Leaving Tampico for a While!

President and Hermana Jordan picked us up at home and we drove to Ciudad Valles which is about three hours away.  Also in the car were Hermano and Hermana Figueroa.  We drove past a lot of vegetation and at times the going was slow because of 18 wheelers full of sugar cane stocks and a two-way highway.  It didn't matter since we were getting away from our routine for a while and out of what we call "the cement city."  There are some very big speed bumps in the road that are about 8 inches high and a yard long and there are two or three of them together so traffic slows to a crawl.

harvested sugar cane 

orange trees

sugar cane fields

So the locals take advantage of the slowing cars and have their little huts set up to sell their nuts, mandarines, and pottery to passengers in the car or those who pull over.  A lot of road construction was happening and we were told the road has improved a lot in the time the Jordans have been here as the locals continue to make a very bad 2-lane highway into a divided freeway.  It will take time.

We arrived at Valles and it seemed like a big, modern city to us with wide clean streets.  We had reservations at Hotel Valles. It has been here for a while and is covered with vines on the outside.  It is rather modern and comfortable on the inside.  We were told there was a resident crocodile.

We met Elder and Sister Watkins at the hotel and went to a local restaurant to have our dinner and arrived back in the evening and enjoyed the Christmas lights.   

The rooms were large and comfortable.  At first they told us we would be in rooms closer to the lobby but then changed us to rooms far from the lobby since they would be having a party.  Probably it would be loud and probably it would last into the early morning.  We were happy to have them move our suitcases to some other rooms.  They were big and comfortable and quiet.  

We were up and ready to eat before heading to church at 9 a.m. and then returned to the hotel.  We were told to change into "casual" clothes--so we did.  The others seemed to have changed into "casual shoes."  Oh well.  We went to find the local crocodile.