Well, it has been a while, but I will try not to forget anything.
After my last update, on the 17th of March, I took my group to the Misol Ha waterfall. I had fun jumping through the waterfall and then took a few of them into the cave for a swim in the dark. On the 18th, we drove back to the Yucatan and spent the night in Bacalar at the nice hotel on the lagoon with the diving board. The next day, we went up to Tulum Town and spent the afternoon at the Xel-Ha marine park.
On the 20th, most of the group took the tour of the Sian Kaan Biosphere Reserve, while the rest of us hung out on the beach on in town. We moved up to Playa del Carmen that night. The next day a few went on the Cavern Snorkel Tour, and the rest of us hung out on Xcacel beach. We visited the Tulum ruins that afternoon before returning to Playa del Carmen. On the final day of the trip we relaxed in town until the afternoon and then went back up to Cancun.
This was another very fun group. They enjoyed all of our stops and got along with each other very well. They have already planned a reunion for this summer in London.
After the trip ended I had two days to relax in Cancun. I saw a movie or two and played on the Internet.
I met my new group on the evening of the 24th, ten women and one guy from Japan who did not speak too much English. The next day we went to Chichen Itza and then moved onto Merida for the night, after a swim in Cenote Ik-Kil.
On Monday morning, most of us went to the Celestun Flamingo Reserve and took a boat trip to see the birds. There was an impressive number of pink flamingos that day. We also stopped for a swim and then had lunch on the beach before going back to Merida. The next day we went to the ruins of Uxmal and then camped. This was my first night of camping with a group since the middle of February. That night we went to see the Sound and Light Show at the Ruins of Uxmal. We were 15 minutes late and the show started a half an hour before I thought it was supposed to. A few of them saw one light for less than a second, the rest saw nothing and the show was over. Oops. We went to the town of Santa Elana as a consolation price and checked out the view from the church on the hill.
On the 28th, we drove all the way to Palenque. The next day they visited the ruins and then we went to the Misol Ha waterfall. I had my usual fun there and then we went on up to Rancho Esmeralda near Ocosingo in the state of Chiapas. I had made advance reservations, so two days before we arrived, they fired up the brick oven and we had pizza for dinner. It was great. Before dinner, we watched the neighboring farmers burn away the grass and brush in preparation for planting corn. The fire was huge and we went right down next to it. I never knew that slash and burn agriculture could be so pretty.
The next day my passengers went to the ruins of Tonina and rode horses. I sat in a hammock and did not do too much of anything. On the final day of March, we went to San Cristobal. It was a Saturday night, so we went out for some fun on the town. On Sunday, they all went on the Indian village tour with Mercedes.
We got a decent start the next day and went to one of my favorite places, Agua Azul. We got there in time for a late lunch. I ate quickly and then went for a swim. After camp was set up, I took a bunch of them on my now famous waterfall hike. We followed the series of waterfalls downstream for a ways, climbed up another series of high waterfalls, worked our way back down to the main area, dove across the big current and then I added a really great ending to the hike. I led them through the main pool to the big waterfall. We all crammed into a small cave behind the waterfall and stayed there until we got cold. Then we came out and surprised all of the people taking pictures of the place. After a bit more swimming we were back at camp. It was another truly great hike, even if it was only two hours. All of them had at least one cut or bruise on their bodies when we were finished. I was proud of how battered they looked.
They all rested and I did the whole hike again. I was alone so I could go faster. I did most of it in about thirty minutes. Then I explored a new section upriver. It had looked to dangerous when they were with me, but on my own it turned out to not be too bad. I went upstream along the edge for a while and then the river got too big. I made my way across the main section and hiked down the path back to camp. After dinner a few of us went for our moonlight swim. Jumping off the waterfalls is still alot of fun in the dark. A few of us went skinny dipping and we swam and jumped into the water for quite a while.
The next morning I was up before sunrise and swam and played in the waterfalls for about an hour. Then we had our longest driving day of the trip. We drove all the way to Bacalar. My favorite place to camp there was closed, so we had to go somewhere else. A mile down the road was a nice place to camp, also on the water, so we went there. I fell asleep early after my big night in the water and the big day of driving.
From Bacalar, we headed north to Xpu-Ha 7, our beach camp. We spent the next few days relaxing on the beach. We went into Playa del Carmen one night for some dinner and dancing. We also went to the Tulum ruins and spent another day at Xel-Ha, snorkeling. This group was happy swinging in their hammocks on the beach, so that is what we mostly did. A few other Trek groups were there, so we got to visit.
On the 7th of April, we left one passenger on the beach and the rest of us headed back to Cancun to say goodbye. We had a final night dinner and then I made my way back to the hotel. I wanted to get a good night sleep, because I was beginning my eight day drive back to LA the next morning. Before I got to sleep, a few passengers knocked on my door. There was an urgent message for the passenger we left on the beach from her mother. I figured I would see her the next day on my way south, so I tried to go back to sleep. About thirty minutes later (1:00 am) I got a call from the Australian Consulate. He finally convinced me that it was a real emergency. Gabi and Conny, my two passengers from Austria, joined me for the hour drive down to the beach. We got down there and I picked up Lina and drove her to a phone. She called home and received some tragic news. I drove everyone up to the airport in Cancun to get Lina a flight and then we went back to the hotel for a few hours to talk. A bit after sunrise, we went back to the airport and dropped off Lina. It had been a long tough night, especially for Lina. I wish there had been more I could have done to help her.
I dropped Gabi and Conny off at a nice resort in Playa del Carmen and then went down to Tulum to meet Kak (Kathy) and her dog Fleas (RayBan). Kak wanted to drive Fleas back to the US in her truck, but wanted company to be a little safer. We left Tulum and drove about an hour south to Felipe Carrillo Puerto. By this time it was after noon and I had not had a wink of sleep the night before. I had been up about 30 hours at this point and was tired. I crawled into the back of my van and slept for an hour. After that I was amazingly refreshed and we drove on another few hundred miles to Escarcega.
On the 9th, we drove. All day. We made it up the Gulf of Mexico Coast and camped near the beach. It was Easter Week and all of the campgrounds were crowded with Mexicans with tents and small TV's. Places where I have never seen another person at any other time of the year were packed. The other thing we noticed was hundreds of Toyota pick-up trucks, pulling a second Toyota pick-up truck. People from Belize come up to the US and buy used cars and then drive them home to sell. Assuming they are choosing vehicles that they expect to last once they get them home, it was a very strong endorsement for the longevity of Toyota trucks.
The next day we made it most of the way back to the US, and crossed into Brownsville, Texas before lunch on the 11th. The van got a minor searching at the border, but nothing too exciting. I had to get a new gas filter. The van was only four months old at this point, but one tank of bad gas in Escarcega had sucked all of the pep out of the engine. We continued on to Laredo, Texas and spent the night near a lake. We drove all day (the 12th) through Texas. We passed the McDonald Observatory and Guadalupe State Park. We were trying to get to a campground near El Paso, but when we got there it was closed. That was a shame because it was right near some nice rocks to play on. So, we opted for a hotel room in town instead.
The next day Kak was headed off to Utah, and I was eager to return to Mexico. I crossed back in and drove west. At lunch time I crossed the border again at Douglas, Arizona. The border guard could not figure out why I chose to drive through Mexico to get from El Paso to Douglas, both in the US. I explained that the road was straighter and faster in Mexico. Surprisingly, he did not even shunt me aside for a secondary searching. He let me go. Then, as soon as I got past the inspection area, a soldier directed me to a big parking lot. They have a truck with a big boom off of the side of it that X-rays an entire vehicle and looks for drugs. They waved their magic wand over the van and then I was on my way. I drank water from a water fountain, put my toilet paper into the toilet (instead of a garbage can) and got a Blizzard (ice cream) from Dairy Queen. After accomplishing the three big things I look forward to upon my return to the US, I crossed back into Mexico.
I had some extra time before Monday and wanted to see some new areas. That, and the fact that I like Mexico, account for my desire to spend extra time down there on my drive north. I went to Puerto Penasco on the extreme northern tip of the Gulf of California, just south of Arizona. It was full of retired Americans wintering in their RV's. I was further north than I had been all winter and the twilight was amazing. Instead of the sun setting and it getting dark, as happens in the tropics, the sky turned a beautiful blue and slowly darkened for hours.
The next morning, I got an early start and headed north to Pinacate National Park. This park has only one big dirt road traversing it, so it does not attract too many people. I found a secluded side road to camp on. I went for an afternoon hike once I got there. I hiked through the dry, hot desert for about an hour, looking for some shade. I eventually found a big piece of lava and sat down beneath it for lunch and a nap. Once it cooled off a bit I continued up the volcano and made it to the top at about five pm. I had a great view of the surrounding desert, the Gulf of California and the dozens of volcanic cones in the area. On my way back to the van, I found a lava tube. I climbed down into it and took out my flashlight. The tunnel in the lava was pretty big and I explored it for about twenty minutes. Then I climbed back out and continued my walk. I barely brushed against one of the millions of cactuses and a whole section of it came off and embedded itself into my leg.
About twenty spines went into my leg, and the spines were still attached to a ball of spines in waiting. I tried to pull the whole bundle off, but it was too firmly attached. I tried to cut the thorns off, and the ball of spines rolled down my leg, so I had to cut even more thorns off. Next I had to pull the spikes out one by one. But first, I had to cut all the hair off of my leg near the spines, so I could get a good grip on just the spines. It was amazing how deeply some of them had gone into my leg, under the barest pressure. I eventually removed all of the foreign objects from my leg and got back to the van a bit after sunset. I watched the long twilight and then took out my star chart to learn a few new stars.
On Sunday, the 15th, I drove to Mexicali and crossed back into the US. I got my most thorough search yet on the US side of the border. But, as usual, they found nothing and I was soon on my way. I made it to LA that evening. I spent the next three days working in the office, mostly goofing off and occasionally cleaning my equipment or the van. I was so slow that I did not finish in the allotted three days and had to go in and finish up on the morning of the 19th.
Then I flew up to Portland to visit Michele. She worked on Friday and I took a long walk around the city. The next day we drove up to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington and started a backpacking trip. There was still snow above 3000 feet (1000 meters), so we chose a trail up a long low valley. With our late start, we only got about four miles into the walk that first day. This was my first backpacking trip where I took the bear precautions seriously. We had rented bear canisters. We put all of our food in these hard plastic tubes and set them on the ground far from our tent. When we ate, they made excellent stools to sit on, like giant film canisters.
The next day we moved camp about eight miles further in and set up near the river. It was a beautiful valley and we had a pleasant time hiking. On the 23rd, we left the tent and all of our gear behind hiked a further eight miles up the valley to see what we could see. Then we went back to the camp. On the final day we walked all the way back to the car and drove back to Portland. There were a lot of clouds, but not too much rain. Between the clouds and the thick cover of trees, this was my first hike (ever ?) where I did not wear my hat once. The Olympic Peninsula is a rain forest and all the fallen trees were covered in moss and all the ground outside of the trail was spongy. We passed dozens of small waterfalls splashing over moss covered stones. It was a very enjoyable four days in the woods.
On the final day of my visit we went to the Columbia River Gorge and looked at a lot of impressive waterfalls.
Then I flew to Boston, but had a one hour lay over in Denver. I could see the mountains, they were still covered with snow, so I was glad I was not hiking there yet. I spent a few days in Boston visiting family and relaxing. Then I flew down here to Florida. I have spent the past week visiting my family and doing my chores around the house. My brand new Arc'teryx Bora 80 backpack (from Canada) arrived today and I can not wait to get to Colorado and try it out.
Oh yeah, I have one additional reflection on my time in Mexico. Imagine what would happen to your driving if you could drive on near-highway quality roads with very little traffic. If the roads were long and straight and not patrolled by police. If everyone drove as fast as possible and it was impossible to get a speeding ticket. And, if you did get a ticket you could get out of it with a five or ten dollar bribe and you could put the bribe down on your company expense report and let someone else pay it. It took some getting used to, but luckily I re-adapted to US standards before anything bad happened.
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