Yucatan/Mexico 08 with Brewers

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Alaskansnowbirds said:
Margi,

After you highlight the text you want to print. When you clicked on the Print button and the printer window opened, in the print range area did you select "SELECTION"? ALL is the default and will print what you got.

BINGO!!!  Thanks, Don.  Hi to Peg! :D

Margi
 
Thanks for the alternative method, Tom.  Don's suggestion worked really well.  I love this forum .. if one fix doesn't work, there's always an another fix  to try.  :D

Margi
 
Sorry we missed you while you were in Pharr. We are staying at Texas Trails in Pharr, how ever we just returned from a trip to Real de Catorce
in the central eastern Sierra Madre mountains.  Have a safe trip and give us a call if and when you return. The Baginskis' are here also.

Dave
 
January 24, 2008

CD Victoria to Tempico (or close)

Terry and I loved the 9 am departure time, as we are not early birds.  Every one was ready to go and a HUGE advantage of a caravan is that Hex the tail gunner walked out into traffic today to stop them so that we could get out of the RV Park on to a busy street, two or three rigs at time to get under way.  We followed the ?book? word for word and tope by tope. Tope is the Mexican word for speed bump.  I mean to tell you they slow traffic, without police, with these bumps in the road. 

We traveled through more rolling hill country with farms and scrub brush trees along the way and a few small towns.  Again the caravan got through a military checkpoints without stopping.  Those young guys in uniform are all armed and still smile at us.

We arrived at our destination; Tempico, Country Express Hotel Parking LOT  just after noon but did not venture out into town as it was not advised. WE would have gone swimming in the beautiful pool, but the wind was blowing and we were  shy.  Instead most of the group  played games as a group and had yet another happy hour.  I was one of the hostess? for Happy hour.  Did I tell you served SPAM (a Terry favorite)

Tonight I gave the RVForum information for friends and family to join in my travel log.  I hope you enjoy.  I also honored, our late departed Friend Shayne tonight with a photo on the rvforum . RIP.

Most of the group had dinner at the very nice HOTEL tonight and I may attest that the marguerites were wonderful!  Earlier in the evening the owner of the hotel cam out and gave each rig a souvenir of Mexico. 
We leave early (6:45 am so I am off to bed tonight)
Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  117
Temperatures:    High 73    Low  60
GPS Coordinates: N 22 N 30.966 W 98 07.199
 

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Betty:

Please say hello to Hex and Sandy for us and tell Hex people who stand in the road get run over. ;D ;D
 
January 25, 2008

Tempico  to Costa Esmeralda

The Adventure Caravan brochure advertising this Yucatan Adventure noted that this trip is not for the faint at heart and today proved that to be so.  What an adventure. We awoke at o? dark thirty and departed by the dawn?s early light. 7am.  While 237 miles is a normal driving day for us, I shall never ever again complain about any US road as we experienced the bumpiest roads with potholes the size of small cars. Terry thought some of the  potholes looked like bomb craters.  We detoured around two auto accidents with our trip leader stopping the oncoming truck traffic so we could sneak by over rows and rows of  TOPES. Each little village has a dozen or more topes that slow us down to a stop to inch over.  One in the caravan was not watching the book carefully enough and took a wrong turn. Someone else followed them down the wrong path. We waited until the group found itself again.  Gosh I?m glad that was not I. As we headed toward the coast, the scenery transitioned from dry grasses and yucca to a more jungle environment with Palm trees and tropical plants.  The grasses are green and the humidity is high. We passed lots of Mexican farms with corn growing and then orchard after orchard of oranges. We saw donkeys, dogs and ducks and pigs in a pasture.  We saw goats in gullies and a possum nearly became a road kill for us.  The PEMEX station we chose for fuel, while the rest of the group stopped for lunch, was closed so we headed on up the road on our own and waited for the caravan to catch up. We crossed through 5 tollbooths today and think we spent about 20 us bucks on them.  I?ve still must learn to convert the pesos in my head. The RV Park we are in tonight is steps from the ocean but we got in just before dark so have not yet explored. The RV park is washing rigs tomorrow; $25 for both a car and motorhome.  I forgot to tell you yesterday that Terry won the Wheel roulette.  Each person who chooses can put in a dollar and when we stop the next day, the number of the rig (which is painted on tailgunners tire) that ends up on the ground wins the pot.  We won $16 and promptly spent all of it and more going out to dinner and killer margaritas.  Tomorrow will be a tourist day and we are glad not to have another driving day in front of us.  We need to rest.

Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  237    Driving average speed 28.1
It took 8 hours and 25 minutes.
Temperatures:    High 74    Low  58
GPS Coordinates: N 201692.7  N 30.966 W 9649.693
 

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January 26, 2008

Costa Esmeralda

Today was a tourist day as opposed to a driving day.  Our luxury tour bus departed at 9 am and we were happy to have someone else do the driving so both drivers and navigators could enjoy the scenery.  We drove 1.5 hours out to the El Tajin Ruins and Museum, while our tour guide gave us a verbal description of the area and it?s history.  The Mexican history is rich in culture, exploration and a variety of races.  Our guide told us that on tours it is a guideline to never discuss religion nor politics yet it is nearly impossible to discuss the history of Mexico without encroaching each topic as it was the Spanish Catholic Kings  who once ordered exploration of the area.  Cortez was given ?credit? for paving the way for exploration of area. Again I wish that I paid more attention in my world history classes!

We learned today about an ancient Indian civilization dating back to the 1100?s.  The Tajin  Ruins and Museum demonstrate the rich  culture  found semi  recently buried in the Mexican Jungle.  We learned from a very knowledgeable and educated guide of Tajin heritage about the archeologist?s interpretation of the long lost culture.  This culture practiced human sacrifice, believing that the blood of a fallen football player would yield a bountiful crop on the next years harvest.    I?m taking all of this in verbally from a guide with a heavy accent as when I went to purchase the book on the area it was written only in Spanish so it was of no value to me.  We walked the ancient village and climbed up on the hillsides to envision what it might have been like those many years ago.  Questions remain? what happened to those people, why did their culture die out?What could happen to us one day?

At the conclusion of our walk of the grounds the Papantia Flyers treated us with a demonstration.  They defy vertigo by climbing a very large pole and hanging upside down roped by ankles and fall to the ground while a fellow native beats drums and a flute plays,  all I can think of is how afraid I am for these guys lives. There are no guide wires, safety straps etc. 

After a delightful gratis mole lunch, a surprise courtesy of Adventure Caravans (due to the fact that most of us were over 60 and got in free to the museum) we shopped with the local vendors.  I spotted a woman who was hand embroidering the blouses she was selling.  She gave me an offer I could not refuse and I now own an embroidered blouse in a? muy grande? size.  Terry had roasted corn on a stick as did other members of the group.

When we got back to the RV park our cars and rigs were washed ( just in time for a rain tomorrow) and Terry had a part repaired  on the motorhome.  The cost of his repair was $2.95 US.    Can you believe it?  For sure Terry paid more than that just to be fair. A trip briefing was held with notes on how to follow along so that we don?t get lost if we get separated from the group.  We depart at 8:30 am for Vera Cruz.


Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  0
Temperatures:    High 66    Low  60      .02 inch of rain
GPS Coordinates: N 220 16.927  W 98 49.693
 

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Betty

Thanks for the posts everyday, very enjoyable reading and the only way that I will see that part of Mexico.  You are right about the Papantia Flyers.  I saw them in Mexico City when I was visiting my niece some years ago.
 
To Fern & Nan
Good to hear from you and please to hear you are enjoying the trip.
Brings back many good memories.
Keep us posted.
Bon Voyage
Sharon & Bill
 
Betty Brewer said:
January 23, 2008

When we fueled up we learned some Spanish.  The model of our Country Coach is a Magna and the name is painted right beside the fuel tank..  This is a Spanish word for a grade of  gasoline, so the filling station attendants were very hesitant to put diesel in our rig when it clearly states Magna. We figured it out and fueled up with our desired diesel.  We put in 173.10 liters and it cost 1030 Pesos.  We?re not sure yet about the conversions but we think this was 45.7 gallons.  We exchanged dollars yesterday for pesos at a rate of 10.80 and have 27,000 Pesos to start the trip. It all looks like monopoly money but I?m told if we just subtract a 0 from the peso amount it will be roughly the equivalent of the American dollar.  I need to be armed with this information for my shopping ventures. 

For general information, that diesel was sold for $US 2.25/gallon.  Not bad!
 
Carl L said:
For general information, that diesel was sold for $US 2.25/gallon.  Not bad!

Carl:

Inflation! Last year it was a $1.92.
 
January 27, 2008

Costa Esmeralda to Vera Cruz, Vera Cruz

Our leisurely Sunday drive with an 8:30 departure time produced some new sights today.  We saw more of the same little villages along the way more colorful and in my opinion neater than those before or it could have been that the sun came out and everything looks better on a sunny day. We continued to see a variety of cattle grazing in the field, some Brahma looking types with long ears that touch the ground as they graze.  Egrets nest in circles around the cattle as they mutually live in the tropical grasses. We passed fields of banana trees and noted blue plastic bags? surrounding the banana bunches. We learned the sacks are placed there to hasten the ripening and that the color of the bag denotes when it will be time to harvest that bunch.  We saw fields of sugar cane and harvesting being done by hand.  They produce a lot of sugar cane and over load their truck in the transport.  Vera Cruz is the city we are in and we are still in the state of Vera Cruz too.  The 3 main exports of Vera Cruz are Coffee, honey and oil.

We experienced much better roads today and even got up to 60 mph only to be slowed again by several detours around road construction sites.  As the day warmed the beautiful ocean appeared on our left.  The guide yesterday told us how hard the moist salt ocean air is on the homes.  Iron rusts, cars rust, homes mold and yet to us it was a beauty to see..  We pulled off the road to our RV Park around 2 pm and traveled on a very sandy road to the park.  Much to our delight we are parked facing straight into the ocean with an ocean view from all front and side windows.  Now we have no power, water or sewer but were reminded by others in the group who have no view and do have  hook ups that their power is not much better than nothing and no one can drink this water. 

Our Welcome to Mexico dinner tonight was held tonight.  My coconut shrimp was delicious.  Terry?s steak was delicious and the margaritas were the best.  I won the Care Bear animal award tonight for helping to save Fern and Annette?s marriage.  It seems she MUST have Internet to keep in touch and I helped them join the RV Forum and their family has joined too.  Welcome to Mexico! Welcome any other friends and family of this Adventure Caravan.  Tomorrow is a free day!

Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  123
Temperatures:    High  80    Low  63
GPS Coordinates: N 19.05531    W 96.02309
 

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Betty and Terry,
  We're ready for your Mexican travelogue!
Have a great trip!!
  Brian and Pam

 
Betty, very interesting so far.  Thanks for the time and effort!

ArdraF
 
January 28, 2008

Veracruz, Free Day

We did not move our vehicles today.  We held a beach clean up at 9 am and most of the group, able to walk the beach, came prepared with rubber gloves and plastic trash bags to clean up our beach.  We worked for 55 minutes and bagged over 10 big bags of trash. Jack arrived with a chair as he thought he was going to be the chairman of the group and supervise our work.  We all want to recycle more for our planet and to stop making plastic items.  John L.  bagged the most ( 4 huge bags)  and earned the care Bear award tonight for doing so. Our beachfront value is greater today for making a difference on our planet. Pictures show our beach front view. 

Many made a Wal-Mart or Costco run and some of us just relaxed on the beach today, as we had no agenda in sight.
Chicken Award went tonight to Owen who is traveling with 2 women and all are having a good time!  Tonight we got to use the facilities at this RV Park.  The water slide proved good fun and entertainment for all.  What bunch of wet heads.  The evening was topped off with Mexican hot dogs which are hot dogs roasted over our own fire and then wrapped in tortillas. Please note the utensil Bill brought which was purchased at  the Yuma flea market and is called a rake.   Watermelon and cherry cobbler was dessert.  We are happy campers who will tour Veracruz at 8:15 am.


Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  0
Temperatures:    High 83    Low  68   Humidity  91%
GPS Coordinates: N 22 N 30.966 W 98 07.199
 

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January 29, 2008

Veracruz, Tourist Day

The bus picked us up at 8:30 and took us to
The Grand Caf?  ?The In? place for coffee and or breakfast this morning in downtown Veracruz.  I had a lechero, which is like a latte, and Terry ordered scrambled eggs.  The restaurant is the original built in 1908 and is still going strong. The coffee making equipment is pretty impressive.  We wandered around the streets looking at shops and were then taken by bus to the original Fort built in the late 1500?s ( and took 300 years to construct) It is built right into the gulf of Mexico on a base produced out of coral and most of the labor was done by Indians  under the  direction of the Spaniards.  It?s late tonight and all the facts are running through my head so history buffs might want to question any thing I recall from today.  I was suffering all day from the big sunburn I got while beaching it yesterday.  Oh the price of not using any sun block!
From the Fort we traveled to a very old and quaint town of  La Antigua for a yummy garlic shrimp lunch.  We toured the oldest church in Veracruz and the home thought to be that of Cortez. We saw a  big Ceiba  tree and posed under it.  It was pretty hot and very humid today and many were wilting.  We came back to the RV park for an hour break and then returned by bus to Boca Del Rio for a surprise treat.  The mayor and Secretary of Tourism  greeted us and  provided front row seats for a dancing light/water  show to welcome us to Mexico.  Mini tacos were provided for dinner. As we walked the town on this balmy evening, local dancers and musicians treated us to their talents and we tasted peanut butter liquor made locally with a 95% alcohol.  Many purchased bottles of it but I saved myself from the extra calories and did not make a purchase. By now it is well after dark and we have a 300-mile drive in front of us tomorrow to Villahermosa but they?ve promised better roads than before. 

Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  0
Temperatures:    High 85    Low  68  Humidity  95%
GPS Coordinates: N 22 N 30.966 W 98 07.199
 

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