Follow the Parrot: Arco Norte & Unicorns... Do they really exist?

Nov. 16th

We awoke before the roosters the next morning, deadset on finding the Arco Norte. We were on the road by 6:30am, heading back towards Mexico City on highway 57. With fresh directions, an open mind and 2 shots of tequila in our system, we were quite hopeful. We drove and drove and drove, finally reaching the point where we had turned around just the previous night. Though at this point the Arco Norte was as real to us as a unicorn was, we pushed past trails blazing and fingers crossed.

Turns out my gut was right.

Duh.

Half an hour down from where we had last been was the sign for “Puebla Cuota.” Oooh, how amazing and ridiculously frustrating it was to see it hanging there. No sooner had we veered onto the ramp was I expressing my unhappiness with not being trusted to navigate and pointing out that we would be a whole lot farther into our trip had we not turned around. That being said, I believe in the phrases “Trust Your Path” and “Everything Happens For a Reason” and as you will find out in the next entry, maybe it just did happen that way for a reason… keep tuned in.

But I digress… so here we were finally entering the Arco Norte, now shamelessly laughing at us with its literal big, blue arches. We jumped on and it was pretty much what we expected… smooth roads, fast driving and farm land all around. Very happy we found it and avoided the cluster-nut Mexico City.

Arco Norte was great, except for one accident we saw. Poor guy practically wrapped his 18-wheeler around a pole and was stuck in the cab of the truck. Must of happened only 20 minutes before we got there because it was a fresh scene, with his cargo (we think snack items) sprayed across the highway and no emergency vehicles there yet. I only mention this sadness because it helped to shape our following day. Abasi and I were torn on whether or not to turn around and help. Not only were we on the wrong side of the highway and couldn’t find a turn around, but there were a lot of people there trying to help and while looking for a turn around we saw an ambulance fly by. So without turning around, we said a prayer for the man and his family and continued on our way but not before promising each other that if we truly felt we could help someone in need along the way, we would. Again stay tuned.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful in terms of things happening though it is definitely worth noting that after the Arco Norte, the highways we took were dreadful. Not only were we WAAAYYY up there in the mountains, where what goes up most come down, but also the potholes were insane. Clearly we had been spoiled by the previous 2 days of traveling, because there were times I thought we would blow a tire. The worst part is that we paid for these “cuotas” or toll roads, so I can only imagine and PRAY for the people who travel the free highways every day. God be with you.

The night ended with us checking into a hotel in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, which was our chosen destination, so that was nice that we made up time on the Arco Norte and didn’t get off track in our travels. We got a great room, ate a fantastic dinner… Abasi’s mole sauce was DELISH… and walked back to our room with a shot of tequila to put us to bed. Yes, more tequila, you didn’t know we bleed Agave?