My drive back through Mexico

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Well, going there was the longest four days of my life, sitting next to the woman I was bringing home to divorce. But, returning was interesting, to say the least. Twelve miles inside of the border, a guy wearing a badge hanging around his neck holding a radio, tried to make me stop. He ran out emphatically pointing for me to "Stop right here." I blew past him and he began talking into his radio, which probably didn't work, but this is a common ploy to rob unsuspecting tourists who don't know any better.

After that, it was smooth sailing. The average minimum wage in Mexico is $24.00 American, and they work. The floor may be concrete or dirt, but it is swept or raked all day. Way up in the mountains outside of Alamo, there is no work so these people survive on much less a day, but they never go hungry. These fruit stands line he road and a lot of trucks go through here, stopping for a snack.

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Poza Rica is a crazy city, I was going to dodge it, but decided just to see it during the morning rush hour.

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Here's the meat market.

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The tough part is getting dressed for work, "Chickens! Get your fresh chickens!"

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I love stopping at the small, mom and pop restaurants.

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Poppa was friendly..

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Mamma was cooking.

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Baby was napping..

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The food was great..

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Papantla is just south of Poza Rica, lot of ruins in these mountains..

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The Flamboyant trees were blooming..

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Look at the mangoes..

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Another food stop, the guy in the red shirt is drinking a quart of beer at 8:30 AM

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His horse was very well behaved, it waited for him while he struggled to pick up the rope..

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Then he struck a pose, everyone here was very friendly..

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Watch out for the bats..

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Escarcega..

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Just before Tulum.

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sissy

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wow love the pics and the chairs in the pics momma cooking must have been made there as they look original .I love the look of them .Great pics and thank you for sharing your hard journey back .I can just a health inspector fainting at the sight of that meat hanging out in the open like that
 

j.w

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I enjoyed the photos bullfrog and you sure meet some interesting people wherever you go! Glad you made it back safely and avoided the jerk w/ the badge. Found anymore of those interesting cave things that go into the ground.............I forget what you call them.
 
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I enjoyed the photos bullfrog and you sure meet some interesting people wherever you go! Glad you made it back safely and avoided the jerk w/ the badge. Found anymore of those interesting cave things that go into the ground.............I forget what you call them.

They are cenotes JW. So good to hear from you and to be able to talk to you again. The woman I was married to was so uptight, if I participated in a forum it was "Talking to women on the internet."

Anyway, everything orbited around her, so I haven't had the time to explore. Now, I sit on my deck and strum my guitar, talk to the dog and just enjoy life. I can actually spend 15 minutes on the computer without being grilled as to what I was doing.

Life is good.
 
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Your trip sure looked interesting! Love the baby sleeping! Too funny! Looks like you know the real Mexico, not just the touristy spots!
 

j.w

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Great to be able to see you posting again Bullfrog and I would love to hear more about what goes in your new jungle home. Guess you keep busy w/ your new job in the fire dept (your old love) and also your diving and hunting for the cenotes, thank you for reminding me of the name. Have you been doing anymore writing lately?
 
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My creativity was being stifled, she kept demanding, "When are you going to put me in your books? Your X wife is in them, JW, your son, Clyde, what about me?" I tried to explain you can't just drop a new character in the middle of an ongoing story, I'll work you in, which is what I was doing, but now I'm free just to write normally.

The fire department requires a lot of tests with varying equipment and various flows. When I got here, we had one submersible pump in a cenote. It would only push one hose stream to the top of the palapas. But, with grass roofs that touch each other, we need a minimum of four streams to surround the fire and keep it from spreading in both directions. We now have two new Honda gasoline pumps and over 2,000 feet of hose, we had none. Also, we would either lose electricity or they would kill it in the event of a fire, so the gasoline pumps freed us from the hassle of generators.

On my trip back to Texas, I scrounged 300 feet if 2 1/2 inch supply line, 200 feet of 1 1/2 inch attack line, 100 feet of 1 inch forestry line with a nozzle, three more nozzles, 3 gated Y's, extinguishers, helmets and $1,600.00 cash donated by two small departments that I served in. We are about to add another pump and draft water out of a swimming pool and start laying 3 inch supply line instead of the 2 inch they have now. Three inch has 5 times less resistance than the two.

You may get a laugh out of "Engine One", but understand, we had a box on a dolly to run to the fire with. It was too heavy so we have improvised this. It has a home made "hitch" so we can pull it with a truck or a golf cart. But once we get to the fire, it's Fred Flintstone time....

Here is our online training to start our new fire water pumps..
 

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