Montañas

Ciudad Victoria – Gomez Farías, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Number one biking day of the trip so far. Hadn’t been keeping track exactly, but probably some ride in Arkansas had been holding the yellow jersey up until today. 

But, really, it’s not even close. 

Today had everything. Amazing mountain scenery – and the clouds even opened up so we could see it all. Really nice road. Basically no big trucks; there’s a somewhat parallel road that they all must take. And very little traffic generally. A variety of landscapes. As usual, cool cultural stuff. Great lunch. Towns with different specialties. Birds and animals. And the Tropic of Cancer. 

Montañas. 

Big climb out of Ciudad Victoria to start the day. Then two mountain passes – the second of which was, I think, about four miles up and four miles down – with amazing vista rewards at every stage. The highlight was The Three Mesas – these three mound/mountain type things that are a little reminiscent of the mound – Devil’s Tower – in Close Encounters of the Third Kind – only much more dramatic, and green.

And then we finished the day with a ten kilomoter climb up to our hotel. Again, amazing views. It was shaded too – which was very welcome considering that it was late afternoon and pretty hot by the time we started the ascent. The hotel itself is nice – and feels a little like being at Lutsen or some other mountain resort – looking down on a breathtaking alpine valley. 

Landscapes, Birds and Animals.

Citrus groves. Sugar cane. General greenery. Mangoes. Cattle grazing. Jungle. Today had everything. And can I just say how happy Diana and I are to see the earth in all its glorious ecological competition – with different plants and trees bursting forth all around us. Obviously not the same types of plants as in Minnesota – but the feeling that everything is alive and green is the same as summer in the Northland. I mean the desert has its virtues and all – but I’ll take the vitality of places where it rains a lot and the soil is rich any day . . .

The birds provide another sign of all that. I realized a few years ago that the lack of bird song in the West kind of bums me out. (I have done no scientific study – it’s just my personal observation, based purely on anecdotal evidence, that there don’t seem to be as many birds out West – and the birds that are around tend to be buzzards – hardly the song birds that we love . . .)

Anyway, there are crazy birds around here. We’re riding our bikes most of the time – meaning we hear the birds but don’t necessarily see them. So I don’t know what they look like or what they are, but they are loud and rambunctious and fun. (Kind of like what we have observed of people in Mexico. Loud seems to be a cultural thing. People – probably young men – always seem to be driving their otherwise boring cars – like a Kia or something – around with HUGE sound coming from them. Mostly Mexican music. It’s fun. But it is definitely loud.)

My only bird picture is of the parrot that the woman who made us lunch took out as we sat eating. (Do they have wild parrots in this part of Mexico?) Not really the kind of real-life experience that we pride ourselves on – but it will have to do . . . I tried to get the parrot to say something – but the she clearly did not know English – so it wasn’t really a fair test of her vocabulary . . .

On the animal front, we, of course, saw a number of different domesticated animals. Dogs. Cats. Horses. Donkeys. Cows. Cattle. Long horns. Sheep. A dead skunk or two (Can I just say how happy I am that there are dead – and, presumably, live, skunks around here. For some reason I had been thinking that maybe skunks were on the decline because I hadn’t smelled skunk much in Minnesota recently – but this trip has proved that skunks are alive and well throughout North America . . . Which brings me to another question: Is Mexico considered North or Central America? Maybe I had a poor geography class – but I still don’t feel like I know the right answer there . . . I mean, clearly Guatemala to Panama are in Central America. But Mexico – not so obvious . . .)

Sorry – wandered off topic – and the animals that I’ve mentioned are pretty much yawners I know. But I will say that there was more variety than you might see in a day in Texas – where it was either cattle or long horns. But, regardless, there are a few notable – and not so boring – items to mention on this front. 

First off, Diana and I had the opportunity to look out on the Rio Guayelojo. When we did we saw a big alligator swishing his tail in the blue water. So much for swimming in that otherwise inviting stream . . .

(On later inspection we decided that what we were “seeing” was actually a big piece of trash going back and forth in the river – but you never know . . .)

And then there were all kinds of jaguar signs. There was the actual jaguar sign – as in, jaguar may cross the road here. 

There was the big jaguar guarding the ascent up to Gomez Farías. 

And then David, the handyman at the hotel who lived 24 years in the U.S. working for Ramada (he actually lived in the Jolly Green Giant town in Minnesota for two years (what town is that again? lots of blog points at stake . . .)) told me that last Spring everything around the hotel was very dry – and the deer and the jaguars came to the hotel pool to drink water – so he saw a number of them. 

I guess I would say that neither imagined alligators nor jaguar presence are boring. So there you go . . .

Tropic of Cancer. Outside of border crossings there are not many milestones on a trip like this. I still don’t really understand the Tropic of Cancer – but it has something to do with where the sun shines directly at noon, and it is essentially at 23 degrees latitude. In any event, we passed it. Considering that our house in Minneapolis is pretty much exactly at 45 degrees, we are about half way to the equator – at least by that crude measure . . .

Towns along the way. 

We passed through a number of them today. The cool thing was that, like the citrus town yesterday, these towns all seemed to have a theme. One town had tons of mango stuff. Mango juice. Mango stands. More mango stands. (Sadly, mango season seems to have passed – so no road fruit for me today . . .) Another had a whole bunch of honey stands.

Considering that I keep bees I was pretty excited about this development. Another sign of the vitality around here. No offense, Texas – but my estimation there aren’t enough plants – let alone, flowering plants, to support a good beehive. My only disappointment? To this point we have seen zero beehives . . .

One last thing I wanted to mention about towns here. Not since Iowa have we seen such great town signs. Mexico seems to specialize in big colorful signs with the names spelled out. But they also add embellishments like the big jaguar, or the Magic City thing in Linares. 

We love those signs. Great photo – and rest break – opportunities. But also fun, and they seem to generate some town pride. Cool to see.

Okay, I hate to end a mountains and rainbows post like this on a more sobering note, but I wanted to mention a little incident from yesterday morning. We’re packing up to leave and we have our door open. We’re on the second floor – looking down on the parking lot/courtyard of the hotel. What do we see? A brigade of bad-ass military police people – who had apparently stayed at the same hotel as we did. They all line up in formation and go through some commands and stuff. They all have super big and scary guns. 

I decided that I should take a quick picture of this scene. When I do, I see that one or two of the MP people seem to be looking my way – but I don’t think much of it. Now, as you’ll recall, yesterday was the day after the luke-warm chicken dinner – and, as a result, I spent some time in the bathroom that morning. Which is where I headed after the photo. 

I’m sitting there when I hear a knock at the door, and then Diana is having a discussion about a photograph with someone. She thinks the person at the door wants to take a photograph with her . . . I, of course, have a pretty good idea about what’s going on. I rush out of the bathroom and take my phone out. I show the military police guy who’s standing there the picture I took and say “delete?”

”Si, si,” the bad-ass dude at the door says. 

So I delete it. And, fortunately, that’s the end of that. He leaves – and neither of us is dragged off to MP photo jail or anything . . . (For obvious reasons there is no photo to post here . . .)

Later in the day, when we’re passed on the road by one of the military police trucks, I see that they are all wearing masks as they drive around. And it’s then I realize that they don’t want their pictures circulated because they don’t want the cartels to know who they are – lest the cartel people do mean things to them or their families. 

You can’t help feeling like this cartel stuff is serious business. Hopefully Mexico gets it under control soon. Because my sense is that it is really holding the country back. Mexico seems to be filled with wonderful people who want to work hard to achieve a better life. 

But the narco/cartel stuff seems to warp things in all kinds of bad ways. Jorge from the Cabinello a few days ago told us about the payments they need to make just to keep going. But we can see it personally too. This place is beautiful. It’s inexpensive. It’s fun. Great culture. Great food. But as far as we can see, essentially zero foreign tourists. Which I think is entirely attributable to all the cartel stuff. 

Such a shame for the many, many businesses and entrepreneurs who are deprived of the opportunity to do business with people from other countries . . .

I will say that we have felt very safe here. There is, as noted, a really big police presence. And we haven’t seen or felt in any personal danger whatsoever. That doesn’t mean there isn’t any. We just haven’t felt it. 

On toward Tampico tomorrow. The ocean awaits . . .