Day 20- Brownsville to CD Victoria, Mexico

Odometer: 124875 Weather: Cold and Foggy

We were up bright and early and ready to cross into Mexico. We’ve read so many articles, books, and blogs about the process that we figured we must know it well…and for the most part we did. However, before getting to the buildings where all the paperwork must be done, we drove right by building and nearly crossed back into the US. Finally got it all done, got flagged through customs with no stops and crossed into Metamoros…and got hopelessly lost! We backtracked, got on the right road and WE’RE OFF! The insurance agent in Brownsville had recommended an RV park, which we found in Victoria and reached shortly after 4 pm.
We are well aware of the lower standard for camp/RV parks in Mexico. Many of them, especially in the interior, are very small and generally aren’t concerned with the same level of hygene that Cdns are. The park itself had such great potential but had been let go as had the washrooms but as Wayne said, “It’s still much better than an outhouse”. We use the van’s biffy for #1 so it’s only a ‘gotta go bad’ that takes us to any public toilet.
We are exhausted and I’ll explain why in next blog/rant. The roads are great, traffic is good and not much to see on this day’s journey.
Let’s talk about garbage. It’s always a shock for Canadians when we visit other third-world countries that don’t seem to be as ‘civilized’ as we are about garbage. Certainly Mexico has some major problems and I think they ‘just aren’t there yet’. There is no recycling, no ‘adopt a highway’ and most of the small towns along the roads are so small, so isolated, and so poor, that garbage just isn’t on their radar. We’ve tried to stay away from larger cities as the traffic is bizarre but I haven’t seen anything resembling a garbage truck yet. In the end, the people are so poor I don’t expect they create much garbage anyway and most of what we see on the highways (and there is a lot) is created by motorists passing through. I do know this for sure: plastic bags have created a blight on the landscape. There were places in Texas (approaching Brownsville) where there were thousands of acres of prepared farmland, ready for seeding, and you’d swear they were growing plastic bags. My friend Joyce is making 2008 her year to go GREEN. I need to take a lesson from her.