Mayan ruins and chocolate!

Everybody was ready to go for our 8:00am tour of the Uxmal ruins.

Ruth and I were here in December of 2008. At that time, it cost 48 pesos which with the exchange rate then, it was ($4.50 CAN $3.65 US).

Now, you have to buy two tickets. As I understood it, one is for the state, and one is federal. The total entrance fees are now 234 pesos ($15.90 CAD, $12.75 USD).

Made it to Yucatan!

Our group crossed the border from the state of Campeche to the state of Yucatan yesterday. This caravan tour was billed as the "Yucatan RV Caravan Tour" because we spend a fair bit of time on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, however that peninsula is actually made up of three Mexican states... Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo.

We had a 9:00am departure from the Kin-Ha Balneario in Campeche. Only a planned 160 km (100 mile) driving day, so with one fuel stop we would easily make it there by noon.

Wandering around the streets of Campeche

Yesterday was a day off. The group spirits have definitely improved along with the weather, and the hectic pace of the first two weeks is forgotten. There are still a couple of people who are not feeling 100%, but I suppose when you have 24 people together there is bound to be always 1 or 2 who are a little under the weather.

Most people used the off day to return to the Campeche city center and do some more exploring.

Mexico RV caravan travel day and fun tour of Campeche

Up and on the road at 8:30am yesterday morning. The blue skies and sunshine continue!

Nice easy drive from Isla Aguada to the city of Campeche. Only 171 kms (106 miles) on pretty good roads for a nice change. We made one gasoline stop in the town of Champoton at about 10:15am , and arrived at the Kin-Ha Balneario at about 11:30am.

A relaxing day off watching the pelicans

The day started off cloudy, but by noon there was nothing but blue sky and sunshine.

We decided we needed some exercise, and the bay that we are in has very few waves. Seemed like a good time to get out our Intex Challenger K2 Kayak for a little paddle.

And exercise it was!

I don't give up so easily

I mentioned yesterday that we had another surprise for the group.

Our original schedule had us spending three nights here at Isla Aguada and then today moving on to the city of Campeche for three nights. We have a city tour of Campeche booked for 3pm on Saturday.

But the RV parking in Campeche is at a balneario (swimming resort) in an open field with minimal services. The weather here at Isla Aguada has been great and people are just enjoying relaxing. So I asked Gabriel, the owner of Caravans de Mexico if we could make an adjustment to do four nights here and then two nights in Campeche. If we left here at a decent hour on Saturday morning, we would still arrive in Campeche with lots of time to do the city tour starting at 3pm.

January Expenses

Well, it was yet another higher than expected month. Although when I think about it, we really didn't know what to expect because we've never traveled this way in Mexico.

Because we make a contract income for leading the group, as part of the deal we are still responsible for paying our own fuel and toll fees. But some of those fuel and toll fees are expenses that we wouldn't have if we weren't leading the group because we don't travel the same way.

We have another surprise for the group today!

We woke up yesterday morning cautiously optimistic that we were going to have a nice day with the weather. Ruth checked back, and we had endured nine days of overcast and rain, with (literally) only a few minutes of sun here and there.

In fact, since we left Canada on November 16th we could probably count on one hand the days that included the magical combination of blue sky, warmth, and sunshine!

There were a few clouds when we woke up, but the skies cleared nicely and it was a perfect day...

RV Caravan Travel Day - Villahermosa to Isla Aguada

We were on the road right at 9:00am again.

It's only 234 kms (145 miles) from Villahermosa to Isla Aguada, but with lunch and fuel stops, I figured we might arrive at 2:00pm or so if we were lucky. As it turned out, it was closer to 3:00pm!

There is a fairly new toll highway that bypasses the city of Villahermosa. But because we had come into the city to use the Sam's Club overnight, we had to backtrack a little bit to get back to the toll bypass.

Armed guards overnight

With a 308 km (191 mile) drive ahead of us, we planned for an 8:00am start. Once again, everybody was ready to go and we pulled out right on time.

We knew ahead of time that road conditions were bad for today's drive. We had spoken to a couple who had arrived at the RV park in Catemaco and they had just come from the way we were heading. We asked how the toll road was, and he said one section was new, but the rest was "horrible".

And he was pretty much correct.

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).