Once Again

Once again, the road has surprised us by putting us exactly where we ought to be. If only we could learn to let it lead instead of constantly stepping on its toes. But, I get ahead of myself. Lets go back a few days.

A few days ago, as we were visiting our 5th cenote, we started contemplating our next move. If you have been following the blog, you know we don’t plan very well…just not our travel style. So, we look at the map, check iOverlander and decide we will bypass the busy city of Merida and go to Campeche for restock, and either camp at Walmart or do a long overdue hotel night. It will position us nicely to start our swoop around the Gulf Coast and back to the good ‘ole US of A. Perfecto, all planned, all set, we are good to go.

The next morning, Darrin starts mumbling something about flamingos, and tuk tuks. As usual, I ignore him for a while until the mumbling starts to form into a new plan that involves a place in Celestun, an owner who takes you on a Tuk Tuk tour of flamingos and restocking in the busy city of Merida instead of Campeche. I am not sold on the idea as it is miles and miles out of our projected path, so Darrin starts to waver, perhaps we should stick with our original plan.

The next day, he brings up the flamingos again. And just like that, the unplanned plan disguised as The Universe sends us off on a tangent. 100 miles later, we have restocked in Merida and are pulling into a camping place way, way, way out on the Gulf of Mexico in Celestun. We look around at the only other rig there. The camper is white, German plates, looks familiar…it is our friends Jens and Susanna who we first met over a year ago in Oregon.

Once again, we are right where we should be. Good friends, flamingos, tuk tuks, and beautiful sunsets.

All is good.

Oregon…almost 2 years ago!
Hmmmmmm…what do you think?
The food that makes the flamingos here pink.
A little tuk tuk cattle herding.
We made it back in one piece!
The owner’s horses wander the beach during the day, but head home at night for dinner.

San Cristóbal

The highlight of San Cristóbal was meeting and spending time with Michelle, an Irish woman bicycling around Mexico, and reuniting with another bicyclist, Rémi, who we first met in Baja.

We wandered through market after market, visited an amber and a cacao museum, ate everything we saw, including a dried cricket, and I bought a new skirt.

We loved the time spent with our new friends in a fascinating city.

Homemade tacos in the market.
Chocolate, of course…
And dried crickets for lunch????
Clothes market
My new favorite skirt!
Outside food market…
And inside food market.
Friends…
Friends…
And more friends!
And of course…broken rigs.

For us, San Cristóbal wasn’t about what we saw, but what we experienced and the people we spent time with…a recurring theme in our travels.

Swinging By

Today’s blog is a bit different. We asked Joyce, one of Darrin’s oldest friends, to write a guest blog. Joyce was one of the first people we told we were going to embark on our 2 year adventure and she has been following along on our journey since the beginning.

Since I have been following On The Road with the Mackenzies each day, I never expected that their road would intersect with me in Mexico.

I saw, on the blog, (that I look forward to reading when it appears) that Darrin and Melissa were going into Mexico, but it sounded to me as if they would be going down the coast and not inland.

One morning I got an email from Darrin asking where I am staying this winter in Mexico. He tells me where he is.

Well, it’s less than an hour away.

We decide to rendezvous.

We have been rendezvousing for a number of days now and it is such fun to be with Darrin and Melissa — to watch how relaxed they are walking around and enjoying everything.

They are such good travelers, beyond good, one needs to make a new category for them. They are loving, good natured, responsive and interested. Great ambassadors for humans in the world.

I am so glad they were able to “Swing” by!

Thank you Joyce for entertaining us, housing us and for writing the guest blog. We had a fabulous time and look forward to seeing you back home in Vermont this summer.