Palenque!

Here is a video from the first ruins we stopped at in Palenque, Mexico!

Walking in San Cristobal

Continuing our series "The Best of the Rest", here is a short video of walking through the streets of San Cristobal.



Also, I think the San Cristobal hotel room videos are good enough to merit editing and reposting here:

Home sweet home

After 26 consecutive days away from home I am finally back in Ann Arbor!

We left for the LAX airport at about 9:00am this morning and I arrived at the Detroit airport at about 7pm! That is why travelling East sucks. But I'm glad to be back, despite the cold and darkness that comes along with it.

We have tons of videos that haven't been posted, so I'm going to keep updating this bad boy for a while with all that never-before-seen content. Here is the "extreme wind noise" video that we tried to post earlier. Thanks to some brilliant video editing, it is now only the "moderately extreme wind noise" video.

Back in Los Angeles

We made it! We crossed the border (after a 2 1/2 hour wait in line) on Saturday and completed a 15 hour driving day by staying at Jessica and Jean's parent's house. Jessica's Mom had an AMAZING spread of food and drinks ready for us, including a Honey baked ham! I think I ate more in 2 hours that night, then the previous 3 weeks combined. But don't worry, because the following morning we went to the fanciest all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet in the world, including shrimp, fillet mignon, made-to-order omelettes, champagne and cheesecake. I am planning on coming back to visit soon and often.

Yesterday, Jess and I dropped Jean and Richard off at the airport and they are back at their respective schools! My flight leaves tomorrow so Jess and I will be hanging out around LA today.

All of our photos are finally online! I bought a flickr "pro" account so you can order prints, or download the original high-res versions of any of them. I uploaded all of our photos to my account so you can see them all in one place in chronological order. Here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerschneid/sets/72157594465056537/

There are nearly 1,000 pictures. I'm going to go through and try to label and rotate them when I get some time. Here are some of my favorites:

Tequila!

Heading to the USA Tomorrow

We have spent the last day and a half in Guaymas, Mexico. Today we were on an absolutely amazing beach and have some really great pictures to show for it. We just rolled into this Internet cafe about 10 minutes before it is closing so I won't have time to post anything, but will post tons of photos and videos in the upcoming days when I'm on a good ol' USA Internet connection!

Back in Los Mochis

Today our plan was to drive to Los Mochis, then catch an overnight ferry to the Baja peninsula and drive up Baja from there. We had trouble getting in contact with the ferry company so we knew there was a chance that we would not be able to catch a ferry. UNFORTUNATELY, it turned out that all the ferrys are full until MONDAY, a day after our flights leave from Los Angeles, meaning we would have to drive negative infinity miles per hour up the coast in order to catch our flights. We dutifully checked the manual of our Toyota Corolla only to find out that the maxmimum speed is closer to 110mph, not negative infinity.

ANYWAY, our new plan is to spend a day in Guaymas, then drive back up the coast to LA on the 6th and stay at Jess and Jean's parents house (Surprise Elizabeth and Tom! We're coming to your house on the 6th!) If they're busy partying or something, we can just drive straight to Jess' place.

The Internet here is pretty sketchy so no photos or videos today. I'll post lots of uber-cool edited videos when we're back in the states.

Tequila!

We are in TEQUILA, Mexico! Yes, THAT Tequila. And I have some in me right now!

We made amazing time the last two days and made it all the way from the Guatemalan border to Tequila which is just West of Guadalajara. Sorry Mom, we drove through Mexico City like I told you we wouldn't, but it was the only way to make it back in time! But the good news is that I didn't tell you until after we made it so you had no reason to worry!

On the bright side, Mexico City and everywhere we have been in Mexico has been incredibly nice and I have never felt unsafe. I don't think Mexico City is any more dangerous than any other 25 million person city.

The city of Tequila is really nice. Lots of little shops and great food and hotel values as always! The restaurant we ate at gave everyone their first tequila drink on the house!

The Internet here is pretty slow again, so I may not get a video up. Below is a photo of the four of us at the temple ruins in Tikal, Guatemala!

USC Can Suck My Balls

We're back online after some sparce Internet days in Belize and Guatemala. After spending New Year's Eve in Tapachula, Mexico, we made amazing time and drove close to 1000km to get to Cordoba, Mexico. We made it just in time to see Michigan get their ass kicked by USC in the second half of the Rose Bowl. I'd like to send a big "Eat shit and die" to all you USC fans out there. You too Ohio State.

We're planning to get to Guadalajara by tomorrow, then Los Mochis on the 3rd in time to take a ferry to the Baja peninsula and drive back up to LA. These driving days are pretty rough, but we had an awesome time in Central America and some great days to look forward to in Baja!

New Year's Eve in Tapachula, Mexico

We spent New Year's Eve in Tapachula, Mexico which is just across the border from Guatemala. Crossing the border at 7pm on New Year's Eve was a pain in the ass. The Guatemalan officials were giving us an extremely hard time, saying we can't leave until the next day because the computers were turned off or something. I personally think they were just waiting to be bribed, but our incredible tour guide Jessica wouldn't put up with that shit and started ranting and raving in Spanish until he finally decided that getting rid of her was bribe enough. I regret not having a video of that one! Hopefully we'll get a video of Jess flipping out in Spanish before the end of the trip.

Here is a video of some of the festivities of New Year's Eve!

Temple Ruins in Tikal, Guatemala

Jess planned a trip to some amazing temple ruins in Tikal, Guatemala. Man, do those Mayans like to build temples. There are a ton of them and they are really big. It would probably have been great to live back then, except for all the famine, sacrifices and eventual demise of the civilization. But at least the buildings were cool.

Caye Caulker in Belize!

We made it to Belize! The Internet is slow again so the videos may take a while.

Caye Caulker off the Coast of Belize

We finally made it past Mexico and into Belize! Last night we stayed in Belize City which was the sketchiest and most expensive place we have stayed yet. Things looked a little bleak for Belize, but today we took a water taxi to an island called Caye Caulker, which everyone agrees is amazing!

The island is 600 meters at its widest point, so you can always see water in two directions wherever you are! The water is a deep aqua blue and crystal clear. Belize is world renowned for its diving!

We're staying in this awesome guest house for $25/night. Internet is crazy expensive so I have to keep this short, and no photos or videos today! We are going to stay here one more night, then to Guatemala, then start heading back through Mexico!

Palenque and the Ruins

It is Christmas day and we have made it to Palenque, Mexico! This is our last stop before the big trek to Belize City tomorrow. I think Palenque is probably best known for the ruins which we visited today, but the city is actually really nice and has the best Intnernet cafe we have seen yet, so I am sold.

Last night (Christmas Eve) we stayed in San Cristobal and it was really wild. We heard a few fireworks going off during the day, but they were no big deal. We went to bed around 11:30, but at midnight all hell broke loose. I think every Mexican within 20 miles started setting off fireworks right at midnight. We stayed in bed for about 5 minutes before we decided it was a lost cause and we headed out to the roof of the hotel to watch the madness. The participation really put Americans on the Fourth of July to shame. One of the other hotel visitors commented that it seemed like we were in the middle of Baghdad!

Today while driving we encountered a make-shift road block. This is only the second we have seen, but it's basically a scam put on by local Mexicans. They hold a rope with flags on it across the entire length of the road, forcing you to stop. When you get up there they ask for change or try to sell you goods. It's no big deal, but kind of a hassle. HOWEVER, today a bunch of kids set up the road block and as we approached we heard them all screaming to each other and quickly dropped the rope allowing us to pass. At first, we were confused as to why they let a car full of (normally profitable) gringos drive through, until we noticed a Policia truck coming around the bend in the opposite direction who passed the block at the exact time we did. Lucky!

I just realized the sound is a little screwed up on all the videos. Sorry about that. I'll be able to fix it when I get home. More photos are posted to the Flickr account as well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerschneid/tags/mexicocentralamerica06/



Here is a video of the ruins of Palenque!

Video coming soon

Lost in a Cave Outside San Cristobal

San Cristobal Hotel Rooms

We stayed in San Cristobal two nights, first in a 12 dollar hotel room, then in a 40 dollar hotel room and I think these videos will help you spot the subtle but important differences. I can't edit any videos here, so you will just have to watch all three.

San Cristobal

It's Christmas eve and we have arrived in San Cristobal, Mexico. It's a really cool town that is extremely different from the other Mexican cities we have seen! The streets and sidewalks are really narrow, and made of stone with buildings lining all the streets. It reminds me more of London than of a Mexican city! There are tons of lights and people selling things and excitement everywhere! We stayed in a pretty crappy hotel last night, but for $12/night split 4 ways, it's hard to beat on value. Yesterday we stayed at "Hostel Shalom" in Puerto Escandido (Hidden Port). Puerto Escandido probably has the most amazing beach I have ever seen! It was a fairly short beach, about 150 meters, but was kind of in this rock cove that extended about 300 meters out into the ocean. It created this amazing set of really smooth and consistent waves that carry surfers for 300 meters all the way to the shore! Hopefully there will be a video below of the sunset from this beach. Our plan for the next few days is to hit some ruins in Palenque, then cross the border to Guatamala heading for Belize City. We're going to stay in Belize city for a couple days, then head back!

Puerto Escondido Sunset

Topes!

Another Day in Acapulco

Richard, our fourth travel member, arrived late last night. His plane was about 2 hours late and lost his bag! After repeated phone calls, they keep saying it will be coming on a later flight, so we are going to stay at our camp ground one more night.

We said farewell to Tom, our hitch-hiking friend today. He and his guitar Betsy are on their way to Guatemala.

The weather here has been SPECTACULAR. It couldn't be any better. The waves on the beach we are on are HUGE. They are probably 8-10 feet tall and CRASH really close to shore. Sometimes they break so hard that the mist from the crash reaches hundreds of feet up the beach!

Our internet connection here is really slow so we might not be able to add any more videos or photos for a while.

We haven't been able to upload many photos yet, but the few that we have are here (future photos will be here as well):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerschneid/tags/mexicocentralamerica06/