From Saltillo to Queretaro

 

I went to the main Telcel office in Saltillo to get the phones and internet connection I needed. On the map it looked easy as the street that our campground was on extends to the street where Telcel is located. Can hardly get easier than that. Plus, I have my (sometimes) faithful GPS. Put a ruler on a map and you can see that the two streets form a straight line. What my map didn’t show was that the office street is one way and the wrong way for me. The GPS showed me the way going straight, so when I had to turn it “recalculated” and brought me to the other end of Cardenas Ave. I couldn’t see a Telcel office so I made another trip around the block. Still nothing, so I parked in front of a museum or courthouse. An older gentleman in uniform waved me away as there was no parking allowed there, even though I saw no sign. I jumped out of the Jeep and he marched toward me and I showed him a piece of paper with the address on it. This is the address as shown on the Telcel website. He couldn’t figure out where that would be on the street. Then I mentioned the Telcel office. This was different as he knew just where I could find the office. Drive down the road past cuartro semaflors y la officina is on the left. Go through 4 traffic lights and Telcel is on the left. This would be a snap in Inverness, but in Saltillo I had to deal with Mexican drivers and I missed the office. Just past the 5th light there was a fireplace business on the right with a few parking spaces.

I went inside and asked where the Telcel office was and an older gentleman, who spoke excellent English, showed me that it was across the street and up about half a block. He’d allowed me to leave my car there. I entered Telcel and thought I was in a bank, with tellers all over the place. I approached a manager looking man at the front and told him in my best effort in Spanish that I wanted to buy to cell phones and an internet modem. He took me to the young lady who was the receptioist and had her help me as she spoke English. This was not a bank and the people behind the counter were not tellers. This was the main office for Telcel in a moderately sized city. There was a steady stream of cell phone owners coming in to buy more time for their phone or buy a new phone. All the “clerks” were dressed in spotless black suits. The women wore whit blouses buttoned almost to the neck and the men all had pure white shirts and conservative ties. All wore jackets. The atmosphere was extremely professional and everyone was well groomed. Alma, my agent, worked quickly and efficiently and soon I had the two phones and the internet connection, connected and ready to be used.

The ride back to the campground was easy as it was straight this time. All in all, it was after 11:30 AM before we left the campground. We had no idea where we would end up for ther night, but continued heading south. As the driver, I have to keep my eyes on the road, but I often see interesting thins that I point out to Helen. Most of the time Helen doesn’t look in time to see what I found. On the drive from Saltillo it was a good thing. All along the highway there are horses, burros, and cows staked on the side of the road or median to graze. We also saw a lot of shepherds tending their flocks. What Helen missed and I did not mention was the group of men trying to load a dead horse onto a flat bed pickup. It was right beside the road and if it wasn’t hit by something it died of the heat. Still, a sight better not seen by the wife type person.

Continuing on, Helen was glued to a map and Churches Camping in Mexico book. Eventually we reached a point where we knew we could reach Juriquilla Inn and Campground where we stayed last March. There is a certain joy in arriving someplace familiar and I’m savoring the feeling because it will not happen again for several months. The campground is located adjacent to the motel and behind a Pemex station and restaurant. We chose to eat out last night and had chicken with salad and french fries, bread and butter and salsa and crackers included. Oh, and two cokes. $10.77 in US dollars. Our last meal in Laredo was $50.00, and honestly, it was not as good.

Oh, I have to go back to getting into the campground. Before I tried to make the turns into the campground I wanted to remove the Jeep. However, it was at such an angle that I couldn’t remove the tow bar. Helen jumped in the Jeep and I pulled it a little way to straighten out, but it still wouldn’t budge. I decided to just pull it into the campground. As I started forward Helen started honking the horn and waving out the window, I stopped to find out what was wrong. She said that I was dragging the Jeep, the wheels were not turning. I asked how that could be with the gear in neutral. Helen, when she got in the Jeep just before that last move put the gear in PARK. When we go out, I can see the drag marks in the street. Thankfully, it was covered with dirt so the tires slid very easily.

We’re here for another night and expect to be off to Puebla tomorrow.

 

Later!