Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We were finally back on the road again but we had some hilly, windy stretches and the road wasn't very good. Helmut nearly had an
accident when a car coming the other way waited for us to pass before trying to overtake the truck in front of him. He didn't look
before coming out and Helmut had to swerve. It was a close call!
We drove via Puerto Escondido further south along the coast and then turned inland. There are a lot of wind turbines here for good
reason. We stopped at a petrol station in Juchitan and got rocked by the fierce gusts all night!
In Tuxtla Gutierrez we took photos from the viewpoint above the town and then we decided to take the new toll road to San
Cristóbal de las Casas which cost us $3-50 US and saved us 20 miles and a few hours on the free road.
View onto Tuxtla Gutierrez - 360° Panorama(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
We got to Rancho San Nicolas camp ground at 10-30am which meant we had the rest of the day to see the town and get a few things done.
There was a road diversion on the way out of town the next day and we had some difficulty making two turns in the very narrow streets.
Kirsten had to get out to direct and Winnie only just managed to squeeze through.
The road from San Cristóbal to Palenque is notorious for the huge number of topes along the way. We did this stretch in 2005 and
counted 180 topes for the 131 miles! This time around we counted 302 topes! There have obviously been a number of landslides and the
road is literally disintegrating with chunks of road missing! It took us 7 hours to drive and we arrived in Palenque at 4-30pm.
Kirsten went to the ruins with Helmut and Agnes the next day but we've been here before so Helen stayed to do some cleaning in Winnie.
Palenque ruins - 360° Panorama(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
Palenque
The final stretch of Mexico was a 300 mile drive to Chetumal and the border with Belize. The road is new between Escarcega and Chetumal
so we managed to make good time and got ourselves prepared for the border crossing into Belize.
Belize will be a new country for us. We've been travelling through the US, Canada and Mexico for so long that it's about time we
clocked up another country in the world! There are 7 new countries coming up - lets hope Winnie makes it.
