Yucatan/Mexico 08 with Brewers

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Betty, sounds like a good plan with the water.  

Ardra and Betty, When we were in Puerta Vallerta (spelling?) we were so good, then the last day we went to a Marriott hotel and ate in their restaurant.  3 of our group had salads...I didn't.  Three got so sick.  We all were sure it was safe because it was an American named restaurant that the water that they had washed the lettace with would be good.  But not so.  When we are in Mexico, I get fruit that can be peeled and drink beer.....works every time.

Betty....side note:  Tim has rekindled his love for spam.  We have been having it nearly daily with eggs and hash browns.  Terry would be proud.  Also, I thought of you the other day.  I've been picking out carpet and thought to myself...at least Betty was only picking out a small area.   I'm trying to do an entire house....gad zooks this is hard.

Keep the daily reports coming.

Marsha~
 
Ardra,

While we were in Ensenada with Dave & Lisa and their boat, we ate dinner at a decent restaurant at the marina hotel. When they served water in glasses, Dave asked if he could have bottled water. We kidded him that they filled the bottles from the same faucet that they filled the glasses  ;D
 
February 9, 2008

Piste, Chichen-Itza

Today we traveled to the touristy spot of Piste a small village near the ruins of Chichen ?Itza, which are some of the most visited in the world. We had good roads and passed through very quaint villages. The plan was to drive the village and park all of us in the city ball field.  At last night?s trip briefing we discussed how we might be able to circle the wagons and park nose to tail so we could all run generators.

Well even the best laid plans, call for some flexibility in Mexico. When we arrived the ballpark had rocks across the driveway, as they were having a ballgame in there both today and tomorrow.  The wagon masters came on the CB and said find a spot to pull over.  I had visions of having to sleep alongside the road tonight.  Within a short time Plan B had been devised and we were directed on to a small grassy RV park that was VERY tight to get our 21 rigs into.  To keep our group together we parked in aisles, driveways and every which ways with but inches to spare on mirrors in parking.   Thankfully, the park is associated with a hotel that has a lovely pool.  We were invited us in for refreshment from the heat and humidity. We had synchronized swimming, water aerobics; toss each other in the pool and noodle floating sessions. Fern brought out his boom box and we even had Country 2 step dancing.  Sandy was in heaven!  It was a good thing for this bit of relief from the heat as the power has such low voltage that most of us are without any power.  We are so close together that it would be dangerous for us to run our generators but we are making the best of it.
At the hotel tonight, run by an American, we had a buffet dinner and the entertainment of the night was a family who performed Mexican Dances to our total delight.  Many of our group was invited to participate but they were not as good as the performers but did provide a laugh!


Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  79.2
Temperatures:    High 95    Low 70   Humidity 86%     0.02 inch of rain
GPS Coordinates: N 20 41.58  W 88     34.37
 

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Looks and sounds like you guys are having a great time. Leave it to my mom to be the hair dresser for the entire camp. Keep the photos coming out way.
Angie Yandell
Sandy's daughter
 
Guess who`s drink (Mayen Coffee, actually a lot like the Spanish Coffee) that Mexican is making... BIEN... mine of course, got tired of the `flambe - creme caramel`you get for desert everywhere we go.. not my favorite but WOW... that coffee was some DELICIOUS, Nann!
 
You would just die to see what he eats off the street vendor carts.

Betty, I saw that fish taco he was eating.  Terry is a VERY trusting soul...

The lady dancers have pretty costumes.  And I like the second photo with a truck going one direction and another coming toward him in the same lane.

ArdraF
 
February 10, 2008

Chichen-Itza

Today we toured the ruins of Chichen-Itza. This amazing city has recently been named as one of the 7 man made Wonders of the World so the Mexican government is now taking more care to preserve the ruins.  We split into 2 groups for a guided tour.  There is so much to say about these ruins.  One of the things I noticed first was the perspective of the guide.  While in Tajin a few days ago, the very educated guide imparted his information as ?fact.?  Abel, our guide today, gave us food for thought.  He presented theories as speculation on what might have been regarding the rituals and ceremonies of this place.  He implied there had been no human sacrifice.  He asked, ?Why would a civilization so advanced as to be able to construct the amazing qualities of this pyramid have to resort to loss of life??  He suggested the carvings could also reveal their reverence for life by using metaphors!  He pointed out the precise geometric qualities of construction of this pyramid and it?s relation to the calendar with the number of steps correlating to days in a year.  He pointed out that on the spring and fall equinox days the sunrises right on the god. He demonstrated the outstanding acoustical qualities of the placement of the buildings and clapped while the echo came off sounding like a bird.  We oooooooweed and ahhhed.  I could not begin to do justice to the names of the places.  Do your own google search on Chichen-Itza for the facts.  I was in awe all day.  There were many vendors with shopping opportunities along the walkways today.  I got an early Valentines Day gift from Terry.  He was "in"  to shopping today.

The afternoon surprised us with a delightful downpour of nearly an inch of rain in 30 minutes, fortunately we were back from lunch and in our rig. At 7 pm in the evening we car-pooled back to the ruins for a nighttime Light and Sound show.  We were given headphones with an English translation of the historical version of the ancient civilizations and we told that nearly 2 million people still use the Mayan language so the culture is not lost.

Fifteen of us had a very special opportunity after the light show.  I will not give you the details about it but I did giggle in the dark all evening and was told to be quiet!  It will be a story to be told in person and I shall share no pictures.   

Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  0
Temperatures:    High 87    Low 69  Humidity  94%    0.091 inch of rain
GPS Coordinates: N 20 41.58  W 88    34.37
 

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Betty Brewer said:
February 10, 2008

Chichen-Itza

Today we toured the ruins of Chichen-Itza.<snip>

One thing that many "gringos" do not know is that the correct pronunciation is Chich?n Itz? (that is to say, the accent is on the second syllable in each instance).  We found that arriving at the "new" CI at its opening hour allowed us to miss the tour bus cadre, and when those folks arrived, we went to the old CI, with no tour bus people obscuring every view.  Plan ahead is the rule of the day! ;)
 
Hi Betty,

Last year we had booked a cruise out of Tampa to Cozumel and Cancun. We were planning on a side trip to Chichen-Itza. Then we received an email saying the ship was going to leave the port 4 hours earlier than originally planned. That would have meant we would either be pushing the envelope to return on time or have to miss the tour. Decided the trip wasn't worth the cost if we couldn't see Chichen-Itza. Thanks for the photos At least we now know what some of it looks like. :)
 
Jim Dick said:
Decided the trip wasn't worth the cost if we couldn't see Chichen-Itza. Thanks for the photos At least we now know what some of it looks like.

Jim,
A good call on your part to cancel I think.  Chichen-Itza is NOT to be missed.  We did go early, right when they opened and avoided the throngs of tour busses.  The people I got in my photos were from our group and I wanted to show their faces to friends and family following along.  It is a big place and was relativlely uncrowded until busses arrived.  The only down side to going early is that not all of the vendors were set up.  But by mid day we had a huge selection of souvenir stuff from which to choose.
 
sptrain98 said:
We found that arriving at the "new" CI at its opening hour allowed us to miss the tour bus cadre, and when those folks arrived, we went to the old CI, with no tour bus people obscuring every view.  Plan ahead is the rule of the day! ;)

Yep, We did it  just like you said.  We were there at 8 am when they opened the doors. It is also cooler  that time of day.

Betty
 
February 11, 2008
Cancun,  Meco Loco Trailer Park

Exiting the RV Park this morning was a bit like fitting a rubix cube together.  We had to leave in order so that the guy beside you had room to turn around and get out. We actually made it out in a lot less time than it took for all of us to get into the park. We traveled on two toll roads and paid a total of 476 pesos (approximately $47.60) but that expense seemed to keep out all traffic.  We are not towing a vehicle so our fees are less than most others on the trip. The good news on this expensive toll was that there was virtually no one else driving it today.  We traveled through dense green jungle today and it is so easy to see how ruins could quickly become overgrown by the lush tropics here. 

We?ve arrived in Cancun!!  Now I may warn you that not all parts of Cancun are the white sandy beaches and lovely hotel scene you might see on the travel brochures.  We came through the ?local? part of the city for 15 miles today.  Lots of narrow roads, traffic, rain filled potholes and cars passing on right.  Not many navigators enjoyed this ride. 

At happy hour we were treated to Margaritas courtesy of Owen, Paula and Sandy.  Paula made sure our glasses were never empty.  Sherry served delicious sausage, which was made from venison provided by Aaron?s first deer.  (Aaron is her grandson)  Hi to those reading.  As the margaritas flowed, we heard of some laughs had by drivers who failed to follow the directions of their navigator.  Seems Art went the wrong way down a ramp and Jerry failed to make a turn as his wife followed in the jeep honking!!  All men seem to be the same when it comes to listening to or following directions.

Several of the group adjourned to Flamingos for a delicious dinner.  We are stuffed and will get an early night as we have a full day of touring tomorrow.


Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  127
Temperatures:    High 82    Low 68  Humidity 94%   
GPS Coordinates: N 21 12.77  W  86    48.22
 
I enjoyed following your Yucatan/Mexican 2008 journal and plotting Terry?s Datastormsuser.com coordinates for future reference. After 1,900 miles from the border of Texas to Cancun, 10 RV parks later and 21 of 46 days gone by, I have not heard of your caravan playing the Mexican Train Game.

Did you get the official rules to the Mexican Train Game from the locals?

This will come handy since your one of the few that played the game in Mexican soil. That makes you the expert. The RV Forum needs someone knowledgeable to interpret how the rules of the game are played by the locals. The oldest domino sets have been dated from around 1120 and perhaps the local guides may know a thing or two how the games were played by the Mayans. Heck, Juan the pushcart Fish Taco vendor probably knows about it. Just remember to quote from the locals when you come to the table and referee a dispute.
 
Betty Brewer said:
Jim,
A good call on your part to cancel I think.  Chichen-Itza is NOT to be missed.  We did go early, right when they opened and avoided the throngs of tour busses.  The people I got in my photos were from our group and I wanted to show their faces to friends and family following along.  It is a big place and was relativlely uncrowded until busses arrived.  The only down side to going early is that not all of the vendors were set up.  But by mid day we had a huge selection of souvenir stuff from which to choose.

Learning about the tour buses I'm not so sad about missing it. It would have been on one of those buses! I find it very frustrating trying to take good photos with hundreds of people milling around. Someone always seems to be in the way just as I'm ready to shoot. :)

Maybe we'll get a chance someday to make the trip.
 
vlady daddy said:
I enjoyed following your Yucatan/Mexican 2008 journal and plotting Terry?s Datastormsuser.com coordinates for future reference. After 1,900 miles from the border of Texas to Cancun, 10 RV parks later and 21 of 46 days gone by, I have not heard of your caravan playing the Mexican Train Game.Did you get the official rules to the Mexican Train Game from the locals?

Vlady,
Sorry I have been so busy that Mexican train just has not fit into the scheduel.  Several times on the caravan, folks said they wanted to play games but  time slipped away.  I like your idea of asking locals for rules.  I'll have ro round up some dominos too.

Betty
 
suecarrier said:
;)hey! trip well deserved, enjoy love ya's sis/sue carr
Hi Sue,

I'm glad friends and family of those on our caravan can follow along in our fun.  I discovered Annette and I have a common love of certain books (The Secret) and Terry and Fern have the same tastes in food....add lots of salt and eat everything in sight!  :)

Keep on following our trip. Tomorrow is 1/2 way.

Betty
 
February 12, 2008
Xcaret  49 miles from Cancun

I had never heard of the place we visited until today.  It is called Xcaret ( X?s are pronounced as sh so it sounds like shiscaret.  I think.  It is an amusement park that I can compare to Disneyland, Wild Animal Park and Monterey Aquarium.  We arrived after a 49 mile bus ride and were given maps, coupons for lunch, drinks and discounts on scuba gear.  We were told to meet for the dinner show at 5:30.  On your mark, get set, HAVE FUN!  We played like kids all day. The first thing we did was to figure out how to get a locker, get our clothes changed, pack a wet bag, get a life jacket, get snorkel equipment and get into a river which follows an under ground tunnel for almost a mile. We floated down this large tunnel with about 15 of our closest friends.  Or at least they were after all of the pushing and shoving and water banging us into each other and the side.  We finally got the hang of just relaxing and letting the slow current carry us around the twists and turns of this tunnel.  Occasionally a skylight would appear and we could see the sky above us.  We paddled and screamed and posed for the many photo opportunities along the way.  At the end we were wet, tired and very hungry so we trotted off to the seafood buffet.  It overlooked the part of Cancun you see in the travel magazines.  White sandy beaches, turquoise waters, then deep blue waters, Palm trees, balmy breeze and a scrumptious buffet.  We went back for seconds, desserts, ordered beers and then we were set for the rest of the day to tour the park.  We went off to snorkel, rest under the cabanas, hang in the hammocks and use up the free beer coupons. We saw the bats in caves, big sea turtles in ponds, manarays, rays, leopards, fish, dolphins, parrots, a tapir,  and many others but I?m too tired to recall them all.  We managed to return our locker keys, change clothes and meet the group for the dinner show at the theatre.  The theatre is a huge arena type deal that seats 4,000 people and we had VIP seats that included a 4 course dinner and wine with the show. 
The show depicted  an historical timeline of the Mexican history through dance and music. The ancient games of Mayans were enacted and we cheered when our side got a goal.  We marveled at the feathered costumes of the Mayan dancers. I wanted to boo and hiss as the Spanish soldiers came on the scene (but they were good dancers). The songs and dances went through the history and came into modern time where we saw a rendition of the Mexican hat dance. The Mariachi?s trumpeted and singers sang and the audience clapped.  I can?t begin to describe how elaborate the costumes and how precise the dancers.  There were hundreds of dancers who thrilled us all evening.  It was like a culmination of all that we had learned on our trip so far in a musical format.  But alas the day ended and we arrived back at our motorhome at 10:15 pm.  I?m writing this late as I don?t want to get behind in my story telling.  Tomorrow is another big day in Cancun. 


Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  0
Temperatures:    High 84    Low 71  Humidity 92%    .2 inches of rain during night
GPS Coordinates: N 21 12.77  W  86    48.22
 

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