St. Louis

Went to St. Louis this week. The airport still has significant damage from the tornado earlier this year.

Saw the Anheuser-Busch brewery, including the horses.

Went up in the arch.

Belize

Leaving Mexico...

The bridge across the border heading south.

Belize is English speaking so signs in the border area are bilingual.

Instead of a duty free shop, Santa Elena is a duty free city. These little vehicles are basically motorcycles with a shell/bench. You can take them anywhere in the city.


North America, this way!

As far as I can tell, these are Mexican Navy ships patrolling the border.

Bridge across the border heading north.

Driving through Quintana Roo

Lots of different things in the Mexican countryside. No beheadings, kidnappings or drug cartel activity. As far as I can tell, that is overblown by the media. In a 4 hour drive, the shadiest thing I witnessed was that vendors will sell things near the ever-present speedbumps. Compared to your typical American panhandler washing your windshield at a red light, it is really nothing.

Bus stops. These are everywhere.

Interesting local architecture.

Horses wandering everywhere (look by the base of the left tower).

The font on the road signs appears to be Charcoal so I think the Mexican Department of Transportation may still be using Mac OS 8.



This town is ready for Christmas! I wonder if this town has ever had snow. I guess that doesn't mean that they can't have a snowman.



By the way, Buster Rent-a-Car was very cool and very convenient. I rented the car in Playa del Carmen and it was cheap but got me where I was going (and back). They had great reviews on the internet and there were no hassles about trying to scam me on the condition of the car or anything like that.

Tulum

The ruins of Tulum. Amazing! The ruins are actually the walled, center part of the city. The city population was approximately 5,000 and the walled area would have been the city administration with only the mayor and other key people living day to day.

Playa del Carmen

Playa del Carmen (Quintana Roo, Mexico) was beautiful.

But don't try to break in to these apartments. An electric fence awaits!


Some minor flooding and road damage caused by Hurricane Rina.

Browns vs. Rams

Unfortunately, the Browns didn't win today but it was a close game. We won't talk about how a field goal attempt could fail so spectacularly.