Lots to see around Catemaco, Mexico

Both Saturday and Sunday were scheduled rest days here at Catemaco. But, Ruth and I are not ones to sit and do nothing. Especially when there is a lot to see in the area. We could easily spend two weeks here. There are at least a dozen waterfalls within a 50 km (30 mile) radius. A dormant volcano to hike. Unexplored coastline north of here on the Gulf of Mexico. The Sierra de los Tuxtla mountains are a daytrip. We need to spend more time here some day.

But for the time being, we wanted to get the group out on the lake. Both the waterfall trip on Saturday, and the Sunday lake tour were not scheduled tours as part of their itinerary. But we like to get them out to see things that they might otherwise not see.

Our timing was not the best!

Yesterday turned out better than had been forecast. The morning actually had some sunny breaks! It really should have been the time when we could have gone on the boat tour, but more people seemed interested in the waterfalls so we made a plan to get four taxis to take 16 of us to see them.

But first, I had a fridge problem to fix.

Lots of beautiful birds in Catemaco

On the road at 9:00am yesterday morning. Only 170 kms (105 miles) to drive, so we should be able to get there by noon, right?

Wrong.

This is Mexico! And this part of Mexico is well known for it's terrible road conditions.

I keep reminding myself, at least it is warm!

Yesterday, we woke up to the wet, windy day that had been forecast. The wind kept up all day, but the rain did stop occasionally and as I keep reminding myself, at least it is warm! Temperatures of about 24C (76F) during the day, and 19C (66F) at night.

Given the weather, we all decided to forego the trip into the city of Veracruz. Nobody was thrilled with the idea of visiting the aquarium, and the only other indoor activity would have been to go to a movie. Veracruz will have to wait for another time.

It's not all sunshine and roses right now...

Everybody was ready to go right on time again. We pulled out just before 9:00am onto the busy pot-holed road towards Veracruz. It's amazing that some sections of this road are actually considered toll road and you have to pay. And yet, the road is in terrible condition and there doesn't appear to be a free road alternative. The tolls are not high... but it still doesn't make any sense.

So, slow going for the first half of the drive. It took us just over two hours to do 100 kms (62 miles).

City of the Thunder God

The bus picked us up at 9:00am to take our RV caravan group to the El Tajin Ruins. This is another of the guided tours included with the price of the caravan. Our guide today was Andres... he was pretty good, and had a good sense of humor!

It was only 68 kms (42 miles) to the site, but it took us about an hour and fifteen minutes. You don't get anywhere quickly in Mexico!

There's a reason things are so lush and green in this area...

Yesterday was a day of rest, and I think pretty much everybody used it that way. We're at the beach, but it wasn't really beach weather. There's a reason things are so lush and green in this area... it rains fairly regularly! They had called for a 50% chance of showers, but it never rained at all and was simply overcast all day.

So people just took it easy. Some puttered around on the beach looking for shells. Some puttered on their vehicles.

RV Caravan Travel Day... Mexico City to the Emerald Coast

One of the things that we love about Mexico is that you can be from the mountains to the beach in under four hours from anywhere in the country. Well, it takes slightly longer than that when you're traveling with 12 rigs in an RV Caravan, but you get the idea.

Yesterday, we did 352 kms (218 miles) from the outskirts of Mexico City to the Emerald Coast north of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico.

Our List of the Top Five Most Intriguing Movie-Inspired Theme Parks

One of our favorite pastimes to keep ourselves entertained as our beloved Sherman takes us from one destination to another is talking about the places we’d like to visit next – of course! Sometimes, we revisit old favorites on our list, other times we toss around slightly extravagant ideas and, often, we make lists of destinations that revolve around a theme. Last week, for example, we talked about theme parks as we remembered Arsenal Park – that interesting and weird Soviet military theme park that we visited a couple of years back while roaming Romania.

Third largest pyramid in the world...

Day two of our whirlwind two day trip to Mexico City. Knowing that the bus was picking us up at our downtown hotel at 8:30am, we had to get some breakfast before leaving. Hotel breakfasts are often a bit pricey, so Ruth and I went out in search of something a little more local.

We didn't have much success. It turns out that on a Saturday morning in the central area, even the breakfast places don't seem to open up until after 8:30am. I'm quite certain it's different Monday to Friday, but on Saturdays things are definitely a bit slower.

Mexico City!

The bus was there to pick up our group just before 8:30am. We were only located about 42 kms (26 miles) from the center of town, so you would think that it shouldn't take too long to do the drive, right?

Wrong.

It took an hour and forty five minutes to do that 42 km (26 mile) drive.

Relax day in Tepotzotlan

Nice to have another day off. Ruth and I hung out with Sherman for the morning and just did some cleaning and puttering around. Most of the group had wandered into town, and we did exactly that after lunch.

We've never been to Tepotzotlan before, and we had heard that they have a worthwhile church to visit.

RV Caravan... Cuitzeo to Mexico City

We planned for a 9:00am start, knowing that it would probably take us an hour or so just to get out of the RV park and through the narrow roads of the village below.

This group is great... always ready to go right on time! One by one, we made our way down the steep hill and on to the rough gravel road towards the village. It was pretty quiet going through town... until we hit the cattle drive!

Nice to have a rest day for a change

We're definitely going to be making some route and schedule changes for next year. Everyone on the caravan agrees that the first part of the trip doesn't have enough rest days.

Don't get me wrong... everyone is thoroughly enjoying their trip, but it could be even better. We all know that we have more rest days towards the end of the trip, but we need to even things out a bit.

Absolutely amazing... a must see in Mexico!

This was our fourth time to go see the monarch butterflies at their winter home. There are actually 15 different regions in the mountains of Michoacan and Mexico State where the butterflies congregate, however only six of them are open for public viewing. We have been to three of the six, and yesterday's trip was our second visit to the Chincua colony.

The butterflies arrive at the beginning of November and stay until early March. The best viewing is between mid January (now) and the end of February. However, even during those periods, conditions need to be optimal for the best experience. And so your trip will depend on the weather.