Mexico Page of Roger J. Wendell

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Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic Evolution^SM
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Karel and the Cactus

Mexico
Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States)
In May, 1992 my friend Karel Karásek and I drove his 1972 VW bus from Denver, through the back roads of Mexico, to just inside Guatemala, and back to Denver again. It was quite the adventure, taking over 3 weeks of nearly solid driving along 6,000 miles of some of the roughest roads on the continent!

It took me 13 years, almost to the day, to getting around scanning these pix for posting on the Internet. Since so much time had passed I had forgotten many of the details. And, sadly, Karel passed away after sustaining severe head injuries during an automobile wreck in the very same van we took through Mexico. It was wild a driver on a dark, Denver night that got him - not the romantic encounter with spies or mountain peaks that I thought would take him from us...

Click on any of this page's "thumbnail" images for a larger view!

1. Yoga Center:
(May, 1992)

Near Mexico City we were delighted to find this Yoga Center - we were later invited in to a Hindu ceremony, near there, but had to first change into long pants after being reminded shorts were not appropriate attire for a temple... In 1992 the sight of a roadside memorial, for a car wreck, was very rare in the U.S. By that time, however, they were very popular throughout Mexico so I photographed them whenever I got the chance. photographed them.

2. Military:
(May, 1992)

Like our own country, Mexico's military maintains a very visible presence. Again probably not so much to protect the country but, rather, to just keep folks in line. It's an an age-old problem you encounter just about anywhere you go in the world...

3. Local tire repair:
(May, 1992)

These shots were taken down in southern Mexico. Apparantly the automobile wreck is on display as a public warning - I may have seen something like that during my travels to Asia although I don't recall for sure. I think "Tope" was a speed bump warning but I'm not sure now either...

4. Popocatepetl is (was!) a 17,500 foot snow-covered volcano outside Mexico City back then...
(May, 1992)

It has since erupted and is pretty much off-limits as far as I know. Karel and I were ill-prepared for mountain climbing and only made it to just above the 15,000 foot level. Nevertheless, Karel was really interested in detouring to see the mountain since it plays a big role in a particular Czechoslovakian (now the Czech and Slovak Republics) childhood story that he grew up with as a kid in eastern Europe. Unfortunately I don't recall the details of the story. Still, there were less than ten people, TOTAL, on the entire mountain that day (including the park ranger!) we run into two guys from Steamboat Springs, Colorado (my home state) and a journalist (who Karel had never met before) from Czechoslovakia!!

5. What border?
(May, 1992)

As you can see here, folks were walking through the fence even as tourists like us gazed on. Although the U.S. is grossly over populated (it's the third most populated country in the world) it's obvious why Mexicans want to come here - jobs! Hard to believe but most of the world isn't too impressed with our way of life or system of government. What brings 'em here are jobs - and who can blame them?

6. Ixtlan and Mazatlan - when opposites collide!
(May, 1992)

Ixtlan, of course, is of spiritual significance for anyone familiar with Castaneda. Mazatlan, on the other hand, is another one of those moronic resorts for the rich. Luckily our little van allowed us to see both close up...

7. Small towns and graveyards...
(May, 1992)

8. Think globally, shop locally! (Pemex was their national gas station...)
(May, 1992)

9. Home was anywhere we could find a place to park!
(May, 1992)

10. La Playa (the Beach!)
(May, 1992)

11. Flag, Maps and Info:

Mexico is comprised of 31 states plus the Federal District of Mexico City (that's why it's official name, in English, is "United Mexican States"). Mexico is nearly three times the size of Texas and had a population, in 1992 (at the time Karel and I drove through it), of about 90 million people (Texas' population, in 1992, was about 18 million, when the entire U.S. was about 259 million). Aztlan is the area of North America many Mexicans believe still belongs to them - it's, in part, the areas taken by the United States and also refers to the mythical place of origin of the Aztec peoples...

12. Karel Karásek:

At the time of our adventure Karel was 42 and I was 36. We had spent a lot of time together in the wilderness, including a great trip to Grand Canyon, so driving a half dozen thousand miles seemed the thing to do! The people of Mexico, even though we didn't speak a lick of Spanish (In college, Karel studied English and I studied Russian), treated us really well - it was very touching and something I always try to remember when I encounter Mexicans in my own country. The only problems we had were with the police - they robbed us twice, at gun point, making me feel the most helpless I had ever in my life. Maybe in fairness to the police might be that these guys were off-duty or maybe even imposters. Hard to tell. Luckily they only got $20 or $40 out of us each time so we were able to continue our travels without much difficulty.

13. Other Notes:

Our travels actually took us down one coast and back up the other but did not include Baja (having lived in southern California, for a while, I'd seen quite a bit of Baja many times before). We stopped in the town of Tequila (state of Jalisco) and purchased much of that famous drink to wash our vegetables in. Although I wouldn't recommend this method of sanitation to anyone else, it seemed to work for Karel and I because we ate "tons" of local produce, all over Mexico, and never once got sick!
Our travels took us over "Istmo," or the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (the "skinny" part down south, between the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Campeche on the Pacific Ocean, a distance of about 125 miles or 200 km). We also traveled through the southern most state, Chiapas, at a time when the indigenous peoples were preparing for civil war - a fact that was kept out of the media, at the time, so there wouldn't be any worries about implementing NAFTA a year and half later.
In Chiapas we attempted to spend the night on a small farm but the family was so frightened that rebels might come to kill us (I didn't speak Spanish, or Indian, so they kept providing us with the international gesture for life's end, i.e., drawing a finger across their throat to suggest death). I doubt the rebels being referred to had anything to do with the upcoming peasant revolt, or the Zapatista National Liberation Army - somebody, later, suggested the threat was real but probably due to bandits and others searching for some quick cash - hence we drove a few extra hours to spend a pleasant night on a safe beach...
Spending the night on beaches, at somebody's farm, or out in the open was the norm throughout our trip. On the west coast we were invited to spend time on a French ranch, comprised of a few hundred hectares of tropical forest and all kinds of exotic insects and other creatures. The ranch owner road horseback and spoke perfect English and French - saying that he avoided using Spanish unless absolutely necessary. He said his family had a long history in Mexico so my guess is that he was probably a descendent of somebody involved in the French occupation during the 1860s - a struggle won by the Mexican people that is now celebrated as "Cinco de Mayo" (5th of May)...
Oh, somewhere in the desert, in the state of Oaxaca, we broke a "U-joint" on our VW bus. Luckily VW, at that time, was the vehicle of choice throughout Mexico. I hitch-hiked about 60 miles into the capital city of Oaxaca where I easily found the needed replacement part for our 20 year old van! I think it was somewhere in the state of Tobasco, too, that we needed even more car parts (our dashboard caught on fire, due to some loose electrical wiring, while we were attempting to cross into Guatemala) and easily found everything we'd ever need to keep the old VW running.
Anyway, I'll add more travel and driving notes as I remember them and time permits...

14. More Recent Visits to Mexico:
(2004 & 2007)

Tami and I have enjoyed numerous trips through Tijuana and other border
towns over the years. On this particular visit Brian joined us for a day in
Tijuana and Rosarito Beach. Sad to note that I was easily able to photograph
everything while going into Mexico. However coming back into the United States
American border guards forced me to delete the photos I had taken of the American
side of the crossing - go figure!

San Diego crossing sign...

Roger on the border!

Tami and Brian

Tijuana, Mexico

Crossing into Mexico

Nogales:
(Spanish for "Walnut")

In June, 2007 I was on business in Tucson and had the
pleasure of visiting Nogales again - for the first time
in at least a decade. All of the border towns seem to
be changing/growing very fast!

Welcome to Mexico!	Street Signs	Border Shoppers	Nogales Neighborhood	Nogales Neighborhood
Legalize Here!	Nogales Shoppette	Nogales Businesses	Donkey Photos	Home Sweet Home
Alto	Border Fence	"Borders Scar the Earth"	Back to the USA!	U.S. Border Patrol

Jacumba, California:
(pronounced "ha-COOM-ba")

In November, 2007 we took a drive along Interstate 8 and
couldn't resist detouring a few miles south into Jacumba
via old Highway 80. Jacumba features a hot spring that
apparently attracted the Kumeyaay peoples prior to European
arrival. The town officially sits one half mile from the
Mexican border so I had to take a look for myself!

Welcome to Jacumba!

There is no water!

Looking east

Looking west

Greetings from Mexico!

The yellow sign, in the second photo, roughly translates as: Beware!
Beware! Do not expose their lives to the elements - (There is no drinking water)

North America's Largest Desert:
The Nature Conservancy, Winter 2007, p. 49

"In the heart of North America's largest desert lies a biological oasis - a little-known expanse of basin and range straddling both sides of teh boundary between the United States and Mexico. The Chihuahuan Desert Borderlands, as it is called, is a sparsely populated 30-million-acre wilderness where barren lunarscapes, arid scrublands and cactus forests coexist with majestic canyons, lush grasslands and pine-oak wooldlands."
"To the abundant populations of year-round and migrating wildlife, the borderlands is a land without borders, a single ecosystems that rivals Greater Yellowstone in its biodiversity. Hundreds of species use the borderlands as a migratory megacorridor, including monarch butterflies, black bear and more than 10 species of hummingbirds. Ppopulations of elk, prognhorn and desert bighorn sheep flourish as well."
"Plant and animal life in the borderlands draws sustenance from hidden springs, exotic wetlands, high-country creeks and, most of all, from the river running through it. The Rio Grande, as it is called by people living on its northern banks, or Río Bravo del Norte as those in the south know it, is the vital lifeline in this arid landscape, snaking through the desert for hundreds of miles."

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