Uxmal

It was a very short drive from Campeche to the ruins of Uxmal (this is the Mayan name for this city and in Mayan is pronounced "oosh-mal"). We got to park our caravan in a parking lot so we were jammed right next to each other and, of course, we had no hook-ups which was no big deal. We were supposed to see a light show this evening but it is under repairs and remodeling so instead we had a nice dinner together. The area around these ruins is a tourist destination with 3-4 very nice hotels with swimming pools, bars, restaurants, shops and wi-fi. We were able to utilize this to call the kids and speak to Luca.

The weather has been so nice. Everyone keeps telling us it will be hot and uncomfortable but so far that has not been the case. We sleep with the windows open and had to pull up the quilt. Daytime gets warm but not enough to need the A/C. Tomorrow we tour the site and then drive to Merida.

MAP: This is where we spent one night & toured the pyramid.

Edzna Ruins

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.

The largest pyramid in this area was built over a 500 year period. Every 100 years, the Mayans would add a layer or tier making the pyramid to grow taller and wider. The rooms around the pyramid were used for rituals and sacred ceremonies and some were sleeping quarters for the priests. The structures at the very top helped to show the passage of time with the sun shining thru various parts. We climbed to the top of the largest pyramid. Going up was easy, coming down was scary. They had an extensive system of ditches & canals to channel the collecting of rain water.  

Edzna was connect to other Mayan cities throughout the Yucatan and from Guatemala to Chiapas with raised roads called sacbes. The Mayan calendar was explained to us. Their year was divided into 19 months -- 18 had 20 days and one had 5 days for 365 days. We also learned how to read the numbers written in Mayan hieroglyphs but it is pretty complicated.

Campeche

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.

We visited a quaint church, Iglesia de San roman, that houses a black Christ on a silver cross. The Jardin (garden) in front of the church was beautiful. The city itself if pretty and clean with lots of colorful homes and buildings. The downtown streets are cobble stone and very narrow. We had a Campeche cuisine lunch-- John had a dish with shark meat and I had fried tortillias with a shredded chicken and beans topping. I had a creme soup with Mayan spinach.

We got to the beach in time to see the sunset into the gulf. We are on the eastern side of Mexico but we got to see the sunset into the west because the peninsula turns northward. You'll have to look at the map to see what I mean.

Game night was fun -- I won a game of pool and John lost a whole 30 pesos ($2.40 US) at black jack.

Easy Day

What a great day to be lazy. We got up late, hitched up the car then had a buffet brunch at the campground. At 9:30 we started off to Campeche. We drove along the coast most of the way and it was beautiful. Blue sky, azure gulf, green trees, yellow flowers and white sand.

Almost everyday John has to rant and rail about how slow we go or how often we have to stop because somebody didn't gas up when everyone else did. But once he gets it out of his system, he's okay.

We are staying in a converted Club Med. The campground has all the amenities of the US -- game room, great showers, gift shop, tennis courts, volleyball and wonderful beach with tables, chairs and umbrellas. The bad news is the pool is under construction.

At 5:55 this evening we hurriedly got ready to go down on the beach to watch the sunset -- and MISSED IT! But we did get to watch 2 pelicans repeatedly dive in the water for fish. What a great day!

MAP: Click here for our location the next 3 days.

Isla Aguada

We woke this morning to see the bay not more that 50 feet from our coach! It is beautiful here. The temperature when we got up was 72 degrees. By afternoon it was in the low 80's.

We had a lazy morning. After a late breakfast John did some work and I sat on the beach basking in the heat. Later Dick and Ann joined us for a drive around town and a couple of stops to get groceries at the tienda. We walked all the way down the beach to the Malecon and then on past that to the end of the island. It's a very small town who main source of income is fishing. We saw lots of boats coming in with their catch of crabs and assorted fish. Ann stopped at the cemetery to take pictures and a workman across the street came over to show us the grave of an American. Very friendly man, but we didn't understand much.

At 4 PM we had a group dinner of hamburger and baked beans prepared by our Wagon Master. Boy did that taste good! But a dinner at 4 means we don't have anything to do until bedtime except write our blog.

L O N G Travel Day

It was supposed to be a 9 hour travel day but we pulled into the campground after 12 hours on the road!!

We left Catamaco at 7 AM and immediately one of our tire monitor alarms said we had a fast leak in one tire. We stopped and checked and nothing was wrong except maybe a loose monitor. We caught up with the group and went thru some small mountains. Children lined the roads on their way to school. The younger ones all waved at us. They are really cute kids!

The countryside from Catamco to Isla Aguada is beautiful. Lots of cattle grazing, fields of sugar cane, corn, and some tobacco. The road side is lined with trees that look to be in spring bloom. We have a plant scientist in the group but he cannot name most of the trees. There is one tree with beautiful, bright orange flowers on the very ends of each limb. He said these were called "Tulip of India" trees. There are lots of trees with pink flowers that remind me of a cross between Dogwood and red bud trees. Others have light orange flowers and bright pink flowers with leaves that look like Mimosa trees. It is really very pretty. As we near the coast again, we see more swamp land.

Other than in the mountains and near the coast, the roads have been very good. The trip took longer because we waited on other coaches to get gas or do something else. We drove thru Villahermosa which is a huge town with lots of traffic and it took a long time to get thru there. We also went thru 5 toll booths and two inspection stations. One inspection was for beef, pork or eggs so before we got there, everyone emptied their refrigerators into coolers and hid the forbidden foods. Another delay. The coastal road is very narrow with lots of speed bumps (topes) and many people on the side of the road. They love our little "parade".

Long day on the road -- it feels good to be camped.

MAP: Click here for our location the next 2 days.

Catemaco

A quiet Sunday in Mexico. Several people in the group attended Mass at the local cathedral and said it was very interesting even though they couldn't understand most of it. It rained lightly most of the morning and we stayed in the campground while John worked on the computer and I goofed off.

Mid-afternoon we walked done the Malecon (lake side walk way) and enjoyed the city and it's inhabitants on a lovely afternoon. The men offer boat rides on the lake so you can see monkey's and birds and the women and children are selling jewelry, flowers and snacks. We witnessed a 15th birthday celebration, shopped for coffee and brooms (John had to see who made them) and practiced our Spanish by reading signs. We had a group dinner at a local restaurant and bought some locally grown and roasted coffee.

Veracruze to Catemaco

Just when you think there is no way we could go any slower, we did! Today we traveled about 95 miles. All 2 lane roads through many small villages and a lot of hilly curves, behind slow trucks. This is the sugar cane growing region and the harvest is on. We must have gone over more than 50 topas, it was brutal. It took us almost 6 hours. We are camped next to the river below Lake Catemaco which is just a few hundred yards away. What a luxury, this campground even has wifi! We had a margarita party after everyone got set up. Then we barbecued the big shrimps we bought fresh several days ago. Pam is sound asleep. Tomorrow is a free day and my guess is we will do very little. It is a little chilly, almost down to 70° (I am writing this outside in my shorts and a tee-shirt)

MAP: Click here for our location the next 2 days.

Veracruze

Veracruze is the oldest and largest port city in Mexico. It was founded by Hernando Cortez in 1519 and began the Spanish Conquest of the country. Our city tour began with a stop at the Grand Cafe de Parroquial for great coffee with hot leche (milk or cream). We then visited the town square where the cathedral, shops and hotels are located. A short drive took us to the San Juan de Ulua Fort built in 1582 out of coral reefs. It was used for storage of trade goods and as a prison. It was right next to the very busy port area. We finished the tour with a visit to Wal-Mart. We couldn't believe how excited everyone was to go there??!!

A long walk on the beach then dinner in the seaside village of Anton Lizardo finished out the day.

Costa Esmaralda to Veracruze

Another travel day. We went 123 miles and it took 5-1/2 hours. But we did have to go thru the large city of Veracruze which took a good hour due to traffic. John is really struggling with the slowness of travel. It really is hard to "follow the leader" when it takes forever for the speed to build up from the front of the pack to the back of the pack and then we have to slow down - AGAIN!

The campground is on the beach about 10 miles from town but it is really nice. We walked 2 miles down the beach with another couple to a little village, had a margarita, and then walked back to find we were having a pot luck dinner with the group. Beautiful weather! Showers are cold and the electricity is real bad -- it clicks on and 20 seconds later it is off. Makes it really hard to dry your hair.

MAP: Click here for our location the next 2 days.

El Tajin Ruins

Today we got to see our first Mexican ruins. It is a site called El Tajin. You may have seen one of their famous pyramids from this location called Pyramid of Nichos. It is very tall with 7 sides that have exactly 365 windows or niches that represent 365 days of the year.

Carvings along some of the buildings depicted self mutilation as a sacrifice to the gods of the earth and sea.

There is a special ritual ball game they played where the winner was sacrificed for the fertility of the land the the good of the people. This was an honor to be the winner and to die. The guide explained that to the Mexicans this was no different that Christ's sacrifice for the people.

The people who built in this area were called HUASTECAN (previous to Mayan). They lived here in the 800 - 900 AD and were gone by 1200 AD.

Current Location

This is where we have been camped the last 2 days, click here for map. We leave here tomorrow.

Tampico to Costa Emarelda

Had a quiet evening in the hotel parking lot. I think everyone was in bed asleep at 9 PM!

It took us 2 hours to travel 45 miles this morning, 9 hours total. Bad traffic and BAD roads. Then more bad roads and more bad roads. Lots of topes (major speed bumps) also slowed us down. We had 5 toll roads costing about 400 pesos (about $32).

I could not find Costa Esmarelda on any map but it is someplace between Tampico and Veracruze on the coast. It is a resort town that is very quiet right now -- I guess its off season. The RV park is fairly nice but the electricity was very iffy. Most plugs had reverse polarity and/or too much voltage, but the TG got that fixed. We are right on the beach which is a gray-sand beach (looks dirty but it's not).

Time to walk in the sand and look at all the stars!

Victoria to Tampico

Today was a short day on the road but it started out with a BANG! 3 young senoritas walking along the road as we were leaving town FLASHED us! You got it -- boob show! They did it to every coach! Talk about excitement on the CB's!

We arrived outside Tampico at noon with one unit missing. They had stopped for gas before getting to the campground and then drove right on past and into the city. Took them over 2 hours to get back. We are actually not in a campground but in the parking lot of a hotel. They have really nice palapas, a great swimming pool, trampoline and the restaurant had the football games on (in Spanish, of course, but who listens to the announcers??) They also had showers for free. First sunburn.

First Day on the Road

Our day started early with our TG banging our tires with a baseball bat (the sound they make tells him if we have enough air or not). People started lining up at 7:30 AM for a 8 AM departure and we did it on time. It seemed like it took forever to get all the RV's thru all the stop lights. We had no trouble at the border and by the time we had our 1st pit stop everyone was excited to be on the road. We had traveled a total of 41 miles in 2 hours!!

John did fairly well with the slow speed although every once in a while he had to complain. It was a long day at 7 1/2 hours driving but the further south we went the warmer the weather! Cuidad Victoria was our destination and the RV park was about what John and I expected -- grass pads and unreliable electricity. We were treated to a great dinner and most everyone turned in early. We fell asleep in our seats and went to bed at 10 PM.

Caravaning Details

There are 14 Born Free coaches plus the coaches for the Wagon Master (WM) and the Tail Gunner (TG). Two of the coaches are being driven by single women both of whom are full time RVers. So there are 30 people all together. Interesting group of people but very nice. About half have traveled together on another caravan.

The WM will lead off and go no faster than 45 mph. John is really sweating this slow speed!! According to the WM he has to go this slow to keep everyone together thru stop lights and turns and to not get too far ahead of the TG. We all have CB radios. If a rig gets stuck at a light, then we call in and the WM will slow down even more until we catch up. The WM will also point out interesting sights along the way.

We did a quick review of the whole trip, going over camp grounds, tours, dinners, free days, etc. Makes me tired to think about it all but we are sure we will have a great time.

Still in Texas

Yeah! It's finally warm! We camped on Mustang Island in the state park right on the beach. High both Wed. and Thurs. was 70 but with the breeze we didn't sweat. We took long walks both days. We also drove the car on the beach for about 4 miles.

On our way from Corpus Christi to Harlingen a car threw up a rock and we got a chip in the windshield. We haven't even left the country yet! We'll have it fixed while at the RV park. We also have to get our visa, some pesos, LP gas, do laundry and go to the grocery store on Friday. The caravan orientation meeting and dinner are Friday night. Then off we go to Mexico on Saturday.

Catching Up

Jan 10-11 -- Sat/Sun -- We drove to Springfield to visit John's sister and then on to Norman to stay with our grandson (and his mom and dad). Sunday we took Luca to the park and then to a Natural History museum where there were dinosaur bones-- he loved it!

Monday (Jan 12) -- Drove to Dallas with a short stop at Camping World to shop. Had dinner with college friends whom we hadn't seen in 20+ years.

Tuesday (Jan 13) -- Cold weather is following us -- it was 28º when we got up. Drove to San Antonio with another stop at a Camping World to get a leveler fixed (minor repair) and some more shopping. We had dinner with friends.

Wednesday (Jan 14) -- Okay, what is going on with this weather??? They had freeze warnings out for this morning! When will it ever get HOT!?! We are headed to Corpus Christi today so we can play on the beach -- hope it warms up!

Our Departure is January 10th

Welcome to our blog! We are hoping to leave town on the 10th for our 50+ day trip to the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Our goal is to make frequent, if not daily, entries as we travel through Mexico. We hope to post a few interesting pictures and some map links so you can see exactly where we are traveling.

If you would like to see a map of our caravan click here

We invite you to follow our blog on this and future trips!