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Camp Ten Bear

…another 100 Mile reference!

The Vermont 100 mile course looks a bit like a 4 leaf clover, the criss cross point being an aid station called Camp Ten Bear. You hit it for the second time at 70 miles, the medical check pulls some, many drop out, most stop to fix blisters, eat, change clothes, and push on for the long, long, long night to the finish. We found our Camp Ten Bear in the Yucatan at the edge of the Caribbean Sea after hugging the borders of Guatemala and Belize. We changed the oil in the Wee Rover, tightened up some loose nuts & bolts from the #@&%# topes, stocked up on food and headed north and west. We are officially heading towards home. Like in the 100 miler, its still going to be a long, difficult section, but we can see the finish far off through the long, long night!

Tidbit: One morning while camping on the Caribbean Sea north of Tulum, and directly across from Cuba, we woke up early and took a short walk on the beach. Floating just offshore was a tiny, rickety, bamboo raft that had made it into the cove under the cover of darkness. Did it drift in empty? Was there someone on it? Did they make it to shore? Did they walk by the Wee Rover as we slept?

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Valentine’s Day

We spent Valentine’s Day at Bacalar Laguna with new friends from Canada, Gwen and Cory. We ate homemade pizza and drank coconut water right out of the coconuts. We had a fabulous time and are very grateful our paths crossed.

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We Found Paradise

And it is called Bacalar Laguna, a small lake in the Yucatan. Actually, I believe it is several cenotes that converged, but hey minor details. The important thing is that it was gorgeous! Beautiful fresh water in hues of blue and green. Dappled sunshine to read and relax. A small bit of paradise.

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A Bit of Wind

We made it to the Caribbean Sea on the Yucatan Peninsula. It is beautiful, hot, humid and a bit of wind, especially when an afternoon storm rolls in.

Caribbean Sea on one side…
Nice cool pool on the other.
Beautiful
Afternoon storm
2 Vermonters visit the Caribbean Sea…sounds like the start to a bad joke.
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Another Mayan Ruin?

How many Mayan ruins can one see? Well, in Mexico you can spend days, weeks, maybe even months visiting them all.

Yesterday, we visited Palenque, a huge change from Yachitlan as Palenque is on the bus tour route. We counted 4 huge buses in the museum parking lot and many more small van tour groups. Since we were here, and had found a wonderful camping place with a pool, we decided to visit the ruins anyway.

We were amazingly surprised. The ruins sprawl over a fairly large area, so except for the busy main areas, it can absorb a large number of people. We walked over from our camping spot, wandered for a few hours in the heat and humidity…until we ran out of water, took lots of pictures, and then sauntered back and fell into the pool.

We were glad we decided to brave the crowds. We have found every set of ruins to be similar, but unique in their own way. I’m not sure how many more ruins we will visit…you know, the unplanned, plan and all.

Today, we are being bums. The pool, internet to catch-up on blogs, the pool, trying to get wet clothes to dry (futile in this humidity), and did I mention the pool?

Up we go…no need for a Stairmaster for exercise!
This church like architecture is the first we have seen in a Mayan ruin. It was the predominant architecture at Palenque.
Baño, un asiento
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Jock! Start the Engine!

Yachitlan Ruins, a real life Indiana Jones moment!

We learned of Yachitlan from a fellow traveler while in Baja. Mayan ruins, jungle, monkeys, a boat ride in…we had to check it out.

So, a few hundred miles of topes, mountain roads, topes, heat, topes, jungle, and more topes, we arrived in Frontera Corozal on the river border between Mexico and Guatemala. We set up camp in the heat and humidity and hired a boat and guide to take us the 20km down river to Yachitlan early the next morning.

After several swims in the pool and a very hot night, we boarded the boat at dawn and went zipping up the river enjoying the scenery and cool breezes. 45 minutes later, one ruin peaked out of the jungle just as we neared the dock. From there we wound our way up into the jungle exploring ruin after ruin with Juan, our English speaking guide. For two hours we had the entire site to ourselves.

An ancient site, a labyrinth, the jungle, crocodiles sleeping on the river bank, howler monkeys howling, spider monkeys swinging from tree to tree, and bats dozing in the shadows of the stone structures.

Amazing!

We felt like Indiana Jones!

Dawn on the river. Not another boat in sight.
Ahhhhhh…cool breeze. That is Guatemala in the background.
Definitely no swimming in this river!!
Our first glimpse of the ruins hidden in the jungle.
The crowning glory, the Acropolis.
Up close after climbing alllllllll of those stairs.
Inside is a statue of the king in one room…
And his head in another. The Mayans believe if you put his head back on the world will end. Both of these statues were behind locked doors. They aren’t taking any chances.
Back into the jungle behind the Acropolis.
Amazing detail that has withstood time.
The passing of the crown. The royal family had modified skulls to show their status. When they were babies, boards were attched to their skulls to elongate the skull.
The elusive Spider Monkey.
They were my favorite…I could have watched them swing in the trees all day.
Only a small part of the ruins have been excavated. Most is still deeply wrapped in the jungle’s firm embrace.
Indiana Jones must have been filmed here…amazing! How lucky we were!
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It’s Hot!!!!

The trip south to Yachitlan was a drive into the very hot and humid jungle along the border between Guatemala and Mexico.

Did I say it’s Hot!

To make the long trip down more manageable we planned to camp along the way. We found a small village spot, Cascadas Welib-Ha, that let us camp in the parking lot, rather than rent one of the few cabanas. The falls were beautiful and the cool water was perfect after a long hot day of traveling. And the little family restaurant had delicious pescado (fish).

It was so nice, we stayed on the way back north as well!

Serene, gorgeous and nice cool water.
Palapas in the kiddo pool area. We were here in the ‘off season’. It must get busy in the summer…I can’t imagine the heat!
We swim in our clothes…laundry done!!
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The Road to Ocosingo

We passed through Ocosingo on our way to explore the Tonina Ruins. After exploring the amazing site we were relaxing in camp and pulled out our virtually unused Lonely Planet Guidebook for Mexico for information on the history of Tonina.

This is what we found upon opening the book!

It seems that prior to entering Mexico we had specifically noted to avoid this area due to Zapatista rebels and their ongoing fighting with the military.

We had no problems traversing the road, with the exception of the 300 or so topes in the 60 miles through the mountains. A tope is a Mexican speed bump that you need to almost stop to climb over. They are everywhere in Mexico; going up hills and down, before and after every intersection (big and small), before, during and after every town and small village, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere just for the hell of it. Often there is a small tire & alignment shop nearby for those that don’t brake and slow down in time.

This particular section of road was the worst we had encountered. The whole 60 miles through the mountains went something like this…

Slowly bump over a tope, accelerate up to 20 to 25 MPH for a few glorious seconds, and then Melissa yells out “Tope!” down shift to third, second, first, brake hard, boom, the Wee Rover, crashes up and over, accelerate for a few hundred yards, “Tope!”, rise and repeat! 60 miles took us almost 5 hours of bone jarring topes to complete.

So, no trouble with the Zapatista Rebels, but those $*@&!%# topes!

Market day in Ocosingo…listen for the “tope” at the end!