Newby

Good luck for your trip.

aviator

Looks like a great set up guys... just a note and you probably already know this but if you decide to camp for more than a day in some place and are going to loaf around the camp make sure you air out the mattress and duvet. Letting them hang out in the breeze and get bleached by the sun will keep them fresh and healthy.

defrag4

Howdy again friends, Its been a while since our last post. Been busy criss-crossing Mexico. When we last left off we were in a beautiful port town on the Pacific Ocean called Mazatlan. Now I am posting from the opposite side of Mexico, sitting on the Gulf of Mexico down near the Isthmus of Mexico. We have traveled over 2000 miles and had many great adventures along the way.

Leaving Mazatlan we cruised down the Pacific Coast for a while, we were enjoying the beach views and fresh mariscos (seafood). We saw a small beach town on the map by the name of San Blas. Drove on down the road to check it out.

The highway cut inland for a while and then curved back to the coast, when we approached the coastline this time the landscape had started to turn into marshland.



We reached San Blas, Mexico and drove right out to the beach, We got there about an hour before sunset, busted out some beers and enjoyed the view.











Another beautiful sunset… We found a little restaurant on the beach and sat down for dinner. The beachside palapa started to fill with acrid smoke, we looked around and noticed all the palapas were belching out this smoke. It smelled a lot like citronella, and within a few seconds we realized why. We were getting eaten ALIVE by no-seeums (tiny biting insects) The restaurants did all they could to quell the flood of fly's but there was no hope. We inhaled our food and made a beeline to the truck. We discussed our options for camping that night and figured if we got out onto the beach into the breeze and setup our bug net we would be OK.

Wrong! We drove out onto the beach, bugs didn’t seem to bad. We setup our bug net around our sleeping area and passed out. Woke up in the middle of the night getting attacked by thousands of no-seeums, turns out they took a meal break and were back for seconds. They were so small they just waltzed right through our net, gave a laugh at our weak protection, and started chomping on our bodies. With not many options we buried our heads under the covers and roughed it out for the night.

When I finally poked my head out from under the covers there were thousands of dead bugs around me and tons more alive flying around my head. I jumped out of the truck and found Lauren on the beach who gave me the “Lets get the HELL outta here look!”

Read more on the blog... http://homeonthehighway.com/cruising...can-coastline/

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Wowwwwww, no see-ems SUCK! lol. I've had bouts with them in the Angeles Crest, Sierras and Sequoias, .......Worst of them along the Owens River, near the Alabama Hills, below Mount Whitney! ATE US ALIVE, and the only ones that didn't were making room for the SKEETERS FROM HELL of the Sierras! lol.

GREAT pics and what a beautiful sunset! THANKS for sharing!!!!

defrag4

no prob, theresa bunch more of that writeup on the blog if you want to check it out

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

I'll be on that like a wet blanket, soon as possible, thanks

Seriously, YOU'RE A GREAT COUPLE and it's a very cool thing to share in this journey, with you, as you go! Just stay safe, man! Not being a nervous nelly, ....just spent lots of time down south, learned to be very careful/respectful, lol. (I know you know this, just letting you know that you both are in my thoughts and prayers. Stay safe and HAVE FUN! )

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Stopped by your blog.... WOW, you weren't kidding, TONS of info added/nearly another 2 days adventure, eh? AWESOME, ....less the roaches! lol.

defrag4

ya buddy, most of the forums only let me post a couple of pics so I just started do snippets and leave the rest on the blog. Glad you liked it!

aviator

Just took a boo at the blog meself... great pics... little gold coloured roaches eh?... hope that"s all they were... be careful of the bugs... maybe when you get nearer a big mex. tourist town you can get some finer mesh netting... maybe some those anti malaria sleeping screen thingies would do the trick... don't forget you need to screen the vent air intakes under the front cowl {wiper linkage cover} as well so they don't sneak in through there.
I just read an article in our local paper about a priest who is taking a bunch of donated ambulances and school buses down to ecuador. He said that this year he was having to ship them by sea to avoid going through Columbia due to the unstable conditions in that country being caused by drug cartel activities. There was also an article last week by a guy who had riden a motorbike down the pan american and as I recall he also commented on the issues in Col. ...not to be negative but as you get closer I would advise checking the current conditions there through your US consulates as you pass through the various countries and consider having a plan B in place in case you need to by-pass this beautiful country for safety-sake...
as always be careful, have fun and keep these reports coming
aviator

defrag4

I stay ontop of the drive reports, primarily all great reports coming from Columbia, trouble can be found anywhere if you look hard enough. Well keep an eye on it though

defrag4

After we got our share of the beach scene we cut inland, Destination: Butterfly Kingdom.

If you haven't guessed by now we are kind of nerds. Back home we had seen a few nature documentaries on the mass migration of the Monarch butterflies. Each year the Monarch butterflies begin a huge southward migration from as far north as Canada all the way south to Mexico. This incredible journey is over 4000 miles and spans generations of Monarchs to reach its completion every year. Millions of butterflies arrive in the Michoacán highland forests of Mexico every year for the winter before turning around and heading back north for the summer. It just so happened we were here during the right months. We had to see it!

As we cut in from the coastline through the states of Jalisco we started encountering some wonderful mountain scenery and idealic farmland. Jalisco is known as the homeland of Tequila and agave farms abound. We also saw a few huge volcanoes.



Morelia is a beautiful Spanish colonial city. They have retained a lot of the architecture from the cities founding back in the 1500’s. We found it to be a wonderful town and spent a few days exploring the city alongside other Mexican tourists. I think we were the only gringos in town.



We then headed to the Monarch Butterfly Reserve. There were so many butterflies you could literally hear them flying around bumping into each other above our heads.



Read more on the blog... http://homeonthehighway.com/morelia-...terfly-reserve

defrag4

Double Update Goodness!


After experiencing the majesty of the butterfly kingdom we pointed our truck towards another sort of mystical place. Mexico City. Originally we had planned to skip Mexico City due to reports of violence, crime, high traffic, smog etc etc etc. However, during our few weeks traveling the country we have come to realize that 99% of things we had heard about Mexico were bull˟˟˟˟, so we changed our minds and we are glad we did! We ended up spending 5 days in this diverse place and barely began to touch the surface. We also partied our faces off and put a sizable dent in our Mexico budget, well worth it…

We left the highlands of Michoacán and headed towards the mountain-ringed metropolis of Mexico City. Greater Mexico City with its population of <strong>22+ MILLION</strong> is the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the 2nd largest in the world. This place is DENSE. As we broke through the mountain tree line we saw an endless sea of concrete and buildings. Wow



We had made a friend off the internet who graciously offered to let us stay at his place, arrange us a safe spot for the truck, and be our tourguide for the duration of our visit. Note: I made these arrangements at 9PM the night before our arrival, We were lucky to find such a grand host!

We punched his address into the GPS and drove into the jungle. We tirelessly fought across the city streets making headway towards his barrio (neighborhood). The GPS said it should take 20 minutes to arrive, it ended up taking us around 3 hours. The GPS did not account for 1-way streets, curbs, and the constant reconstruction that takes place on the mean streets of Distrito Federal. Luckily we had mentally prepared ourselves for this and took it in stride, rather enjoying the wild west style of driving in the city. It’s a no-holds barred grudge match, kill or be killed, not for the feint of heart. I loved it.

We eventually arrived at Adrian’s place where he introduced us to his grandma and aunt, showed us our room, and took us to his uncles parking lot where we were able to stash the truck for a few days.

Our Mexico City adventure HQ



Wasting no time, Adrian said lets hit the city! We threw down our stuff and headed out, grabbed a cab, to a bus, bus to a train, and popped out in the middle of downtown Mexico City about 20 minutes later. The public transportation in Mexico City is cheap and reliable, bus ride was 5 pesos and I believe the train was a similar price.



Our first spot to check out was the Monumento a la Revolucion. A gigantic monument in the middle of downtown dedicated to the Mexican Revolution and the heroes who were involved in the movement. There is an elevator to the top and we headed up for a view of the city.



EL Angel


Headed to the bars to cap off our first night in D.F., lots of cool spots and plenty of hip young people out enjoying a night on the town.



and BACON WRAPPED HOTDOGS!!11 (Hotdog guy was not amused with my antics)



Woke up the next morning and headed to the Zocolo, Mexico City’s main historic square. This is where the capital building, cathedral, and Tenochtitlan ruins are located. Fun Facts, Mexico City is built ontop of the capital of the Aztec nation originally constructed in the 12th century. The whole region was once a marshy area with scattered lakes. These lakes were slowly drained and built upon over the centuries. The city is seeing the effects of building on this soft lakebed soil. The entire place is slowly sinking into the ground.





Read more on the blog... http://homeonthehighway.com/adventures-in-mexico-city/

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

SALUTE to Adrian! Sounds like a great guy.... Nice

Good pics, and WOW, that mad doggin from the hotdog guy, hahaha.... Priceless!

Thanks again for sharing....I'll be trying to get by your blog, sooner than later(just a busy afternoon, lol).

STAY SAFE! HAVE FUN!

aviator

Sounds like you made an amazing friend there... always good to know a local when you're visiting in a big city like that... you get to see some of the places the tour books/buses miss...

defrag4

New update on the blog: http://homeonthehighway.com/accidentes-in-oaxaca/

We waved goodbye to Mexico City as we climbed up and out of the smog-choked valley into the highlands. We were headed towards Oaxaca, we had been communicating with a volunteer organization there and planned to spend a week or two assisting them. There were a few sites along the way to see first.

First stop was a small town named Cholula, just outside of Puebla, MX. Home to the 2nd largest pyramid in the world (by volume). Sounded like something we had to check out. When we arrived in town we expected to see a huge Egyptian style pyramid dominating the landscape, instead what we found was a huge hill with a giant church on top of it. Can this be it?? Looking at the signs, sure enough, that was it. We stowed our King Tut costumes and went to check it out anyway.





The church turned out be about 600 years old and was a magnificent structure. Missionaries had built it on top of the highest point in town, not realizing they were constructing on top of ancient buried ruins. By the time the ruins were discovered the church had so much history and relevance they could not remove it. Excavation of the ruins are still in progress at the bottom of the hill. Walking the excavated perimeter and looking up towards the church you can see this really was a huge pyramid at one point.






We spied some street vendors selling all kinds of fruits and snacks. Getting a closer look I saw some sort of weird bbq bug they had. Turns out they were grasshoppers, yum! Lauren opted for peanuts while I chowed down on some grasshoppers with salt and lime. Crunchy and delicious! If you come across some, eat up.



Leaving the pyramid and grasshopper delights behind we headed further south towards Oaxaca, eventually winding up into a national park whose landscape was half mountains/half desert. A weird but beautiful place with thousands of cactus rolling over the mountains. We camped here for the night.




*CAUTION: LONG STORY WITH NO PICS*

We finally arrived in Oaxaca City, but without our phone or internet we had no way to contact our host. Downtown Oaxaca is a tight maze of one-way streets, tons of foot traffic, and lots of cabs, trucks, and motorcycles all jockeying for pole position. We drove around for about an hour in an attempt to find a hostel in our guidebook. Eventually we gave up and decided to just park and look around. Easier said than done… after 30 minutes of driving in circles (Reminds me of living in San Francisco…) I finally spot a parking spot and my instincts kick in. THIS IS MY SPOT!!! I throw it in reverse to start parallel parking, crazy Mexicans are wiggling their way behind my truck as I'm backing into the spot, I finally assert my position and the coast is clear to reverse.

BAM!

Maybe not so clear after all… turns out another guy didn’t agree with my “asserted position” and tried to wiggle behind. I clipped his taillight which shattered all over the street. Grand… This should be interesting. I jump out to survey the damage, busted taillight and some scuff marks on his fender. OK, not to bad I think. We start to converse (AKA He speaks to me in Spanish and I stand there with a dumb look on my face saying “si, si, si” over and over) eventually he says something about the policia, (I know that word!) not wanting to get the cops involved I told him that I would rather just pay him cash right now. He says he's not sure how much it would cost to get fixed and says we should go to a bodyshop for an estimate. Not exactly in the power position here I say OK, we jump back in our trucks and I follow him on a 45-minute joyride to the outskirts of town wondering just how much these guys are going to take me for…

We get to the bodyshop, where an old man with gold rimmed teeth comes out and starts running his hands all over the rear of the truck. Pointing at every ding and dent on the thing with dollar signs in his eyes. Oh man… I am screwed. They converse back and forth for a while about where to get parts, paint, etc etc. Finally they come to an agreement, the guy turns to me and says it will cost 2 Mil pesos. 2 MILLION PESOS!?!?

Turns out 2 Mil is actually 2000 pesos, around $175 US. I am sure this same minimal damage would have ended up costing me upwards of 1K in the states so I quickly agree to the price. We drive up to the ATM, the guy gets out of his car and starts talking to us again in Spanish. Great, here comes the rub, I think to myself… I am not sure exactly what he wants but we eventually figure out he is saying that he could probably save us some money if we went somewhere else to get another quote. Wow, I had this guy pegged all wrong, he was actually trying to save us money not extort it from us. Feeling guilty and not really wanting to go on another tour of Oaxaca, I told him I am happy to give him 2000 pesos, he thought we were dumb but agreed. 2000 pesos exchanged and we were back on the road. Escaping our first (and hopefully last) accident on this trip only $175 lighter in the pocket. Everything went better than expected.

Frustrated, overheated, and our budget burned up for the week. We said screw it and left Oaxaca in the rearview. We hope to return someday as we heard this was a wonderful city, maybe I will just find a parking spot on the outskirts of town next time…

We headed west up and over a mountain range from Oaxaca towards the Isthmus of Mexico and the Yucatan peninsula.

We wound up near the top of the mountain and found an amazing campsite down a small dirtpath. Secluded, beautiful, and quiet, just what we needed after a hectic day in Oaxaca.



We watched the clouds roll in over the mountainous valley below and the sun set on another day in paradise. Sometimes we have to stop and remind ourselves what really matters, Will we remember that $175 and this frustrating day in 3 months? Or will we remember this beautiful spot on our amazing adventure together?

Its easy to let your “problems” melt away with scenes like this.



http://homeonthehighway.com/accidentes-in-oaxaca/

EFI85

OMG your trip just looks so awesome !!! You two are doing an awesome job .Im really jealous I wish I could do something like this . Have fun and be safe !!

vang_22re

Thats a suckie adventure in oaxaca hope it will be super better next time. And thank that guy, saving you guys some pesos. Now jist pop open some beer and enjoy the scenery.

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Holy OAXACA, MAN! lol.....

Seriously, that could have gone much differently.... so in all reality, YOU WERE blessed and YOU WILL hopefully remember that moment fondly! hahaha. (you know what I mean, lol)...

Excellent update, as usual, man! LOVED those Grasshoppers as well

What an incredible view! Great shots, maestro! Hasta pronto!

RBX

These are stories adventures are made of, sometimes they can be unfortunate.
Your story, trip, has provided me with hours of entertainment on your time and dime. To me that's worth something.
I sent a donation to your PayPal account. I hope it helps.

yotaman85

this needs to be a book...