Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Tulum: A Beautiful Place to Spend a Couple of Nights

There is a beautiful place you can safely spend a couple of nights right behind the dunes at the beach. Once you head from Tulum towards Punto Allen, right when the pavement ends, there is a small entrance station to the Parque Natural. I guess you could drive by without stopping, however, I recommend you stop and pay the small per person, per day entrance fee as well as the 25 Pesos for your vehicle. Afterall those fees are what help proctecting the beautiful natural surroundings, beaches and its wildlife. Count your kilometers from the entrance station on, after 2.7 kilometers respectively 1.7 miles there is a fenced-off area east, to your left, towards the beach. It is marked "propriedad privada" and has two entrances. You can drive in and park/camp there. The area is suitable for any kind of vehicle as the ground is reasonably stable. I think it is perfect for tent camping as well. However there are no services, no toilets (dense bushes near by should solve that problem), no fresh water, no trash cans. Their may or may not be some one to come and collect a small fee, we paid 50 Pesos for 2 nights. The hombre who collected said that was the fee per night but since they did not check for the past couple of days he would only charge for the actual day he came by. More than fair I believe.

The beach is fantastic, no jelly fishes, waves just big enough to have fun and small enough that you can get over them and swim as well. Beware of the current and don't swim far off-shore. I'd believe you could kayak as well if you are experienced enough to get through the initial waves. I did not kayak there.

The place is really easy to find, nevertheless here are the coordinates:
N20°06.123'
W087°28.411'

Strong winds make sure you don't have to worry about mosquitos too much. Take a flash light when you go out and about at night. Plenty of fairly large sized spyders camp there next to you. Beautiful colored birds will wake you up with there singing in the morning.



Monday, January 23, 2012

New Photo-Gallery: Mexico - Oaxaca to Cancun

Not the entire way from the mountains down into the tropics was as messy as this road to Punto Allen, South of Tulum. Click HERE for the entire Gallery from Oaxaca down to Cancun. 

New Photo-Gallery: Acapulco to Oaxaca

The new Photo Gallery takes you from the Pacific up to the south central mountains of Mexico: Acapulco to Oaxaca.

The Cruiser

By now my old Toyota has been a solid, trustful and dependable traveling companion. Since the start of my trip in the North-East of the USA it has driven me almost 70'000 kilometers to my current location at Cancun on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. Meaning it has accumulated a total of over 170'000 kilometers since it was born in Japan about 11 years ago. Except regular maintenance, such as engine oil and filter changes as well as Diesel-Filter replacements and a set of new brakeshoes in the front it has not demanded anything else than Diesel and a new set of shoes in Canada. A truely dependable low-tech car. 

Surely true that the Japanese once were copy-cats like nuts. And no doubt, the original Land Cruiser was a product uf such work and detailed studies of what the US Americans brought to life with the original Jeep as well as what the British brought on the market with the famous ever lasting and so cool Land Rover, in it's latest version as Defender still being on the market after over 50 years! - The thing is, what the Japanese really mastered in is not just taking a copy but looking, looking very carefully and than improving what they saw to a level of quality refinement their "original" would not be able to meet. And yes, I must admit, my Toyota is still one that really was built in Japan, therefore it does not suffer the poor built quility that often comes with US built models, whether they come from famous German car makers or from Japanese car manufacturer that had to move plants to North America to fight import restrictions. - And the Land Cruiser is no where near perfection but it is a very dependable, solidly built long-lasting workhorse.  

I would like to thank all of you for the many positive comments I got to the work I have put into the Toyota to transform it from a simple 10 seater troop carrier to the blue truck "go anywhere" travel vehicle. Based on popular demand I have now added hundereds of comments to the Cruiser Photo Gallery so that you can not just look but also read about what I have done, what is what and where it is in the truck where the picture was taken etc. Should you be in the process of building your own traveling vehicle, please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions. 

Just in case you wonder, my Toyota is a 2001 Toyota Land Cruiser 400D, HZJ 78 with a 4.2 liter Diesel engine, permanent rear wheel drive with selectable 4 wheel drive, full 100% lockable diff's front and rear. 

And yes, I would not trade it for a brand new supercharged 130'000 Dollar Range Rover, neighter for the latest super fancy Lexus SUV ;-)  - Not because I would think those were no good cars, simply because I prefer the old, simple technic with almost no electronics, its dependability and the knowledge that I might still drive it in 10 years from now.

Touch wood! 

Following a series of pictures taken on my trip since October 2010. Would you like to visit the Gallery with the pictures of the "making of" click HERE

Padre Island, Texas, USA

Heading from Texas to New Mexico, USA

Arizona, USA

Deadhorse, the most northern City reachable by car.
Alaska, USA

Overnight stop at Dalton Highway, Alaska, USA.

Dalton Hwy, Alaska, USA

Overnight stop, off Denali Hwy, Alaska, USA

"Mine is bigger..." Tuscon, Arizona USA.

Kaibab National Forest, South of Grand Canyon, Arizona USA

British Columbia, Canada

Return from Harrison hot springs, BC, Canada


Baja California, Mexico

Baja California, Mexico

Baja California, Mexico

Baja California, Mexico

Baja California, Mexico

Baja California, Mexico

Baja California, Mexico

Desert Rat: Baja California, Mexico

Baja California, Mexico

Cooper Canyon, Mexico

Tuluca, Vulcan at over 4'100 meter over sea level (over 13'500 feet) 

Set up in the garden of my friends in New Jersey, USA

On the road in New Mexico, USA

Getting snowed in a National Forest in New Mexico, USA

Dempster Higway, Yukon, Canada

Padre Island, Texas, USA

Snowed in, Yellow Stone National Park, USA

Northern Canada, Keno Hills

Dempster Highway, Canada

New Paint-Job, Dempster Highway, Canada

Overnight stop, Dempster Highway, Canada

Dempster Highway, Canada

Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Friday, January 6, 2012

Hundreds of Bugs

Check out the Mexico - Käfer Photo Gallery, hundreds of pictures have been added. Enjoy it!








Wednesday, January 4, 2012

A really cool place to stay

Last night we stayed at Esther & Julio's Campamento Tortuguero. A really beatiful and cool place.

N16°32.793'
W098°55.934'
Col. General Juan N. Alvarez, Mpio. de Copala
Playa Ventura, Gro, C. P. 41870
www.latortuguitamexico.com

Beside a beautiful, inexpensive campground with very clean facilities, a small restaurant and five guestroom they also run a turtle nursery. This morning just before we left we could witness 107 tiny little turtles making their brave journey from the beach into the Pacific. Esther and Julio are protecting the turtle eggs from dogs, all kind of animals and also humans that rob the nests to gather and eat the eggs long before the little turtles could see their first day light. This season they have helped over 30thousend little turtles to make it to the ocean alive.