Back on the road .. traffic was light, we were zooming along ... and passed a white van upside down in the ditch. Uhoh. That was the group of folks who left before us! We pulled over, our guides went to help, and came back with three people .. only two fit, so took them with us, and they told us the story of what happened.
They were zooming along too fast, they said, and I believe it, as there is no traffic enforcement in this country. 140 km in a 60km? No problemo .. just wear your seat belt. Or make it look like you are. Anyway... a little car darted in front of them, going much slower, so they slammed on the brakes and skidding sideways and flipped. Nobody was wearing a seatbelt ... and all but one walked away. By the time we had the two ladies in our van, there were no ambulances to be seen, and we were there maybe 15 minutes. I didn't see any police cars either, but there appeared to be someone in uniform there - maybe they pulled off the road instead of using their car to block traffic so they can safely get people out of the van .... and we got to watch the local neighborhood.
Back in the van, the old Dutch guy next to me put on his seatbelt. Good .. that makes four of us (the woman and child from München were the others .. .four out of 11). Not even the two ladys we picked up. As we were driving along the women asked to stop and get some ice and water and we did, and I remember i had some ibuprofen. One of the women suggested turning down the AC .. I'm thinking she's going into shock, and suggest that she find a hospital. She wasn't going to have any of that, while the old dutch guy next to me was complaining about how the drivers didn't ask us if it was OK to bring on new passengers ... sheeesh, give it a break! BTW, This was the guy who, several times today, pointed out thing around the city he was responsible for, art or something, I wasn't paying attention to his bragging. Anyway, we finally passed the ambulance on the way to the scene, by now it was perhaps 30 minutes since the accident. The ambulance was in the toll booth, paying a freakin toll! (Later I learn that these ambulance teams are often parked on a side street and moving among vehicles in traffic begging for money). I also learn that the single payer health care system in Mexico is, like most such systems, overloaded and anything beyond life-saving measures are rejected unless you can pay for it ... which most Mexican's cannot do. The only effective alternative is to find a private clinic where, surprisingly, the cost is about the same as the state-run system, but if you look like you are poor or Mexican you will not be treated.
Well, anyway, the women didn't die. We dropped them off at a taxi stand, dropped off the rest of the folks, and took me to my hotel. I was last because I was furthest away.
After a long day I was back in my room and looked in the mirror ... holy moly was I sunburned! I tell ya, Minnesotan's just don't think about sun block in March. Being short on sleep, and having an early conference call with a customer at 7am, I hit the sack early.
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