The Long Way South- A Pan American Adventure

[Deleted member 12023]

THE GUANAJUATO LABYRINTH
by Nate

The drive from Sayulita said it would take about eight hours…no problem. Leaving at 9am would leave us plenty of time to get to camp, and make a bite to eat before catching the sunset over the city…perfect!

Well as anyone who has done any amount of overlanding would know, things can change, and boy did they change! Mexico has a tendency to slow you down, not only because of the mountain sized topes, but the toyota pick up with three horses in the back swerving up the mountain passes can change things as well. Also don’t forget about the herd of cows in the middle of the road…or wait what about the million and one toll booths?

Ok, so I guess we were a little ambitious with our 375km drive to Guanajuato that day. The trip ended up taking us about 11 hours in total after getting a little turned around in Guadalajara.

Guanajuato is a very old city nestled in the valleys of the central mountains of Mexico. The city was originally founded due to its richness in gold and silver. Colorful houses perch on top of the surrounding mountains leading downhill into the city center which has a stark european feel to it. From the city center headed farther down hill you will find an amazing network of underground tunnels. These tunnels were formerly rivers until they flooded the city in the early nineteen hundreds. Now the tunnels are used for directional travel from one end of the city to the other.

The sun set just outside of Guadalajara and with over two hours left to go we hit the gas. We pulled into town in pitch black expecting our trusty GPS to guide the way. We were in for a surprise! First of all, tiny cobblestone streets, although beautiful, hate our truck. It was kind of like playing pinball in the dark and you are an oversized black ball. Bouncing from curb to curb we worked our way to the city until the GPS zoomed out. Why it zooms out at the most inconvenient times can only be chalked up to Murphy’s Law. Well, we missed our turn and plummeted into the elaborate network of tunnels, where we then lost all correspondence from our trusty overhead satellites.

After what seemed like an eternity, we emerged from the underground eeriness, with the adrenaline pumping. We managed to wiggle our way to the opposite end of town with just one wrong turn! Finally we regained our GPS and it led us to the Panoramica road which meandered around the city for a fresh start. After about 45 minutes of cobblestone pinball, and a couple multipoint turns we found our camp. It was a tiny RV park perched up above the city with an incredible view of homes all lit up on the hillside.

A couple of our friends were already there volunteering with the Muskoka foundation, so we parked the truck and made some dinner. After an 11 hour driving day the both of us were completely wiped. We headed to bed with the soothing sounds of the infamous dog orchestra of Guanajuato. In fact, there are so many dogs barking in the distance that if you sit in silence you almost think you are the only human in existence. It’s pretty incredible.

We were awoken by a bunch of hoodlums surrounding our truck yelling “Holy ****! It’s the Long Way South!” It was our friends Overland the World and The Dangerz. We hopped out for some formal introductions as until now we had only been online acquaintances with the same dream. Everyone got to meet our spaz…I mean dog, and we all shared some quick stories before heading back to bed.

The next morning everyone gathered and we got to hear about their incredible time volunteering at the orphanage. We also got the scoop on the Maya Rally. Up until this point I had only heard about it, and never looked much into it. They informed us that several other teams would be showing up over the course of a couple days for the “End of the World” rally.

Later on Sarah and I split from the pack to go check out the town and to accomplish our to-do list…water, food and money. The three staples. We walked all around town checking out the central square, the markets and the local eats. Brady is not a big city guy but he handled it well! That evening another team pulled in, Matt and Isabel from Virginia in their souped up WRX.

The entire group got together for some dinner and a drink at the rotisserie chicken eatery. Back up the hill we found three more teams there, all from Alaska who made their way down for the rally. Over the next day, many more teams rolled in and you could feel the competition in the air. The Rally organizer and CTO of Expedition Portal, Christian Pelletier, showed up to greet all of the teams and invite everyone to dinner for the following evening. He graciously extended his invitation to us and said “it would not be ok if you didn’t come”. How could we turn down a free meal with great company??

The next morning was a little more of the same; make breakfast, meet some people, Brady pees on someone, take a shower…. Wait a minute. Yes that’s right, while in Guanajuato, Brady decided he was going to skip the morning tire pee, and just go right for the legs of Bryan and Matt. I’m glad they were good sports about it, otherwise Brady could have picked a battle he couldn’t win.

We spent the remainder of the day touring the town with Matt and Isabel. We toured the slightly disturbing mummy museum, the Diego Rivera house, and the central square. What a blast! We owe a huge thanks to Matt for translating the tour in the Diego Rivera house for us…it was a great learning experience.

Later on that evening everyone gathered for the walk to dinner. The spot Christian rented out was incredible. Great food, great drinks and a great view. The group that volunteered with the Muskoka Foundation gave a wonderful presentation and some of the girls from another Guanajuato orphanage were present to share their photos. Shortly after the presentation, the Maya Rally introduction began. The teams were announced and everyone proceeded to the front to collect their information package and to introduce themselves. After all of the entries, Christian began his wrap up speech while sneakily pulling an additional package out of his bag and placing it in front of our faces saying “We just might have one other team joining us!” After glancing at each other in an uncertain way, we jumped up and gave an on the spot introduction of ourselves. What the hell, we were going to the same places anyway!

For more photos click here!

 

[Deleted member 12023]

MACHINE GUN MEXICO
by Nate

Ok, so now that I got your attention I might as well start by saying this article has nothing to do with machine guns or weapons of any sort. I am talking about the Maya Rally, and the need for speed flying through the streets of Mexico.

We were given the opportunity to join the Maya Rally in Guanajuato. The rally is a scavenger hunt of sorts taking us from Guanajuato to Bacalar where there would be an “End of the World” party! As you can see the world did not end, which is why I am now able to write this post.

We were given an entry packet which consisted of different categories and ways you can earn points. The team in the end with the most points wins. Pretty simple stuff…or is it?

Day 1- Guanajuato to San Miguel de Allende

We were given orders that all teams would meet at Applebees (of all places) at 10 o’clock for a police escort into the central square of Guanajuato. The teams made a mad dash out of the campground running late, in typical fashion. Several wrong turns, and a handful of U-turns later the convoy pulled in just in the nick of time. I’m not sure who was leading the convoy that day, but I think their GPS was playing tricks with them.

Once everyone arrived, we got down to business. A handful of pictures, put on our rally stickers, put Brady’s rally issue bandana on and away we went. It was a pretty cool feeling flying through town with a police escort in Mexico.

The official start of the rally was in the Central Square in Guanajuato. It made for a really spectacular place for photos! It got the locals going as well, with new interviews and bystander photos.

After an hour or so it was time to go. With a running start to the vehicles, we were off!

Since it was late in the day we were not going to attempt a long distance drive so instead we went to see Cristo Rey (a 60’ statue of Jesus in the exact geographical center of Mexico) with Jeff and Monica from Overland the World and made a late afternoon drive to San Miguel de Allende. We met up with Matt and Isabel at a campground where we made a delicious dinner together before going out on the town. San Miguel is another beautiful historic city in the mountains. With the chilly air and our jackets on it almost seemed like Christmas time at home.

Day 2- San Miguel de Allende to Uruapan

The next morning we got off to a late start due to some much needed errands before teaming up with Jeff and Monica again. A late start usually leads to a late finish, and that it was. We pulled into the campground just past dark after a blind drive up the mountain pass to the volcano. We set up camp and Sarah and Monica got busy making some homemade mac & cheese finished off with a torch melted topping!

Day 3- Uruapan to Mariposa Monarcha Reserve

This is where the journey starts to get interesting. Because we were a little short on time with the rally being so fast we decided that the quickest way to get to the volcano would be on horses. Now, I have never really ridden a horse before besides maybe a pony during my childhood, but it sounded like fun! My horse was Caballo Blanco, or as Matt named him, “The White Knight”.

It was about a two hour horse ride up to the volcano. As you are weaving through the volcanic rock fields it becomes prevalent that there used to be a village here. A beautiful steeple towers over the ruins of a former church where a piece of cloth attached to the cross still waves eerily in the wind. Looking at the volcano in the background, you can’t help but wonder the panic that ran through people as the volcano erupted wiping out their entire village.

Walking back to our trusty steeds there was a family set up making blue corn tortillas over an open fire and serving up some delicious tacos. Opting to grab lunch before heading back to town, we remembered that we needed a cooking class for the rally. Matt, with some smooth talking spanish, asked the women if we could get an impromptu lesson in making some tortillas. They graciously let us attempt their skill, with limited success…in fact some of us even had our tortillas taken away from us because we were so bad .

Mounted up on Caballo Blaco with a full belly, it was going to be a good ride back. Now for some reason, I think my horse was a little anti-social as it was not at all interested in taking the group shot with everyone else. The White Knight liked to be in the lead and honestly I wasn’t complaining. I didn’t want to be down wind from all of the other poopers anyway. It was just me, my horse, and Brady running along side…until Matt had another plan. Now for some reason, Matt was given a little pony. However it was a pony who liked to run. Matt and Caballito came from behind and were coming in quick for a pass. The White Knight, although anti-social, was a fierce competitor and would not allow a pass from a pony. Once he got a whiff of the competition in the air he was off! Full tilt sprint with no concern for his passenger’s lack of horse riding ability. I was on the white roller coaster of death, hanging on for dear life. I tried everything from pulling back on the reigns to saying “whoa horse” with no success. The White Knight was in the Kentucky Derby and he was going for the win! Eventually we hit a rocky section of trail where he slowed enough that I could coax him out of the zone to a slow walk and so I could get some feeling back in my butt. He never would stop for me. Did he know I was a beginner? Was he upset that my dog challenged him with a stomping session earlier in the morning? Was he just having a rough week? To this day I don’t know what went through his head in that sandy stretch of trail and probably never will. All I do know is that Caballo Blanco, although crazy as hell, was a good horse.

After a wild ride and a long drive we pulled into another small mountain village after dark. Luckily Matt was already there and had secured a place to camp in a family’s front yard with a nice view overlooking the hillside.

Day 4- Mariposa Monarcha Reserve to Teotihuacan

The next morning I awoke to the call of a sheep and the bark of a black dog. Brady and the sheep were having a moment through the glass of the truck window. Stepping outside to break up the madness I pulled on my dew soaked shoes and grabbed the camera. The village was cold and quiet. Children walked down the hill and men on horses went up the hill. I strolled through the village before my compadres woke up, taking snapshots along the way.

The villages you stumble upon can be amazing. This specific town wasn’t even on our radar before the rally, much less staying on the front lawn of a local fruit salesmen. Parts of me wish I could own a house perched atop the hill across the valley looking down on the cobbled streets, but I know inside that this village is best left untouched by the hands of a gringo.

A ‘good morning’ to the children and I was on my way back to wake up sleepy Sarah. We had big plans today! We were headed to the Monarch reserve up the mountain and we got to ride some more horses!

Marcos was the little boy who lived in the house. He and his cousin Omar offered to watch Brady for a nominal fee while we went to the reserve for the morning. Sarah and I agreed, as with the sun now coming out it would be too hot to leave him in the truck. We had some feelings of unease as we walked away from our dog who was left in the hands of two children we had met just the night before. Honestly, I think they had the same feelings of unease once they saw Brady yanking violently at his leash to get a piece of the sheep.

The walk to the reserve was quick and easy. Before we knew it we were at the top, on horses for the 20 minute ride up the mountain. Strolling through alpine fields and pine forests you begin to get a glimpse of the butterflies.

Millions of Monarchs migrate from North America each year to this one particular area of Mexico. Uncountable numbers cling to the trees in large clusters high up in the pines. If you did not know what they were you would almost think the trees had a fungus growing on them. The monarchs hibernate for the majority of their time, only coming down for a drink of water and a quick bite to eat. Words cannot describe how spectacular it was. Unfortunately, all good things need to come to an end and we needed to begin our trip back to camp as we had another long drive that day.

Back at the truck we found two boys sitting in camp chairs next to our amazingly well behaved dog wagging beside them. The boys were paid handsomely as they took such good care of our precious dog. After a few pictures with the family and a quick bite to eat we hit the road. We were off to the North side of Mexico City to catch an early morning glimpse of Teotihuacan, an ancient Aztec ruin. Now Mexico City is not my idea of a place I would like to drive the truck, or drive anything for that matter. Luckily it was outside the city, but we were close. Close enough to see the smog lagging in the valleys, and breathing becoming more difficult. Passing by plenty of rough looking neighborhoods with the sun setting beside us, we hammered down. We did not have a place to stay for the evening and it was getting dark fast.

To be continued…

More pictures here

 

[far]

Subscribed

How is yours MPG and the tanks under the truck what used do you do?

 

[Deleted member 12023]

How is yours MPG and the tanks under the truck what used do you do?

Far,

The newest trip MPG calculation came in @ 15.43MPG. Not bad considering the weight, roads and tires! The tanks under the truck are the NATO style cans from deutscheoptik. The are just held up by some tube steel and all thread. Although we haven't needed them yet, the have proven to work very well. They haven't moved at all or leaked.

Nate

 

[mtnbike28]

I just found your thread... very nice! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Christian P.]

Nate

thanks for posting that and joining the Rally! The "Running of the Gringos" in the central park of Guanajuato was an impromptu idea of Mark, but it was a lot of fun! there is a video of it by Bryon somewhere on Facebook...not sure if this link will work, you may need to go to the Maya Rally page

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151125366690916

http://www.facebook.com/mayarally

 

[far]

Far,

The newest trip MPG calculation came in @ 15.43MPG. Not bad considering the weight, roads and tires! The tanks under the truck are the NATO style cans from deutscheoptik. The are just held up by some tube steel and all thread. Although we haven't needed them yet, the have proven to work very well. They haven't moved at all or leaked.

Nate

Nice waiting for more updates

 

[Deleted member 12023]

MACHINE GUN MEXICO CONTINUED
by Nate

Luckily the teams we were traveling with had the Church’s book to camping in Mexico, which has proved it’s weight in gold on several occasions. Conveniently there happened to be a nice little campground two miles from the pyramid which was cheap, clean, and close enough to the pyramid for an early morning rise to beat the crowds.

Matt and Isabel pulled in a close 45 minutes after us due to some GPS gremlins leading them astray earlier in the day. Wrong turns aside, they still managed to make the group a phenomenal chicken mole dinner!

Day 5- Teotihuacan to Oaxaca

Matt and I both stepped out into the cool morning air simultaneously. With a quick grunt at each other we acknowledged how incredibly cold it was. The temperature had dropped into the upper 30’s that night, but it somehow went unnoticed until morning. Slowly the other sleepy campers emerged from their tents and got breakfast going and the chores of packing up underway. Sarah and I finally feel that we have an advantage over some of the overlanders with our truck’s simplicity. What takes others hours to pack up and reorganize is accomplished by the simple shutting of our tailgate.

Teotihuacan is what remains of an ancient Aztec village, once the home of approximately 125,000 people, estimated to have been built around 100BC. It is thought to have been one of the controlling cities of the world during it’s time.

We were the first on the scene besides a couple of locals selling trinkets and souvenirs. As we walked into the gates, the sun was just peaking over the edge of the first pyramid. There were several hot air balloons filling the sky and gracefully soaring over the ruins in silence. What made this peaceful village so interesting in the early morning chill was the techno music blaring away. Yup that’s right, there just so happened to be a rave on the outskirts of the village which made for a truly unique experience.

Unfortunately, we only had a few hours to walk around as we had a long haul to Oaxaca. So after gorging on a medley of different tamales, we were once again back on the road. The three of us stuck together for this long stretch of highway. Truck led the pack for most of the day sustaining an average speed of around 80mph through the mountain passes. The sun was setting before our destination yet once again but luckily we had a place to stay for the night. We caught wind of a couple, originally from Canada, who were opening a small campsite dubbed the name Overland Oasis. It is designed for those driving the Pan-Am or road tripping in general and they graciously extended an invitation to all teams of the Maya Rally.

Day 6- Oaxaca

Overland Oasis made for a perfect jumping point to check out Oaxaca. It was only a 10 minute drive to town yet was in a quiet little neighborhood to avoid the madness when you want.

There were two major things we needed to accomplish while in Oaxaca, tour a mezcal factory and eat foods… weird foods. One of the guys who helped organize the rally in Guanajuato was sponsored by Scorpion Mezcal, and conveniently they were located right in Oaxaca, perfect! We piled six people and the dog into our truck and headed out for the day. Rolling through the shady little neighborhood trying to locate the distillery, it was not an obvious operation. We stopped to ask locals where it was, yet no one knew. A store owner suggested that we go ask the drunk guy who was passed out on the sidewalk…a little cliche but it worked. As luck would have it he was leaning against the gates of the very distillery we were looking for.

Doug French, the owner of Scorpion Mezcal, came to greet us and give us a tour. We walked through the stages from agave growing in the field, to the distillation and aging process to tasting some varietals that have not yet left the plant for production. Doug lined up seven different varieties to sample from smooth and clean to eye twitching and chest hair growing. Now I don’t know much about mezcal, but I do know that seven shots for breakfast will get your Oaxacan day kicked off right!

After our mezcal medley, we hit the streets in search of some foods required for the rally. On the list for the day was: Huitlacoche (fungus that grows on corn), Chapulines (grasshoppers), Tacos de Tripas (tacos made with the stomach lining of a cow), and anything else out of the ordinary. We found them all! The food in Oaxaca is amazing, the markets are bustling and the heat is intense. All in all we had a great time with great friends!

Day 7- Oaxaca to Villahermosa

Google maps said seven hours to Palenque… no sweat. At this point driving ten hour days is like a stroll to the grocery store. Sarah and I were the first to hit the streets that morning. When it comes to driving days we prefer to get up with the sun and be in camp early enough to make a bite to eat and take a shower before bed. The first section, from Oaxaca to Tuxtepic, was a total roller coaster. We sea-sawed our way up to 10,000’ and back down to sea level over the course of a 100 miles. The road was so twisty that Sarah, Brady and I were all car sick. I didn’t know that it was even possible to make yourself car sick when you are the driver! Although we cursed the roller coaster road, it did treat us to an incredible stretch of cloud forest that, if not for the rally, we would have never seen.

Once the mountain stretch ended in Tuxtepic, the pace picked up and we were back up to highway speeds. It seemed like our timing might be on par with GoogleMaps, which is pretty unusual for Mexico, and then whammo! Traffic came to a dead hault, with no movement what so ever. Apparently the toll workers were on strike and they would block off the highways only letting a handful of cars pass at a time. Normally traffic will clear up with time so we decided to stick it out. After a quick stop we teamed back up with Matt and Isabel and settled in for the night from hell. Traffic moved roughly 100 ft every 20 minutes, so as you can imagine we were bored. It was at the point where you are so bored you can’t help but sleep, but traffic is moving too often to actually fall asleep. I was hunched over the center console on and off sleeping with a Coca Cola in hand. Our windows had to be open because the heat was so intense but there were so many people walking around the highways that we felt vulnerable sleeping with the windows open. The train of silent vehicles and big rigs went on for as far as the eye can see. Locals took advantage of the event by selling food and drinks up and down the highway. It was by far the worst traffic I have ever seen, and this is coming from someone who would commute from Maine to Boston on a daily basis! Sarah and I sat in traffic that day from 5pm until 2am where we pulled into a gas station to sleep for a few hours. The total distance moved in that time was 3 miles.

Day 8- Villahermosa to Francisco Escarcega

Awoken by the sound of big rigs firing up around us we knew traffic must have finally cleared up. Sarah, Matt, Isabel and I grabbed some coffee from the Pemex and hit the road again. Flying along at 65mph felt great… until the traffic struck again! ******, don’t these people sleep? Luckily we only sat in it for 2 hours that morning because the monster within me was scratching at my skin and looking for a way out!

We pulled into Palenque right around noon time; the hot jungle air was humid and the sun was set on blowtorch. The lush green grass and jungle trees were a nice treat to the arid desert that we had been in for so long. We had heard through the grapevine that there was a Rainbow Gathering in town which explained the abundance of deadlock and pachouli toting hippies. There were points awarded to team members who attended the gathering and made a trade with a post apocalyptic roll player. Unfortunately…or fortunately, we would not be attending this time, I have attended in the past but the timing was not proper for us on this gathering.

Palenque was truly amazing. Every time we visit a ruin I try to imagine living in these villages pre-civilization, when horses were the means of transportation and modern conveniences did not exist. Building these structures without power tools or heavy equipment is a feat that could not be accomplished in today’s world with today’s people.

The group decided to push on farther into the afternoon as it would cut the following day’s drive down to four hours. Pulling into the town of Francisco Escarcega we spotted a nice little hotel to crash at for the evening, unfortunately they only had one room available. Matt and Isabel were nice enough to offer to get the room and let us use the shower while we boondocked in the parking lot. That evening we split a round of humbre (cow udder) tacos for dinner and chased them down with a few celebratory beers.

Day 9- Francisco Escarcega to Bacalar

Four hours to the “end of the world” party! We arrived in Bacalar late afternoon with a top speed of 95mph chasing Matt’s WRX. A few teams were already on site soaking their driving aches away in the lagoon. Sarah, Brady and I followed suit and jumped it. Bacalar is a gorgeous and tranquil town located on a freshwater lagoon and has not yet been overrun with expats like many similar towns. One thing we found intriguing about Bacalar is the peculiar number of pizza places and farmacias. It’s the perfect place to cure your Vicodin and pepperoni cravings.

That evening all teams, besides a select few who dropped out of the rally, congregated for dinner, drinks and a dance party with a piñata. Several teams put together slideshows of their experiences and the winners were announced! It ‘s still up for debate who actually won the rally but it was not us I will just leave it at that for now. We had an excellent time and met some lifelong friends in the process. We also caught word of a possible Inca rally next year in South America…oh the possibilities!

you can find more photos here

 

[Deleted member 12023]

Nate

thanks for posting that and joining the Rally! The "Running of the Gringos" in the central park of Guanajuato was an impromptu idea of Mark, but it was a lot of fun! there is a video of it by Bryon somewhere on Facebook...not sure if this link will work, you may need to go to the Maya Rally page

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151125366690916

http://www.facebook.com/mayarally

Christian!

Thanks for the invite! How's the weather up there in tropical Montreal right now?

 

[Nomadllc]

Great adventures, and good reading from my snowy captains chair here in the frozen Rockies!! Thanks!!

 

[Deleted member 12023]

HASTA LUEGO, ME-HI-CO!
by Sarah

Months ago, when preparing for our trip, Nate and I got some interesting responses when we explained our future plans of driving the Pan American Highway. At least 90% of people thought we were completely crazy. The funny part is, they didn’t think we were crazy for quitting our jobs, selling all of our things and attempting to drive over 25,000 miles to the end of the earth. They thought we were crazy because we planned to simply drive through Mexico!

You could see people’s wheels turning, trying to figure out a way that we could skip his “horrendous” country and continue our travels. Typical responses were: “Well, I had a friend of a friend who’s sister’s boyfriend got robbed in Mexico.” or “I’ve heard that if you go to Mexico, you are pretty much guaranteed to be kidnapped, beheaded and dumped in the street.” and the typical, “Have you seen the news? It’s not safe to go to Mexico!”

We had been hearing these responses for years leading up to our departure date. After attempting to explain that it isn’t as bad as it seems, it was clearly a pointless battle. It wasn’t until the day before we planned to cross the border that we felt the slightest bit nervous to go to Mexico. Unfortunately, you cannot help but feel this way when you are constantly hearing all these negative perspectives.

I will not deny that there is a conflict going on in Mexico. However, it hardly ever involves anyone who is minding their own business and keeping their nose out of places it doesn’t belong.

Our experience throughout the entire country was absolutely wonderful. Mexico is beautiful and filled with lots of history, culture and some of the best food we have ever eaten!

When walking on the streets of a new town, we were met with wide grins and the most enthusiastic greetings. Mexicans are very hard working people. Day and night, you would see women hand washing their laundry, making tortillas on the side of the street and taking care of their children. You would see men farming, fishing, hand mixing cement on the side of the road, taking care of their cattle and doing everything they could to provide for their family.

It was not surprising to see men standing on the side of the road outside of a bank or tienda with a 12 gauge shotgun strapped to their front. It was also not surprising to be flagged to the side of the road at a military checkpoint and be surrounded by ten or more armed men questioning you while searching through the truck. We were stopped at 90% of the military and police checkpoints, however, it wasn’t to give us a hard time. It was to check our documents, make sure we were not bring anything illegal into their state and send us on our merry way. They were simply doing their jobs. We made sure to split up when getting the truck searched, strictly for precautionary measures. If they had checkpoints in the states, we would do the same. I would stay in the front of the truck while they opened the glove box, pondered through our books and center console and looked under the seats- all the while being very cautious around Brady. Meanwhile, Nate would go to the back of the truck and open it up for them. Most times they were totally enthralled by our refrigerator that the search stopped there. We personally think that half the time we were flagged to the side was because they wanted to check out the truck more than anything else.

We traveled for sixty days and over 4,200 miles throughout Baja and mainland Mexico without ever feeling like we were in danger. It is too bad that the media has put such a terrible image of Mexico into people’s heads.

Toward the end of our travels in Mexico we were camped at a restaurant parking lot in Mahahual, a popular cruise ship port, when we were approached by an American family. They asked us how we got our dog on the cruise ship. We replied that we had actually driven from Maine. They couldn’t fathom the fact that we had driven all the way there; the look on their faces was priceless. The father then turns to us with a very matter of fact look on his face and says, “Did you get robbed yet?”

Without hesitating, Nate burst out laughing. We later joked that we should have said, “Yup, we actually got robbed yesterday, and we are planning on getting robbed again this afternoon. We try to make it a daily occurrence!”

Don’t let the media or stories from a ‘friend of a friend’ stop you from traveling to this beautiful country. Don’t always believe what you hear until you have experienced it for yourself. Or on second thought…believe it and then we can keep beautiful Mexico all to ourselves!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and we had to continue our way South. So, for now, Hasta Luego Mexico! We WILL be back!!

 

[Deleted member 12023]

DON’T STOP, BELIZE-ING!
by Sarah

Unfortunately, when trying to come up with a unique title for this blog, this was all I could come up with. Oh, Journey, what have you done to me? (PS- I know you are all singing this song in your head now- catchy, ain’t it??)

After paying our import tax for the second time at the Mexican importation office…… wait what? Yeah, we did that. Apparently, when we got our tourist visas when we first crossed into Mexico, we paid an import tax of 295 pesos each (about $23 US). Then, when we left, we were charged again because we did not have our receipts to show we already paid it- doh! We did not figure this out until we were already in Belize, so there was no turning back. Oh well, $46 lost means less beer money that month

After checking out of Mexico, it was time to enter our third country of the trip! We crossed the bridge into Belize, ready to conquer our second border. We drove up to the fumigation building and paid the guy to “fumigate” our tires. We’re pretty sure they just sprayed water on the truck

After fumigation, it was time for immigration and customs. When walking into the building, we were greeted by an English speaking, dread lock toting Caribbean dude who welcomed us to Belize. We got our passports stamped, got the import permit for the truck and were on our way to “declaring” Brady. We were directed into a separate room to fill out the BAHA paperwork where we were informed that we were needed to submit an application 7-10 days ahead of time. Well we didn’t, so we asked what we could do. The man told us that it was technically considered a federal crime to cross the border with an unapproved animal so we would be charged a fee of $25 US dollars to expedite the process. No biggie, except now we were up to $71 in lost beer money for the month- what ever will we do??

After getting all of the necessary documentation and insurance for the truck, we were on our way! Sarteneja was our first planned stop. We wanted to check out the northeastern coast of Belize and we heard rumors of hand cranked ferries. Bonus!!

The road to Sarteneja proved to be less than perfect, but Truck was up for the challenge. A family headed to the village offered to show us the way, which proved to be an excellent decision! Flying through their dust cloud wake we weaved side to side avoiding the lawnmower sized potholes while trying to keep their taillights in sight.

We pulled into Backpacker’s Paradise just before sunset and got settled in our parking lot campsite.

After talking with Ed, one of the owners, about the traditional boat making in Sarteneja we went on a hunt to find these magnificent pieces of art. Unfortunately we were there on a day that all of the boat makers had off. Sarteneja is a sleepy, tranquil town with aquamarine water and a whole lot of nothing going on. We spent a couple of nights, relaxing and reading among the fruit and mahogany trees before heading south.

Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary is popular for bird watching and their abundance of cashew trees. We were there in the very beginning of their high season so weren’t able to see a huge variety of birds however we were able to walk around their trails and see egrets and huge cashew trees!

We camped in an old cow field that night. Right before going to bed, Nate went to shut the gate to the field. As he was walking, he noticed thousands of dew drops flickering in his headlamp light in the grass. Thinking it was a little weird because it was a dry, warm day, he got a little closer to the dew drops. Once he got close, he realized they were actually very large, brown spiders!! Thousands of them!! After forcing me against my will to see the dew drop spiders, we decided to seal ourselves in the truck for the night where we continued to have nightmares of spiders crawling all over us!

The next morning, we drove from Crooked Tree to Hopkins. Hopkins is a little town right on the water with beautiful beaches! Our friends, theDangerz, were already there and our other friends Mat and Isabel were on there way! Just in time for New Year’s Eve!

To get to Hopkins, we took the Coastal Highway. At this point in our travels throughout Belize, we had spent more time on dirt roads than paved roads so it didn’t come as a surprise that this road was not paved. When we pulled up to the police checkpoint, we could either go left on the Coastal Highway or go straight to stay on the Western Highway. Nate rolled down the window and greeted the man with “Hello, how are you?” to which the police officer responds “I wanna buy dis truck!” We threw our heads back in laughter and proceeded to ask him if the best way to get to Hopkins was to go left. “Ya, mon! It’s a little rough, but dat’s the way you wanna go. Wit dis truck, no problem!” It ended up being 38 miles of the most remote road we had been on since Baja, complete with potholes the size of the truck and bridges we weren’t sure would hold the truck’s weight. It also had some of the most fantastic jungle views we had seen in Belize.

TheDangerz were able to make a deal with the owner of a restaurant who let us camp in his parking lot and use his internet as long as we bought a few drinks each night. Perfect! The restaurant was having a New Year’s Eve bash that night, complete with a DJ! We came up with a brilliant plan to set up a “tailgate bar” at the truck for the night. We would bounce back and forth from the bar to the truck all night long- it was a blast! We ended up attracting a few locals as well, what can we say, we know how to party!

We decided to spend our last couple of days in Belize with Mat and Isabel, taking the night tour of the Belize Zoo, going cave tubing and even visiting the Belize Central Prison gift shop! Yeah that’s right, they have a gift shop! As Lonely Planet puts it: “Only in a country as laid back as Belize could a fully functioning prison also be considered a tourist attraction.” “All funds earned by gift shop sales directly assist in the rehabilitation of Belize’s criminal element (who might otherwise wind up robbing you on your next visit to Belize.)” Why wouldn’t we want to stop there?!

When driving throughout Belize we couldn’t help but notice the vast amounts of beautiful, undeveloped land. The wetlands are overgrown with brilliantly colored plants and flowers, jungles stretched farther than the eye could see and the beaches with water the color you think could only exist in movies. Belize also has some of the most joyful and friendliest people we have come across on our trip. They wear vibrant colored clothing, sing and dance in the most rhythmic and catchy ways and prepare the best home cooked comfort foods we have had on the road thus far.

So, hold on to that feeling, Belize. You’re doing something right!

Here’s a video for all you journey fans out there: You know you love it!
For more pics click here

 

[Christian P.]

Christian!

Thanks for the invite! How's the weather up there in tropical Montreal right now?

We never made it to Montreal....we got stuck in Playa Del Carmen for the BPM music festival....turned out we had some DJ friends from San Francisco and Tokyo playing there around NYE, so we just stay there instead of freezing up in Quebec. Was the right decision... Then we flew straight to Florida for my business meeting.

We are now back in California. We found someone to bring the 4Runner back but we left the Benz in Cancun.

We are already planning our next segment when we pick up the Benz back and bring it somewhere else South...and trust me we will go through Belize first!!!



And I am still trying to decide if we do this crazy rally again next year...

 

[ClayH]

Great write up you too have done thus far. Looking forward to following this more.

 

[TheBuddyExpedition]

Great Report!!