We are in Oaxaca Trailer Park and the park is very rundown. It has been this way for a few years and has been reduced to 8 sites. I posted the above photo to remind everyone of the glory years of caravans. Unfortunately that has all changed. When we were in Guad there were 2 Caravans. I had forgotten how much I dislike them. I asked one woman where they were coming from. Her reply: I do not remember. I then asked where they were going next. Her reply: I don't know. We just go where ever they take us. That inspired to write the following partially fictional story:
THEN
The year is 1965. Johnny Johnson, the old Wagonmaster is leading a group of 15 RV`s to Oaxaca. They are leaving from Nogales and the scene is straight from The Grapes of Wrath. Strapped to the roofs of the vehicles are: 10 gallon water jugs, spare tires and army surplus gas cans. Inside the units every nook and cranny is filled with canned food. There are 2 truck campers, a chassis mount and various travel trailers: Airstreams, Shasta with wings and Spartan. Excitement fills the air as Johnny with his trademark cowboy hat explains the conditions they will encounter: dirt roads, washouts, fallen bridges and of course mucha mordida. The caravaners are a mixed group of retirees and young adventurers. These RVrs are risk takers keen on seeing a foreign country, mingling with the people and discovering a new culture. There is no infrastructure, no American processed food and little in the way of spare parts. The Peso is less than 20 OLD Pesos ( there are 1000 new pesos to one Old peso)to the US$. Traversing the cities was done with police escorts. Driving was dangerous not just because of the roads but there were real banditos.
I wish I could have been there !
NOW
The year is 2008. Mexico Bob, the Wagonmaster is leading a group of 15 RVs to Oaxaca. They are leaving from Nogales and the scene looks like the Pomona RV Show. $400,000 MHs with expensive toads, triple axle 5th wheels behind Ford F550?s. The caravaners are apprehensive. Mexico Bob hands out km by km guides. They communicate with CB radios. Bob assures them they are safe in his hands. They are all retirees but some are too old for adventure. Fear keeps them from mingling with the people. When they enter the Camgrounds the septics become overloaded. They use all the water and try to run every appliance known to man. On the highways they follow each other so closely they resemble elephants hooked trunk to tail. The roads are mostly 4 lane with modern bridges, emergency phones and green angels. Pemex`s are everywhere. Big box American stores abound in the cities. When it it all over most will not remember where they have been or why.
When I was in college, so it was perhaps '67, my parents and I drove in our car from Minot ND down to Mexico City on the Pan American Hiway - via Tampico and back through Guadaljara and Monterray. So we must have passed through the Laredo crossing. Our Mexican insurance from Sanborn's purchased at the border provided a detailed itinerary giving location of motels, gas, scenic areas... all very detailed.
None of us spoke any Spanish (I could read it somewhat, but had never spoken it). We were often the only tourists in the motels and the only English speakers in the restaurants. It was a marvelous and fascinating trip with no problems.
It was so easy to do it by car, you wonder why someone would have wanted to make it so difficult by taking their RV. It was phenomenally cheap by car and using motels. And we drove through all the villages and cities with nary a guard or an escort.
This one snippet of the 2008 Caravan, says it all: "Fear keeps them from mingling with the people. When they enter the Campgrounds the septics become overloaded. They use all the water and try to run every appliance known to man. On the highways they follow each other so closely they resemble elephants hooked trunk to tail."
The shame is, the Caravan Wagon Masters do nothing to combat this fear, all they want is their money, for driving point A to point B each day. The Mexico I grew up in during the late 40's and the 50's was a beautiful country and people, without a care, until some foreign people decided they needed to change to be equal with them. What a shame that was.
Bob & Betsy - USN Ret'd '78 & FL LEO Ret'd '03 FMCA #F203528 '05 HR Endeavor, 40PRQ w/400 Cummins - With -'05 GMC Sierra SLT, CC Z-71, the pusher '07 Arctic Cat 500A & Wilderness Kayak, riding in the pusher - Our Current Location
I think that Baja Winters has a good "Happy Medium". John, Becky, and Dustin, have a good schedule that gets you across the border. And in 11 days, you are in Baja Sur. Now that you are familiar with the driving, you are free to explore at your leisure. We spent 3 months in Baja and got to met lots of locals and see tons of sites. Wife got a crown in La Paz...I got a parking ticket.LOL
Good people, good food, good times.
Since this was our first time going into Baja with our camper, it was nice to go with somebody that had been there before.
moisheh wrote: That inspired to write the following partially fictional story:
Why not try writing something that is factual? I thought that is how you like to see travel in Mexico portrayed?
States I have spent the night in my current rig, bought three years ago.
Have RV'ed through 49 states and been in all 50, just short of my half-century.
While we have not been fans of Caravans for lots of reasons, what happened our our last trip back to our Baja home really surprised me. And I do somewhat understand why some people have the need to be with a group===hard to get lost in Baja, however.
When we got behind a caravan, we did our usual thing---stopped for lunch, and fortunately when we caught up with them they were stopped for gas---we got our gas as quickly as possible and zoomed out of town.
When we arrived at the La Pinta, (or Desert Inn) in Catavina, two of the workers were in a panic. They asked if we speak any Spanish and I told them yes, but only very little. I was handed a phone---
On the other end was a wagon master from one of the major caravan companies. He was trying to request that the young lady at the desk tell the lady at the RV place down the street that he and 15 rigs would be arriving on Wednesday. He did not speak a word of Spanish.
I was able to communicate what he wanted---except he insisted that I keep trying to communicate "rigs" and "wagon master" and there was no way I could find those words---didn't matter, she got the message.
We were really surprised. If we were paying mucho dinero for someone to guide us through part of Mexico, I would fully expect that they speak at least enough Spanish to mnake reservations. Just a real surprise to us.
Oh, they stay at the really ugly park on the highway---if you travel through there and can live without hook-ups for a day or two, stay at the Rancho Santa Inez.
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