MA to AZ and beyond

[rob cote]

Wednesday morning, I took a spin on the bike while Mandy was working on morning chores. There was a print shop called Panda Print nearby; we wanted to see if we could get copies of our licenses printed on plastic. It's been recommended to us a few times to have these copies so that if we're requested to produce our driver's licenses to an official, we can give them the copies instead. There is a scam whereby someone will request your license and then demand payment in order to return it. Since we kinda need our original licenses, this would put us in an awkward situation. But anyways, Panda Print was closed, so I just went back home. Saw this perfect GTI on the ride, so it wasn't a total waste:



From there, we started driving. We drove to Cholula via Arco Norte to avoid driving into Ciudad de Mexico (CDMX). There are driving restrictions in place in CDMX to limit traffic and pollution. Depending on the characters on your license plate, you can only drive on certain days. It's possible to get a waiver that allows you to drive on all days for a limited window - something like 3-5 days - which we could have done. I think it's free. But we weren't really interested in trying to navigate the city streets anyways, so we just passed way north of the city to get to the east side. Once in Cholula, we checked into an RV park there called Trailer Park las Americas. It was a little hectic driving in Cholula, but not awful. Mostly just traffic. We got settled and Loki hung out with some of the loose dogs inside the park. We wandered around a bit inside. It's a pretty nice little spot, actually. It's not quiet, obviously, because of its central location within the city. But if you wanted to explore the city from a camper or RV, it's a great way to do it. There's a pool inside, and the bathrooms are quite nice. The shower was so-so, but at least it was free.



It was somewhat hot, so we just hung out outside for the afternoon and into the evening. We ended up in a corner of the park, so we mostly kept to ourselves. The people parked next to us had French license plates, and it's been our experience that French people just don't interact. This was no different. We tried saying hi and waving when they'd walk by or whatnot but got no response. I dunno why, they're just a tough nut to crack, I guess. I neatened up my laptop charger repair work and Mandy cooked us dinner. Loki made himself comfy on his bed outside. I'm honestly impressed at how well that bed has lasted so far. I mean, Mandy constructed it of outdoor patio furniture material because we wanted it to be durable. I forget what the material is called exactly. It's similar to Sunbrella fabric but made by a different brand. Anyway, the point is that it gets abused pretty hard; we throw it on all types of ground surfaces, dog "fluffs" it all the time which he loves to do super aggressively - it looks like he's trying to tear it in half; yet it's still holding strong. One of the seams tore a long while ago, only about an inch, and Mandy re-sewed it and that has held up since, too. She does great work.





As it started to get dark out, the temperature dropped, and the van's interior cooled as well. It wasn't uncomfortably hot inside. Once we were ready, we closed everything up and got inside to head to bed.

 

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Thursday morning, we were walking around the RV park again, and I decided to take a shower. This is when I discovered that it was only cold water, which was kinda annoying. If it was early afternoon, it would have been better to have a cold shower. Anyway, when I finished up, I found Mandy and Loki chatting up some other people in the park. Tony and Nicole. They were also in a van, though a bit older than ours, but similar. They were waiting on a new turbo inlet seal, which they'd ordered only two days prior and was expected to arrive that morning. I thought that was impressively quick shipping, but they admitted they'd paid handsomely for it. It was neat talking with someone who knew how to do their own maintenance - it seems like a lot of people don't. I don't mean to say that's a bad thing, but I like to learn, and Tony taught me a bit about the issues they'd had. So that was cool.

We weren't really sure what to do from there, but they'd been around for a few days waiting on parts to arrive, so they had some suggestions for us. They had a motorcycle with them which helped them to explore the area nearby. I still like the idea of having one, but we won't get one. I think it'd be more effort and stress than value-add. But it would be cool sometimes, too. Anyway, we ended up talking to them for quite a while, and ultimately decided we should go check out the pyramid in the archeological zone. Santuario Nuestra Senora de los Remedios - the sanctuary of our lady of remedies.



Our understanding - correct me if it's wrong - is that there was a pyramid built long ago, in fact the largest pyramid (by volume) in the world, then it got lost somehow. Spaniards showed up years later and saw a hill and decided to build a church on top of the hill. The hill was later discovered to be an ancient pyramid, buried underneath. I thought it was an interesting coincidence that the two civilizations chose the same site to build a religious structure. We hiked up separately; dogs aren't allowed. The view from the top shows pretty much all of Cholula, so that's pretty neat. The interior of the church is extremely ornate, but if I'm honest, it's gaudy. Gilded everything. It's not our style at all, but we certainly appreciate the effort it took to complete. One other thing to note about the city (and most Mexican cities) is that there are pretty much always fireworks. Whereas in the states, we typically only explode them at night so we can enjoy the pretty colors, in Mexico they explode all day long. They're supposed to mark out the anointing of new saints or something like that. But from the top of the pyramid, I saw a bunch of puffs of smoke from their explosions. It's mostly just noise during the daytime. Kinda odd, but that's the culture.





Anyway, after we had checked out the church, we wandered around in search of food, because I was starving. We'd chatted with a local who was just hanging out nearby, and he told us there were great spots all around the block of the archaeological zone. We figured we'd have no trouble, but actually it seemed like everywhere was either closed, wasn't a restaurant, or didn't allow dogs. Eventually, I got too hungry, so we bee-lined it back to the van and I made up some bacon and eggs there.

Since we were already in the van after I ate and cleaned up, we figured we'd drive out of town. We headed towards Helia Bravo Hollis Jardin Botanico. Helia was a Mexican botanist who studied cactuses and succulents. She was the first Mexican woman to graduate with the title of biologist. It makes sense that this area would be named for her, because there are about 15 billion cactus there. That's probably an exaggeration - a billion is an incredibly large number. But you get my point. The drive there was quite scenic; it felt a lot like parts of Arizona. Kinda deserty with mountains, and of course lots of cactus.



We checked into the park, which has camping as well as cabins, for one night. There was a little confusion about the dog, mainly because we couldn't understand what the woman at reception was saying. But we figured out her miming - the dog is allowed as long as he remains on leash. Ohhh! Yes, of course, that's no issue. He pretty much stays on leash anyways. There are too many things out there that want to stab us or cause other injury. We drove down to find a site and had our pick of all of them because no one else was there at all. Except one guy who we believe was working on one of the cabins. It was beautiful! Nestled in a valley, we watched the sun set over the mountains to the west. We hiked a short way across the dried-up riverbed and climbed a lookout tower for a better view.



We climbed back down and headed home to call family and cook dinner. Afterwards, we cleaned up, converted to night-mode, and climbed into bed. We thought it'd be a good night sky opportunity, but it ended up being completely washed out by the moon, which was okay because I was too lazy to get out of bed to take pictures anyways. It was very peaceful, though, with only the sounds of nature throughout the night. We highly recommend this spot for remote camping in Mexico!

 

[rob cote]

Friday, we went for a little morning hike in the botanical gardens. There are trails all over. We found one that seemed to follow the fence around one edge of the park. It seemed like it might have exited the park, but it wasn't clear, so we turned around before we unknowingly stumbled upon private property or something. We continued up the road in the park and found a different trail that climbed up a small hill. There we found a tree that's called "elephant foot" (or something similar to that, I'm not positive). It's hard to tell in the picture, but it actually looks quite a lot like an elephant's foot. The trunk meets the ground squarely without flaring knees that a lot of taller trees have. It's just strangely proportioned, for a tree. Very short and squat. Since Mandy loves elephants so much, this was a highlight for her. The morning started heating up, so we climbed back down the hill and hopped in the van so we could cool off in the conditioned air while we drove to Oaxaca.



Our last communication with DHL had been to notify them we were on our way to Oaxaca, we could be there by Friday, and could they please hold our package in the store until then? They obliged, and we were grateful. But it meant we had to get to Oaxaca by this day to pick up our Starlink. That wasn't an issue, really. Other than a little bit of trouble getting to the correct spot once we were in the city. Driving was a little bit chaotic, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. The trick is that you have to fully commit at all times. Either you let the other car go first, and make it obvious, or you take the lead. But you can't hesitate or flinch. Otherwise, you'll die. We found the DHL and got the package straight away. The box was gigantic, so I opened it up to take out the hardware and collapse the box. Space is limited.

Afterwards, we wandered a while. We had free parking that seemed safe, so it was a good opportunity. We had to find an ATM (cajero) to get cash, so we navigated to one. I went in with Mandy's card and struck out. I got in line again, this time with the correct PIN from her. Again, no dice. I got in line again, this time with the correct PIN AND the correct card. Finally, success. She can't read the machine, so I have to do all of it. It's a lot sometimes. Anyway, once we had cash, it was time to find lunch. We wandered around, not really sure what we wanted, but figured we'd know when we saw it. Eventually, we found a food trailer setup on a corner lot with a bunch of outdoor seating. D'Villatortas. Unsurprisingly, they had all sorts of tortas. The host suggested to us that we might be able to split one between the two of us. That seemed a good plan - if we were still hungry, we could find a different food elsewhere. By all accounts, the food in Oaxaca is top tier. Our assessment was that the one torta was plenty for the two of us. They were quite large. And quite good! We wound our way through the city back to the van and headed out of the city towards El Tule.



We stopped at a Walmart along the way to pick up some groceries. The Walmarts in Mexico that we've seen so far seem to have a mall in the entrance sort of thing going on. I don't know if that's universal. This one was like a full-blown shopping mall that I had to go all the way through to get to the entrance to the Walmart. It's interesting. I got most of what we needed and headed back out to continue the drive. We went to El Rancho RV Park and checked in late afternoon. We paid for a night as we weren't sure what to do next, but it seemed a nice enough spot for a night.

We were directed to a space by the host, and we parked and hopped out happy to be done driving for the day. We walked around the park and found Nicole and Tony were there as well. How neat is that?! We started talking to them and Loki was hanging out with their dogs. Eventually, the host came by and told us we were free to relocate next to our friends if we'd like. So, we did. We ended up hanging out with them for quite a while chatting about our journey from Cholula. They introduced us to some friends of theirs, and a couple young girls invited us to a pizza party for everyone in the campground. We politely declined because we were having Indian chicken and rice instead. But, after we ate in our van, we went over to the communal patio/kitchen/dining/pool area thing to be social. There were some couches there, which we were happy to find. Most of all, Loki. He climbed right up and passed out with his head on the armrest. He loves a good couch. We miss a couch, too. It's probably the most-missed item since selling our house.



Anyway, it was a good spot to hang and chat with everyone. We had a couple tequila drinks and hung out outside well into the evening until everyone was feeling exhausted and we went to the van to go to bed. The biggest challenge was peeling Loki off the couch to make the walk all the way home.

 

[rob cote]

Saturday, we just hung out. We had no real plan other than showering. We worked on editing video and familiarizing ourselves with our Starlink. We never got kicked out at checkout time. I'm still not sure when that is. We didn't really give leaving much thought. We were content to just socialize with everyone around. We're definitely getting better at meeting new people.



Tuck's Truck has been an incredibly helpful blog for us, and at some point we realized we were parked right next to the big blue truck. We located the owners, Marcus and his wife (I didn't get her name - D'oh!!) and talked with them for a bit. We wanted to make sure they knew how helpful they'd been and thanked them for their writings. We also talked a bit about modern diesels and South America, since they'd already driven all over in their Euro 5 Iveco. Marcus confirmed my suspicions that using high sulphur diesel in our van will not cause it to spontaneously combust. Instead, the DPF will just regenerate more frequently. And DEF availability is a non-issue as well. The main issues they had were finding the correct environment for their DPF to regenerate - their truck likes 80kph to regenerate; and getting off-brand diesel in Bolivia. I don't think our DPF regeneration will be a concern because our van seems to complete the cycle at any vehicle speed. And we can easily learn from their bad fuel experience and stick to name-brand stations only. The whole conversation was really reassuring and alleviated some stress we've had about fuel concerns. We also talked about Starlink mounting options and modifications. Marcus has done extensive modifications to their system including various mounting configurations, alternative power supplies, and even swapping out the router for one with better range and controls. He's done way more than I intend to, but all the information is available for free on their blog and it's a massive help. I think we held them up a bit, as they were on their way out, so eventually we let them get on with their travels after exchanging contact information.

We found ourselves chatting with our neighbors Tony and Nicole again, and Tony and I were poking around under their hood. I was curious about the differences between the NCV3 and VS30, which have the "same" engine. Theirs looks quite different from ours for being the same. I opened our hood so he could see what I was talking about, as well as to show off our air compressor mount and furnace. While he was poking around, he noted a coupler on one of our charge pipes was leaking and didn't appear to be seated correctly. It wasn't enough of a boost leak to trigger any faults, but it's still an inefficiency, so I grabbed tools to fix it. He lent a hand with the fix which was much appreciated. It was easy enough to resolve, but it's always nice to have someone hanging out to crack jokes with through the work.



By then, we'd realized we weren't leaving until tomorrow, which was fine. But we made plans to head into El Tule with Tony and Nicole. It's just a short walk to get there. Their friend Courtney had given some recommendations for tiendas to check out, and a restaurant or two. It was getting towards dinner time, so we figured we should tag along to find some food. When we got to the center, we bumped into Courtney as she was on her way back. First, we stopped to see Arbol del Tule - the largest-circumference tree in the world. It was really nice to see that it's fenced off and guarded. Man, it's such a big tree! It's not super tall, but the trunk is insanely big. It's a cypress, so it has a lot of knees, which makes the circumference way longer than a typical tree that's mostly round. Is that cheating? I don't know.



Anyway, we continued on our way to Mercado Gastronomico de Santa Maria del Tule. It's basically a cafeteria of sorts. It's one large open building and all around the walls are cooktops. In the center are all long tables with benches or chairs. Each..."restaurant"?...has its own menu and different offerings. We grabbed a table and ordered a bunch of tacos and beers. The food was made up quickly and it was delicious! And super cheap, too! Nicole inquired to some people sitting behind her what they'd ordered, because it kind of looked like a pizza. Tlayuda. It's kind of a pizza, but it's far more topping than crust. The crust is basically a corn tortilla, though it's cooked until it's crispy, rather than flexible like for tacos.

After we ate, we wandered around outside a bit more. We found another restaurant, and since we were all still a bit hungry, we decided to head in for second dinner. Loki was not at all interested, so I split off and headed back to the van. There, I made some steak tacos for myself and cleaned up by the time Mandy got back. She brought a tlayuda so I could try it. I wasn't hungry by then, so we saved it for later. A storm had rolled through the area just north of El Tule, so we all setup our chairs in the yard and watched the lightning show off in the distance over the mountains. As it got dark outside, we all got kind of tired, so we headed off to bed.

 

[rob cote]

Sunday morning we were just hanging again. Sometime after breakfast, I noticed that a van across the yard had its hood open. I stopped by to see if any help was needed. I try to ask whenever I see a hood open, because you never know. Theirs was an European NCV3, so a little bit of an oddity. It has an inline 4-cylinder gas engine, whereas in North America, the diesel is far more common. Anyway, Denise and Peter were thankful for any assistance; their van was stuck in limp mode and they weren't sure why. They had a handful of fault codes and the ability to clear them, so we started there, as well as with some of their van's history. The catalytic converter had been replaced about 10,000 km ago, and there were two lambda sensor faults, so we investigated there first. We discovered that the wires for the downstream oxygen sensor had been completely melted, and presumed it was due to improper routing. We wrapped them up with harness tape and reinstalled the sensor, this time with more attention to the cable routing to ensure it wouldn't recur.

We cleared the faults and re-scanned the ECU to find that a handful of codes came back immediately. That was disappointing. Without changing anything else, we tried clearing and rescanning one more time. We found that a different set of codes came back. Some were the same, but at least a couple were different. That was a real head-scratcher for me. At least a few of the faults were "short to ground" types, so Peter and I began inspecting the wire harness for visible damage, as well as checking the connections to the ECU for bent pins, corrosion, etc. With no findings at all, I thought it was a bit beyond what I felt comfortable dealing with on someone else's vehicle and in the middle of a campground. I figured it was probably in the wire harness somewhere, although I thought it could also possibly be inside the ECU. I wasn't confident enough either way to tell them to go ahead and order parts, so we cleaned up and put everything back together. I apologized for not being able to figure it out, but they were really grateful anyways.

We had debated heading into Oaxaca over breakfast, but by the time we were wrapping up the work on their van, it was getting on in the afternoon. We decided to postpone until tomorrow and instead hang out in the campground. We threw our frisbee across the lawn for a while. We spent some time by the pool. We researched options for mounting our Starlink. We filled up our water tanks from the supply at the RV park. We met new friends around the park and generally had a relaxing afternoon. After dinner, Peter and Denise offered us some drinks as payment for helping them try to diagnose their van. We setup Loki inside the van with a walkie-talkie so he could hear us, thinking maybe that'd help him relax. Plus, he could see us through the windshield as we were just across the yard near our friends' van. He was alert for a while, but eventually went into the bed. We stayed up pretty late with the Germans - we even finished off our bottle of tequila from Tequila. Eventually, we were all getting tired so we headed off to bed.

 

[rob cote]

Monday we were prepared to finally head into Oaxaca, and nothing was going to stop us. We had learned that dilly-dallying for the morning would get in the way, so while we didn't rush, we stayed focused on getting into the city. We told all our new friends our plan to leave Loki in the van and we left Mandy's number on the windshield with a note to contact us in case of emergency (or if he was being annoying). Everyone reassured us there would be no issues, and Courtney explained what buses to look for and where to get to and from the city.



We set off on foot through dirt streets towards the highway. We found the nearest bus stop and gathered under its shade. The bus of course stopped well before the stand, so we jogged over to hop on. 8 pesos each is pretty cheap; I think it's less than two US quarters. We weren't sure what route it would take exactly, so we kept an eye on the map to figure out the best place to hop off. We probably got off too early, but it wasn't a bad walk anyways. We headed to the November 20th market in search of all the best foods. We found a similar cafeteria type of place to what we saw in El Tule, although this was far bigger, with way more kitchens. And way more people. I'm sure that on a Monday morning it was rather quiet compared to other times of the week, but it was still pretty crazy inside. We snagged a table and ordered some mole negro with chicken and rice. I got a coffee, too. I prefer iced coffee (cafe frio), but they didn't have any, so they offered like room temperature coffee. I should have just taken it hot, probably, but oh well. Regardless, the flavor was fantastic! And it came with some bread that was also delicious. Kind of a strange pairing, but we were hungry, so we dug in. Honestly all of it was really good. My biggest complaint is that all the chicken always has bones and it's just more effort to avoid them, but that's really minor all things considered.



After we finished, we paid and moved on. Mandy wanted to see all the kitchens first before deciding which we should eat at next. We found one tucked in the corner that had Oaxacan tamales. Traditional tamales are wrapped in corn husk when they're cooked, but in Oaxaca, they use banana leaves. The result is a much larger tamale and one that is moister, too. It's more effort to eat, but we agreed it's worth it. they only had one left, so we shared it and it was a good thing they didn't have two because we were stuffed afterwards. It was filled with mole negro and chicken, but this mole was completely different than the previous we'd tried. It was outstanding and we ate every last bit. Completely full by this point, we took a walk.



We wandered around the streets and ended up inside a different market. Just a couple blocks away, this one didn't have as much prepared food as the other. There were some kitchens, but most of them were making drinks and things that didn't require cooking. There were tons of ingredients available at numerous stands. There were also all kinds of crafts, jewelry, clothing, gifts...pretty much anything you could want. It was a really cool place to just wander around and we appreciated that people weren't aggressive with the sales. We got some prepared mole to make our own meals with, as well as a few vegetables and fruits we wanted. Everything was so cheap and looking delicious! We wanted it all. Except that the meat aisle smelled pretty bad. We avoided that area as best we could.



We figured we should probably start heading back to the van by then, since we knew it'd be a while longer and we'd done quite a bit of walking by this point. We started towards where we figured we could catch a bus, but again, we weren't really clear of the exact route. We saw a bus with a sign for El Tule, but we'd just missed it. We tried jogging to catch it, but every time we got close, a light would turn green, and it'd move on. Eventually we caught up to it as it was parked, but the driver told us although he was going to El Tule, he wasn't right now, and we had to catch a bus back the way we'd come. So, we turned around and walked all the way back several blocks. We happened across a different bus to El Tule and the driver let us hop on. The ride back was pretty uneventful, just long and trafficky. I guess it was that time of day in Oaxaca.

We hopped off the bus near our RV park and walked to our van. Everything seemed fine on the outside and everyone told us Loki hadn't made a sound all day. We opened up the van to find everything intact and a happy puppy! We let him out and we all spent the rest of the day outside hanging out. I guess he's getting better at being alone in the van, which is so nice. It's a challenge sometimes when we can't leave him alone. Of course, there are a ton of factors and we're not just going to leave him alone all the time, but it's really nice to have that option sometimes.

We spent the night hanging out with all our new friends and coming up with a plan for our days ahead. It would be our fourth night in one place - our longest stint yet - and we had mixed feelings about leaving. On the one hand, we have to get to Panama by the end of April, but on the other hand, it was one of our favorite places we'd been yet. We're realizing more and more that it's the people that make a place, and this place had all the best people. Some of them at least would be heading in a similar direction to us, so we had the chance of meeting up with them again to look forward to. And they gave us some recommendations for things to check out that would be along our way, which was awesome. Sometimes it's really hard to plan where to go, what to see and do. Eventually, we said our goodnights and headed to bed.

 

[rob cote]

Tuesday it was finally time to leave El Rancho RV Park. We'd spent four nights there in a row! Hard to believe, but it's true. We could have enjoyed staying even longer, but we do have to get to Panama, so we packed up and hit the road in the morning. We drove from El Tule towards Mitla. I'm not sure what town we were in exactly, but we followed signs for Hierve el Agua. It translates literally to "it boils the water". It's sandwiched between some tiny towns in the mountains, and it's a really beautiful spot. There's a hot spring that fills a few pools on the top of a cliff. The waters obviously carry a lot of salts which come out as the waters run off the cliff and make an awesome "waterfall" of salt deposits. It's a really interesting spot, and we only heard about it from some friends at the RV park. We're so glad we received this awesome recommendation!



We arrived and took a hike towards the waterfall with Loki. It was pretty freakin' hot outside, and he got lazy pretty quickly. Hiking towards the waterfall mainly gives a view of the pools, which is cool to see, but you can't really see the waterfall from the top of it. There's a trail that hikes to the bottom for a better view, but there was no way we'd have gotten the dog back up if he climbed down. Instead, we headed back to the van and set him up inside with the windows open and the fan on high. It felt much cooler in the shade inside the van than outside in the direct sun. We went to the pools for a dip and discovered that they weren't super hot like a lot of hot springs are, which was nice. We were a little hesitant to go in if they were going to be hot water, but it was actually comfortable. Anyway, we mostly enjoyed the amazing views from the cliff, rather than actual swimming. But we also didn't want to stick around too long because of the dog situation. On our way back up to the parking lot, we grabbed a coco frio, not exactly sure what to expect. But it's exactly what it sounds like - a cold coconut. The woman who sold it to us chopped off the top and stuck a straw in so we could drink the cold coconut water. It was pretty good, although I feel like if it were colder it would have been better.





From there, we navigated towards Puerto Arista. We weren't going to make it in a day; we knew that. But that direction took us out of Hierve el Agua a different way from which we entered. We went up over a large mountain pass via a narrow dirt road. I think Mandy was terrified, but I was driving and it was fine. It's definitely unnerving to be a passenger on roads like that. I kept an eye on the transmission temperature which got warm but never hot. It was on the converter almost the entire time we were climbing, so the fluid had a lot of load on it. At the top, I switched back to navigation because I knew the fluid would only cool off from there. We began the steep descent and I put the van's transmission into first gear on the steepest sections to keep the brakes from overheating. Everything went well. I think the climb was up and back down about 12-1500ft, so not huge, but it was over a short distance, so the slopes were steep. The van performed flawlessly.

We got to relatively flat land and continued on our way. Lots of beautiful winding mountain roads the whole way. It was a really nice drive. We passed through several tiny towns. They all start to kind of look the same. A few speed bumps surrounded by houses intermixed with various tiendas and a few small restaruants, and then it's gone. We chose a Pemex to stop at for the night which allows overnight parking according to the internet. We were trying to beat a storm that had been on the horizon since we climbed the mountain pass leaving Hierve el Agua. It arrived to the Pemex about the same time we did. I parked and just sat for a few to shake off the driving. Mandy was making moves to prep us some dinner and she noticed everyone in the parking lot was looking kind of in the direction of the van and pointed it out to me. They were looking past the van, though. So we looked out the other side and there was nothing. Some wind, yeah, but the storm hadn't fully arrived. And then I saw it - a huge pinkish-red flash of light emanating from the power lines on the hilltop. I pulled Mandy's attention back to the power line. And then lightning struck the power lines. And again! The pink flare shot off the power line again. Mandy suggested maybe it wasn't a great idea to stay there the night. I wasn't going to argue with that, but I was also curious how it would play out. The power went out to the fuel station, which took longer than I expected it should. On the order of a minute or two. Plenty long enough for the grass beneath the power lines to catch fire. We saw some wisps of smoke and within seconds flames were shooting up above the scrub brush. We agreed that there was nothing we could do to provide aid, so we left. Everyone was clearly aware of the fire and at least one person had driven over towards it, presumably to address that issue before it got worse. It was best for us to not be around, as well as to not be in the way.



We continued along the road to a roadside prayer station thing. I'm not sure what they're called but if you've driven at all in Mexico, you know what I'm talking about. This one was quite large and had a whole picnic area attached. We pulled into a corner out of the way and parked for the night there. As soon as we did, the rains came. Hard. Mandy was sitting on the couch working on the laptop and discovered that the roof still leaks. So that put a damper on things. GET IT. Because our things got damper. Anyway, it's always frustrating to find something you thought was fixed isn't. There was nothing to be done for it then, so we just let the stuff get wet. It doesn't really harm anything, it's just annoying. We pretty much stayed inside editing video until it was time to go to bed because it was too wet to want to be outside. Slightly dryer inside. What a day.

 

[rob cote]

Wednesday morning after we got up, we took Loki out. We figured it was a perfect opportunity to pick up trash since there was so much around. I thought there was also a receptacle for it in the picnic area, but I was wrong. We got to work straight away, and it didn't take long at all to fill a large bag. While we were at it, municipal police showed up. It was very obvious we were picking up trash, and I think that may have got us some bonus points with the police. They just asked if everything was alright and we confirmed, and they otherwise left us alone. Maybe it would have gone exactly the same if we weren't picking up trash, but then there would be more trash around, so it was definitely the right move.

Anyway, after we discovered there was nowhere to put the trash bag, we continued our way to the Chiapas coast. It was pretty uneventful, although when we arrived to a grocery store in Tonala, we hopped out of the van and were greeted with about 95F air that was extremely humid. Bleh! We had heard it was hot, but dang. We were still unprepared. After stocking up, we made our way to Puerto Arista. There's a nice little RV park there we wanted to stay at, but getting there was a challenge. A few of the very minor dirt roads were blocked by piles of more dirt or boulders. We rerouted via pavement around a couple blocks and finally arrived.



On the way there, the van had developed a noise. A knocking sort of noise. During stretches where I was driving, I was certain it was inside our refrigerator. It had a very similar timbre to a hard object against the inside shell of the fridge, and the location seemed right. As a passenger, though, it was much more ambiguous. It sounds like it's beneath the floor. Or inside the floor. It's so hard to tell. Anyway, once we parked, while the van was nice and toasty, I grabbed my tools and climbed underneath to inspect for loose hardware. Because the heat and humidity were making me lazy, I mostly just did visual inspections. Usually, that's enough to see if something is moving. I found that the exhaust rear-most hanger was almost off the pipe. I also discovered that the greywater drainpipe was a little bit loose in its mount. I fixed the exhaust hanger, and I added some duct tape on the PVC mount to take up some slack. I wasn't confident either would resolve the knocking noise, but they needed to be fixed anyway.



Thereafter, we headed to the beach. It was only a couple blocks south, so we could walk there in just a few minutes. The beach here is pretty flat, even out in the water, so the water is pretty warm. It's fairly calm, too. There were only a couple people way off in the distance; we had the whole place nearly to ourselves. I dove in really quick to cool off and rinse off the sweat I was coated with, then threw my clothes back on before anyone came by. I hadn't brought my swimming shorts. Oops. We decided to walk around the town a bit more after, since we'd been driving all day and needed some movement. On our way to nowhere specific, we figured we should try out a restaurant. We were a bit hungry for lunch, and it was too hot to cook at home.



We found a restaurant right on the beach with a thatched roof and a concrete pad. Half their tables were on the sand, so we took one of those so Loki could have a soft spot to lay while we ate. Their menu was mostly seafood (mariscos), but we ordered carne asada and a beer. We enjoyed the solitude while we waited for our food. When we received our beers, I ordered shrimp empanadas. I figured since their specialty was seafood and they were literally on the beach, I should at least try some. The carne asada was okay, but not great. The empanadas, however, were outstanding. Stick to the house specialties, I guess.



Afterwards, we moseyed back to our campsite for the night. It was hot, so we basically did nothing. We put our chairs out and chatted with our neighbors, TJ and Terri. We opened up all the van doors and let down the screens. There were all types of fruit trees around - mangoes, coconuts, and cashews. Which meant dead fruits dotted the grounds. Which meant flies were abound. If you didn't know it, cashews grow on apples and aren't actually edible raw. You can buy "raw" cashews for eating, but these have already been steamed. Without the steaming process, the nuts contain the same allergen as poison ivy. The apples, however, are edible. I haven't tried it, though.



Anyway, we spent the night outside with TJ and Terri chatting about their travels and whatnot. They've been in their van kind of snow-birding from Ohio for three years. They commiserated with us in the foul stench of rotting fruits and fish as the night winds shifted and brought new flavors on the air. One by one, we each showered in the park's showers to try and cool off before heading to bed. We closed up all the doors and windows except our two sliding windows in our flares and put our van exhausting on high speed. This was sufficient to draw in a breeze and keep us comfortable through the night. It wasn't so bad.

 

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Thursday, we had to get out of the humidity. But first, we had to walk Loki. We only went around a couple blocks because he was putting the brakes on and neither of us were inclined to walk very far. We obliged his laziness. When we got back to Jose's Camping Cabanas, we stopped to chat with Jose by the pool. We had arrived just behind a group of three or four shuttles the day before, and I think we got lost in the excitement. We wanted to make sure that we paid for our site. Then we started chatting with him for a while and put our feet in the pool. Then Terri and TJ showed up and did the same. So we started talking with them. And a couple other campers. And before we knew it, an hour had passed.

Eventually, we made our way back to our van to begin preparations to leave. Mostly, that just means putting away our Starlink. I can't wait til it's just mounted on the van permanently and we don't have to do that anymore. Our neighbors wanted to check out our van, so we obliged. And they reciprocated. Their van is an extended length Sprinter and it felt SO ROOMY inside. We talked for a while about all the various features of each, and then we outlined our respective plans. They're headed to Guatemala, too, although that is their southernmost destination before heading back towards Ohio for the summer. We gave them some tips about spots to check out in Guatemala, and hoped that we'd meet up with them there. We probably will, but who knows.

Finally, it was time for us to leave. We said our goodbyes and hit the road. I drove us back to Tonala and on to Tuxtla. I don't know the exact route we took - I was just following the navigation - but it was beautiful. We entered La Sepultura (the grave) which is a biosphere reserve and followed a very winding road up and over some mountains. Supposedly the views were beautiful. I tried to stay focused on the pavement so as not to die, but I did steal a few glances. Then, it was mostly flat highways for a while to Tuxtla. We hit a little construction traffic in the city but navigated around it inefficiently. I had to turn us around a few times. Eventually, we got through it and continued on to San Cristobal de las Casas. We went up another mountain pass leaving Tuxtla and this one was much wider so I could actually glance out to see the views which were pretty awesome. Down the other side, we stopped in San Nicolas, which I think is a neighborhood of San Cris?

Anyway, we parked and gave him dinner then walked around the town on foot with Loki for a while. The weather is so much better. We're around 7000ft elevation, so the air is much cooler. It's mid-70s during the day and gets down to high-40s at night. It's actually ideal. Well, since I was driving most of the day, I didn't take any good pictures. Sorry.

 

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Friday, we worked on our to-do list. Which meant we walked all over the city. First, we navigated to a veterinarian. Since the city is in the mountains, walking pretty much anywhere means you're going up a hill. It's literally uphill both ways. We explained to the vet that we were headed to Guatemala, and we needed a health certificate for Loki in order to cross the border. Our Spanish is of course bad, but he was very patient with us for which we were so grateful. Loki has a 3-year rabies vaccine from the USA, which is apparently the only country around that uses a 3-year vaccine. And apparently Guatemala doesn't recognize it as valid or whatever. So, he had to get a 1-year vaccine, but otherwise it was all paperwork. The vet backdated the vaccine record for us, since we are trying to cross the border to Guatemala as soon as possible, but the vaccine is supposed to be administered 20-30 days prior to crossing. That's our mistake.



Anyway, it took some time because another dog came in with a bleeding cut which obviously took precedent, but in the end, we paid I think $20US and should have everything we need to cross the border with Loki. From there, we needed to find an ATM (cajero). We navigated to one near the cathedral, which is pretty much the center of San Cristobal. On our way, we passed a coffee shop around noon, so I figured what the heck, I could use a coffee. We went into Cafe Ka, which unfortunately doesn't have cafe frio. I was like well, whatever, I'll take a hot one. We got to chatting with Alejandro, the only person in there, and eventually spent probably an hour or more in his cafe. His English is better than our Spanish, but the conversation was about 50:50. He told us everything about the coffee - he and his parents grow the coffee plants just outside of town, harvest them, roast the beans, grind them, brew them and serve them. They rotate daily who is working at the farm and in the cafe. His dad makes a coffee liquor drink that we sampled and was delicious. He told us all about his life and his country; places we should travel and places we should avoid. He was really chill and it was just such a nice time. Loki passed out on the floor because apparently the conversation bored him.



Afterwards, we made it to the ATM, or so I thought. I stepped into a lobby with several machines, but the security guard told me it's not a cajero. How he knew I was looking to withdraw cash was probably based entirely on how I look, but I appreciated the heads up anyways. A patron of the place told me how to get to an ATM just across the square, so we headed there. I got cash and we crossed it off our list. Next was lunch. On Alejandro's recommendation, we went to La Espirituosa for something to eat. We got a table in the courtyard and ordered some tacos and pox. Pox is a local liquor that tastes like mezcal but isn't made from agave. It's decent, but I wasn't crazy about it. The tacos were really good, though, and the setting was lovely! Loki got antsy, so we paid and left without further ado.





We headed back home to the van, but along the way we grabbed a couple things still on our list. We got a 5L jug of water so we could downsize the massive 19L DEF container which was occupying most of our shower though it was nearly empty. And we got some foodstuffs to make dinner. Once back, Mandy set to work on making some mole with chicken and rice using mole paste we picked up at the market in Oaxaca. This was mole rojo. I don't know what goes into the paste nor the preparations, but I do know how to eat it, and it was soo good! It's a very sweet kind of spicy dish. We loved it. Of course, a little bit of the rice was a tiny bit crunchy because for whatever reason we have forgotten how to cook it, but we didn't mind. While Mandy was working on putting together dinner, I set up in the common room at the campground where there's strong WiFi signal and worked on typing a bunch of entries here for you all. The WiFi provided a better internet connection because there are so many trees around - which we love - and they obstruct the satellite communications of our Starlink. After dinner and typing, we cleaned up and wound the night down inside the van because it was pretty chilly outside.

 

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Saturday we were excited because we had a plan! While we were at Cafe Ka yesterday, Alejandro mentioned the city offers a free walking tour - IN ENGLISH! - so we had decided to check it out. It starts at 10am in the courtyard near the cathedral, so we had time, but we also had to stay focused through our morning routine. We set up Loki inside the van and set out on foot around 9:30am. We got to the meeting point with plenty of time; the tour actually starts at 10 past, presumably for stragglers.



The tour was led by Daniel and was awesome. He took us to some markets, of course, which we'd seen a bit of in our travels yesterday. He took the time to explain some things about amber, which is a popular craft item in the area, including how to spot fakes. He also let us know about the culture regarding photography and that we should always ask before taking pictures of people because it can be taken as offensive. We visited a church that was about 400 years old. As we walked, Daniel explained some of the local history.





San Cristobal had a revolution less than 30 years ago, which is super recent. He showed us textiles from indigenous towns around San Cris and explained that the patterns within are used to identify peoples' hometown, essentially. The tour took us through some residential areas where Daniel showed us some graffiti and explained to us its message. Of course it was closely tied with the revolution. We stopped at a cafe for espressos. We also went back to La Espirituosa where we sampled more pox (it's pronounced posh, by the way). The pox natural that we'd had yesterday was still just okay, but the hibiscus and chocolate flavored pox were way better.



The tour ended at La Espirituosa, and we began heading back home to see Loki. We didn't go directly, though. We wanted to look for a hat for me because sunscreen just isn't cutting it. I didn't really find anything I liked, but I haven't given up yet. We stopped for lunch at Maya'e on a whim. It looked nice but then when we were taken to our table it was even nicer in their courtyard! We ordered enmoladas and mole with pork, rice and beans. All of it was delicious! We recommend it. The service was fast, which is not the norm. It worked well for us so we could get back to Loki sooner. We walked by a bunch of stores along the way and pointed out pieces of clothing we liked, but never went in to try any on. "I don't need it" is the usual retort from either of us.



We wound our way back to Camping San Nicolas and let Loki out. He was excellent, of course. It was nice and cool all day, only peaking in the low 70s. So, he was comfortable, and it seemed he just hung out in his bed with his snacks to keep him occupied. When the peanut butter container gets empty, he likes to clean off the residue before we throw them away. So, he had that and some cookies. He was happy to be outside with us again, though, obviously. We took him for a walk around the neighborhood, but he wasn't interested in going very far. We were fine with that, because we had work to do. Mandy washed some of the laundry by hand and hung it to dry. I applied more silicone to our roof at a seam that looks like it may be the source of a leak. Time will tell. I poked around the van's interior to try to find the source of the knocking sound. We worked together on editing video to get it finalized to upload overnight through our obstructed internet connection while we slept.

 

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Sunday, our plan was to head to Comitan. As you know, there's the plan, then there's what happens. We took showers in the morning and did some housekeeping. We cleaned the toilet and the shower. Made breakfast. All that stuff. Then, we hit the road. The way out of the campground climbs a pretty gnarly road out of town. The van had some hiccups where it didn't want to accelerate. Luckily, there weren't any cars around to be blocked by us as we got it sorted. Mandy shut the engine off and restarted it, and everything seemed fine thereafter. It's a known intermittent issue with these vans, especially at higher elevations, and I'm not sure what the resolution is, if there even is one.

She drove us to Teopisca without issue. Other than an incredibly dense fog hiding some of the topes along the way. The highlands were quite interesting, though, at least where we could see them through the fog. Parts of the ride didn't even feel like Mexico at all. Teopisca presented an issue, however. Just after we passed through the town, we met a line of tractor trailer trucks stopped on the road. She stopped behind them for a few, but then we noticed cars passing them on the opposite side of the road, so she followed suit, thinking perhaps they're just taking a break. We drove a bit further up the road, but stopped where there was a clearing to try and assess visually. It wasn't clear what was going on, so I hopped out on foot to try and get a better view further up the road. As I was walking up the road, someone joined me and said that we can't pass. I tried to inquire why, and he just reiterated it's not passable. Why, is the road closed? Yes, it's closed. Okay...well, is it closed permanently? Yes, permanently. Well, alright then. So, I headed back to the van and relayed that to Mandy. She turned around because that was the only option and started heading back to San Cristobal de las Casas. Along the way, I surveyed the maps and saw that there was what looked to be a mountain road that would get us to Comitan by a roundabout way. Mandy started driving it, but soon turned back as large sections of the paved portion of the road were washed out, the weather was slowly eking towards rain, and we didn't really know the road conditions.



We swapped positions and I drove us back to San Cris while Mandy did some reconnaissance online. She learned that the road is closed by locals in and around Teopisca as a protest against a local government official who has been ignoring their demands. She also learned that the mountain road indeed gets much worse and would take several hours to navigate. If we could actually complete the trip, which was a big question mark. Local advice was that driving all the way back to Tuxtla to take the paved route to Comitan is the fastest way to get there. So, we agreed to just return to where we left off three hours prior, and park in Camping San Nicolas again. We knew it was a decent spot, secure, and cheap enough. I made an agreement with myself to find the source of the knocking noise that had been plaguing us for the entire ride.

So, once we parked in the very campsite we'd vacated a few hours ago, I got out my tools and set to work. Rather than simple visual inspections, I went through the motions of putting a wrench on every rear suspension fastener under our van. I also made a post here to see if any of you all had input which was a great help. I realized I was able to replicate the noise by jumping on the rear bumper which got some weird looks from other campers. Mandy couldn't pinpoint the noise, though, so we swapped. At first it was a challenge for her to replicate the sound, but she got it and I verified the noise is coming from within our passenger's side rear shock absorber. I inspected it all around and underneath the boot with no real findings. I sent an e-mail to the manufacturer to figure out the best course of action. These Falcon shocks are rebuildable, so hopefully they can confirm that a rebuild will resolve it, that that's something I can handle with the tools I have, and get us the parts quickly. We'll see. It's at least a partial relief knowing the source of the noise, and that it's not something likely to fail catastrophically. At least, not yet.





After that, we mostly hung out. We ate leftovers which were just as good as the first time. We chatted with our neighbors. It sounded like the whole town was partying outside the RV park, so we took Loki for a walk. Of course, he wasn't interested, so we only went a few blocks. It turned out to just be a ton of loud house parties from what we saw. They absolutely live for weekends in Mexico. It's awesome. We circled back home and were in and out a bunch as the sky kept drizzling on us, then it would clear, and the sun would return. Then a little rain. Eventually, it started to cool off and rain more consistently, so we moved inside for the night.

 

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Monday morning, we packed to leave...again. This time we meant it, though. We left the campground heading the opposite direction. To the best of our knowledge, the direct road to Comitan was still closed. We headed towards Tuxtla instead. Before we left San Cristobal, though, we stopped at Chedraui for some grocery items. I would say if you're looking for produce, you'll get way better results at any smaller abarrotes or tiendas. For whatever reason, the mangoes and avocados at Chedraui are always way underripe. But they have basically everything else you could want, so it's convenient. I think I forgot to mention that we exhanged some pesos for quetzales before we left San Cris the first time. I would recommend this maneuver because although you can exchange at the border crossing, you'll get a less favorable exchange rate. But if you want to think of it as a convenience fee, then go ahead. Your call.

Anyway, once we were stocked up, we drove up to Tuxtla which is on the opposite side of a mountain from San Cris. The cloud ceiling was pretty low, which made for interesting vistas along the ride down the other side. Once in Tuxtla, we grabbed the 190 towards Comitan. We pretty much drove straight through without stopping, but we stopped short of Comitan in San Vicente La Mesilla. The ride was quite scenic, if a little slow going. We learned that SiriusXM operates on (I think) 4 satellites currently, but regardless of the number, we found its limits, so we swapped to local FM. A reporter told us that the president stated Mexico is going to produce all its own gasoline and diesel next year and won't be buying any from the USA. At least, I think that's what he said.



We eventually arrived to Cascadas El Chiflon and hopped out to walk upriver. We paid a small fee to enter, and another to park overnight. Then we slowly meandered our way uphill to bridal veil falls which is a huge, gorgeous waterfall. The walk up was awesome. A little steep in spots, but easily navigable up well-constructed stairs. Even Loki made it all the way! We did have to stop shortly before the end as some people ahead of us warned us of a large snake on the side of the trail. We waited for it to slither away before proceeding. The view of the falls from the top was well worth the minimal effort to get there. We spent a few minutes at the top, but it was getting somewhat late and it seemed most of the staff were packing up for the day. We weren't sure if there was a deadline to exit, so we didn't dilly-dally. On the way back down we stopped for a quick swim, though. The water was chilly, but refreshing. It wasn't extremely cold, but it was extremely turquoise which was cool. Really impressive colors. There were pools all along the length of the river and the numerous people picnicking and swimming on our way up were all gone by the time we were headed back down. We had a whole pool to ourselves. It was a great way to cool off from the hike before continuing the rest of the way down to the van.







Once we got to the van, we headed part way back out the entrance road to a flat parking lot and found a spot for the evening. There, I made us some dinner while Mandy worked on editing some video for a bit. The winds picked up rather quickly, though, and the dust blowing everywhere didn't fit her vibe, so she and Loki came back inside. It was a bit warm in the van, but we dealt. After dinner and cleanup, we didn't really want to be outside in the windstorm, so we just chilled inside for the night until bed.

 

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Tuesday, we walked down to the river from where we were parked - which was a very short walk - but neither of us was warm enough to swim. We hopped into the van to get a move on towards the border. We wanted to maximize our time there, just in case it took a while. You never know with these things. We arrived to Ciudad Cuauhtemoc (which is hardly a city) sometime before noon and checked out of Mexico. It's kind of strange, because after that, you're still in Mexico for a bit. You don't exit on paper AT the border. But anyways, that's just how they do it I guess. Signing the van out of the country was pretty simple; just a quick exterior inspection to verify the VIN and snap a couple photos, and the rest was just paperwork completed by the agent. Stamping ourselves out of the country was even easier; we just showed our passports and FMM, told them we were heading to Guatemala, and they stamped the passports with our exit date. Besides waiting for one agent to return from break, the whole thing took less than 10 minutes. Everything was free, and we were reassured our Temporary Vehicle Import Permit deposit would be refunded to us the next day. So, we actually got paid to leave Mexico.

We cruised on to the border and figured it out. First, we paid to get the van sprayed with pesticide. All payments henceforth must be in Quetzales. The agent saw our dog and so called the agent in charge of pets (mascotas) to come in to work for us. Seems like he just works on an on-call basis. I probably could have taken care of next steps while I waited for him to show up, but I wasn't sure how long it'd take, so I just waited. It was probably only 5 or 10 minutes; I just watched traffic and people. The pet agent showed up and received a copy of Loki's health certificate from a vet in Mexico, as well as that vet's ID, and the certificate from his rabies vaccine. Plus, the processing fee, which I think was Q109. He did his thing, and we received a piece of paper accepting the dog into the country.

The money has to be paid to an agent in a separate building, so I received a slip of paper which was essentially an invoice to be paid, and I was directed a couple buildings over to make the payment. It's a little odd, but I suppose it makes sense to keep the money separate and it probably simplifies their security. On the opposite side of the bank(?) is the customs window. I kind of got lost for a bit because I started chatting with a couple who were on a motorcycle from CDMX headed to Patagonia. I thought they were in line to enter the bank, but after 5 or 10 minutes, I asked, and they said no, they were just chatting with me before leaving. I felt like a fool but we all had a laugh over it. They also told me my order of operations - get a passport stamp to enter Guatemala at a nondescript building opposite the bank, then go to the customs counter to fill out the form to bring the van in, then go to the bank to pay the TIP fee, then back to customs to complete paperwork. The customs agent came out of the booth to inspect the van and verify the VIN, make, and model. I was carrying Mandy's passport as well, and I was able to get hers stamped for her, so we didn't have to swap dog duty. She was able to stay in the parked van with him the whole time. We're found the end of the Mercedes North American maps, so if there's a legitimate source for South American maps, we're interested.



After all that, which probably took about a half hour to 45 minutes, we were all set. An agent came out to manually raise the gate and we rolled into Guatemala officially. At noon. I cruised up the road a bit and found a convenience store and had Mandy grab me something cold to drink. She got a soda and an iced tea, and the cashier saw we were heading south and told her "despacio, despacio, despacio!" Something we'd already heard from several sources. The roads are b a d. But the landscapes are gorgeous! Just before the border, and continuing beyond into Guatemala, the terrain gets much more intense. We cruised through a valley between very steep, rugged mountains. It was quite dramatic. I tried my best to strike a balance between comfort and speed. The potholes sneak up on you, and the trucks move slowly. Passing is a challenge because the road is so curvy. I made it work for the most part, though.



We eventually arrived at to our destination in Colotenango. I forget the name, but it's a small waterpark with several pools. The spot appears on iOverlander, and the owner allows overnight parking on a large flat concrete slab that serves as a soccer field and basketball court during the day. After 5pm, he said, we were allowed to move onto the cement for the night. Because the children come to play before then, I think, but on this day, no one really showed up until after we relocated. No big deal, the kids were all nice. They were just having fun riding bikes around, kicking a ball around and just generally hanging out. Kid things.



After we cooked an early dinner, we moved onto the slab, and I got to work under the van. I had to remove the noisy shock absorber to diagnose it further. The kids were all very interested in what I was doing. I tried to explain in Spanish, but their preferred language was Mam, I think, based on my research afterwards. To my untrained ear, it sounded somewhat similar to French. It was definitely not Spanish that they were speaking to each other, but they were able to understand my Spanish anyway. So, I pulled out the shock to compress it by hand and found no irregularities. So, I put it back in and e-mailed Van Compass my findings. We finished editing a video and set up the laptop to upload it overnight. It was getting dark out, so we packed up all the tools and moved inside for the night. There was a speed bump on the main road right where we were parked, so the traffic noise from big trucks was loud all night. Oh well.

 

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Wednesday morning, we made sure our video uploaded, then packed up the Starlink and took Loki out. There were a couple other dogs around, and not great walking area, so we didn't spend much time. We hopped into the van and continued our way along the Panamerican Highway. We stopped briefly in Huehuetenango to hit up an ATM for more cash, and then kept driving. Mandy did the driving. I stared out the window. The landscapes were fantastic for much of the drive. The roads were actually better for some long stretches, besides the speed bumps. We lamented that we should have moved into a sports car instead of a van, because they're so twisty and hilly, they'd be a hoot to speed on.





We continued moving until we got to Chichicastenango where we stopped for the night. We pulled into Casa Tzocoma Ecoparque, or something to that effect. Basically, this family has a large yard and they've set it up for RVs to park in their yard. The thing about the land here is that there are steep, tall cliffs everywhere. In the states and many other places, I'm sure it'd be a local attraction. Some sort of scenic viewpoint at the least. But it's just the way the land is here, so no one even mentions it. We were guided in by Tomas and shown where to park. He showed us where all the amenities are; there's a shower, toilet, electricity hookup, potable water supply, dumping station, laundry sink, fire pit, etc. He was really nice, and his Spanish was clear and slow. He told us approximate walking times to a few places from the park. He took the fee and left us to our devices. We walked the boundaries and realized about 20 feet behind the van, on the other side of a thin treeline, is a cliff that drops about 75 feet. I dunno, you can't really see the bottom. No indication whatsoever, it's just there. You know in the states there would be signs and railings all the way around.



After we parked, we told Tomas we were heading into town and went for a walk. We brought Loki. Chichi has one of the largest markets in Latin America, according to Mandy's research, on Thursdays and Sundays. We figured it would be safe since it was an off day. For the most part, it was. We just wandered around the streets for the most part, getting the lay of the land and preparing ourselves for what mayhem might come tomorrow. We encountered a few street dogs, but there were no problems. I don't think we got anything, besides prepared. We did a big loop and then circled our way back to the van. We got a little bit lost for a few minutes but didn't stray too far from where we wanted to be.



We found our way home and just chilled in the campsite for the evening. Loki played a bit with some of the dogs here. They can get much closer to the van lately than he used to allow, which is nice. I don't think he's so aggressive anymore. Maybe he's adapting. Or too old to care. Either way, it seems like he stresses less, which is nice because we can, too. We heated up leftovers for dinner and had a relaxing night outside. It was chilly, so we wore sleeves and leg-sleeves until it got dark and we moved inside for the night.