Chewing up the miles to Oaxaca (4/21/11-4/25)

Villahermosa
 

along the same road

along the gulf coast

With the heat and humidity of the low elevations, I decided my next destination would be to go back to one of my favorite cities, Oaxaca. This would seem to be the perfect place to wait out the holiday (no bodies of water up there), and the nights would be drier and cooler. Villahermosa is basically halfway and they have a campground so that's where I headed.

south of Champoton

The road hugs the coastline all the way down to Champoton where there are large crowds already gathering along the waterfront. I go through a federal police checkpoint where the cop asks me for 15 pesos. I didn't think the federal guys did this stuff, so I give him my " are you fucking kidding me?" look. He points to the hot sun above and says, "necessito agua". Well, okay, it is only 15 pesos. Either he really did want to buy some water, or it was the most pathetic bribe ever. After Champoton the road heads directly south and then southwest towards Villahermosa. The picture at left shows what a lot of the remaining drive looked like, which isn't much. The roads were fast, however, and I was able to do the 285 miles from Campeche in 6-1/4 hours.


Campeche to Villahermosa.
black is prior trip

People often will camp at balenarios, which are large swimming pool/picnic resorts found throughout the country. I had never stayed at one until now. This was conveniently located just west of Villahermosa and when I pulled in I was met by Crystal, a young woman originally from Chicago and part of the family that owns the place. The large crowd - this was the Thursday before Easter - was beginning to leave for the night when I got there at about 5:30. Crystal said this was nothing, they will see up to 5000 people a day over the weekend. It's a big pool, but 5000? That's a whole town! It's a nice stopping point, but I'm outta there early in the morning.

Oaxaca


crossing the mountains
west of Orizaba

 I knew I had a long drive in front of me so I hit the road at 8am. There is a cuota heading north all the way up to Mexico City so I jumped on it to cover some distance. I was looking for the exit about halfway up for the mountain road that goes to Oaxaca called Mex. 175, but I never saw it. A couple of hours later I'm almost to Puebla! Now I have to drive back south via another cuota that I used 6 months earlier. Bottom line, I drive for 9 hours and cover 492 miles, by far the most I've ever driven in one day down here. It costs me over $100 in gasoline - lucky for me gas is only $2.93 a gallon in Mexico right now. I also spend $65 on the tolls, another record. Mexican toll roads are notoriously expensive and I usually avoid them.



Villahermosa to Oaxaca.
black is prior trip



As I enter Oaxaca I'm struck by the lack of traffic. This is my third time here and the first time that traffic has been so light, laid-back even. No pressure, no horns, I guess most people really do head to the ocean. When I get to the San Felipe Campground it takes about 5 minutes of ringing the bell before Doug ambles down to unlock the gate. You can see my Doug story in a post from back in October. Everyone has left for the season so the campground is all mine for the next 4 nights. I spend most my time here amidst Doug's agave plants being serenaded by the countless dogs, roosters and at least 2 donkeys that live in these hills. Real Mexico.

Tomorrow I head to Puerto Escondido and then points north to...Estados Unidos, in maybe two weeks. I left Golden, CO 217 days ago. It's been a while.