Ciudad Constitucion stop 10

February 22 was a travel day. Cheryl & Firman, Norman & Lois, Jack and we were going to travel together. We waited for the driver’s meeting and were told no one was to tell about their being stopped by the policia in La Paz. We had so many, some two times. Their stories were interesting and someone from the newspaper was coming to transcribe their comments. Many were followed a ways while the police tried to find something to get them for. They were stopped for speeding, no seat belt and for going through stop (alto) signs. Many felt like they had left nothing except money (bribes) in La Paz. Firman and Cheryl had one of their license plates taken. Cheryl was worrying about not having anything to write for the journal. Quickly that was changed. One person started having trouble leaving and getting through the sand. A number of the men pushed them out. Then Norm started and immediately went down. He has a 39.5 foot motor home. It is heavy and he had mistakenly let his grey water out under his motor home while he was parked. He was definitely stuck, so quickly everyone came running. Firman had sand boards that were neat. They could not get them under the coach until they put the stabilizers down on each side, one side at a time. Different ones were down on their hands and knees digging. The boards saved him and finally with cheers he came out and didn’t stop! Off we went, knowing that we would be late getting into the next campground. We stopped only for gas but got behind a slow, slow moving truck. Trying for 4 of us to get around him was interesting. After he had about 10 cars behind him he slowed down on a curve to let us all pass. The temperature reached 97 according to the thermometer in Cheryl & Firman’s truck. We quickly parked since it was a familiar campground. It was nice to be back in Ciudad Constitucion. While a number of the women played joker, the husbands went next door to watch a cock fight. The rooster has a sharp sterling silver spur attached to his foot. It was very different from anything they had seen or done before. Patty, the campground owner, who lived a year in Pittsfield MA, and her helpers fixed a nice beef stew and chicken supper for us. They also served the most delicious drink that certainly doesn’t sound good – lime juice, cucumber juice and a little sugar. It was so refreshing. We were so tired from the heat that bedtime soon followed.

February 23 and we have another free day to explore the area. Instead after another nice breakfast in the campground of bacon and cheese omelets, potatoes, toast and juice. We finally got moving and knew we would need more pesos to get out of Mexico. Patty wrote a note to her bank and away we went. What an experience it was! We did not have our passports so after much discussion we were “charaded” that our license would not do. Back to the campground we went. With passports in hand we waited again for a different lady. She seemed ready for us until she saw Winston had signed the traveler’s check with the first lady. The first lady had a problem with mine since my driver’s license has an “E” as a middle initial and the traveler’s check did not have one. Luckily my signature on the passport was without. Whew! She did not like Winston’s signature since it didn’t look exactly the same as it did when he obtained his passport. He signed again on the back. Then we were sent to another line to wait 30 minutes to see a teller who gave us our pesos at a better rate than the board said – 14.75. Back to the campground we headed for lunch. After a game of joker we finally decided to go to the bakery. Jerome & Vickie went with us and we bought separate pieces of cake for all 4 of the birthday people. Of course, we couldn’t stop there. We ended up with a whole flan for 10 for dessert for the group eating together and 2 breakfast elephant ears and an extra cake – just in case, you understand! The whole amount was 166 pesos or a little over $10 American. It was time to go back and fix our supper for tonight.