Hell’s Half Acre

What an enormously long day. The AAA map said the drive from SLP to Saltillo should be 4.5 hrs but we managed to do it in 8. We had a few stops and one long one for lunch, but we realized, once seeing the mileage, that you’d have to average 100kph with no break to do it in 4.5hrs. We do about 85kph. So it was a long day. We managed to find the trailer park after making only two wrong turns (and making a U turn with a 17m vehicle is a bitch in any language). Saltillo is in an absolutely gorgeous area and I really wish the mountains weren’t so hazy - the city is absolutely surrounded by mountains. We’re at around 5200ft and the air is deliciously fresh.

We left SLP by 10am after getting up at 8:30, under enormous cloud cover. On the outskirts of
town we quickly outran the cloud cover and were treated to long vistas of the altiplano under blue skies. Once out of SLP, the road continued to be amazingly wonderful; 4 lanes PLUS a shoulder! We’re really getting spoiled here in the north of Mexico, or perhaps this is our welcome back to the US; highways with US standards. The lanes were even MUCH wider than 9ft. I couldn’t have asked for more.

We drove for a solid 2.5 hours before stopping and took refuge at the most expensive (for food/snacks) Pemex we’ve ever found. I expect this is yet another welcome to the US. We paid 13 pesos for one litre of water (we have been paying 10 pesos for 20 litres). So that was a bit of a surprise. The scenery, however, was priceless. The altiplano stretched to eternity and immediately outside of SLP the landscape turned to barren desert.

About half-way to Saltillo, at Matuheala (sp?) we found agriculture. The highway is so obviously dedicated to truck travel; the very few towns along the way cater exclusively to the truckers and scant vacationers. Each town is simply a strip along the highway; divided in the middle by the 4 lane divided highway. We ignored the cuota bypasses of Mathuela and Saltillo and it was an easy drive (other than finding the hotel). This is a picture of a military checkpoint. We hit too many to remember, but only got stopped at one.

About 60km from Saltillo a cuota cut away and I was a bit uneasy as all the trucks seemed to take the cuota; as a matter of fact, one truck which had turned onto the libre was stopped in his lane. I think he was thinking the same as I. We were soon rewarded by incredible scenery. It was as though we’d taken a short cut from the badlands of Utah direct to the Colorado mountains. Pine forests, peaks and valleys; it was an alpine mastery. Road signs warned us of ice making the road slippery.

I seriously doubt we’ll be leaving tomorrow; the kids have seen the poolS and we got in way too
late for an early exit. To make Piedras Negras, we’ll need to leave very early in the morning, and we’re considering cutting the Saltillo to US drive in 2 parts and staying at a Pemex or rancho or restaurant one night as there are no camping areas after Saltillo. Today was long enough for us, and the maps say 6hrs for Saltillo-US (so we know that for us, it is really 12hrs).