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.