So we have four wonderful days in Chetumal. The cupboards and fridge are full of food. We spent hours at the swimming pool. The days were lazy and refreshing. But as they say, all good things must come to an end. On the 11th, we were up before dawn to drive the 379 miles to Villahermosa. Our run for the border has begun.
For most of the day, I was feeling pretty good about the drive. The road was so much better than Belize that I could read and knit while Paul drove. There wasn’t a lot to see, but after the first couple of hours and many, many topes, we were between towns and could make some progress. Part of the road was recently paved, so it was smooth sailing for kilometer after kilometer.
Time for Paul and Brutus to bond
Again, all good things must come to an end. At our afternoon fuel break, Paul made the mistake of turning his back on the attendant and they ripped us off for 100 pesos – about $6.50. What happened is they pretended to misunderstand his request for 500 pesos of fuel. When his back was turned, the attendant punched 100 pesos into the pump (the amount where the pump would turn off). When Paul turned back to face the attendant, the nozzle was in the tank, the attendant pulled it out and shook it as if he had pumped fuel. Paul says, no, I want 500 pesos. The attendant punched in 400, Paul wasn’t watching closely and we received 400 pesos worth of diesel. When the pump stopped at 400, Paul questioned the attendant, who explained he had pumped 100 pesos, then 400. It wasn’t until after we left, that Paul realized the liters were at zero when the attendant quickly cleared the 100 pesos off the pump. Live and learn.
The road was a four lane divided highway, the last few miles into Villahermosa. Once we hit town, there were frontage roads, so our trip through the center of things went smoothly, until we hit on h…. of a bump on the approach to an overpass. When we reached the campground, everything from the cabinets above the dinette was spread from one end of the trailer to the other. Add to the chaos the fact it is 97 degrees in the trailer and the electrical service is not adequate to run the air conditioning. To say I was in a foul mood is the understatement of the year. And Paul, who was already feeling bad about the fuel stop, felt even worse when he looked into the trailer.
An hour later, we have rearranged things again. Anything heavy has been moved from the upper cabinets to floor level. Now the upper cabinets are full of soft things, like sheets and towels and refrigerator dishes. Add finding a way to keep the cabinets from coming open to our hit list for when we stop at an Airstream service center.
The best campsite of the whole trip
- Hanging out by the pool
