Hey Eddie, Kirsten, and Benny. Oh, and Gage and Jayden and all our other little cousins and friends, too! I have been travelling all over Mexico with Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Leila. I am very excited that they decided to bring me along on their trip. I have been to Monte Alban, the Pacific Coast beaches in Oaxaca, and San Cristobal de las Casas. Monte Alban is an archaeological ruin site that was once occupied by the Mixtec and Zapotec indigenous people. There were many structures and carvings to see. The Pacific Coast beach towns were a lot of fun. [View Full Entry]

---

---

We drove over the mountains and across the land to put our snow toes in the sand! We are on the beach at Puerto Escondido after a short stop for lunch at Puerto Angel. The waves are big, which Chuck thinks is great, Leila is very afraid! Beers are fifty cents, it costs about a dollar a day to shower, we are sleeping in the van and having a great time skipping winter. Cheers to all of you stuck in the snow. Next we will travel east along the coast towards Chiapas. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yagul, Mitla, Dainzu, Zaachila: Along the highway from Oaxaca, Oaxaca and El Tule to the east are the archaeological sites of Yagul, Mitla, and Dainzu. To the southwest of Oaxaca, Oaxaca is Zaachila. Yagul is a small site and when Chuck and I visited these ruins we were the only visitors there. At the same time there were probably a dozen people onsite working to preserve and restore the existing structures. The built environment at Yagul included a ball court, a shrine and tombs, and public and residential structures. While at Yagul Chuck and I noticed some dark objects in t [View Full Entry]

---

---

Monte Alban and El Tule: Monday, December 14th we left Oaxaca, Oaxaca and went to the archaeological site of Monte Alban and the town of Santa Maria del Tule. The archaeological site of Monte Alban is only a few kilometers from the city and not too difficult to find. Monte Alban was inhabited as early as 500 BCE. The site was founded by the Zapotecs and later occupied by the Mixtecs. Monte Alban was constructed above three surrounding mountain valleys. The view from Monte Alban is very impressive. The surroundings are comprised of valleys surrounded by endless mountain [View Full Entry]

---

---

Oaxaca, Oaxaca: The historic center of Oaxaca, Oaxaca was much better than driving around looking for incognito campgrounds throughout and along the outskirts of town. The mercado (market) has very good food for very good prices. I ate the biggest tamale ever seen, seriously this thing was enormous! And, I also had mezcal (like tequila) ice cream, pretty good! The historic center of Oaxaca, Oaxaca has a handful of museums featuring historical and cultural information about the region. Chuck and I walked through two museums. One had exhibits about the ancient indigenous c [View Full Entry]

---

---

Cuota to Oaxaca: We drove from Papantla to Oaxaca on Thursday, December 11th. The drive was almost entirely along mountain roads. Chuck drove so Leila was able to take pictures along the way. It took about ten hours. We stopped for lunch in a little mountain village called Atzalan. The town was beautiful, as were all of the people we talked with. Lunch was great; we had about four tacos each and an orange drink for roughly $4 US. At Tehuacan, the valley where corn originated, we drove the toll road to Oaxaca City. We arrived to Oaxaca about 6 PM. [View Full Entry]

---

---

We left Dallas the morning of Monday, December 8th. Drove to South Padre Island for the night; we figured a tourist area would be the best spot to spend the night along the border, and it is only a twenty minute drive to the border from South Padre. We stayed at the KOA, not a bad spot, weather was great, the only bad point was that the showers here do not have hot water, not even cold, in fact very much ICE COLD! Crossing the border into Mexico wasn't bad at all. No lines. All of the people were friendly and [View Full Entry]

---

---

This year we decided to skip winter in the Northland by travelling to and through Mexico and Central America. We talked about flying someplace cheap and then backpacking around from place to place. We talked about about buying an RV or a camper for Chuck's truck. In the end we bought a green van; the Ghetto Bus! We had a Thanksgiving Birthday dinner with family in Hibbing and then started our journey south. Our van is a 1995 GMC Vandura 2500 and when we started our trip south it had 95,000 miles on the odometer. The first half of the first [View Full Entry]

---

---

Campeche, June of 2008: First decide what you want to do, then determine how to do it! We know we want to travel Mexico. It was a Wednesday in June of 2008 and Chuck received an email notification of roundtrip airfare to Cancun for $120. This we could do! We decided we would rent a car in Cancun and drive to Campeche. The drive from Cancun to Campeche can be done in about 6 hours. We have friends in Merida, which is along the way, so we stopped there for a couple of nights before going to Campeche. While in Merida [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ruta Rio Bec: For our ten-year anniversary Chuck and I went to Mexico. We wanted to be off the beaten path and on the road less travelled, again and even more so. We decided to drive south along the Riviera Maya, make our way through the Ruta Rio Bec, and then head into Chiapas. Riviera Maya and Chiapas will be covered in separate entries. Ruta Rio Bec is a stretch of highway north of the Mexican and Guatemala border between Chetumal in Quintana Roo and Escarcega in Campeche. The drive can be done in a day, but it is better to [View Full Entry]

---

---