Category: Road Trip 2011

Friday morning we left Ciudad del Carmen and headed north east along the coast to Campeche. To quote Lonely Planet:

"Campache is a colonial fairyland, its walled city center a tight enclave of perfectly restored pastel buildings, narrow cobblestone streets, fortified ramparts and well preserved mansions"

 

Campache was first settled by the Europeans ini 1531, making it almost 500 years old. Multiple pirate raids prompted Spain to eventually build a wall around the city. parts of the wall and seven of the bulwarks are still standing.

We stayed at a wonderful very reasonably priced hotel  recommended by Lonely Planet The Hotel Lopez. This is the view from our room. The building we saw through the window is of the Ex Templo de San Jose.

The hotel is located only a few blocks from the main square. Friday afternoon we explored some of the parts of the old wall and the Mayan architecture Museum.

This picture is of  the main square and the cathedral.

Apparently I never played fort as a kid because I couldn't figure out what Duke is doing in this picture. I guess you put your hat some place as a target and look over the wall someplace else so the pirates will shoot at the hat not at you.

After a siesta at the hotel to get away from the heat and humidity we went out for a walk along the ocean front. We sat for a while and watched the daily dance/exercise group and the sunset which was out over the gulf since Camache looks west.

While we were sitting on the sea wall some people came along handing out these for world youth day. They gave it ti Duke!

After dinner we sat in the square and listened to music and people watched. I really like Campeche

I thought you might be interested to know that gas is $2.94. There is only one oil company the government oil company Pemex

 

Tuesday morning we left Veracruz and drove to Catemaco on Laguna de Catemaco. Duke remembers the lake and the surrounding area from his travels 29 years ago. We found a nice hotel, Playa Azul on the lake, checked in and took a siesta.Then we went for a drive  through the ecological reserve to the coast at Monte Pio, We had sodas at tables on the beach. On the way back we found the dirt road to the remote hotel Duke stayed at when he was there in 1982. We decided not to risk driving the car down the rocky road. Back at the hotel we had a great fish dinner. After dinner we sat and enjoying the warm night and the beautiful Laguna de Catemaco and the jungle around it.

Wednesday morning we found a friendly taxi driver who agreed to take us back to the coast and then down the dirt road to the Playa Escondido Hotel. The road was rough but the taxi driver was great and we had a nice chat in Spanish. When we got to the spot Duke remembered, the hotel was a ruin being overtaken by the jungle. The people there told us that the hotel had been closed for 11 years. You could see how stunning the restaurant had been on a cliff overlooking the coast.

Our taxi driver took us back to another rustic hotel right on the beach below the Playa Escondido Hotel. The Parador Icacos is right on Playa Jicacal with an open air dining room and about 8 rooms. We got a room, went swimming in the gulf to cool off, and then sat in the shade and read all afternoon.

We had fresh fish for dinner and went for a walk on the beach. The rooms didn't have hot water or air conditioning so we did get a bit mosquito bitten but the whole experience was still fun.

The owner of the hotel had 3 sons and an enormously cute 4 year old daughter, Maria. She showed us her magic tricks, her bucket full of crabs, and she tried to each me some Spanish words.

When we were ready to leave Thursday morning the owner and his family offered us a ride back up the dirt road. We dropped Mom, Maria and the youngest son Oscar off to register Oscar for school and then a bit farther down the main road the truck stopped and everybody else got out  to cut grass on the side of the road. They were taking it to a horse farmer they know. We got a ride the rest of the way back to our hotel in a mixto, rural taxi (a truck with seats in back). with ten or fifteen other people.

At the hotel we got  into our car and drove south to Ciudad del Carmen. It seems to be a very prosperous oil town with lots of oil workers both American and Mexican. The most expensive hotel in town was full but we stayed at the Holiday Inn and enjoying the marble floor, shower and air conditioning. The ironic thing though is that although it cost 5 times more than Icacos Parador, Holoiday Inn didn't have hot water either!

 

 

 

Saturday morning bright and early we crossed the border into Mexico. Crossing took a while because we got there before the offices opened but by 9am we were on our way south. Our goal was to drive a long way our first day. The quality of the roads varied widely but we made good progress and finally stopped for the night in the town of Cerro Azul.This is a picture of Duke outside the door of our motel room.

Coincidentally just before we stopped for the night we were caught in traffic behind a guy named Ron Farmer who is running from Pole to Pole to raise money for the Red Cross. While we were eating dinner he caught up with us and came into our restaurant to eat with his support people. We chatted with his Mexican organizer and photographer who was from Cancun.

Sunday morning we caught up with and passed his motorcade again about 3 miles south of Cerra Azul. A few miles after we passed him the main road was closed and we had to take a detour on dirt roads for while. We even crossed a river on a causeway with water over the road..

When we reached Veracruz we parked and walked around looking at hotels. We ended up in a wonderful room at the Gran Hotel Diligencias. Our room is on the fourth floor overlooking the swimming pool, the cathedral, and  the main square (the Zocalo).

We immediately went out and had a snack on the edge of the square.

For dinner we ate at the hotel restaurant. We ordered fresh fish. It is priced by weight. The waiter brought out three fish for us to chose from. We chose the snapper and the waiter took it back to the kitchen where they grilled it for us. It was fantastic.

Last night there was a concert in the Zocalo by Mane de la Parra. It was fun to watch and listen. From our room after the concert we watched security rush him through the crowd of screaming girls to the hotel.

Yesterday and today we have been exploring Vera Cruz. It is very hot and incredibly humid here. We walk for a while then come back to the room, relax and enjoy the air conditioning.

Veracruz was first settled by Europeans over 400 years ago. This is part of the original wall around the city.

The terrapins in the pool in front of Faro Carranza reminded me of our turtle at home. My friend Linda tells me that he is starting to call her Mom.

 The pictures from teh mexican part of our trip are on Flickr here.

Since we left Tucson on Wednesday morning we have traveled over 1000 miles. Now it is Saturday morning and we are at the southern tip of Texas in Brownsville. Along the way we stopped at  Kartchner Caverns State Park near Tucson, Calsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico and visited my cousin Carol in San Antonio.

Carlsbad Caverns and Kartchner Caverns are both caves but they were very different.

Kartchner was discovered in 1974 and was kept a secret for years until the discoverers could work with the owners and the state to create a new state park which was opened in 1999. The cave has been preserved. The discovers went into the cave through a sink hole. To enter the cave when we were there we went through new sealed doors to a new tunnel entrance. The doors are sealed so that the cave will not dry out and die. IKartchner has beautiful formations and is beautiful. But the most impressive thing about Kartchner is that it is a living pristine recently discovered cave.

Carlsbad on the other hand is stupendously big and awe inspiring. At Carlsbad caverns We took the self guided hiking tour which goes into the natural entrance of the cave. The entrance is a big hole in the ground. We hiked down switch backs on a trail down into the big hole. We went down, down, down. Every time I thought we were at the bottom we would come around a corner and there would be more switchbacks going down. It literally felt like we were descending down into the bowels of the earth and it was as beautiful as it was awe inspiring.

We descended 750 feet almost straight down and when we got to the bottom we explored enormous caverns full of impressive structures. The Big Room that we explored is 8.2 acres big and has a ceiling that is immense. We took the elevator back to the surface.

Carlsberg Caverns were fantastic they were totally different from Kartchnar Caverns. Both of them were fascinating.

From Carlsbad we headed to San Antonio. We had lunch with my cousin Carol and her husband in San Antonio and then drove on to Brownsville where we are now. Today we are crossing into Mexico.

We ave been having picnic lunches most days. Thursday we stopped In Pecos, Texas and bought some local cantaloupes and then had one for lunch. Boy! Was it good. The 100+ temperatures are pretty impressive too!