Archive for the ‘The 2003 RV Trip’ Category
From El Tajín, it wasn’t far to an area along the Gulf of Mexico called the Emerald Coast. Highway 180 runs close to the shore there, and we could see the surf as we drove, looking for just the right RV park. It was a treat to have a choice among several. We chose a [...]
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I wondered if we would have interesting dreams so near the ruins, but neither of us remembered any. Early in the morning, we saw people leaving the ruins to go to work and school, adding to the sense of the continuity of life. As soon as the site was officially open, Kelly took off for [...]
El Tajín was abandoned in 1230 AD, for reasons which are unknown — perhaps an attack of the Chichimecas, perhaps something else. El Tajín was not located where it was for reasons of defense – the site is completely open. By the time of the Spanish conquest, El Tajín was covered by jungle. In 1785, [...]
An ancient ceremonial center that the early Spanish explorers never found… A United Nations World Heritage site and one of the most important archaeological sites in Mexico… Off the beaten tourist path… A place of great beauty… El Tajín. The first view The first sight of the ruins was astonishing. The emerald green of the [...]
The next morning, we were up and out early. We had heard that Highway 180 south of Tampico was one of the worst major highways in Mexico, and indeed it was. We averaged about 35 miles an hour, circling around pothole after pothole and dodging other vehicles who were doing the same. At least there [...]
We easily found our turn toward the water, and the road became one lane with turnouts here and there. It went on for several more kilometers, and then we were by the water. There was a small store, with a surprisingly large number of cars parked around it. A few small boats were pulled on [...]
We returned to Ciudad Victoria for a few more days, getting a lot of writing and email done, and then we began to feel like moving on. Where would we go? We could go directly east to beaches on the Gulf of Mexico, southeast towards Veracruz, south into the mountains near Ciudad Valles, southwest onto [...]
The huge parking lot at El Chorrito wasn’t very level, and after a few hours there, we felt we had seen enough. So we came back to the lake, late in the afternoon on a Sunday in February. “You’ll probably have the place to yourself during the week,” John had told us. “Mexicans from the [...]
When our friends John and Kay Lowman went to El Chorrito, they noticed a large lake from the parking lot of the pilgrimage center. It’s hard to miss if you look out that way at all. They decided to find it, and they explored side roads until they did. “The lake is less than a [...]
Mass was just finishing when we arrived at the church, and there was no more room to squeeze in, so we waited till things thinned out a bit before entering. Inside, it seemed like a regular church but there was a cave in front. It took a while to realize that the heads moving from [...]
