Mexico 2012 RV Trip - un viaje mas grande - Day 19, Jan.15 Villahermosa – Cuidad del Carmen

Every day is an adventure in Mexico; sometimes, even the nights. But let me go back to the beginning of the story. When we arrived in Villahermosa we had four potential overnight spots in mind. The first one was the only “official” RV campground, but the road leading to it was washed out and looked more like a river. Being good soldiers, we marched on.
The second, the fairgrounds, sounded good from our reading. You are supposed to be able to ask one of the guards where to park. We thought we were at the correct gate, but the guard told us it was back half a block. It was a one way street, but no problem, we have learned how to handle returnos. Turned around, we enter correctly but there was NO attendant. We went in anyway and found several locations that would have been ideal, but we were a little afraid that if someone showed up and locked the gate, we would be stuck!
Okay, on to the Walmart. We did find a spot to park temporarily while we shopped, but most of their parking lot was covered for sun protection and we are too tall to fit under them. Their parking is designed for small Mexican cars, not large American RVs.
Lastly, we had read about a spot where someone had overnighted in their RV several years ago. We checked on the map and it looked like it would work. When we got there, the street was wide and level and it appeared to be an upscale neighborhood. We parked and had dinner, but we were concerned about the loud music we heard. Tobey took a walk to check things out. He found what looked like a youth club and the activities seemed to be breaking up, so we figured it would be okay.
Back to the wide street. We thought that since this was a dead end it would be quiet, but there  was a new, large apartment complex which actually created lots of traffic. It was a small concern but we figured traffic would subside as the night went on.
We then went to bed only to discover that we have a leak in our over-the-cab section. With all the rain Sue’s side of the sheets and mattress were pretty wet. Bummer for Sue. Then the youth club turned into a disco. We were treated to the deep pounding base of dance music until 3 am!
This morning we pulled everything down and hung the wet stuff over our shower rod and spread out our memory foam mattress on the sofa to dry. We now need to figure out exactly where the leak is coming from and how to get it fixed. Might be tough to do here.
Why did we come to Mexico, anyway?
Here’s where the good part of the story begins. The rain had stopped and if you remember we have had lots of problems trying to figure out our cell phone and internet with Tel-cel. Luck would have it that there was a Tel-Cel office just down the street. While the receptionist didn’t speak much English, one of the associates spoke a little English. He sold us a chip for our phone and even took care of the activation. We asked him if he knew where we could park to go to Parque La Venta Museum. He said it was too dangerous to leave the RV in the shopping center parking lot because there are many car break-ins. He suggested private parking near La Venta.
Okay, so we find our way to La Venta and there was a PEMEX across the street. We wanted to get more information about private parking and as luck would have it, there was a policeman in the lot. We asked him and he told us to follow him. So with lights flashing, he drove us to La Venta and arranged for special parking and for two other policemen to watch the RV for us while we toured the park. People in Mexico are awesome!

We paid our entry fee of $40pesos (about $3USD) each and spent the next two hours exploring this wonderfully done exhibit of Olmec archeological discoveries. The giant stone heads carved by the Olmec were salvaged from the oil fields of La Venta located on the western edge of Tabasco – very near the state of Veracruz.

Many of these heads are 6-foot tall and weigh upwards of 20 tons. They were moved to this site between 1958-59. La Venta contains some 30 sculptures.

The day was turning out great! No rain, and as a bonus, there was a small zoo on site with some free range animals – mostly raccoons and tejones (badgers). 

I have looked for postcards at many of these places and they do not seem to be very prevalent here. Not enough foreign tourists, I guess.

The display of tropical birds was very cool. 

After our brief sojourn through La Venta, we were once again on the road. We found our way out of Villahermosa without any problems and stopped at a roadside restaurant for barbacoa, barbequed pork ribs with tortilla – only $92 pesos for two people (less than $7USD). The roads were better and the sun tried to stay out, even though we had small showers off and on. We passed several cattle ranches in the area and many lagoons with egrets and lily pads. It was really pretty, but difficult to get good pictures of as we went by!

As we entered the state of Campeche (yellow line divider above) we were a little concerned because we had been warned that you cannot bring in chicken, pork, or eggs and we still had a few pieces of meat from home in our freezer. At the inspection station we were waved on through, it was chicken tortilla soup for dinner tonight!                    

There were several of these little taxis as we drove along MX180 on the stretch of road before the bridge into Cuidad del Carmen. We are boondocking again tonight and hope it is quieter! Tomorrow we shoot for the city of Campeche.

GPS 18.65574°N, 91.76953°W