Make no mistake. That weird, voluptuous road sign is is not announcing an alluring stop along the way. It is warning you of a speed bump ahead. And you should be grateful, as they aren’t all marked. You can see the consequences of an unannounced encounter, below. We hit one of these topes or vibradores shortly after arriving in Chiapas state, enroute from Puebla. The highway was marked 110km/hr. (We were doing about 65mph.) But we didn’t realize that the impact had bent the alloy rim until we were delayed briefly at a police checkpoint in Campeche state, several hours later. The tire is still inflated, and serving well; but next week I will have the full-sized spare mounted in its place. (The liquid on the tire is from a police dog who duly discharged his assignment.)
We were passed by a BMW suv, flying low, who thought he was on the German autobahn. And hour later we saw him pulled over. His wife was waving her jacket to warn passing drivers, while hubby was mounting his donut spare in the place of a shredded tire that had gone thru a pothole. Mexican roads are not to be dismissed as perfect.
Also of possible interest is the butterfly collection we managed to assemble along the way. I have to wonder if any of these might have feasted on the milkweed pods which sprout each year on our farm, before migrating south for the winter, like we do, but without the speed bump hazard.
I guess it could have been much worse, but those topes can do some damage. We were fortunate, although I think we might have damaged the water holding tank. We just haven’t crawled under the van to check it out. The van was filthy, though, when we arrived. Finally washed it last Sunday. The municipal police stopped and told us we could not park it on that side of our street, although we were not in any way blocking traffic. At least we were almost done washing it.