From Saltillo to Tonala
 
Three classes of buses in Mexico (and most of Latin America): A - luxury, B - call it business class, C - local. Long distance is handled by A and B class buses. This one (as well as my first one) is a B class. These buses have reclining seats, foot rests, and 4 12 in video screens spread out over the seats so everyone gets a decent view. They’re comfortable enough, though I look forward to riding in an A class.  















 

 
 
 
No breakfast. Bought iced tea and cookies for on the bus. Bus was scheduled to leave at 0845; actually left at 0915.

More cars on the road today than anything else.      

 

 
 
Saw more apartment complexes; I guess each one to be no more than 400 sq ft, some probably only 100 sq ft!




 

 
 
Instead of scrub brush, saw lots of cacti for the first couple hours.  

 







 



 
 
 
Saw my first bus vendor! They get on at pit/road stops. Passed on that; went in and got an ice cream!





 
 
Cacti turned to farm land. No idea which crops they were growing (other than corn) or how many individual farms. Again pics don't do justice to the extent of these farms (maybe the mountains in the background lend some perspective). These farms went on for miles (maybe a hundred, and maybe 50 mi deep).    
 













 

 
 





 
 
 









 
 





 
Had to go through Zacatecas/Guadalupe (each about 140,000, spread out about hills and valleys),then Aguascalientes. Big city (1,400,000). Its spread over several large hills and valleys.

 As usual, the pics don’t capture the extent of it. Pics shown are actually of Z/G. Went through the center of Aguascalientes, and there were no good views. Large cities are really hard to capture in pics (same for Guadalajara when I got there).  

Saw many interesting things on this leg. Way too many to remember. One of these was a circular area (about 40 ft dia) cut in the middle of a cornfield (only about 50 yds off the road) with a group of about 11 cows munching on - what? - the cut down corn? A new concept of corn-fed beef! Going too fast to get pics.  
 
People pass on the yellow lines all the time! See the white line beyond the car? It's only about the size of a bicycle lane. But it's not for bicycles (not unless they want to get run down!) That's where oncoming traffic moves to when someone is on the yellow line! Even our bus went over the line passing slower trucks. You just have to make sure there's no one headed toward you when you want to jump out there.

Next encounter with heavily armed soldiers was at check points (don't know what for; too many to be state borders - maybe counties?) They weren't random: permanent facilities at most of these. Sometimes there were Federales (also with rifles, but no visible armor) alongside the soldiers. There were also a couple of random stops. We got waived through each time except one when a Federale came aboard and glanced at everyone's ID.  

Road construction delays set us back, but from Aguascalientes there were only six of us left on the bus (watched Cirque du Soleil's KA performance with no one around me for three rows - got to fart all I wanted). Got into Guadalajara at 1900 hours instead of 1500.