Chapter 23

[Arnold's manuscript]

We stayed in the house for most of a month. We had gone to the hotel very slowly and carefully. There had been a fight there. We found Tomas and Dulce's bodies and, after covering our faces managed to bury them on the grounds. Their bodies were decomposing. The other bodies we left where they had fallen. We retrieved Maria's things from her room and from the SUV we had used.

All four of the SUV's that I had disabled had been shot up and would never be used again. We didn't need them. We had bicycles and actually enjoyed riding. We built up our stamina and determined what supplies we should have. Maria wanted a racing type bike but I had chosen a mountain type bike with wide tires and fewer gears. After the third time, her bicycle suffered a breakdown due to those thin tires and many gears, she asked me to help her find one for her like I was using. They could still be broken but it was more difficult.

We went to a house two doors down and practiced with our pistols becoming acceptable shots. Rifles were better and we went armed whenever we were outside.

We hadn't reached the point of shooting animals for food. I'm not sure Maria had even really thought through the concept. There was still plenty of food. We did practice with our rifles after deciding that the town was deserted. We even went swimming in the ocean.

Swimming built my tan and my stamina. We built our relationship and our bodies for travel together.

It was time to leave this happy little house but I realized that we carried our happiness with us. We wanted to head north but were leery of taking a route through Acapulco. If there were black shirts left, that place had been their goal. We also didn't know the plans of Graciana's group. We wanted to meet neither one.

The coast went west before turning north but we went north and then west to Rio Bravo. The trip was about a hundred miles and it took a week. It was quiet and we weren't in a hurry.

There were no people and we saw no signs of fighting. We decided to stop and make further plans. We found another nice house in a moderately nice part of town with power and moved in. We toured the town carefully on our bicycles looking for people or signs of people. We found no signs that might have been made in the last few months. We cleaned our chosen house and scavenged food. There were a washer and dryer there. We washed every bit of clothing we had. We lay about the house and back yard naked though we became excited and made love twice that day.

Maria said, "My love, you feel so good when making love to me. I want us to rest here for a while and let you drive me crazy with passion." We laughed together. We were in no hurry to move on. We stayed a couple of weeks enjoying each other and enjoying our time together.

We had no arguments but we did get to know each other better. I came to realize that Maria had an exhibitionist streak at least around me. I found I enjoyed the various views of her wonderful body either naked or almost naked. I had a feeling though that she would be more inhibited if others were around. No one was around and we saw no one and no signs of anyone even after we returned to traveling again.

We talked at length about our route and our means of transportation.

We had moved our path inland hoping to avoid trouble. Looking at our path and our maps suggested that our route was going to be in the mountains. We had already learned about mountains and bicycles. It meant a lot of walking and pushing the bikes or coasting downhill nervously. It looked like a motorized vehicle was going to be needed. It meant more speed and ease but could be heard. Maria made a good point, which was that we weren't likely to out run anyone while we were on the bikes. Having a car or truck meant we could carry more also. If we kept the bikes, we could still ride away if appropriate.

With that thinking as part of our plans, we started to plan our route. The speed of a truck gave us a new perspective on how far we could go in a day. When you look at a big map, we hadn't gone very far and Rio Bravo was still in Guatemala. To reach our goal, we had to cross Mexico from south to north.

Maria summed it up. "Darling Arnoldo, we have had a delightful honeymoon but it's time for the newly weds to get on the road and make some progress."

We started hunting for a useable vehicle. We decided that our first goal would be in Mexico, Tuxtla Gutierrez. It would be a large city for us and we would enter and explore it carefully. By ruler, it looked to be about three hundred miles away. We would take it in two pieces and be prepared for obstacles.

That afternoon, we found a truck that was three years old with four-wheel drive and a large cab. We could pack plenty in it along with our bicycles. Gasoline was easily located and we gathered a few other things to carry with us. I joked that I would like to see her get in the seat wearing a skirt. She told me I had a dirty mind and she loved it. She went inside and came out wearing mini skirt with her tee shirt. She demonstrated getting in the truck and that she had nothing on under the skirt. Further activities were abruptly delayed in favor of making love, first in the truck and then later in our little house.

Lazing in bed, I said, "Maria, what do we do if we meet people?"

She rolled on top of me. "Arnoldo, if they're bad, we avoid them or get away. We will only fight if we have no other choice. If they're good, we get to know them and determine if we want to live with them or if they want to live with us. As we go north, the chance of finding more people and people from the United States grows higher. We just have to be open and careful both."

We snoozed holding each other closely before rising for supper. Over supper, we talked some more. Maria felt that our current goal would tell us much about conditions. She had been there a few years ago with her father. She told me that it was growing fast and had many young people. After supper, we went to bed in the little house for the last time because we would leave in the morning. We did eventually sleep holding each other lovingly.