Driving Day 2: Monterrey to Mexico City!

Everyone had a pretty good night sleep, and then we headed to the amazing breakfast buffet at the hotel. I don't know why the continental breakfasts at hotels in the US are always blah- this free breakfast at the "Best Western" in Monterrey was amazing. Trays of fresh pineapple, papaya, watermelon, 4 kinds of freshly squeezed juice, quesadillas from fresh tortillas, and about 10 other hot dishes- eggs, cactus (nopales), veggies, pancakes, potatoes, etc. I didn't even make it to the sweet breads. Yum, now my mouth is watering.

We made our way out of Monterrey and back onto the highway after breakfast. For a long time, we were in this transition between desert and forest. The long straight stretches of highway were lined by the weirdest cartoon-like cactus-trees, which the kids called "spikey plants."

After a while we started to drive through the mountains. Tonito kept saying "mountains just like China!" (yes, very UNlike Illinois and Texas). Although the kids loved watching the mountains, these beautiful views and curves did not go over so well with Tonito's tummy.

Contrary to what you see in these pictures, Tonito was not feeling well in the car. This was our stop for lunch, when the carsickness started. Actually this is right after he got sick, I was trying to give him some fresh air and he was telling me about Lion King 1 1/2. (I've never actually *watched* the movie because I am always in the front seat, but I know almost all of the words!!!). This is Tonito in a nutshell- happy and smiling and acting silly (even when not feeling well).

Along the way, we saw lots of little stands selling products typical of the region. Here is "ajo" (fresh garlic)...

These are "tunas," which are prickly pear- a fruit from cactus. You can buy them in the US too (at my favorite Caputo's:) but they are SO much fresher from the side of the road! We bought a huge bag, and then a couple already peeled for a snack. This was one of our many "car sick" stops.

Almost to Mexico City! Here they are selling dried snakes, although Tonio couldn't tell me exactly how you cook them (he thinks soup). Also if you click on the picture and make it bigger you can see little birds in a cage, and then a table of cacti. This funny trio of dried snakes-pet birds-house plant cacti was sold at all of the stands we saw for about 30 minutes. I can't believe the picture is so clear even though I took it from the mini-van at 70 miles an hour.

This is *almost* to Mexico City, another little car sick stop. Poor Tonito! I think they sell bracelets or patches or something for car sickness for kids, and we will definitely need one for the trip home. Emil me if you know of any cures! The only thing we had was dramamine, and that came right back up with everything else....

Finally we made it to Mexico City- after many, many stops on the side of the road for a breath of fresh air and a change of t-shirt for poor little Tonito. We had called Tonio's parents from the road, and they had pedialyte-cocktail waiting for him:). The kids were so excitd to be out of the car they were dancing and jumping around, and no one could believe they had just driven more than 11 hours. Aaaaah, we finally made it!