Oaxaca sits in a valley so guess what we had to do? We had to go over more mountains on another winding road. This stretch of the Pan-American Highway was also known for its high winds during the time of year we were traveling. So we planned on a long day, and probably wouldn't make it all the way to the border. Once we started down the other side of the mountains the scenery was pretty bare, hot arid desert with lots of cactus. Not much else.
Just a little ways south we told the kids we were going to stop at some ancient Mayan ruins called Milta. They were a ways off the main road but worth the trip. Going to them we could see off in the distance a pyramid slowly crumbling in disrepair. First we drove through the small village of Mitla. It was kind of interesting because of the fences made of growing cactus surrounded all the houses.
The Mitla Ruins were extremely interesting. The original buildings were made of mud and stone, inlaid with small cut stones. There were no carvings or paintings of people and animals like the ruins in Mexico City. Instead every thing was very geometric. They are elaborate cut-stonework ruins. The stones over the doorways were enormous, how did they get them up there? There were underground chambers beneath the palaces, and subterranean tombs. We spent enough time exploring for Gil, Paul and John to get into trouble with the guard. We weren't paying attention to what they were doing - climbing up on the top of the ruins - and the guard caught them and yelled at them to get off. Of course they didn't understand what he was saying or who he was so they just ran - across the walls. Bill and I saw the man in a green uniform coming towards us, didn't think anything of it. When he got to us he was really huffing and puffing and very indignant about the way the boys were treating the ruins. Don’t blame him. Once back inside the motorhome everyone got a good lecture on respecting historical sites.
We made it as far as Juchitan, about 170 miles and decided to call it a day. The winds were really gusting, enough to rock the motorhome. There were no RV parks but the one 2-story hotel in town had 10 RV spaces in the parking lot. We stopped; it would only be $10.00 (about 1.00 US) - without hook ups. It was still light out so after establishing it would be okay to park there we drove around town for awhile.
We come across a stand selling a big variety of wonderful fresh fruit and decided to buy some to make a big fresh fruit salad for dinner. We stopped at a stand that was manned by an older woman and what were probably her two daughters. The women in that part of Mexico were very Indian looking, long dark hair, black eyes and very brown skin. They all wore embroidered blouses with long skirts, shawls over their shoulders. When they smiled you could see that each one had gold teeth in front. The older woman who spoke halting English came over to help us. Behind her the two younger women were chatting - in Spanish of course. They would look at Bill then look at me and giggle. I could tell Bill was listening to them but he still kept up the conversation in English with me and the lady selling the fruit. The girls became more animated in their conversation moved closer to where we were standing. Their mother smiled and turned to them she shook her head "No" shrugged and turned back to us. One was bolder and said "Hello" to Bill and laughed. He just nodded to her. We finished bargaining for our fruit, put it into our mesh bags and started to leave. Bill turned back to the girls and spoke to them in Spanish. He thanked them for their comments but said he was already committed. Their mother laughed out loud as the girls blushed and turned their backs after taking a quick glance at me to see if I knew what had been said. I of course was completely in the dark about what had gone on. Bill told me later what they were talking about, mainly about him and his tight jeans and how cute they thought he was. The boys thought that was pretty funny, someone thinking their Dad was "cute."
We drove back to the motel parking lot and fixed our dinner, a huge delicious fruit salad. By the time we finished cleaning up the wind was really blowing through the lot and as it came around the corner of the building it would moan. It made it hard to fall asleep between the rocking and the moaning.
Sometime during the night we were all awakened by a commotion coming from one of the motel rooms. Somewhere inside a man and a woman were having a loud vicious argument. We could hear it over and above the wind. It sounded almost life threatening. They kept it up off and on for about an hour, every time we though it was over and started to dose off they would start again. Finally all was quiet again. No police showed up so we guessed they hadn't killed each other. Maybe they made up.
After a not very restful night we started off for the border town of Tapachula about 250 miles away. The wind continued to buffet us as we drove. We were winding down out of the mountains again. Lots of sharp curves and steep downgrades.
One curve in particular was interesting; according to the guidebook the two wrought-iron crosses on it were for two race drivers killed there during a road race.
Occasionally there are very narrow bridges to cross and also some rocks on the highway but not so many we couldn't maneuver around them.
Finally the road straightened out and we made better time into Tapachula, Mexico's border city with Guatemala. This is a very rural area; there are lots of corn and beans fields. The town itself sits at the base of an extinct volcano. It’s exceptionally clean and pretty. Lots of tropical plants, different looking trees and animal life. Iguanas and tarantulas all over the place. The boys, Randy included, love chasing and playing with them. Randy even caught an iguana but Bill wouldn't let him keep it. Ugh!
We stayed at the Motel Cali where they had RV spaces, no hook-ups but clean and safe, for two days. The hotel had a big and warm swimming pool. Everyone took advantage of it.
We spent a lot of time unpacking and repacking the motorhome and the trailer. We needed to get some of the stuff off the roof to reduce the weight up there. There was a nice laundry room so we washed everything that needed it and some things that probably didn't.
We were able to use a long-distance phone at the hotel. So we called my Mom and the realtor; the house was close to closing. Thank goodness, that would be a load off her mind.
John Mc called his family and let them know he was okay and having a great time. We told everyone we would stop by the Argentinean Consulate in Panama City. So they could write us there or as in John's case, send more money.
While there we took some time to write letters and mail them. My Mom kept them all so they have turned out to be a good source for jogging my memories to write this.
One chore we had to do was go into town to the Consulates for Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. We wanted to get any Visas, tourist cards and/or paper work for the vehicles that we would need. Each country had different requirements and costs: Guatemala being the least expensive at $7 and Nicaragua the most $157.50 (Pesos) Also It was our last chance to buy Mexican gas which we knew was good and not expensive. We weren't sure what we would find farther on. We also went grocery shopping and stocked up on what we could, especially bakery goods.
All the business was taken care of and the motorhome was ready to roll again. It was time to cross into Central America. We changed more money, this time into Quetzals for Guatemala.
So far we have traveled over 3900 miles in a little over a month.
Tuesday, February 28th early in the a.m. we left Tapachula and slowly drove the last 15 miles in Mexico, once we crossed that border we would really be committing ourselves to the trip.
As we neared the border we came to the last Federale checkpoints in Mexico. Bill pulled over and parked under the roof of the small gray stone building. A man in uniform came out and beckoned to us to follow him inside. Each of us in turn had to hand over our tourist cards and Bill gave him the motorhome permit. It hit home that we were really leaving Mexico.
We piled back into the motorhome, everyone sitting up front and quiet for once. Bill started up and drove on to the international Rio Suchiate Bridge. Next stop Guatemala.
Just a little ways south we told the kids we were going to stop at some ancient Mayan ruins called Milta. They were a ways off the main road but worth the trip. Going to them we could see off in the distance a pyramid slowly crumbling in disrepair. First we drove through the small village of Mitla. It was kind of interesting because of the fences made of growing cactus surrounded all the houses.
The Mitla Ruins were extremely interesting. The original buildings were made of mud and stone, inlaid with small cut stones. There were no carvings or paintings of people and animals like the ruins in Mexico City. Instead every thing was very geometric. They are elaborate cut-stonework ruins. The stones over the doorways were enormous, how did they get them up there? There were underground chambers beneath the palaces, and subterranean tombs. We spent enough time exploring for Gil, Paul and John to get into trouble with the guard. We weren't paying attention to what they were doing - climbing up on the top of the ruins - and the guard caught them and yelled at them to get off. Of course they didn't understand what he was saying or who he was so they just ran - across the walls. Bill and I saw the man in a green uniform coming towards us, didn't think anything of it. When he got to us he was really huffing and puffing and very indignant about the way the boys were treating the ruins. Don’t blame him. Once back inside the motorhome everyone got a good lecture on respecting historical sites.
We made it as far as Juchitan, about 170 miles and decided to call it a day. The winds were really gusting, enough to rock the motorhome. There were no RV parks but the one 2-story hotel in town had 10 RV spaces in the parking lot. We stopped; it would only be $10.00 (about 1.00 US) - without hook ups. It was still light out so after establishing it would be okay to park there we drove around town for awhile.
We come across a stand selling a big variety of wonderful fresh fruit and decided to buy some to make a big fresh fruit salad for dinner. We stopped at a stand that was manned by an older woman and what were probably her two daughters. The women in that part of Mexico were very Indian looking, long dark hair, black eyes and very brown skin. They all wore embroidered blouses with long skirts, shawls over their shoulders. When they smiled you could see that each one had gold teeth in front. The older woman who spoke halting English came over to help us. Behind her the two younger women were chatting - in Spanish of course. They would look at Bill then look at me and giggle. I could tell Bill was listening to them but he still kept up the conversation in English with me and the lady selling the fruit. The girls became more animated in their conversation moved closer to where we were standing. Their mother smiled and turned to them she shook her head "No" shrugged and turned back to us. One was bolder and said "Hello" to Bill and laughed. He just nodded to her. We finished bargaining for our fruit, put it into our mesh bags and started to leave. Bill turned back to the girls and spoke to them in Spanish. He thanked them for their comments but said he was already committed. Their mother laughed out loud as the girls blushed and turned their backs after taking a quick glance at me to see if I knew what had been said. I of course was completely in the dark about what had gone on. Bill told me later what they were talking about, mainly about him and his tight jeans and how cute they thought he was. The boys thought that was pretty funny, someone thinking their Dad was "cute."
We drove back to the motel parking lot and fixed our dinner, a huge delicious fruit salad. By the time we finished cleaning up the wind was really blowing through the lot and as it came around the corner of the building it would moan. It made it hard to fall asleep between the rocking and the moaning.
Sometime during the night we were all awakened by a commotion coming from one of the motel rooms. Somewhere inside a man and a woman were having a loud vicious argument. We could hear it over and above the wind. It sounded almost life threatening. They kept it up off and on for about an hour, every time we though it was over and started to dose off they would start again. Finally all was quiet again. No police showed up so we guessed they hadn't killed each other. Maybe they made up.
After a not very restful night we started off for the border town of Tapachula about 250 miles away. The wind continued to buffet us as we drove. We were winding down out of the mountains again. Lots of sharp curves and steep downgrades.
One curve in particular was interesting; according to the guidebook the two wrought-iron crosses on it were for two race drivers killed there during a road race.
Occasionally there are very narrow bridges to cross and also some rocks on the highway but not so many we couldn't maneuver around them.
Finally the road straightened out and we made better time into Tapachula, Mexico's border city with Guatemala. This is a very rural area; there are lots of corn and beans fields. The town itself sits at the base of an extinct volcano. It’s exceptionally clean and pretty. Lots of tropical plants, different looking trees and animal life. Iguanas and tarantulas all over the place. The boys, Randy included, love chasing and playing with them. Randy even caught an iguana but Bill wouldn't let him keep it. Ugh!
We stayed at the Motel Cali where they had RV spaces, no hook-ups but clean and safe, for two days. The hotel had a big and warm swimming pool. Everyone took advantage of it.
We spent a lot of time unpacking and repacking the motorhome and the trailer. We needed to get some of the stuff off the roof to reduce the weight up there. There was a nice laundry room so we washed everything that needed it and some things that probably didn't.
We were able to use a long-distance phone at the hotel. So we called my Mom and the realtor; the house was close to closing. Thank goodness, that would be a load off her mind.
John Mc called his family and let them know he was okay and having a great time. We told everyone we would stop by the Argentinean Consulate in Panama City. So they could write us there or as in John's case, send more money.
While there we took some time to write letters and mail them. My Mom kept them all so they have turned out to be a good source for jogging my memories to write this.
One chore we had to do was go into town to the Consulates for Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. We wanted to get any Visas, tourist cards and/or paper work for the vehicles that we would need. Each country had different requirements and costs: Guatemala being the least expensive at $7 and Nicaragua the most $157.50 (Pesos) Also It was our last chance to buy Mexican gas which we knew was good and not expensive. We weren't sure what we would find farther on. We also went grocery shopping and stocked up on what we could, especially bakery goods.
All the business was taken care of and the motorhome was ready to roll again. It was time to cross into Central America. We changed more money, this time into Quetzals for Guatemala.
So far we have traveled over 3900 miles in a little over a month.
Tuesday, February 28th early in the a.m. we left Tapachula and slowly drove the last 15 miles in Mexico, once we crossed that border we would really be committing ourselves to the trip.
As we neared the border we came to the last Federale checkpoints in Mexico. Bill pulled over and parked under the roof of the small gray stone building. A man in uniform came out and beckoned to us to follow him inside. Each of us in turn had to hand over our tourist cards and Bill gave him the motorhome permit. It hit home that we were really leaving Mexico.
We piled back into the motorhome, everyone sitting up front and quiet for once. Bill started up and drove on to the international Rio Suchiate Bridge. Next stop Guatemala.
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Our last stop in Mexico Before Crossing into Central America
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