Jan. 17, 2008 ….by Larry

We departed the North Coast of the Yucatan this morning and headed for the Ruins of Uxmal. The beaches were not the greatest and there was not much activity. Although we enjoyed the trip into Rio Lagarsto, we were a little disappointed with the area between there and Progeso. It appeared to us that hurricanes really pounded the area. There were lots of homes and properties in various stages of abandoment. We made a mistake and took the wrong turn off into Progresso and found ourselves in a very poor area. Garbage, swamp water everywhere. Probably the worst area we had ever visited on this trip. The other end of Progesso was much cleaner and more modern. We spent the night in an empty lot across from the malecon and not far from the pier which is 2km long. It was fairly cool and the wind howled all night so we made tracks out of there as soon as we could. As we traveled south on Mex261 toward the city of Merida we start to notice the change right away. The highway turns into an eight-lane beauty and the bypass around Merida is very good and easy except the road narrows down to a one way street. And it was market day! No worries, we are now used to maneuvering our rigs through the crowds. Somehow our group got split up. John and Larry went one way while Ben and Bill took another route. We all managed to meet up a few blocks later. Ben and Bill had a police escort while we held up traffic while asking for directions but we made it!!!

The temperature starts to rise and the scenery turns more tropical. As we were traveling along Mex261 not too far from Uxmal, our leader Johnny, comes to a turn off to the right, slows down and turns. "What the heck!" I say, the sign for Uxmal is straight ahead, not to the right! We have a bit of a jam as I want to go straight and everyone wants to follow Johnny to the right, "can't they see the sign".

I grab my mike calling Johnny to tell him he is going the wrong way, no answer. I look at my radio and sure enough, some how my frequency has jumped from 71 to 72. Apparently they have been talking for quite some time about taking a short detour to visit an old Hacienda "Yaxcopoil" that dated back from the late 17th century to the late 20th century. I just did not know about it. We now have a signal set up to notify a person that they can not be contacted on the radio, this has happened before.

Yaxcopoil Hacienda was very active up to 1984. They employed over 500 people. The main industry was the planting, harvesting, drying and shredding of henequen (Sisal). Millions were made during the 1st and 2nd World Wars. Sisal is a coarse stringy fibre that would be wound into long and strong rope. The trip to the Hacienda is a must see. Several movies have been made there. They have a web site if you are interested, to view click HERE.

After spending a couple of hours doing the tour of Yaxcopoil and having lunch we carry on the short distance to Uxmal, set up camp in the parking lot across from the entrance and relax. Tomorrow we tour the ruins.

January 21/09….by Betty

We spent two nights camped in the parking lot at Uxmal. Another great day exploring the ruins. It seems that each set of ruins has a different story to tell.

We are now camped in a beautiful and deluxe RV park outside of the magical town of Campeche. It was a short and scenic drive from Uxmal to Campeche. We found the Club Nautica RV Park without difficulty. It is a very nice park with tons of amenities. We would highly recommend this place. When we first drove in we were amazed that other than one other travel trailer we were the only ones here…..NOT….a caravan of 19 units drive in one hour later. Thank goodness they are heading the opposite way than us!!! A nice friendly group of folks from Canada and the U.S.A.

We took a day trip to Campeche yesterday. It has many points of interest. The city used to be sacked by pirates coming up from Isla de Aguados so the Spanish built a wall around the city. Some of the wall and seven of the eight bastions are still in existence. The oldest church in North America….San Francisco …is located here. It was built during the period 1546 - 1598. The second church in Mexico honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe is also here. We took a 45 minute guided tram tour. There is a Wal Mart and Sam's Club there as well. We really enjoyed this stop over. We even had a Chinese Buffet Lunch at a restaurant kiddy corner to the Main Plaza. We had dropped our laundry off at a laundro mat in the little town of Lerma which is along the way to Campeche. John and Sherry picked it up last night. They sure did a good job, everything was nice and clean and very well folded. The owner would not accept a tip from John!! At the end of our travels I will be doing an article on where we had our laundry done, where we purchased propane, where to shop, good eating places, etc.