Flamingos & Monkeys - Mexico or Colorado?

With the two-month anniversary of us living in the van upon us it’s hard to believe how much time has passed.

During our time in San Cristobal de las Casas we had to make the call to cross into Guatemala or continue north to Palenque and then the Yucatan.  With no surf on the Gulf side, George was suspect from the start of this conversation.

Before we left Colorado, I was talking to a friend about our trip. She and her husband rode their bikes from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego a couple years back, an amazing feat.  When we started talking about Mexico, the first thing she said was, “you’re going to Palenque, right?” At the time we hadn’t mapped out our itinerary and I wasn’t sure.  Based on this conversation, all that she had seen and that this was her first question, we decided to head into the Yucatan and stop at Palenque.  It was the right call.
George sums it up nicely: Palenque was badass.

We were able to walk not just around and look up at the ruins, but IN them.  Through the hallways, up in-door staircases to see tombs, steam baths, toilets, door hinges and wonderfully preserved frescos.  It offered a completely different understanding of how these people lived and how advanced they were with roads, in-door plumbing, trade routes and political trickery. Plus there were monkeys at our campsite.

We also visited Chichen Itza, large and deserving of its place as one of the 7 Wonders of the World, but in our eyes, since we couldn’t explore the interior of the ruins it didn’t hold a candle to Palenque. I still have so many questions about star alignment and what secrets are revealed when you visit these places at night.

After a wonderful meal in Merida we saw the RV park and decided to press on for better accommodations.  This landed us in a sleepy seasonal town outside of Progresso on the coast.  At first look we thought the town was abandoned because although all of the houses were nice, they were all boarded up. As we looked for a place to park for the night a woman came out of her house and yelled, “are you really from Colorado?”  She was an American that has a house in Grand Junction (just an hour from our house) and offered us a place to park in front of her house for the night, fully equipped with a bathroom and a HOT shower.  Exactly what we needed after 7 hours of driving in the heat. Thank you Linda & Larry!

The next day we came upon a wonderful place to stay in Celestun with Beto, a local and avid Broncos fan; it turns out that his Grandfather spent time working in near our home town in Colorado when he was a young man.  The rooms at his place, Villa del Mar, were brand new, clean, comfortable and the same price as camping.  We stayed out of the van for the first time.  The next day we saw flamingos with a wonderful couple from France that ended up Copilots in the van for a few days as we ventured East to Valladolid.

Chichen Itza and East, closer to Cancun offered a rude awakening for us with price gouging and the introduction of the not-so-honest tourist experience. It was a bit of a shock based on our experiences thus far and point of frustration until we landed on the tranquil Isla Mujers.  Here we enjoyed the beautiful blue waters and peaceful beaches without being charged for something every time we turned around.

Although we’ve explored what seems to us like a lot of the country it’s abundantly clear that we’ve only scratched the surface.  The isolation and kind people of the Pacific coast, the history of the Yucatan and the mystery and simplicity of the mountain villages - each have their own wonderful brand of distinction.  The only conclusion that I can come to is that you could spend a lifetime exploring Mexico and only have a small understanding of all this country has to offer.
As we prepare to cross the border into Belize I can’t help but think of what’s ahead. If the rest of Central America offers a shred of the richness that we have experienced in Mexico we are in for a wild ride.