Border time...

It has been a long time without emails and we have been calling in our blogs to Adam and Vanessa. Wow, what a trip it has been. When you’re in the U.S.A. you can take a map, measure out how long it will take you to get somewhere, and it will take you that long to get there. Not So in Mexico!!!!! We thought it was going to take us 3 days to make it through Mexico and we were wrong. The road can be great for a bit and then just become a mess of pot holes, “topes”(multiple speed bumps) that last for miles. When you’re driving in older engines those small bumps are magnified x 1000 and transferred into your back and neck. My chiropractor will be busy for a while

We are now in the border town of Tapachula and should be leaving Mexico tomorrow. Yesterday we began having trouble with the water pump leaking in the ambulance after going over a long stretch of bumpy roads. We began filling the radiator every time we would stop thinking that it would last for a while. The pump was worse today leaking pretty heavily and since its Sunday, there are no stores or shops open to repair or buy another one. About 200km from Tapachula the pump completely cracked on the side of the “highway”, and we weren’t able fix it. We ended up towing the ambulance with the engine using and a piece of rope we luckily had brought along. The going was slow since we had someone in the ambulance being towed. It was extremely hot today(no air conditioning) and the trip took us almost the entire day. We are planning to do some work on it tomorrow so that it will be drivable before crossing the border.

The food here has been unbelievable and inexpensive too. Almost every night we have some type of meat dinner with beers, and all the fixings for under $30. The road trip has taken us through place that I’m sure don’t get many travelers. We get looks, people pointing, and kids laughing at us as we drive through there cities. Everyone here is very pleasant and interested in what we are doing. There have been many questions and they seem very happy after we tell them what we are doing. I showed 5 kids a magic trick and I think they liked it, or maybe they were just laughing at me.

Well, I hope we make it tomorrow. We should have a welcoming party on the other side of the border waiting for us.

Jeff Palensky