Yesterday was a goof-off day! We didn't get up early, we didn't rush to go anywhere and then we played golf in the hottest part of the day and enjoyed it! It is so dry here that 96 degrees feels like 85. We even went out to eat dinner at the Sunset Grill located on the side of a canyon wall over looking Moab and the setting sun.
We have been real hesitant to take any of the off-road trails around here as they are all listed as difficult - black diamonds! We tried to find a guide to go with us, but they were too busy. We visited with some neighboring campers but they stuck to the easy stuff so we picked an easier difficult trail and took off on our own.
We crawled along on Fins and Things Trail. Fins are long stretches of slickrock boulders that one can drive along the top but getting up and down can be a real trick. This trail was only about 10 miles long but it took us over 3 hours to drive it and we saw no other Jeeps until the very end. We went up some rocks that were so vertical that it felt like we were going to tip over backward. And then we had to go down! It took about 6 steep declines before we figured out how to stop scraping the bottom of the Jeep. And the harder the trail the more John LOVED it! He kept picking the hardest route up and down. WOO-HOO! What a day!
We got up early this morning and took a sunrise hike on a path around the campgrounds. We saw more arches! Broken Arch (not really, just a crack), Sand Dune and Skyline Arch. It was cool, no wind and no people. 
The scenery is indescribable! Upheaval Dome is a green mountain of salt, Green River Overlook shows the Green River going thru great canyons carved into a flat mesa, and Grand View Point shows the Colorado River carving it's route thru the canyons. I hope our pictures tell the story better than I can.
We arrived in Arches National Park on Thursday afternoon and since we had reservations we easily found our camping spot. It is a good thing too as the area is very busy. We sometimes feel we are in Europe instead of the US as there are so many of them in our National Parks. August is their holiday time and they rent RV's to explore our great country.
We were on the trails at 8 AM both Fri. and Sat. and got a lot of sightseeing accomplished. We hiked out thru the Devil's Garden Area where we saw the largest arch called Landscape Arch. Part of it broke off last year so this is a popular place. 2 miles down the path is the Double O Arch and another 1/2 mile took us to the monolith called Dark Angel. On this 6-1/ 2 mile round trip hike with side trips to see the Navaho and Partition Arches. Later in the day we hiked up to the Windows Arches and the Turret Arch. The day was very windy and dusty so we were happy to take showers in the RV.
On Monday we drove to Gypsum in the Vail area to camp. It is the closest place we can find to Edwards where our friends John & Susanna and Jack & Mary are staying. The next days were busy with golfing, biking, shopping, jeeping and eating! We biked along Glenwood Canyon where the trail runs along I-70 and the Colorado River. One day the girls went shopping and the guys went 'bouldering' in the Jeep. We really enjoyed being with our friends, enjoying the mountains, and the 'vails'.
We are down to only 5 Jeeps in the caravan today. We had an easy morning with our leader taking us to several mines and historic sites. On the Last Dollar Rd we saw beautiful homes and green valleys. We went up to Alta Lakes which is another mining community around a beautiful lake. Narrow Gauge RR trains came thru this area and there is a water tower and bridge trestles to mark its passage.
This time we are going the opposite direction from the way we went on Sunday. Coming down is a car covered in snow and the surrounding mountain peaks have obvious new snow on them. What are we getting into?? It rains off and on as we travel the pass. The traverse is not as scary today as it does not have as much water on it but there is evidence of snow.
Along Hwy 550 south of Ouray used to be a town called Ironton. Over 300 people who worked in the mines lived there. Once the mines closed down, the town died and now there is nothing left. We climb up thru the forest and stopped near a beautiful, flat glade where our leader and his family used to camp. We turned onto Corkscrew Gulch road and it lives up to its name -- lots of switchbacks to get around Red Mountain. We then turn onto Hurricane Pass which goes by Lake Como. It is the bluest lake I have ever seen. From there we take California Gulch all the way to Animas Forks. 
This is another huge mining area with some building still standing -- mills, homes, boarding house and stamp mills. Several trails converge here. We head on down the mountain and stop at a campground to have lunch. Unfortunately rain cuts our BBQ short and we all agree we are ready to go back to our RV's. On the way, we stop in Silverton just in time to see the narrow gauge train from Durango come into the station.
Today we got to do two of the most difficult trails in the Ouray area -- Black Bear and Imogene. The front 1/2 of Black Bear is tough but not a horribly steep climb, lots of rocks to go over. But then we have to go down! The first 120 or so feet is called "The Stair Step" and it is very steep and has very loose rocks that could slide. John did great job driving but I white knuckled it. Then came the switch-backs where we have to back up the jeep into the mountain in order to make the very tight turns. And its not just one or two but about 10 of them. It was a "Woo Hoo!" moment when we got the the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls. From there on in to Telluride was a piece of cake.
Today we took Engineer Pass to Lake City, a moderately difficult trail that climbs to 12,800 ft. But to get to Engineer Pass, we had to first climb Mineral Creek which is quite steep and rated difficult. It was very narrow in places. Coming out of Lake City, we are on Cinnamon Pass Mountain Loop. It has been an absolutely gorgeous day.
First off, its pronounced 'Your-Ray'. We arrived on Saturday after shopping and washing vehicles. We know 2 other couples in the group that will be caravaning together for 5 days. Our leader has included his 3 sons and their families, and there are 6 other Jeeps. We are from MO, NE, FL, TX, MI, MN, OR, OK, and CA.
Today was supposed to be easy introduction to mountain jeeping. Actually our first trail was easy. Called Yankee Boy Basin, it had some really spectacular display of wild flowers. Our second trail was Ophir Pass and it would have been easy except that it poured down rain, sleet, hail, thunder and lightening the whole time we were on it. One part of the trail traversed a rock fall on a very narrow trail. We didn't do much sight seeing along there as we were both concentrating on where we were going and not looking down! John did a great job of driving thru rivers of water. We saw flowers, sheep, deer and rushing water!
Oh, wow, what a day! We are camped outside of Crested Butte in a National Park campground. The 3 miles of gravel corrugated road rattled us to death in the RV but it is worth the drive as we are right on a mountain stream. After we got settled we drove on up the road to see what it was like. There were a lot of jeeps and ATV's coming down as we went up so we figured it would be safe for us to try out this trail the next day. We then had a nice afternoon and evening in the city of Crested Butte drinking wine and eating sushi!
Today we packed a lunch and set off in the Jeep up Cement Creek to Reno Divide and down Italian Pass almost to Taylor Lake. It was a 24 mile drive that took 5 hours! About 30 minutes into the trip and on a fairly difficult part of the trail we came upon a tree across the road. As we were contemplating what to do, 2 men on motorcycles rode up and between the 3 men and our wench (a machine -- not me!) the tree was pulled over to the edge and we continued on. Most of the roads were considered easy or moderately hard so we did not have any other trouble. The views were awesome, the people on the trail were nice and the weather was nice.
We have been in CO for 5 days now. Our drive out was uneventful (that's a good thing) and we stayed at the
Guanajuato (guana-what-o) means frog (guanax) mountain (juato). To the native peoples of the region a frog was a symbol of fertility and the river that ran thru this valley made it a fertile place to live. The city is built on the sides of the the mountain and into the valley. It has 14 tunnels running under it. Most are manmade due to increased population and the need for roads, but some tunnels are old river beds. The city is very colorful -- houses are all colors of red, pink, purple, green, yellow or orange.
The next stop was a silver mine from the turn of the century when most of the work was still done by hand. We then toured a very beautiful theatre called Teatro Juaraz and located in the center of town. The downtown area is really neat. There are about 23 churches (and 100 bars!). With all the tunnels and narrow streets there are lots of pedestrian only walkways. We also got to see a panoramic view of the city that just took your breath away with its beautiful colors.
Today we visited the Teotihuacan (Tay-oh-tee-huah-cahn) Archaeological Zone -- home of the 4th largest pyramid in the world and the 2nd largest in Mexico. Unbeknownst to us, the pyramid we saw in Cholula is the largest. It doesn't appear to be large because it is in the middle of the town with a road that bisects it thru the middle.
The picture shows the buildings surrounding the pyramids. This was a city that sustained 200,000 people and covered about 8 square miles of land. They have only excavated 10% of the buildings. Imagine what you would see in 600 AD when this city was in full swing. 60,000 people in the market everyday, trade with peoples from as far away as Guatemala or northward near what is now the US border. All surfaces in the city (walls and floors and roadways ) would have been covered with cement that was then covered with stucco and painted in bright colors of red, yellow, green and blue. No grass, no trees, no flowers to be seen. The place was structured to move all water away from the center -- even waste water.
There were so many great sites to see in Puebla and suburb of Cholula where our campground is located. Our first stop was the Pyramid of Tepanampa which sits in the middle of the city of Cholula. This pyramid has been built on several times over its 800 years. We got to walk thru the center of the pyramid and then see the plaza and the layers of the pyramid. There is a church on the very top that we climbed up to. There is a spectacular view of the city and three of the four volcanos that surround Puebla. Popocatepetl (pronounced: po-po-cot-ay-pet-lay) is an active volcano and is snow capped most of the year. The other two are The Sleeping Woman and Pico de Orizaba. The church itself was breathtakingly beautiful. It has a small chapel but everything is outlined in gold leaf. It is even more beautiful than the one we saw in Oaxaca. (Did I tell you about that one?? OOPS! Better go back and add that info.) 
Our tour of the city of Puebla was from a double decker bus like the ones found in London. Only I doubt that Londoners ever duck under electric lines or tree limbs. We had a lot of fun! Puebla has a lot of churches and parks, lots of monuments and fountains. We shopped at the Talavera pottery factory and then had lunch on the square. The weather was rather chilly when we got up (42) but warmed up nicely as the day wore on (73).
Our tour today was optional so not all of our caravan went exploring but the 15 of us who did saw a great archeological site.
The plaza is 300 by 200 meters. The buildings seem to be aligned exactly north and south and east and west but on closer inspection the scientist found that the alignment is off by 14 degrees which makes the buildings aligned to the magnetic north. No explanation has been found for this phenomenon. We found the ball court familiar to all Mayans, a cistern for collecting water, and a palace or sorts. None of the buildings have the pointed top of a pyramid because the buildings build on top of the constructions were made of wood, bamboo, and thatch roofs. Tombs have been excavated but their treasures are now in museums.
The next three days are travel days covering about 200 miles each day. Today was a 5 hour drive. We stopped outside of Villehemosa at a very unique camping spot. Well, actually, its not really a camping spot. It is a small, circular park underneath a very tall suspension bridge with a statue of two naked men hauling in a chain on the bridge. We rounded up the "wagons" then set up tables and chairs under the statue and had a afternoon party. The picture tells the story. I know it is rather small but check out the men closely. We had a lot of fun with them! Hee Hee Hee!
Today was a free day but the wagon master strongly recommended that we go to Misol-Ha -- a waterfall -- and Aqua Azul -- cascades. It didn't feel like we were in a very mountainous area but these two places were definitely in deep valleys.
Misol-Ha was a neat waterfall that you could walk behind. Not much else to say about it. But Aqua Azul was really neat. Lots of short waterfalls and cascades with aqua-blue pools in between. The mile long path along the river was lined with shops and eating places. It was a hot day and would have been very refreshing to take a dip.
We car-pooled up to the ruins from the campground. We are starting to get used to all the vendors trying to sell you junk as you tour the ruins but it does get annoying. 
Palenque is one of the largest of Mayan sites. It is situated in jungle but unlike the other sites we have visited, there is lots of water, rivers and lakes, in this area. Only a small portion has been excavated. It is estimated that there are over 2400 pyramids still covered by jungle growth is Chiapas State alone. In 1997 National Geographic did a story on this area. I'll have to look it up in my collection when we get home. (you can check it out online too.) Pakal was the ruler best known in Palenque. He was crowned King at the age of 12 and ruled until his death at the age of 81. He had a large nose and club foot. Most of the buildings we saw were constructed under his reign.
Saturday was a free day with no planned activities so John and I took a long walk, cleaned the RV and car and then went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. Sat. evening was a dinner out courtesy of Fantasy Tours. Mexicans just don't know how to serve a hot meal to 30 people -- warm at best.
For dinner we went to a "Xcaret Mexico Espectacular" . The show was in a huge arena and involved as least 260 actors, dancers, musicians and singers. As we were served a wonderful 4 course dinner we watched the history of Mexico unfold thru the pageantry of the Mayan Great Lords and the ritual games played to honor the gods. We witnessed the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors and their conquest of Mexico and then the mixing of the two races resulting in a country full of tradition. The second half then shared all the traditions of each region through costumes, dance and music. It was really awe-inspiring.
Today (Monday) we drove 25 miles to Xel-Ha (pronounced shell-ha) and parked in the bus parking lot. Xel-Ha is another water park but it has more water. We snorkeled down the lazy river and into a very large, ocean fed lagoon, parts of which had lots of fish and other parts hardly any. This is an all inclusive park, so once inside we did not have to pay for anything -- food, drink, beer, snorkel gear, margaritas, towels, beer, beach chairs, beer . . .! The only draw back is that the park closed at 5:30 so if we wanted to have supper there we had to eat really, really early. So at 6:30 we didn't know what to do with ourselves! Movie time!
When we woke up this morning it was 58 degrees but by 9 AM we took off the long sleeves and unzipped the the long pants. The weather has been perfect -- not too hot during the day and cool at night (makes for good sleeping). 
So when you look at the pyramid called El Castile aka Pyramid of Kukulcon there are 9 tiers on each side with steps dividing those tiers in half so you have 18 tiers on each of 4 sides which would be the number of months in the year. Each stair case has 91 steps with one step being the top plaza which equals 365. Kukulcan is a serpent. During the spring and fall equinox, as the sun is setting, you can see Kukulcan descend the pyramid as the sun shines on each of the risers of the steps. 
The ball court at Chichen-Itza' is the largest in the Maya World. Only the upper class noble and religious leaders would watch the game which was a religious ceremony. The winners are willing to sacrifice themselves to the gods. The walls of the court are tilted in 4 degrees and the way the stones are laid causes wonderful acoustics.
I wish we could put more pictures in the blog -- these ruins are so fantastic! Our guide spoke very good English and is of Mayan descent. In fact, he was raised learning to speak Maya and learned Spanish in school. The Mayan lived in this area starting around 500 BC but the city and pyramids were not built until 600-800 AD. The short wall around the city was to delineate the noble class from the second class and poor peoples. Inside the wall were the pyramids and other buildings, while outside was the agricultural areas and the craftsmen. The nobles probably numbered 2500 while the area around the city would have supported about 30,000 people. 
The largest pyramid here is 39 meters tall (128 feet). It is called the Pyramid of the Magician. (I could give you the story of how it got its name but John says that is too much blogging. If you want to know it, let me know and I'll add it later.) Because of vandals and wear and tear on the structure, we cannot climb it. It was actually built in 5 stages and is unusual in that it's base if oval not squared off. The temple on the top is structured to look like a face with the door being the mouth. There is a nose, eyes and ears on either side of the door. This represents a lord who once ruled Uxmal.
Another quadrangle is called the Nunnery because when the Spaniards found it the architecture reminded them of a Spanish convent. It is made up of 4 long flat buildings built on top of a tall platform. The east and west buildings are higher than the north and south buildings giving them more importance. There are 88 rooms that would have been used for classroom, ceremonial and religious rites rooms, and some residences. There are Mayan carvings on the fronts of all the building, each having different meanings. One shows a serpent with his mouth wide open and a human face coming out of it. This symbolized birth.
After a breakfast-in-a-bag (scrambled eggs in a plastic bag cooked in boiling water) we took 3 other caravaners with us to see the Edzna pyramids. Two more car loads joined us. We had a great guide. These are Mayan ruins from 300 - 1500 AD. Of the 25 square kilometers of ruins found, only about 25% have been excavated. The others are under jungle growth.
We took a city tour today to learn about Campeche. Fuerte San Miguel (Fort) over looks Campeche and was built around 1779. It was in the forefront of military technology. But it was used only once in 1842. The city used to have a wall all the way around it covering about 2 square kilometers. There were 8 bastions and two gates. This protection was needed because of the valuable exports from this area such as dye-wood (used in Europe to color textiles), hardwoods, chicle (chewing gum), salt and sisal (for making ropes) were in much demand by pirates who would pillage the town repeatedly.
