Scott's In Mexico: September 2006

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Story of the Day

Today Ryan and I went up to the mountain range that surrounds the city of Monterrey. We drove for about 7 hours straight. It reminded me alot of Arkansas - Green tress, Mountains, Water, the views, the silence. It was profound. In most parts the only thing you could hear was the truck running and the water gushing, if you happened to be near some water that is.
We stopped a few times to take pictures and admire the views. But for the most part it was driving.
We stopped and talked to these 3 guys who were hitting hammers against the rock face. They were self proclaimed "fans of palentology." Turns out they were looking for fossiles. They found some small shellfish and things and told us that they have found molars from dinosaurs and things before. Pretty interesting.
There are little villages stuck up in the mountains. For the most part they farm, but they also have roadside stands to sell passerbys, like us, food and wine and trinkets and such. We bought some "empanadas de manzana." They are little snacks filled with apple filling. Very delicious. There are pictures of the terraced farms that they use. Obviously they are poor enough that they can't afford modern equipment so the work is done using old technology. Horses, cows and burros were common to see on the side of the road and in the fields.
The weather was much more appealing in the mountains. I'd say it was probably 20 degrees cooler up there at Noon, than it is in Monterrey, right now, at 9pm.
After driving through the mountains we ended up in Saltillo, which happens to be in a different state of Mexico. We stopped and had lunch and got gas, and headed back. There is a story about the traffic in the pictures post.

Someone, who shall remain anonymous, has asked what I miss the most. I would have to say that would be driving. I haven't got to touch the wheel of a car in almost 2 months. Oh yeah, and Ice Cream. We all know how ice cream is important to the survival of the human race, and I haven't had any since I've been here. What I have had though, is a little bit of a cold for the past 3 days. As the locals call it: "La Gripa" Stuffy nose, sore throat, stomach that doesn't always agree. I've taken all of the Airborne I brought along. I've been taking some sort of herbal stuff that Ryan told me about. I've taken pills. Nothing seems to clear it up. I went to sleep at 11:30 last night because I was so tired from being sick. Usually on friday nights I'm up until the early hours, but apparently not last night.

And for those of you wondering, I will be home Thursday, Oct 12th, at 10:55pm in the Wichita Airport. I will be leaving Monday, Oct 16th, at 7:45am.

I hope everyone is having a good time at school, work, home, or where ever you happen to be at the moment of reading this. I'm out.

And no one dared to disturb the Sound of Silence

This is the same river bed that was gushing in the post below. This was taken about 3 days after it rained. It's dry as a bone now.

This is a picture of a village that is situated in the mountains.

This is a picture of two seperate trees that have grown together and then apart again. There is about 12" of "togetherness." But, in the middle of the growth, there is a hole about 5" in diameter. It's about the craziest thing I've seen.

This tree seems to have gone through a midlife crisis and decided to change it's entire path in life.

This shack is just on some random mountain.

Can anyone guess what this building is? If you want to know the answer, don't read the next sentence. It's a school.

The sign says "Community School. Thanks to the Saints Torrez and Garcia. Community San Sebastian. The "Peñita or Little Girl" Ranch."

Here is Ryan, next to the crazy tree.

This is the riverbed where the crazy tree lives.

Lots of pictures of the mountains. They are gorgeous.

This guy, although you can't actually see the hombre, is selling Garlic on the side of the road. Below the sign are strings of cloves of garlic.

Yay forest!

Here is some of the terraced farming. They have a lot of apple trees, peach trees, corn, etc.

This is a pretty cliff.

Here is "the Mountain" - Cerro La Silla. This was taken right outside of a Walmart the other day. Our house is about directly on the other side, to the left.

In the middle of the picture is a cave.

Coming back, we face quite a bit of traffic. The guy on the right is trying to get around the traffic by using the shoulder. However the semi driver decides that he doesn't want to be taken advantage of. The Semi driver pulls over on the shoulder enough that the guy in the truck can't pass. This goes on for about 20 minutes. It was hilarious.