12th April 2015 – Palenque to Veracruz

Today we have a long drive of 620 kilometers to Veracruz which is on the Gulf of Mexico and we’d all like to get there early, so we leave Palenque at 5:30 am with a packed breakfast. The drive out of Palenque in the dark takes us to the dual highway, which is a toll way to Veracruz. There are a lot of trucks on this motorway and the road surface is broken up quite badly in places, so our arms are getting a good work out as we swerve around the potholes. It’s impossible to miss them all as we change from the right lane to the left and then back again when the traffic allows, to try and avoid the bad patches. The speed limit is 110 kph and we are going around 105 kph, however the locals are going quite a bit faster so we are constantly watching our mirrors. A common form of transport for locals is traveling in the back of pickups, it would be nice and cool.ÿ It’s about 34 degrees and quite humid in the afternoon which makes for a tiring drive. We both manage a good sleep while the other one is driving. In the afternoon Shiraz develops a strange electrical problem, the ignition light comes on, the engine stalls then it restarts itself. It gets progressively worse happening more frequently and sometimes it doesn’t restart, so Michael turns the key off and on to restart the engine. We pull over and Michael reconnects all the HT wires to the starter motor, which unfortunately doesn’t fix the problem. Driving into Veracruz is beautiful as there are pink blossom trees along the sides of the motorway.We arrive at our hotel by 3:00 pm which is great as it gives us time to catch up with some washing, the diary, look at the issue with the car and have a swim in the Gulf of Mexico which is part of the Caribbean. The water is very warm and quite shallow for a long way out but we mange to get wet all over. The hotel has a lovely pool that we relax in before getting ready for our 6:30 pm nightly meeting.