Our trip began in mid June when we said goodby to our place in northern Saskatchewan and headed out to make some visits to family and friends before leaving Canada. Once into the USA we entered the HEAT ZONE!! The mid west was baking in 100 degree weather and we were very thankful for our air conditioning. Spot (our dog) was extremely happy about the ac too! We were able to enjoy some wonderful places in the States on our way also. We then made a stop with friends in Houston and had a much needed break from driving for a week. On to the Mexican border. We left early incase it would take along time and we were happy that it only took 2 hours to get through the border. They aren't very organized so that's what took the time, but we didn't have any trouble at all getting across. They didn't even care that we had Spot. We showed them the list of belongings we had so they just looked in and said fine.
The first part through Matamoros and on for about an hour and a half was great road, but then we turned off the main road towards Tampico and there was considerably less road!! At the start it was a very arid landscape but as we continued on it became considerabley more lush. In Veracruz we stopped for pizza and as we were waiting a couple and their little boy came in. Dale said ola to the man and he said hi back and told Dale that he likes to practise his english whenever he can. During the conversation we found out that he is an adventist colporteur working in that area and once a month they go to eat there for a special treat. We had a wonderful visit with this family and they brightened our day. It's really neat to see who God will put in your path. The mountain roads were absolutely spectacular, as was the road along the ocean. One thing that was hard while driving was the fact that the drivers in Mexico pass wherever and whenever they feel like it!! The one day we were delayed getting on our way and were abit frustrated until we came upon a horrific accident between a bus and a big truck. There were many people killed and the ditches were littered with debris. We waited 3 hours before the road was cleared enough to pass. The vehicles were lined up for 2 kms infront of us. Needless to say we thanked the Lord for delaying us and keeping us out of that accident. Speaking of the roads in Mexico, there are also many many tolls to pay, and the price keeps going up as you go! Another thing that there are many of is speed bumps, however a more acurate name would be speed mountains!! They are huge!!! If you are going any speed but crawl, you'll bottom out. We had quite a time through Mexico because neither Dale nor I can speak Spanish. We were going to brush up on it but we got so busy before we left that we never did. Dale used to know quite abit but when you don't use it... anyway God always seemed to put someone who could speak some english into our path. We only had real frustration two times, once at a hotel and once at a gas station. We managed to get understood both times at long length!! Getting to the Mexico / Belize border we thought we were home free, think again! We went through the Mexican border side and didn't see anywhere to stop and get checked out of the country and so on we went over a bridge assuming that it would be on the other side. Never assume!!! Suddenly we are going into the Belize border whoa! We turned around and went back to the other side of the bridge, however, how do we now prove that we are not coming from Belize? The Mexicans didn't believe us about what had happened mostly because they didn't speak any english!! Finally we found one official who could speak english somewhat and we explained what happened. he was great about it but the guys he explained to didn't beleive it very easily. Finally they let us through and we needed to get money back for our van, as we had to pay a fee to come into the country in a vehicle. Well you guessed it, by the time we got all that straightened out we found that the boarder cash office we needed was closed and we would have to spend another night in Mexico but this time with the added benifit of being illegal. We would have to get stamped in the morning! Fun hey? We thought that no border could be more unorganized. Then we got to the Belize boarder the next morning and guess what?... At least these folks were very friendly, while being totally unorganized! It took about another 2 hours and a large wack of money before we got across that one. About 4o mins down the road Dale said... " I don't remember them stamping our passports." Well whadaya know, illegal again! Back to the border we go hoping that we don't get stopped on the way. We get back and the same friendly folks very non chalontly tell us " Oh yeah you have to go up to that other building to stamp your passports" And I ask, why couldn't they have told us that before? That done we were now legally in Belize and we continued on our way. Belize is english speaking so we could relax. We found it to be cleaner than Mexico. About 3 hours later we arrived at Belmopan and began to ask how to get to the Valley of peace? We got the general direction and headed out. At the corner that we thought we should turn we saw a lady waiting and asked her if she knew where it was, we found that she was waiting for the bus to go to the Valley so we offered her a ride and she showed us the way. What a road!!!!!!!! I actually think it's just a pretend road, they just tell you it's a real road. It is horendous. Our poor van didn't do very well and we did end up selling it and getting a trooper instead which can handle it much better. I'll write more later. God bless