Mexico/Belize Week 8

Today was our first full day of birding. We drove in four cars up into the mountains on roads that ranged from smooth to dreadful. After two hours we came to a mountain pass at 7100 feet where we stopped to check out the birds. It was 32 degrees! The first bird we saw was a painted redstart; jet black back with white markings and a very bright red chest. This is a gorgeous bird, though too small and flighty to photograph well. We started back down the mountain, stopping every few miles to check out the birds. We followed this pattern all the way back to the campground. We saw over 40 different birds, 26 of which were “Life Birds” for us. It was great fun though tiring. We got back to the coach at 4:30. We then showered and took a van a short distance to a restaurant where we had a pleasant Mexican buffet dinner and got to spend more time talking to our new caravan friends. What a delightful and diverse group of people.

A mostly pleasant driving day through the mountains. We will be birding in a fairly remote area where there are no campgrounds. Soooo, we are camped for two nights in an abandoned gas station along the highway. There’s plenty of room for all the rigs and we will be fine here. A brief birding trip yielded a few new species and a lot of dust. This area is so dry that the ground is like talc and when you walk or drive through it, you raise a big cloud of dust. We had a get together to talk about the birds we had seen. Carl spent the time helping people get connected to the internet through our wireless satellite connection. After a delicious grilled fish dinner, we went to sleep early; birding tour leaves at 7 AM!.

Another full day of birding between 5200 and 7100 feet altitude. We left at 7 AM and returned at 4:30 in the afternoon. Chasing little birds is hard work! It was less successful than Saturday but we did see some new birds and Carl got some decent pictures of a Vermillion Flycatcher (male). Our trip bird list is now at 214 different birds! The buff breasted flycatcher was the rarest bird we saw. We had a “social hour “ at 5 PM. WE gathered our camp chairs in a circle and talked about the days activities and the birds we saw. We all then retired to our individual RVs for dinner. Tomorrow is a long driving day but most of it is on a Cuota Road, a toll road which is in much better shape than most of the regular roads.

Today we drove 310 miles to San Miguel de Allende. A mostly uneventful trip on good roads. The only excitement was when the lead RV missed a turn and four rigs ended up driving through the narrow streets of a small village. We were number three. We got partly turned around in a medium size intersection then quickly disconnected the car while blocking traffic. We then got back on track and into the campground.

Our group rented a small bus for a tour of the colonial city of Guanajuato about 60 miles away. This is a fascinating place that originally grew up around the gold and silver mines. The Spaniards enslaved the local population to work in the mines and exported huge amounts of precious metals to Spain. By far the weirdest part of the day was a visit to the Museum of Mummies. In Mexico there is a burial tax. If the tax is not paid within five years of the burial, the body is exhumed and cremated. However, due to the mineral water and dry conditions in the crypts, the bodies is Guanajato get mummified. Instead of cremating the mummified remains, the city has chosen to put them in a museum! There are about 180 mummies in this place. This sounded like a 16^th century practice but we were astounded to learn that it continues to this day. Last year 18 mummified remains were exhumed and put into the museum! Really strange. We visited some churches, the local market, one of the largest mines in the area, some sites important in the history of the Mexican Revolution and the birthplace of famous Mexican painter, Diego Rivera. A long day but a wonderful experience. Back at the coach, a lot of cleaning had been done in our absence. We had a local man wash the coach and car for 250 pesos total, that’s about $23! We also left some laundry at the office and it was done when we got back. Less than five dollars to wash, dry and fold a big bag of laundry.

Today we were on our own to catch up on food shopping and tour the city of San Miguel de Allende. It was a two mile walk into town which we welcomed since we have not done very much running or hiking lately. We wandered around looking at the churches then found the handicrafts market which stretched down an alley for many, many blocks. Perhaps not surprisingly, we met two of the caravan couples in the marketplace. After the marketplace we wandered down some of the main streets shopping in interesting looking shops. About 6 we met up with Ken and Judy from the caravan and had dinner in a lovely restaurant. This place has live misic starting at 9 but we knew we wouldn’t last that long. We have to be up and ready to roll at 7:15 tomorrow for a day of driving.

Today was the day of the little villages. We must have driven through five or six since most towns do not have bypass roads. Twists and turns on narrow roads, many amazingly two way plus the occasional detour on stretches of very bumpy dirt road. It was a long slow drive; we pulled out of the campground before 8 and got here (El Pozo Trailer Park in Patzcuaro) after 3:30. Still it was not as stressful as it sounds. The lead, “wagonmaster” rig is a 41 foot motorhome pulling an SUV. Carl was confident that he could go anywhere the leaders went. As we passed through these small towns, it seemed like everyone came out to see this parade of huge RVs passing through their town. The campground has a decorative archway at the entrance. Unfortunately it is about 12 feet high. The sign used to say 11’9” but was “edited” to read 12’9” but it was nowhere close to that. The wagonmaster watched carefully as each big rig passed under. We cleared by 6-8 inches, some by only 2-3 inches and the one big 5^th wheel trailer was 3 inches too high. They are now parked alongside the fence outside the campground. Unfortunately, that puts them close to the railroad tracks but they are good sports about the situation. At 5 PM we had a margarita party with snacks provided by several of the couples. We sat around, talked about birds we had seen while driving, previous trips and future plans. It is a fascinating and diverse group, much fun to be with. After supper, we tried using our internet connection to make a phone call. Once we registered with the company (Crystal Voice) we can make calls using a headset plugged into our laptop computer. They charge $20 a year plus THREE CENTS A MINUTE!!! Here we are deep in Mexico and Sandy called her mom, spoke for 8 minutes and it cost only 24 cents. The biggest negative is that since the signal has to go 22,000 miles up to the satellite then back down, there is a delay that causes people to repeat themselves and both speak at once. This is cured by being patient and waiting until you are sure the other person is finished speaking. An alternative technique is to use the radio procedure of saying “Over” when you are finished speaking. Soooo, don’t be surprised if you start getting phone calls from us. If you hear our voice be patient and remember the delay. Tomorrow we go off birding at 7 AM. G’night!