¡Hola from Ciudad Victoria!

After a hot, grueling day of travel thru Texas and an overnite stay in McAllen, we crossed the border this morning. We had been warned by many that Mexican immigration can be a bear to get through, and we had braced ourselves for a 2-3 hour ordeal. To our pleasant surprise, we were given an immediate green light to cross, and Jack obtained our six-month tourist visas within minutes. We were utterly delighted at the ease of our crossing and breathed a deep sigh of relief as we began the journey to our first stop: Ciudad Victoria

As we left the bordertown of Reynosa, I saw an older couple selling cut fruit from the back of

their pickup truck. I pointed them out to Jack who pulled right over. He had them cut a few papayas and fill our large container. Talk about fast food to go! In the U.S., you can find fast food joints on almost every corner selling unhealthy, toxic, processed junk. But you would be hard-pressed to find fresh, sweet fruit cut right in front of you. As we enjoyed our delicious papaya for lunch a couple of hours later, I thought, "Aaah, yes, we are finally here!"

The 200 mile trip to Cd. Victoria was lovely. The roads were lined with pretty, green vegetation, and delightful butterflies crossed our path for miles. The locals were kind and helpful at every stop we made. As we approached the city, the view of the mountains were spectacular.

After settling into our room at the Paradise Inn, we hung out on the big comfy couches in the lobby to access wi-fi and surf the net with our Apple laptops - MacBook for me and MacBook Pro for him :) Then we had a delish dinner at their restaurant: large veggie salads, guacamole, fresh salsa roja, nopales salad, and pints of fresh squeezed o.j.- YUM!!

We average about 50 mph in our trusty VW Westfalia. It's a total non-luxury van with no AC and pretty hard, upright seats that don't recline. Jack has pimped out the ride a bit though. The sound system is excellent with the iPod hooked into it and the speakers are killah. My seat was fitted with a lumbar support pad and a thick cushion. I can still only bear being on the road for a max of 6 hrs so we have decided to cover about 200 miles a day. Our next stop is is the seaside town of Tampico. 

Luego!