November 24, Villahermoso to Ocozocoautla and San Cristobal

24 November.

I forgot to mention in our previous post that in Villahermosa at three AM we were awakened by a drumming on the roof. Another tropical downpour; the folding chairs and our pot of herbs were out there in the open! Art dashed out wearing a pair of shorts and his Tilley hat (fortunately we don't have a photo) to release the safety straps and put the awning out!

The rain continued on and off for a while but by the time we were awakened by the dogs welcoming the workmen's arrival at 6:30 the rain had stopped. By breakfast the sun was shining down from a beautiful blue sky with just a few fluffy white clouds.

The ground was pretty wet around the rig but we hadn't sunk in much as the the satellite dish still has a lock on the signal. We watched the Morning News on Global BC, feeling fortunate not having to live through the forecast weather back home. :)


We lurched down the potholed road to the highway and by 10:00 we were heading due west on 180D, the toll road towards Vera Cruz. Some 130 kilometers and an hour and a half later we turned sharply south east towards Ocozocoautla (near Tuxtla Gutierrez) in the state of Chiapas.

A short while before we reached the turn we watched as the sky ahead of us darkened. Just few kilometers before we reached the intersection the sky blackened, a few large drops of rain fell, then it was like driving under a waterfall! Such a torrent! Fortunately the new road was taking us away from the storm and before long the rain tapered off and things cleared up quite nicely.

This was the long way around as far as distance was concerned but was probably the fasted route over mostly long straight road up through the mountains, not too steep or bad curves. Note the trucks ahead of us—one passing the other-- on a curve at the top of the upgrade! Not uncommon down here!

At 1:00 PM we took advantage of the parking area at the toll booth and took a 40 minute lunch and doggy walk break. We reached the end of the toll road and the last toll plaza an hour later and on the outskirts of Ocozocoautla stopped for fuel and to check with a local bus driver about our turn as there had been some highway changes since we were last here.

At 3:20 we were at the gate of "Hogar Infantile" an orphanage for school age children that has a few spaces for RVs! We are not allowed to pay to stay! Donations are made through a non profit association in the USA.

We disconnected the jeep and scoped out the entrance. There was a big dip at the road edge, we were probably going to drag the trailer hitch going over it. Several young boys, probably about 8 years old were there to open the gate and direct us through the sheep pasture to the RV pads.

We also met Alice, or Alicia as she is known here, a young university graduate from England who was here as a volunteer. Her degree is in languages and she speaks fluent Spanish though when pressed she admitted that it had taken a while to get used to the local dialect!

We stayed a couple of days here and took the Jeep east to the beautiful city of San Cristobal de las Casas. There is no reliable place to stay there and we did want to visit it again.

Next morning we set off in the jeep, Gillian's turn to drive and Art's to navigate. We had a relatively short drive, but going, it would be all up hill. We took the toll road rather than the libre. This snapshot of our GPS screen will explain why; the magenta line is the toll road, the libre is in yellow.

Traffic was relatively light but we were almost continually going up, the trucks were grinding up hill in bottom gear for many kilometers at a stretch. Yes we did overtake this truck here.

Approaching Tuxtla the highway descended a long hill, traffic still light in volume (though heavy in weight!) until we arrived in town and that was a different story all together!

We knew where we wanted to go, we had been here before, we even had it in the GPS. BUT. As we turned off the toll road into the city we were met by a policeman preventing us from making the left turn we needed. Eventually we found our way around the closed street and approached Centro from the side.

Here too the police had closed he road we needed to turn right onto and directed us straight ahead. To shorten this story up a little, let's just say we went around, and back, and around etc mostly at less than a walking pace. Sorry about the over exposed photo but the sun was right in front. You can see the state of some of the streets we were driving on.

The GPS magenta line is the way we wanted to go. The Flag shows the destination we had entered (a Chedraui grocery store) which was very near the former campground that we wanted to check out. The problem was, the left turn shown is not allowed! We had to make a right and start over!

Here we gave up and widened our circle and eventually arrived in the centro historico. This is what we really wanted to see. We thought we would find somewhere to park the jeep, have lunch and stoll around the area, maybe take in the market or whatever.

It ended up being "whatever". There was nowhere to park, restaurants few and far between and we couldn't have parked in any case! So we just inched along, traffic unbelievably busy. We later realised that there had been a parade or somesuch in centro which is why all the streets into centro had been closed.

However we crawled along, certainly got close to the market stalls but couldn't stop to browse! Eventually we drove a large U shaped route then knowing where we were, drove to the Chedraui where we bought a couple of empanadas from the the "deli" which we ate in the jeep before returning to the rig.

At least the parade was over and the road back was mostly downhill so it didn't take as long returning.

Back in the Hogar, we went looking forAlice. We rememberd that she had said that of all the culture shock, what she missed most was a good cup of tea. She hadn't had one in months! The problem wasn't so much that she couldn't find tea bags, but fresh milk was not available in the town, and sterilised milk, or canned milk just didn't cut it!

We found her giving a piano lesson to one of the children so left a message with another student that we were looking for her. When she arrived a short while later, we asked her if she would like a cup of tea. She responded with a heartfelt "Oh yes please!"

From Ocozocouatla we will make one long days run to the Pacific Coast to Bahia Huatulco. We know we can do it in a day because several years ago we found ourselves overshooting our planned stop and so continued on arriving just at dusk!

Nov 22 Westward Ho! Calderitas to Villahermosa

From here on we would be really just heading to Zihuatanejo, our winter home. We would make a few stops but most would be just stopovers for the night.

We left Yax Ha Resort in Calderitas at 10:00 AM, the staff ready with a long forked pole to raise the telephone, internet and cablevision wires so we could safely pass beneath! On the way out we remembered to take this photo of an hotel/restaurant that we had seen yesterday on the way to Chetumal for groceries.

Half an hour later, already through the city we were halted at a military check point and waved through after a few questions.

At 11:30 we were stopped again, this time for about 10 minutes by customs who had a pretty thorough look around then waved us on. 15 or 20 minutes, just across the Campeche border we were stopped a third time, again the military for a little over 10 minutes.

The highway continued mostly straight, a few low hills, lots of lush green vegetation. a few villages, not much of anything.

One thing we have noticed here and for that matter throughout Mexico is the somewhat anachronistic mixture of old concrete and brick houses, sometimes incomplete, topped off with a satellite TV dish. Most (though not all) of these small homes were in very good repair and brightly painted.

At 1:50 we arrived at the impressively named “Centro para Concervación de la Vida Silvestre” – Centre for the Conservation of Wild Life – a few kilometers east of the city of Escárcega.

This is a private rancho, who's young owner had dedicated a large part of his property to be kept wild. It is home to deer and peccaries, racoons among others, none of which we saw, though the dogs were quite interested in what might be in the surrounding forest.

The only animal life we saw were a couple of horses who apparently spent the night with us. Trekker was again quite interested—we think that he had never seen a horse lying down before! He seemed happier when it stood up!

There are cold water showers in rather primitive enclosures and a sewer dump station.

Interestingly the garbage and recycling was very well organised, separate containers for Organic, Plastic, Glass and Metal.

The owner plans to bring water and electricity and perhaps a sewer drain to a few sites. At the moment there are no sites laid out, there are a few water taps here and there but the connections are much smaller than standard! There is also 120Volts at who knows what amperage available in a small shed.

The road in and out though could do with a little work. It was a bit tight in places, the approach to the inner gate and 90 degree turn was partially blocked by a stack of 4x4 posts. The owners little wood shop was just off the lane. The turkeys, chickens and peacocks managed to keep out of our way. In all though it was quite a pleasant stay.

We had a decision to make before we set off today: Continue to Villahermosa and backtrack westwards from there towards Miatitlan before taking the newish toll road to Oczocoautla OR turn south just before Villahermosa for Palenque (which we had visited before and wouldn't mind seeing again) and take the mountain road to San Cristobal del las Casas which we had seen before and wanted to see again.

The road from Palenque is narrow and very steep and twisty with nowhere to pull off for a rest. Also at times there are road block that can cause long delays. The final point against is that the only RV Park in San Cristobal has reportedly closed and we didn't really want to park overnight in a shopping centre or leave the RV there while we toured the city.

In the end, the decision was easy:

We were on the road again by 9:20 next morning, enroute to Villahermosa . We had no sooner turned onto the highway when we noticed some sort of delay up ahead and and realised that it was another check point. This time the police were not too interested in us and waved us on, though Art did ask the the herd of cattle ahead of us had all the right papers. He got a laugh from one of the officers who assured us that they did! Since we were already stopped outside the large Pemex we took the opportunity to make a quick fuel stop before carrying on.

That was about the highlight of today's drive. A couple of cheap tolls totaling under ten dollars, a half hour lunch stop along the roadside about 1:00 PM and then were through Villahermosa and arrived at El Recreativo El Gordo y San Pancho by 3:00 PM.

We were greeted by Capitán again, delighted to meet his old buddy Trekker. We dragged an extension cord through the office window as we did last time and topped up the water tank and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon

We woke in the morning as the brick makers were back at it! After breakfast Art took his camera over and asked if he could take some photos. He chatted with the two workmen for a few minutes. These guys work from 6:30 AM until dusk, about 5:30 PM and make thousands of bricks a day.

First, several 5 gallon buckets of sand are carried over to and tipped into the cement mixer. Cement and water are added, the mixed concrete poured onto the concrete floor.

From here it is shoveled and packed into steel molds and vibrated in short bursts. Then the molds are raised leaving the bricks standing on edge on a large wooden tray which they then carry off to the stack to dry for a day.

18-21 November, Piste to Paa Mul and Yax Ha on the Caribbean Coast

Dried out, we left Piste at 9:20, destination Paa Mul RV Park, just south of Playa del Carmen on the Caribbean.

Within a few minutes we were on the toll road eastbound having paid 161 pesos for the first section. Half an hour later we stopped at a rest area, the only fuel before Cancun, several hours away. While Art supervised the fueling Gillian walked a short way to the Italian Coffee Company to fill up our travel mugs and on the way back stopped at another shop for a large glass of fresh squeezed orange juice.



Another hour and we paid the last toll on this highway, this time 618 pesos, roughly 60 dollars including the first payment. At least the road was in good condition.







We were a bit disappointed in Paa Mul. We had heard good things about this park, which is full of permanent installations built by snowbirds who return year after year. The site we were given was in a state: the sewer connection was almost too high to use, and was just an almost horizontal drain pipe that had few branches off it one of which Art noted when checking it out, was open at the other side of our rig! Good thing he hadn't tried to use it!





Most of the sites, particularly the year round ones were in pretty good shape, obviously built and maintained by the regular tenants. The restaurant bar, pool and beach looked to be fine but we soon decided that we would not stay the two nights we had paid for and would leave in the morning. It was expensive and internet available only by the month for an extra fee . Fortunately we were able to get the second days rent refunded.

We decided to try the restaurant for dinner and were not disappointed with our meal. We hesitated about ordering a full bottle of wine until the waiter pointed out that what we didn't finish we could take with us. Since we were almost out of white wine in the motorhome we ordered a bottle.

Dinner done we had just over half a bottle left and were about to call for the bill when the owner came over to chat, wine glass in hand. He asked if he could sit and of course we said yes, and asked if the food and service was good. He sat chatting with us for a while and whenever his wine glass was empty he simply refilled it from our bottle without so much as a word or glance! He eventually finished our wine and left and so did we, more than a little annoyed.



Next morning after breakfast while Gillian took the dogs for their walk Art fired up the rig, retracted the slides and retracted the jacks. Or rather tried to retract the jacks! On investigation Art could hear the relay clicking but nothing was happening. He dug out the manuals, followed the instructions, still nothing.

A search of the campground found someone who knew something of the HWH hydraulic systems and agreed to come over and have a look.

After poking about, checking this and that, we both agreed that a release valve somewhere was stuck. Since the jacks retract under spring power once the hydraulic pressure is released, we elected to crack the lines at the manifold and release the fluid into a bucket. This done, the jacks began to retract. Thanks Cecil!



Half an hour to clean up and dispose of the waste fluid (poured into a clear plastic water bottle and left beside the garbage can) we hooked up and hit the road at 10:50. Next stop, Yax Ha Resort and Trailer Park near Chetumal. This is as far south as we would be going on this coast, just a few kilometers from Belize.

Actually, next stop was at a Chedraui, which we noticed had room to park right along side the highway. Half an hour here and we were southbound again, larder restocked. The large divided highway soon reverted to the basic two lane-two way road but was in quite reasonable condition.

The four lane highway which runs from Cancun to Tulum was very busy with heavy truck, bus and car traffic. Past Tulum the road narrowed to single lane each way and was suprisingly quiet and in quite good shape.

And yet another stop, this time for lunch at about 1:30 along the side of the road. Entering Chetumal we found that once again progress had changed the roads so they didn't match the driving directions we were following. There was a new overpass which meant that the turns were different but we figured it out with out too much trouble. Our route took us through the City of Chetumal but we found our turn north to Calderitas and the Yax Ha Resort where we arrived at the resort at 4:45 almost with out incident.

We stopped on the roadside to unhook the jeep while Gillian walked ahead to check on the exact location of the park entrance. It was just ahead as shown on the GPS. Art drove up slowly, watching the overhead wires which looked like they would clear and slowly entered the gates. He was being waved on by one of the staff who suddenly shouted and signaled him to stop. One of the overhead wires had become snagged on a bungy cord securing our spare satellite dish. They weren't power lines, so one of the staff climbed on to the roof to clear it.


The ground here looked wet but we were assured by the owner that the place we chose was firm enough. A few plywood blocks under the tires to level us (no jacks, remember?) the slides were out, the electric power and internet worked fine, and we were just a few feet from the Caribbean Sea! In fact we were probably closer in vertical distance than horizontal! Trekker was delighted with his first swim in a new ocean.


We had power at the site but water would involve a hose stretched across the grass to fill the tank, the sewer drain meant a move of a few hundred feet to dump the tanks. No big deal, we were safe and comfortable and warm and happy!





We did have a smile when we glanced at the GPS on the dashboard!

When extending the slides on arrival Art noticed a substantial hydraulic fluid leak at one of the fittings. Close inspection showed a piece of tubing not connected. A few messy minutes with a wrench and we tried again. Art could see two more smaller leaks—one from a valve head which Cecil had noted had a badly damaged o-ring, another from further back which was very difficult to see exact where it was coming from, so we ignored these leaks and put the slides out.

We decided to stay through the weekend to see if there might be a hydraulic mechanic available on Monday. Not that parts would likely be available to repair the jack problem but hopefully the leaks could be fixed.

This is a very nice park and has great potential. We had a nice lunch in the restaurant, enjoyed the pool and of course Trekker loved the ocean swims.

At first glance we thought that the security was a little over the top, but then realised that the cannons were just plastic!

Parked next to us were a Swiss couple traveling the Americas in a camper and across the way was an Australian couple doing the same, this time in a Land Rover with a large tent on the roof. Wish we had a picture, it was a great rig for traveling in undeveloped areas.

Sunday morning Carlos came over to see what was going on with our hydraulics. He soon found and fixed the leaks—one missing O-ring, one opened connection (the other end of the tube Art had first tightened)— but it still needs new relief valve. Art asked Carlos what he did for a living, was he a hydraulics engineer? Stranger things have happened. No, we was a Naval Architect but had previously worked as a marine engineer so knew more than just a bit about hydraulics!

Art had previously heard Carlos speaking Spanish and thought he spoke awfully good Spanish for an Aussie—he is actually Spanish, his name really is Carlos, not Charles or Charlie! Couldn't tell from his accent, sounded like an Aussie to us Canucks!

So now we don't need the hydraulic mechanic—parts likely not to be available in Mexico anyway, we'll make do with leveling blocks until then. Especially when you consider that we have an entire hydraulic unit at home, the one that failed last year in the Yukon and had replaced. The pump motor on the old unit was repaired in Mexico last year. The relief valve should be a very easy change over. One other problem that Carlos noted is that there appears to be a spring missing from one of the return valves. That too should be an easy fix. Wait and see!

Sunday afternoon the skies darkened and then opened--another tropical down pour! we hoped that the rain wouldn't soften the sod under us too much!

Monday the weather was much better. We took the jeep into Chetumal on a grocery run and found signs flooding everywhere. At one point half the road was washed out, we were down to one lane alternating, with deep chasms on both sides. Unfortunately we had left the camera in the motorhome.

We spent some time on the free wireless internet, made use of the extra day to do get some laundry done—washers and dryers are available, staff does to for you at a reasonable price with some notice.

Gillian did some hand washing, hung it in a nearby palapa to dry in the breeze. Then the breeze turned into gusty winds and suddenly a rescue mission was called for! Gillian caught a couple of items just before they would have blown into the bay!

Meanwhile we decided to stick with our plans and move on on Tueday. We are very comfortable here, it is really a pretty spot. No sandy beach, but certainly nice enough.

The owner is hoping for the caravans to return and has spoken with a couple of the caravan companies. He has installed a large water softening system and was in the progress of running water to all the sites. He was very interested in talking with us about suggestions for improving the park. We mentioned water, sewer and power at each or at least some sites; if he is looking for long term snowbirds that will have to be a priority. People won't want to move every week to dump holding tanks.

We'll leave here in the morning.