Well Hello All,
For those of you who do not know already, we are back in the U.S. , but first I will take you back a step.
Back in October we made one of two choices:
A. Stay in Guatemala for another month (thus working and saving money so we could return with some still in the bank) or
B. Drive down to Panama and back in a month and start selling our organs in order to make it home for the holidays.
We opted for choice B!
To start off with where we left in Hondurus…
On Monday, after the long weekend of hyped up elections, we crossed the border of Honduras into Nicaragua. We were amazed to see how different the fauna was in this part of Guatemala versus were we had been living in the mountains. So, we drove through the arid hillside of an almost high desert like landscape and wound our way back toward Xela, but not before stopping in Panajachel to do some last minute souvenir shopping.
We made sure to stop and get an ear of corn each just off the side of the road where there are about 10-15 stands spread out along the highway, just in case you passed the first 5 and then changed your mind and wanted some last minute. (We always ended up at the last stall because it would always take us a minute or two to decide). Not this time… we knew exactly where on the highway they were because we had driven it so many times before and we finally gave business to the ladies in the front. The corn isn’t the crunchiest or the sweetest, it is more similar to the corn you would feed to animals, but for some reason you just can’t wait to eat some more, especially once you squeeze fresh lime juice and salt on top! We made our way back into town just before sundown. Josh went back to the house we were living in and stayed with our roommates and we decided to go to the parking lot where our camper was being stored and slept there for the night.
The next morning was the big challenge (especially for just the two of us). We had to figure out a way to get the camper off of the ground and back onto the truck. Now normally the camper would be an 3 leg stands, but during a routine procedure of trying to get the camper back on the truck bed a few months before the legs got knocked off. So, it took us an entire day pilling bricks and rocks under the corners of the camper one by one and using a jack each time to raise it just a little more. There were defiantly a few rocky moments where we thought it might keel over… luckily for us it didn’t! The next few days we said goodbye to our friends, did some last minute shopping. My shopping list consisted of local dried chilies, textiles and Maya- Ik hotsauce.
So there we were: Josh, John, Kindra, Hippie and Wallace crammed yet again in The Colonel (the truck). Our goal was to make it back to the U.S. by Dec. 17th.
We made it across the border into Mexico the same day we left Guatemala. It was any easy crossing and we opted this time not to get car insurance. They say it is mandatory, but at this point we were low on cash and in a hurry. We got a bit turned around at the border town. We headed out to find a place were we could park the camper and sleep. Some cops tried to lead us to an area they said we could sleep, but it looked a bit sketchy to us. We found a Pemex (gas station) instead that was off of the side of the main highway and crashed there.
In the morning we decided to take the coastal route as it would be cheaper and we wouldn’t have to worry about the mountainous roads that were more central. We didn’t realize that they were mainly one lane roads and speed humps almost the whole way. It took us a whole day to drive a distance that would have taken 3-4 hours on a highway. It was worth it though. It was starting to get dark and we found a turnoff that was in the direction of the ocean. We were not sure were it would lead us and this particular area was fairly deserted, so we had no one to ask if it was safe. Before long, about 5 minutes down the road, were some military guys that stopped us. This was either a good sign or a bad sign. When we stopped to talk to them they reassured us it was a safe place to camp and that they were only there to stop poachers from taking the turtle eggs. What a relief! Once we got to the end of the road we saw a few parking spots near the beach and some other locals enjoying the nice weather. We jumped out and stretched our legs and took a long walk down the beach to get a good look at the sun going down. Oh, and it was freeeeeee!
The next morning our intention was to get up early and hit the road, but of course a surprise to no one we got stuck in the sand. Just before this I had given one of the young local boys my boogie board because his older brothers had surf boards and he had nothing. With the little amount of space we had I figured it was a win/win situation. This worked out nicely because when they noticed we were stuck they were very happy to help dig us out. Thank goodness there were locals living near by. We had about 10 local guys pushing on the back of the truck to get us out. What a great site! We said our thanks you and hit the “not so great” road. My plan, as co-pilot- was to find the next toll road no matter what the cost and get us home. If we stayed on this route it would have taken us another two weeks to get back. We passed through Puerto Escondido, which is a very popular vacation spot and the roads widened for about 10 miles and then went back to normal. What a teaser. We didn’t want to go to Oaxaca because we read that the road from Puerto Escondido to Oaxaca is very windy and dangerous. If you ever are in the region though, you have to try the cheese… Oaxaca cheese is amazing! Once we hit the main highway and toll road we knew we would make it to Mexico City within the next few hours. We got a bit turned around in Mexico City and it detoured us to all sorts of city streets that were ‘one way’ or too small for vehicles like ours. It was a stressful excursion, especially because it was getting dark and we were hungry. It got dark and we were still in the city driving around in traffic. Finally we hit a street that was loaded with food vendors and restaurants. We opted to stop and eat. The boys stayed in the truck while I ordered some food because we were parked in front of a driveway since there were no open spots on the street. Yum yum, hot and delicious Mexican food and cold sodas! We were in heaven. We made our way a bit out of town and found a place to sleep for the night.
We hit the toll roads, cha-ching cha-ching $$$. With less in our wallets and made our way north. We mainly slept at Penmex gas stations because they were easy to find, free and reasonably safe. We stopped by Guadalajra to visit our friends that we stayed with many months before when we first started the trip. We also met our friend Frankie, who John had worked with in Xela at the same café. We hadn’t seen her smiley face in a few months so it was great to see her again! It was great to hang out with our friends again (this is the family of Luis, who works for my dad). Now that we spoke more Spanish and understood more it was a much smoother visit. We were able to chit-chat without the glazed over eyes. We stayed the night and had some ice cream in town before we hit the hay. Getting all of us and then Frankie and her stuff into the camper was a challenge, but we did it. Frankie and I set up a little area in the back, behind the front seats, where we could interlock our legs and lean our back against the outside walls of the truck. Sometimes Wallace would squeeze in with us and Hippie would be at Josh’s feet in the front. We were packed like sardines and starting to smell like them too. We weren’t sure when our next shower would be and it was starting to get hot!
On the GPS I had seen a town near the beach that looked like a good overnight spot so headed that way and tried to get there before sundown. We drove around the small peninsula town looking for a spot, but all of the beach areas were covered with fishing boats We headed out of town worried we wouldn’t find anything before dark, but we saw a security guard and asked him if he knew of a place. We were in luck, he said it was safe to park right between the road and the water. It was an area about the size of a football field, mainly just dirt and some grass. As we pulled up toward the edge of the water we realized that the dirt was wet. We figured that the tide must come in at night and so we jumped back in the truck to move back about 40 meters back. Oh man…. not again! Yep that’s right folks we got stuck AGAIN! With the camper on the back and all that weight in it, we were quite sure it was going to just sink into the ground and we’d be there for good. The back wheels had evidently hit a soft spot in the dirt or “water pocket” and the back tires just kind of sank in the mud like quick sand. The locals started to notice that we were having trouble and all came around to check us out. They could see we were having trouble and without hesitation all started collecting pieces of wood and rocks to wedge under the tires. I’d say there were at least 15 adults and 10 kids around the truck. A few of the kids started poking the dirt near the truck and water just started pouring out of this whole one of the kids poked… I had to tell them to stop because we were worried that they would just make things worse than they already were. Just watching water come out of the ground like that was unreal. This whole area of dirt we were on top of was like being on a frozen pond with just a thin layer separating you from the water below. I was a bit peeved that the security guy hadn’t warned us about this. After about 30 mins and a lot of man power we got the truck out. Forget what negative people say about humanity… there are defiantly more people in this world that are good than they may think.
The next day we knew we just needed one more spot to find to sleep at and a Pemex station sounded fine to me, especially since we were heading toward a very uninhabited area. We passed through an area where we had heard it gets very windy, to the point where the recommend that you avoid parking in the area overnight because you may wake up with your car entirely sand blasted. Funny enough we saw some cars like that... okay maybe not so funny for them. We found a Pemex just as the sun was going down and we got to see a beautiful sunset at the top of some rocks just next to the station that had a Guadalupe statue at the top. It was very peaceful. I did notice though when we were back down at the gas station desperately trying to use their bathroom (which they had locked and didn’t have a key) that things were different. People were looking at us differently and treating us differently. We were officially in the “gringos who just come to Mexico to party” zone. Funny enough we did buy a beer with our last few pesos and Frankie and I enjoyed it despite the judgment. We didn’t sleep that well that night because unknown to us we were in the center of a “sex” parking lot. All night there were cars that would park really close to us or even behind us and sit there for about 30 minutes and then leave. There were probably 6 different cars that night. The next morning we braved the sight of the graveyard of used condoms surrounding where we parked… I guess we were admiring the sunset so much that we never thought to scan the ground when picking the spot.
Last day in Mexico, wow, it is really hard to believe. I was a bit worried that they would have to quarantine the dogs at the border, but to our luck it was one of the easiest border crossings. They scanned us over, asked a few questions and that was about it. We were back in the good ol’ US of A. One tip we would suggest (yes because it happened to us) is to get insurance put back on to your vehicle right away! You should be able to just make a quick phone call and then get the information printed out or faxed somewhere. We got in to Tucson that night and stayed the night at Alexis and Matt’s place. I stayed there and John, Frankie and Josh went to Colorado. And we are all continuing to live happily ever after!
