The drive to Cancun and a two week tour of the Yucatan and Chiapas

Hello from Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico.

After my last update, on the 13th of August, I went back to the hotel and ran into Wendy. She wanted to give a tour of Hollywood to her passengers, but was too tired. Greg and I decided to do it for her. Wendy and her passengers got into a van and Greg drove us around.

The tour went well until we got to Beverly Hills. Greg pulled over and let the passengers out. As soon as we pulled away from the curb, two cops on motorcycles were following us. We went around a few blocks but could not lose them. We stopped for gas and Greg asked them why they were following us. They thought we were dropping off a bunch of college students to join the protests against Nike in celebration of the Democratic National Convention. After they understood that we were just carting tourists around, they gave us a police escort back to the pick up point. Then they let all the passengers pose on their motorcycles for photos. None of the passengers even realized that they had been followed by the police during their entire visit to Beverly Hills.

After the best tour of LA ever, we went back to the hotel. On Monday, I put in a full day at the office and then started driving. On Tuesday, I got a bunch of books on tape, and drove, On Wednesday, I drove all day and listened to some books on tape. That night I got to the bottom of Texas and spent the night. On the morning of the 17th, I crossed into Mexico, took care of some paperwork and headed south. I drove all day on the 18th and on the 19th I spent the night in Catemaco.

I had some free time, so I took the slow road over the mountains. The road was very muddy and bad in places. It was fun to slide the van around some turns and get it dirty. I got lost a lot, so I picked up a few passengers. One sat up front to give me directions and the rest sat on the roof. I was taking some money away from the local buses, but at least I did not get lost.

After some more driving, I made it to Cancun on the 21st of August and met my new group. They were a youth group from Luxembourg. I have learned alot about their country in the past two weeks. They speak Luxembourgish at home, learn French and German in elementary school and learn English in High School. By the time they are 18, they are fluent in four languages. Impressive.

On the 22nd, we went to the ruins of Chichen Itza, swam in the underground cenote (well) in Holca and spent the night in Merida. On the 23rd we bought some hammocks and hung out in town. On the 24th, we went to the ruins of Uxmal. That afternoon, we followed some directions to a hidden cenote. We drove off into the jungle on a very bad dirt road and ended up at a big hole in the ground. We took the stairs down into the water and swam around. I figured out that you could jump from the roof of the cave down into the water. It took a little aim, but it was a lot of fun. For some reason, none of my group wanted to try it.

The next morning my group did something that most groups find impossible. They woke up before sunrise, had breakfast, loaded the van and were ready to go by 7:30 am. We travelled for nearly twelve hours and went to Rancho Esmeralda, near Ocosingo, in the state of Chiapas. They made and excellent dinner for us, as always.

The next day we visited the ruins of Tonina. I like them because there are many places to crawl around if you bring a flashlight. In the afternoon we went to San Cristobal de las Casas. We spent a few days there, visiting the Indian villages, taking a boat trip up the Sumidero Canyon and going to the bar.
From San Cristobal, we went to the waterfalls of Agua Azul. It is rainy season, so it was Agua Caca and nobody wanted to swim. This group was used to hiking, I took them on a hike they will remember for a long time. We followed the river downstream. First we passed a sign that told us to be careful of robbers along the way. Then we had to skirt some mud. Then we had to hop across a stream and got our boots a bit wet. Then we came to a place where the trail was flooded. I led them through the water. The water was not much above our knees and we all got our boots good and wet there. After a bit more than an hour of walking, we came to the first of four big waterfalls. It started to rain. By the time we got to the fourth waterfall, it was pouring. Now we were all good and wet. Of course, I loved it.

We hiked back to the van in the rain and mud. I told them they could pile their boots near the door and put their clothes in a big plastic bag. Then, in their underwear, they got into the van and we drove to camp.

The next day we visited the ruins of Palenque in the morning and went to the waterfall of Misol Ha in the afternoon. I have never seen it it the rainy season before and it was way to big to play in. We went around back to the cave, but the river in the cave was also too strong so I told everybody to go back. Only one of them was stupid enough to follow me up the river and into the cave. We went a good ways in and saw the waterfall in the cave, before somehow, exiting the cave safely. That was fun also.

After leaving Palenque, we went to Bacalar and spent the night near the lagoon. It was nice to be back near the beach and we had a midnight swim. From there we went to our campground on the Carribbean and spent a few nights. During the days we went to the Xel-Ha snorkel park, the town of Playa del Carmen for dinner, the ruins of Tulum, and hung out on the beach.

Then we finished up in Cancun. They were a great group. They were always ready on time and we were able to do lots of extra fun stuff.

Now I am on my way to Mexico City for my next trip. On the 4th of September, I drove to Tizimin. Then I continued around the Yucatan Peninsula and stayed as close to the coast as I could. The roads were pretty bad and it was very slow going. I wanted to continue along the coast in the state of Veracruz, but the road was washed out. So, I headed inland and am now in Orizaba. I had a lot of fun seeing new areas on my own and taking all of the small roads. Tomorrow I will go into Mexico City and meet my new group.

I came back to Mexico because I like working down here, but I forgot how much fun it really is. There are so many cenotes in the jungle to discover and the relaxing beach days are great. So, I am having more fun than usual and hope to come back down here in January for a few more months of fun/work.