Trautz' travel saga: YOLO from Oaxaca to Campeche Mar 2023

Sorry folks, the pics loaded in reverse order, so if you want to follow the pics in chronological order, you need to start at the bottom of the page here and scroll up to here.

Below is Sonny, an MSU fan from East Lansing, MI on his own around-the-world adventure, who parked next to us along the wharf in Campeche. His Toyota truck has just about everything in/on it! His son is the tennis coach at Michigan State University and we were happy to meet a fellow American, much less from our home state!

I signed Sonny's water 'tank', this pvc pipe that went around the top of the truck.

A fish to climb on in the playground next to the wharf.

Looking into the belly of the beast, the mouth of a giant fish sculpture that is a playground for children.

An old steamship ruins from a ship that ran aground in early 1920's.

A huge statue in the middle of the street in Campeche. No idea who it is as there was no easy parking to get close enough to read any plaque that might've been there.

After 2 days of wind and rain and cool weather, we left Campeche and found this beach spot to park for a night, just off the road. So many miles of deserted beaches in this country, but few roads to reach them.

Our parking spot under the coconut palms along the beach.

The actual beach went forever. Beautiful warm water, but we didn't get in here.

The next town, Isla Aguada, had a water dispensing site that gave us 5 gallons of purified water for 5 MXP, about 25 cents. The cheapest we've seen in the country, so we filled both our water tanks for a change.

This church is like so many others in a town square.

But its claim to fame is its wooden ceiling, several hundred years old!

Streets in these little towns are so colorful. Like candy or crayons, the colors change with each unit.

Armed men patrol the streets to keep us safe. Army, Marine, National Guards, State Police and Municipal Police all drive around with machine guns and armor. Seeing them is a good thing here.

In Ciudad del Carmen, we took a dip in the warm waters of the ocean and then used our cheap fresh water to rinse off. Beach showers refreshed us before bed.

Our view out the back of the van in Ciudad del Carmen. That's Jason walking towards the water for a swim. Palapas lined the beach for miles and no hotels were along the waterfront so the public could enjoy the beach.

A cute version of 'fish sticks' alont the road at the beach.

This old pirate ship was the center of the roundabout at the end of the beach malecon road.

Jason getting info from a tourist kiosk along the waterfront in Ciudad del Carmen. There is water around three sides of this city.

A huge sculpture of a hand and forearm along the waterfront in Carmen.

Some colorful street decorations in Carmen

Folks drive on the beach here and park under the palapas for a bit of shade during the day and for party spots in the evenings. After sunset, they mostly leave and we are usually the only ones left overnight on the beach. There is another area of beach sand between the hard packed sand where folks drive and the ocean where turtles come to lay their eggs all along this shore.

Our view out the back of the van on the beach at Carmen. Hard to beat this.

The sign warns folks not to drive on the turtle areas.

Trying to find trees tall enough for YOLO to get under for shade is always a chore. The little beach palapas are too short, so we moved the van to find shade during the daylight.

This roundabout statue was dedicated to the shrimp that are a local commodity.

Deep ruts in the road from the super-heavy semi trucks that also take this route along the coast. Being the only road, everyone must share it but it makes maintenance a nightmare. Houses creep right up to the road and have the lagoon waters behind them lapping at their back doors.

A shady tunnel of trees along the road--rare.

I was surprised at how lush and green the area along this shore was. Between the ocean and the lagoon, it was like wetlands in much of the area, and ranches like this one raised cattle.

Some apple snail shells that were prevalent along the beach where we parked for a night. They have such interesting colorations, from blue plaid to purple and cream.

The setting sun in the humidity looked like it was melting into a red puddle.

Our sunset view from the van. Looks like a calendar photo with all those colors.

A high-tech, fairly new bridge to reach the island community of Ciudad del Carmen. A hefty toll on the road helps fund the bridge.

Playa Azul, where we parked on the beach at a road end. The cloudy looking area long the bottom of the distant hills is windblown sand forming dunes along this coast.

Wind and rough water took out this old buiding sometime in the past. Our view from the van spot for the night. We didn't dare drive onto this softer sand.