Garry led us out of the city, dropping south to avoid the ring road and a scenic detour to view the volcanoes, then as he had to go to work he pointed us in the direction we needed to go and with a wave merged with the traffic and faded into the distance.

For the 1st time in two weeks we were on our own again. Our general direction was towards the Yucatan Peninsula.

On the way we had the worlds worst traffic jam, caused by someone selling lottery tickets at a tope, aided by a statue of Jesus.

We saw a church built on top of the worlds widest pyramid, so an early example of a "victory" church.

We stayed in a town (Orizaba) that boasted an Iron Palace designed by Gustaf Eiffel. And could not resist staying at the Grand Hotel de France.

The guide books had said to avoid Orizaba, but we found it to be genuinely nice. People could tell we were not local and would stop us and ask questions, they were really happy to have tourists.

Once we had dropped out of the mountains, and smog, we both found walking and climbing stairs much easier, then the scenery became very "tropical" with palm and banana trees every where.

We have also stayed in our 1st "Love" motel, at the end of a long hot day we pulled int the first decent looking Motel on the highway, I asked for a night rate, the receptionist was amused that we wanted a whole night, directed us to our room and then we opened the garage door.

But it was the wrong door. Oops, think we disturbed someone.

It would appear that you are meant to only drive in to one that is open, close the doors and get out unseen. There are no keys to collect or drop off. You can order food and drinks and have them delivered via a rotating hatch. The entire rental can be done without being identified.

The room, bathroom and shower were immaculate, and they even provide condoms.

Just 250 Pesos/night or £14.

More about driving in Mexico

Road signs - These are variable, they will sometimes tell you the name of where you are heading then list another city completely (which may or may not be named on our map). Often they expect you to know you should have made a turn, and reward you with a fresh sign to let you know you guessed correctly.

Use of indicators - They are used for everything except letting others know your intentions.

If moving slow, hazards on.

If preparing to stop or maybe turn, hazards on.

Approaching topes, hazards on.

To let someone know that it is safe to over take, indicate left.
(Remember we re driving on the right, and over take on the left)

Topes - I finally got around to taking a picture of the evil raised metal ones.