Even though we took off at 7 AM it was a long day. Our Wagon Master missed a turn and we got to travel thru more mountains to get back on track. We added about 45 miles and 2 hours to our travel day. But, what would we have done at our truck stop campground if we had gotten in any earlier. It is just a truck stop!
Another evening of good-byes, a few tears and promises of getting together again -- soon I hope.
We have made some wonderful new friends from all over the US and I hope we will get to see them all again soon. Traveling in a caravan has been frustrating, adventurous and a great experience. It really didn't take long to learn each driver's driving style and we soon figured out who we liked to follow or not. Any time we experienced a problem with our RV, there was always someone around who had already fixed that and could give us a hand or advice. Being the youngest in the group was not a handicap. We now hope that we can age as well as these folks have -- being 65 or 75 should not slow us down or keep us from having more adventures.
Better get some sleep -- we still have 300 miles to travel tomorrow and we have to cross the border!
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.