Mexico 1970's

Mazatlan

Our dental society sponsored a trip to Mazatlan. We left from the Monterey, California airport. On the way the plane had some engine problem. We had to dump all the planes fuel before we could land in LA for repairs. As we approached the landing strip the pilot suddenly pulled up and went back into the sky. (What a scare!) He finally landed and we had to wait about two hours while they fixed the plane. We flew into the Mazatlan airport. We took taxis to the town a few miles away. That was the scariest part of the trip. The taxi drivers were racing and animals and kids had to get out of the way.

While we were then staying at a nice hotel by the ocean, Ron and Bunny Wickum and Kaye and I went out fishing. Kaye and Bunny each caught an El Dorado or Mahi Mahi fish. Hammerhead sharks were circling the boat. It was a fun trip.

Cancun May 1970

Kaye and I flew to Houston and then to Cancun, Mexico. Cancun was a brand new resort island built by the ex-president of Mexico. It had beautiful white sand beaches which didn't get hot in the sun. Our hotel was 4 or 5 stories high built like Mayan architecture. Some of the nice rooms had pictures that were protected by glass from the wind. While they were there they were having a big meeting between 5 South American Countries. Early in the morning diesel buses came in and out came lot of Mexican soldiers who were stationed outside the hotel. Plain clothesman were stationed throughout the hotel. They examined packages when you came in the hotel. I told Kaye, "If you hear a shot, just hold flat on the floor." When we were out on the beach we saw a big Mexican naval boat cruising in the ocean in front of the hotel. About that time a gust of wind caused the glass protecting the painting to break and made a loud crash. Soldiers came from everywhere. They wouldn't let us back in the hotel. It was very exciting.

The next day we rented a VW and drove down the coast to Tulum, a Mayan city with temple ruins. It was beautiful. When we were getting ready to leave one of the guides asked us if we could give him a ride to his home between Tulum and Cancun. He gave us a history lesson on the way. He was very angry at the Catholic Church because in the 1500's they destroyed all the books and some carvings on the buildings. They thought the Mayan people weren't smart enough to write the books and build the buildings. They thought it was the work of the devil.

The next day we drove to Chitzen Itza, a large city  of Mayan ruins that was inland. The roads going down there were two lane roads with no shoulders on the side to pull over. The jungle went right to the edge of the roads. On the way down, there was a red and green stop light next to a guard shack with a soldier inside. The light was red so we stopped an sat there about five minutes. The light didn't change and the guard didn't come out yet. I told Kaye, "I'm slowly going to go on and you see if the guard moves." Nothing happened so when we got a ways away I took off.

We came to a little town next and all of the sudden the traffic was coming towards us. We missed an arrow painted on a building indicating to turn there. We turned there and went on. There was a little hotel in town and we got a room so we could spend the night.

The ruins were fantastic. We climbed to the top of one of the temples. The steps were very narrow and tall. After we looked around at where they made their sacrifices at the top, it was time to go back down. Kaye went down and I wasn't there. I went over to go down and suddenly my fear of heights got to me. I went back to the center of the ruin and sat down for about 30 minutes trying to figure out what to do. I crawled backwards to the edge and was finally able to go down the stairs backwards until I got to the bottom. They showed us the ball court, where the losers were killed. We saw their planetarium and the big hole filled with water where they threw people in as sacrifices.

At night they had a beautiful light show in English. There were colored lights on all the buildings, music and a narrative of the history of these Mayan people. then we spent the night at the hotel. The next day the return home was uneventful. I would never rent a car and drive in Mexico again.

On Cancun Island, we went to a Ballet Folklore show but it wasn't as good as Mexico City's. One day we drove down to where we took a boat over to Isla de Mujeres. We stayed a while and came back. We returned home.

Mexico City

As part of a three stop trip we took to sail in the Virgin Islands we went to Mexico City.