Monday, March 3, 2008
That's right, we're not from Texas
Greetings from lovely El Paso Texas. We crossed into Texas two days ago, and since then have been driving, driving, driving. We're going to do a little shopping here in the land of the big PX, then we have to go cross the border in Palomas and turn in our vehicle paperwork to the Mexican government. It's kind of chilly here in El Paso, the weatherman said there was a chance of snow in the Gila last night. I'm not sure we should go there.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tampico
We're in Tampico at Chip and Lucas's apartment. It's kind of nice to not be sharing that tiny pop-up camper with the boys, and Jane is enjoying a full sized kitchen and real laundry facilities. I think she misses doing laundry.
Let's see, our last post was from Tulum, on the caribbean. We stayed one night at Cenote Azul which was a huge sinkhole from a collapsed cave filled with blue water. It was chest deep for probably the whole sinkhole (we didn't swim across the whole thing to find out), but the water was so clean and not salty (a welcome change from the ocean water). We had some European neighbors that arrived at the campsite just after us, and pitched their tent (I'm not kidding,) 10 feet from our camper even though the grassy area by the cenote was huge. I guess their personal boundaries are much smaller than ours. From there we drove to Palenque, another huge Mayan ruin. Very large, with the usual huge pyramid temples, the ones at Palenque are well preserved, especially the tops or roof combs, which are missing from most of the ruins we visited. Also, Palenque had more rooms in and on top of the temples than the other ruins we visited. To tell the truth, Jane and I are about ruined out, but the boys love climbing all the temples and seem very interested, so we went to one more ruin. They certainly are more impressive than we're used to in the Gila.
We spent two nights at the Mayabell, a bar, resaurant, rooms and camping place near the ruins. They were having an employee party the night we arrived, the (amplified) music went until 3 am. If you have a choice, taking the camping spot nearest to the bar just because it's easy to back into is maybe not such a good idea. The guy who seemed to be hacking up a lung next to us was a nice touch too. The Mayabell, and the ruins themselves, were overrun with Europeans and Canadians. It was kind of strange seeing all these white folks, none of whom were speaking English. Even the Canadians were speaking French. We heard howler monkeys which sounded very strange....not monkeylike at all.
After leaving Palenque, we put in a big day of driving to get to the town of Alvarado, on the coast. It was twilight when we got there, and we didn't want to keep driving looking for a place to camp, so we got a motel room. The next day we got to the Emerald Coast of Mexico, just north of Veracruz. When we arrived, we discovered that the alternator was no longer charging the battery on the pickup, so I had to find an auto electric shop in a neighboring town and get the alternator fixed. It was around 4:30 in the afternoon when I found the auto electric guy, and by six I was back on the road, with a new rotor in my alternator. Parts and labor, $35. Try that in the U.S.
The wind blew ferociously all that day, and the next morning the waves on the beach were huge. Anothe norther blowing through. It seems like all we have to do is think about going to the beach and the wind starts howling. The boys don't seem to even notice. The next day (yesterday), we started heading towards Tampico. We bought a really huge sack of oranges for $5 and some big tangerines and drove through the town of Poza Rica where we were immediately pulled over for "running a red light" even though the light we could see wasn't working. The cop tried to tell us to go to the "hacienda" in el centro (the big house downtown) and pay the fine. He'd keep Dean's drivers license, of course. We pretended we didn't speak much Spanish, (well Jane did, I don't have to pretend) and he finally got disgusted with us and waved us on. Not 5 minutes later another cop (all of these guys are on foot) whistled at us to pull over so we pretended to be deaf and blind and sailed right on past him and the other 2 policeman that were spaced down the block....all of whom once they heard the first cop whistle at us started whistling and waving their ticket book for us to pull over. We'd about had it with cops, so we just sailed on by. We hadn't done a thing wrong.....the cops just wanted to buy lunch with the bribe we'd have to pay them.
It's a bit sad to be heading back from our big adventure. We're already thinking of the many unfinished things we left behind in the rush to leave that will be waiting for us back home. But the closer we get to the US, the more Dean complains about the strange Mexican ways.....the lack of toilet seats is a main topic of conversation. Why can they spend big money building things like visitor centers and museums at the ruins, beautifully designed and impressive public buildings, but they can't spring for toilet seats on the toilets? It's a big day when you find a toilet that actually has a toilet seat and it's pretty much a miracle if it has a toilet seat AND toilet paper. Another gripe are the billions of speed bumps we've driven over. Almost 300 one day. Just when you think you're heading out of town, there's always one more. . . and often one more after that. On the other hand, they probably save a lot of pedestrians. There are way more pedestrians, bicyclists, and motor scooters here of course, and seemingly every Mexican except the ones who drive annoyingly slow are 15 minutes late for the most important appointment of their lives, and have to get there RIGHT NOW. The truck and bus drivers are downright scary. If they didn't have speed bumps, no one would be safe from those guys. And lots and lots of military checkpoints. At the last one we had 2 guys climbing in and digging through our camper shell and trailer (the trailer was shut down so he had to crawl on his hands and knees)for over 10 minutes. We of course have wet underwear and t shirts strewn about in the camper shell that we washed that morning. Usually the soldiers take one look in our camper shell and close it,not wanting to even touch anything in it. You always feel kind of nervous even though you're not hiding anything (that's Jane writing, it makes me mad because I see the M-16's and humvees and know that it's my tax dollars at work). But that's just part of the Latin American experience.
We're going to take the boys to the beach today and then celebrate Joe's birthday with Lucas tonight. Jane's been baking cakes and such all morning (when she wasn't doing laundry). Then tomorrow we'll head for the border.
Let's see, our last post was from Tulum, on the caribbean. We stayed one night at Cenote Azul which was a huge sinkhole from a collapsed cave filled with blue water. It was chest deep for probably the whole sinkhole (we didn't swim across the whole thing to find out), but the water was so clean and not salty (a welcome change from the ocean water). We had some European neighbors that arrived at the campsite just after us, and pitched their tent (I'm not kidding,) 10 feet from our camper even though the grassy area by the cenote was huge. I guess their personal boundaries are much smaller than ours. From there we drove to Palenque, another huge Mayan ruin. Very large, with the usual huge pyramid temples, the ones at Palenque are well preserved, especially the tops or roof combs, which are missing from most of the ruins we visited. Also, Palenque had more rooms in and on top of the temples than the other ruins we visited. To tell the truth, Jane and I are about ruined out, but the boys love climbing all the temples and seem very interested, so we went to one more ruin. They certainly are more impressive than we're used to in the Gila.
We spent two nights at the Mayabell, a bar, resaurant, rooms and camping place near the ruins. They were having an employee party the night we arrived, the (amplified) music went until 3 am. If you have a choice, taking the camping spot nearest to the bar just because it's easy to back into is maybe not such a good idea. The guy who seemed to be hacking up a lung next to us was a nice touch too. The Mayabell, and the ruins themselves, were overrun with Europeans and Canadians. It was kind of strange seeing all these white folks, none of whom were speaking English. Even the Canadians were speaking French. We heard howler monkeys which sounded very strange....not monkeylike at all.
After leaving Palenque, we put in a big day of driving to get to the town of Alvarado, on the coast. It was twilight when we got there, and we didn't want to keep driving looking for a place to camp, so we got a motel room. The next day we got to the Emerald Coast of Mexico, just north of Veracruz. When we arrived, we discovered that the alternator was no longer charging the battery on the pickup, so I had to find an auto electric shop in a neighboring town and get the alternator fixed. It was around 4:30 in the afternoon when I found the auto electric guy, and by six I was back on the road, with a new rotor in my alternator. Parts and labor, $35. Try that in the U.S.
The wind blew ferociously all that day, and the next morning the waves on the beach were huge. Anothe norther blowing through. It seems like all we have to do is think about going to the beach and the wind starts howling. The boys don't seem to even notice. The next day (yesterday), we started heading towards Tampico. We bought a really huge sack of oranges for $5 and some big tangerines and drove through the town of Poza Rica where we were immediately pulled over for "running a red light" even though the light we could see wasn't working. The cop tried to tell us to go to the "hacienda" in el centro (the big house downtown) and pay the fine. He'd keep Dean's drivers license, of course. We pretended we didn't speak much Spanish, (well Jane did, I don't have to pretend) and he finally got disgusted with us and waved us on. Not 5 minutes later another cop (all of these guys are on foot) whistled at us to pull over so we pretended to be deaf and blind and sailed right on past him and the other 2 policeman that were spaced down the block....all of whom once they heard the first cop whistle at us started whistling and waving their ticket book for us to pull over. We'd about had it with cops, so we just sailed on by. We hadn't done a thing wrong.....the cops just wanted to buy lunch with the bribe we'd have to pay them.
It's a bit sad to be heading back from our big adventure. We're already thinking of the many unfinished things we left behind in the rush to leave that will be waiting for us back home. But the closer we get to the US, the more Dean complains about the strange Mexican ways.....the lack of toilet seats is a main topic of conversation. Why can they spend big money building things like visitor centers and museums at the ruins, beautifully designed and impressive public buildings, but they can't spring for toilet seats on the toilets? It's a big day when you find a toilet that actually has a toilet seat and it's pretty much a miracle if it has a toilet seat AND toilet paper. Another gripe are the billions of speed bumps we've driven over. Almost 300 one day. Just when you think you're heading out of town, there's always one more. . . and often one more after that. On the other hand, they probably save a lot of pedestrians. There are way more pedestrians, bicyclists, and motor scooters here of course, and seemingly every Mexican except the ones who drive annoyingly slow are 15 minutes late for the most important appointment of their lives, and have to get there RIGHT NOW. The truck and bus drivers are downright scary. If they didn't have speed bumps, no one would be safe from those guys. And lots and lots of military checkpoints. At the last one we had 2 guys climbing in and digging through our camper shell and trailer (the trailer was shut down so he had to crawl on his hands and knees)for over 10 minutes. We of course have wet underwear and t shirts strewn about in the camper shell that we washed that morning. Usually the soldiers take one look in our camper shell and close it,not wanting to even touch anything in it. You always feel kind of nervous even though you're not hiding anything (that's Jane writing, it makes me mad because I see the M-16's and humvees and know that it's my tax dollars at work). But that's just part of the Latin American experience.
We're going to take the boys to the beach today and then celebrate Joe's birthday with Lucas tonight. Jane's been baking cakes and such all morning (when she wasn't doing laundry). Then tomorrow we'll head for the border.
Friday, February 22, 2008
The Mayan Riviera
I don´t know why we didn´t update the blog or check e-mail during the four days we spent on the beach in Belize. Just too relaxed, I guess.
Now we´re back in Mexico,we´ve been camping on the beach just south of Tulum for the last three days.
We left Copan and made an uneventful crossing back into Guatemala. The guy with the undeveloped hot springs that are for sale wasn´t home, so we didn´t get to see them. Ever since that first crossing into Guatemala all our crossings have been easy, half hour to forty five minute affairs. We drove across Guatemala nearly to the coast and spent the night nearly under the north end of the bridge across the Rio Dulce - on the water, lots of sailboats anchored everywhere. The Rio Duce here is more like a big lake. It´s a well used mooring spot with a navigable channel running to the sea, in Belize the guide who took us snorkeling said in hurricane season he crews on sail boats that are being moved there for safekeeping. Anyway we spent the night there in the parking lot of a place named "Bruno´s," a restaurant/bar/rooms/dockspace sailor hangout kind of place. The boys loved walking the docks and looking at the sailboats. There was a lot of talk about pirates. We were in a very tight spot amongst trees and parked cars in the middle of a small parking lot. A strange but memorable campsite. In the morning Ike and I were walking the docks watching the river come alive - kids going to school, men going to work, all by boat, from (mostly) motor powered fibreglass to one old guy with a bundle of greens paddling an old dugout canoe.
We got an early start and drove north to Tikal. We´ve kind of gyped Guatemala on this trip. It´s been a country we just drove across a couple of times on our way to someplace else. It is a very mountainous country, with lots of people - most of them short, Mayan looking people - walking and bicycling everywhere. Except for the Peten in the north, which is not mountainous and not too heavily popuated. There are little restaurants everywhere. Eating in them is amazingly cheap. Anyway, it´s a great place and I´d like to come back and spend more time someday.
Tikal was spectacular. We climbed to the top of nearly every temple they would let us climb, which was a lot of them. We saw two little red deer, howler monkees, turkeys, gangs of coatamundi and some very colorful birds we con´t know the names of. We got an early (for us) start and spent until mid-afternoon at the ruins, seeing most but not all of them - they´re huge - you could easily spend two days there. But we felt like we´d seen the highlights, and we were bushed from climbing to the tops of all those pyramids. The tallest ones are accessed by climbing incredibly steep stairs made of some dense mahogany like wood that would not have been allowed in a U.S. National Park. You get to the top and look across the jungle to see the tops of other temples poking up above the jungle canopy, just like the pictures in National Geographic.
We had camped the night before on a big lawn just outside the park. After seeing Tikal we packed up the camper in record time and drove to the border with Belize, a little over an hour away We had the easiest border crossing yet, and of course, they speak English in Belize! It was bizarre after weeks of strugglin along in Spanish speaking countries, to be still in a foreign country but able to easily communicate with everyone. The roadsigns are in english, on the radio they´re speaking english, the currency is the dollar, it´s very strange. There´s huge development on the coast. The stores in Belize are better stocked than Guatemala and Honduras, but everything but the orange juice and rum is expensive. Gas is just under five dollars a gallon,and they sell it by the gallon. And fish and produce are sold by the pound. We spent our first night in Belize in an actual RV park just ten miles from the border, where there were actual RV´ers from the US, Canada and Germany. We saw several Europeans in Belize in their little VW or Toyota based euro camper mobiles that they had apparently shipped there. Anyway, Belize is different in many ways from the rest of Latin America, not the least of which is the laid back caribbean vibe.
We didn´t have any plans for Belize, so we went to the beach. Jane had talked to one of the women at the RV park, and she recommended a town called Placencia, at the end of a peninsula in the southern part of the country. We went there, and we liked it so well, and the road in was so washboarded and slow, we stayed for four days, or basically our whole time in Belize.
The town of Placencia is at the end of this little spit of sand with a road down the middle and houses and businesses on each side. On the seaward side there is also a sidewalk that led from where we were camped at "Campin on da Beach" on the north end of town, to the south end which stopped at a little dock and the inlet to the lagoon. The boys and I went out in a little inflatable boat, and Ike caught a fish immediately, Max and Joe soon followed suit. Papa didn´t get a bite. Then Max caught another fish when he and Jane went fishing from shore, so we got our first self-procured fish dinner from the ocean.
We went out in a motor boat with a guide snorkeling one morning, saw live coral, many bizarro and brightly colored fish, lobster (out of season, unfortunately) an island with a lighhouse, the whole caribbean thing. Our guide, a young guy, showed us how to open a coconut with no tools, a feat we have not duplicated. Although we can manage with a machete. We were camped on a real nice beach, the ocean out there all blue and warm, but after four days we moved on.
We drove up to Corazal, in northern Belize and spent one night there, then crossed into Mexico just west of the city of Chetumal. We´d heard good things about Tulum, so we drove three or four hours north to get there, bought some groceries, beer and ice, then headed south on the beach road out of town, paid a dubious fee to get into a "biospere reserve" full of land for sale signs, and found a near perfect campsite on the beach - actually across the soccer field from the beach. Miles of powdery white sand beaches that we had almost to ourselves. Coconuts everywhere, free for the plucking.
Way back in Guatemala, at Lake Atitlan, we told the boys they could buy something to bring home with them. We looked at woven things, Joe bought a carved and painted wooden mask, but I needed something from the hardware store, and when Max and Ike saw the machete display, they decided that was what they wanted to buy. Then later, in Honduras, Joe was feeling left out, so I bought him one too. Now they´re coming in handy, we´ve been drinking coconut water and snacking on the meat every day.
But all good things must come to an end. We spent three days camped there, swimming and taking long beach walks, but too soon we have to leave the ocean and start making our way home. We´re changing money and buying supplies in Tulum this morning, then this afternoon we start across the Yucatan, slowly making our way back to the U.S.
Now we´re back in Mexico,we´ve been camping on the beach just south of Tulum for the last three days.
We left Copan and made an uneventful crossing back into Guatemala. The guy with the undeveloped hot springs that are for sale wasn´t home, so we didn´t get to see them. Ever since that first crossing into Guatemala all our crossings have been easy, half hour to forty five minute affairs. We drove across Guatemala nearly to the coast and spent the night nearly under the north end of the bridge across the Rio Dulce - on the water, lots of sailboats anchored everywhere. The Rio Duce here is more like a big lake. It´s a well used mooring spot with a navigable channel running to the sea, in Belize the guide who took us snorkeling said in hurricane season he crews on sail boats that are being moved there for safekeeping. Anyway we spent the night there in the parking lot of a place named "Bruno´s," a restaurant/bar/rooms/dockspace sailor hangout kind of place. The boys loved walking the docks and looking at the sailboats. There was a lot of talk about pirates. We were in a very tight spot amongst trees and parked cars in the middle of a small parking lot. A strange but memorable campsite. In the morning Ike and I were walking the docks watching the river come alive - kids going to school, men going to work, all by boat, from (mostly) motor powered fibreglass to one old guy with a bundle of greens paddling an old dugout canoe.
We got an early start and drove north to Tikal. We´ve kind of gyped Guatemala on this trip. It´s been a country we just drove across a couple of times on our way to someplace else. It is a very mountainous country, with lots of people - most of them short, Mayan looking people - walking and bicycling everywhere. Except for the Peten in the north, which is not mountainous and not too heavily popuated. There are little restaurants everywhere. Eating in them is amazingly cheap. Anyway, it´s a great place and I´d like to come back and spend more time someday.
Tikal was spectacular. We climbed to the top of nearly every temple they would let us climb, which was a lot of them. We saw two little red deer, howler monkees, turkeys, gangs of coatamundi and some very colorful birds we con´t know the names of. We got an early (for us) start and spent until mid-afternoon at the ruins, seeing most but not all of them - they´re huge - you could easily spend two days there. But we felt like we´d seen the highlights, and we were bushed from climbing to the tops of all those pyramids. The tallest ones are accessed by climbing incredibly steep stairs made of some dense mahogany like wood that would not have been allowed in a U.S. National Park. You get to the top and look across the jungle to see the tops of other temples poking up above the jungle canopy, just like the pictures in National Geographic.
We had camped the night before on a big lawn just outside the park. After seeing Tikal we packed up the camper in record time and drove to the border with Belize, a little over an hour away We had the easiest border crossing yet, and of course, they speak English in Belize! It was bizarre after weeks of strugglin along in Spanish speaking countries, to be still in a foreign country but able to easily communicate with everyone. The roadsigns are in english, on the radio they´re speaking english, the currency is the dollar, it´s very strange. There´s huge development on the coast. The stores in Belize are better stocked than Guatemala and Honduras, but everything but the orange juice and rum is expensive. Gas is just under five dollars a gallon,and they sell it by the gallon. And fish and produce are sold by the pound. We spent our first night in Belize in an actual RV park just ten miles from the border, where there were actual RV´ers from the US, Canada and Germany. We saw several Europeans in Belize in their little VW or Toyota based euro camper mobiles that they had apparently shipped there. Anyway, Belize is different in many ways from the rest of Latin America, not the least of which is the laid back caribbean vibe.
We didn´t have any plans for Belize, so we went to the beach. Jane had talked to one of the women at the RV park, and she recommended a town called Placencia, at the end of a peninsula in the southern part of the country. We went there, and we liked it so well, and the road in was so washboarded and slow, we stayed for four days, or basically our whole time in Belize.
The town of Placencia is at the end of this little spit of sand with a road down the middle and houses and businesses on each side. On the seaward side there is also a sidewalk that led from where we were camped at "Campin on da Beach" on the north end of town, to the south end which stopped at a little dock and the inlet to the lagoon. The boys and I went out in a little inflatable boat, and Ike caught a fish immediately, Max and Joe soon followed suit. Papa didn´t get a bite. Then Max caught another fish when he and Jane went fishing from shore, so we got our first self-procured fish dinner from the ocean.
We went out in a motor boat with a guide snorkeling one morning, saw live coral, many bizarro and brightly colored fish, lobster (out of season, unfortunately) an island with a lighhouse, the whole caribbean thing. Our guide, a young guy, showed us how to open a coconut with no tools, a feat we have not duplicated. Although we can manage with a machete. We were camped on a real nice beach, the ocean out there all blue and warm, but after four days we moved on.
We drove up to Corazal, in northern Belize and spent one night there, then crossed into Mexico just west of the city of Chetumal. We´d heard good things about Tulum, so we drove three or four hours north to get there, bought some groceries, beer and ice, then headed south on the beach road out of town, paid a dubious fee to get into a "biospere reserve" full of land for sale signs, and found a near perfect campsite on the beach - actually across the soccer field from the beach. Miles of powdery white sand beaches that we had almost to ourselves. Coconuts everywhere, free for the plucking.
Way back in Guatemala, at Lake Atitlan, we told the boys they could buy something to bring home with them. We looked at woven things, Joe bought a carved and painted wooden mask, but I needed something from the hardware store, and when Max and Ike saw the machete display, they decided that was what they wanted to buy. Then later, in Honduras, Joe was feeling left out, so I bought him one too. Now they´re coming in handy, we´ve been drinking coconut water and snacking on the meat every day.
But all good things must come to an end. We spent three days camped there, swimming and taking long beach walks, but too soon we have to leave the ocean and start making our way home. We´re changing money and buying supplies in Tulum this morning, then this afternoon we start across the Yucatan, slowly making our way back to the U.S.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Back in Copan February 11
Things went well with the broken trailer, we took the old springs in to the shop, and the next day picked up a new set that bolted right on to the trailer with just a little persuasion necessary. We also got in a little river trip on the Rio Cangrejal, just long enough to justify hauling a raft all the way down here. Then it was back to Tela to pick up my new glasses, and back to the D and D brewery near Lake Yojoa for dinner and a few brews. Bob, the owner of D and D, has a friend in Copan who owns a piece of land in Guatemala with some hot springs on it. Bob urged us to hook up with his friend and go check it out, being hot springs people ourselves. Unfortunately, Bobs friend isn't home today, and I don't think we're going to get to check out the hotsprings.
The night before last we stayed at an old United Fruit Company resort on Lago De Yojoa, very nice grounds with little wooden cottages and a pool. And pine trees. It's such a surprise to see pine trees in the tropics. Yesterday was a stressful day of driving for me, first I had to pay a $25 mordida for not wearing my seat belt, then we had a blowout of one of the rear tires on the truck. We spent last night camping at the same place we stayed when we met Jen and George and the girls here in Copan two weeks ago.
We got word from Loretta that the Gila has had the biggest flood in 25 years. Our place is OK, but I guess some of the neighbors had some damage.
Today we're off to Guatemala, we're heading toward Rio Dulce, in the eastern part of the country. We're still debating whether we want to visit Tikal, which will be a bit of a drive, but everyone says it's possibly the most impressive Mayan ruin.
The night before last we stayed at an old United Fruit Company resort on Lago De Yojoa, very nice grounds with little wooden cottages and a pool. And pine trees. It's such a surprise to see pine trees in the tropics. Yesterday was a stressful day of driving for me, first I had to pay a $25 mordida for not wearing my seat belt, then we had a blowout of one of the rear tires on the truck. We spent last night camping at the same place we stayed when we met Jen and George and the girls here in Copan two weeks ago.
We got word from Loretta that the Gila has had the biggest flood in 25 years. Our place is OK, but I guess some of the neighbors had some damage.
Today we're off to Guatemala, we're heading toward Rio Dulce, in the eastern part of the country. We're still debating whether we want to visit Tikal, which will be a bit of a drive, but everyone says it's possibly the most impressive Mayan ruin.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Busted flat in La Ceiba February 7th
Since our last entry, we spent a couple of nights at the Finca El Eden, a farm, restaurant and hotel owned by a German named Berti. It was near the Pico Bonito National Park. Very nice place, right on a river with some great swimming holes. Then we drove on through pineapple country to La Ceiba, where we found our first American style grocery store in weeks. There we noticed that our trailer was . . . crooked. We drove up a very bumpy road to the Omega river outfitters lodge on the Cangrejal River. On further investigation, we discovered that the leaf springs on one side of the trailer were broken, so this morning I took them off, and took them to the auto suspension guy in La Ceiba, he said he would make some new ones, and we can pick them up tomorrow. I don´t quite believe it will be that easy, but I´m keeping my fingers crossed. There are these jungle companies that do zipline canopy tours over the jungle. It´s a series of cables strung above the trees that you zip down on and end up back where you started. We want to do that, but probably won´t because it costs a lot for 5 people.
We hope to float the river while we´re here, there are some American guides working for the outfitter who have been helpful.
We left the kids alone at the beach, so we´d better go see if they are still there.
We hope to float the river while we´re here, there are some American guides working for the outfitter who have been helpful.
We left the kids alone at the beach, so we´d better go see if they are still there.
Monday, February 4, 2008
still in honduras feb. 4
I just wrote a bunch on the blog, and then the computer lost it somehow.......the computers are in spanish, so I can´t navigate around too well.......so here goes again.....
we´re still in honduras and enjoying it alot. We left the Copan ruins and headed towards Lago de Yojoa....a bit east and north of the ruins, i think. I had read in a guidebook that there was a beer brewing gringo that had a B&B near the lake so we decided to go check it out. When we got there, Bob said he didn´t really have room for us and tried to send us on our way down the road. So we just stood there looking pathetic and he finally said maybe we could squeeze into the parking lot if he moved his truck. So, we squeezed. We even had to unhook from the trailer and maneuver it by hand to get it in. We ended up staying 3 nights. Bob had a pool, toucans, and was a really good guitar player. He cut off a wine bottle for me and made a slide so I could learn how to play slide guitar. His beer was really good.....but he ran out due to a delay in his shipment. Dean rode with him when his supplies came in and Bob brewed right when he got home. He brewed 2 - 15 gallon batches. He said his beer would be ready to drink in 5 days. While we were there, we went to a large waterfall where we swam in the river just above the falls. They warned not to get too close to the edge or you´d plummet to your death. We also rented a lancha for half a day and paddled out on the lake and fished (but didn´t catch). The people here are really nice....none of the machismo like in Mexico. And they don´t drive as crazy either. We finally left Bob´s and headed toward the Carribean. We couldn´t find a place to camp, so we ended up camping for 2 nights in a parking lot next to the tourist police....pretty grim. Kind of the low point of camping places. No bathroom...we had to buy licuados (fruit smoothies )just to use the bathroom of a restaurant. We decided to see if we could upgrade,so we went to the Botanical gardens and they said we could camp there for $5. Major improvement. Big grassy fields under palm trees. We swam in the swimming holes of the river and wandered the gardens. We´re now back in Tela shopping for enough food to get us by for a few days, which is no easy task. The boys are always hungry, and the stores don´t reallyhave that much food. You have to go to a bunch of stores and market stalls to get what you need. Dean is off getting haircuts for him and the boys.....I guess they´re getting the flat tops hé´s been talking about for years. I can hardly wait to see Dean in his 30 year old army glasses (he lost his other glasses the day we left and had to bring his old ones), with the weird brown skate shoes he bought and a flat top. I´ll be sure to take lots of pictures for everyone to enjoy...
Well, I guess I´m off to get my flat top......I told Dean that if he got one, I´d get one. I´ll see if I can send this post without losing it. More later.......
we´re still in honduras and enjoying it alot. We left the Copan ruins and headed towards Lago de Yojoa....a bit east and north of the ruins, i think. I had read in a guidebook that there was a beer brewing gringo that had a B&B near the lake so we decided to go check it out. When we got there, Bob said he didn´t really have room for us and tried to send us on our way down the road. So we just stood there looking pathetic and he finally said maybe we could squeeze into the parking lot if he moved his truck. So, we squeezed. We even had to unhook from the trailer and maneuver it by hand to get it in. We ended up staying 3 nights. Bob had a pool, toucans, and was a really good guitar player. He cut off a wine bottle for me and made a slide so I could learn how to play slide guitar. His beer was really good.....but he ran out due to a delay in his shipment. Dean rode with him when his supplies came in and Bob brewed right when he got home. He brewed 2 - 15 gallon batches. He said his beer would be ready to drink in 5 days. While we were there, we went to a large waterfall where we swam in the river just above the falls. They warned not to get too close to the edge or you´d plummet to your death. We also rented a lancha for half a day and paddled out on the lake and fished (but didn´t catch). The people here are really nice....none of the machismo like in Mexico. And they don´t drive as crazy either. We finally left Bob´s and headed toward the Carribean. We couldn´t find a place to camp, so we ended up camping for 2 nights in a parking lot next to the tourist police....pretty grim. Kind of the low point of camping places. No bathroom...we had to buy licuados (fruit smoothies )just to use the bathroom of a restaurant. We decided to see if we could upgrade,so we went to the Botanical gardens and they said we could camp there for $5. Major improvement. Big grassy fields under palm trees. We swam in the swimming holes of the river and wandered the gardens. We´re now back in Tela shopping for enough food to get us by for a few days, which is no easy task. The boys are always hungry, and the stores don´t reallyhave that much food. You have to go to a bunch of stores and market stalls to get what you need. Dean is off getting haircuts for him and the boys.....I guess they´re getting the flat tops hé´s been talking about for years. I can hardly wait to see Dean in his 30 year old army glasses (he lost his other glasses the day we left and had to bring his old ones), with the weird brown skate shoes he bought and a flat top. I´ll be sure to take lots of pictures for everyone to enjoy...
Well, I guess I´m off to get my flat top......I told Dean that if he got one, I´d get one. I´ll see if I can send this post without losing it. More later.......
Sunday, January 27, 2008
On to Honduras
We left Guatemala via a small town called El Florida. Much easier leaving Guatemala than entering. Earlier in the day, we drove through Guatemala City, which was a real white knuckle experience, and we'd probably still be there if not for a good samaritan named Osvaldo who took pity on us when we stopped and asked directions, and actually rode halfway across the city with us to make sure we got on the right highway. We'd spent the night before in a motel in a small city called Chiquimula.
We got to the town of Copan Ruinas, and started looking for my sister Jen and her family. Through the typical comedy of errors, we missed each other several times, then finally hooked up. On Saturday we went to the Copan Ruins together. Very impressive structures and carving. Macaws and Tapirs wandering the grounds. Went out and ate Honduran food a couple of times with Jen and George, with every meal you get fried bananas and heavy cream to dip them in. Jen, George and the girls had to catch a bus at 5:15 this morning, hard to believe that they'll be sleeping in their own beds tonight.
It rained off and on all morning, and Jane and I hadn't really made any Honduras plans beyond Copan, so we're having a lazy day today. Jane did a little school with the boys this morning, then we went for a walk out beyond the ruins, did a little shopping, and now we're heading back to the camper. Tomorrow we'll get up and drive to Lago . . . something, it's got a funny name, and it's the largest natural lake in Honduras. About 125 miles southeast of here. Our guidebook tells us that some zany Oregonian and his Honduran wife have a Hostel/Microbrewery there, so of course we have to check that out. There are some hotsprings outside of Copan that we had hoped to visit today, but they are quite a drive down a dirt road, and with the rain this morning, we decided not to chance it.
Tortilla update: Very thick in Honduras. Sometimes stuffed with beans, meat and cheese and called pupusas. We haven't seen a tortillaria yet, it seems you just have to find the market and get them there. Two tortillas for a lempira. Eighteen lempiras to the dollar.
We're staying in the very nicely landscaped parking area of the Hotel Casa Marias, just on the outskirts of town. Our other option for camping was the Texaco station right next to the ruins, which was somewhat lacking in ambiance, so we're glad to have found the Casa Marias. It's a kind of upscale place, with extensive grounds including coffee bushes and banana trees. No electricity or showers, but still better than the Texaco station.
We got to the town of Copan Ruinas, and started looking for my sister Jen and her family. Through the typical comedy of errors, we missed each other several times, then finally hooked up. On Saturday we went to the Copan Ruins together. Very impressive structures and carving. Macaws and Tapirs wandering the grounds. Went out and ate Honduran food a couple of times with Jen and George, with every meal you get fried bananas and heavy cream to dip them in. Jen, George and the girls had to catch a bus at 5:15 this morning, hard to believe that they'll be sleeping in their own beds tonight.
It rained off and on all morning, and Jane and I hadn't really made any Honduras plans beyond Copan, so we're having a lazy day today. Jane did a little school with the boys this morning, then we went for a walk out beyond the ruins, did a little shopping, and now we're heading back to the camper. Tomorrow we'll get up and drive to Lago . . . something, it's got a funny name, and it's the largest natural lake in Honduras. About 125 miles southeast of here. Our guidebook tells us that some zany Oregonian and his Honduran wife have a Hostel/Microbrewery there, so of course we have to check that out. There are some hotsprings outside of Copan that we had hoped to visit today, but they are quite a drive down a dirt road, and with the rain this morning, we decided not to chance it.
Tortilla update: Very thick in Honduras. Sometimes stuffed with beans, meat and cheese and called pupusas. We haven't seen a tortillaria yet, it seems you just have to find the market and get them there. Two tortillas for a lempira. Eighteen lempiras to the dollar.
We're staying in the very nicely landscaped parking area of the Hotel Casa Marias, just on the outskirts of town. Our other option for camping was the Texaco station right next to the ruins, which was somewhat lacking in ambiance, so we're glad to have found the Casa Marias. It's a kind of upscale place, with extensive grounds including coffee bushes and banana trees. No electricity or showers, but still better than the Texaco station.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Into Guatemala
Our last internet access was at Lago Catemaco, on the east side of Mexico. We woke to some raucous birds, had a leisurely breakfast, did some shopping, and left town around noon. Then, in an afternoon, we drove from (near) the Atlantic to the Pacific, traveling from north to south across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Across the continent in about five hours of driving.
Quite a difference - the Atlantic side is humid and densely populated, while the Pacific coast is drier with more wide open space between towns. Still plenty warm though, we stayed in a motel in a little town just east of Juchitan Saturday night, and used the air conditioner almost all night. Sunday we got up and drove down the coast. There was a huge "zona de windmills" with the tall spindly electricity generating windmills like you see around the U.S. Mid-afternoon we drove out to a little mexican town called Puerto Arista, right on the ocean. There we stayed in a campground under the coconut trees for two nights. Ah, finally a little vacation on our vacation. The wind blew day and night until the morning we left - see note above about wind farms down the road - but the ocean was warm, the beach perfect for sand castles, and the breakers just right for the boys to finally use the boogie boards they got for x-mas.
Thank goodness we had bought a machete earlier in the trip, we were able to open some coconuts. The campground was part of a sizeable grove of coconuts with a few orange and lemon trees as well.
We left Puerto Arista intending to do as we had been advised; go to a small town on the Mexican side of the border, spend the night, and cross first thing in the morning. The one thing we weren't going to do was cross near the Mexican town of Tapachula, a notoriously bad crossing everyone had warned us against. Yet, while driving through Tapachula to reach the highway that would take us south to our destination, somehow, like a moth to a flame, like Bill Clinton to a chubby intern, even though we knew better, we were inexorably drawn into crossing the border here, now, by a fast talking "border crossing facilitator" named Lorenzo, who assured us that the border was only five minutes away and that the crossing would take only a half hour.
Three and a half hours, and a surprisingly large amount of dollars and stress later, the sun was setting, and we were bidding a fond farewell to Lorenzo and his merry band of co-conspirators, and finally crossing into Guatemala. It was a fond farewell because we knew beyond a doubt that we would never return to this place. Any time you want to raise Jane or my blood pressure, and be entertained for half an hour, ask us to tell you the story of our first crossing into Guatemala. Make sure you mention the mis-place passports.
The other thing we were repeatedly warned about was not to drive at night in Guatemala. Fortunately it was still twilight when, after only one wrong turn, we found a Motel with a camping area which Jane had jotted a note about off of the internet. We had the whole campground to ourselves, and the boys really enjoyed the water slide into the swimming pool. Big sigh of relief for Jane and I.
Yesterday we drove to Lake Atitlan, to the town of Panachel, we're camping right on the edge of town, on the grounds of what was once a grand, but now run-down, hotel. This morning, on the way back from the tortilleria, the boys and I walked along the shoreline and saw some fishermen pulling some fish that looked a lot like crappies from their nets. Their boats were short little slab sided canoes, Tiny boats for such a large lake.
Lake Atitlan is as scenic as promised. Ringed by perfect conical volcanic peaks and extremely steep mountainsides. Panachel is definitly a tourist town. Last night we camped next to 20 Germans traveling on a modified Greyhound style bus with seats in front and a canvas slideout dorm room in back. More gringo faces in this town than we've seen since we left Texas. But to us it is still totally exotic, because it's Guatemala! We don't even know how to buy tortillas here! (More on this problem later).
We're doing a layover day here in Panachel, then tomorrow we're off to (shudder) drive through Guatemala City on our way to meeting Jen and George and Sarah and Meredith in Honduras.
Quite a difference - the Atlantic side is humid and densely populated, while the Pacific coast is drier with more wide open space between towns. Still plenty warm though, we stayed in a motel in a little town just east of Juchitan Saturday night, and used the air conditioner almost all night. Sunday we got up and drove down the coast. There was a huge "zona de windmills" with the tall spindly electricity generating windmills like you see around the U.S. Mid-afternoon we drove out to a little mexican town called Puerto Arista, right on the ocean. There we stayed in a campground under the coconut trees for two nights. Ah, finally a little vacation on our vacation. The wind blew day and night until the morning we left - see note above about wind farms down the road - but the ocean was warm, the beach perfect for sand castles, and the breakers just right for the boys to finally use the boogie boards they got for x-mas.
Thank goodness we had bought a machete earlier in the trip, we were able to open some coconuts. The campground was part of a sizeable grove of coconuts with a few orange and lemon trees as well.
We left Puerto Arista intending to do as we had been advised; go to a small town on the Mexican side of the border, spend the night, and cross first thing in the morning. The one thing we weren't going to do was cross near the Mexican town of Tapachula, a notoriously bad crossing everyone had warned us against. Yet, while driving through Tapachula to reach the highway that would take us south to our destination, somehow, like a moth to a flame, like Bill Clinton to a chubby intern, even though we knew better, we were inexorably drawn into crossing the border here, now, by a fast talking "border crossing facilitator" named Lorenzo, who assured us that the border was only five minutes away and that the crossing would take only a half hour.
Three and a half hours, and a surprisingly large amount of dollars and stress later, the sun was setting, and we were bidding a fond farewell to Lorenzo and his merry band of co-conspirators, and finally crossing into Guatemala. It was a fond farewell because we knew beyond a doubt that we would never return to this place. Any time you want to raise Jane or my blood pressure, and be entertained for half an hour, ask us to tell you the story of our first crossing into Guatemala. Make sure you mention the mis-place passports.
The other thing we were repeatedly warned about was not to drive at night in Guatemala. Fortunately it was still twilight when, after only one wrong turn, we found a Motel with a camping area which Jane had jotted a note about off of the internet. We had the whole campground to ourselves, and the boys really enjoyed the water slide into the swimming pool. Big sigh of relief for Jane and I.
Yesterday we drove to Lake Atitlan, to the town of Panachel, we're camping right on the edge of town, on the grounds of what was once a grand, but now run-down, hotel. This morning, on the way back from the tortilleria, the boys and I walked along the shoreline and saw some fishermen pulling some fish that looked a lot like crappies from their nets. Their boats were short little slab sided canoes, Tiny boats for such a large lake.
Lake Atitlan is as scenic as promised. Ringed by perfect conical volcanic peaks and extremely steep mountainsides. Panachel is definitly a tourist town. Last night we camped next to 20 Germans traveling on a modified Greyhound style bus with seats in front and a canvas slideout dorm room in back. More gringo faces in this town than we've seen since we left Texas. But to us it is still totally exotic, because it's Guatemala! We don't even know how to buy tortillas here! (More on this problem later).
We're doing a layover day here in Panachel, then tomorrow we're off to (shudder) drive through Guatemala City on our way to meeting Jen and George and Sarah and Meredith in Honduras.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Lake Catemaco
A lot has happened since our last post. We went to the El Tajin ruin South of TAmpico, near Poza Rica. Quite spectacular compared to the ruins we have in the Gila. Pyramids, ball courts, fancy stonework, all that Mayan jazz. We spent the night there, then drove to a little town called Xico just outside Jalapa. We´d had a guest at the lodge who owned land and had friends there, so we had someone to get inside info from. Spent a foggy night driving around the quaint cobblestone streets of the town looking for gringo´s and a place to park the trailer. Finally ended up at la cascada (the waterfall) outside town. Very lush cloud forest kind of place. Met up with the locals yesterday morning, got some travel tips and made it into Lake Catemaco (south of Veracruz) last night. Slept next to the Lake and woke up to some very noisy birds at daybreak. We´re doing a little shopping, then we´ll hit the road again, probably heading across to the Pacific coast. Today we´ve been on the road for a week, and it seems like all we do is drive, but we´ve slowed down a bit. We don´t have to meet Jen and family now until the 25th or 26th, so the pressure is off a bit. More later.
Dean
Dean
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Tampico
I noticed that Dean forgot to mention our first mishap after crossing the border....we of course took the wrong road and saw the road we wanted off to the left, so he quickly veered to the left on a little street heading that way. It turns out it was a one way ramp onto the road we were on and we proceeded to block traffic for the next few minutes while no one would let us out onto the main road. Finally some policeman stopped traffic and flagged us out and we took off. A bit later, they pulled us over and told us to go to the police station and that we would have to pay lots of money because we were going the wrong way and we didn't stop when they tried to pull us over. After a few minutes of talking it out, it was obvious they wanted a bribe. So, $50 later, we were on our way. Bribes are alive and well in Mexico. Next time I'm going to hold out for $20. We're still in Tampico, getting ready to start heading toward Jalapa. We're going to try and hook up with some friends of a guest that live down there. The boys are complaining about another day of driving, but we need to make some time if we're going to be all the way down in Honduras in 10 days.
I haven't heard from anyone from my family....are you out there? Could someone make sure mom and dad have the blog address? If we can ever figure out how to work our own computer (this is Chip's), we'll try to send photos too. When we actually start taking photos, that is.
Jane
Aah yes, la mordida (the bite) an old Mexican tradition. $50 seemed excessive, but on the other hand, we had actually broken the law, and I didn't have to even get out of the car - just hand over the $ and we were on our way. The funny part to me is that we had only been in the country for ten minutes and already we were in trouble with the law.
The kids aren't the only ones complaining about another day of driving. Chip said Tampico is about 1200 miles from Silver City, and it looks like it's roughly half way to Honduras. So what that means is that we still have many days of driving too go. . . And we have to find a bank and change some money this morning, so we better get going.
Dean
I haven't heard from anyone from my family....are you out there? Could someone make sure mom and dad have the blog address? If we can ever figure out how to work our own computer (this is Chip's), we'll try to send photos too. When we actually start taking photos, that is.
Jane
Aah yes, la mordida (the bite) an old Mexican tradition. $50 seemed excessive, but on the other hand, we had actually broken the law, and I didn't have to even get out of the car - just hand over the $ and we were on our way. The funny part to me is that we had only been in the country for ten minutes and already we were in trouble with the law.
The kids aren't the only ones complaining about another day of driving. Chip said Tampico is about 1200 miles from Silver City, and it looks like it's roughly half way to Honduras. So what that means is that we still have many days of driving too go. . . And we have to find a bank and change some money this morning, so we better get going.
Dean
Monday, January 14, 2008
Tampico Mexico
Oh my, it takes a long time to drive across Texas. We got the traditional crack of noon start from Silver City, made it to Van Horn Texas the first night, then to Eagle Pass (near Laredo) the second night. Sunday afternoon we crossed into Mexico and did all our paperwork with the Mexican Government, then crossed back to the U.S. and spent the night. Got an early start (for us) this morning, crossed over and drove to Tampico, on the Gulf Coast.
Chip, our friend from Silver City, and his son Lucas are living in a very swank apartment in a quiet part of town. We went out to dinner, then to the beach where the boys and Lucas went wading in the dark, then to DQ and back to Chip & Lucas's apartment. Sorry we haven't been keeping in touch very well, we haven't had time to do much but drive and sleep. Which is what I'm going to do right now. Sleep, I mean.
Chip, our friend from Silver City, and his son Lucas are living in a very swank apartment in a quiet part of town. We went out to dinner, then to the beach where the boys and Lucas went wading in the dark, then to DQ and back to Chip & Lucas's apartment. Sorry we haven't been keeping in touch very well, we haven't had time to do much but drive and sleep. Which is what I'm going to do right now. Sleep, I mean.
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