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 About the Sanctuary |
 Balcon de Moctezuma |
 Desert yucca |
 The High Route |
 Burro transport |
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 Nopales (Prickley pear cactus) |
Hiway from Ciudad Victoria to Huizache
Travel Distance: 233 kms (slightly more over the high route)
Travel Time: Approx. 3 hours
No tolls.
Travellers now have two routes to choose from in the first leg of this route, upon leaving Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas toward the Huizache Junction (Entronque Huizache) with Highway 57, in the state of San Luis Potosi.
The High Route
Prior to 2004, travellers on this route had to forcibly take a winding and often fog-wreathed climb over the Sierra Grande via Balcón de Chihue and the Balcón de Moctezuma.
This route is a mere 45 kilometers in length, but it takes you high above Ciudad Victoria on a two-lane road without much shoulder, passing, on the way out of Cd. Victoria up the eastern side of the mountain, the Sanctuary of the Truck Driver (Santuario del Camionero) - which is where the majority of the driver of the large trucks that routinely crawl over this mountain pass stop to pray for an accident-free trip with good driving conditions and no brake problems. The views are spectacular but there can also be dense fog on the top of the mountain during rainy season.
Near the summit is a turnoff to an archeaological site called the Balcón de Moctezuma (Montezuma´s Balcony). A narrow and rudimentary track descends down the hillside to a groupings of ruins that date from between 200 B.C. and the 16th C. The inhabitants formed stone bases and stairs, on top of which were built huts made of wattle and daub. They were hunters and gatherers and also fashioned terraces on the nearby hillsides for the planting of crops. Some of the artifacts found in the area include stone mortars and pestles, tubular stone and bone beads, engraved stone breastplates, marine shell ornaments and clay pipes adorned with faces and animal figures.
The roadside along the high route is lined with giant magueys, scrubby trees and low vegetation.
The Low Route
The low route is a newly opened alternative bypass for the gruelling, over-the-mountain section of highway 101. Skirting Cd. Victoria to the east, near the airport, the new road branches off through lower draws in the Sierra from the Sta. Librada area just southeast of Victoria, and around the hill traversed by the "High Route" to the south, joining up again with the old Highway 101 in the area of San Antonio.
This new section, measuring just under 40 kms., was opened in 2004 and makes this part of the drive much quicker and safer, although the scenery is not anything as spectacular as it is on the upper road. The new road is only two-lane, but with ample shoulders, allowing room for slower trucks to pull over and allow faster traffic to pass. With the increase in the number of roads in Mexico with wide shoulders, Mexican drivers are now beginning to get used to ceding space to faster traffic coming up behind them - something that a few years ago would have rarely been seen.
The Combined portion
Once the two routes merge at San Antonio, route 101 runs along the high central plateau through dry and dusty desert - lots of cacti, yucca and low scrub. Roadwork is currently being done (2007) to widen the rest of highway 101 all the way to the Tula Junction with Highway 80, near the border of the state of Tamaulipas with San Luis Potosi. It is unclear whether the widening will continue along Highway 80 to the Huizache Junction - we can only hope so since it is a great alternate route to highway 57 for those travelling to and from the northern Gulf Coast.
The few towns that lie along this whole route are small and set amid the arid cactus-laden landscape. Horse carts and burros can often be seen on the sides of the road, transporting people and agricultural goods.
