Chichi to Tuxtla to Veracruz

I toured the market in Chichicastanengo early Sunday and was on the road by 9 am. I had been told that the shorter route towards the border was not a good road and I should double back towards Antigua to get back on the Panamericana. After talking with the man working the morning desk at the hotel and realizing he had actually driven both routes I went with the shorter route. It was a wise choice as the road was mostly new and much better than the road back to Antigua.

The Mexican border was amazingly quick and easy. Even with having to wait for the Mexican Customs official to finish his lunch it was my quickest border crossing. Mexico even takes Visa for the $30 in fees.

I continued on to Tuxtla Guitierez a city I bypassed on the way south. I didn’t realize I had climbed in altitude but the 45 kilometer stretch of freeway all steeply downhill to Tuxtla told me otherwise. I had forgotten how wild the Mexican drivers are. The toll freeways are not at all worth the expense. People travel very fast and when being passed you are expected to drive half in the shoulder so they can pass while traffic is still oncoming. It makes for harrowing driving especially when driving a car generally slower than others.

The descent into Tuxtla was not only exciting because of the driving but the scenery was stunning as well. Despite occasional fog I could see vast canyons surrounding by large mountains, sometimes craggy but always covered by lush greenery giving them the appearance of rocks covered by moss.

The highway became the main street through town and I found a hotel only three blocks from the main square. I believe this is the largest city and the state capitol of Chiapas. It is a fairly modern city. I didn’t see much in the way of historic buildings and the government buildings are all very new and modern.

I got settled in the hotel, realized that the time was one hour ahead so I had lost an hour and set out for dinner. I ate at a little street cafe near the main square. I had tacos with exceptional spicy salsa and pickled peppers and carrots.

I thought I had gotten up early and would make it onto the road about 6:30 am. But then I realized I hadn’t changed my clock. I made it on the road at 7:30 am. I had been stopping about every 70 miles to tighten the bolts on my right rear axle plate (the same wheel were the axle came loose in Ecuador and almost came loose in Chile). It was leaking again and the bolts were becoming loose on an increasing basis. I was really hoping to make it to Veracruz and find a Toyota dealership.

Around 11 am I stopped to tighten the bolts. The (pay) highways generally provide little opportunity to pull off as the shoulder is best left free for passing but I found a graveled space where I could park off the road. As I jumped out of the car I heard the sickening hissing of leaking air. My left rear tire was leaking.

Even though it was noisy it was leaking slowly so I jumped back in the car and drove as far as I could, about 10 more miles, hoping to find an exit or something. I finally had to pull over onto the shoulder and prepare to change to the small emergency spare.

I took out the impact wrench, got out all the tools and took off the spare. In taking off the spare I had to get the key for the lock on one of the lugs. I immediately found one key. But I have two keys, one for the spare and one for the four wheels. The key I found worked the spare but the key for the four wheels was nowhere to be found. I searched everywhere. I basically unloaded the car. I still can’t believe I’ve lost the key and expect it will turn up someday somewhere in the car. I remember specifically putting it in it’s usual place after the last flat.

Not having a key meant I had to find some other way to deal with the situation. I remembered I had the compressor and the hose to fill the tires. So now I turned my attention to dealing with the source of the leak with my patch kit and filling the tire. I found the source and tried to pull it out. I got about three inches of metal the size of a big nail out but then it was stuck. It obviously had some sort of head and couldn’t be pulled out. So I pushed the metal back in so it was below the tread of the tire and filled the tire using the compressor. The compressor is very slow, but effective. Finally I had the tire up to about 30 pounds of pressure and took of. I had about 60 miles to the most likely town for services. I stopped three times to fill the tire with the compressor. I’m sure I sparked more than a few conversations parked along the highway with a blue tube running from the engine to a wheel.

Once I hit a military check. They wanted to completely go through the car and asked me to take everything out – a first at this point. I frantically told them to listen to my tire and that I didn’t have much time to get to a tire center. They couldn’t deny the hissing sound and they obviously didn’t know I had a compressor on board. That was the most effective way I have found of getting around the military checks.

Finally I drove into Minatitilan (where I had actually stayed on my way south). I had assumed that the entrance to town would be lined with roadside mechanics and hopefully something a little more professional. I found a Firestone/Bridgestone outlet. They introduced me to the mechanic next door so I got both the flat tire fixed and the axle plate reattached. I was back on the road by 2:30.

I wanted a large known company for the tire because I needed to get the lock off the wheel. Surprisingly the “lock” provided no real impediment. He basically hammered a socket wrench over the lock lug and then took it off. I don’t think the lock would really stop someone who really wanted a wheel.

The Firestone guy had more trouble with getting the tire off the wheel. He made a feeble effort to use the machine (the same machine which was used and worked fine at the Firestone in Leon with the last flat) but said the tire was too big. So we walked about two blocks down the road to a local “volcanizador”. This guy seperated the tire from the wheel by hand. The Firestone guy and I and five friends of the local tire guy watched him do all the work. He was a very hard worker, heavily sweating in the oppressive heat. He pulled out the three inches of nail with the head on the inside of the tire, patched the tire and inflated it. His cost was $10.

After the tire was fixed I went next door to the local mechanic to fix the axle. After much discussion with his cohort they replaced the five bolts with the extra bolts I had from Chile. Hopefully this will be the end of the axle problem for the next couple thousand miles until I make it home.

I had 180 miles to get to Veracruz.  The total tolls for the pay highway on Monday were $47.00. Darrylle had made reservations for Tuesday night but I drove directly to the hotel (after stopping at a service station and buying a map) and got a room one night early.

Veracruz is very hot and humid. I walked around the malecon and found a street side cafe to have tacos and a beer. Back in the room I cranked up the fan (no a/c) and took a cold shower to ease myself into a well deserved night’s sleep.