Memo, Lalo and I were on the road to Tehuantepec, our first service stop, at 5:45am! Many times, we have a different route from the racers, on toll roads. It is pretty cool to be able to drive the same roads as the race cars before they head out.
This year, our stop in Tehuantepec was at a Pemex station instead of the cute town center filled with children and people in traditional clothing. Pemex was certainly easier to find and park.
Today Martin drove and Condenado was the navigator.
When the race cars start rolling into the service area, we hold our breath and count the cars till our little taxi makes it's appearance! Still in 9th of the order! Great job guys!
News of wrecks along the speed sections spreads quickly...A BMW :-( a Corvette, and a Falcon flipped and a Studebaker went off.
Memo gave the taxi a quick look over, we cleaned the windshield, made Martin and Condenado some jamón y manchego sandwiches, and watched them take off again.
Oh, yeah! Remember the protesters? They organized! They managed to block the route, so everyone, racers included, had to take a detour to get on the road to Oaxaca.
Speaking of the roads...BEAUTIFUL, and very smoothe for the most parts. Of course there are some rough patches here and there...nothing worse than the topes. Topes (often pronounced tow-pay) are big speed bumps that usually mark the entrances and exits of small towns. Some are clearly marked and some scare the hell out of you when you don't see them and careen over them. The plus of topes is what we have coined "tope passing". When you are stuck behind a slow car you take advantage of it's slowing down for the tope and pull up next to it and pass on the left.
Martin had some really nice postcards printed with a photo of the taxi on it and info of the car and the team to give kids in the towns we go. Hordes of children hang out where the topes are waiting for the race cars and crew vehicles to hand them these cards. In 2009, we learned that throwing them to the group of children was a terrible idea. We threw a bunch because there were way to many kids to hand a postcard to each one...we drove off and looked back in horror as the wind picked up the postcards and blew them into the ROAD and the children frantically scattered all over the place collecting them!!! Today, we started throwing candy at them instead, well away from the road.
We are heading to Oaxaca on the 190 and just got passed by JOCHEN MASS! Memo has hungry right now so I am going to dig up some Cliff bars our friend Tom Richardson hooked us up with! Thanks, Tom!
Just before arriving into Oaxaca, Conrad calls to report they just made it to the zocolo, JUST. The alternator stopped charging and the battery died approximately four kilometers from the finish arch. Martin jumped out and bought a battery that was a little too big, but got them to the finish arch with no penalties!
Our assignment coming into Oaxaca was to find the store and get a smaller battery. Fortunately, the battery store was next to a pharmacy where I was able to buy some "issue" pills for some of our fellow racer friends...who "ate the salad". Mil gracias, Dr. Luciano!
Speaking of Dr. Luciano, a lovely Doctor from Oaxaca, whom we met in 2009, has become a person we really enjoy seeing when we come through this old and beautiful city. He has a passion for fast machines and was drawn to helping us park our weary cars in the bustling city center of narrow cobble stone streets. He runs a clinic across the street from a parking garage and allowed us to park the taxi that year in FRONT of the ambulance and assured us it was OK because it was only used to transport patients to other places. Luciano visited us last year when we zipped through, and gave us the much needed prescriptions I mentioned earlier.
Unfortunately, for us, his work took him away from Oaxaca this year and we were unable to see his smiling face.
The Camino Real Hotel in Oaxaca is where we spent the night. I am only mentioning this because it is one of the coolest hotels I have ever stayed. It's walls have housed and sequestered nuns initially, when built over 200 years ago, then prisoners when it transitioned to a prison. Now, it is a beautiful hotel that has embraced the cracked plaster and it's architectural history. Definitely, worth staying there!
Drivers meeting took place at our hotel and our boys got first in class! Woohoo! Well done, guys!
Tomorrow, Puebla!
Cheers!
TaxiCrew reporting...
Location:Tehuantepec Service Stop
