Out of the Blue - into the Veracruz state

 Hola Amigos!

Our Palenque stay was so beautiful, we woke up to the birds singing while we packed up Doomie. Not bothering to wait for the restaurant to open, we opted for road coffee. 

OXXO is a chain store throughout Mexico that has some really great coffee. We tend to top up the tank daily so as to not run into a situation. By we, I mean he because let's face it, you probably all know I have a tendency to let the light come on. Even with the light on I admittedly press my luck more than I ought to. Mexico has an abundance of fuel stops, some more appealing than others. This morning, after much research, we decided we would buy a "Tu Pay Pase", basically a digital toll scanner that you fix to your windshield and reload.  Seemed easy enough, the sweet lad at the OXXO loaded it for me and voila! Not so fast, he forgot to tell me that you need to register it before you use it...cue the headache. Alas, complete and it worked like a charm once we knew what lanes to use!

It was a rather basic day, the toll highway was really great going and Waze warns of disturbances, when she can. The one thing Waze did not warn us about, was monkey crossings! There are poles with nets strung above the highway in places, to allow them to cross safely. Never did I imagine that a monkey may cross the road. Also,  is that an ominous sign to have a monkey cross your path? I mean I would rather one cross my path than on my back. Thankfully, not a worry for today, as we did not see one. 

Dolly, sending a little wink and a monkey crossing sign!

Our original plan was to head to Villahermosa today. We don't want to push too hard in the heat and we really were not sure what the toll highway would be like when we struck out, so we had planned a short day. The roads were great and we skipped Villahermosa, which is much larger than we imagined! We settled in Minatitlan this afternoon. A quick trip to the Bodega for some snacks and drinks for the cooler, then dinner.

Minatitlan, a fairly busy city is known for its oil refinery. It sits on the bank of the Coatzacoalcos River.  There is no shortage of taxis cabs, restaurants and cars in general. LOL

Did I mention it was hot? Like 43C hot when we walked to the grocery store. I was secretly singing "This Girl Is On Fire",  as we meandered the uneven sidewalk. Considering it is not much of a tourist town, there does not seem to be many places of interest to take in. 

We were happy to have dinner in the hotel restaurant, but forgot to bring the Buhos with us. Dolly is tucked in the covered parking and we are ready to watch a movie and plan our route tomorrow. 

                            Until tomorrow, 

                                    

                                   Gigi