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There were so many warnings about Mexico that we decided to “fly” through the North. We studied the roads, the points where we could stop and how much we could bear to drive.
On the first day we stayed in Saltillo, 3 hours and 30 from the border. We passed Monterey and headed for Saltillo. We stayed overnight at Cinthia's house. A girl we know from Couchsurfing. Cinthia studies medicine, lives with her parents and an uncle. Your uncle, well traveled, was in Lisbon and Porto in 1992, we love talking to him. Cinthia's mother has a wedding planning business in Saltillo. I guarantee we only found out about this when we arrived. We went to dinner with Cinthia and walked around the city, we didn't see any travelers lost like us in the middle of the mountains. We feel safe. We returned home and Cinthia's uncles and parents were drinking tequila and playing cards. They wanted to know our plans for the next day and recommended the best route. We slept and were woken up the next morning by Cinthia's nephew asking us to go down for breakfast. What generosity. Eggs with potatoes, beans and tortillas served with freshly brewed coffee
We linger on in the conversation. How are weddings in Saltillo, what is it like to organize weddings there, what to eat,... we went to see the space. A large hall for 300 people, a small kitchen and an entertainment room for the little ones. He confesses that the worst thing of all is getting people to work. We laugh, there are things that are the same all over the world.
We left later than we wanted on the way to Ciudad del Valles, in San Luis Potosí. We'll stay there for two nights and take the opportunity to get to know the region they call Huasteca. We don't want to arrive at night, it's 6 hours to drive. We push ourselves in the mountains, we enjoy the animals grazing on the side of the roads, we see miles and miles without anyone, we pass more than 100 roadside restaurants selling Roasted Meat, some areas with 5 in a row.
We stopped for diesel, they don't accept cards, we only have 30 dollars, including the 20 fake ones that were passed to us in the United States. pass. Further on, we managed to get up and continue our journey, along national roads. With the speed limits always changing: 100, 80, 60, 110. We have to be very careful. We headed south, Hurricane Katia arrived in the country today, with heavy rains, the sky is getting more and more cloudy. We stop at another pump and they come to ask us for money, we say we don't have it. If we were going to give it to everyone, we'd have to end the trip here. They ask us for something to eat. We give water.
We continued to Huasteca Potosina, we had several destinations. The mammoth was still fine, but we climbed a mountain on the way to the “Attic of the Swallows” and that was it, it started to heat up and heat up. We stopped, I got out and it was steaming... we waited and saw that little by little it began to drop. We finally reach the attic and the guide tells us that it is normal and that it happens to everyone who climbs this mountain. That even a couple continued and their van ended up on fire. Then it was always going downhill and the car reacted well.
We take it to the mechanic, you already know we love being at the mechanic. He checked that everything was fine, checked the radiator coolant, and we were on our way.
