Mexico Adventures
12/15/2023 - 1/3/2024
Getting To Oaxaca
12/15/2023 - 12/22/2023
Man, what a trip. Driving in the states was easy-breezy, although it did include long hours driving. I'd usually drive between 8 and 12 hours! Because I was planning to head West after concluding our time in Mexico, I spent the night at my caving partner B's house in Alabama, then we both caravaned to his nephew's house in Texas in one monster day of driving. We spent one night there, then strapped in Wells together for another monster day of driving with the hope to spend the night a few hours South of the border!
No such luck.
We arrived at B's usual border crossing as darkness was approaching. Getting our visas only took a couple minutes, but when it came time to get Wells temporary import permission, that's when the troubles began. They took issue with two things: The fact that Wells is registered as a passenger van rather than an RV, and the Gross Vehicle Weight Capacity was greater than their limit, which is denoted in Mexican law that they showed us. After maybe an hour of back and forth, they said they could get us across for a mere fine (AKA bribe) of $400 US DOLLARS. Not Pesos, Dollars. There was no way that was happening, so we said nope and the grouchy customs official turned right around and left.
We had to turn right around and go back to the US, thence to try another border crossing just a mile or two away. The folks there seemed friendly enough and we had high hopes of making it across, but then a military official beckoned us into his office, locking the door behind us (weird), and brought up the weight issue once more. He said it would take a really long time through the bank, or we could do it through him in 10 minutes for a mere fine (one again, bribe) of $200 US DOLLARS! Less this time, but still out of the question. We said nope and immediately got up and left.
At this point we were pretty discouraged and thought we may have to invoke our backup plan of canyoneering in Utah, but we wanted to try ONE more time. This time the next closest border West was about two or three hours drive, but with a convenient free camp ground about 5 minutes from the crossing. We crushed that drive then and there and crashed hard.
The next day, bright and early, we discussed this new border crossing. We decided that, since they were all annoyed about the weight rating, we might as well try just taking off the sticker that posts the weight rating, rub some mud into where it used to be to make it seem like it hadn't been there in a long time, then take our chances. The first two crossings had been pretty busy, but this one was muuuch slower and easy-going, I think because it was much more remote. The process went just as it had with the first two, but when they went out to take pictures of the van, the opened the door to find the sticker missing. They looked around for where else it might be, then eventually just gave up and went back to the office to talk to a superior.
We were left in the dark for much of it, but eventually a higher ranking military official was brought in and he took issue with the registration being as a passenger van and not an RV, as the others had. The only difference here was that he didn't outright ask for a bribe, he just seemed very doubtful that we'd be able to do it and said we wouldn't be able to get our temporary import permit. We weren't about to offer a bribe, which was clearly what they wanted, so we called their bluff and got ready to invoke our backup plan. At the last second though, he said let him try one more thing, and 20 or 30 minutes later we had our papers and we were on our way South, finally!! The next three days were spent crushing the drive through the majority of Mexico, aiming for a remote part of the mountains in Oaxaca, a state bordering the Pacific Ocean way down in Southern Mexico.
Click the icon in the upper right to see descriptions of each image :)
Caving in Oaxaca
12/23/2023 - 12/29/2023
As we made our way to our camp spot for Anastasius De Mano De Mono, the roads got progressively worse and worse. We got off the toll highway and hit a winding mountain road that was good initially, then gave way to a potholed mess. Interestingly enough, after a few miles of that mess, it turned to great condition concrete road! But that was not to last either, as we turned onto a dirt and gravel logging road to get to our final destination. As we got closer, each turn we made took us to a less used and worse condition road until Wells was trucking along slowly on an extremely rutted dirt road with his tires riding on the highest parts to avoid bottoming out. With only a few hundred feet to go until camp, he got stuck by the rear axel jamming against the dirt. In the gathering dusk, we had to take turns laying down underneath the back and digging at the dirt with a small metal trowel while the person taking a break fetched logs to lay under the tires and in the ruts to improve the situation. After about 45 minutes or an hour of work, I put Wells back in gear and he was free! We made it to camp and excitedly got ready to rig Anastasius in the morning.
In the morning we got to work quickly despite the cold. We made our way to the entrance with our gear and set to rigging the first 3 drops, a ledgy series of short drops in quick succession, with a single 400ft rope. B hoped that this single looong rope would do for those first pits, then the last pit that he had not yet dropped.
I was immediately in love with the cave! It was full of what seemed like thousands of bats. Many of them were disturbed by our rigging efforts and were chittering and flying about as we rigged and rappelled. A After the first several drops we came across a large room with lots of beautiful formations that stretched high towards the ceiling about 80 feet up! The next pit series was more of a ramp, but it necessitated being on rope due to its steepness, and soon we were at the lip of the virgin pit. It was huge and airy, and went straight down into inky blackness. Not even my focused bright light could see to the ground!
We installed a bolt at the lip to tie the long rope to, and once that was complete I started rapping into the pit.
I took my time on the way down, observing the beautiful airyness of the pit and the incredible patterns different rock deposits made in the bedrock of the pit walls; I was enthralled! After about 90 feet of rappelling, I came to a ledge and stopped there. I still couldn't see the bottom of the pit with my focused bright light, so I dropped a rock and it took a whopping 4 seconds to hit the bottom!! That indicates that the entire pit from top to bottom could be as much as 450ft straight down.
Fucking sick.
We were fairly certain the rope wouldn't reach the bottom of the pit, so I went ahead and ascended back out, stoked for our next push trip in two days to hopefully reach the bottom! We exited the cave around dusk and whipped up some dinner, excited to go over our plan for how to reach the bottom of the big pit on the next push trip.
In the morning, though, just after B woke up and while I was working on doing the same, a car inexplicably pulled up and we got a knock on the door. Since B was already up, he hopped out and spoke with the two locals. They were wondering what we were doing there and whether we had permission from the municipal authorities, something that B played dumb to and acted like he simply didn't know that was a thing. Eventually they left, but they left us spooked as to whether they would return to kick us out or not, so we begrudgingly decided the best move would be to derig the cave and remove all our gear from inside, just in case they unceremoniously kicked us out and wouldn't be amenable to giving us the time to retrieve our gear.
This turned out to be a really smart move, as when we were organizing our gear at the bottom of the entrance sinkhole after derigging, voices called down to us through the thick foliage.
Great.
It was the same two locals who had knocked on the door in the morning, but this time they said we needed to go see the municipal authorities who were waiting for us, and it was clear they were going to escort us to them. Things between us were amiable enough, they seemed friendly, but we would have rather been left alone.
After we got all our caving gear packed away, the four of us made our way down the mountain back to Wells where there were two more locals waiting for us. We had more organizing to do to get Wells ready to roll, so we all hung around and chatted while B and I organized gear and dried what gear we could. After maybe 30 minutes of chatting and organizing, we were ready to face our fate and we drove off with one of the locals standing in the back of Wells. Before we could make it to the main logging road, a pickup truck blocked our way on the road and several locals hopped out and spoke with the local with us. He hopped back in, they got out of our way, and we drove on back the way they came while the pickup went back to grab the 3 locals we'd left near camp. Not 500ft further a small passenger van blocked our way, and it emptied a clown-car's worth of locals, one of whom was the president of the municipality! He spoke with us briefly asking what we were doing and saying it was dangerous there, but then spoke with the local with us and waved us on further up the road. At a crossroads with a large field the pickup and van sped up behind us and honked for us to stop, and for the next hour we discussed with them a bit but mostly they deliberated among each other. More and more locals kept materializing to observe the spectacle, a feat to my mind as we were in the middle of nowhere with no homes nearby, but at its height I believe the crowd consisted of no less than 25 people. From what we could pick up from their deliberations, we thought they might have let us stay with a guide for our protection or that we could stay on our own on a different hillside, but when they finally came back to us they wouldn't budge and said we had to leave their municipality. They wouldn't hear any different, so we battoned the hatches again and drove off further into the mountains with them bringing up the rear, presumably to make sure we actually left.
Huge bummer.
This all went down in the late afternoon, so we drove for maybe an hour before evening was dropping fast, and we eventually found a flat enough place to pull over just off the main road through the mountains. Since Anastasius in all his glory was off limits to us now, we had to convert the trip from a push trip to a recon trip, so we'd spend the remaining caving time left to us searching for more unexplored caves with promise.
Well, that didn't go super well either. We wandered the Oaxacan mountains through roads the like of which I seriously never thought I'd take Wells on, we got kicked out of another municipality and found absolutley nothing promising in a third before giving up on caving alltogether by December 29th.
It wasn't a TOTAL waste, though! While we didn't have anything tangible to show for our efforts, we did have a rather nice time in a small, cute mountain town while waiting to meet with the municipal authorities who would prove to be just as intractable as the first. We had to wait about 6 hours in all, just cooling our heels about the town. B hung out with a band practicing while I chatted and shared some mezcal with a 90 year old local who had lived his entire life in the town. I also got to play my new keyboard sitting on the front step of Wells and several locals tuned in for a while! In the gathering dusk B and I also shot hoops with some local children. We hoped seeming so chill and fun would ameliorate any bad feeling the authorities might have towards us as strange gringos, but no luck. The man we met with seemed to have had his mind made up before we met, and we were told to move on.
We tried one more area a good ways away from the other ones we tried, and the locals were really friendly there! They gave us directions to a cave (too low elevation to have good depth potential, but we were desperate at this point), and even let us park Wells on their gated property while we hiked to the cave! We couldn't find it, but we did have an excellent swim in a beautiful mountain river (until we learned there were leaches in it), and found a rock shelter with precolombian pottery sherds!
When we returned from our hike, we decided it was finally time to throw in the towel and check out two precolombian ruins and make an attempt at climbing Iztaccihuatl before returning to the states. On our way down from the mountains we snagged some Alebrijes, beautifully colorful, carved wooden figurines! B bought at least $200 worth :o
Click the icon in the upper right to see descriptions of each image :)
Monte Alban
12/30/2023
After sadly abandoning our dreams of doing cool caving things, we decided to check out the major archaeological site of Monte Alban nestled in Ciudad Oaxaca. Before I get into describing how cool that was, as an aside, I met a couple from Carrboro while waiting in line for my ticket! Their names were Deborah and Tom, and I recognized them as being from Carrboro because Deborah was wearing a Carrboro hat. If you guys are reading this: Hi!
Anyway, Monte Alban fairly blew me away. It was absolutely enormous, and the detail with which it was both built and excavated and preserved was incredible. There were tons of informational plaques to read that described what you were looking at, and there were tour guides everywhere guiding people and I was able to steal snippits of knowledge from overhearing them. I spent a few hours wandering about the ruins, probably 3/4ths observing the ruins and 1/4th people watching (which was excellent, there were all kinds of people there from all over the world!). After checking out pretty much every nook and cranny of the ruins over several hours, I was starting to get hungry so I went back to Wells and whipped up a snack. B was still in the ruins by then, so I checked out the vendor booths that were crowded between the parking and the entrance to the ruins. They had tons of trinkets which were cute, but I only bought a colorful alebrije that was surprisingly priced at about what we were getting them for in the mountains! Still no sign of B, so I set up my hammock and finished my book, Sea Monsters, set in Oaxaca about a girl who runs away from home in search of a band of escaped Ukranian circus dwarves. Eventually B showed up, we drive-proofed Wells, then made our way towards Ixta to try for the summit the following day, which would be January 1st!
Click the icon in the upper right to see descriptions of each image :)
Climbing Iztaccihuatl
12/31/2023 - 1/1/2024
Time for Ixta, take two! If you want to read about how attempt #1 went, check it out here. Things started off a little out of whack. We planned to drive up to the trailhead, prep all our gear and have a big ol' dinner, then get up at midnight or so and push for the summit in one go. However, when we got to Paso De Cortez where you have to go to get a permit, we were informed you have to reserve a parking spot at the trailhead at least five days in advance! Given that new rule, which was created in 2023, we'd have to leave Wells at the parking area at Paso De Cortez, a whopping 6 or 7 kilometers away from the trailhead. That really threw a wrench in our plans, since we needed to leave from the trailhead early, but we still had to get there!
We got our permits and frantically packed food, gear, and camping gear we hadn't thought we would need! We got hiking as soon as we could and tried to hitchhike with every car that went past, but none of them stopped until several kilometers in when two Mexican climbers stopped for us. They were super nice and said they were trying for Ixta as well, but they planned to spend the night in the hut at 15,000ft, roughly half way through the route to the summit. Being a little stressed and giving it some thought, I told B we should do the same to give us better chances at summitting the following day.
Once we reached the trailhead, we were much faster at being ready to hike than our new compatriots, so we bid them farewell and hit the trail! I moved at a pretty steady pace, taking a longer sitdown break at logical intervals that worked for me, and B seemed to find a system that worked for him where he would be hot on my heels, take a short sit-down break, then catch up to me just in time to take another short sit-down break, then we'd share the longer breaks I would take. Part-way up, we bumped into some American climbers who were descending after summitting that morning! They informed us that the glacier near the summit was icy and sketchy, but they only had microspikes for dealing with ice. This worried me somewhat, since I had microspikes and an ice axe, but they had made it with no ice axe, so I figured I could make it as well! We forged ahead.
We were navigating the rocky, scrambly transition to the ridge near the hut just as the sun was setting, and our strength was starting to flag. Thankfully, we made it to the hut just in time for the sun to set all the way before the night cold really started to set in. We were sharing the hut with two happy-go-lucky Spanish climbers and a pretty quiet Mexican climber.
B was worried about how hard the climb thus far had hit him, and decided he would stay at the hut while I pushed for the summit in the morning. The Spanish climbers were nice enough to welcome me into their small group, and we decided to get up at 3am to try for the summit! I wanted to get up earlier, but they said they were pretty tired and wwouldn't get up before 3, so 3 it was!
It was a fitful night of 'sleep', as all through the night climbers were coming and going in the hut and made a lot of noise, plus it's pretty hard to sleep at 15,000ft anyway. I know I got at least a few winks because I remember I had a couple dreams, but for the most part I just lay there and tried to rest. In the wee hours I was getting more and more excited to start climbing and I'd check my watch every so often to see if 3 was almost here!
Soon my phone alarm finally went off, signaling it was time to get started climbing mountains! I was immediately up and packing my sleeping bag away. I remember seeing my new Spanish friends across the hut as they slowly awoke and one of them sat up, looked across the hut and was immediately greeted with my, probably maniacal, grinning face as I packed! Unsurprisingly, I was ready to go well before they were, and I stood around outside the hut snacking while I waited. Soon, though, we were good to go, and we started slowly trekking in silence up the steep, ~700ft scree slope that looms over the hut.
About 45 minutes in, as we navigated the scrambly rock section to get to the ridge, I was suddenly stricken with nature's call. Not gonna lie, it was quite an interesting experience to relieve myself into a bag at 4am at almost 16,000ft!
Even though one of the Spanish climbers had the route downloaded to his sport watch, I remembered the route well enough and was full of energy, so I was first for our entire ascent. We spent most of it in silence, saving our breath for our muscles rather than conversation, only chatting during our few sit-down breaks.
Soon, still in the dark, we arrived at the glacier and my previous high-point. We concluded it was time to don our snow-gear (in my case, microspikes and ice-axe) for the snow and ice ahead! They turned back up the trail to gear-up at a spacious, rocky area, but I elected to gear up on the thin trail to avoid back-tracking up hill.
It didn't take me long to get ready, and, once they joined me, I was off across the snowy slope where people had left tracks. I followed it until there was an edge where the snow became significantly more steep, looked behind me, and saw that my Spanish pals were still right at the start of the snow! They seemed to be carefully discussing the snow quality, so I waited about 10 minutes for them to join me. I was pretty spooked by the snow and ice, being rather inexperienced and equipped only with microspikes, so I hoped one of them would go first. I tried to query them on which way we should go, but they didn't speak much English and my Spanish wasn't much better, so I ended up going first following where all the tracks went over the lip anyway.
Once on the other side it wasn't nearly so intimidating, but it was still very heads up. I was sorely wishing I had my full crampons, but I was sure with my ice axe I could make the microspikes work. As I carefully walked my way down the tracks, the tracks, and therefore my trail, started to fade as the snow gave way to bare ice. Soon I was standing there in a very steep icefield, and I could see what looked like a trail-ish thing about 20 feet lower than where I stood. I slammed the tip of my ice-axe into the ice with the sharp end of the handle against the ice below to form a handhold, then kicked my microspiked feet into the ice below, happy that I've climbed a good bit of slab at Stone Mountain, as this seems like the stupidly contrived ice equivalent of slab climbing. I alternated between creating a good handhold with my ice axe and kicking my spikes into the ice to downclimb to the ledge, which is mostly just a feature I could use to improve my situation, and followed it until it also petered out. This point was only 10 feet below another feature I could follow to where the angle lessened and I could walk easily to the bottom of the glacier, so I climbed up in the same style I used to downclimb and soon I was striding easily across the snow towards some rocks I could sit on for a break!
Once I finally arrived at the rocks, I looked back and saw that, once again, my Spanish compatriots had not yet begun to tackle this obstacle. They do have families, so I guess that might lend them to have more caution.
They slowly and cautiously made their way a few steps, but seemed very unsure. Eventually a large group of Mexican climbers from Puebla came upon them, and they all seiged the glacier, standing in a line, the first person kicked in steps with their crampons and ice axe to create an easy way down the glacier. I waited around for about half an hour until they finally joined me, at which time the sun had finally risen and we started to warm up!
From here on out it was easy money, just some up-hill walking at high altitude! I seemed to have more in the tank than my Spanish friends, because I soon left them behind going at my natural pace. When I finally reached the summit, I was right behind one of the Mexican climbers, with her friend just behind me! When she reached the concrete summit marker, she dropped her ice-axe, knelt in front of it, and kissed it. When I got there I let out a whoop and she joined in, fist bumped me, then gave me a hug! Then her friend arrived and I got a second fist bump and hug! I loved the camaderie. We hung out together on the summit for 10 or 15 minutes, chatting on and off (I learned some about the topography and the neighboring peaks), then I started getting cold so I turned back to start the long descent.
I'd left the Spanish climbers far behind by this point, so I turned on some music on my phone speaker and jazzed my way down. The glacier was still a little spooky, but the steps they kicked in proved very helpful on my way out! Maybe halfway to the hut, I started to feel some symptoms of altitude sickness. I was feelin a little nauseated, which grew worse with effort, and I started to feel strained even while walking down-hill. Before the long 800ft scramble/scree descent to the hut, I lay down for maybe 10 minutes and definitely had a cat-nap. I didn't feel to much better when I decided it was time to go, but I knew that the best way to feel better was to lose altitude and drink water. I was running low on water and was rationing it, so really the only thing I could do was lose altitude, even if moving made me feel like crap.
When I finally made it to the hut at about 1:15pm, B greeted me all chipper after having slept in and rested all morning. He gave me some of his spare water and an apple, which, combined with laying down for a while, had me feeling significantly better in no time! We packed up all our gear, then headed back down for the trailhead at last. After reaching the trailhead, we had to wait a little while, but eventually we were able to hitch a ride on a truck carrying a bunch of locals. We were really jammed in there, such that B and I had to stand with our bags on our feet, which made the 6 kilometers back to Wells pretty long, but soon we were finally back and we had an ambrosial dinner courtesy of one of the food stalls at the parking area!
Getting the summit of Ixta was definitely right at my limit, I seriously had to push myself to make it happen. While the glacier was a little sketchy, I feel like it was under control the whole time and I learned a ton from having done it! I'm really proud to have gotten it done and excited to do more in the future :)
Click the icon in the upper right to see descriptions of each image :)
Getting Back to the US
1/2/2024 - 1/4/2024
We had completed the meat of our plans for Mexico, and we only had one stop left: Tajin! B had never visited this ruins because it lies off the path of where he usually goes when he visits Mexico, so he was stoked on it. On our way there, we drove on the highway outside Mexico City, and we got pulled over by cops. I knew we were going to be hassled like they had hassled me and Kelly two years ago(read about how that went), so I felt pretty well prepared to deal with their crap again. Plus, B had told me a nice trick to expedite such encounters: pretend you don't speak or understand any Spanish! We did just that, and it was easy as pie. They tried to levy a 9,000 peso 'fine' (about $400us, which is ridiculous), over whatever pretenses they could find to be honest. They tried taking issue with a fun blue light I got in Ciudad Oaxaca, that the van was technically a work van (it's my personal vehicle), and that we have to have a permit to drive on Mexico City roads (not on highways you don't!). I knew all that was bullshit, but they insisted that they had to impound Wells and they would keep him there until we payed the fine. I just said 'okay, that's fine' and they asked where I planned to go? Did I plan to go back to the US? and I told them I was going to stay with Wells, of course! Eventually it just came down to them asking if I'd pay the fine, and I told them I would pay it if they could give me a paper ticket for the fine. They said no they couldn't do that, so will I pay the fine? And I returned to how I wouldn't pay the 'fine' without a paper ticket. This went back and forth maybe 2 times before one of them said I was good to go and we left. The whole ordeal only took about half an hour!
Trying real hard not to get a big head from the experience.
From there we ripped it to a camp spot right near Tajin, then got up bright and early to check out the ruins! they were beautiful and expansive, but honestly didn't hold a candle to Monte Alban, especially in terms of infrastructure quality. There was ONE informational plaque at Tajin, and it was so old as to be completely ilegible; I couldn't even tell if it had any English on it at any point. It was fun to explore though, but we were both done after maybe 3 hours. There were about 4 or 5 times as many vendors at Tajin than there were at Monte Alban though, so B and I had a grand time wandering the booths looking at all their wares! I got some more gifts for friends and some tasty Mexican vanilla flavored liquor.
After we finished there, we took off for the US, and the rest is history! Getting back to the US wasn't too bad, just lots of waiting on bureacracy at the border which lost us several hours.
Click the icon in the upper right to see descriptions of each image :)
As of now, I'm writing this post in Las Cruces, New Mexico where I'm catching up on life. I'm getting ready for school on the 10th, giving Wells a much needed bath, doing laundry, checking email, doing all the things!
Next up I'm doing some climbing in Arizona, then hanging out with a friend from High School in Los Angeles.
Stay tuned!
Getting to Mexico
Text and images describing the trip
12/17/2023: Left Durham in the early afternoon after making final preparations at my parents house. Bought some propane and groceries before leaving town. Ended up feeling like stopping in the Nantahala wilderness. Hard to find a place to camp, everywhere says no overnights or camping. Thought I had an awesome spot near a river, made dinner and played some piano, but when I took a walk and read an info sigh the board said it was not allowed. Asked a Hardees employee and they were cool with it so I camped behind there.
12/18/2023: Got up at about 8:30 behind the Hardees, got moving right away. Drove most of the day all the way to Huntsville. Bought some heat pads for my batteries to keep them warm in the bitter cold. Picked up climbing gear from covid afflicted Loren. Went back 45 minutes to B's house. Organized gear and prepared everything to leave early in the morning. Moved out the majority of my gear to pack caving gear. The garage was completely, utterly full of gear. Went to sleep early.
12/19/2023: Woke up at 4:30 to make breakfast and chill before leaving B's place. Got rolling and booked it to Texas at about first light. Drove all day, about 13 hours, only stopped for gas. B's nephew didn't recognize him at first. SUPER nice house, guy is loaded. Slept in Wells in a level spot in their yard.
12/20/2023: Up early in Texas, made some tea and skipped breakfast. Drove a long way to the border. Immigraiton was easy, B and I joked with the immigation officer getting our stamps. Eventually passed to sleazy TIP officer who took issue with our designation as passenger van but it really being a campervan. Another sleazy guy took over but took issue with GVR instead. A Mexican crossing the border helped with the language barrier. The sleazy agent tried to get a bribe for $100us to let us through and we left to the other boarder a few miles away. There, we waited around in lines for a while before they also took issue with the GVR. A military officer took us into his office (locked the door behind us too) and tried to get a bribe for $200us. We said fuck that and left. Drove two and a half hours to Eagle State Park where there's free camping and bathroom right at the doorstep of a border crossing to try the next day.
12/21/2023: Awoke at Eagle State Park (check this) and removed the door sticker that had the weight on it. Created artificial weathering with dirt and mud to hide that we removed the sticker. Made the 10 minute drive to the border. Pretty place, slow, sunny, great weather, cute birds, small gang of dogs. They searched the van then had us move on to paperwork phase. About three or four hours here. Lots of back and forth and waiting, they seemed perplexed about the sticker but moved on from it fairly easily. Stuck on the campervan vs passenger van designation again. We continued to call it out as why is that a problem. Lots of waiting and them bluffing about us having to turn back and us saying 'well I guess we'll have to go back' until they finally let us go. We made it to Mexico!
Getting to Oaxaca
Text and images describing the trip
12/21/2023: Left the border checkpoint and made for Rio Corona. We had been thinking of going further, but figured we could rest a bit there. Arrived just before dark in time for a swim. Fish bit my penis. Played piano before bed.
12/22/2023: Awoke next to Rio Corona. Got moving quickly, made our way to the gulf coast. B was suspicious of the route, but we decided to go for it bc Google Maps suggested it. Lots of very cool tunnels to pass through in the mountains. Had a meal in a medium sized town where B got some coconut water. Bought bulk string cheese, tamarindo(sp?) in a clay pot mostly for the pot but the tamarindo was good, and cheesecake bread things. First time driving in Mexico at night, was scary but not so bad. Made it to a camp spot from iOverlander in the mountains just inside Oaxaca that was a perfect spot very close to our route but away from a lot of road noise.
12/23/2023: Beautiful sunrise in the mountain desert just inside state of Oaxaca. Had breakfast at a remote restaurant in the mountains with a beautiful view. Another big day driving. Went through Oaxaca City which was a lot of fun to drive in. Filled up all our water containers and we both bought super cool light bars for our vehicles. Continued on south of Oaxaca City through pretty, small towns. Interestingly as we gained altitude we saw more trees and greenery. Very cute mountain villages. Stopped for a last prepared meal at the last town we passed through. Creepy taxidermy deer. Hurt dog with hernia. Cute puppy on roof. Rough roads to cave area, potholed, rutted paved roads led to a dirt logging road that led to a little used, very rutted back road to camp. Wells got stuck by the rear axel and we had to dig him out and lay debris in the rut to get through. Made camp at dark.
Cave Exploration
Text and images describing the trip
12/24/2023: Slow morning w/ breakfast. Happy to see lots of sun after about 10:30. Went into Anastasius De Mano De Mono for the first time. Had a 4.5 hour trip underground rigging. SO MANY BATS. The bats were constantly chittering and occasionally flying about. We hurt one bat with the rope. I dropped the first 100ft of the virgin pit where B turned back, which was pretty open, like a huge silo, and had extremely beautiful bedrock patterns, which mesmerized me. Landed on a ledge and determined that the rope would likely not reach the ground, as not even my light would reach. Took a rock 4 seconds to hit the ground from the ledge. Ascended out to try the full pit next push. Leaving was hard work due to altitude. Left a bunch of gear in the cave for use in the next push. Out of the cave just before dark, which hit upon our arrival to Wells.
12/25/2023: Supposed to be a rest day, so I slept in. A knock on the door while I was in bed, so B took it as he was already up. Two locals who took issue with our presence saying we need permission from the municipality to be here. They left. We discussed at length and decided to go back to Anastasius to clean our gear out. Had a 3 hour trip, bats were a lot quieter. Took some pictures in the cave. The same locals were at the entrance when we came out. I chatted with them a bit and kept things light. They escorted us back to Wells and informed us we'd go with them back to the municipality to get permission. Two more locals were waiting near the van and we all spoke and it was quite congenial. They called us fucking crazy that we came all the way here from the US to cave. They seemed positive that we would get permission. Drove away with one in the van, Francisco, met a pickup close to the exit of the really bad road. Spoke with them briefly and they said we'd go to the municipality to get permission as well, then they backed up and we drove past with the same local towards the municipality while the truck went towards camp to pick up the others. Not long after we bumped into a bus that seemed like a clown car, there must have been 8-10 people in there. One of them was the leader of the town who questioned us briefly and said we needed permission. He had us drive on towards the municipality, but then the pickup drove up behind us and had us stop. We spoke at length, and more and more locals seemed to appear from nowhere, about 25-30 crowded around. They tried to make out that we were in danger there, but we didn't believe it. More likely they were suspicious of us and/or didn't want us in their hair or to worry about us. They told us we'd have to move on. We drove further down on the same road we took to get to Anastasius through beautiful scenery and very cute towns. Gave a child with his mother a toy for christmas. Stopped at a dam with a pool to swim and freshen up in the very cold water. Made camp at a random pull-off just before dark. Took a walk up the road in the gathering dusk and took some beautiful low light photos. Now we look for more cave leads.
12/26/2023: Skipped breakfast and just had an apple, got rolling into the mountains with no particular direction except to go deeper into the mountains. The road eventually got really shit and we Wells needed help to get over certain bits. At one point they were still building the road so we had to move a cement mixer to have enough room on the pavement, then later we had to take time to improve the road by adding rocks to a muddy section so Wells could haul up onto the pavement again. Made our way deeper and deeper, eventually noticed a water line which could be sourced from a spring that could lead to a cave. Followed the line through a trail that paralleled the road and eventually met back up with the road and lost the water line. I hiked up a short ridge and was surprised by some reception, so I downloaded a map of the area in CalTopo and messaged a couple people before the reception went away again. Found out I lost my 197 day DuoLingo streak. Gave up on the water line lead and drove further on the same road. Found a decrepit logging encampment next to a decent sized stream and parked there before splitting up to hike around to find leads. B followed the stream and I took a logging road for 2.5 miles up hill, topping out at 10,600ft. Found no leads, but got treated to beautiful views and very cute hummingbirds making a small racket with their tweets. Came down and found B waiting at the van. Settled in for the evening. Several cars came by and B spoke with them and found out there's a town just down the road where locals will probably be able to lead us to more leads. One of the cars had several children so we gave them stuffed animals and a frisbee to the older kids. Had some mezcal and went to sleep for the night.
12/27/2023: Had breakfast and tidied Wells in the morning while B hiked. We met a guy who said he would return in 2 hours or so and take us to some nearby caves but he never showed. Some eco-tourists hiked by and one of their guides was the president of the municipality and he didn't seem pleased and said we needed permission to be there, so we went to San Juan Ozolotepec. On our way back we actually drove past one of our previous campsites, which was a fun surprise! Got to San Juan and parked in the square, then asked around about getting permission. We were told we'd have to wait 2 or 3 hours for them to arrive, so we decided it was worth it to wait. Took a jaunt around town and looked at the cathedral closer (I tried to make friends with a Chihuaha but it attacked my feet), then I went to a store with WiFi and got a token so I could message folks, check email, and download maps. B went in search of some tuba music we heard and found it. I ended up in lengthy conversation with the 90 year old father of the shop proprietor, who shared some Mezcal with me and I ended up rocking a good buzz since I hadn't had lunch. He said he played Violin and Viola but couldn't anymore because of his ears. I left to get some lunch and met B within minutes of getting back to Wells. Had some lunch and cut up my fingers a bit bc of the buzz, then we asked around some more about the meeting. We were then told 7, so we'd have to wait another 2 or 3 hours, but we figured it was worth it so we waited. I played piano from the step of Wells and some people came and went to listen. One drunk guy hung around a bit who was weird but eventually he left. Very light rain coming and going. Some kids interested in the van, I took a polaroid with one (Victor), then took a polaroid of all of them for them to keep. I did some hand stands and cartwheels, and B showed off some basketball tricks to the kids, two of whom invited us to play so we shot some hoops together and most of us did terribly. Then they said the meeting was on but it really wasn't so we hung around some more. Rosalia the shop proprietor from earlier came by and we chatted, then she said it was time to meet the comisario and we met with one guy not ten like we'd thought. One big room with his desk on one end and a row of chairs on the other that we sat in. He wouldn't budge on us not being allowed to go into the mountains because of the logging up there, but we never did get why that was such a big deal. He just kept saying we couldn't go up there. It was almost 8 by then so we left and drove all the way back past Ciennaguillas and camped in view of the Miahuatlan city lights.
12/28/2023: Brutal day of driving pretty much all day. Got up and made breakfast and tea and hung around camp a bit. Two women and a child walked by and we gave the child a toy and she gave a squeak of joy and danced around while walking away, it was super cute. Hit the highway and drove south looking for karsty features B had seen on an earlier trip, but we never found anything. We drove up and down the highway a couple times and a fair way down several side roads and never found anything confidence inspiring. While tiring to drive around the mountains all day, the beautiful views were monotonously gorgeous! We did get to check out a little gathering in a small town where they had live music, but it ended shortly after we sat down (we garnered lots of stares being gringos). We decided to go back and try to get to Cerro Nube Flan, the tallest non volcanic peak in Mexico to get to the bottom of the rock we saw on it. We decided to try and access it from the other side, so we had to drive through Miahuatlan. On our way down we snagged some alebrijes! I got some really cute ones, mostly for friends, but B bought $200 worth, all to give away! We then had a really good, cheap dinner ($4.50 or so each) in the gathering darkness, then had an interesting night drive through Miahuatlan and made camp next to an agave field for the night.
12/29/2023: Got moving soon from camp at the agave field because we were visible from the road in the light. The road up to town was rough and under construction but doable. We tried to go up a really steep road in the last town but determined the road would just end, so we tried to go back but Wells was so tall he caught a wire. I was able to stop and B hopped out onto the roof next door to lift the wire above the roof while I spun my tires on the steep road to gain a few feet to free the wire, then reversed back to the square. We then tried another road to get higher, which turned to a too rough dirt road, and I had to reverse through some gnarly and thin dirt road, but eventually we were able to turn around and park in this flat field. We chatted with some locals who told us about a cave an hour and a half walk down from here, which was disappointing but we decided to try and find it anyway to at least find a cave. One of them, Lionseo(sp?) even let us keep our car on his property behind closed-up barbed wire, which was awesome! Another of them showed us to the trailhead on his motorcycle, and we started hiking. We went around a small peak then dove down into this ravine formed by a river they said flowed into the cave. Once we finally got down there, we followed the water but were eventually stymied by some really rough bushwhacking, so we turned around and swam in a really nice part of river. My discovery of some leeches quickly put an end to our swimming and we hung around and sun dried for a while. We then started hiking back out, but once up about 100ft we could see a rocky shadow that might indicate a cave on the opposite side of the ravine, so we went back to check it out. It was just a rock shelter, but there were ash marks on the ceiling from many fires and quite a few pre-colombian pottery sherds on the ground in there, which was worth it! Then we actually hiked out. B stayed with the packs at the road and I went and got the car. I said bye to Lionseo and saw him with his wife and young son, so I gave his son a frisbee. B and I then drove back towards Miahuatlan to check out ruins in Ciudad Oaxaca the next day, since we'd given up on caving at this point. Some guys on motorcycles were creeping me out. One would pass us and ride a ways ahead, but his friend would never pass us. This kept on for a good while, and I gave him plenty of opportunities to pass, then he finally did. Not long after that, at a straight-away we saw in the distance they were righting one of their motorcycles in the road and a truck was slowing down to check them out, but then drove on. The truck flashed its lights at us and the driver said something I didn't catch through the open window on the way past. When we reached the bikers they gestured at us and said something but we just drove on. Weird. Got a disappointing dinner of a drumstick with mole and rice, but the meat of the drumstick was cold and I don't think I'm a fan of mole. Had a smoothie from a next door shop which was nice! Drove 15 minutes in the gathering evening to an iOverlander spot in a small town, and it was really nice and quiet. Took stairs to the roof of the municipal building. Then we cleaned and tidied Wells and organized gear in the garage, and packed for Ixta while we were back there. Then read some and hit the sack to o to the ruins early in the morning!
12/30/2023: Left the church parking lot early to get to Monte Alban as soon as we could. Went straight there, took some pretty rough roads in Ciudad Oaxaca that were exciting. When we arrived B went straight in and I hung back to make breakfast, have some tea, and play some tunes. When I was buying my ticket I met a couple from Carrboro, Deborah and Tom! I recognized they were from Carrboro because Deborah was wearing a Carrboro hat. Wandered Monte Alban, which was stunning and way bigger than I expected. The people watching was excellent as well, there were people from all over the world there! My favorite structure was the ball court. Wandering Monte Alban was really peaceful, I liked just cruising about the ruins reading the plaques, absorbing the ruins, and observing all the people around me. When I got tired and hungry I wnet back to Wells and had a snack while reading my book for a bit. When I'd recharged some I went to the vendor area and checked out all the booths, and even got another alibrije at a reasonable price of 50 pesos, about how much we were paying in the mountains! After that I set up my hammock and finished reading my book, Sea Monsters, while the vendors in the distance trilled and growled their whistles and children played in a small area below. Eventually B showed up and we got ready to leave, but not before having two helpings of delicious ice cream from one of the vendors! Then we started hoofing it North, our next stop being Ixta! On the drive we hit some wicked traffic and a super cute beagle was hanging its head out of a car just ahead of us in the other lane. B actually got out to pet it but the beagle was super suspicious and barked at him, but it was funny. Had a meal at a kind of touristy restaurant playing a cheesy shoot-em-up movie at a gas station, then drove into the night to get to camp. We'd intended to camp in the same place we did on the way down, but someone was there already so we moved past to what turned out to be a place B had camped at before right off the bridge over the river that marks the state line between Oaxaca and Puebla! We settled down for the night to be ready to go all the way up to La Joya in the morning.
Climbing Ixta
Text and images describing the trip
12/31/2023: Woke up and immediatley drove towards La Joya. Didn't make breakfast, and I ended up pretty much just snacking on fruit and crackers all day. We went through Puebla and finally got to see Ixta, which got me really excited. We got some Pulce (sp?) which I didn't end up liking, so mine was reserved for B later. We went up to Paso Del Cortez where we went to get permits to do Ixta, but he said we needed to reserve parking at La Joya, the trailhead, at least five days in advance! Since we'd planned to sleep there that night, that's a huge wrench in our plans. We got permits to do Ixta, but we had to park at the office which is seven kilometers away from La Joya. We frantically packed camping gear so we could still camp there and extra water, then started walking hoping to hitch hike. Several cars passed us, but eventually two people, Eric and Joshua, stopped and took us to La Joya. They were also planning on doing Ixta and were interested in the aliens perported to frequent the area. They said they were going to camp at the Grupo De Los Cien Refugio a couple kilometers up the trail at 15,000ft, which got me thinking about our plan and I told B we should go up and sleep there, so that's what we did! It was hard going, and we showed up JUST at sunset when the temperatures started dropping precipitously. B had a bad time on the hike, so he said he wouldn't try to summit the next day. There were two Spanish climbers who were going to try to summit in the morning, Domingo and Jose, and they said I could join them for their three oclock wakup summit attempt! They showed us a fun Spanish new years tradition where, as the clock strikes midnight, you eat one grape for each strike. They shared grapes with everyone there and they made a little video of them eating them while the other one made bong noises. We pretty much went straight to bed and I slept at the top level, which was cozy. The refugio was super busy with people going in and out pretty much all night, so it was hard to sleep but I know I did at least a little bit because I had two dreams.
1/1/2024: Since I was in and out all night, I had kept track of the time and I was so stoked to leave. My alarm went off at 3 and I immediately sat up and started getting ready. Domingo and Jose took a little longer, and I remember when Jose sat up, he was pretty much immediately greeted with my smiling face from across the hut! I had noticed that a couple sleeping next to me, who were part of a summit group that left at 2-ish but decided not to go, were super cold and shivering, so I got their attention and let them borrow my sleeping bag for however long they needed it. I brought my things outside and snacked even though I didn't feel like eating and drank some water (not the 2 liters I'd packed) while waiting for Jose and Domingo. Eventually they were ready and we set off in the dark at 3:30! It was a fairly quiet ascent, we were all focusing on our climbing and breathing, and I was so stoked I was first the whole time we were together. At just shy of 16,000ft and maybe 30 or 45 minutes after we left I was struck with a desperate need, so I asked them to wait while I went up trail to finally make use of one of the wag bags I'd been carrying in my poop kit for years. It was interesting pooping in a bag at 16,000ft at 4am. We continued on, and nothing crazy interesting happened until we got to the glacier. We got to where the trail hit steep snow and they went back up the trail to a flat staging area to gear up. I was feeling the elevation, so I found a decent enough staging area on the trail as it skirted this steep mountain wall and donned my microspikes and set up my ice axe. I waited a while for them to be ready, but when they came down the trail I set off across the snow slope where other mountaineers had left a trail. It was fairly steep, so I kept going until I got to a flatter area just before the snow/ice seemed to drop precipitously. When I looked back they hadn't set foot on the snow yet and seemed to be deliberating about its quality, which they did for several minutes while I got colder and colder waiting! They probably did exactly the right thing for safety, but I was still a bit annoyed. When they came up to me, I was really feeling nervy about the glacier since I hadn't peeked around the lip and it seemed really steep. Jose encouraged me to go to a certain spot where lots of tracks went and it didn't seem too terrible! I wished I had real crampons instead of microspikes, but I'd have to make do. I continued down this trail until it seemed to peeter out and I was super not a fan of just continuing on the steep, sheer ice with only microspikes. Looking around with my headlamp(it's like 5 or so, still dark), I saw a trail maybe 20 feet below my position, so I went straight down by thrusting my ice axe into the ice to make a handhold, gripping that while I securely kick my feet in slab climbing style, then remove the ice axe to thrust it back in lower, rinse and repeat until I arrived at the trail. I took it for about 20 feet before it also seemed to peeter out, but some rocks frozen in the ice took me out of that trouble-area to the edge of the steep section, where I thankfully strode downhill on the ice until I got to a boulder to sit on while I waited for Jose and Domingo... who hadn't yet begun to follow me. I think they were spooked, even with their legit crampons, and weren't sure how to proceed. They ended up dithering about for a few minutes, and ultimately joined a large group of about 8 mountaineers from Puebla who all worked on kicking steps into the ice through the steep section. I hung out on the rock for 10 minutes or so until I noticed the dawn was fast approaching, so I moved to a place where I could catch some rays and warm up (it was freezing cold) while I waited. Eventually they finally reachced me, and we moved forward! An easy ice sheet led to a steep, pebbly wall with a trail running diagonally, which took following some of the Puebla mountaineers. At the top it was a relatively short series of hills with winding trail to the summit! I'd left Jose and Domingo behind bc of my natural pace, so I ended up summitting with two of the Puebla mountaineers. The one who got there first dropped her ice axe and knelt in front of the concrete block that marks the summit and kissed it! We fist bumped and hugged, then the other Puebla mountaineer arrived and he fist bumped and hugged me as well! It was super wholesome. We hung out there for a few minutes and she told me about some of the nearby peaks, pointed out the sleeping ladies head, and told me about how the old true summit used to be a different one. Eventually I started getting cold so I turned back to start the descent. I bumped into Jose and Domingo not far from the summit and they were bummed we couldn't get a picture there, but I got their contact information! I continued the descent solo, playing some music on my phone, which was really really nice. The glacier was just as sketchy going up, but I took a more direct route and just had to focus up and it was all good. I saw a bunch of ravens up there and one made a weird gutteral throat noise but I couldn't get it on video. As I continued on the route, I started to feel worse and worse. I had some nausea, especially when I was moving through uphill sections, but eventually I started feeling it on downhill as well. I also had a headache. I determined it was probably altitude sickness, and what I had to do was drink plenty of water and go down, but I was trying to ration my remaining liter to last me all the way to La Joya. I had to take lots of breaks, even on pure downhills, and at the 16,000ft peak right above the refugio I legit took a 10 minute nap, which barely helped. I finally made it to the refugio and B was outside, and he thankfully offered me some water and an apple, which, combined with the significantly lower elevation, started to help me feel a lot better! There was a german couple there too, the man was also feeling pretty sick but he was much better by then and they left after not too long. After resting a bit, B and I packed up and got outta there. I felt better and better the lower we got, and I was very impressed that I never puked, since I thought for sure I was going to. It was really fun doing Ixta on New Years because we would wish pretty much everyone we saw "feliz ano" and they would smile and respond "igualmete!" We made great time down to La Joya and arrived at about 4. It was really weird to look up at the summit of Ixta and know I had been there just earlier that day! We waited for a bit to hitch a ride and rest, I was feeling super zonked, but we eventually decided to just start walking. After not too long, maybe a kilometer or two, a truck stopped that was full of people in the back and he said we could ride for free! A couple also ran up while we were jamming our packs in the tight back and he said they could come too, but they basically had to hang on to the back of the truck entirely out of it for the ride, I was impressed since they were both in their 50s! B and I but mostly B chatted with them the whole ride, I often looked up at Ixta as it receeded and studied it from afar. The rough roads made the ride pretty tiring. Eventually we finally made it and B and I were ravenous so we went straight to a little comedor right next to the parking lot and we both had three very tasty quesadillas. When we were done, we made our plans for visiting Tajin and then we went to an iOverlander spot a mere 20 minutes away and I crashed harddddd.
Returning to the US
1/2/2024: Our last stop in Mexico is Tajin ruins, so we made in the direction of Veracruz. Because the road was so bad between Puebla and Paso De Cortez, we went down the Mexico City side. I had some chips and bread for breakfast as I drove, and everything was going normally until a group of cops on the side of the highway flagged us down to pull over. It felt super similar to when Kelly and I got pulled over two years ago, so I felt confident we'd just have to wait them out. Our game plan from the beginning was wait them out and we don't speak Spanish. One of them came to the window and said we're not allowed to use the light I have on the dash because that's only for police, and we turned it off right away. Over the course of the traffic stop, about 20-30 minutes, they tried everything they've ever tried to get a bribe. They said the car was now detained and I said alright I understand, and when they asked where we were going to go, if we would go back to the US I said we'd wait right here with the van. They tried the same thing about special rules on Mexico City roads but I just kept reiterating that it doesn't count on highways and they eventually stopped bringing it up. They briefly tried something about the van being for work (this took a bit, because they were using Google Translate it seemed like they were trying to tell me the van didn't work, even though I drove it there!), but when I told them I personally owned it, it wasn't a business van, they dropped it. They said it would be 9,000 pesos, so around $400, and I could leave, but I said I could only pay it if they gave me a paper ticket. We went back and forth on that for maybe a minute but when I wouldn't relent they just said I could leave and we got outta there! I was really jazzed about besting corrupt Mexico City cops again. Not long after that we stopped for food and I had a really good carne azada taco. We were making for an iOverlander pin not far from Tajin, and the Google Maps route took us through this little town. It soon became clear that it was meant to be approached from the other side of the road the pin was near, because getting there through the town was just impossible, some of the roads it told us to take literally didn't exist. We ended up going through the town to hit the highway to Tajin where the road to the pin went as well, and as we made our way there we got pulled over again! This was a small town cop and he said we needed front plates, but I said we don't use front plates in my state. He took my drivers license and he and his partner studied it closely. His partner pointed out my Issue date, which was obviously in the past, but I told them that's when I got it and they were fine with that and returned it. Then one of them told us we can't use the light because it's just for cops so we turned it off again :( Then we moved on much more pleased with that encounter, since these guys were just doing their jobs. When we got to the road to the iOverlander pin it was very muddy, and I didn't want to chance it in Wells, so we went to find our own free place to camp. Only half a kilometer away maybe, we encountered a gravel road into the hills and took it and eventually found our way to an open gravel field around an old oil pump. The area had lots of cow feces so it smelled, but it was quiet and fairly remote so we felt good staying there. We arrived several hours before dark, so we cleaned up Wells and chilled out for a while! Lots of parrots hanging around the trees around camp, the are felt a lot like Guatemala.
Objective
- Make headway on exploring Anastasius De Mano De Mono
- Summit Iztaccihuatl
- Check out some sick precolombian ruins
Statistics
- Date Entered: 12/21/2023
- Date Departed: 1/4/2023
- Days Spent In Mexico: 15
- 2,308 Miles Driven
- 71.5 Hours Driven
TL;DR:
We make two trips underground before we're booted out of the municipality. We try to find more caves but we're kicked out of another municipality and a third is a bust for caves. We visit some precolombian ruins, I summit Ixta, and we face down corrupt Mexico City cops!