Finally..I have arrived in Paradise....(Trip Report) Part 1.

Part 3 of my T.R.

..Tuxtla Gutierrez is a somewhat small town in the state of Chiapas I have a few contacts there and a place to crash...when day breaks I check out the town and it's somewhat big..it actually has 2 airports and a town of bars and discos....get the car washed..eat some food and my friend George and his wife spend some time catching up...5:00pm comes around and he challenges me to a drinking contest at his local pub..I readilly pick up the gauntlet and proceed to drink him under the table...I also bet 2 soccer games losing 200 pesos the first game (The team I bet on was up 2 nil, when I made the bet, what are the odds? geeze) Fortunately my soccer team The Monarcas of Morelia won there game 2 to 1 and I bet 500 pesos..so I'm up 300p and I see that George can't hold his liquor like he use to. Between George his 2 pals (Tito & Ricardo) and myself we polish off 2 and a half bottles of Bacardi and coke..they kick us out after the match finished and we head to another disco...2 lady friends (Candy and Ragina) of Tito's show up and we polish off 1 more bottle of rum.. ..Ricardo has left at midnite since he wasn't getting any action..Tito is all over the girls I'm talking and dancing up a storm with both of them, George is rolling his eyes in the back of his head like the exorcist...1:00 am and they kick everyone out BOOOOOO...Candy and Ragina ask me to go back to there place with them but I had to get George back...Tito get's pissed because the girls didn't invite him....George insists on driving his new Town & COuntry van back to my car....The town is only 30 min from end to end, it takes us an hour to get back to Georges (way to drive george) I get my car and head back to where I'm crashing it takes me only 10 min. Stopping here to enjopy the Cancun nitelife ..return tomorrow for the next installment

 

8) HOW COOL.

 

great story!

 

get in there !!!!! you could ve been a story teller man!!!!

 

Part 4

I wake up without a dent in the fender, (allways take 2 aspirin after drinking, b4 you go to bed..works wonders and you don't wake up with a hangover)...I call a few more contacts to find out some info on the local area and the best route to take to CANCUN. Seems there's a place not 40 min. away that is somewhat similar to the Grand Canyon (Jody 04 I know your from the UK so just in case you don't know the Grand Canyon is a big ditch with a trickle of water running through it) it's called El Canyon del Sumidero and the Cascadas de Agua Azul...supposedly breathtaking I wouldn't know because I decided not to go..the reason being that some people telling me the road is too dangerous. I'm like, "what do you mean? Banditos..Zapatistas..Terrorists??!!" No it's that I have to travel through twisty mountain roads and just to reach Palenque(Killer Mayan Temple) it's going to take me at least 5 hours...So after much debate and drinking of beer I decide to forego this route. I can always drive back from the other direction if I feel like it and the route is much easier.
Monday morning 4:00 am I was made a breakfast of Fried "Macho" Bananas as a bon voyage gift, a delicacy from Chiapas..I'm just praying that I don't have to sh$t like a small rabbit on my journey...
Next stop Villa Hermosa ..very curvy mountain roads 2 lane...very foggy and kinda spooky I'm glad I didn't take the Palenque route because this is suppose to be the safe route..pot holes and jungle vegetation make unexpected appearances..not fun...I get to a strectch of straight road and another "pueblito"when I see a wall painted advertisement to elect a town officil...Vote for GERALD WASHINGTON...this is a name I would never expect to see in a mexican jungle town..If he gets elected I hope he does something about the pot holes.
Villa Hermosa slightly small boring and I continue on to PLaya de Carmen..Nicer along the coast 3kilometer bridge to enter I see blueish waters and I'm thinking SWEEEEEET. Keep on driving next stop Campeche.
Another bridge to cross and the people are driving slower than snails..I decide to pass them on the 2 lane bridge....Unfortunately another Police official didn't like what I did...I found it strange that his police truck was facing me in the opposite direction on the bridge road I was travelling....I pay a 300 peso fine and arrive in Campeche to eat...Got to go stay tuned..

 

Im staying Tuned Mike L and I love it!!!!! :shock:

 

8) I think when you are done with this trip report, the police got $$$$$from you..

 

loving your report!

 

its gettin more interesting by the minute,,edge of the seat stuff,,the atmosphere is tense.................but im from England mikey,,not the moon i know about the grand canyon and stuff !!!!!! :lol:

 

NOw back to our story....

When last we left out intrepid hero..he was about to grab a bite in Campeche but I thought what the hell I need to make up for some lost time (Special thanks go out to the Federales for this)..I figure I'll catch a meal in Merida..
Driving this route is rather pleasent because it runs along the coast for quite a stretch...hardly any pueblos and I´m thinking wow this area is still undeveloped I wonder why...then I realize that I´ve been driving under HUGE power lines (like the ones that give you tumors) for a while now, I just hope that I don't go sterile cuz eventually I might want kids one day.(Please refrain from making jokes about how I shouldn't be reproducing)
I was just about to start heading from the coast and towards Merida when I see a log telephone pole with something odd attached it up ahead. I decide to pull over (there's hardly anyone on the road) and I examine what appears to be a crucified manequin of Jesus..nails, blood the works..(got to love those Catholics and their devotion) in the middle of nowhere.
Sometimes you come across a Cross with flowers along the side of the road (People who've had an accident and perished our remembered this way)..this I can understand but putting up J.C. 30ft high along the highway for no one to see...Live and let live..it's all good with me. I decided to walk to the ocean since I've stopped and stretch my legs..the waters blue but the sand is covered with lots of seaweed by the water..nice sand but small white rocks keep me from dipping my piggly wigglys in the water..I'm really hungry si on the road I head again.
It's around 2:00pm and I arrive in Merida...nothing special and I start to look for places top eat..and I'm looking..and still looking..and looking some more..WTF do these people eat at all?! I finally pull into a Pemex gas station and right next to it is a place called PILOTS hamburgers and tortas...Indy cars and Motorcycles is the theme here...I order a burger and by the time I get my food (There was obviously a long wait due to the others b4 me that had already ordered..They obviously knew that no other food can be found in Merida unless you leave town and go hunting for small game)..Burger and fries it is (how delightfuly latino)..I check my watch it's 4:00pm!
I have 2 options, go from here to Chitzen Itza or try for Cancun..I decide I want to see Mayan ruins..(SPecial note here..the toll highway is not exactly completed out of Merida and eventualy becomes a 2 lane road for the first 20 klicks or so) quite uneventful on the way but I'm stoked cuz I dig archeaology..I pay 50pesos a special toll to enter Chitzen Itza from the direction I'm coming from and finally make it to the gate to park my car to the ruins..He politely tells me that the Chitchen Ruins part closes at 6:00pm but if I want I can buy a ticket for the light show that starts at 8:00pm..I check my watch 6:02pm...obviously the Mayan gods have conspired against me..sigh...
Pull a u-turn and head for Cancun. There´s the toll highway (the one I wanted) and the free highway (which I wound up taking)..why can't they put more detailed signs for idiot american drivers like myself, who've never been to the region b4?..This free highway is lined with pueblitos every 30klicks or so once you get out of Chichen...Unfortunately this means that I have to stop for all the lovely road bumps and in some of the pueblitos they space their bumps a car length apart from each other.
(Jose.."wat do you want to do dees Sonday?">Pepe "I don know..lez beeld anoder speed bomp!) I swear it's a friggin conspiracy! Sorry don't mean to bash but I`ve been driving for 14 hours here!!!
It's 9:00 or so and I finally pull into Cancun..I've reserved a room in Hotel Margaritas downtown because I'm moving here for good don't want to spend a ton of money in the hotel zone..Once again the Mayan gods are toying with me because I'm nowhere to be found on the reservation list and there booked to the gill with BRITS! (Jody04 if this was your idea of a joke I'm poisoning your beer)...I finally wound up at the Caribe hotel downtown for 50bucks...its 10:15 or so and I'm starving so I just start walking up the strip and everything is pretty full...I thought this was going to be the off season but Cancun is still lively ..I wound up eating at the Parilla grill and had some good steak tacos, went back to the hotel and crashed..This ends the trip report of what transpired in my travels through Mexico..3 days...12 states...(think I went thru Tabasco twice)...2400 Kilometers give or take..If you guys want I'll continue posting the further adventures of MIKE L. just post yea or nea...If the neas WIN I'll let you guys do the typing.

This is Mike L. signing off..... :beerdrink: