Day 12 - Coatzacoalcos - Rest day

RobT:  Well, we decided to take a rest day today, catch up on the blog postings, as you all are probably well aware, get some hardware from Radio Shack and service the bikes.  Not much to the town of Coatzacoalcos even though it appears to be a fairly large port town.  Sorry to all you photo junkies, nothing peaked our interest today.

For all you moto enthusiasts, Rob and I were told by Jim in Texarkana about the secrets of Lemon Pledge as a visor cleaner.  Not sure what's in the stuff but whatever it is, it cuts through dust AND dried bug carcasses in a jiffy without damaging the visor!  Yes, there is the added bonus of a lemon fresh scent when you put your helmet on but that only lasts until the first insect decides to try to knock you off your bike.  Apparently, this is well known among GS riders.  I'll spread the word back home.  :)

RobC:  We had a nice lunch/dinner at Italianni's in a mall where Radio Shack was located. After many years of living in South America (granted, in the 70's and 80's), I am in complete amazement with how sophisticated and well-organized Mexico is. The Gulf coast really does not look all that different from Florida and the people seem to be very industrious. I feel for the people who have to leave their country (often illegally) to work in a  foreign land to eek out an existence under dire circumstances. But the good news in yesterday's paper here stated that the employment figures had reached a new record according the number of people paying pay-roll taxes.

After the lunch/dinner we took a taxi to the famous breakers/piers and lighthouse.  It turned out to be all concrete and nobody was there, plus it was about 100 F (33 C). Maybe people take a stroll there later at night, but this was certainly reminiscent of Manaus (Brazil), where you don't want to be out during the day.