British Columbia through Mexico

From British Columbia through Mexico: The trials and tribulations of pets and bureaucracy (24 July – 2 September 2009)

We left beautiful Powell River BC in our revised SUV, Mercedes ML 350 (Figure 1). We camped our way south through southern BC, Washington and Oregon (Figure 2). Our revised travel unit did very well. Wildlife was scarce in this part of our trip. We did see golden eagles outside Lake City, Oregon (Figure 3).

Figure 1. Ferry at Slatery Bay, Powell River, B.C.


Figure 2. Camp at Lincoln City, OR.




Figure 3. Golden eagle at Lake City, OR.



Ewok is giving us a bit of a trial. Apparently, in her old age, she is getting very anxious. She had to come into the SUV with us to sleep at night (Figure 4). Amadeus is Ok until he decides to use his bathroom while we are driving. On the other hand, what would we do without their bright little faces?

Figure 4. Ewok (with new hair cut -- to beat the heat) at camp in Lincoln City, OR.


In all, we took until 14 days to reach the San Jose area. We stayed with friends in San Jose. The big bureaucratic problem was dealing with Sharon’s retirement via CalPers. It took almost three extra weeks to get things cleared. But finally we left for Mexico on 21 August, and crossed the border on 22 August at Agua Prieta.

It took over 2 hours to get our vehicle permit because we told the clerk we were going to Guatemala. The clerks seem not to know how to handle such things. Most people go into and back out of Mexico. So she made a lot of mistakes as she typed the forms. Then she had to ask her boss what to do. Three forms later, we had the permit. But then we needed the visas. Again we had to suffer through an hour of agonizing torture to wait for her to finish the visas. At last, 1130 hrs, we were on our way.

We were able to make Nuevo Casas Grandes by 1600 hrs. We stayed at Las Matates RV Park. The next few days were uneventful, except that Ewok would not let us sleep alone. She had to be in bed with one or both of us. We arrived at Oaxaca, San Felipe Campground in the evening of 26 August to find Gary and Karla waiting (Figure 5). The campground is quite nice and was relatively quiet except for the dogs barking at night. Our site was very comfortable (Figure 6 and 7).


Figure 5. Oaxaca, San Felipe Campground with Paco (the Vanagon), Gary, and the camp owner, Doug.



Figure 6. Our camp in San Felipe Campground.



Figure 7. Our camp in San Felipe with Sharon, Ewok, Sarah, and another dog.



Karla, Gary, and I visited the Indian market in Zaachila on the outskirts of Oaxaca. It was quite interesting (Figures 8, 9, and 10). We had lunch of “flor de calabasa” quesadillas at one of the small food stands (Figure 11). We had a problem on our way to Camp. Gary’s Vanagon (Paco) started to act up. The VW dealer refused to work on it until, at earliest Saturday. We were able to get it back to camp. Gary and I worked all day Friday to clean the gas tank, filter and pump. It worked great.

Figure 8. Market at Zaachila.


Figure 9. Meat stand in Zaachila market.



Figure 10. Fruits and vegetables in Zaachila market.


Figure 11. Lunch at Zaachila market.



Sharon and I went into Oaxaca on Saturday to find an AC/DC converter so our refrigerator will work when we have electricity. We had lunch in the Zocalo (Figures 12).

Figure 12. Sharon at lunch in the Zocalo.



On Sunday we broke camp and drove to San Cristobal de Las Casas, and again Gary and Karla were at the campground waiting for us. The campground is on the east side of town, Ranch San Nicholas (Figures 13). We spent one day touring the town of San Cristobal (Figures 14 and 15). The town was having an art exhibit with a theme of jaguar sculptures (Figure 16).

Figure 13. Campground Rancho San Nicholas in San Cristobal de Las Casas.


Figure 14. Street market in San Cristobal.





Figure 15. Textiles in the street market, San Cristobal.




Figure 16. Coffee bean jaguar sculpture in the Plaza, San Cristobal.




We left San Cristobal the next day to drive into Guatemala. This ends the North American section of the blog. Maybe the Isthmus of Tehuantepec would be the end of the North American section, but for continuity I included the Mexican State of Chiapas. Geologically, Chiapas could be considered part of Central America.


Jack