Trip Report for Mexican Tour

Jan-Apr, 2002

Tour Summary:

Introduction: Several of us began talking about two years ago about making a grand tour of mainland Mexico. In 1998, we traveled with a commercial caravan and saw most of the Baja and then traveled with another caravan to spend about three weeks in Mazatlan in Jan-Feb, 1999. Our experiences on these two trips convinced us that we would have no problems traveling through Mexico on our own with a small number of RVs. After much discussion, mostly via email, we set a departure date (early January, 2002), a tentative route (down the east coast, explore the Yucatan, and back up the west coast), and an expected length of time in Mexico (about 3 months, which is about twice the length of time that the commercial caravans take to do a similar route). This would allow us more time to stop and "smell the roses". Most of the people on the commercial caravans had wanted to spend more time at several of our stops.

Planning: We all had to work out what to do about mail and email, and how to keep in touch with friends and family while in Mexico. One of our group had access to a satellite phone and we all thought that would be a nice backup to have along if public phones and cell phones were not available. We learned that we should get shots for hepatitis A & B and pills for malaria. The only vehicle insurance valid in Mexico is issued by Mexican insurance companies and we all had to shop around for appropriate coverage. We had to deal with vehicle registration and drivers licenses which would expire while we were in Mexico. The expected time for leaving Mexico would be about the time we would need to file our income tax returns and so most of us filed for an extension before we left home.

Summary: There were five rigs that met in a campground in Mercedes, TX the second week in January; three were motor homes, each pulling a tow vehicle, one fifth-wheeler, and one travel trailer. There were two people in each rig except for one of the motor homes that had three people. We entered Mexico on January 12 at McAllen, TX and the last of us left Mexico on April 9 at Nogales, AZ, after spending 88 days in Mexico. We drove just a little short of 5,000 miles in Mexico, traveling through 17 Mexican states (Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla, Morelos, Guerrero, Mexico [there is a state of Mexico], Michoacan, Jalisco, Nayarit, Sinaloa, and Sonora). We pretty much followed the coastline down the east side of Mexico and continued along the coast around the Yucatan Peninsula. Just north of Belize, we turned and headed west and then a little south, working our way across the southern part of Mexico. We reached the Pacific coast at San Blas and worked our way up the coast to the Guaymas area, where we headed north for the border.

The Tour Details and Happenings:

Border Crossings:

Everyone does their best to prepare and brace themselves for crossing the border (in both directions). All the writeups attempting to prepare you for the crossings tell you what you must have in the way of documentation and what to expect - then they tell you that the only thing that is certain is that things will change and to just relax and be friendly. If you walk into Mexico, there is no problem at all, unless you don't have 25¢ to get in and another 25¢ to get back. The problem comes with traveling more than 15 miles or so into Mexico and driving (and towing) a vehicle. Each person must then have a visa and each vehicle must have a decal - the decal is to ensure that any vehicle you take into Mexico comes back out of Mexico (you don't sell it in Mexico).

Since we had gotten to our rendezvous campground in Mercedes a few days early, we decided to gather up our paperwork and go down to the border to see if we could get our visas and make sure we had the proper vehicle paperwork for getting our decals. None of it turned out to be a problem and the Mexicans who gave us the visas and decals were very friendly and helpful. We paid $21 each (cash only) for our visas and about $25 each for decals for our motor home and Nissan pickup we were towing (which we could charge on a credit card). We did not have to bring the vehicles down to them to get the decals. It wasn't quite that easy but it should have been. We were not able to get a decal for our motor home that day because they could not locate our motor home in their computer. When we got back to the motor home, we found that our vehicle registration had an incorrect VIN. We went back the next day with paperwork showing the correct VIN and they accepted that and gave us our decal.

While we were getting all of documentation straightened out, we noticed that the steel posts that protected the booths at the Nuevo Progreso entrance into Mexico looked like they might be a little too close together for us to get through. Linda paced it off and when we got back we measured the distance at a little less that 10 feet. Since the distance between our mirrors is 10½ feet, we could not make it through without moving our mirrors. We decided to cross into Mexico at the Pharr International Bridge south of McAllen, which we knew would accommodate big rigs.

The crossing itself the next day was fairly uneventful. We paid $1.50 for each vehicle as we entered Mexico and were then directed to park in a parking lot across the way. We were not sure what else we were supposed to do here that we not already done. After walking over to the entrance station, we learned that they thought we had pulled in to turn in our vehicle decals. It is apparently not uncommon for RVs to miss the stop to turn in their vehicle decals when leaving Mexico and they have to go back into Mexico to one of these stations where they remove your decal. When we explained that we had just put the decals on and were heading south, they waved to us and told us to have a nice trip.

Dynamics of our Touring Group:

The plan was to travel as a group throughout Mexico, with some occasional splitting up with two or three rigs traveling to places of interest for them but not the others. We would then get back together and continue on as a group. In fact, we were only together for 12 days before two of the rigs left to travel at a faster rate than the other three were traveling. We did get back together three more times in the next 45 days. At our last reunion, one of the rigs traveling with us left with the other two rigs and for the last month we were in Mexico, we traveled with one other rig. We did keep in touch via satellite phone and cell phone but neither one of these could be counted on to work each time we wanted to talk. We also communicated via notes that they would leave for us at campgrounds.

Mexican Roads:

The roads in Mexico vary from some of the worst you have driven on to some of the best. The worst roads slow you down to 25-35 kph to keep from shaking everything apart and on the best you can cruise along at about 120 kph. Mexico has a significant road building program in progress to connect all of the major population centers with good, high speed, highways. Most of these roads are toll roads known as cuota roads. Theoretically, you do not have to use a cuota road to get anywhere since there is always a free (libre) road alternative. In most cases this is true and the map will show a winding libre road roughly paralleling the more direct cuota road. The libre road will be longer and slower and will pass through most of the towns and villages in the area through which you are traveling. However, there are libre alternatives that don't take you to where you want to go, or take a very devious and roundabout way of getting there and the cuota is the only real alternative. Although the cuotas are shorter, faster and usually (but not always) in better condition, they can be pretty expensive. For example, we paid about $60, $66, and $75 to drive on three sections of the different cuota roads that were 230-240 miles in length each. Also, if you are in Mexico to see Mexico, you don't see much from the cuotas. It is slower driving through all of the small towns and villages but you get to see more of Mexico and how the people live and play and shop and work and wave.

The typical libre road is 2-lane and narrow with little or no shoulders - the speed limit on most of these roads is usually 80 kph (you may have to travel at 60 kph or less because of road conditions). In almost all towns and villages, the speed limit is 30-40 kph - we found a few where it was 20 kph. However, what determines your speed through a village is not the speed limit but the topes. Topes are speed bumps and each village, no matter how small, has a nice collection of them. Topes range in height from ½ inch to 4 inches and from 1 inch to 2 feet in width. They are extremely successful in keeping the traffic in all the towns and villages down to a crawl with no signal lights or stop signs. Most topes are well marked, usually by two to three signs, as you approach them. There are, however, unmarked topes and the first time you hit one of these you learn to always slow down to a crawl whenever passing through a town of any size. Of course, driving very slowly through a town gives you a great opportunity to see the town and what is going on and wave.

Whether marked or unmarked, there is a way to tell if you are coming to a tope before you can see it. Often, there are people standing in the middle of the road at the topes selling something or collecting money. We saw many different kinds of drinks, watermelon and pineapple slices, coconuts, bananas, tortillas, shrimp, oranges, and other things for sale at the topes. Of course, when something was purchased, everyone behind that vehicle had to wait - this didn't seem to bother anyone. We also had people collecting for church funds, schools, the Red Cross, road improvements, and for themselves. We occasionally saw people in wheelchairs wheeling around to collect from traffic going in both directions.

Often, the typical cuota road is also 2-lane but the lanes are wider and there is a wide shoulder on both sides. Slower traffic is expected to pull over onto the shoulder, maintaining their speed, when overtaken by faster vehicles. The shoulder is wide enough to accommodate normal size cars but not buses or trucks (or motor homes). In this case, the passing vehicle has to use part of the oncoming lane to pass. This works out ok if there is no oncoming traffic or if the oncoming traffic moves over onto their shoulder. This sometimes turns into a game of chicken which we always tried to watch from an acceptable distance. All of the cuotas are not 2-lane highways. Some are 4-lane and around major cities they are usually 4-lane divided highways.

Driving on Mexican Roads:

Mexican drivers are for the most part very aggressive and bus drivers appear to have a death wish. We mentioned going through towns at a crawl speed because of the topes - topes are viewed by Mexican drivers as excellent places to pass the slower traffic. They will race up the oncoming lane until they encounter someone who is obviously not going to slow down and then they pull, or squeeze back, into their lane of travel. We saw very few Mexican drivers who obeyed speed limits or stopped at stop signs. The material we read about driving in Mexico advised us to always obey the speed limit, stop at stop signs, etc., even though Mexican drivers didn't - we always obeyed the traffic signs and never had any problems.

The most used vehicle signaling device in Mexico is the left turn indicator. You have to quickly learn how this indicator is used to drive safely in Mexico. The following are the possible meanings of a flashing left turn indicator on the vehicle in front of you. They are listed in order of use so the first is the most generally accepted use and the last is the least likely application.

1) If the vehicle is not moving, it means that they have stopped for a short period and should be back underway in not more than 5-10 minutes. If you need to continue on your way, you should pull around. This is not always easy to do on a downtown street when the street is only 2 lanes wide. This application is used most often to have a brief talk with someone in another vehicle or on the sidewalk (or in the road). It is also used to do lite shopping, make a delivery, or talk with a passenger about where to turn or where to stop for a longer period. You almost never hear anyone blowing their horn when someone stops in the road and turns on their left blinker because everyone does it. After we learned to use this technique it proved to be quite useful - if we were not sure where we should make a turn in town, we stopped in the road, put on our left turn indicator, and had time to consult a map or discuss the situation instead of missing the turn.

2) If the vehicle is in motion, it means it is ok to pass. There is a nuance of this application which must be leaned quickly to drive safely on the roads in Mexico. Heavily loaded trucks (there aren't any other kinds in Mexico) and farm/ranch pickups drive with their left blinkers on all the time. It doesn't mean that it is ok (clear) to pass just that it is ok with them if you want to pass. If you are approaching a vehicle from the rear and they turn on their left blinker, that almost always means that it is clear for you to pass. We used this signal all the time and the drivers that we signaled almost always waved or tooted their thanks for helping them get around our motor home. Except for the previously mentioned bus drivers and taxis, which we will get to later, most drivers were cautious about passing only when it was clear.

3) Making a left turn. Note that this the least likely use of the left blinker. The recommended way for making a left turn is to pull over to the right, using your left blinker to get the traffic behind you to come around, and then make your left turn when the traffic has cleared.

Another thing we learned about driving in Mexico concerned the signs that warn you of "Dangerous Curve". Almost every curve has a warning sign that said it was dangerous. After we slowed down many times we realized that what made the curve dangerous was not the curve but the fact that someone may be passing on the curve and that's what made it dangerous. Needless to say, we always went around all of the curves very slowly and it paid off in a couple of curves.

This is probably a good place to mention the Green Angels. The Mexican Ministry of Tourism employs a large fleet of green pickups that patrol all major highways, looking for vehicles that have broken down. They carry an assortment of parts and supplies for making minor repairs on the spot or can radio for help or for a wrecker. There is no charge for the service, only for the cost of parts or supplies used. The Green Angels came to the rescue of one of our group when they had a breakdown - they helped them find a mechanic to do the repairs.

We were stopped many, many times at military checkpoints. Almost always, we slowed and came to a stop and then were waved on through. We almost always saw vehicles being checked but they seldom stopped any RVs. Only once were we asked for any identification and only a couple of times did someone actually come in to look around - they seemed to be more interested in looking inside a motor home than anything else. The other stops were at agricultural inspection stations. Three or four of the Mexican states we passed through stopped all vehicles to check for things that might infect the local crops or ranches. They were all looking for many of the same things: pork (cooked or uncooked), poultry (uncooked), raw eggs, and some fruits. Coming back into the U.S., they were looking for these same things and also uncooked potatoes and avocados that had not been pitted. We didn't always know when there would be an inspection and so tried not to have too much pork and chicken with us when we crossed state lines.

Buses and Bus Drivers:

Buses seem to be the primary mode of transportation around Mexico, both inter and intra city, and there are many, many buses. The intercity buses tend to be newer and more comfortable. There are actually two classes of these buses. One, which we think is public transportation, is usually not air conditioned and not as nice as the other lines. The others are nicer, air conditioned, and look like the tour buses you see in the U.S. - the fare is also more expensive. The intra city buses tend to be older and in need of maintenance, inside and out, but they seem to keep moving. Although all buses have the marque that shows the destination, only the long distance buses seem to use it. The buses that run around town paint their stops on the right side of the windshield using white paint, usually listing enough stops to cover the right side of the windshield.

Most of the buses that travel between towns can be flagged down anywhere. The express buses only make limited stops. We have frequently seen people standing on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere waiting for a bus. We mentioned several times that we waved to people as we traveled. After we had been driving for only a few days, we noticed people waving at us and we waved back. We soon learned that our motor home looks very much like the intercity buses and some of the people that waved were actually trying to flag down a bus. When we got close enough to them so that they could see we were not a bus, they would usually smile and then wave back at us. We had so many people wave to us, both as a bus and as a tourist, that we felt like we were in a parade Almost all of the children waved to us and we even saw some moms scold a young child for not waving. We enjoyed waving to everyone.

As for the drivers of the city buses, they are to be watched carefully. Around town they are very aggressive, and probably need to be so, because they are constantly pulling into and out of traffic every few blocks. Everyone, we in particular, were always prepared to yield to a bus pulling out from the curb. This did not cause much of a problem for us in driving through towns but what was a little scary was when buses wanted to race past us and did not appear to have enough lane to do so - we never had any scrapes but thought often that we must have lost a coat of paint.

The drivers of the buses that travel between towns are at least as aggressive. The attitude of most of the other traffic seems to be to watch for the buses and keep out of their way. In our previous description of driving on the cuotas, we discussed how people passed slower traffic on the 2-lane roads with wide shoulders. Except on long grades, where the buses cannot keep up their speed, the buses spend much of their time in the middle of the highway, passing most of the rest of the traffic. We noticed that when the oncoming traffic saw a bus coming towards them, they almost always moved over onto the shoulder to allow the buses to continue up the center of the highway.

Getting Around Town:

We found buses to be the best and easiest way to get around town. We rode buses into town to look through the markets, see what the vendors on the central plaza had for sale, and visit churches and museums. It was easy to catch a bus into the center of town. All we had to do was get on one that had Centro painted on the windshield as one of its destinations. Paying the fare when we got on was easy, we just held out a hand with several one and two peso coins and the driver took what he needed - the fare was usually around 3 to 7 pesos (25¢ to 75¢), depending on the distance into town. The important part of using the bus to get into town is to learn, before you leave, what bus to look for to get back to the campground. We usually got the info from one of the other RVers or the campground manager but occasionally had to watch for the buses coming from town to see how they were labeled. If the bus you want does not stop, it usually means you are standing on the wrong corner (we had people point out the correct corner when they saw which bus we were trying to catch).

When it was more convenient, or we needed to get to a place where a direct bus ride (not having to do transfers) was not possible, we used a taxi. If we had four people, it was not too much more expensive to take a taxi than a bus. Most of the taxis were of the compact variety and getting four people in with the driver tended to be cozy. We learned early on that everything is negotiable and this included taxi fare. We asked about the fare before we got in and, if we thought it was too much, we would make a counter offer. Frequently it was accepted but some times the driver stuck with his original quote and we had to decide whether to accept or look for another taxi. Riding in a taxi was usually quite an experience. Apparently taxi drivers are not bound by road signs or traffic laws. We watched while our driver only slowed down a little when coming to a stop sign and forced the cross traffic, who had the right of way, to slow down or stop to let us pass. Not all rides were this way but there were enough to make us a little apprehensive about taking a taxi, especially through a larger town. The taxi fares usually ran from $2.25 to $4.50 for most of out trips around town. One annoying trait of the taxi drivers, when we were driving our own vehicles around towns, was for them to blow their horns for us to start moving when the light was red. We learned that they watch the light for the cross traffic and when it changes red they start out even though their light was still red.

For convenience, the best way to get around town was to drive our own towed or towing vehicle. This is what we did most of the time because we were shopping or just looking around town. In driving around, we quickly learned some things but other things took a little more time. We were warned about the traffic lights, those that were working. Just because you passed two lights that were strung over the road doesn't mean that the next one would not be on a post on the sidewalk. The navigator was always on the alert for the next traffic light. Smaller towns and villages seldom had signal lights or ones that were working. Many of these towns and villages had some 2-way streets that went through town in both directions and the rest were 1-way streets. Most of the streets were only wide enough for two small vehicles and so if anyone was parked on the street there was only room for one vehicle. There were almost no road signs in these small towns and we probably drove the wrong way up several 1-way streets before we noticed the small hand-painted arrows on the buildings at each intersection. Most were black but some were red. We figured that the red arrows indicated the streets had the right-of-way and the black streets had to yield. We didn't find anyone to confirm this analysis but the traffic seemed to bear it out. Whatever the rules were, we stopped or slowed down to check for traffic at every intersection. It was slow getting around but we didn't have any problems and the local traffic didn't seem to mind. Of course, all this was subject to the universal rule of intersections: if you acknowledge the existence of another driver, they have the right of way - it is a lot like driving in Boston.

Campgrounds and Camping:

Campgrounds (CGs) in Mexico (most are called Trailer Parks) are seldom up to the standards people expect in the U.S. This was not a big surprise to anyone unless they had not read anything about camping in Mexico. On this trip we stayed at two CGs that were as nice as any in the U.S.. Both had 30 and 50 amp hookups with sewer and water hookups at each site. A typical CG in Mexico would have 15-20 campsites with access to a 20 amp duplex outlet. Water and a dump station are usually available but not at each site. Many outlets are not grounded and many have reversed polarity (the hot and neutral lines are switched). Some CGs are not accessible to big rigs (RVs that are longer that 32') and many CGs have narrow entrances and overhanging limbs which require careful maneuvering into and around the CG. We carry a bow saw and lopping shears with us and use them regularly to trim limbs in CGs to make a campsite accessible. At some CGs the power was not usable because the voltage was too low; but, surprisingly, many CGs had high voltage (voltage higher than 132 volts). If there had been rain recently, we always checked the ground before going in to make sure we would not get mired in the mud. Although most CGs had some hookups or facilities, some provided simply a place to park. The rates we paid varied from about $5 to $25 per night. In general, the more you paid the more there was available in the way of hookups and facilities. But, that was not always the case. We saw some places that wanted over $20 for a place to park with no hookups and others where we had nice accommodations for about $10.

We need to say a few words about the electrical hookups we frequently encountered and how we dealt with them. When the voltage was low, there was not much we could do except try the power early in the morning or late at night, when other rigs may not have been using much power. If we could measure at least 105 volts, we could operate some things. Everyone carried and used a voltage measuring device. If the voltage was too high, we used a string of small extension cords to drop the voltage - this usually worked very well. Of course, in either of these conditions, we were not trying to run high power devices like air conditioners or microwaves, just computers, fans, and other low power 120 VAC devices. To deal with no ground and reversed polarity (which we checked for before plugging into any outlet), we had an ungrounded (two prong) adaptor plug with a grounding wire and small battery clamp attached to it. If there was no ground, we clamped it to any convenient pipe, metal post, etc. If the polarity was reversed, we simply removed the plug, turned it over, and plugged it back in - problem solved.

We stayed in CGs when they were available but also stayed on the beach, in sports fields, in parking lots at ruins, at fairgrounds parking lots, and on the lawn at a restaurant. Most of the places we stayed outside of CGs were listed in the various Mexican camping publications we had assembled. They were listed as alternate camping/parking sites that had been used previously by others. In addition to the power usually available at CGs, there were other advantages in parking where others were parked. We sometimes got a chance to talk with others who had just come from where we were headed or who had spent time in the area. Talking with others traveling through Mexico was a great source of information about what to see and do, where to go (and not go), where to camp, and where to shop. We met a surprising number of people who were traveling alone (a single RV) and many people who have been coming to Mexico for the winter for years and years. Traveling alone is not exactly what it sounds like. Even in our group, we were frequently traveling by ourselves for extended periods, only meeting up at our destination. This could be due to getting separated when going through a town or having someone take the quota road while others took the libre road. We met more people from Canada than from the U.S.

In addition to people like us wandering around Mexico, there were the commercial caravans and there were quite a few of them. In the beginning of our trip, we tried to keep track of all the caravans who would be in our vicinity as we traveled. This was to help assure that we would be able to get into a CG when we stopped for that day of travel. Knowing the size of the caravan (which we could only learn when we ran into them), their schedule, and the number of sites at the CG would help us determine whether we should move on or wait a day or two for the caravan to clear out of the area. We did change our schedule several times for this reason and did arrive at a CG that we could not get into because there were two caravans there - we negotiated a place to boondock in a parking lot until the next day when one of the caravans was leaving. Later on in the tour, this was not a problem because most of the caravans were moving faster than us and were on their way out of Mexico.

Shopping:

As we had read before we entered Mexico, and confirmed as we traveled, there is no need to stock up on food before entering Mexico. You can find just about everything you need and a lot of things you can't find in most of the stores in the U.S. (you have never seen as many different kinds of peppers as in the markets in Mexico). In fact the only thing we looked for but could not find were cans of green chilies! All of the major urban centers have large modern stores. These include Wal-Mart Supercenter, Costco, Sam's Club, Soriana, Carrefour, Liverpool, San Francisco, Ley, and Gigante. These stores are all very similar and we passed through areas where we could find them, usually more than one to choose from, every week to ten days. This is where we could resupply our staples such as steak, chicken, pork chops, wine, and margarita ingredients (more on that later).

There are some things that you have to learn to accommodate. The eggs you buy are not refrigerated; they are just stacked out in the aisles. The explanation was that the eggs that are sold in Mexican markets are fresh, and fresh eggs will keep for weeks without refrigeration. The eggs we buy in the U.S. are not that fresh and require refrigeration. We bought and cooked them and thought they were very good. Another surprise was that the chickens in some areas were yellow (the skin, not the feathers). This was because the chickens were fed marigolds. The chickens we grilled were very tasty. Something we all got used to and hated to leave behind when we left Mexico was the fresh rolls. The major markets had machines that were fed a dough mixture and produced fresh rolls about the size of a small sub roll. We picked them out of bins they were dropped into and they were frequently still hot when we bagged them. The bags were pre-priced for 8 or 16 rolls and cost about 7¢ each. They quickly became a staple of our evening meals.

Water is not something most people think of shopping for, but it is in Mexico. This was a major change from our previous trips. As recently as three years ago, we filled our fresh water motor home tank, treated it with Clorox (½ tsp/10 gal.), and used the water for drinking, cooking, showers, and everything else where water was required in the motor home (and had no problems traveling through Mexico). We did the same thing on this trip except we purchased the water we used for drinking and cooking. Now, in even the smallest villages, there are shops that sell 20 liter bottles of purified water. We bought a hand pump in Wal-Mart that fit these bottles and kept one in the motor home for drinking and cooking. Exchanging or refilling the bottle costs about $1.50. It is not just the tourists that are using these bottles but many Mexicans (maybe they all do now but we never talked with anyone who knew or would even guess).

Archeological Sites/Ruins:

High on the list of things to do while touring Mexico was to visit the archeological sites. Like many other things in Mexico, you need to learn how the sites operate. There is an entrance fee charged, unless you go on Sunday when everyone gets in free. You should avoid visiting ruins on Monday - they will be open but if there is a museum or restaurant it will be closed. The entrance fee is the same whether the museum is open or not. The museums are usually interesting, informative, and well done. Still cameras are no problem to take into the site but if you want to use a video camera there is an additional fee, usually about $4. If you are going to one of the popular sites like Chichen Itza or Tulum, you should get there when they open to avoid the crowds when the tour buses begin arriving. At the more poplar sites, guides are available. An English speaking guide runs about $45.00 but you can get around pretty well if you buy a guide book for the site. The information signs and displays are usually in Spanish and English.

Most of the sites/ruins we visited were built by the Maya. The Maya ruins we visited were Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, Xlapak, Dzibilchaltun, Chichen Itza, San Gervasio, Tulum, and Palenque. The sites were all the same and all different. There are some structures that are similar from site to site but there are others at each site that are so unique that you could easily identify the specific site from a photograph of the structure. Something common to all of the ruins is that they are all more extensive, sometimes much more extensive, than the restored areas open to the public. There are thousands of ruins scattered around the Yucatan Peninsula, most of which are still hidden by the jungle. At the major sites, the restoration work is still in progress. We talked with people who were touring a ruin again after having visited it 10 years ago and they pointed out the newly uncovered/restored buildings. When we knew that part of a building was original and part rebuilt, it was difficult to tell exactly which was which. Of course, the people who are doing the reconstruction work are the ancestors of the people who originally built the structures.

In all of the reconstructions we saw, with one exception, none of the structures, carvings, friezes, etc. had color. However, the descriptions of the structures and their decorations, detail the bright colors that were used. The exception we saw was a carving in a building under reconstruction at Palenque - it was brightly colored and really beautiful. We don't know if there are plans to return color to the sites but if they do they would be really spectacular. The Mayan use of bright colors on buildings was not lost with the decline of the Mayan civilization. Many of the descendants of the Maya live in brightly colored houses.

The Maya were very advanced in mathematics and astronomy. This knowledge was used in the construction and orientation of the structures they built. A pyramid had combinations of steps and platforms that added up to 365, the number of days in their year. Another structure had 18 terraces, which is the number of months in their year. A building had 52 panels, which is the number of years in the Maya calendrical cycle. Building orientations demonstrated knowledge of the equinoxes and solar and lunar eclipses. The Maya developed the concept of zero and a base 20 number system. In addition to the civil calendar, there was a religious calendar with a different number of days and months. For some still unknown reason, both of the calendars began counting days from the year 3313 B.C.

The Maya civilization began more than 2000 years ago and reached its zenith between 300 and 900 A.D. There are many theories as to why the sites were abandoned but no one theory is broadly accepted. Perhaps it is as some have said, that it was a combination of factors. We would certainly agree that what some call the "Big 4" are the Maya ruins not to be missed - these are Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Tulum, and Palenque.

Since most of the sites are spread out over a large area, you do a lot of walking if you see all of the structures. At most of the sites, tourists are permitted to go into and climb up some of the structures. The rest are roped off. You can climb most of the pyramids and it is really good exercise - the steps are typically 14-16" high and go up at a very steep angle. There are warnings of how strenuous the climb can be and those prone to vertigo or fearful of heights are encouraged not to attempt it. Although climbing up is arduous, getting down can be frightening. It is not unusual to see people going down backwards on their hands and knees. It was always worth the climb up for the views you had from the top. Some of the pyramids had steps that were also very narrow and the only way to comfortably climb up and down was by walking back and forth diagonally across the steps to get up and down.

The names of many of the buildings seldom had anything to do with the purpose of the building. The Nunnery was so named because the Spaniards thought it looked like a convent; the Temple of the Jaguars so named because it had panels depicting jaguars. The purpose of many of the buildings is still unknown. One thing common to all Maya ruins is the ball court. Some have more than one; some are more restored than others; some are large and some are small. The object seems to have been for two teams of players to maneuver a heavy rubber ball through one of two small stone rings without using their hands. The ball courts we saw that had the stone rings still there (or restored), had them at mid-field (50 yard line) but over on each edge of the field and about 8-15' from the ground. We thought it would be very difficult for anyone to get the ball through the hole even using their hands. There is not agreement as to whether there were sacrifices made after the game or whether it was the winning or losing team leader that was sacrificed.

As impressive as these structures are, the Maya built something else just as impressive. The major ceremonial centers were connected with sacred roads called sacbes. These wide elevated roads, made of crushed limestone, were perfectly straight. It is hard to imagine how this was done through the almost impenetrable jungle, with no natural elevated advantage points. The sacbe from Coba to Chichen Itza is about 90 km long. Coba has only a few structures that have been restored and it is thought to be one of the more important Maya ceremonial centers. For perspective, Chichen Itza has about 30 of several hundred structures that have been restored, covering an area of about 4 square miles. Coba is estimated to have about 15,000 structures, covering about 80 square miles.

We did visit ruins that were not constructed by the Maya. The El Tajin Ruins, covering about 4 square miles, is believed to have been constructed by the Totonacs and is located northeast of Mexico City not far from the Gulf of Mexico. The Monte Alban Ruins are on the top of a mountain. It was leveled off by the Zapotecs to build an extensive complex of structures. They are just outside Oaxaca, which is east of Acapulco, about in the middle of that part of Mexico. Monte Alban was at its height at about the beginning of the Mayan period and El Tajin was at its peak towards the end of the Mayan period. We could see that the structures were different from each other and from the Mayan style. The Monte Alban ruins were really spectacular, being on the top of a mountain.

The other notable artifacts we saw were most of what is left of the Olmec civilization. The Olmecs are understood to be Mexico's first advanced civilization. They developed in an area about 80 miles to the west of Villahermosa. Many of the stone heads and carvings they left behind were moved to La Venta Park in Villahermosa when the area was threatened by oil exploration. Some of the stone heads weigh as much as 30 tons. What made these carved heads even more amazing was that the stone was not native to the Olmac ceremonial area where they were found. It had to be moved from some distance and then carved (or carved and then moved). The Olmacs first appeared around 3200 B.C., but attained their greatest prominence from about 1000 to 400 B.C.. The civilizations that followed in Mexico are thought to have descended from them.

Birding:

One of the couples in our group have been birding for years. Their primary reason for going on this tour was to visit many of the good birding areas in Mexico. They had gotten us interested in birding before the trip, when we had camped and traveled together from time to time. After just a few days in Mexico, we got into a routine of joining them early each morning, coffee cup in hand and binoculars around the neck. This ritual was also practiced in the evenings, without the coffee. Whenever we were near any of the birding areas identified in their Mexican birding book, we would plan a day trip there. We also took advantage of other birding opportunities; we went on three boat cruises and drove a jeep around the island of Cozumel. On one of these cruises, we had as a guide a person who is a recognized expert on the birds in that area of Mexico. Willie was acknowledged as such in one of the birding books our friends carried with them. We added 193 new birds to our birding life list while touring Mexico. We don't know exactly how many new birds our friends added on this trip (they had, on previous trips into Mexico, seen some of the birds that were new to us) but they did pass 500 on their birding life list. We were with them for pretty much our entire trip through Mexico and we exited Mexico together.

Medical Care and Pharmacies:

Although there was the occasional cough, headache, and bout of diarrhea, we only had one case that could have developed into something really serious. One of the members of our group developed shingles, and how that was handled will give you some idea of getting medical care in Mexico. While in a CG in Cholula, a small suburb of Puebla, the wife of one of our couples developed a painful rash on her back. After some reading and discussion, it was thought to be shingles. They inquired at the CG office about where they might go to find an English speaking doctor. After a few phone calls by the manager, they were instructed to go back to their RV and the doctor would be there shortly. It wasn't 15 minutes or so later when a doctor, complete with white coat and medical bag arrived. He took her into their RV with a neighbor woman who acted as the English-Spanish translator. They emerged about 30 minutes later, the doctor confirming that it was shingles and writing out two prescriptions for her. His fee for the "house call" was less than $25.00!! When we inquired about where the prescriptions could be filled, another phone call was made and someone rode up on a motor scooter about 20 minutes later with the medicine. We discussed later, while enjoying a margarita outside, how likely it would be to get this kind of medical attention in a CG in the U.S.

We also had an encounter with "folk medicine". The neighbor who served as translator came to our motor home just a few hours after the doctor's visit. She started out by telling us that she didn't trust any doctor and thought they were all quacks. She told us she was 79 (she looked 55) and was in great shape because she took care of and treated herself. She exercised two hours every day and treated every ailment, both internal and external, with baking soda. She actually looked through our cabinet to find a box to emphasize that this was what should be used to treat shingles or anything else that ailed you. The last part of her daily health regimen was to have one or two shots of tequila, only the white kind. She went on to tell us that some days she might have three or four and sometimes even five or six. She entertained us for about an hour and then said goodbye. After that evening, if anyone was feeling a little poorly we would ask if they used their baking soda and had the appropriate amount of tequila.

The smallest of villages that we passed through had at least one pharmacy. Many prescription drugs (in the U.S.) are sold across the counter in Mexico. We found that there can be differences in price and it paid to shop around. Some of the pharmacies had doctors associated with them (or they were owned by the doctor) and you could get a consultation with the doctor about what he would recommend for your symptoms. Several of us developed a low grade fever from some unknown source and were able to successfully treat it with Cipro tablets we could buy across the counter for about half of what we would pay in the U.S.

We met people who were in Mexico to have dental work done. We were told that the dental work is of high quality and is done at a significantly reduced rate when compared to the prices in the U.S. One woman had driven her small Class C motor home, by herself, from California to Merida, on the northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula. She told us she was going to have her dental work done here for $2500 instead of the $6000 she said it would cost in the U.S.

A Typical Evening:

Our days might be spent visiting a ruin, driving around town or in the country, shopping, doing some maintenance on our rig, taking photos, writing, birding, visiting, or just relaxing, but we developed a ritual for the late afternoon. Around 4 to 5 pm, we would gather at one of the rigs and enjoy a pitcher or two of margaritas. We would talk about our day, if we had not been together, talk about supper plans, and the plans for tomorrow. For supper we might decide to eat together and if so decide who was going to fix what and when and where we would eat. We might decide to eat in our own rigs that night or might decide to go out to eat, in which case we would need to decide where and when and how we would get there.

When we first entered Mexico, we were using a recipe to fix the margaritas which used frozen limeade concentrate. When we ran out, we discovered to our horror, another item that we could not find in the Mexican markets. We worked hard on developing a recipe using ingredients that we could buy in Mexico. We succeeded and produced what was agreed by all to be a killer recipe, which we used for the remainder of our Mexican Tour. Everyone had a blender and so the honors of fixing the margaritas rotated each day.

Miscellaneous Details:

Our experiences with the police in Mexico were all positive, sort of. Our first experience occurred our first day in Mexico. We had missed a turn in Ciudad Victoria on our way to the CG and found ourselves in the downtown area with a lot of traffic and narrow streets. At a stoplight, a police car pulled up beside us and said "Trailer Park?". We said yes and he motioned for us to follow him. When we got a little separated by traffic, he turned on his red and blue flashing lights so we could more easily follow him. He led us right to the entrance and waved to us as he drove off. In another incident, we were driving through a town on our way to camp near the beach when several policemen stopped us from proceeding straight ahead. They were very insistent that we turn at that intersection, where they had stopped all the traffic so that we could make the turn there. We discovered after we had driven a few blocks and came to the entrance to the fairgrounds, that they mistook us for a commercial caravan that was to spend the night there. It just happened that we were about 15 minutes ahead of the caravan in getting into town. In fact we had to wait for them to all get into the fairgrounds before we could continue on our way. One final example. We were passing through a small town and it happened to be market day there. To get through town we had to go around the crowded central square and make a right hand turn to proceed out of town. Unfortunately, there was no way we could make the turn without using the entire street. A policeman at the square saw the problem and stopped the traffic coming towards the square about a block away. This gave us the whole road to use and we waved to him as we made the turn and continued on our way.

Something we used even before we entered Mexico and continued to use throughout our trip was a hand-held Spanish-English/English-Spanish electronic translator. We used it for interpreting signs, talking with people, shopping, and entertaining kids. It was an invaluable aid in our travels through Mexico.

The bad news about fuel is that is that it is more expensive in Mexico: ~ $2.00/gal for diesel and ~ $2.35 for regular gas. The good news is that the price is the same at every Pemex station and so you can pull into any station that is convenient for fuel without shopping around for the best price..

We took a lot of photos with our digital camera. Even with two 64MB and one 128MB FlashCards, it was nice to have a computer along to copy the photos to CDs so we could recycle the FlashCards.

There are places where tipping is common or expected in Mexico that are quite different from the U.S. The bag boys in stores and markets work for tips. At most parking areas in shopping centers, you are frequently "helped" by someone with a whistle to pull into a parking place and to back out of it and they do this for a tip. At the Pemex stations, the fuel is always pumped by an attendant and it is customary to tip them. The tipping we observed being done by Mexicans was 2-3 pesos, 20-30¢.

Whenever you park in a public place, you are frequently asked if you want your vehicle washed while you shop or sightsee. The charge is ~ $4.00 and they wash and dry and do a good job.

In towns and villages, there are a lot of two and three wheel bicycles used for transportation. The three wheel bikes have the third wheel in the rear and are usually hauling cargo in the compartment in front. In some of these bikes, the front compartment had been replaced by a bench seat with a roof and were used as a taxi.

The way to get pesos in Mexico has changed. On our previous trips to Mexico the best way (most pesos for the dollar) was to exchange dollars at one of the many money changing booths found in most tourist shopping areas. Now, the best way is to use an ATM. They are everywhere and we paid no fees for using the ATMs.

We learned at a tour of a botanical reserve, where there was a old Chiclero Camp, that the Maya people were making and chewing gum 2000 years ago.

We passed by the site of a battle near Puebla. Here in 1862, 4500 poorly equipped Mexicans defeated a force of 6500 French troops, who were attempting to establish the reign of Maximilian. The date was May 5 and it is still celebrated as a national holiday, Cinco de Mayo.

The largest pyramid in the Western Hemisphere is not far from where we camped in Cholula, near Puebla. The Spanish built a cathedral on the very top of the of the pyramid and you can see from there that Cortez's promise to build a cathedral for every day of the year in Cholula was taken seriously. We understand that they never got to 365 but there are quite a few for such a small town.

In our driving through Mexico, we came upon several areas that looked familiar. We drove through a heavily forested area that looked very much like drives we have made through the Appalachian Mountains, except we were driving along a ridge at ~ 9400'. On another drive, we went though an area that looked exactly like a road we drove on in Craters of the Moon NM. The road was cut through a very large lava flow. We had been looking at the volcanos that surrounded the valley we were driving through and were not surprised when we got to the lava flow. We drove through an area just south of San Blas that looked just like Panama City Beach during spring break except the area was covered by tents instead of motels and had as many people wandering around enjoying the beach.

This brings up another thing we learned about the Mexican vacation practices. We stayed another week in a CG in Patzcuaro because we were warned not to go anywhere near the coast or large bodies of water during the week before and the week after Easter. We can attest to the fact that people do empty out of the major cities and head for the beaches. We were in Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico on Good Friday and the place was deserted. We walked a good bit and eventually got down to the main square, where there were people but we had seen more people in much smaller towns on market day. One of the CGs where we stayed in the early part of our Mexican Tour had an American co-owner and he told us that during the period around Easter they have 1500 people camping there and that covers their operating expenses for the entire year. We could not see how there could be that many people there but, when we saw the thousands of tents along the beaches south of San Blas, we could believe it.

It is common to see animals grazing along the edges of highways. If there are only one or two, they are usually, but not always, tied up. Larger groups usually have someone nearby, frequently on horseback. Commonly seen were cows, horses, goats, sheep, burros, and pigs.

All the men you see walking along the highways carry machetes. They are used to cut firewood, fence posts, and grass and trim trees and shrubbery. It is not uncommon to see tall grasses along the highway being cut, bundled, and loaded onto carts or horses. At an outdoor restaurant, we watched someone cut the lawn using a machete and a stick - the stick held the grass up while the machete cut it. It looked very nice when it was finished.

Closing Thoughts:

We were expecting a difficult day when we left Mexico and re-entered the U.S. We had heard about the long lines at the border after the 9-11 attack and the implementation of increased security measures. We got to the border in late morning, hoping to avoid any early morning rush to work. We got in one of four lines inching towards the border and it took us about 35 minutes to get to the Border Patrol kiosk. We were asked if we were "North American citizens" and if we had any food or plants. We answered yes to both questions and were directed to another set of kiosks off to the side. An agricultural inspector came in and we told him what we had and didn't have (we knew what had to be cooked or pitted and had no pork). He accepted what we told him and left, wishing us a safe trip. We were never asked for any identification, what we had bought in Mexico, or how much alcohol we were bringing into the country. There were no drug searches, either by people or dogs. The whole process took less than five minutes. It was the easiest border crossing we have ever had and we were pleasantly surprised. The couple in the RV that we were traveling with had a similar experience.

We got back together with them at the Safeway in Nogales, AZ to do a little grocery shopping before heading out. We were able to pay for part of our groceries with 200 pesos we had leftover. We said goodbye to them there and we headed east while they headed for CA.

When we first started the planning of this trip, the goal was to tour much of Mexico, and we certainly did that. When we looked back at what about the trip that we enjoyed the most, we decided that it was those times when we stayed in an area long enough to explore the town and the surrounding area and have time to relax and catch up on things. When we left, it was because we were ready to move on, not because we had to keep moving to travel through as much of Mexico as possible. If we go back into Mexico, we will plan on visiting fewer places and staying longer at those places. All in all, we had an interesting, educational, and fun trip.

Lastly, no one should consider a trip through Mexico without first purchasing and throughly reading Mike and Terri Church's book, Traveler's Guide to Mexican Camping. In addition to general information about Mexico, customs, border crossings, etc., they provide descriptions of all of the campgrounds and alternate camping possibilities. The detailed instructions on how to drive to the camping facilities and how to get through or around cities was very helpful. On their website, www.rollinghomes.com, they post updates, provided by people like us, when we find things that have changed since the book was published.

On the road with,

Linda and Reynolds