The first thing that strikes you as you enter Mexico is the contrasts. A billboard advertising Paris Hilton perfume rises out of a shanty town of sheet metal and plywood-walled houses. The roads are filled with everything from dilapidated cars from the 1960s to brand new SUVs. A little taco stand is parked outside of a Mexican KFC. Some children walk the streets dressed in the latest fashion. Some are barefooted and in rags. Just outside of town we're stopped at a police checkpoint by a sullen faced teenager wearing army fatigues and toting an H&K rifle. They check our import papers, but not our luggage and wave us on.
As we crossed the border into Mexico we broke the first of our pre-agreed upon riding rules; we rode after dark. It was nearly five o'clock when we left Nuevo Laredo .
We took Mexico 85 south, a four-lane, paved interstate road. Laredo began to disappear and we passed through miles of automobile graveyards, their signs advertising “yonke.” Within half an hour, we were watching the sun set over the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains . In the daylight, the flat, arid plains leading up to the mountains look deserted from the road, but as darkness fell, the ember glow light of small towns appear on both sides of the highway. About 30 miles out of Nuevo Laredo we took the 85 toll road, a well-paved highway where the speed limit is 110 km/h (about 70 mph) and we make the final 150 miles to Monterrey quickly. By seven o'clock, we were on the outskirts of the city, the third largest in Mexico . |