Our Previous Trips

First Road Trip to the South

December 1994 - Overlooking the Oberservatory at Chichenitza

In Oct 94, we purchased a 1982 Toyota LandCruiser. As one side of the truck had been badly damaged during a mudslide, we got a very good deal on it. Dieter spent the next couple of months repairing the Landcruiser, which we nicknamed Elsie.

We entered Mexico through Sonoita, a very small town on the border of Arizona. Before entering Mexico we spent half a day in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. (We did not know that for the next two days we would be driving through cactus country!) During this excursion, one of our tires blew out. Dieter mentioned that traveling without a spare was a bad idea, but we continued anyway.

For the first few days we followed Mexican Highway 15 along the Pacific Coast. We had several tire blowouts, one of them to a brand new tire! We became quite familiar with the road llanteras (roadside tire repair shacks) We ended up buying a total of 5 new tires.

We stopped in all of the well-known resort towns along the Pacific Coast as well as several fishing villages. Mazatlan was clean and friendly, but without much character. The small fishing village of San Blas had a terrific beach and a bird sanctuary. Puerto Vallarta, with its waterfront market and beagonvilla filled balconies, was our favorite of the Pacific Coast resort towns. Ixtapa, our least favorite resort town, was devoid of any Mexican character. However, the nearby town of Zihuatenejo was adorable. The port city of Acapulco was heavily polluted and the resort hotels a bit run down.

At Acapulco we stopped following the coast and headed northeast to Taxco, a picturesque Spanish mining town set high in the mountains. After a couple of days in Taxco we headed north to Mexico City. The outskirts of the city were very poor and polluted, but the center of the city was hustling, bustling, and very cosmopolitan. We spent several days in Mexico City visiting the numerous museums (including the very impressive National Museum of Anthropology), parks, and historical sites. The underground Metro system made touring the city quite convenient. The bullfight at Plaza del Torros was much more disturbing than we expected. The Aztec site of Teotihuacan, about 20 miles outside the city, had incredible pyramids.

From Mexico City we traveled southeast to Puebla and then east to Veracruz. This part of Mexico with its abundant sugarcanes, bananas, and the mountain mist was extremely beautiful. In Veracruz we had to bribe yet another policeman. (The first one was in Puerto Vallarta.)

Now we had entered the Maya country. During the next few days we visited several Mayan sites, including Palenque in Chiapas and Uxmal, Chichenitza, and Tulum in the Yucatan Peninsula. In fact it was on the day we visited Tulum that our trip came to a sudden halt.

On December 10th, we visited Tulum in the morning and in the afternoon headed to Cancun. However on the way we had a horrific car accident. Our LandCrusier rolled down the ditch several times and Dieter was thrown outside through the windshield. He suffered neck and back injuries and tremendous cuts. Dieter was initially taken to a hospital in Cancun and the next morning flown via LearJet to Miami Florida. The surgery on Dieter's neck (to replace a herniated disc) was successful. Recovering from the back injuries took nearly a year.

We will always be thankful that Dieter recovered as well as he did. A year later, to celebrate his excellent recovery, we returned to the Yucatan area for a one week vacation.

Second Road Trip to the South

Palenque - One of Our Favorite Mayan Sites

A few weeks after our wedding on September 1, 1996, we decided to travel to Central America for a belated honeymoon adventure. In November we purchased a 1988 Toyota 4-Runner from a salvage yard in Denver. The following six weeks we prepared the vehicle, moved things to storage, and obtained the necessary documents for this adventure. It was absolutely crazy preparing for this trip with all the repeat visits to Home Depot, Napa Auto Parts, Pep Boys, etc!

In mid-December, we entered Mexico at Mexicali and obtained numerous documents for the 4- Runner. Our trip through Mexico was pretty much what we expected. We traveled south to Los Mochis and boarded a train (without the vehicle of course) for an awesome 9-hour journey through Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon, which is deeper and 4 times larger than the Grand Canyon) and we spent one night in the mountainous village of Creel. Hiking in this area gave us an opportunity to see the Tarahumara (indigenous people) way of life. We took the train back to Los Mochis and made the long haul to Guadalajara (Mexico's second largest city) on Christmas Day. The following day, we visited San Miguel de Allende, a beautiful hillside town heavily populated with American expatriates and artisans. On the way to Taxco (a charming silver- mining town with cobblestone streets and numerous churches), we climbed the wonderful Aztecan Pyramids of Teotihuacan (just outside Mexico City) and stopped at the Zocolo in Mexico City for lunch. During the drive to Oaxaca and San Cristobal de las Casas, we traversed the treacherous mountains which offered spectacular scenery while crossing the Continental Divide several times. San Cristobal de las Casas, with its colorful houses and friendly people, became our favorite town in Mexico. Our last stop in Mexico were the wonderful Mayan ruins of Palenque. During our ten days through Mexico, we traveled 3000 miles on some bumpy roads and some excellent "Autopistas" (super highways). At last we were ready for Central America, or so we thought!!

We entered Belize on New Year's Eve and spent the night in the farming town of Corozal. Northern Belize was primarily agricultural with lots of sugar cane, whereas in western Belize we encountered rolling hills, jungles, and abundant wildlife. The coast of Belize felt more Caribbean than Latin American. ck injuries took nearly a year.

We will always be thankful that Dieter recovered as well as he did. A year later, to celebrate his excellent recovery, we returned to the Yucatan area for a one week vacation.

Second Road Trip to the South

Palenque - One of Our Favorite Mayan Sites

In mid-December, we entered Mexico at Mexicali and obtained numerous documents for the 4- Runner. Our trip through Mexico was pretty much what we expected. We traveled south to Los Mochis and boarwith secure parking. Suffice it to say that this loss ended our Central American adventure with only our passports, credit cards, and camera in hand. The following day, we purchased airline tickets to Orlando. Yes, our second disaster taking us back to Florida again!

There was no interest in seeing Mickey Mouse at Disney World, however we managed to find a driveaway Lexus that a Sanibel Island "Snowbird" wanted transported to San Diego (which seems to be another place that we keep visiting unintentionally!). After visiting some friends from Switzerland in Ft. Meyers Beach, we crossed the United States via Hwy 10 and Hwy 8 in record time (not to mention speed). However, we did manage some extended stays in New Orleans and Phoenix. From San Diego, it was a very scenic drive north via Hwy 395 to Lake Tahoe and then west to the Bay Area.

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