Touristy thing

This morning after breakfast we decided to walk around town and do the tourist thing and take photos of anything fun. But first we had to visit an office for rental homes to see if anything was available. Hoping to get email back and go look at some tomorrow... We will see..

Now the afternoon was spent having all sorts of fun... Just for the heck of it we looked up on the internet the location of the Wal Mart here in Media.. Looked easy to find from here all we have to do is go down Calle 52 take a left on the Paseo Montejo and we will run wright into it.. Or at least see it and be able to double back to it.. WRONG again... Drove all over the section we believed it was in founr the Holiday Inn, the Hyatt, but no Wal Mart... Came back to the Hotel, and called a cab to take us... When we arrived at Wal Mart it was one of the places we had driven past at least 6 times. No Parking lot to be seen, no BIG sign like in the States... So how are to Gringas supposed to find it???? Now that we know were it is next time will be easy.

Went in for a few small items, but really wanted cell phones... Hmmmm turns out because we are not Mexican citizens we could not purchase them today, we have to go to some central place to register them before we can get them.. So that is how we "killed" the second half of the day.

First underground Wal Mart parking lot I have ever seen.... No signs outside telling you it is here..

Photo taken from were we got dropped off at, only sign is on the building that you will more then likely miss when driving.

Kay with her kitty

Me with my Kitty, Notice we match...

Hotel Dolores Alba

Me outside of the hotel we are at for the next few days...
Kay outside Hotel..
What you see when you open the door.
One part of the lobby
Center lobby, breakfast seating.
Same Center part of lobby..
Another side section to the lobby..
Parking lot, off street parking.. You can just see our van in the left hand corner.
Just me relaxing in " outside seating area "... Check out the painting..
Kay high on Coke Cola...
Swimming pool area, our room is on left....
Other side of pool area...

Today is a lazy day, it is Sunday and we need rest after the drive down here. About all we have done or plan to do to day is find a store for snack foods, and walk the dogs. Did want to show the hotel we are staying at, does not look like much from the street, but once inside it is great...

Hope you enjoyed the photos...

Drive to the Yucatan comes to an end

We are alive and well, made it to Merida today the 28th day of Nov, 2009... This was the first day with out any rain,fog, or us getting lost. Just a nice drive that came to an end when we found our hotel... Today will only have photos, and few words..

Never let anyone tell you Mexico does not have traffic... Driving down here is crazy.

This may very well be the best way to get around, Motorcycle Taxi..

Drive over the hill and see the coast..

Coast as it gets closer..

Anyone looking for a beach home??

Fishing anyone??

Water Taxi??? Who is driving??

Must be the Taxi pick up station..

Kay above me below, made it to hotel and so ends the drive to the yucatan......

Day Three of the Yucatan drive

Today we wake up sore and not rested, the bed in the cat house/hotel was not really meant for sleeping. Once again up at 0600, on the road by 0700. Set course for Villamosa as our next stop. It is only 302 miles so should shutdown early and get some rest.

First problem is getting away from Varacruze , seems like we are in the twilight zone going around and around and around for about two hours. We would almost get out of the city and then end up right back from a different direction. Could not figure out what was wrong or why the gps insisted on going back. Had to ignore the unit and drive by using the map we had with us, that was just about useless. By sheer luck we found our way to a city that was on the map and all of a sudden the gps started to work correctly and we were on our way.

Found ourselves on a good two lane HWY and could make good time. With the exception of a short time of rain and overcast it was a good day. Stoped for breakfast and picked up snacks for the road. Made great time to Villamosa, passed hotels at 3:35pm.... Kay wanted to see what else was ahead before stopping.

Will not go into details but we did not stop until sometime around 6pm at a hotel that does not take pets. So all pets had to the spend the night in a car.....

Very few pictures taken to day d/t speed we were going.. By the time I saw something it was to late...

Saw many stands like this yesterday but did not get a shot... Got this one by luck.

Day two of the drive to the Yucatan

Just some plants alongside the road.

Day two started off really nice, we had a good breakfast at the Best Western, packed up the car and off we go...

Thank the gods for our gps or we would never have found our way out of town, road went right then left, then circled around and we are on the Mex 180 headed to Varacruze. Took us about 30 min just to get out of the city, can not even think how long it would have been if not for the directions from the GPS. Once out of the City a whole different type of fun begins. Now the roads are narrow and winding, not to mention the slow going because of the weather and all the trucks on the road. Traffic ranged from 18 wheel semi- trucks to overloaded pickup trucks. Also came across one funeral procession. Now for all you folks in the North keep in mind this is a major HWY we are on not some back road. It was another day of few photos, I started shooting every thing and anything in hopes of getting something. We have traffic, men fishing in the rain, type of plants along the road, and then the Gulf..I will let you be the judge of weather or not any of them are good ... I

This one is a funeral procession that came down the middle of the street.

First look at the coast, sort of gray...

Spent more then a little time behind this truck going up one hill and down the next. Kept waiting for him to tip..

Fishing.. But first lets put on a motor...

Is this person fishing or????

After eight plus hours we made it to Varacruze, that is 352 miles in eight plus hours.. Now to find a place to sleep and get some food for the night ... OOPSSSSS...

Tried a holiday Inn express but no go with the dogs... So started looking else were.. Big mistake was getting off the 180 to go and check out hotels at the airport.. All airports have hotels, at least in the states, right??? Well in Mexico the answer is no..... not all airports have hotels.. So now back to the 180, only problems is the gps has us going in circles. For over two hours we go this way then that and back again, until we think of looking for a sign for the beach ( Playa ) in hopes of it leading us back to the Mex 180.

Ha.... It worked sort of, or at least we found ourselfs back on the 180... By this time we are cranky, hungry, and out and out ready to call it a night. So we take the first place we can sneak the dogs into, yes I said sneak!!!!!

We spent the night in a hotel that is paid for by the hour... Oh my !! LOL... guess what type of place that could be.

Who cares day two of a less then fun trip so far comes to an end.. One can only hope tomorrow will be better..

I am hoping for sunshine and an early end to the day for a change... Today started at 0600 ( wake up ) and did not end until 2000 ( stopped at hotel. )

Headed for the Yucatan..

Today we crossed into Mexico from Brownsville Texas. The crossing was almost painless, we drove over, went to the office got our papers, and paid for them all in less then 30 min. On the way out I took one photo of the inside of the building, and two outside showing the sign for the border. I was stopped before I made it to the car being told I was not allowed to take pictures in the area, had to delete all three photos. I think the reason I had to delete them was because the outside ones showed uniformed security with guns. Not show if it was army or what but I think that is the reason why I had to delete them.

After that we tried to find our way out of Matamoros , we went this way then that way and ran at least one stop sign. Then we were stopped by Jimmy, a " tourist guide " he tried to tell us how to get to the HWY, and at the same time lectured us on the wrongs of running stop signs. According to him it could mean three days in jail, and a fine of 1300 pesos. After he got in and showed us to the HWY ( took maybe 5 min. ) he requested to be dropped off and wanted taxi fare back. For the trouble he saved us we were more then happy to pay the few pesos it cost. His information and company were worth it all..

The rest of the day was , how do I say this BORING..... Nothing worth shooting for photos, mostly because the land was flat and boring, but also because the day was gray and overcast.

Only thing I took photos of was one of the several road construction areas we drove into and out of.. A drive of just over 300 miles took the best part of the day, we start at 0800 and finished at 1600 this evening..

Found a Best Western for the night in Tampico, so all of us Kay, Spencer, Shelby, PIA, and myself will get some rest and start over tomorrow.. Tomorrow we head for Veracruz...

New Work Boat

Well today I saw the new work boat for the first time, it does not belong to the Snapper, but I wish it did. We on the Snapper are expected to keep up with our training at the same rate as the people on the large streamer boats, yet are given less equipment and often it is of lesser quality. A big example is the boat, we no longer have any that we can use to go out in, and the streamer has this boat. Hard to train on small boats without one... Enough about training......

I get off the boat Monday the 23rd of Nov, if the weather is nice... if not then will be on the boat for Thanksgiving... Forecast at the moment can go either way... We will get off by helicopter the same as the big boys, as you can see the chopper looks small on the boat in the photo. If I could get a photo of one on the Snapper it would look a lot bigger, because the Snapper is smaller..

One good thing about being on the Snapper is it is an all American crew, big boats are mixed and we folks are not always welcome... Truly can not say I blame them seeing how we are always telling everyone that "we" are the best of this and the best of that... About the only thing we are "best " at is tooting our own hone..... I have been to several other countries and no longer see how we can say we are better than anyone.... it is just not true... Enough of that also...

Been trying to learn Spanish and so far feel like a great big failure, if my mother was still alive I can hear her calling me stupid.... Thinking back I wonder why a mother would call her own child stupid.... Yes, I had subjects that I had problems with, but what I needed was help, not name calling. have lots of bad memories about growing up that center around my mother. Funny thing is that none of my really good ones center around her.. She is in some of them but never as the center, then again I do not think her children were the center of her life anyway.

This is turning into a bitch and cry session, so be it... Not a lot of people read my blog so I guess I can say whatever I bloody well please.

Thinking a lot of my trip to the Yucatan coming up in a week.... Hope the drive is worth it, I am looking forward to stopping to take lots of photos and maybe stopping along some small beach? Sight seeing, eating, taken photos, and being with Kay and the fur kids will be fun no matter what. We are hoping to cross into Mexico on the 25th or 26th of Nov. all depends on when I get off the boat..... Hmmmmm How many times have I said that???

Bye, bye Port Galveston

Well it has been a lot of fun... NOT... But we are finally leaving Galveston to go and make some money... Only have a week before crew change so my feelings are split on leaving, I want to get back to shooting so we make money, but at the same time would like to crew change at the dock and not have to take a long helicopter ride.

Did a lot of work on the equipment when in port so hoping it will all work the first time and we do not have to fool with it for the rest of the trip... Have picture of the way in so here are some of the way out..

With anyluck the next entry will be about the trip into Mexico, driving to the Yucatan.... Should be fun and some good photos...

Galveston Texas

Seems I have been here before, Going into Galveston Port for repairs Nov. 5 2009. Seems the Snapper has developed engine problems and needs some port time. Hoping it will only be a few days but we never know. Other thing is IDA is on radar headed North to Galveston, it is still a long ways off and we will have to wait and see.

Pictures are of us coming into port, believe me it is much more scenic on the way in then it is at dock...

Friday Nov. 06, we are headed back out for at least 24 hours to test the fixes. If all is well we go out just in time to meet what is left of IDA..