Well we had hoped our tires would be here at the Veracruz KTM shop but alas, they had not arrived…  Tomorrow they promised.  So we were just hanging out checking out the bikes and they have a few off road KTMs and a Ducati and some high performance scooters.  When a really nice guy came in with his Uncle.  Uncle Carlos, so now we have tres Carlos.

Any how Salvatore, our new friend, owns a 640 like mine, of course he wants a 950 like I do so we were talking bikes and stuff and he offered to take us to lunch,  Well he didn´t really offer, we just got in his car, left him no options.

We went to the Centro square and sat in the shade, had a couple of beers, some Tarpon caviar, some chicken soup, some tiny tacos, all inclusive with the beers!  No charge for the food, pretty cool deal.  It was very nice, learning about the largest port city in Mexico and talking about bike trips and stuff.  The mariachi band came by and the leader knew Salvatore so they played us a couple of songs and were quite good.  I was checking out the guy´s bass guitar and it was rough.  It looked home made, regular ply wood with extension cord wire for strings, it sounded just fine and all together it was quite nice.

Eventually Salvatore told us he had to go to a business meeting and what would we like to do?  We had no plans, so he invited us along.  He explained it was a very rough ugly bar and we would only stay for a few minutes, and we even came up with a plan that I would remind him we had to be back at the bike shop at 4pm.

Well, yes, it was a rough looking little bar.  And I know rough little bars, back in the day, I used to frequent some dives…..  The gentlemen who we were meeting wanted to discuss a land development deal of 750 homes and a retail hub to take care of the new subdivision.  In a dive like this?  I could not tell if there was any business discussed, but there was plenty of drinking.  They had a bottle of Don Pedro Brandy Especial on the table.  An urchin of a man would drop a few ice cubes in a tall glass, pour some brandy, enough to float the ice, then some Coke and some Mineral water.  I have never seen this done, but they just lapped it up.

Soon it was taking effect and drunk was every where I looked.  Chuck had his camera out showing photo´s of our trip.  The most embarrassing one´s of course, Hair cut depression, Latin Liberace, bike stuck, I was just loving it!  The emptied the first bottle and another came out.  The urchin kept them filled.  He had an old knife wound across his face and years of drinking had creased his face. One eye was white and his hat was way too big.  He worked for drinks and cigarettes and the hope of a cash tip.

Eventually I got bored and went down the street to check my email.  That´s a great thing about Mexico,there are Internet bars every where.  Back in Vegas we could not find one at all,here they are around every corner.  I was gone for about 30 minutes and when I got back……  Well, it was a whole different scene than I had left.  Chuck had borrowed 200 pesos from one of the guys and started a game of Black Jack and had a pile of money in front of him.  I knew he didn´t have any money so this was all a surprise to me.  It was time to leave, the bike shop closed at 8 pm yes, four hours after our initial escape excuse time.  It was time to go, Chuck would not leave.  He was like a dog on the scent of a rabbit, I could not get his attention nor draw him away from the game.  We were out side getting ready to leave him, the plan was to push the bikes out of the shop and wait for him to show up.  I said I wasn´t going to wait, it would be hours before he even realized we were gone even longer for him to find the moto shop.

In just a few moments Chuck came staggering out, he was cussing and swearing, he had lost most of his money.  He said if he had left when we wanted him to he was way up!  Grumble grumble, he still had enough to pay back his patron and he even bought the motel room and dinner tonight.  So it worked out better than it looked when I walked in.  See I saw this glimpse of him with his cigar and the urchin and his cigarette and they looked like a time warp, kind of a before and after photo.  The after is Chuck with a big knife scar from losing in a Mexican bar game.  Creepy.

We got to the shop on time, got the bikes, made an appointment for tomorrow so when the tires arrive we can get the work done.   Oh, I forgot, yesterday on our ride in, we were along the coast, we could see the ocean and behind this 10 tall chain link fence was a first rate MX course, complete with triple and doubles with grass growing every where. Mucho bueno.

That´s all for today, we should get the bikes ready tomorrow and be on the road to the start of the rally trail tomorrow.  Veracruz is a very nice place to be, but we are travelers and ready to travel.  We will write as soon as possible.  Thank you all for today contributions, they are greatly appreciated, you would not believe just how far a few dollars can get us.  We figure we are still 10 days away from the border.  Chuck is hoping to be back in time for the Seattle SX so that’s kind of the plan for now.

So until next time, thanks for all the fish and we will talk to you later.

Charlie and Chuck