds and two people and were informed that they only had king-size beds.  The room rate was only $30 per night so we decided to get two rooms.  Once inside the rooms we noticed a few interesting things: the rooms were painted pink with purple mood lights, there were some sort of rotating windows like an ATM at a bank for ????, and the most interesting thing-they rented the rooms for three or four hour periods!  But we were tired and slept well through the night, awakening at 4:30 a.m. for what would turn out to be a very long day.

As we left the hotel there were few cars on the road and we had a relatively easy time finding our way to the highway.  Once on the highway we entered the toll road which was a delight after some of the roads we've been on earlier.  We began to diligently watch for our exit which should not have been a problem since there were only a few.  Seeing none we ended up some 60 minutes later at the next toll booth.  Here we asked the young lady taking our $7.50 if this were the right way to Highway 180D.  Her look immediately told us that it was not and she told us to wait while she closed our lane and made all the cars and trucks and big rigs behind us back up and enter the next lane.  They were not very happy.

We turned around and went back some 45 minutes and found the most perfectly signed offramp with our road directions and destination clearly marked.  But only for the direction of traffic to the east not to the west where we first came!  No doubt the sign was up at some point but somebody took it to cover their roof!

Back on track we continue driving for most of the day, contemplating whether or not to take a route through an area where there was civil unrest due to the Indian peasants protesting the Mexican government.  There had been some shootings and other bad things and we were trying to decide on our route.  We decided to take the safe way and off we went.

It was about 5 p.m. in the afternoon.  We had stopped and had dinner (some kind of reconstituted shredded beef in a bag needing no refrigeration-it looked like we should have been tucking it between our lip and gum instead of eating it!)  and then continued on.  We found we were on a relatively good road with little traffic and the truck was racing down it with me driving at about 70 miles an hour when the unthinkable happened!  A huge hole in our lane and no time to react or drive around it!  I held on tight and we hit it hard, looking at each other in amazement that the truck was still running!  After a few tentative moments we realized we had made it continued on, grateful the Toyota had held together.

We got into a large city and there were literally four roads designated with the number we were to take.  Two of those roads had the destination city were looking for.  Jim (my son) said go right and I decided to take the left road.  It turned out to be the right road (or was it?)  As it was the toll road and we made excellent time.  As we were now only several hours from the frontier border of Guatemala and Mexico we decided to go all the way there but we needed to be there by 9 p.m. as the border closed at that time.

We breezed down the toll road until we were almost at its end making excellent time.  And then the unthinkable happened: traffic came to a dead stop!  We sat for some 15 minutes wondering whether there was an accident or perhaps road construction when a procession started marching towards us and we could hear the loud speaker and the chanting.  As they approached it was clear they were antigovernment people as they were saying some bad words in Spanish referencing the government and the police.  As they passed us I took some pictures and video and then decided to walk up to the front to find out what the actual protest was about.

As I approached the people they were all wearing black hoods and had blocked the interstate in both directions.  The line of cars was very long but the people were afraid to honk, resigned to just sitting and waiting for the protest to end.  With my camera I asked one of the hooded men if it was okay to take pictures and he said yes.  I began taking video and pictures when one of the other men say don't take any more pictures.  I walked away from him and waited a few moments when I heard a siren.  Thinking something big might be happening I began taking more video.  You can WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

After waiting for well over an hour to finally open the border crossing and we were off once again slowly creeping out of the town following truckloads of black hooded men and women!

We arrived at the border at about 8 p.m. and barely had time to get through.  But we made it and decided to press on to our house in Panajachel even though we had been driving for over 15 hours.  Several more surprises were in store.

As we rounded a corner laying in the middle of the road apparently sleeping was a man.  I mean laying in the middle of the road!  I quickly navigated around him and kept driving, unsure of what to do.  A little later I began to feel bad that I hadn't stopped.  Figuring him for a drunk I just didn't give it a thought.  Then I began thinking maybe at the very least we should I move them out of the road.  Or maybe he had even been hit by a car!  I began feeling bad that there was nothing I could do at that point.  Later, José Carmen here in Panajachel told me that sometimes men do that to get people to stop and then their friends rush out of the bushes to rob them.  Oh well, that was that.

A few hours later we came around another turn in about 10:30 at night to find a truck blocking both lanes and being pushed.  And then little later another truck stalled facing us in our lanes.  It sure kept me awake!

We finally ended up at our house almost 20 hours after we left Veracruz Mexico.  And we slept like logs!