Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
august 23
To sum up today in a word, I would say 'Accidents'. I made a 55-kilometre
climb into the hills, then the heavens opened and a tropical downpour
drenched me. Within the next 15 kilometres, I saw three horrific semi-
trailer smashes. I thought that after the first one, with the rain pouring
down, trucks would drive more slowly, but they actually went faster
to make up lost time. So there followed two more prangs with the big
vehicles slipping on the terrible road and careening off the bitumen
down steep embankments. I don't know for sure, but it seems impos-
sible that anyone walked away from those crashes. The only thing
worse than the truck drivers in Guatemala are the bus drivers, who are
cowboys getting their kicks by pushing the limits. Mechanics, smash
repairers and tyre fitters must do really well out of these guys.
I had a terrible shock today when I picked up a newspaper and
read that the Matamoros sports director Wilfrido Campos-Gonzalez,
whom I met as I entered Mexico, had been shot dead. He was a cheery,
dark-haired man in his 40s or 50s who enthusiastically welcomed
