An update!

It's been a while since we last wrote and a lot has happened!

After Palenque, we headed to Uxmal, which is another Mayan ruin. It is unique because the pyramids are actually rounded. It is the only ruins site that can boast that. They also put on, what they call, a light and sound show in the runis at night. It was pretty neat to see but the story told was in Spanish, so it was a little hard to follow.

We stayed the next night in a town called Merida. At this point in our journey all the towns look the same! We went and checked out the Centro and them came back to our campsite for the night. The next morning we were on our way to Chichen Itza. They were the ruins that we were most looking forward to seeing. They were awesome! You can no longer climb all over the structures but there is so much to see there. Chichen Itza has the largest Ball Court in the Mayan culture. The Ball Court is where they would play games to deturmine who would be sacrificed, obviously not a game you would want to lose.

Finally, we were in the Yukatan! Our next stop was in Playa Del Carmen. It's a beautiful place but not really to our liking. The place we stayed was more like a full time neighborhood. So we only stayed there a couple nights. We did, however, do one of the most fun thigs we have done this whole trip there. It's called Xplore! It was an awesome cave that you could drive ATV's, swim, raft and zip line through. We did them all and had a blast! If you ever get to the area you should definatley do it!

Before we knew it we were in Chetumal which is the farthest you can go in Mexico before Belize. Our chosen campsite was our all time favorite! We stayed there for two weeks, thats how much we liked it. We ran into some old friends from San Blas, made a couple new friends and even met up with some folks who stayed were we did in La Paz. In that time, we decided that it would be most wise if we didn't go into Central America:( We are bummed that we aren't going to see it but confident in our decision as well. It's bitter-sweet. So we left Chetumal yesterday and started our trip back to the States.

There are still a few places to see along the way and we will keep you posted!

The Mayan Culture

The Mayan culture is something. We are surrounded by it everywhere we turn. There must a thousand sites with ruins. We have decided to not and try to see them all. That could take a lifetime. However, we are seeing the really big impressive ones, not to mention all the other really awesome things along the way, mostly waterfalls.



On our way to Palenque we stopped at two such places. The first was Agua Azul. It is an amazing serious of clear blue waterfalls and pools. We enjoyed some hiking and discovered our own private swimming pools. We also had an unbelievable empanada lunch. Made from fresh from scratch right in front us, 4 for less than a buck!



Next stop was Misol-Ha. This waterfall is over 100ft high, amazingly powerful and hard to swim. There was a path that went all the way behind the falls. Water was pouring from everywhere, even right out of the side of the mountain.



We made it to Palenque late at night, ready for some sleep and our big day at the incredible Mayan site. Our campground was less than a 1/2 mile from the museum, so this is where we started. The site is huge, it includes temples, tombs and a palace. Set deep in the jungle with green grass and a small creek running through the middle it must have been an awesome place to call home.



A pit stop in Cempeche and then on to more Mayan sites before once again heading for the coast and the Caribbean Sea!

High in the Mountains

We are once again high in mountains of Mexico in the nice town of San Cristobal de las Casas. It has been great here. It has rained everyday, and we are really enjoying the mountain air and cold nights.

It took us two days to get here, but we saw some great things on the way. We stopped at El Tule, where they claim to have the worlds fattest tree, over 100 ft in circumfance. We took a swim in a beautiful waterfall. Gideon even joined in some cliff jumping with his old man (what a brave dog). Plus we even had the privelage of spending the night in a luxurius gas station parking lot. Jeanette is incredible to put up with my crazy ideas!!

We are at the gateway to the Yucatan. From here we will head to Palenque, the favorite site of most people we have talked to. It is deep in a jungle, supposed to be awesome. Plus a couple more waterfalls to see on the way.

Deep In The Heart Of Mexico

It has been some time since our last blog. Don't fret we still miss everyone. Getting simple amenities like power and water are becoming more and more challenging, not to mention internet.
Since leaving our great spot in Zihuatanejo we have traveled several hundred more miles down the coast. Stopping first in Acapulco. That is one crazy place. We of course headed for the world famous cliff diving show (just like our honeymoon). This time we went all out and enjoyed dinner on the cliff side. We saw a man light himself on fire then dive over a hundred feet in the complete darkness. Really cool!
After leaving there we stopped at a couple of small coastal towns. They were mostly surf towns. Really quiet and laid back, but not we had to keep moving down the line. We decided to head inland and visit the city of Oaxaca. Quite a journey to get here over a huge mountain, 8000 ft plus at a mind blowing speed of 15mph. It took us so long we ended up searching for our destination in the dark, highly recommend not trying that. But we made it and we are once again tucked away in a randomly placed trailer park.
The town huge! We braved another attempt at public transportation by venturing out to the famous Monte Alban ruins. What an amazing site. It is a very large area with many "temples" scattered on a platue. The best we can tell, they were all used for sacarificing. Apparently the Zapotec's were quite friendly. This is the first of many archelogical sites we will see as we head towards the Yucatan.
Until next time, adios.

We love it here!

Xitapa/Zihuatanejo are two towns so close together that they share the same street signs but could not be more different from eachother!

We stayed one night in Xitapa, which is pretty small resort town with little to offer otherwise. The RV park was nice with a big, clean pool and washing machiens (we NEEDED to do laundry...such a process!) but was basically a parking lot. We decided to drive the 10 miles or so to check out Zihautanejo for a night. As soon as we got here we new we wanted to stay for more than one night!

El Manglar is a small RV park that backs right up to a beautiful bay. Awesome swimming here! There is a restaurant with a river to the right of it on the proprety and a small bridge that goes over it and directly to the beach. It's crazy, there are crocodiles in the river...literally 10-15 feet from where we are sitting! This place is just amazing!

Our next destination is Alcolpoco. There is a neat sounding RV park there that we are looking forward to checking out! It has small personal pools at each spot! Although it would have to be pretty awesome to beat this!

Guadalajara

It's been a few days since our last post and not too much has happened other than our day spent in Guadalajara!
We stayed in a very nice RV park (which was really more of a small neighborhood community) just outside of the city, for 3 days. We really liked it there. We spent one day in the heart of Guadalajara exploring some very neat buildings! The city has lots of interesting sites to see, including Talaquepaque.
We journeied there via public transportation and got...a little lost! We had to walk a bit to get where we wanted to be. Not so bad. We really enjoyed seeing all of the historical sites but were not so fond of the HUGE city. It has more that 4 million people! I think we will avoiding large cities from now on. The day ended with a 3 hour (no joke) bus rude back to our RV! It was crazy! We made friends with a sweet older couple and relaxed at our spot the rest of the time.
On our way to Xitapa/Zihuatanejo we stopped at 2 beautiful spots to stay the night. We were right on the water both nights but neither spot offered more that a safe place to spent the night. We were thankful to be safe:)

Slow and Steady

Since touching down on the mainland, it feels like we haven't covered much ground. Especially these last couple of days. After leaving San Blas we only traveled about 45 miles to our next stop. It did however still take us two hours.

We decided to stop at Ricon de Guayabitos. We are not sure why, but we are trying to see as much as we can. I am glad we stopped, I have never witnessed anything like it. It was a Mexican resort town, but it was targeted for Mexicans rather than Gringos. In my ignorance the thought never existed. A beautiful beach, banana boat rides, street vendors, fresh fruit stands, and even a booze cruise. To boot, it was are most expensive night of camping. We are defiantely experiencing it all.

Yesterday we headed for Puerto Vallarta, just another 45 miles. This time nearly three hours. You can't imagine slower traffic or worse roads. P.V. was great. We had a great camping spot almost downtown. I think it was our nicest campsite. It had grass, trees, patios and not a single other person in the entire park. Gideon really loved the freedom. The owner said they don't get much traffic other than about twice a year when RV caravans (about 50 rigs) come through and stay for a month or two. A walk to the melachon, a nice meal, a bucket of beers, and still looking young enough for everyone to call to us by yelling, "hey honeymooners". A nice evening.

After back tracking a bit, we made it Guadalajara. A huge city with apparently relentless rain. Hopefully tomorrow it is decent enough for us to see all this historic city has to offer.