Heading for Belice

Hello again. As of now we are sitting in Chetumal, just north of the Mexican border with Belice, and just west of the coast of the Caribbean sea. We journeyed through many types of terrain and all sizes of cities on our 3 day drive to this point. We bribed a bit, we negotiated a bit, and we definitely drove, alot.
We had to drive back up the Baja and return to La Paz for the ferry, as there is no ferry in Cabo San Lucas any more. We rode for 5 hours back to Topolobampo, deciding that while being a good way to travel, ferries can be a sketchy place, especially in the bar area, where the seats are comfy but the company is not.

Question - Is it safe to load a bunch of truck drivers up on booze and then turn them loose into the mountains with big trucks? - you be the judge.

So anyway, we drove down just south of Los Mochis to an Auto Hotel - an inexpensive ($25 - $30 a night) and clean little place generally having a garage to part your car in and pull either a curtain or a garage door over the entrance. These are basically a glorified brothel, where you can pay for a set number of hours, or the whole night, but they are cheap, and clean, and we need that.
We had hoped to stop through Guadalajara and see some friends Claire and Raul, but they have returned to Alaska already and so we made a pass through the town - a nice place, very large with 2 million people, and drove on down to a small town just off the toll way. Upon exiting the toll road, we came across a sign stating that "Here your safety ends" meaning we were entering the smaller, less maintained roads. So, we decided to stop in and rest at the AutoHotel Trebol, spanish for AutoHotel Clover, an omen of sorts for the clover loving Carder.

Trying to get to Mexico City was tough, and frustrating. In the town of Metepec, we were ushered into a police check point where they notified us that in addition to a vehicle permit, we needed a receipt for this permit, and therefor were in violation of the law for not having one. A quick slide of $50.00 in to the hands of our officer and we were back on our way. Bribe time has now officially begun, but we feel fortunate to have made it this far for free.

In no time were trying to make our way through Mexico City, one of the largest cities in the world. Might I say that the map in our trusty .7 cent Mexico travel book was sure to help, as there was no city map for this largest city int he world. We made some definite circles, but feel we did good only being there for about an hour and a half. Very soon we were driving on long, winding roads through huge mountains of a tropical nature. Due to the holiday of Carnaval, thousands of people were riding bikes and running along side these roads, in a parade to Mexico City. We had steak and cactus tacos, somewhere along this road, that were out of this world.
We decided to stop in the coastal town of Agua Dulce, or the Mexican town of Sweetwater, so close to home, yet so far away. A good nights rest and the next day we headed into the jungle, through some beautiful terrain indeed. Tropical forest surrounded us, and we getting into more indigenous peoples and farming communities.
We got deep into the jungle, on a road with no shoulder, trees and steep mountains on either side, and definitley no room to stop, and our gas light came on. WE started sweatin and pulled into a lil town out in the middle of no where, with no gas station in sight. This is probably the most friendly place we have been to yet. A broke down truck driver led us to a convenient store where they just happened to have a little 8 liter container of gas that we were able to buy. We chatted with the man for a while, all of thanking God for His hand over us, and then headed on to Chetumal. WE passed through Xpujil, a place of noted archaeological status with Mayan ruins, and eventually landed where we sit now, in Chetumal.
It was a long road through the jungle yesterday, a mystifying and enchanted area indeed. I could just imagen the days of ancient when Mayans controlled this area and called to the spirits of the world for life and power. In the whisper of wind and crickets I could hear the voices of the hunters chattering through the woods. I just cant even properly describe the power of this region, and the awe we have for kingdom that once was. The remnants remain even today in the ruins and in the people, a small and mystical group indeed.
So today we enter Belice, a new country, with new rules, new peoples, and adventure galore. Until next time, Ciao.