10/7/11 Day 6 mini update

Just a quick note... we drove from just north of Poza Rica to just outside Villahermosa (which means beautiful house), 463 miles. Things move much slower here... it's been hard to wrap my head around. Back home if I knew we had to travel 60 miles on the freeway I could easily accurately guess that we'd cover that ground in a hour. But here going 60 miles could take at least 2 hrs or more. It's beautiful scenery, but it's also hilly, curvy, and parts are single lanes. Not to mention that some parts of the road are full of potholes! Today we found some of the better roads, called toll roads- you pay to use them, but they are generally faster and in better condition. So we made some good time today.  We were in the car for 13 hrs today, stopping for potty breaks and a long lunch. It was a very very long day. We met a guy from Belize who was headed back there and he allowed us to follow him. We ended up driving 3 hrs during the night as he and his friend caravaned (sp?) with us. They were really nice and led us to a hotel with internet! His name was Mariano and he gave us his number and asked us to call him when we got into the country. We are about 7hrs from the Belizean border and should make it into the county tomorrow. I have lots of notes and pictures to share, but need to grab some rest for the journey tomorrow. Good night for now and tomorrow I'm hoping to get today's and tomorrow's updates done from inside the borders of BELIZE!!!