{"id":558,"date":"2013-12-10T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T16:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/?p=558"},"modified":"2014-06-22T07:00:06","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T14:00:06","slug":"next-time-ill-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/?p=558","title":{"rendered":"Next Time I’ll Walk!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are in a nice little marina, Marina Chiapas, in the southernmost port of Mexico, getting ready to clear out of the country and head to Panama.\u00a0 This long passage necessitates a provisioning trip.\u00a0 However, the marina is about 30 minutes from the main town of Tapachula.\u00a0 Time for some public transportation.\u00a0 We try to use buses whenever possible and travel with the locals.\u00a0 However, when you have a lot of groceries, and it’s 97 degrees, a private taxi is sometimes necessary.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a story about one such ride.<\/p>\n

We exit WalMart in Tapachula with about 75 pounds of groceries inside large backpacks.\u00a0 Dante is back on the boat doing homework (under the watchful eyes of some Canadian boat neighbors, lest there is an emergency.) We are immediately approached by several men asking, \u201cTaxi? Taxi?\u201d\u00a0 I respond in Spanish that we need to go to the Marina Chiapas and we are quoted 200 pesos (about $18.)\u00a0 I balk at the price and make a counter offer of 150 pesos, which I know to be the going rate for our destination.\u00a0 He looks offended and doesn’t budget.\u00a0 Sometimes you have to be prepared to walk off, so we do.\u00a0 About 40 steps further another taxi stops and I tell him we\u2019d be willing to pay 150 pesos to take us to Marina Chiapas.\u00a0 This time it works \u2013 and he helps us with our bags.<\/p>\n

Our driver negotiates a patch of construction with some uneven pavement and we become aware that his shocks are shot.\u00a0 We\u2019re in for a bumpy ride.\u00a0 The highway back to Marina Chiapas has helpful signs like: \u201cSlow down when it rains\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t litter; keep the road clean,\u201d as well as \u201cDrive carefully!\u201d and \u201cObey the signs.\u201d\u00a0 We pass several homemade memorials on the side of the road, crosses with fresh flowers, in memory of the people who have died along the highway.\u00a0 There are a disconcerting number of them, and we pass one that is surrounded by a group of people with the heads bowed.<\/p>\n

We speed along \u2013 quickly – past farms, roadside restaurants and fruit stands, all threatening to be engulfed by the jungle alongside.\u00a0 This is a two lane highway, which doesn\u2019t pose a problem for our taxi driver when he wants to pass a slow car.\u00a0 He simply drives (faster) between the two lanes.\u00a0 He honks gently to alert the vehicle he\u2019s overtaking. \u00a0Safety first.<\/p>\n

We pass a pickup truck with 16 people standing up in the back.\u00a0 Men, women and children.\u00a0 We pass another sign at 75 miles an hour that reads, \u201cThis is not a high speed roadway,\u201d\u00a0 and another inexplicable sign that says, \u201cDon\u2019t leave rocks on the highway.\u201d\u00a0 We pass a truck in the opposite direction that licks up small rocks into the driver’s window … he \u00a0makes the sign of the cross.\u00a0 We follow suit.\u00a0 At least the fast driving is providing \u00a0a welcome breeze.<\/p>\n

I reach for the seat belt.\u00a0 There isn’t one.\u00a0 The driver is wearing his seat belt, though \u201cwearing\u201d is a bit of a loose term as he has the belt draped across his belly but it isn’t clipped in.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sitting in the middle seat in the back.\u00a0 As the driver stops short for another car entering the highway I realize I have a clear shot of the front windshield if we\u2019re in an accident.\u00a0 The windshield should offer little resistance due to the large diagonal crack that spans across it.<\/p>\n

We pull up into the marina and Darold says to me, \u201cIn the future, maybe just one of us should go to the store.\u00a0 We don’t want to orphan our kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"011\"<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are in a nice little marina, Marina Chiapas, in the southernmost port of Mexico, getting ready to clear out of the country and head to Panama.\u00a0 This long passage necessitates a provisioning trip.\u00a0 However, the marina is about 30 minutes from the main town of Tapachula.\u00a0 Time for some public transportation.\u00a0 We try to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sailing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":562,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions\/562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}