From the high Sierras and the mining town of Real de Catorce we headed to Xilitle. For you kayakers, this is the area around the Micos river. After back-tracking through The Tunnel and down the cobblestone highway we arrived at the equivalent of an interstate. This highway ran straight for miles through the center of a wide, flat valley with mountains rising blue in the distance on both sides. Cactus and low scrub were the only vegetation. Clouds, like jellyfish, with their tentacles of rain hanging down, float across the valley. The road eventually started to rise and small roadside stands selling snake skins began to appear. They were all the same – there would be a rack about 5 feet long and 6 feet tall with the skins hanging in display. Each rack had two or three people squatting beside it. Some had smoking fires. As we got closer to the top of the rise there were more and more of them until, at the peak, we reached the Mad Max Truck Stop.

Mexico is chaos. Roads are about three lanes wide and trucks, cars, motorcycles, people on horseback, people walking, kids playing, chickens, dogs, donkeys, goats, pigs and tarantulas all fit on them as best they can. There seem to be no rules, but very few accidents, considering. Roads aren’t marked. Towns don’t make sense, busses stop for no reason and things just happen. Everything here seems to happen organically without any structure imposed. The Mad Max Truck Stop fit this Aesthetic perfectly.  At the crest of the hill, to the right, was a 10-story high statue of a guy in a cape with his right hand raised toward us. On either side were block buildings, some tire shops, some restaurants and some who-knows-what. Mixed in were, of course, the higher end snakeskin sellers. Parked in no particular order were pick-ups, semi trucks and the ever-popular double semis. People were sitting on curbs, running across the roads and in small groups around smoking barrels. The whole scene was post-apocalyptic. This went on for a ½ mile and then snake skins, and then cactus and scrub for miles.

I haven’t seen a snake skin since.