Mexico to Guatamala

It could have been worse...

The border crossing into Guatemala went very smoothly.  Canceled the temporary import permit for Vandrew in Mexico, then got the temporary import permit for Vandrew in Guatemala.  We had some street meat from a local vendor for lunch, along with a sweet milk beverage that everyone seemed to be drinking. The road out of the border town was narrow, and we had to drive slowly to avoid running into people, vendor stalls, or other vehicles.  Once we hit the open road, it wasn't bad at all.  There were some potholes, but not as many speedbumps as in south Mexico.  We were slightly behind schedule after the border crossing, but we should be able to get to our destination of San Pedro before dark.

Then things started to go wrong.

"The exhaust smell is getting worse back here", says Natasja from the back.  Apparently, the piece of exhaust pipe that I lost back in Mexico was kind of important...we wound down the windows and tried to keep an eye on Natasja to make sure she didn't fall asleep, and pushed on.

After a few hours, carbon monoxide was filling the whole van, and even with the windows open, we had to stop to get some air and let Vandrew air out.  We stopped by the road for a while, then pushed on.  By this time, it was dark, but we were getting close to San Pedro.  The road we were on was one of the best I'd seen since the toll roads of Mexico, and we were making good time.

....that's when Google turned on me.

Now.  Google and I had been through a lot together by this point.  The comforting Google voice had guided me through the crazy streets of Guadalajara and Mexico City, and I really thought that she liked me.  I don't know what I did to make her so angry with me, but she directed me off the beautiful PanAmerican highway, and down the STEEPEST ROAD I'VE EVEN SEEN.  Straight down.  No switchbacks.  Tiny village roads.  In the dark.

We slowly navigated the tiny roads of the small villages around Lake Atitlan, then onto a small dirt track through a farmer's field.  Then back onto a paved road, but very steep and twisty.  Then Google gave up and tried to send us back the way we just came.  We wouldn't fit down the road any further, and some locals that Aya talked to told us to go back up the mountain and come down a different way.  Natasja had a different offline mapping app that agreed, so we decided to give it a shot.  The only problem was, just as we were getting to the bottom of the first steep bit, Vandrew's brake light came on again.

We crept back up the road we had just come down, then turned onto a road that Natasja said effectively looked like seismic waves.  I pulled on the emergency brake, and with the resistance of the E brake and some steady pumping of the brake pedal, we made it down the road.  Natasja was calling out the turns like a rallycar navigator "the next one's going to be tight so you should take it wide", "this one is a long straight bit", and we eventually made it to the bottom.  The hostel we were going to stay at was in San Pedro, so we entered the tiny town with the steep streets and followed google.  We were about five blocks from the hostel when I saw a hotel with a large open gate and parking in front.  We stopped there and decided we would stay there for the night, and find the hostel in the morning.

Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello, OA

By the end of my time in San Cristobal, there were five other people who wanted to head in the same direction as me.  We decided that a trip to Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello would be a great step in the right direction for all of us, and Carmel, Paola, Natasja, Aya, Chuy and I all piled in to Vandrew and set off.

Unlike the drive to Tonina a few days before, the drive to Lake Montebello was without incident.  where we had a nice little hike and swim in the frigid water.

After an explore of the lakes, we headed back to the town of Comitán de Domínguez where we found a nice little hotel and parking for Vandrew.  After a few drinks at a little pub, we settled in for the night.



The next morning, after a nice breakfast in the town square, Carmel, Paola, and Chuy set off to explore some more of Mexico, and Aya and Natasja and I jumped into Vandrew, pointed ourselves in the direction of Guatemala, and pressed the accelerator.

Tonina, OA

Before leaving San Cristobal, I decided it would be good to take Vandrew for a test drive.  there were some Mayan ruins relatively close by, and there was some interest from people in the hostel to go and visit, so we planned an excursion to Tonina.

I started by taking a test drive with Javier to make sure that the brakes were functional, and then we packed myself, Carmel, Paola (she arrived the day before, met her in Puerto Escondido), Chuy (arrived with Paola), Rachel (American, met in San Cristobal), and Natasja (Dutch, met in San Cristobal) into Vandrew and we were away on our day trip.

The road from San Cristobal to Tonina were very windy, potholed, and generally quite horrible.  The 100km google said would take us 2 hours, took closer to 2:45, and we arrived at the Tonina ruins just after 3pm.  The benefit of this was, because it was so late, we only had to pay half price.  The drawback was they closed at 5.

We had a decent enough roam over the ancient site, and it was a good way to enjoy the company of new friends and old ("old friends" referring to someone I've known more than two days)\

It's okay, there's an escalator around back...

A view from the top

On the way back we stopped for a meal together, and all in all, it was a great day...I just didn't enjoy the drive.

at all.



....but at least the brakes worked!

San Cristóbal de las Casas, CP - Fixing Vandrew

The town of San Cristobal is listed as being 2200m above sea level.  That is approximately the same elevation as Mexico City.  During the days, it is quite warm, but at this time of year, the nights can dip down to approach freezing.  In Canada, we leave the cold outside, but in San Cristobal, I didn't see any heating in any of the buildings I was in.  If it was nearly freezing outside, it was nearly freezing inside too.

The other thing about San Cristobal was that Carmel and I were booked in at a hostel in the old town.  Old town = narrow roads, and there were a few corners that seemed like Vandrew wouldn't fit.  We couldn't stop in front of the hostel, but we found a parking lot nearby, and managed to maneuver down a steep slope, around two narrow corners, and parked safely.  When we got to the hostel, we asked for a recommendation of a mechanic.  Luckily Rudy, the owner, had a friend who was a mechanic, and he called him up.  In a few hours Javier arrived, and Carmel and I took him down to the parking lot to look at Vandrew.  Javier knew no English, and I know no Spanish, but Carmel helped out as best she could, and we determined that we needed to take Vandrew to Javier's shop.  We jumped in and set off, but before we made it more than a couple of meters, there was a nasty sound...

Someone moved the wall...that's the only explanation!

After 100 pesos paid to the wall owner for damages, and Javier in the driver's seat, we were off to his garage.  He told me I could leave Vandrew at his garage (really, just an open dirt area between buildings, but it was fenced) until I left, and that he would fix the brakes for me.  Two problems solved!

The next day, some of the people from the hostel went to visit some caves that were close to town.  It was a fun little outing, although if you've seen one cave, you've seen them all in my opinion...

L-R Amber, Some Guy, Aya, Carmel, Natasja, Chris, and Zoey

tire stairs

Two days after I dropped off Vandrew with Javier, he showed up at the hostel...carrying my drive shaft!  He told me, as best as I could comprehend, that the clutch plate needed to be remachined, and it would be unsafe to carry on without this done.  He said all four brakes would be fixed, and the clutch machined for 4000 pesos.  Around $250 Canadian.  Needless to say, I asked him to go ahead.

While I waited for Vandrew to be fixed, I spent time wandering around San Cristobal, visited the movie theatre to watch Hollywood movies that had spanish subtitles, and bought myself a new scarf.  The town is great.

Parque Nacional Cañón del Sumidero, CP

The Canyon at Sumidero is impressive, but filled with garbage...Carmel suggested we stop at the national park on our way from Oaxaca to San Cristobal in the state of Chiapas.  As we were leaving the petrified waterfall, the brake light came on again.  As we drove the windy mountain road, the brakes were having trouble, and eventually we only had front brakes operational.  This meant very slow travel, and we reached the town of Tuxtla Gutiérrez after dark.  As we entered the city, there was a routine police stop, and I was reaching for my wallet (I know how this goes by now), Carmel started talking to the police officer, who was all smiles and very helpful.  Carmel is convinced that it was because of her womanly charms, but the officer just smiled, asked us where we were going, gave us direction, and sent us on our way!  My first free police stop!

We arrived at the gate for the park entrance at about 7pm to find it closed and locked.  We had read that we would be able to camp in the parking lot for a small fee, and this was really putting a crimp in our plans.  A business owner from across the street offered to phone the park office, and soon after she left, a night watch guard appeared and let us in.  We were shown where the bathrooms were, and set up camp for the night.

In the morning, we had a nice breakfast in the on site restaurant, and then boarded a boat down the river.  The whole tour was in spanish, but it was quite interesting all the same.

A crocodile in the plastic infested waters

The dam at the far end of the canyon

A shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe 

After our tour of the canyon, we drove to the next town, San Cristobal, to continue the adventure!

Hierve el Agua, OA

Hierve el Agua is a petrified waterfall.  The falls are formed by an oversaturation of  calcium carbonate in the water, depositing over a long period of time.  Basically, they are gigantic stalactites.

We arrived in the dark, and met a group of 8 Canadians and Australians who were driving a modified bus down from British Columbia.  After a brief chat, I went to bed, and in the morning was greeted with a very interesting sight...

Oaxaca, OA

So, because of the mechanical problems to Vandrew, instead of staying in Oaxaca for two nights, we stayed there zero nights.  Carmel really wanted to go to a restaurant that she heard about from Anthony Bourdain , claiming to be the best food in the entire universe, or something like that.  It sounded cool to me, as I enjoy eating food, so we decided that we would spend the night to the east of Oaxaca, after our evening meal.

We wanted to see the city of Oaxaca though, as we'd heard good things about it from other travelers, and would like to see if it's the type of place that we should come back to visit in the future.  As we got to the center of the city, I realized that parking was going to be an issue.  We drove around and around, like one would in any city center, looking for a place that could accommodate the 10ft tall Vandrew.  Eventually, we found a street parking spot, and walked into the city center for an hour or two.

Spicy grasshoppers anyone?

After a couple of hours walking around Oaxaca, we had to hit the road for the restaurant, that was located in a small town to the east of the city.  The restaurant closed as 6pm, so there was not time to lose.

We made it to the restaurant 10 minutes before closing time, but ti was quite a long wait for anyone to seat us, serve us, or bring the bill.  The food was quite good, but I would have to say that Mr. Bourdain and I don't have the same idea of what the best food in Mexico is.

It was a really interesting building though.

After supper, we headed to a petrified waterfall for the night....I didn't even know you could petrify a waterfall...

Miahuatlan de Porfirio Diaz, OA - Not Oaxaca

The road from Mazunte to Oaxaca is 260 kms, but Google says it takes your average vehicle 5 hours and 42 minutes to make the trip.  This is because the road, in a lot of places, looks like this:




Luckily, Carmel and I were not in a rush, and we enjoyed the changing scenery as we gained altitude.  after about 5 hours of driving, just as the sun set, the interior of Vandrew's cabin was illuminated by the ominous red harbinger of doom...the brake light.

Now, the brake light itself was not as unnerving as the immediate softness of the brake pedal.  Luckily, this happened only a few kilometers away from civilization, and we soon pulled into a Pemex and filled up.  I checked the brake fluid, which was a bit low, but not too bad.  Carmel asked the gas station attendant for a recommendation for a mechanic in the neighbourhood, and he told us that there was a garage only a few minutes down the road.

We found the garage with no trouble, but it was on a fairly busy main road, and closed, as it was close to 7pm.  The family that lives beside the garage was sitting in their "living room" (the open courtyard between the disconnected rooms of their residence), and Carmel asked them if there was anywhere that we could park Vandrew for the night.

The family all came out to help and they pushed broken down cars out of the way to make room for us, then invited us to use their bathroom for the duration of our stay.  There was no running water for their toilet, and it was flushed by pouring a bucket of water from a 45 gallon drum that sat next to the toilet.  It turns out there were two children in the neuclear family, and their two cousins also lived with them as one of their parents had died and the other was working far away.  The youngest boy, Santiago, was holding a card from the card game UNO, and we were invited to play.  It was really kind of this family to open their house to some strangers that happened to break down in front of their house.

The next morning, a simple breakfast was prepared for us, and we drank coffee and looked at pictures and tried to communicate as best we could.  Martin, the father, was rightly proud of the courtyard of his home, where he grew avocados, bananas, apricots and limes,  After breakfast, Martin came with me to a different mechanic that specialized in brakes, a few minutes down the road, while Carmel had a shower.  The mechanic got to work right away, and while Martin and I watched, he removed the wheels, fiddled around, topped up the brake fluid, and generally did mechanical things.  After about a half and hour, the wheels were back on, and I took it for a test drive.  Brakes work!

The whole ordeal only cost 70 pesos!

Back on the road and heading into Oaxaca...only a day behind schedule.

Puerto Escondido, OA - Enjoying the traveler's life

Acapulco was an interesting experience, but I was beginning to get a little bit lonely.  It was strange, because I don't think I've experienced much loneliness in my life.  I've missed individuals, but for the most part, I think I've been quite content with just my own company.  In the campground in Acapulco, all alone, I was hungry for contact with other people.

I knew from experience that a great place to make fast friends is a backpacker's hostel, so I booked in to one down in Puerto Escondido, a surfing and tourist town a few hours drive down the coast. I was excited about the idea of meeting other travelers and just having a beer or two with people from all over the world.

Up to this point, I was almost exclusively driving on toll roads in Mexico.  These roads are nice, wide roads with few potholes and large shoulders.  Tolls, while not individually expensive, are abundant.  I was beginning to get fed up with stopping every 20-40 minutes for a toll that ranges from 30 to 250 pesos. After Acapulco, the option for driving on the toll roads seemed to disappear, and I very quickly saw the wisdom in the line "don't know what you've got 'till it's gone".  Windy roads, no shoulders, crazy drivers, and the bane of my driving existence...the "reductor".

Sleeping policemen.  Speed bumps.  Botts' dots.  Whatever you call them, there were lots of them.  They were diverse in nature, some being well painted, while others blended into the surrounding road.  Some were mild, hardly warranting a slowdown, while others were massive walls telling you to slow to a crawl or suffer the consequences.

I suffered the consequences, and when I got to Puerto Escondido, I realized that my exhaust pipe had detached itself from my muffler.  Since I only had approximately 3000km left to drive at this point, I decided to just remove the tailpipe from the bracket holding it in place, and throw it in the bin.

The hostel in Puerto Escondidto was everything that I'd hoped.  great people and a fantastic vibe to the place.  I stayed in Vandrew, parked outside on the curb, but still used the hostel's toilets, showers, pool, hammocks, and bar.

There is a conservation movement in Puerto Escondido to try and protect the local turtles.  If not protected, locals will use the eggs for cooking, so the eggs are removed and incubated, and when they hatch, people can pay 50 pesos to release a turtle into the ocean.  Once released, the turtles still only have a 25% chance of survival.  I named my turtle Lawrence.,

I also experienced the "Super Moon" on a beach with some new friends.

The beaches in Puerto were pretty amazing too...

Me with new friends Carmel and Paola

Mazunte, OA

Upon leaving Peurto Escondido, there were three girls that wanted to head in the same direction as Vandrew and I.  Two of them wanted to check out a jazz festival in Mazunte, about an hour down the coast from Puerto Escondido.

In my very limited research of Mazunte, I was under the impression that there was very little there.  I had visions of us not having enough water in the heat, and stocked up on an extra 10L bottle from the supermarket, to add to the 15L that I already had, then Carmel, Paola, and Melanie jumped into Vandrew and hit the open road.

When we got to Mazunte, not only was it a vibrant little tourist town, but it was PACKED for the jazz festival that was starting the next day.  We all went for a walk on the beach to watch the sunset, then had a nice supper at one of the many little restaurants in the town.

The girls rented hammocks on the beach for the night.  I slept in Vandrew.

The next day, we met up with a friend of Paola's, where we left Paola and Melanie, and Carmel and I headed up the windy mountain road to Oaxaca...

Acapulco, GR - More Beaches...More Bribes.

I rolled into Acapulco after a long, hot day on the road, and there were no signs of life at the campground that had been recommended to me.  There was a dog, behind a big wall, but nobody answered the phone, or the bell, and nobody appeared to be parked inside, so I went to plan B.  A well reviewed campsite and RV park a few hundred meters down the road.  Very quiet, with a nice little pool and palm trees, I booked in for 5 nights.

The beach in that area had quite a riptide, so there was nobody swimming, but it went on for MILES

I would alternate between days where I just sat in the hammock I had bought and read, not moving very far, and driving thirty minutes in Vandrew into downtown Acapulco, where there were movie theaters, historical spanish forts, restaurants, and air conditioning...wonderful air conditioning.

Unfortunately there were also La Policia, and they wanted some more cash.  This time because they say I wasn't wearing my seatbelt...I was wearing my seatbelt.  This was number 4.  Although he only got away with about $50US.

"MY BEAUTIFUL AND CUTE ACAPULCO" 

A MODEL OF THE FORT SAN DIEGO

THE REAL DEAL

AT VIP THEATRES IN MEXICO, YOU WATCH MOVIES IN STYLE!

WATCH A FILM WITH A PINIA COLADA AND A CREPE...VERY CIVILIZED!