Travels of the Bay family and the Yoda Van

Once we left Xpu-Ha we had a lot of driving ahead of us to get off the Yucatan.  Our next major stop was the city of Oaxaca located in the state of Oaxaca, which was about 1500 kilometers away.  The morning we left Xpu-Ha we set the alarm clock for 5:00 AM and were on the road by 6:00 AM.  We were hoping to get a couple of hours of driving in before the kids woke up.  Our plan was to drive all day long and get as far as we possibly could.  Instead of having an entire week where all we did was spend in the car we decided to spend 2 or 3 killer days in the car and get the long drive over with as fast as possible. 

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Last week in Tortuguero was one of these moments again where Allison and I just shook our heads and wondered: “What the hell were we thinking?” We were going to the rain forest and were surprised that we were rained on. We learned that it’s a bad idea to go to the rain forest without at least an umbrella. Even if you are from Seattle and are somewhat used to rain, I don’t think Seattle has ever had rain like we had in Tortuguero. Another not so bright moment was when we were stopped at a blockade near Oaxaca, Mexico and decided to follow a local guy who told us he knew a way around the road block. He led us to a group of guys with machetes and shovels who turned out to create some sort of road in the woods for us, but when we first saw them we weren’t really sure what their intentions were. In 95 degree weather I ended up driving the Yodavan through terrain that most SUVs would struggle with, including a river. This definitely wasn’t one of our brightest moments.

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