La Ruta Maya
The Maya Road
Guatemala, Belize and Yucatan
by The purpose of this article is to describe an adventure of a life time - Traveling the Maya Route (La Ruta Maya) by motorcycle! It is the author's intent to provide resources, travel tips, lessons learned, and information that others can use to plan a trip to this area of the ancient Maya culture. Information pertaining to this trip are indexed in the Links Page below.
Bill Haycock
Link to Resource Page
Five experienced Dual Sport riders spent three months working out the details and route for this trip. The goal was to travel the "Mayan Road" to visit as many of the significant Maya ruin sites as possible within a 23 day time period. The route would cover the Yucatan, Belize, Guatemala, and returning to the Central Highlands of Mexico. This is the "Mundo Maya" - The Mayan World! Following is an introduction of the riders on this trip.
Bill (clutch out at 7:30) Haycock. Columbus, Georgia. Previous trips to Central America, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico. Rides a KLR650. Recent trip to the Copper Canyon in Mexico is presented at "Copper Canyon - A Dual Sport Ride." Email to Bill at whaycoc@ibm.net
John (I don't have any torque!) Neff. John is from Florida, soon to be married and living in Baton Rouge, La. Previous rides include Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and the Copper Canyon. Rides a KLR650. Email to John at jneff@lucent.com
Robert (meet you at the intersection) Bielesch. Robert lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Previous trips to Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Central America, and Mexico. Rides a BMW 1100GS. Email Robert at bielescr@cadvision.com
Richard (Easy Dick) Antonius. Dick lives in Houston, Texas. Previous trips to Mexico. Dick rides a KLR650. Email Dick at rantonius@juno.com
Neal (I follow Bob) Davis. Neal lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Previous trips to Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Central America to Panama, Europe, and Asia - a world motorcycle traveler! Neal rides a KLR650. Email Neal at neal_davis@compuserve.com
The group met in Brownsville, Texas on January 4, 1998. The first thing we did was locate an RV Park that would store our three Trailers and trucks while we were gone. The folks at Rio R.V. Park were very helpful and provided a secure storage area for our vehicles. We found a Casa Combio (money exchange house) to change some US dollars into Mexican Pesos. The exchange rate varies but the Casa Cambios post the going rate for each day.
January 5, 1998 finds the group eating an early breakfast and heading for the Mexican border. The Mexican immigration office is easy to find and since we had previously filled out the forms we processed through in record time! About one hour! The road out of Matamoros to the highway heading South to Tampico is fast and less crowded then most border towns can boast.
The group had agreed that our plan was to get to Tampico, Veracruz and Villahermosa as fast as we could. The Eastern coast of Mexico is rather dull and flat - a lot of oil production and refineries don't lend much to the scenery! The weather was great and we rode the 300 miles to Tampico with little to remember other than how good it felt to be underway after months of planning.
Arriving in Tampico we found the hotel with little problem as we had previously agreed on a hotel and we all had printed city maps to guide us. If you have a scanner it is an easy matter to scan city maps out of travel guides or the Lonely Planet books to help one find hotels and points of interest in your destination town. Having an agreed upon hotel also gives the group a central meeting place at the end of the day in case someone gets separated in traffic. Tampico has a nice Plaza (Zocalo) and we spent some time strolling around and eating dinner on the Plaza.
A note here about finding your way to the Plaza - almost without exception - Mexican towns and cities have a Central Plaza (Zocalo). Generally, you will want a hotel on or close to the Plaza as this is usually the heart of the city. As you approach most Mexican towns you will see signs directing you to "El Centro" (The Center). Follow these signs and you will end up at the Plaza and near your hotel. An old trick is to hire a taxi to take you to your hotel if you get lost or end up going around in circles! It is worth a dollar to have a taxi take you to the front door! Just have the name of the hotel written on a piece of paper and hand it to the taxi driver - he will know what you want.
We head out early next morning for Veracruz. Again, about a 300 mile ride but fast and easy roads have us arriving in Veracruz early in the afternoon. Most of us have been to Veracruz before and out hotel is easy to find. Veracruz is a very historic and interesting town. Cortes made his first landing here in 1519. There are a number of old Spanish forts to explore and many old buildings and churches to visit. Veracruz has a cosmopolitan atmosphere about it - a certain sophistication that is difficult to explain. The Central Plaza is full of activity every night! Clowns, loose rope walkers perform, and many venders are trying to sell everything imaginable. One should spend a few hours on the Plaza, sitting at a sidewalk cafe, or just walking around taking in the sights. Veracruz is worth a return visit for three or four days of exploring all the attractions it has to offer.
One place not to miss is having coffee and pastry at the "Gran Cafe de la Parrroquia." It is a few blocks from the Zocalo and serves many varieties of coffee and pastries. A perfect place to end the day and begin the morning. Just ask anyone where it is located and you will find it - faces the harbor and about three blocks from the hotel.
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