We had quite a day yesterday, and for some reason Robert actually wanted to remember it! So, I am appending Robert's thoughts of yesterday below; this is basically his blog! Adios!
We had breakfast at our hotel in Puebla and then checked out, on the road to Oaxaca. We had noticed over the past few days that the traffic in Puebla was truly awful, with long traffic jams and bumper to bumper driving. So, the prospect of getting out of town and on to some open country driving was really inviting. But it was not to be.
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| On the road to Oaxaca |
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| Beautiful scenery |
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| Great sky! |
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| Incredible mountain ranges! |
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| Rather unexpected! |
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| Our lovely junior suite! |
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| Separate "room" with third television set |
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| GREAT TUB! |
It didn’t take long before the traffic on the tollway came to dead stop and then slowly crawled to the source of the back-up: the toll gate. Why a toll barrier should cause such a jam is a puzzle, but there it is. Obviously, though, it happened on a daily basis, as there were the ubiquitous folks selling things to stopped vehicles.
Looking at GoogleMaps, we saw other, similar back-ups ahead, so we decided to switch over to the normal highways and avoid the toll barriers. A fair idea, in normal circumstances, but in this case, we had not considered the topes – Mexican for “speed bump”. We had originally been told about them by Bob and Katy Zappala – but while there may have been a few here and there in Nueves Casas Grandes, here they are big, probably a foot high at least, and many of them are not well marked or marked at all. One needs to basically stop first, and then proceed very carefully at a very low speed. And there are a lot of them – sometimes only 50 feet apart. After something like 90 km of stopping and starting, we decided this was not a good plan, so we rejoined the tollway toward Oaxaca, figuring that most of the truck traffic we encountered earlier was headed for Veracruzand it appeared we were right.
We cruised along in good order until, at the very top of one of Oaxaca’s mountains, the left-rear tire blew out. And I mean blew! Margaret handled the car beautifully but, by the time we could stop, the tire was shredded. Fortunately, this happened right in front of a Pemex gas station and the guys there were kind enough to change the tire for us. We were just really thankful that there even was a tire to change, since Alamo was not especially careful about servicing its cars. For example, as Margaret had tried to wash the windshield earlier, and – look! – no fluid!
Also, fortunately, Alamo has a desk at the Oaxaca airport, so we decided to go there first to get the car changed or have the spare tire replaced. A good plan until we ran into the “Incident at the Toll Barrier”.
As we approached the barrier, we saw a small traffic back-up and about 50 to 100 people in the roadway, carrying signs, moving large orange barrels to block the toll booths and talking to the drivers. When they came to us, we were told that the road was closed (it wasn’t) and people blocked our way. Only after we gave these vigilantes 200 pesos (about $10 US) did they let us pass. And all the time, the police were sitting at the side of the road, doing nothing. This may have been a part of the long-running Oaxaca teacher’s protest and strike. In any case, the blown tire and The Incident did not put us in a good frame of mind. As Margaret said, being part of “civil unrest” was not something we had bargained for on this trip to Mexico (or anywhere for that matter!).
Passing through Oaxaca on the way to the airport, we went through some of the worst traffic we have yet encountered – and I mean anywhere – Paris, Rome – you name it, this was the worst Margaret has ever had to drive in. We are both still marveling at the fact that we didn’t get in any accidents and that was pure dumb luck! It didn’t help that we had to pass through the center of town to get to the airport. Between the traffic, trashy streets, pedestrians absolutely everywhere either crossing the streets or trying to sell things, we made up our minds: Enough is enough! The prospect of putting up with Oaxaca for four days was too much, so we turned in the car and bought two tickets on AeroMexico back to Mexico City last night and booked a room at the Hilton.
The flight was only about 49 minutes and very uneventful. We were just so glad to be heading back north. We landed, picked up our carry-ons, got our checked bags at baggage claim (and they were two of the first bags out!) and took a pre-paid cab to the hotel, the Hilton Reforma.
We checked in at the Executive Lounge, and found to our delight that while there was no room for us on the Executive 26thfloor, they had upgraded us to a Junior Suite on the 23rdfloor! Wow! We went to our very large suite (3 TV’s?) (it does pay to be Diamond Members) and started to unpack when we were stunned to find that the carry-on backpack wasn’t ours! Panic! Our backpack had our computer, medications, travel papers (but, thank goodness, not our passports, or any of our credit cards or documents). Evidently, as we were ready to disembark, I (Robert, the trained observer) grabbed what I thought was Margaret’s backpack and helped her to put it on, but it was the wrongone. Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!
The concierge at the Hilton was marvelous. First, he called AeroMexico and gave them all the information they needed for their report – that took about half an hour to work through the phone trees to get to the right person. Then, looking through the bag we picked up, we found the owner’s business card, so we called. He, of course, was relieved that his backpack had been located and he told the concierge that the AeroMexico crew had sent our bag to lost-luggage. He decided to leave the backpack with the concierge and he will pick it up today.
Off we went (it was now 10:00 p.m.) back to the airport. After some searching, we found our way to AeroMexico’s lost luggage desk where it was confirmed that they had the backpack. A very nice lady led us through the bowels of the airport terminal to the right office and, after a minute or so, we had our bag! Oh, the joy!
In our travels, we have – from time to time – run afoul of the fates but we can’t recall having so much go so wrong in one day. Even breaking my leg in France a couple of years ago seems pale by comparison (but that may be the dimming of memory by the passage of time). As Margaret pointed out, the only thing we missed out on yesterday was the marching migrants in Veracruz! But we were close!
We got back to our hotel close to midnight, and enjoyed a bottle of Santo Tomas Sauvignon Blanc and an “Italian” pizza – two kinds of cheese, arugula and prosciutto in the bar. So glad they stay open late! Finally got to bed about 1 am, although it did take us some time to get to sleep. (MB note: R sleeping soundly at the moment! Morning Nap #1!)
Much love,
R & m
xxx
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