Yucatan/Mexico 08 with Brewers

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Betty/Terry:

Thanks so much for "taking" us along with you?  We enjoyed every bit of it and as others have said, you described everything in such great detail, we "felt" we were there with you...  Have a safe trip back.  Hope to get to see you soon!

Daisy/Fred
 
March 7, 2008  Back in the USA

We were in the second group to leave CD Victoria this morning.  Bob and Lane had a flat on their tow vehicle as they pulled out and true to form the group helped Bob with a patch and got him ready to leave with our group.  The drive was on good roads as we watched cornfields with tractors, a few donkeys with carts and  many small farms.  The closer to the border we got the more prosperous people seem to be. We stopped for PEMEX fuel one last time and met up with our leaders, Pat and Alice.  They guided us to the border where there were way too many vehicles crossing at one time to go smoothly.  When we arrived, the group ahead of us had not yet cleared the immigration booths.  We had to present our Tourist visas and passports for stamping and if we had no desire to return to Mexico we had to turn in our holograms and vehicle numbers.  Terry and I had no tow vehicle and that made it easier so we got through with a minimum of frustration.  At the US inspection we lost 4 apples due to the agricultural inspection.  It was as if a weight had been lifted from our shoulders to once again be on ground of USA.  We feel so fortunate to have been born here in the USA to be able to enjoy the infrastructure, amenities and English speaking culture that we so take for granted.  People should travel to a third world country to realize how lucky we are to be US citizens. If you have only flown in to Cancun for a week?s vacation, you have not been to the Mexico we saw.

We traveled back to Texas trails RV Park for the night and at least half of the caravan met up to go out to dinner at Olive Garden tonight.  We enjoyed salad, water with ice, cloth napkins and many services.  Terry was delighted to be presented with a Gift certificate for Olive Garden from the group as a Thank you for providing Internet services during our trip.  It was a generous gesture and very much appreciated!!!

All of us are going in different directions early in the morning but we are assured that our paths will cross again.  I shall share my reflections on this trip tomorrow when I?ve had some rest and relaxed.

Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  209
  Temperatures: High 72  Low 47  High winds all day   
      GPS Coordinates: N 26  11.690    W  98 11.030

PS Good night Art
 
March 8, 2008  Traveling up the road toward Dallas

Did you think you were rid of me yet?


So this last night and this morning at our Texas Trail RV Park, we let our water run for a long shower, kept all lights on and put on all TV?s.  We could run water through our taps for coffee. (If we had drained all Mexico water yesterday) Welcome to 50 amp full hoops US style!

After a tearful good bye to our friends who got up early enough to see us off out of Pharr, Texas, we hit the road again.  I felt at a bit of a loss today.    I had no trip log book to follow landmarks.  Terry?s GPS was doing all of the navigating.  The roads were like butter.  We stopped at a Speedco for an oil change and lube and had a brief encounter with rig not starting.  After a bit of priming, we were on the road again.  While we were close to Ned and Lorna we were not close enough to make our visit happen.  We are spending the night at Cabalas and I am making linguini and clams.  While driving today Terry and I commented on many things that we think were significant pertaining to our Mexican experiences.

1. This trip is not for everyone.  The exact text of the Adventure Caravan Brochure reads:  These trips are for the adventuresome and not for those who put a high priority on the importance of RV facilities and roads.  These are exotic trips with a great appeal and exciting lifetime experiences but the roads are poor in some areas and RV accommodations are rustic in many areas we travel. 
When the trip information we received said  ?full hook ups? the services could vary from water (non potable), or maybe sewer and an electric outlet like that you might see in an old home in a fence.  The dump station might be not very accessible for a big rig.  Terry never found a ground on any of the Mexican hook ups.  He used his meter to verify that the power ranged from well over 130 volts to 80 volts and in some park that range fluctuated between the high and lows.  So basically we ran our generator ? of the time even in park that had ?power.?  I share this only for those who may come with high expectations.  We dealt with this as a feature of travel in Mexico.  Thank Goodness we had some experience with travel in Mexico.  We were NEVER disappointed with our Mexican RV Parks as we kept our expectations realistic to a poor country.  We  saw fewer than a dozen private RV?s on our entire trip.  If there are no customers, why would any one want to invest in upgrading or maintaining an RV Park?  Caravans are the lifeblood of many of the places we enjoyed.


2. Security for Tourists is not an issue.  We welcomed the many Military checkpoints with armed youngsters fulfilling their mandatory 1-year military duty at age 18.  The armed presence is a deterrent for the potential drug runners.  At almost every checkpoint, those of us in a caravan were waved through.  The Mexican Government sees tourism as an asset and basically left us alone. We did not see any banditos nor did I ever feel unsafe deep into Mexico at any time.
3. We did not see any low sulfur diesel anywhere. So much for buying a new RV.
4. I have a much better appreciation for the term ?dirt poor.?  Chiapas is a very poor state but many of the villages have little more than cinder blocks around their  homes.  The basic building material of homes in Mexico is the Cinder block. There are no ?building codes? and Terry cringed at the wiring issues.  Rebar sticks out of construction so families can ?add on? later when funds may allow or families grow.  I think of  ?stick house? construction as having wood 2x4?s and we saw almost no homes with this material.
5. I have a much better understanding of the will for a Mexican to immigrate to the US.  They are warm people with a desire to do well by their family.  The worst neighborhood I?ve seen in the US is considerably better than many in Mexico.  NO wonder immigrants send a portion of their salary back to family in Mexico. 
6. Topes (killer speed bumps) control speed in small towns but are worse than any frost heave we ever encountered in Alaska.  Many are unmarked and some are inverted. They give lots of business to tire and alignment places.  They do control speed without radar cops!
7. The fuel stations are Government controlled and called PEMEX stations.  They are well designed for easy access, large and come at very regular intervals.  Flying J should take a lesson. The Mexican diesel fuel was very reasonably price compared to US prices.  Of the hardships in Mexico, getting fuel was not one of them!!
8. A few of my friends have commented that I seemed unhappy on the trip.  Not so.  This was a trip of a lifetime with some inconveniences compared to US standards. 

Some on our caravan coined the phrase ADR (another damn ruin) while we did see many ruins; I loved to learn the history of the Mexican people. I have a much better understanding of the Olmec, Toltec, Mayan and finally Aztec Civilizations.  I wish I had a better understanding of the American Native and their development over similar time frames.  The history of mankind is fascinating.  I hope we do not repeat any mistakes of the past. 

This was quite a trip.  I am glad we had the comfort of friends on a caravan to make things fun all along the way.  After all without people we have nothing.  Thank you for following our trip and for your kind words of encouragement along the way.

I am so glad to be back in the USA.  We are still far from home and life issues have caught up with us (via cell phone) quickly, but we loved every moment of our Mexican Adventure. 

NO matter how I may have painted the hardships, the bottom line is that I learned so much about another country and I?m glad all of you were with me for the journey!

I am so blessed with privileges!

Betty Brewer

 


 
Betty

Just like Alaska, this has been a FANTASTIC trip log.

Thank You!

Paul
 
I looked forward everynight to reading your log.  Loved it.  Thank you so much for sharing it with us.  Thought your pictures were fantastic, especially the ones with the beach coverups!!!
I am going to miss your daily adventures.
Take care....
 
Betty, Terry, and other contributors!

Thank you so much for sharing your Yucatan adveture with us.  Betty, I know first-hand how difficult it is to keep a running log over an extended period of time, so thank you very much for both your time and effort.  Terry, your photographs and ability to get them uploaded also were time-consuming but they really added to Betty's verbiage - especially those of the various ruins which I so enjoyed seeing through your camera's eye.  To the others, we may not have met, but we now feel like we know you and might even recognize you if we cross paths, so thanks for joining in.

Betty, I was going to ask you to summarize your impressions after getting back onto U.S. soil but you beat me to it.  It was a wonderful journey for us all.  And, yes, we too are everlastingly thankful to have been born in the U.S.A.  We are so fortunate!  The other countries are great to visit, but it's always so good to get back to our own country.  Welcome home!

ArdraF
 
Thank you very much Betty!

I have seen sights that I've read about and studied through your "eyes" via your descriptive prose and Terry's pictures. As a child, I was captivated by the pictures in Life  and National Geographic of peoples and places foreign to this boy that moved from the plains of Kansas to Bear Creek Canyon in Colorado. Radio programs filled my imagination with places I hoped to one day see. From these a life long love of history and the study of it's lessons became my personal journey.

Drive safe, new adventures wait. Hoping that our trails cross again one day I remain,

Very appreciative, y

 
Hi Betty - Thanks for making our trip come alive. The gift of your travel journel has been enjoyed by all of us. On behalf of the entire group on the trip with you and our friends and family - Thank you!!! It was a great adventure! Love, Alice
 
Thanks for the memories! It was great to read our adventure from your point of view - which by the way mirrors ours. See you soon (ie in June).
Love ya The MacKellars

 
Hi Terry & Betty, hope all is well!
We are still in Brownsville and I am planning to present your DVD and my photos, maps, etc... to the crowd here.  I also wanted to print your trip log so I would have some notes to work with.  I tried printing directly to my HP Printer in numerous format: one page at a time, etc... Also, tried to print with Microsoft Imaging in multiple format.
I realize that it would be difficult for you to troubleshoot my problem from your location... but I was wondering if you can suggest something to me that might make this task simple for me.
Thanks for your help !
Annette
 
Annette,

If you click the Print button at the top or bottom of any page in this topic, you'll get a complete list of all the messages in the topic in chronological order formatted for printing.  However, it will include all messages, not just Betty's posts.
 
Thanks so much for sharing your trip!  This sounds like something we would really enjoy doing.  I have been to Mexico many times and have seen so much of those brightly painted items that they don't interest me.  But I have to admit I would have purchased that turkey too! 
 
Betty and Terry - Jerry and I want to thank both of you for sharing our adventures with friends and family through this forum.  It will also be so nice to have this as an important reminder of our trip.  It seems almost like a dream at this point --especially looking out the window at snow and trying to remember the sauna like heat.  We also want to express our sincere thanks for the wonderful CD that you did documenting our trip. 

We had an awesome time, saw amazing sights that few Americans really see when visiting Mexico, and faced challenges that could have been disasters.  We had wonderful wagonmasters (but we all knew they were - we had traveled with them before) and our tailgunners were always there for each of us.  We also had each other as was proven on our "day from Hell".  We had our ups and downs and our "goofs" were almost always known, but we all hung in there for each other (even helping one get down the pyramid that they had climbed).  That is one of the main beautys of traveling in a caravan.  We also were able to make some awesome new friends with whom we have shared an experience of a lifetime.  Safe travels to you and thank you.  Connie and Jerry
 
Thanks Ned for your help. I finally managed to print the document, my problem was with my printer.  Unfortunately though it did not print the photos.. I was wondering if you know if this is at all possible to print from the web site, rather than having to copy them into a folder on my laptop and print them from there.  If you have any tips on how I can do this real quick can you please let me know I really appreciate your help.
Thanks Betty for asking Ned to help me out.  The presentation that Cooch and I did to the people at Paul's RV was a real success thanks to you and Terry for doing that DVD.  Many people showed interest in taking on a tour, we are also trying to get people to join us for the Copper Canyon and Western Mexico tour in 2010. 
Take care and hope to see you again soon, give us a call if you are ever in the Ottawa, Ontario region.
Annette & Cooch
 
Annette, you can't print the images directly from the web page, you'll have to download them to your computer and print them from there.  Unfortunately, the Print function for the topic doesn't include any attachments.
 
You can print the photos without actually saving them to your computer, but it will take a couple of extra mouse clicks, and you print them one at a time:

  • Open your image viewing software.
  • While viewing a photo in your web browser, right-click the image.
  • Click Print Screen. This saves the image to the clipboard on your computer.
  • Switch to your image viewing software, right-click|paste the image.
  • Click File|Print.

Alternate procedure:

  • Open your image viewing software.
  • While viewing a photo in your web browser, right-click the image and select Copy the image.
  • Switch to your image viewing software, right-click|paste the image.
  • Click File|Print.
 
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