Veracruz, Mexico

I woke up this morning at a PEMEX gas station north of Veracruz nearly walled in by three trucks and a curb. I did the hygiene thing and hit the road at 6am. After awhile, I finally hit a military inspection station. Look out you pot smoking hippies; Mexico has a new tool in the battle against drugs. It was here that I saw and marveled at “the magic wand” of drug enforcement. Ready? Okay now, close you bloodshot eyes and imagine a little handheld black box with a grip and grey trigger. Following me on this? Good. Now imagine a 2 foot long telescopic antenna protruding from the top of it. Still with me? Good. That’s it! Now was that hard to do?

Honestly, I have no idea if or how it works. They stopped us five vehicles at a time and circled all the vehicles as a group and then dismissed them. It really looks like something you’d use to detect radiation instead. That was my first guess. Nope. Wrong. I couldn’t resist asking about the thing any longer. The young man explained that it was for marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs. After a bit, he popped a small card out of the bottom labeled “cannabis”. The card resembled a credit card and even had a magnetic strip on it. I would have loved to see it go off and everyone swarm a hippie with a Rodney King style beat down. Too bad.

I just got here to Tulum. I spent about 22 hours driving over two days and checked my email immediately. As I thought, Sol Caribe backed out on the deal. I’m getting tired of being fucked like a whore and left out in the cold.. I’ve got some leads though. I’m also going to try nail down a method to generate business fast and on the spot. I have some ideas for more business. Tomorrow I’m also going to add up the tolls and gasoline costs to get here. I’d like to know if I spent more in tolls or gas.