3 April 2010

You know, I think this is the longest period that I’ve gone through without posting.  At this very moment we are sitting in a wonderful location deep in the heart of the Foothills of Yuma and have been here for a week…more about that later, but first let’s catch up a little. 

Between the 10^th of March and the 22^nd we were still very much enjoying La Piñata.  We had a chance to move to one of the “PREMO” spots that sits directly over the beach. 

 I could start my day by having my morning coffee while sitting with my feet propped up on the railing and hear and feel the surf as it came rushing up the sandy beach 50 feet below.  I felt like we had moved our coach onto the patio of a 5 star hotel…  Hell, we even had local visitors join us…Ziggy (the male),

 Aggy (one of the females), and 6 others that would drop in now and then throughout the day.  We continued to visit the farmers market in La Piñata and Guyobitas each week.  We really enjoyed the many breakfast, lunches and dinners

 that we took while on and off the beaches of the local communities, and then of course, we still had the Sunday hamburger and Tuesday taco nights (in the palapa)

 at the park.  Boy, did we eat good or what???  Something I didn’t do when we were there in December was water volleyball.  Well I made up for lost time…I played twice a day over the last three weeks and really enjoyed myself. 

 Another great benefit from staying another month was we were able to see the improvements that Sol made.  Sol is tough and for what he went through he showed it each day, but then there was Carol….she was twice as tough and she needed to be.  Our meeting them has meant a great deal to Louise and me and we look forward to traveling again with them soon.  To have our last dinner together on this journey to Mexico was a lot of fun and very emotional for all of us.

  Now we have plans to continue were we left off sometime in the very near future (possibly this next winter). 

On the 22^nd we put the coach in gear and headed to Tepic.  Tepic is only about 2 hours northeast of La Piñata and we were headed there to have the frontend of the Minnie Winnie aligned.  Boy we almost bit the big one in Tepic…we took a wrong turn and ended up on a road that was so narrow that I really thought there was no way we could make the 2 turns I needed to take.  I did hit the driver’s side mirror once against another pick-up and then on the last turn I crawled up onto a very high curb and almost laid the side of the motor home against a telephone pole…close but no hitty…  We were looking for the Ford dealer and after our close call, we found it a little further down the main road.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get in to have the work done for another 4 days so we continued down the road.  Our next stop (about 3 hours away) was Mazatlan.  We were only there to spend the night and then in the morning continue on north.  I chose our “campground” for the night because of a good experience I had camping there…the hospital parking lot were Louise spent a night the last time we were in Mazatlan.  With full security, in the middle of the city, great food in the hospital restaurant, and easy to get too, a great combination.  Our next overnight stop was going to be in a huge parking lot behind a PEMEX (the Mexican service stations) in Novajoa.  Sometimes this kind of stop can be real noisy, but that night was relatively quiet.  Our third and fourth nights were spent in Santa Ana with Ana and Edgar.  We spent a couple of nights with them on our way down.  They have the campground that we spent our first night in Mexico.  Edgar is also the one who found me the mechanic that “could fix our air-conditioning” system…well, he fixed it OK, but unfortunately it didn’t hold.  This time he wanted to have his mechanic fix our front end problem.  I’ll make this short…after taking the tie-rods off he found he couldn’t get the parts so he had to put them back on.  I was a little miffed, no, I was a lot “miffed”.  Fortunately we were able to drive on, and on we did…  We drove to the border at Lukeville and crossed into the USA.  We crossed the border just after noon so we decided to head up the road another 5 miles and stop for lunch at the Organ Pipe National Monument.  Finishing lunch Louise looked at me and convinced me we should head back across the border and drive on another 18 miles to the place where we purchased our 10 year import sticker.  You see, this sticker is good ONLY for the vehicle that it is placed on and must be removed by the same office you purchased it from.  If we were to sell this Minnie Winnie (which we are going to do…) and the sticker went with it, we could NEVER take another vehicle deep into Mexico again.  Soooo, across the border to get the sticker taken off and de-registered, turn around and head back to cross the border one more time before heading to the casino RV parking lot in Why, Arizona.  Now let me tell you about this casino….DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME !!!!

This Monday morning we have another appointment for our frontend alignment (and anything else it might need).  I look forward to having all this finished. 

10 March 2010

I know, I know, I know, I’ve been a little lax in posting…

Yes we are back at the La Piñata RV Resort and have had a wonderful time while here for our second visit.  Sol and Carol are still here and we’ve been enjoying their company with one small exception…Sol had to have a procedure on his brain to drain off some blood that somehow found its way there.  This happened this last week and thank God he’s back and almost to his “Ole self” (except for a couple of holes in his head). 

The weeks prior all of this happening, we found ourselves joining others for a kayaking afternoon at Playa Chacala,

 enjoying the Sunday night Hamburger/Margarita/Beer Fiesta, and the last night for the Blue Grass music at Jaime and Hinde’s in La Piñata.  We even had a Tsunami alert after the earthquakes in Chile…fortunately the alert was all for naught, but with all the people from the campground gathered at the overlook we did see some beautiful waves. 

 We also were invited to join in for a fish fry.  A few of the guys that really enjoy fishing the waters of the Pacific have been bringing home and freezing Dorado (Mai-Mai).  With a lot of side dishes and a ton of Dorado we all sat down for a great feast of the “Catch of the Day, Week, Month”.  Oh yes, I hadn’t mentioned this before, but when we left our over-night camping spot in Tequila I didn’t clear a parking meter with the tail-end of the motor home and almost pulled it completely out of the ground.  In doing this I also opened up an area on the rear corner of the motor home too.  Thankfully I found Jose Lois…he did a masterful job of repairing and painting the damaged area and he did it for $80 US.  I’m now a happy camper again. 

Now all we’re doing is catching some rays on the beach, boogie boarding,

 eating, having a cerveza occasionally, and enjoying the good life for another week before we start our slow journey to the states. 

20 February 2010

Saturday

Well I started writing this while sitting in the parking lot of the Tequila distiller Jose Cuervo in Tequila, Mexico.  Now I say “I started writing this” while in the parking lot…we thought we had permission to park overnight in this high walled very secured parking lot

 but the guard at the parking lot had another idea…”you’ve got to leave !!!”. 

OK, we left, but before I continue on, here is our GPS location for the parking lot and the town of Tequila…     20.88511N, 103.84378W. 

A lot of the towns we visit just don’t give us any room to drive down the main and side streets but Tequila is different…at least so far.  The books we’ve read about Tequila (located about 40 miles west of Guadalajara) and the many tours that are available from all the different distilleries told us that the best tour can be made by visiting the (Sauza) Jose Cuervo distillery

and that can be found by driving straight into town, past the church on the right, and after making the mandatory right turn it is on the left...  It was perfect, not a glitch was had, and we even found a parallel parking spot for me to slide into.  Then it was off to find out if we could still get a tour before the day was done.  We found that the “English” tour would take place at 3pm which would give us a chance to have lunch and tour the town a little prior to getting back in time for our tour.  At 3 we met our tour guide, saw a short movie, and started out and into the distillery.  One of our first stops was in front of the furnaces that steam the Blue Agave “heart”. 

 Now this “heart” looks like a large bulb except that at the time of harvest it is sitting above ground with lots of very pointy large leaves coming out at all angles and if they hadn’t been pruning the tips since day “one”, they could be very dangerous to handle.

  Now this tour was a tasting and educational tour and our first taste was here…a taste of the raw agave heart (kind of like a raw potato, starchy..).  Our second taste came just around the back side of the furnace area.  This time the agave heart tasted like a sweet and sticky cane sugar stick.  Now remember, this is a tasting tour…  Next in line, was the” very raw” first liquids of tequila…otherwise, pure rot-gut.  God, that was awful !!!  From here on the tastings (an additional 7 good sized shots and a special Margarita) got better and better.  Now it was about this point that I asked our guide about our staying the night in their parking lot…”Not a Problem…”.  Well it was a good tour and we did really enjoy the tequila and, we really didn’t want to drive that motor home out of that gated parking lot, but ...  Well we drove out without a problem but the problem arrived in front of us about 100 yards down a narrow street…the two way turned to a “One Way” going back the way we came so we had to turn around.  We did experience a horn honk or two and that was really uncalled for.  On the other hand, I thought I did a great job under the circumstances.  As I was just making the last of my “U-turn”, a little red car pulled over to the side and stopped.  A man dressed in a nice suit and tie came over and asked us if we were trying to get back into the plaza area and if we were, he would love to guide us out of this tight situation we were in.  His thought was we would go over one more corner and turn left and that would take us back into town…wrong.  The bridge had been destroyed and there now was a detour (without any signs telling him or us this problem…).  Well thank God this man was sent to us as we would still be trying to find our way back into civilization.  If we drove 1 paved section of “roadway”, we drove 5 dirt and cobblestone sections and all the while with a 15 foot concrete wall on one side of us while on the other it was just a grassy, tree, swampy area.  Well he finally got us back into town, and right back at the plaza we were looking for.  As a matter of fact, as we pulled up to the plaza a car vacated a parking spot that was long enough for us to pull into so we quickly pulled to the curb and settled in for the night. 

Yep, we’re going to stay parked at the plaza and with the church right across the street,

we’re going to try to get some sleep as well.  We found that sleeping was going to be a little tough.  This being a Saturday night in a Mexican town, parked at the one and only plaza, and the “whole town is a tequila distillery”…  Well let’s say that they don’t have a problem with “cruising” or with loud music coming out of every vehicle that made it around and around and around that plaza until very late in the morning… Well would we go back??? Yep, in a minute and we’d probably park in the same place seeing as how there isn’t a campground within 30 miles.  The drive to Tequila and the drive away from Tequila as we headed back towards the coast was great.  A little up and down while in the hills and mountains and even a volcano that shot huge lava rocks miles away (notice the lava on both sides of the road..)

 Even with the twist and curves for all those miles it was still a beautiful drive.  It was so different from what we’ve seen before as we’ve traveled and it also gave us a chance to see “The Blue Agave” fields that seemed to go on forever,

crossing one mountain or hill and then on to the next…Man, just think of all that Tequila !!!

17 February 2010

After arriving and setting up the afternoon of the 15^th in Jocotepec, we were driven into town by Candy and Tom.  We had originally met Candy and Tom at the campground in Alamos and were quite surprised when we pulled up next to them today.  By the way, our GPS position for Google Earth is:  20.26664N,  103.42148W

We had originally planned to walk into town but Candy told us that they were just heading that way and they would love to show us a little of the town before they continue on to their destination…what could we say, “that really sounds great”, besides that would save us about a 45 minute walk.  The last time we were in Jocotepec was in 1990 with Bon and Doug.  Some of the town was so familiar and most of it was totally new.  We walked the market place, around some of the streets, and then out to the Plaza.  We were getting hungry and we knew that there must be a place on the Plaza that would fix our needs.  Sitting under one of the arched passageways was a place where we ate the last time we were here, although I’m sure that it wasn’t the “same place” as people and businesses move on.  This little restaurant offered a local dish called Birria which turned out to be goat meat in a “soupy” chili-de arbol (red sauce).  Served alongside we received a thicker tortilla than normal.  I used the tortilla to dunk into the sauce and Louise used it the correct way…taking the meat out of the “arbol” and placing it on the tortilla with a splash of lime.  I found this lunch to be really good, but for Louise it just wasn’t what she would have preferred.  I must tell you that I even finished her dish…  Lou’s hair had gotten to the point that she really needed a cut so we went looking for a local hairdresser to do the work.  We had no sooner left the salon and Louise started feeling lightheaded and nauseous.  Not this again, this was the 3^rd time and she was just about ready to throw the towel in.  We hurriedly found a cab that could rush us back to the motor home so that she could “suffer” in her own place and not in public.  Well that night and the next day wasn’t wonderful but the 3^rd morning she felt well enough that we decided to move onto our next destination.  The campground here in Jocatepec

was very nice, treed, wi-fi, 30amp service, quiet, and close enough and yet far enough to town that you got a good hike in getting there and back.  I made 2 more hikes into town after the first afternoon to do some shopping and while I was there I took a glance into the church on the plaza.

  As I mentioned earlier, we did recognize some of Jocatepec and this church was one that I really enjoyed seeing again.  Next time we’ll have to make it to the church before Louise gets something to eat…

13 February 2010

Arriving at this campground, we were wondering just how far out in “no man’s land” we were.  Hacienda Contreras RV Park is located about a 40 minute walk from Valle de Juarez and a 12 minute drive from Mazamitla.  Other –wise if you were to look at the larger green field using Google Earth at the GPS location of:    19.94312N,  102.96779W you’ll find us. 

Sal and Barb have a great campground here and are the “Host’s from Host’s Heaven”.  From the moment we met them it was like we were “family”.  The campground will hold the largest of large RV’s

 and unlike most Mexican campgrounds, be able to supply a true 30amp service, great drinking water with tons of pressure, and an easy to get at dump at each of the large level sites.   Do I sound like an advertisement, well it was…  for $125 pesos a night you just can’t beat this place.  The first day we just took the chance to be a little lazy until late morning and then we took a hike into Valle de Juarez.  Jauarez is a small town with a wonderful plaza filled with activity.  Standing high above the plaza is their architecturally beautiful church.  We hiked into town to do a little shopping at the open air market and find a place for a quick lunch.  With backpack filled and a couple of bags in hand, we headed back to the campground.  No sooner had we started than a pick-up pulled alongside and Barb called us over and offered a ride back…”welllll OK”.  On the way back, Barb was telling us about this great hike from Mazamitla that would take us down to a great waterfall.  Waterfall, we’re interested…

hike, we’re interested…  We were going to take the Minnie Winnie into Mazamitla but Barb and Sal thought we might be too large to make it through town, and besides, “we’ll be more than happy to pick you up and take you to the gate of the hiking area”.  9:30am and they were there to take us, so with backpacks filled, camera and extra batteries, and an extra jacket we were off.  When we arrived in Mazamitla it was obvious why I shouldn’t have brought our little Minnie.  Yes, we could have made it, but it would have been with a lot of inconvenience to us and those in town…these streets are REALLY narrow,

 and with a car or pickup parked…it would have been tough.  No sooner had we passed through the main part of town and we were heading down a steep cobblestoned road.  Down, up, turn sharp left, up, and then down for ever…  Finally we approached a gate.  This is where we were to get out and start our hike.  At first site I thought, “Well this isn’t going to be so bad”…  It wasn’t until we had walked on that cobblestone for a couple of miles going down a steep grade that I started to know that this was going to be a real hike.  Now the gate that was now a long way above us was set up for a “Community” of high-end country homes.  It just so happened that the stream flowing through their property was the water supplying the waterfall we were going to see.  So as we hiked on that cobblestone we were distracted by the beauty of most of the amazing country homes set before us.   At the end of the cobblestone and about 3 miles of downhill torture, we finally find a dirt and stone trail leading further down to the upper area of the falls.  This part of the trail really got steep as it stayed close to the falls until you reached the bottom.

  Now, a couple of pictures, a deep breath (hoping to be able to catch one…) and start the hike in reverse.  Remember, we’re still at 6500 feet and I’m really beginning to feel like I’m my age…  As we start our return to town, we come upon a couple of good salespeople…  Now Louise and I have never forgotten a time when we were hiking Mount Sinai In Egypt, and on the way up and down we were met by the “sales people” offering us an opportunity to “TAKE A CAMEL” to the top or the bottom…Well we had suffered so much after that hike that we always tell those that are looking at hiking Mt. Sinai to “TAKE THE CAMEL !!!”.  Well sitting before us a salesman and he’s offering us a ride…a ride on a horse.  I can hardly remember when I’ve been on a horse, and as far as Louise…she’s not a horse lover.

  But, a quick assessment of our hike down on cobblestones, and the altitude…we’ll take the horse.  Well first off, Louise has short legs and the stirrups just couldn’t accommodate her needs.  Second, my stirrups wouldn’t allow my foot to slip in all the way because of the WIDTH (that’s a first…).   So off we go.

  Everything was going pretty well while going uphill (and that was 90 percent of the time) but when we had to go down…well we both were forced into the horn of the saddle with a constant jamming motion making it very uncomfortable, and my toes being the only thing I was holding on with were about ready to leave me.  I don’t know how long we endured this torture but I’m still here to write about it and to tell you to “Leave the horse behind..”.  I wasn’t too sure I’d be able to dismount, or if I could, would I be able to continue our hike out to the town center so that we could find a place to have lunch and enjoy a mighty big cerveza.  The short of it is, we did make it to town, we did find a great restaurant, we/I had a huge cerveza, and we even took in a tour of the plaza

 and this unique church of their's. 

 The people that live in and around Mazamitla love this town and those that travel from Guadalajara and beyond keep coming back because it is a great and beautiful place.

12 February 2010

From Patzcuaro to Mazamitla…well if you really want to know where we are you can take this GPS location to Google Earth and check us out:  19.94312N,  102.96779W

Not too much to write about tonight.  We said our “Good-Bye’s” to our Patzcuaro camping buddies and headed for Mx 15.  We drove through a couple of towns we’d visited over the last couple of weeks (Tzintzuntzan and Quiroga) and then headed west by northwest for about 130 miles.  Tonight we’re sitting in the Hacienda Contreras RV Park.  It’s almost totally flat, has great power, water, and sewer hook-ups, and the largest sites we’ve been in so far in Mexico.  Today was a loonnnggg day…  We left Patzcuaro just before 10 and after driving the 130 miles we arrived here just past 5pm…130 miles in 7 hours.  What happened?  Well today’s roads were again narrow and twisty, a lot of climbing and a lot of down-hill, but on one hair-pin curve a large 18 wheeler lost control and “Jack-knifed”, blocking all the roadway.  Fortunately it was a single vehicle accident and no one was hurt except for the truck. 

 As we were starting to approach the accident, we were met by cars and trucks that were flashing their headlights at us warning us that there was something going on up ahead.  We continued until we came upon a Federal car with flashing lights.  At first we thought it might be another vehicle check station but then we saw the line of cars, trucks, and buses and knew that that was too large of a group for a regular vehicle check.  We sat in the line for about 5 minutes and then all of a sudden just about all of the cars and smaller trucks started making a “U-turn” and heading back the way they came.  Well we saw an opportunity to advance in line so we continued down the road.  Sitting there again for a couple of minutes and one of those Federal cars came by announcing for “CHICA automobiles” should follow him…well, we’re not the size of a class “A” motor home, so we must be a “CHICA” too.  After allowing 5 or 6 cars pass us, I jumped in line…  We passed “hundreds” of trucks and busses and a few cars that weren’t “Chica”, but we continued all the way to the very front and then we met a VERY SURPRISED “Federal” police officer…  His look was great but not so happy and smiling as I would have liked, fact is, he waved us over to the side of the road and called in support to talk with us (either he didn’t speak English or he just didn’t want to deal with us…who knows (I say with a smile on my face)?).  All I can say is this…we had front row seats for getting that 18 wheeler out of the ditch and roadway, AND we were FIRST in line to get the hell out of there 3 HOURS later.  Now you know what took us so long to travel the 130 miles. 

10 February 2010

We started the day with a half mile walk to the bus station to catch the bus to Morelia.  This 35 mile bus ride will take us about 1 hour with all the little stops along the way, this isn’t the Express…  it was a comfortable ride with the bus being about 80% full and us having to share the rear full bus length seat with just one other man.  When we pulled into the bus station at Morelia we were blown away.  This is “A Bus Station” !!!  There must have been 100 buses there, and they were all of the quality of the one we rode in on or better.  I’m sure that somewhere they still have the “chicken bus”, but so far we haven’t seen them.  Our bus was an “inter-city” bus, but when you get one of the cross country busses you get LUXURY and I do mean luxury.  In leaving the bus we were directed to the terminal (looked pretty 1^st class to us…) and then a short walk out to the waiting cabs.  Well we had been reading the Lonely Planet book again and we knew, or thought we knew, that we wanted a combi (white with a red stripe) that would whisk us off to our predetermined hotel.  As we walked out to the cab area, we noticed that there weren’t any combi’s to be had…ok, now what???  I asked a security guard as to where we might find one, and he immediately asked us with a smile…”Are you sure you want a combi and not a cab?”.  Well we should have gotten the idea that just maybe we were making a mistake by going with the combi, after all, we’re not the normal “Lonely Planet backpacker” in the big city.  Well we were told the combi’s can be found about a block away so off we went.  Sure as heck, here comes the red striped combi and it even has CENTRAL written across his windshield (the common practice).  When Louise and I jumped into the back of this older VW van we joined 2 other ladies heading towards the downtown area.  The cost for getting us from the bus station to Central was 5 pesos (.40 cents) each so we weren’t going to go broke riding to town.  About 20 feet into our ride and I told Louise that “something sounds like it’s ready to go..”, and sure enough about a mile later and 5 more people added, we’ve broken down.  Now that’s not a big deal as there was another combi right behind us and it was ready to handle our needs without a problem.  The only thing that we didn’t learn from the Lonely Planet book was that the red striped combi’s have a number system displayed on the front windshield too.  The number 1 took you directly to Central, while the others 2-6 traveled all the neighborhoods using a back and forth pattern to collect as many people as possible before finally getting to our destination.  What could have been a 15 minute ride turned out to be 40 minutes and we had a FULL combi too.  Now this reminded us of a college initiation prank, “how many students (paying customers) can you cram into a VW van…we had 17 plus the driver…DID WE WIN ANYTHING???  Finally arriving in the “Historical Center” of Morelia we were able to free ourselves of the combi and quickly search out a coffee shoppe.  Actually it was right on the corner of our departure, so finally somebody was looking out for us.  The coffee here in Mexico has really been good and this stop wasn’t any different.  Just outside of the doors was the “Presidents office” (the Governor of the state of Michoacán) and there was a peaceful demonstration happening.  One long block was completely blocked by demonstrators’, some sitting in the street and others pacing around.  Now first rule for a traveler in Mexico…”stay away from demonstrations”…well we’re inside right, what the heck can happen in there having a cup of coffee??  Fortunately nothing.  Finishing our coffee and checking out our map, we headed out to find our hotel.  Morelia is an easy city to get around in once you’ve gotten yourselves into the center.  We found the hotel, checked-in and immediately went out to see the sights.  Right across the street was the Morelia Museo Arte Colonial.

  In the early 1800’s this was a convent, but now its museum and a location for advanced musical arts.  As we roamed the floors we were constantly hearing someone playing or practicing the piano or some other instrument.  The art work was nice to see but the building was really the attraction…  A little further up the street and we were entering The Temple of San Jose.

  Seeing as how it was just a couple of blocks from our hotel, I waited for this night shot…it’s much more impressive this way.  Noon time has arrived and we were off to lunch.  Two blocks behind the hotel was Morelia’s huge Cathedral

and a close-by restaurant that more than satisfied our hunger.  About a mile further down the main street (Ave Madero) we found the Fountain los Tarascas

 and the beginning of the 4 mile long Aqueduct that was built in the 17^th century.

  Just past the college, we were facing the Patriota Morelos statue.

  This was an impressive man and is still revered in the minds of the Mexican people of Morelia.  Across the plaza was the most beautiful church (my opinion..) that we’ve encountered so far…Santuario de Guadalupe.

  Especially the interior, it was amazing… 

 Well a couple more hours of walking Morelia and we were ready for bed and our departure back to Patzcuaro in the morning.  This time we’re taking the Luxury coach…its 8 pesos (64 cents) more…we’re being big spenders now. 

9 February 2010

This morning there was a group of us from the campground that gathered into a Chevy van and headed into Tzintzuntzan (tseen-tsoon-tsahn) to see and enjoy the Fiesta del Senor del Rescate.  This “Fiesta” started last Monday and would continue to Friday with a huge fireworks display,

 but today was “Judgment day” for the local artisans who brought their finest works of art to be judged.  Most of the day’s celebration took place in front of the two old churches

 in and among the beloved olive grove.  These old, very old, olive trees were brought to Tzintzuntzan by Vasco de Quiroga and are believed to be the oldest olive trees in the Americans. 

 The trunks look broken and black but are still producing new branches with fruit each year.  Tzintzuntzan, or “Place of the Hummingbirds” in Purepecha, was the Tarascan capital when copper blades helped the Tarascans defeat the invading Aztecs in the late 15^th century.  Sitting high on a hill overlooking Largo (Lake) Patzcuaro and the now location of Tzintzuntzan, is the archeological site of Las Yacatas.

  It’s an impressive group of 5 round, reconstructed temples.  This is the remains of the Tarascan Empire.  Over all the countries and miles we’ve traveled this is not the most impressive, but with today’s town below and some of the people of it still being direct descendents make it impressive enough.  Our drive took us 35 minutes at road speed, but all along the route we saw family after family making a pilgrimage by walking the whole distance.  This pilgrimage had been taking place from last Monday and will continue onto Friday, day and night…and we think we’re tough.

  Food stands were setup and operating everywhere.  Most were setup in the park amongst the olive trees

 but there were so many more all along the street entering into town and up and down the streets of Tzintzuntzan. 

 Blessings were being taken into the Templo de Nuestra Senora de la Salud

 from many of the Purepecha people of the area…some food, some wine, and some with large bouquets of flowers.  Outside of the church there were gatherings of young people in different dress.  Some were dressed as evil and others in gowns of white with gold headdresses.  All mixed together in a kind of shuffle dance that went in a large circle for the longest time.  Then there was the large group of young that were dressed in their best suits for the boys and white gowns for the girls.  They were there for their confirmation and blessings.  One display of food products we haven't seen was the honey dipped squash.

Anoher thing we haven't seen before during "picnics" or fiesta's...a cooking fire built right on the ground of the park...

Overall it was a great fiesta and one that we’re glad we didn’t miss.  With all the different good food around us, Louise and I decided to find a “restaurant” and enjoy a lunch away from the masses and give us a chance to sit down for awhile.  We went walking up this one street that was covered from wall to wall with vendors offering food to handmade trinkets, hats, and d even Christmas decorations hoping to find just the right place.  I just happened to look between two food vendors when I saw a hallway leading to a courtyard and a long table where people were sitting and eating.  Taking Louise’s hand, we walked back and asked if they had a place to eat and a place to sit in the shade…  Everyone kind of looked at each other and motioned for us to take a chair across the table, which happened to be in the shade.  I noticed that we had moved two young men out of their seats, but that didn’t seem to disturb them at all so we moved in.  Now no sooner had we been seated than we had a large bowl of Pozole (soup) was set before us…now we hadn’t placed our order yet and we hadn’t seen the menu yet either, but we had this bowl of soup.  Now it was about this time that I noticed that no one else was eating, just us and they seemed to be getting a kick out of it…”OK, what is this???”  “Are you all family???”  We had walked into THEIR HOME and like no one else, had even asked to SIT IN THE SHADE…  Once we found out what we had done, it was a good laugh for everyone but they weren’t going to let us go without having a good lunch and in the shade at that.  These people here in Mexico are wonderful and we’ll never forget it. 

9 February 2010

Quiroga… I must admit, it sometimes becomes more of a mumble from me as I try to pronounce some of the village and town names here in Mexico…Quiroga…  We’ve been trying to see as many of the towns around the lake as we can before we leave, and there’s good reason for it.  Each and every town and village is really unique, but yet so much the same.  Quiroga is a much larger town than Patzcuaro and has one of the largest markets in all the area of Michoacan, with the exception of Morelia.  They are the second largest in producing and marketing shoes in all of Mexico.  Their also known for their “carnitas” (chunks of slow cooked pork).  Louise and I hailed a combi and headed out for a Sunday afternoon in Quiroga.  Seeing as how we had a drive of 25 minutes or more, it cost us a whole 8 pesos each (about 65 cents).  When we arrived in town, we were let out about 4 blocks from the central and more exciting part of town.  As we looked up into town we saw why…it was one heck of a busy day at the market

 and the whole town was a buzz.  This gave us a chance to walk right up the middle of the market with shops (or little stalls) branching off to the right and the left for a block or two each way.  Hidden in the middle we found a pathway leading into the church were a service was being held.

  Finally we hit a “T” in the road and found ourselves facing a beautiful plaza that was filled with people having a great time walking hand-n-hand, necking, eating at anyone of a hundred (only an estimate..)little eating establishments, enjoying several entertainers who were playing their guitars, or playing their guitars and dancing all around the plaza area.

  It wasn’t only a great way to spend a Sunday with family and friends, it was a party under the “Sun”…  I mentioned that Quiroga was known for their carnitas and you couldn’t get into the plaza without passing one stand after another all across the front of the plaza and each and every one of them was trying to hand you a sample of their sumptuous delights.  You could eat enough of the free samples to make a complete dinner if you wanted, but we came to town to find and enjoy a molcajetes.

  Traveling the way we do, we quite often reach for our Lonely Planet Mexico book to give us direction and information, and this was one of the finer things we’ve found using their book.  Taqueria los Compadres is a little hole in the wall eatery that we had a little trouble finding, but once found…one word…”MOLCAJETES”.  Quiroga is a great town to visit, but I would recommend that it be a Sunday, it’s when things really get going.  You can find great values in almost anything you might be or not be looking for, especially if you’re looking for anything in leather …Have fun. 

6 February 2010

I wanted to add a page to our journal that shows some additional pictures that were left out of our past posts.

As I had mentioned before, the villages/towns that surround Lago de (Lake) Patzcuaro have some wonderful crafts that they market throughout Mexico and parts of the US.  Whether it is wood or stone carvings, straw weaving, or handcrafted wood furniture, you’ll have lots of selection to choose from.  A “small” example are these wooden masks…

This is one of the many local homes here in Patzcuaro.  It’s when you get on the other side of the door that you really see the “home”. ..

This is one of two floors of what is now one of the local museums.  That that is separating the flat stone flooring is cattle ankles.  They have even used them at the entry of their homes for cleaning the bottom of their shoes…

This crucifix is made out of corncob paste.  They take the corncobs and adding water, they grind them down to produce a thick paste.  Then the artist forms his subject and paints it.  This was done back in the late 1700’s to make a crucifix that can be carried in processions.  It weighs just less than 25 pounds and stands a total of 8 feet…

A lot of shops are located in buildings that date back to the 16^th century and are hidden from the street by a single door that seems so old and dilapidated that it would be impossible to open, but once opened you find a hallway that leads you to a series of different shops located around some wonderful gardens including trees like this orange tree loaded to the hilt…

As we walk the plazas or the porticos of Patzcuaro, we have never had a problem in finding a pastry cart or more…

Then we have found that this campground is a teaching campground.  They have a class on “stilt” walking.

  Those that are taking lessons are either doing it for “kicks” or for the opportunity to walk as a “Clown” in some of the local festivities. 

This morning we jumped onto a combi for the bus station.  We’d heard so much about Santa Clara de los Clara that we decided to see it for ourselves and take the bus higher into the mountain to check it out.

  Santa Clara was about a 20 minute drive but with all the small stops we had for picking up more passengers, it took us at least 40 minutes.  As we were climbing further up the side of the mountain, we could look back on Lago de Patzcuaro and the Isle Janitzio.  We were totally grateful that we had a clear day to head out after being held in because of the drenching rains.  Here I am feeling sorry for myself and from what we’re hearing, the people here in this part of Mexico have been hit very hard with flooding and slides.  We even heard that there was a tornado that passed about 60 miles east of us that killed 4.  Getting back to Santa Clara de los Cobras.  In 1553 it became the most important copper smelting area in “New Spain”.  It was in the 19^th century that production of copper peaked and it was in the 19^th century that the town was destroyed by a huge fire.  In 1910 it burned again and just about everyone left the area for good, that is except the Purepecha’s.  The copper mines were quick to be tapped out so the only way for the craft to continue was to purchase recycled copper.  Cable and wire were and still are purchased in heavy volume from Mexico, the US, and other countries abroad.  Over 10,000 TONS of copper come out of the smelter to Santa Clara each WEEK.  It was very interesting to watch the artists handle the blocks of solid copper and transform that blob into a piece of beauty and function.

  Santa Clara, being another of the “Colonial” cities whose casa’s (houses) are mostly painted white with a red band across the front of it, and sport a red tiled roof.  A lot of the time the front of the home becomes a store front.

 The thickness of the adobe walls is amazing (that is all except the “newer” homes) at 2 to 3’ thick.  I’m sure you’ve already noticed, but we really enjoy the wonderful churches of Mexico 

and the two that we visited today were again special.  Notice the wood ceilings and the copper chandeliers.

  Many of the homes here are decorated with bells, flowerpots, doorknockers, hand railings, all mad of copper.  The kiosk in the middle of town (the plaza)

 has a copper roof, but the benches, garbage cans, and light poles only look like copper as they have been painted.  Throughout Santa Clara you will find shops filled with amazing pieces of “art”, already for someone to walk into the establishment with cash in hand and be able to take home that perfect copper bath tub, kitchen and bath sinks, and etc, etc. 

 Now let’s talk lunch… Louise and I were enjoying this one copper shop and the young man managing it when I asked if he would recommend a restaurant with good local foods.  He told me about the Hotel Rio that was about 3 blocks down the street.  Well his recommendation was great and the food was worth twice what we paid.  The daily recommended lunch was a 4 course affair starting with soup.  I chose the fish soup and Louise the tomato tortilla, which both were amazing.  If you notice, the whole fish is cut in half and sits in my bowl very nicely.

Totally we ate as much we could hold without becoming stuffed, which meant we passed on dessert…next time. 

2 February 2010

All across Mexico the rain, hail, thunder and lightning has made its mark and here at Pátzcuaro it’s proved no different.  Now coming from Seattle I should be used to rain, but when it comes down so hard and for so long, and since we’re travelers and wanting to see as much of this wonderful area as we can, we’d like to see it STOP!!! 

Even while we were traveling through Europe we had days where the weather just wanted to “dictate” our agenda.  At times we succumbed and stayed bundled up in the VW van, AND we’ve found that we have chosen to do the same here in our Minnie Winnie.  Well you can only do that for sooo long and you’ve got to bust out.  That’s what we did yesterday.  The tug of getting out of our 160 sq.ft enclosure and with the rain becoming more of a sprinkle, we layered our clothes, dug out the umbrella, and headed into Pátzcuaro.  We knew we didn’t want to walk the 20-30 minutes into town so we opted to hail a “combi”.  For $5 pesos each we were driven almost door to door and it only took 10 minutes.  Just to remind you what a combi is, it’s a Toyota or similar VW van that has been made into a short delivery bus system that carries up to 12 sitting and as many as 15 with those standing.  For our trip we joined 5 others so it was very comfortable.  During the drive there were two ladies that were holding a conversation about their family and Louise was having (and feeling guilty) a good time trying her Spanish listening ability.  Well by the time we got out of our coach and arrived at the “chica” plaza it was either another coffee break or minutes early for lunch…lunch won out.  The only reason that I am writing about this is for what I had chosen from the menu.  Sorry I can’t remember what it was called, but…scrambled eggs, peppers, whole but very tiny fish (the length about 1 ¼”) all scrambled together in a Verde sauce. 

 We saw these fish at every restaurant on our trip to Isle Janitzio, and it seems that they are only second to Pescado Blanco in this area.  I found this dish to be really good, a little spicy, but I’d so it again without a second thought.  Louise stuck with Huevos Rancheros.  With our 12V electrical system giving us a “challenge” we decided to find a small table lamp.  On our first couple of outings we struck out, but today we hit pay-dirt…a small white lamp and a 22w fluorescent to give us exactly what we wanted.  For the last week we’ve heard about a festival at one of the little villages around Lake Patzcuaro.  Tocuaro, which is near Erongaricuaro on the western shore of the lake, is known for its mask carvers.  These artisans do their work and sales out of their homes.  Another artisan product that is produced at Tocuaro is embroidered textiles.  Now, the festival that we’d heard about was the special celebration on February 2^nd, “Candlemas Day”.  It’s celebrated throughout Mexico with parades, dances, and a festival.  It’s important in the Mexican calendar with the birth of Jesus and the midpoint of winter and spring.  Besides candle-light processions to the church for service, they follow that with big parties with family, friends, and loved ones.  During the gathering and before entering the church, the courtyard in front is invaded with men wearing carved wooden masks

(locally carved) of skulls, devils, very imaginative birds, serpents, lizards, and things like frogs.  They are all carved out of Copilillo (a wood only found in Michoacan) and Avocado wood.  They encircle a group of young boys and girls that are holding these huge poles decorated with white linen and flowers and try as best as they can to disturb them and the crowd that’s encircling all.

  Unfortunately the heavy rain appeared again, but to those that came to celebrate it didn’t hurt a thing.   

I’ll step back to earlier in the day… After brunch, purchasing our lamp, and scouting out more of Patzcuaro, we headed back to the coach.  Louise and I had decided to try and find that “possible” festival a Tocuaro.  The couple next door was asked to join us so the 4 of us went out to find a combi that would take us.  For $8 pesos each we were underway.  We were let out beside the roadway and told that the cobblestone/dirt road across the street would take us to the village of Tocuaro.  We had met this young lady on the combi and seeing as how she was going our way, we followed along.  When we approached her home she told us that “if you need anything, this is where I live, just come and get me, but the village and the church is just up the road”…that’s the hospitality we’ve found all over Mexico.  Like she said, the church was just up the road,

 and they were in the process of getting ready for the festival.

  Soooo, now what?  No sooner had that thought come up when we heard a band playing.  Where there’s music, there’s a gathering and we should be a part of it.  Well we no sooner found the music and the crowd, but we found ourselves being invited into “The Mayor’s” personal property for one heck of a festival.  They had a large brass ensemble playing great Mexican music,

tables filled with people from the village drinking beer and tequila, and being fed a wonderful meal of beef, rice, and beans.  With no way of saying “I can’t, or I’m sorry for interrupting”, we were escorted to a place under a lean-to, encouraged to sit while a huge portion of food was set before us,

 and a case of beer was on its way…”WHAT A FESTIVAL !!!” If we weren’t family or part of the village, we were welcomed friends.  In this area, the people are not only artisans, mayors, or whatever, they are people with farm animals, and that is where the lean-to comes in…it was a cover for the stock.  Yes it smelled a little, looked a little rough, but it was cover from the rain and it was a “FESTIVAL”.  Now I’m not sure if you can tell from this photo of the little girl, but this it the “two-hole’r”.

  We only saw women using it and can only guess were the men went or is it that men can just hold it longer…  Well on another subject, who is that lady with the pink hat dancing with that Mexican gentleman?

  Oh ya, on another subject which I’m happy to be around for, was a 70^th birthday toast with churro’s… 

31 January 2010

This morning Louise and I walked the mile and a half to the “muelle” (dock) and caught one of the morning blue and white 40’ long water-taxi’s for a 30 minute ride to the Isla Janitzio (you can see the island at Google Earth coordinates of :  19.57361°N 101.65194°W ).

The town of Janitzio, which means “where it rains” (hell, does this mean that Seattle has to change its name ????) can only be reached by boats.  The water taxis run from a number of locations around the lake, but the primary departure location is from the embarcadero (pier) here in Patzcuaro.

  The Isla of Janitzio is famous for the “Butterfly” fishermen who are skilled at lowering their butterfly-shaped nets to catch the local “pescado blanco”. 

Fact is that’s exactly what Louise and I had for lunch and it was very tasty…  I read that the butterfly fishermen are also located on the back side of the 50 peso note…how interesting.  Besides the butterfly fishermen being a draw to the island, there is a 40 meter (132 feet) statue of Jose maria Morelos. 

 He was and still is a great hero of Mexico’s independence.  This statue was started in 1933 and has been a major draw for the Mexican tourist ever-since.  It sits at the very top of the island and can be seen from just about any point around this huge lake.  You can climb to the top of the statue by way of a staircase that spirals up the inside.

  Most of the interior walls show the life of Morelos in murals painted by Ramon Alba de la Canal and others.  The murals are great works of art but are also is a good Mexican history lesson.  Once you finally reach the top of the statue (which the last few yards are climbing through a narrow staircase up the raised arm to his wrist) you can peer through “peepholes” (areas with just enough room to get your head through) to view the spectacular view of the island, lake and the surrounding villages and towns around the lake. 

 Some of the people of Janitzio and the towns surrounding  The island is a primary location for the variety of handmade textiles and artwork being sold around this area.  There is one time that I think would really be interesting to be around the island.  That is when they celebrate the “El Dia de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead).  Part of this festivity are the candlelit boat processions that make their way to the island and then to Janitzio’s church and graveyard (jeeezzz, I missed getting the picture of this cemetery, it was really very pretty).  After remaining there for the night and enjoying the large festive vigil, we can only imagine the “imbibing that was and is involved…what a party!!! 

We had heard that once you depart the boat, you start your hike…STRAIGHT UP HILL!!!!  That is no bull, and if you remember, we’re at 7200 feet already…PUFF PUFF.  Well I think we did really well.  Did we have to stop and catch our breath??? Oh ya, but not all that many times.  Almost every step you took would land you in front of another little shop

that was always there ready for your break.  It’s amazing how many little shops that are selling just so many of the same products can survive through the day.  I’m afraid we didn’t help the economy of the island much…$40 pesos each for the found trip taxi ride, $6 each for entry to the statue, and lunch of $100 pesos ($8 US)…That was our full day today, and it was really enjoyable. 

29 January 2010

Waking this morning at 48 degrees was somewhat a little shock, as for the last 2 ½ months it’s been no less than 68 degrees.  The next shock came to us as we walked into Patzcuaro.  As I mentioned in yesterdays entry, we’re now camping at 7200 feet above sea-level and walking into the city showed just what that altitude can do to you if you’re not used to it.  Louise and I have walked and hiked quite a bit but when you move up from sea-level and the next day you’re walking up hill at this altitude you feel it.  As we walked into Patzcuaro we knew that this stay was going to be wonderful.

  So much of the city is either uphill or down so you really don’t get much rest unless you find a great place to have a cappuccino.  2 cappuccinos and a plate of cookies at a neat little sidewalk location cost us $60 pesos or about $4.50 US.

  Sitting across the street of “Plaza Grande” offered us a great place to people watch and enjoy the architecture of this beautiful Colonial City.  It also made us perfect targets for vendors…this merchant was selling fans…

We arrived in town about 10am and by the time we had walked and hiked a lot of the cobblestone streets of the city

 we found ourselves finally resting with a glass of wine in the coach at 5:30.  For a city of more than 40,000, we found a Basilica

and more than 5 additional churches with incredible historical and architectural beauty. 

 What is being used as the “Library” is the shell of 16^th century San Agustin church.

  On the rear wall there is a massive mural that was painted by Juan O’Gorman that depicts the history of Michoacán to the 1910 revolution.

  On our way up to the Basilica we walked by this lady selling straw brooms, brushes, and hats.  You know, we had a huge need for a small whisk broom and they had one for $5 pesos (40 cents) that would do perfectly so I gladly put one into my backpack…  As we walked toward this one very narrow road, we encountered a huge traffic jam.  Ninety percent of the traffic jam were cabs or small buses called “combies” and they were all heading deep into the market area.

  This market was small enough to find things and large enough to get lost in.  The isles were tight with people being crammed together because the merchandize was being displayed so deep into the isle that you had to push it aside to get by.  A little later we finally found our way out into the daylight again but right into another market…a used and new clothing market that gave those that have little monies to spend on clothes have a place to find things in their budget.  Next on our list was a hike up to an overlook above the city. 

 We missed it the first time we were in the neighborhood but now we had more complete directions.  This also gave us an opportunity to visit the “Casa de los’ Once Patios”.  This was a Dominican convent in the 1740’s and one of Mexico’s first hospitals.  (the round window on the wall looks out or into the bath tub for the convent). 

 Today the building is being used by the many different village craftsmen/women who come into Patzcuaro to produce and market their beautiful handmade goods. 

28 January 2010

We left the tropics and headed for the high mountains.  In just 4 ½ hours we went from sea-level to 7200 feet, or to look at it another way, from 72-85 degree days to 45-72 degrees here at Patzcuaro.  We have found ourselves covered with our BIG blankets at night and still hovering together for warmth in the mornings.  We’ve even fired up the furnace…  I know, why the hell did we head up into the hills???  Wellll, it’s a long story but I’ll try to make it short, we thought it might be nice to get away from the sun and heat for awhile.  Crazy?  Yep, it is…  You can find us on Google by using these coordinates :   19.53397N,  101.61030W 

We found ourselves camping at this great rv park, The Hotel Villa Patzcuaro and RV Park.  It’s small, has all the hook ups, no bugs (it’s too damn cold), and sits within a 20 minute walk of one of Mexico’s most amazing cities….Patzcuaro.  Well if you haven’t heard of it don’t knock yourself out because I hadn’t either, but again, I don’t get around very much.  I’ll fill you in on what we find but it looks like we’ve got ourselves in for a heck of a week or more of exploring. 

26 January 2010

You can find us camping in Zihua  (Zihuatanejo) by using Google at  17.63208N,  101.54655

We really had no idea of what we’d find here in “Zihua” (Zee-Wa) and we’re pleasantly surprised.  The drive here was un-eventful with the exception that Louise wasn’t feeling good.  She woke this morning with a bad stomachache but wanted to continue on for the larger city, sick or not.  This stuck with her for a couple of days and fortunately she’s now back to normal.  We’ve been using the Camp Mexico book by the Church’s, so when we decided which campground we wanted to check-in to we headed directly to it.  Of course with Louise not feeling well, I was receiving my directions from the back of the coach.  Well that can and did create some problems and sure as heck I got us off track and found myself negotiating my way directly through the city.  Again we found ourselves really lucky we didn’t have the other coach on this trip.  It doesn’t make much difference whether you’re negotiating the larger cities or a small village, the infrastructure wasn’t set up for the larger motor homes.  Anyway, I did find our way to the campground but upon entering it we were told “We’re completely full…”.  After talking with the management, it was determined that ALL the campgrounds were filled with possibly one exception… Mary’s Restaurant/Campground.  It is really small but the location is primo.  We drove from the full campground to find Mary’s but immediately found ourselves just one block off…  the problem with making this mistake is we now have to back out.  We drove so far down into this very narrow road with cars parked on both sides, the only way out was to back out…  We even drew a crowd along the sidewalk, most likely taking bets on whether I make it or not without taking a door or mirror off of someone’s car.  Luck was with me as I backed out of the trouble spot and made the turn so that I could now make it over to Mary’s.  There is only one other motor home here and this coach stays here year around.  Mary’s would only hold 3 RV’s with hook-ups, but there is enough space for about 6 total.

  When we go to the beach we walk through Mary’s restaurant or the mini-market and walk down the corridor about 50 feet to the beach. 

 It’s quiet (except when the “guard dogs” start barking”) and it’s secure.  We can catch a cab for $30 pesos or a bus for $5 to Zihua and they are both at the end of the block.  Zihua is a wonderful city to find just about anything you might want and is easy to find your way around as a pedestrian.  There is an Artisans Market

 and a Farmers Market in the city and we’ve enjoyed both of them. 

 This morning we heard that a turtle had come up onto the beach just in front of us and was laying her eggs.  We couldn’t get ourselves around the corner fast enough to see her in the nest, but we were there to watch as she made her way back into the sea.  What an amazing sight…

  We were also amazed to find a cruise ship in the harbor this morning.  Hell, it just about filled the complete opening.  Since we’ve been here we’ve walked down to the beach each night to watch the sun setting. 

 Tonight wasn’t an exception except that once we hit the beach we saw the darn cruise ship blocked that too.  All wasn’t lost as the view of the ship with the sun setting behind it turned out to be worthwhile after all.

  We were also here when Mary’s hired a young man to climb the Coconut trees and remove all the coconuts…glad it was him and not me. 

 He was paid $5 pesos for each coconut that he removed.  He’s sure not going to get rich doing that.  $5 pesos is about $.40 US.  I would guess he took down 20-25 and then the restaurant takes them and sell’s them for $25 pesos as a coconut.  A quick blow with a machete, a carefully placed straw, and your enjoying that drink of coconut milk. 

20 January 2010

Google us at Playa Azul :  17.98138 N,  102.35337W 

Tough drive today with winding roads and beautiful lookouts to the sea.  Now don’t let the “tough drive” conger up something terrible, because it wasn’t.  It was just a drive like a lot of the others we’ve driven down this western coastline of Mexico...as a driver you can’t take your eyes off the road for a minute.  If it isn’t the narrowness, trucks and cars coming around the corners on your side, cars and smaller delivery trucks passing you on hills and corners or both, topes…hell, they just put them everywhere.  Even worse, they seem to look for an area for the topes where a tree casts a shadow all day long and when you are driving out of the sun and into the shade, you just don’t see those damn things if you’re not watching closely.  So far, I’ve only hit 3 or 4 and every one of those was spotted but a second too late to come to a complete stop…no damage done YET.  We left “Hippy Dome” and are now at Playa Azul (Blue Beach).  This is more like a little town than a village like last night, but it is little anyway.  The campground that we were looking for happened to be in the parking lot of one of the hotels, but the “Inn was full”.  So we went looking for a place to park that would be “safe” and free.  About a block further down we saw a road that ended right on the beach and it had a large palapa restaurant on each side.  I pulled in to the dead-end street with the hood of the van sitting right on the beach.  I found one young guy that I thought I could talk with and ask if there might be a problem for us to over-night.  “Nada problema Amigo”…  Well we’re in for another night of camping and this one was free.  After getting set-up and moving the beach chairs out in front of the coach, I went over and purchased a couple of cerveza for the hospitality.  This beach kind of reminded us of the beach at Longbeach, Washington.  The major difference was the temperature of the water and the surrounding air.  Now the idea that there was something alike was the way the waves washed over the sand.  It wasn’t one of those crashing high surf board waves, and it wasn’t one of those beaches that you could walk out a short distance and be swimming.  This beach wave started way out there and it would take a day to reach depth enough to get wet.  Now the sand, it was sooooo fine that it was almost impossible to get completely off of your skin or anything else that it came in contact with.  Not one of our favorite beaches. 

19 January 2010

After leaving San Patricio-Malaque this morning, we found our way south to a little village alongside Hwy 200 called Maruata, Michoacán.  Our coordinances for using Google Earth to find us are:  18.26950N,  103.34748W.  Before getting there we were treated to some of the most winding and twisting narrow 2 lane roads yet. 

 If it wasn’t for the tall trees and brush that push you so far into the center of the road, it might not be so bad.  When the roads did open up, we were treated to some wonderful views of the Pacific beaches far below,

 and the mountainsides filled with orchards of bananas, papaya groves, coconut plantations, and other “tropical” crops. 

 The books tell us that this is a sleepy little beach front community of Maruata, survives mostly on fishing and they have some beautiful rock outcroppings that sit picture perfect just off shore.  It seems that the vultures have found the wonders of Maruata as well…it must be the right place.  

 We had to wind our way along the beach and through a mass of pangas that spent their day out fishing the close-in waters.  It was evident that fishing is still good here in Maruata with all the fish being carried away by those that dropped a line in the clear waters around us. 

 When we dropped off Hwy 200, we found our way to the beach by following a cobblestoned roadway through the village and then onto the tire tracks dug deep in the hard sand.  Once at the beach we were amazed at the amount of palapa roofed structures that lined the shore.  Some were obviously beach side restaurants, but others seemed to have been converted into small homes with a covered palapa patio in-between. 

It’s just one of the small homes with the covered patio that we found ourselves parked for the night. We weren’t the only “campers” here.  I would guess that over the area along the water’s edge, there were 2 dozen tent campers.  These campers found their way here by bus or hitchhiking, but they’re here.  A few years ago these people would have been called “hippies”.  Once we found the right spot, I approached the young man who was swinging in his hammock, and asked if we could park for the night…Si, $20 pesos each ($3.20 total).  Well we don’t have any hook-ups but we’ll do just fine.  We took the patio chairs out to the beach and enjoyed the last moments of the sun while having a cerveza and a coke and enjoyed people watching as they prepared the boats for tomorrow morning and/or bragging about the days catch with each other.  When we first pulled onto the beach we noticed quite a number of young people sitting in a circle in front of their tents.  Being Mr. and Mrs. Social we made our way over to see if we could converse with them.  As it turned out, in this group of 12, there were 5 different countries represented.  And in this group of 12, all were in their late teens to early 20’s and all were enjoying a weed.  Now they weren’t bashful about it, in fact they invited us to join in with them… (Did we or didn’t we???).  After the sun had set and we hadn’t made a move to see were or if we would be able to find a place to eat, we wondered down the beach looking for a place where the lights were on and the tables were set.  Unfortunately we were out of luck.  The only one that came close was one that was already pulling up the table clothes and heading home (the lived there too).

Well we didn’t go hungry after all.  During our search we found ourselves following another couple that wasn’t going to give up on finding that certain little restaurant.  Fortunately for us, this young lady was from Mexico City and not only felt she could find all of us a restaurant, she was diligent…  We found the only place that was “almost open”

and they agreed to feed all four of us even if they were closed for the night. 

18 January 2010

On Saturday, after spending most of the day floating in the surf, we joined Keith and Louise for an adventure into the back part of town.  Waaaayyyy back in San Patricio you can find a large “Lounge” that has some of the loudest music I’ve ever had penetrate my ears and enjoy my first  “Drag Show”…  We thought we would arrive a little early and get our choice of table, but 2 hours early was a bit much.  But once there and settled in, we made ourselves comfortable and waited for the rest of the crowd to arrive.  This did give us a chance to do some people watching, especially the kind of “people” that take in this sort of show at this time of day…5pm.  Now remember, we arrived at 3:30 and we’re wondering about THOSE people ???  Well, when the first BUCKET (12 cerveza) arrived (a bucket of 4 cerveza each was the way you had to order) we were first taken back, but then you had to order your food to go along with it.  What were available were small dishes of peanuts, tostados (2), or a quesadilla, one order per person.  Now we didn’t understand this at first, but the food was a part of the purchase with the cerveza.  As you might imagine (for those that know Keith and Louise and us) finishing the bucket wasn’t much of a big deal, but ordering a second….well the show hasn’t started yet…  No sooner had we started into our second bucket and the music (still blaring) changed, and the “Show” has started.  We’ve seen Drag Queens at Capital Hill in Seattle, but these girls? wereq

uite attractive and had outstanding singing voices (they were lip-synching).  Anyway, we were totally entertained for an additional 2 hours by 4 Queens who sang, danced,

 and told some incredible jokes.  Unfortunately we didn’t understand a word as they were all in Spanish, but we still laughed our heads off knowing, or thinking we knew, what they were saying.  We didn’t feel we could walk away from the club if we were to stay for the next show, so we gathered our legs under us and made our way back to the coach, knowing we had had a full day.  Now we’ve got nothing to do but wait for the next morning to arrive so that we can start something new and exciting. 

Sunday started off by taking the laundry in to the Laundromat and heading to the beach for another half day of a little swimming, floating, and eating some wonderful food from the local establishments.  Speaking of food, Keith and Louise are staying at a campground about a 20 minute walk down the beach from our campground, and they have invited us to join them for a pot-luck of hors d’orves (sp) and drinks.

  Louise put together a cheese spread and crackers dish and we headed out.  The campground that they’re at has been very “sociable” and have put together outings like this the whole time they’ve been there.  Our campground on the other hand has been sociable if you’re Canadian…  On the up-side of our campground is the location.  We’re located  within 30 yards of town center which gives us access to all the restaurants and other stores of need or not, and they are situated between the sea with a HUGE surf and a large lagoon which is totally covered with green plants, crocodiles, and mosquitoes.  As always, choices, choices, choices. 

14 January 2010

San Patricio had their “Street Market” today and we were up early to see if we could find some BARGAINS…  This wasn’t a small market.  It spread up one road for about 4 blocks and then branched off two others for a couple of blocks each.  This was a market for selling everything except fruits and veggies and it was packed with a good turnout.  There were some great buys and there was the normal “junk”,

but Louise was able to sort through and find just what she needed. Well almost…she bought 4 swimming suits for $40 pesos each (about 3.50 US) and 3 pairs of shorts for the same price.  The only thing is the shorts were mismarked for size so she’ll have to find someone that they will fit and make a gift of them.  As for me, I went, I saw, and I left…early.  On the way back to the coach I came upon a lunch bar that is located in a pedestrian alleyway.  This alleyway is somewhat of a market as well.  It’s permanent and filled mostly with little restaurants serving at walk-up eating bars.  Other stalls in the market sell all kinds of fresh meats.  I sat down on my little barstool and had a great “Torta” (a sandwich of BBQ’D pork on a heated bolio).  Louise and Keith dropped by and let us know that they had made a reservation at AVA’S for dinner is we wanted to join them.  There was going to be a Elvis impersonator and they had heard that he was pretty good but just in case, the table they chose was right next to the door.  With Keith being under the weather the last couple of days, he really wanted to get out good show or not.  We were to meet them at 7 so that gave us a few hours of beach time.  The surf has been pretty quiet for the last 2 or 3 days but about every 7^th to 8^th set there comes a couple that really fly high into the air and then slap down hard with a crash.  I was already in the water and floating about 40 yards off the beach when Louise walked to the water’s edge.  I saw her step forward and then back a couple of times trying to judge the surf and then she made her move….”NOT NOW !!!!”  She didn’t hear me and she never knew what hit her…  I lost sight of her when the wave flew high into the air and then there she was, standing but struggling with the wave trying to take her in, sun glasses askew, still clutching her “noodle”, and now totally drenched.  I have to say, seeing as how she wasn’t hurt (except her pride…), it was pretty funny.   We did have a good float and we did enjoy just sitting on our beach chairs people watching, and we did get back into the surf.  All is good. 

We met Keith and Louise later at Ava’s, ordered our drinks and dinner, and waited for the show to begin. 

 About the time our dinner arrived so did Elvis.  The last time we were before an Elvis impersonator we were really disappointed but this time it was pretty good entertainment.  Elvis was a Mexican and had a good voice, but had a lot of trouble with the words. 

 His song selection included a few of Elvis’s and a lot of other artists.  We stayed long enough to enjoy the company of our host’s, a few drinks, and “some” of our dinners.  We also spent a little time on the dance floor

 before making our walk back home.  It was great to enjoy the evening with Keith and Louise again and to see him feeling better. 

12 January 2010

They tell us “this is not the norm”…  It rained again last night and is sprinkling now (2pm).  The skies are high clouds and the forecast for tomorrow and Thursday is clear and 85.  I guess we can put up with it.  I’ve got to introduce you to our next door neighbor:  His name is Jefe (the Boss) and he is 2 1/2 months old.  He is a “rescue dog” and has found a new home….Say Hola, Jefe… 

This morning Louise and I took a long walk around town by using the back roads.  Mexico is amazing and predictable as well.  Predictable in that you will always find the little “market” or grocery store and you will always find the little “restaurant” on every other block.  Sometimes the grocery store is no more than a little casa (home) with the front window taken out and the living room walls are covered with goods for sale through that window.  Other times it is a  stand-alone 20x20 building with one or two aisles to choose your items from.  The restaurants are somewhat the same… a couple of tables set up in front of their home and the family is all set to serve the daily special (most often a beef taco).  This afternoon we came upon a small bakery (Panaderia).  We have used Panaderia’s in the past but this one was very different.  First off, you had to pass through a little doorway that looked more like you’re going into a private house. 

 After you pass through the door and into a dark little room you are asked to pass into a second room. 

Inside that room we found an old gas fired brick oven. 

This was stuffed with dough baking to perfection.  Wire racks lined the walls that were being filled with lots of wondrous pastries and breads.  You know I’ve found heaven…  Speaking of heaven, I quickly disrobed after getting back to the coach, put on my swimming suit and ran down the bank for a very long float in the amazing water of San Patricio.  Yep, it’s a little “sticky” but a minute two or three in the bay and your feeling on top of the world. 

11 January 2010

Today has turned out to be a little cloudy after starting out with clear blue skies this morning.  That’s ok, every once in awhile it’s nice to just sit back under the canopy and read a good book with the waves of the ocean slapping the shore 25 yards away.  We are living a dream…  We had to move locations here in the campground yesterday and somehow we ended up a lot closer to the beach (about 30’ closer) and the main street of San Patricio.

  While we had the coach all bundled up to move, we headed out to re-fuel both the gas and propane tanks and stop by a major grocery store.  For all of that, we had to drive about 10 miles to the next town.  In pulling into the town we thought we were on a one-way street (although we did see a couple of cars coming out at us) but that didn’t make any difference to us at the time.  It was later after we got our groceries that we “thought” we had a problem.  Turning back onto the road we arrived on, we continued the same direction thinking we would find a large enough area for us to make a left turn.  At the end of the town we did find that street that was wide enough and offered us a return to the direction that would take us back.  Now this street soon became a very very narrow passage, and we don’t figure we have a large rig…  A couple of times we had to pass by a large pick-up that was parked (all parking was on one side of the street and it was angle parking only) and sticking out much further than the normal cars.  This made it a little touchy…  Then we came upon the little sign that told us that “no trucks” were allowed anywhere beyond and the real fun began.  Let’s just say that the streets all around us were extremely narrow cobblestone and all were one-way.  We wondered from one road to the other and getting absolutely nowhere until after the THIRD time we found ourselves at the corner of the original.  Now this time we saw a motorcycle cop and a very large bus heading out of town on THAT road the same way that we WANTED to go.  Not wasting any more time we pulled right in behind and hoped that we weren’t going to the police station with a police escort.  Well all is well.  We made it back to our campground, our new site, AND we had a chance to catch up again with Keith and Louise for “Happy Hour” at their campground. 

I didn’t have any pictures of our experience for the day but I did want to include a couple of pictures from this area that I thought you might enjoy…

8  January 2010

Today we’re located at:  19.22339N,  104.70660W

If you want to get a feel for what San Patricio and Barra de Navidad look like from space, just copy and paste into “Fly to:” in Google Earth.  Looking at it from space is amazing and seeing it from here at the campground it’s beautiful.  The first full day here, Louise and I took a walk…we hiked to Barra de Navidad in the sand.  Stepping out of the campground and turning left, we hiked the beach all the way.  I’m not sure just how far that is by following the beach, but it must be close to 4 miles or more and it was all done in soft sand.  When we finally got there we were ready to sit down and take a load off (and have a Latte with an order of Pancakes with fried plateno’s).

  It had already been decided that we would take a taxi back to San Patricio but while we were there we were going to make the best of it and see all the sights.  The two towns are entirely different from each other even-tho they share the same bay.  First, Barra de Navidad has a huge bay that shelters large (and small) boats from the ocean.  It also has a beautiful golf/spa resort called Barra de Navidad Grand Bay Resort

 which is located on the other side of the inlet into the harbor.  While walking one of the boardwalks we came upon this diver that was just bringing up his catch.  Not recognizing what it was he had harvested from the bottom of the harbor, we asked…  Well that wasn’t too helpful as we just couldn’t understand what it was he was trying to tell us, so if you know what the heck these are please let us know. 

We did understand that they were quite good (at least that’s what he said…) but we haven’t yet found them in any markets. 

Later that afternoon, we were wondering if Keith and Louise were still in the area so we went looking for them in the surrounding campgrounds.  About ¾ of a mile up the beach from where we are is the “Free Beach Campground” and we thought they might be there so back into the sand and off in the opposite direction from our earlier hike.  The “Free” campground is so called because it doesn’t have ANY hook-ups

and you must be set with a good solar system and a lot of water storage…if you stay for a month, someone will come by and the charge is $100 US.  If you stay less than a month, you may find that no one has come to collect anything…  Well, we did find their motor home, but they were nowhere to be found.  One of their neighbors told us that they had just left for town so if we hurried we would most likely catch them…didn’t happen.  Well, another day.

6 January 2010

Let me tell you, from the moment we turned over to the “lateral” at the entrance to Puerto Vallarta and almost though out the day’s drive, the roadway was made in Hell.  Not only was it potted with sink holes large and small, there were those God awful “topes” (speed bumps).  Then it was the narrowness of the two lanes, the tree branches hanging low enough to run across the top of the coach, AND the winding twisting up and down mountain roads that we had heard so much about.  This was THE toughest drive we’ve had to date and it was only 130 miles.  It’s hard to believe but this is also a “Major” highway in Mexico and has a lot of big truck and bus traffic on it as well.  Because of a slow truck climbing a steep grade, the traffic behind can be as long as a mile or more.  It took us 2 hours to get to a location that we felt was far enough away from Puerto Vallarta and far enough ahead of some of the truck traffic that was on the road before we stopped for lunch at Boca de Tormatlan. 

 I must point out, the first 2 hours were by far the toughest part of our days drive, so it was really time for a good meal at a great location. 

Our destination was the Perula Trailer and RV Park in Punta Perula.  You can find this location by going to Google Earth and typing:  19.58863N,  105.12960W      This is a small park of 20 tight spaces and is located right on the beach and at the end of the village. 

 We were amazed at the fullness of the campground with most staying the season (4-5 months), and 95% or more Canadians.  I must admit, the Canadians are making a HUGE presence here in Mexico vs. the Americans…it must be that the Americans believe all the media they read and hear.  Our first thoughts were to spend two or three days here,

 but once we got there it just wasn’t the place that we wanted to spend more than one night at so we set things in motion to move on in the morning. 

4 January 2010

Well that was the first time that I’ve had to either write or type “2010”, and I did it without hesitation or hitting the 09 instead…HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! 

Here we sit with one more complete day to go before we move on further south.  This morning I un-plugged the coach and drove over to the garage to have some work done. 

 We’ve been experiencing some “pulsating” from the front end due to the rotors on the front brakes being out of true, so I wanted to have the complete braking system looked at and fixed prior to us leaving.  Our mechanic suggested that we true all four drums and replace the front brake pads so that’s what we did…$2200 pesos ($167.00 US) and all is great.  I can now come to a complete stop without vibrating.  I do have one more item on the list to fix but that is going to have to wait a little longer. 

I’ve got to tell you about the family from Guadalajara that we had camping next to us for the last week.  I believe the count was 22 family members total, but we were mostly under the care, entertained, fed, and forced to drink by 15 amazing people that took “no thank you, NO, nada mas” to mean absolutely nothing...  The Salazar family has been coming to this campground for the past 28 years to celebrate the Christmas and New Year holidays and get another chance to gather together as one.  They also make this pilgrimage for their Easter vacation, only then they have over 1500-2000 campers vs. now at less than 500.  Our relationship all started because of a leaking faucet on the trailer that they had just purchased from another family.  Fortunately I had some “WonderTape” that came to the rescue and got it all fixed.  They will have to replace that faucet, but this week it was taken care of.  From that point on, we were “family”.  Egar was the “translator” for the family and for us. 

 It really would make our life much easier if we were fluent in Spanish…  I wish I could put up all the pictures of the family on the site, but that would be all most impossible so if you will follow me, I'll post as many as I can.

They also taught me how to play “Dominos”… 

At least the game that they play is called Dominos and I had the “pleasure” of learning just what losing means…  They did get a kick out of my losses, but it was all in fun…A LOT OF FUN !!!  With 4 of us playing a hand, the games went fast, and the loser was to run to the water and take a dip… Thank God we were playing at the beach.  After awhile I was known as “The Campion del Agua” (Champion of the Water)…it was shouted to the mountain tops, it was shouted to the…  We had a great time !!!  We couldn’t bring a drink, we couldn’t bring any food, but we sure ate well and the drinks….very refreshing.  For the New Years celebration, Louise and I were asked to join them at their table,

so with Sol and Carol off to Lost Wages, we accepted, with one concession by them…we were to bring our own drinks and supply snacks.  This party was a BYOB and snacks so that just felt right that we should do it.  The music was great, the company amazing, and we did have a time that we’ll remember for many years to come….    

Last night was “Hamburger Night” and Louise and I volunteered to help.  Arriving at the patio by the pool, we found our assignments…Louise was to help cut up the veggies and I was to be the “cook” or BBQ’r for the night. 

 One of the first things Louise did was cut her finger…well it bled…a little anyway.  For me, it was just get the fire going under the hot-plate and start grilling.  It was hot but it was fun.  While we were slaving away with the volunteers, Sol and Carol showed up looking…BROKE !!!  It looks like they lost everything in “Lost Wages” Nevada.  Well maybe not everything, Carol came back with a hell of a cold….thanks Carol. 

PS, I wanted to include this little house

 that we walked by quite often.  It is occupied by this little lady who is so sweet.  We've seen her sweeping the dirt out front of the "doorway", and we've seen her preparing a small meal on that little firepit out front...amazingly sad and beautiful at the same time.

28 December ‘09

With last night being “Hamburger/Brock Night”, we all met all around the pool and enjoyed, what we have found to be, very good hamburgers.  The proceeds go to those that need help in achieving a higher education.  The money is most often used for books, transportation, or/and tuition.  With the cost of a hamburger or Brock at 35 pesos (approx. $3) and a beer or margarita for less than that, it’s a heck of a deal for all.  As always, following the meal, the music starts up and the “dance floor” (concrete slab) opens for those who have the energy, to “get down and dirty”….  Its fun, cheap, and you never know who’s going out on that dance floor…SOL… 

This morning Louise and I put on our walking shoes and headed out for the hills behind us.  Across the highway that we always use for walking into town, is an area that we have wanted to explore since arriving.  It’s primarily residential with a small mix of a tiny grocery store or something similar mixed in.  If the roads aren’t just plain deeply rutted dirt, they’re deeply to semi rutted cobblestone. From the moment that we left the campground we were either heading up and around, or straight up.   If or when, the road came to an end, we found a wooden plank that spanned a small stream or washout area so that we could continue on a straight line, to what destination, I don’t know.  It was just a walk… Then there was this one cobblestone road that took us straight up. This steep grade was so steep that I would guess not many cars have the power to make it to the top.  Once at there we were amazed at the wonderful views.  On one side, the Pacific Ocean and the islands, and on the other, heavily forested mountains in the distance with a dark green valley far below us that was filled with varying crops spread out before us.  The real “BUMMER” of today’s outing was that I left the camera behind…RATS !!!  I just hope that we get back to making this hike once more, because of all the photo ops that was left behind. 

Tonight we were out for a walk around the park and noticed a group of Mexican families standing in the middle of the road.  They were watching the launch of a handmade “hot air balloon”.  Fact is, they launched two.  One of the families made the 3 sided canopies of paper or light plastic and then attached a small can to the bottom.  Once the can is filled with fuel (most likely gasoline), it is lit with a match, held until the canopy fills, and is let go to float to the stars above…  It was amazing as to the height that it got and the length of time it took to reach max altitude.  We stood there for the longest time just watching it rise and then just disappear. 

27 December ‘09

I wanted to mention a couple of other things were we had fun over the last couple of days…

On Christmas Eve night, the whole campground got together to sing Christmas carols and for the breaking of the piñatas by the Niño’s and Ninja’s.  It was also the time for Santa Clause to make his appearance and hand out treats to all the kids. 

 He arrived in his sled (trailer) being pulled by the largest ATV you could ever imagine….Boy, Santa really knows his toys.

Then it was over to George and Liz’s place to join Sol and Carol for a Christmas night dinner of BBQ’d Lobster and Salmon…  I know, we do live a heck of a life-style and the pressures that are put upon us are just uncalled for. 

26 December ‘09

Well Christmas was here in a big way.  The park was decorated, most of the RV’s, and the gathering of the “choir” for Christmas caroling made it very nice to be here while so far away from “home”.  With last night’s Christmas dinner party

behind us, we look forward to the New Year’s party.  But before that, the camp “water volleyball” teams took to the water. 

 Sol represented us and the USA against the Canadian and Mexican teams

for a down-and-out fight to the finish (Camp Championship).  I won’t go into a lot of detail except to say “Sol, you did us proud”. 

The USA took the title again for the 4^th consecutive year (so they tell us) and your winning T-shirts look great. 

I’d better do a little catching up.  One day last week, Louise and I joined Sol and Carol for a trek out to a couple of beaches and small communities we’ve been hearing about.  Setting up this journey, I’ve got to tell you about Crocodile Mountain.  About 5 miles down the beach from our campground, sits this natural formation that flows into the sea…it looks like a crocodile laying in wait...  At this point, the beach gives way to the natural fauna of palm, banana, and mangroves and leaves the sand beaches behind.  Just before the sand leaves the beach, it becomes a spit that divides the Pacific from a brackish water estuary were you can find birds, small fish, crab, and crocodile.  The first part of the drive to Playa Naranja (Orange beach) was a nicely paved narrow roadway that took us off the main highway (200) and through one of the “very small villages” in the area.  Prior to entering the village (the local church), we found the roadway reduced its self to rock, dirt, and deep ruts which we followed for the next 4 miles to a high over-look of the playa. 

 When the road? stopped we were met by one of Mexico’s finest…a young man in partial (white “T” shirt with dark blue pants tucked into his polished boots) uniform of the Federales (state police).  He and one other were stationed at this view point to watch over the coast and the estuary below from their tarp covered cots and a fire pit from which they keep warm and make their meals.  We were told we had to sign-in, leave our license plate number in their log, and leave our truck  if we wanted to explore below.  We all kind of looked at each other and made the big decision…”well we’ve come this far”…  Following the trail down the hill we found that we occupied a stretch of perfect sand and sea for about as far as you could see,

and we were “almost” by ourselves.  Just behind us and at the edge of the brackish water, was the partner of the fellow we left above.  When I approached him, he was about shin deep in the water and catching some of the local crabs.  His net was actually each side of a floor fan guard (the guard that keeps your fingers out of the blades).  Not only was this ingenious, it worked well.

  This beach was beautiful, but not really what we were wanting for this days outing.  Our next route took us to Divisadero (another nice drive to the edge of the village and then…dirt.  Back out to the highway and onto Playa Chacala.  First, we were hungry so we searched out a beach restaurant as soon as we entered town.  Chacala isn’t much of a “town”, but it does have a very nice beach and community that surrounds this quiet bay.  It would be a great place to stay for a few days to just “relax and read a good book”.  You know, book, sand, cerveza, and…  well we saw these two signs.  One indicates there is no camping and the other, well there is also no "Pooping"

Well back here at La Penita, I found the little “casa’s” of the town very interesting, so I thought I would take a picture or two as we did our walks into town.  One morning as we were taking our usual pathway to La Penita, we came upon some road construction.  Now this is tough labor, rock by rock with a little concrete laid in between, and by the looks of it, it could last quite a long time.

We are also excited to have our campground “market” each week to be able to select some great fruit and veggies.  A couple of times a week we also get the bread and pastry delivery truck stopping by…Hmmm, pastries, fruit, jumbo shrimp, potable water…not too bad. 

I’ve also had a chance to do something that I haven’t done for a looonnnggg time…play some golf.  Sol plays at least once a week and I have joined him twice now. 

I hate to admit it but I’m not doing so well.  The last time out I started off by losing two balls and from there it got worse…I lost 6 and found 1 and I quit keeping score.  My first time out I did much better and even impressed myself with some of my shots from the tee, but the putting, it was bad. 

We’re still enjoying the Thursday market in town.  Because of the holidays, it seems to be growing by leaps and bounds.  One afternoon after market we went for a walk that took us away from the town and further from the campground.  At this end of town we found a river that makes the dividing line of the two towns, La Penita and Rincon de Guayabitos.  Apparently this river also offers the fisherman the opportunity to catch something, that is if you know how to use a net…

17 December ‘09

Our Google Earth position is:  21.04699N,  105.24313W at the La Penita RV Park

 Well I can’t say that we’ve been lazy, although when you look at the last time that I brought everything up to date you might think so, but when I look back on all we’ve done, we have been on the go.  Sol, Keith, and Louise have been hitting the ball every morning while playing water volleyball, Lou and Carol have been up to the pool for exercise classes and water aerobics when possible, and me….I’ve been reallllyyy busy.  We’ve walked the mile or so into La Penita for breakfast (with sidewalk entertainment)

or lunch, and we’ve walked in for the Thursday morning market. 

 On one morning Louise and I took a different route into town and found this cemetery that was located right on the opposite side of the hill from the campground.  It is also located at water’s edge.  As we walked out onto the beach we were amazed at how many tombs have been lost or just about lost to the on-coming storms. 

 By the looks of it, the loss has been going on for some time and it isn’t about ready to stop.  It’s unfortunate for the families, now they have a double loss.  La Penita isn’t a very wealthy town so with the monies that they have it doesn’t allow for this cemetery to get much attention or care.  On the other-side, they do love the paint colors they use on their “casa’s”. 

 The six of us also decided to charter a day’s outing with one of the local fishermen/tour-guides. 

 Our day was to give us a couple of hours fishing, whale watching, and another couple of hours of snorkeling. 

 We did see a lot of water and shoreline while riding around, one whale spouting off in the distance,

and with the waves hitting the shoreline so hard we didn’t see much while snorkeling.  Oh well, we enjoyed the day anyway.  Fact is we’re enjoying each and everyone of them as they come by.  We’ve had movie night with pizza, taco and margarita Mondays, and some things and events that I just can’t mention any more about…    

9 December ‘09

Day 2 and some of us are already involved with the events of the “social calendar”.  First thing this morning found Sol bouncing around in the pool playing water volleyball…I wish I would have had my camera with me.  Louise and I took a long walk down the beach.  The sand is so soft that each time you put your foot down it sinks to just below your ankles and with the steep slope down to the surf, it makes for some good exercise.  We also have some friends that have shown up here.  Keith and Louise are a couple from England that have taken a year off, purchased a motor home, and traveled around the US and Mexico.  They will be in Mexico for another 5 months.  At the campground last night, we enjoyed a margarita/taco night. 

 Free margaritas and 5 wonderful tacos for 40 pesos ($3.00).  With the dinner and drinks, and the incredible view from the palapa, we have decided we’ll be staying.  One of the campers here is a member of a bluegrass musical group that is playing twice a week at one of the local bars, so Sol, Carol, Keith, Louise, Lou, and I descended upon them for our “desert”.  Well a couple of us had a really good time last night but all was well this morning as they made it to the highly competitive volleyball match and didn’t show any signs of a ...  This afternoon the 6 of us joined together in Sol’s truck and headed into Rincon de Guayabitos. 

Ricon is about 3 miles further up the beach and is the largest beach town in the area prior to Puerto Vallarta.  Ricon is a destination beach town with lots of happenings.  After driving around town for awhile we parked and hit the sand and a chance to find one of the “local watering establishments”.  You can see, some of us had a good time. 

At one point I wasn’t sure whether Sol was awake or nodded off

 for a minute.  Well he was just kidding, he’s awake…

8 December ‘09

Our Google Earth position for the next few weeks is:  21.04699N,  105.24313W at the La Penita RV Park.

For most of us that have traveled into Mexico, we can hardly keep ourselves from stopping the moment we smell the constant aroma coming from the small restaurants selling “Pollos Asados” or grilled chicken. 

Either eaten there or taken away, it is a wonderful treat for all.  A cleverly placed knife in several locations of the chicken and you’ve got yourself a precisely carved bird

that is easy to pick-up in your fingers to enjoy the flavor of the chicken and also the drippings of all the herbs and spices.  This afternoon we called it “road food” as we took delivery while passing through this little village on our way to La Penita.  La Penita RV Campground is set on a hillside with a view looking over the Pacific.  Of 120 sites, most of which have a view, we have close access to the town of La Penita de Jaltemba, a beach which stretches for what looks like miles,

 a pool, and a social calendar that would make Hilton Corporation jealous.  This looks like a place we should highly consider for a longer stay.  With Christmas coming soon, and all the Mexican families descending upon the beaches, we had better have roots or we’ll find ourselves without a place to stay.  They told us that at the moment they have room for us until the 6^th of January, soooo… We’re still thinking on it or what you might call putting ourselves out on a limb. 

6 December ‘09

Sol dared me to post this picture of me, so here it is: (The header)

Our day started out with heavy rain that continued past noon, and then let up and left us with lots of clouds and heavy humidity for the rest of the day.  Sol and Carol headed off to a close by hotel that had free internet and we stayed back and “veged”.  At about 2, the pickup rolled up and Carol jumped out telling us that there was this “fantastic” river cruise that we should go on that leaves from a little village next door. 

 This was a boat trip through the jungle

to the fresh water spring at La Tovara.  We took a small boat that took us through the Estuario (Estuary) San Cristabol.  We went through thick jungle and mangroves to finish at La Tovara, the fresh spring water location where we (Sol and myself, would swim with the fish. 

 Throughout the jungle and mangroves, we were able to see some birds

 that we’ve never seen before, crocodiles,

 turtles, termite nests

, Iguana, bird watching platforms (grass huts),

and too many flowering plants for us to name. 

 You just knew that you didn’t want to drop your hand into the water too long to enjoy the cool and refreshing feeling as there were the croc’s just sitting there waiting for their opportunity for a nice snack.  While on the boat, we did take a side trip to the Cocodrilar (crocodile nursery) were they had some amazing croc’s

that they have taken from the waters that we have just gone through…  While on the boat, we only saw one that was a large male and several small female and young floating just under water or straddled on a floating branch.  When we arrived at the fresh water spring of La Tovara, Sol and I decided that it was time to hit the water…and that is what we did.  Hanging from a tree branch was a bar that would swing us out over the pond and drop us into the deepest part with a large splash.  It was just the four of us there, but the Carol and Louise held back.  With the humidity of the day and the special location of the pond, it just called for a dip.  Even the ride back through the mosquito infested jungle and us still wet, we ended the journey without a bite. Now that doesn’t say that the “no-see-um’s and mosquito’s didn’t find us back at the campground because they did, and I can still feel them 4 days later.   

4 December ‘09

Our Google Earth position today is:  21.47460N,  105.19613W or Playa Amor de Mexico.  Playa Amor is our new campground and is located about 8 miles south of San Blas.  We’re sitting right on the edge of a wonderful breakwater overlooking the Pacific Ocean with about 10 other RV’s from Canada and the USA.  The further we go south, the more times we will run into an RV that was in one of the same campgrounds we were in somewhere north of here.  I’m sure that will continue until we get past Puerta Vallarta and then the RV travelers will start to thin out.  Last night in Teacapan, we drove down the beach about 3 miles to a restaurant/campground for dinner.  Pelicanios sits in a beautiful surroundings right out on the edge of the water in a protected circular bay.  A couple of hundred yards to the right and you are in town and a hundred yards to the left and you are parked within the coconut palm trees and waiting for that perfect drop from high above to put a huge dent on your roof or take out your windshield.  Even in this little out of the way restaurant we ran into a fellow traveler we met in Santa Ana.  Santa Ana was our first park once we entered Mexico.  Bob has parked his travel trailer down the beach and it “free-camping” for a couple of weeks before heading down to Guatemala for the winter.  Dinner was served under the awning with the waves lapping at our feet and coincidentally, we all enjoyed a seafood dinner.  Sol and Carol split a large whole red snapper and Louise and I ordered the whole robalo (a smaller fish that was shaped like a large trout but with a snout nose).  We were all awake and out at the surf early this morning waiting for the local dolphin pod to show up.  Well I guess we couldn’t be too lucky and get them to show both of the mornings we were there.  Getting up early did do one thing, it got us on the road a little earlier.  We took the “Libra” road (the free road) that takes you to more little towns and villages compared to the “Cuota” (toll road) that most often will get you there quicker.  The scenery was changing all around us again on this leg of our journey.  It didn’t take long for us to find ourselves traveling into the more dense tree coverings and hector after hector of banana trees.  We also followed beside a large estuary the last 2 hours of our drive.  At one point we were climbing and winding our way up the sides of the coastal mountains and once hitting the crest we were winding on this tight little 2 lane road down to the coast again.  Coming into one of the many little villages, we came upon the constant “TOPES” signs and again the constant entrepreneur that was at the side and middle of the roadway selling their goods.  Now this little village was one that had a little different item to sell.  These ladies were selling the “fruit cup” that we’ve always enjoyed while on the beaches of Cabo.  The big difference between what we got here and what we received on the beach was that these cost 50 percent less and they were 3 times larger.  These are sooo large that we still haven’t finished the first one…  After getting our rigs settled into their new settings at Playa Amor, we drove into San Blas.  We had already passed through the small town of Alticama on our way to Playa Amor, and we all noticed that the whole community seemed to have a specialty of their own…banana bread.  One stand after another…yep, you guessed it, we’ve got banana bread that was made here in the banana capital of The World !!!  Well that may be stretching it a little, but we did buy our bread.  Then it was onto San Blas.  Now this was a big disappointment to all of us…there was just too much hype to justify the San Blas we saw today.  Oh well, we went, we saw, we ate, and we left…Next!!! 

2 December ‘09

Our new location to be seen from Goggle Earth is:   22.61375N,  105.79298W 

Our campsite is set on a nice piece of concrete so that we can exit and enter the coach without tracking in a ton of sand with each step.  We also sit right on the edge of the beach with the breakers letting us know that the tides are either ascending or descending from high tide.  As I sit her in the coach now, I have a tendency to raise my feet every time the waves hit the beach…  After arriving this afternoon we all gathered together in Sol’s pickup and went into Escuinapa de Hidalgo (which we had already passed through some 20 miles ago…).  Louise and I had driven off from the hospital this morning with a prescription that we were to fill, well we got all the way here and it didn’t get filled…so that’s the reason that we drove all the way back to Escuinapa.  Now, as we were driving back into camp, the sun was just dipping into the sea.  We almost missed it, and it would have been too bad to have missed that one as tonight’s sunset was wonderful.  While in town I did re-stock our supply of Pacifico, so while sitting there on their patio watching the burning sun disappear into the sea, and the stars start to appear far above our heads, we were at least able to enjoy a cerveza. 

Well stepping back to this morning;  I awoke, showered and stepped out of the coach about 7:30 this morning and walked across the parking lot to find Louise still asleep in her hospital room.  She told me that she had a pretty good night, but the nurses did wake her quite a few times throughout the night.  I went down to the restaurant about 9 for breakfast and while I was there the doctor made his rounds.  He wanted to keep her one more night, but Louise wanted no part of it…”I want GO HOME !!!”  She did get a little feisty and at that point I knew she was much better.  By noon, we had paid the bill ($1200 US) and headed out to meet up with Sol and Carol and get on our way south.  Today’s drive took us by farm fields where one farmer was tilling his fields with a horse and plow while walking behind them.  The others were using their large and small tractors while planting or hoeing.  We also passed orchards of mango, orange, and coconut, not the usual crops you see in the state of Washington or Idaho.  Arriving here at the coast, we passed through the estuary areas were the fishing boats look like wooden kayaks that are paddled while standing.  Their crop of fish are taken by swinging a net over their heads and expertly tossing a perfect circle of netting out and over the water in hopes of catching the “big load”. 

1 December ‘09

Boy we don’t want to have another “yesterday”…  About 3am Louise got out of bed and all hell broke loose.  For the next 28 hours we had a very sick lady on our hands.  Not too sure why she got so sick, but it could have kicked off by having 4 glasses of wine vs the normal 2 when she has any.  She felt fine after enjoying a day and evening with Sol and Carol playing dominos, and even after taking a long walk down the boulevard a little while after.  Then came the 3 o’clock…  This morning she was so dehydrated and suffering from extreme dizziness that we decided to see a doctor.  Well the best way was to go to the emergency room at the hospital.  It was 10 minutes after walking in that we were with a doctor, and another 10 minutes and she was getting a couple of IV’s.  The next thing was a draw of her blood and the analysis.  Her “Lipids” were double what they should be and her cholesterol was elevated a little as well.  Another 30 minutes and she was about ready to be “checked in” for the night for observation. 

Everyone thinks she’ll be on her way first thing in the morning so keep your fingers crossed for us.  We’ve got a large new private room with a view, sleeping couch, English speaking TV, Wi-Fi Internet, and good food (hell, I think I’ve found paradise…).  Besides, we’ve got a good campsite right outside the main door and within the gates of the parking lot.   

30 November ‘09

No sooner had I gotten a make-shift cover on our refrigerator vent when the rain started.  Some in the park said that we had over 4 inches of rain falling last night and this morning.  I’ll say one thing, it did come down pretty hard late this morning.  I put the canopy out this morning so that we could go out onto the patio and it also gave me a dry area to watch through the outside panel to the refrigerator.  I was hoping that it would be dry inside, but after awhile it did start to drip and get the base flooring for the refrigerator wet.  It didn’t pour in, but it did get wet.  I knew we still had a problem up there.  There is a raised portion all around the vent that is set up to stop the rain from crossing the roof and dropping into the flooring, but that small retaining wall was broken off at one of the 4 corners at the time the tree did the damage.  Now in order to stop the water I went back up on the roof with one of my socks filled with sand…a regular sand bag.  Well it did the trick (that is for now anyway).  I’ve got additional work up there ahead for me, but for the next couple of days…let it rain.  We spent most of the day hid out in Sol and Carol’s 5^th wheel playing dominos.  Louise and I had never played dominos before and we all had a good time.  Carol ended up winning by 2 points over Sol.  Louise and I came in far behind…what a bummer. 

29 November ‘09

Driving into Mazatlan we encountered trees lining each side of the two lanes on our side of the medium.  Unfortunately the lanes were narrow and the tree branches were low…  Well guess what?  Yesterday I found one end of our awning needed tightening, but once on the ladder I found that we had lost the roof vent cap for our refrigerator.  That meant we had a large hole on the roof.  Without that vent cap we would have the possibility of birds camping out in the flue and we could have a magnate to draw the rain in and flood us out below.   Well it wasn’t that I didn’t have anything else to do today, but I did have to try and fix it.  First thing this morning I went over to see Sol and beg him to give me a lift to Home Depot.  I was hoping that I could find something there that might work for the lost cover.  Louise and Carol thought that was a good time for them to visit the grocery store, so we were able to kill a couple of birds with one stone.  The vent cover was about 28 inches long, 6 inches high and 8 inches wide.  Now to find something to work…  I walked the aisles of Home Depot at least twice with no luck and then I wondered out into the garden department.  Sitting on one of the shelves was a plastic planter…22X9X7.  Well that wasn’t the dimensions I was looking for but I thought it might have merit.  I did need at least 28 inches in length so that meant that I would have to get two and marry them together.  The rest of the dimensions I could make work (I thought…).  Getting everything back to the coach, I took a hacksaw and cut one of the ends off of each planter and then caulked and screwed them back together.  I also had to drill some additional holes in the sides of the new vent cover to allow the gas fumes to exit from the refrigerator (although there was already some holes in the bottom of the planters to allow water out..) and then I had to drill 4 additional holes for mounting to the roof.  Well it’s up there, not completely done, but it’s up there…  It was hot and humid the whole time I was working, and the rest of the crew were sitting by the POOL and enjoying a cool one as well…  I’ll finish this project later, all I really have to do now is figure a way to screw it down to the roof brackets.  One of the guests here told us of a great rib place for our dinner tonight so we gathered up our pesos and headed up there.  This was a great place to enjoy the bones, and the price was right…$170 pesos ($12 US) a couple and that included a cerveza for each of us too.  Both Carol and Louise had a box to carry home with them. 

28 November ‘09

Yesterday morning I waited around for two fellows to come and see if they could finally fix our “cab air-conditioning system while Louise and Carol headed off for the beach.  The guys were about half an hour late, but understanding Mexican time, they were right on time.  After attaching all the proper gauges and applying air pressure, they found what they thought was the leak…the same one that had been welded before !!!  So with an estimate in my hand and a time frame when it would be fixed, they began.  It just so happened that their estimate was exactly the same price that I had paid before in Santa Ana.  With pipe in hand, they took it to the welder.  About 45 minutes later they were back and installing it.  Now the true test…more air-pressure and listen.  What, a leak ????  “Señor, we’ve got a leak !!!,

we’ll be back in the morning and I promise, IT WILL NOT LEAK !”  Well what can you do, you go with the flow, “we’ll see you in the mañana”.  Mean while the girls are having a good time at the beach.  Now as far a Sol, he was out looking for someone to change the oil on his truck.  Sol arrived back without having the oil changed and me without the air-conditioning working…you would think this was _ _ _ _ _.    Girls back just in time for all of us to head for the beach…Happy Hour !!!    I had heard about this one particular place that some of the others here at the campground were going to be at so we were off to find them.  Now if I knew that we would have that much trouble, we would have found our own Happy Hour.  After walking about a mile down the beach we did find our own place for a margarita but still no sign of the others.  We knew that we had most likely passed them so we started back up the beach.  Just as we were passing the El Cid Hotel, we noticed a large crowd gathered around this one fellow who was talking into a microphone.  I didn’t pay too much attention to what he was saying as I wanted to find the Happy Hour place.  Now for Louise, she started understanding what was being said and what was about to happen.  Grabbing Carol, she said “put your hand out, they’re going to put a baby turtle in it !!!”. 

  Sure as heck, they had no sooner put out their hand and they each had a newly hatched sea turtle.  The plan was to stand in back of the line in the sand and when the young man with the mic gave the word, you were to lay the turtle down in the sand aimed towards the incoming waves.  Sure as heck, the word came and about 150-250 new baby turtles made their way to the surf.  This is Lou's turtle "el Fuente" making the big splunge:

It was pretty magical to say the least.  OK, now what was it we were doing???...OH Ya, Happy Hour. 

 We were lucky, the place we were looking for just happened to be right next door. “Last Call” call was called just as we walked in.  That’s OK, we already had what we were lucky enough to fall into, and anyway, now we were treated to a great sunset.  Horseback riders,

musicians,

sailboats moving into the last rays of the sun, and the best of all…being able to share this with friends. 

Well this morning we were all going out to Deer Island and so some snorkeling, that was until I found myself not feeling so goooooddd.  I have no idea as to way, but it was a slightly unpleasant stomach pain.  Well Sol and Carol did go but found that when the wind picked up, it got too cold to get out of the water, but they stuck it out.  Louise stuck around with me and did go to the pool for a short while but was back in no time.  The crew did come back with the newly welded pipe,

 tested it, filled the system with Freon, and tested it to make sure it got cold as hell coming into the cab.  Well, let’s hope that today was a short lived unpleasantness and no one else catches it. 

You know, I don't know if I should be showing Sol's face so much, he just may be on "the lamb"....who knows?

22 November ‘09

Sorry, I guess I slipped up and forgot to put this in a couple of days ago, so here we go....

Backpacks all re-packed, breakfast enjoyed, and we’re off for another morning of “touring” before climbing aboard the train to head back to El Fuerte.  We’ll be driving the rim of the canyons to Divisadero.  At that point we’ll be looking directly into the Copper Canyon and all the different canyons that lead from it. 

During our drive to Divisadero we found ourselves going through some beautiful hills and valleys while taking hairpin turns all the way.  At a couple of points, we came upon large areas of icy roadways where we had to carefully make our way through.  Finally at Divisadero we stopped at a large view point and received our instructions for our walk back and to the train station.  The walk was just over a half mile and it took us all along the high cliffs of the canyon. 

All along the walk, we had Tarahumara displays of their craft, looking for those of us that hadn’t spent their last peso.  The view changed constantly as we moved from one point to the next over the canyon.  At one point we had a “swing bridge” to cross.  Now most of the time we are thinking that OSHA would die if they saw how lax everything was, but on this swing bridge…you had a wire hatched frame work that completely encased the walkway.  Arriving at the train station we found about 10 different little kitchens waiting for us to stop by and have lunch before catching the train, and of course, more Tarahumara goods for the last minute shopper.  Now Louise found that she was one of those “last minute shoppers”.  Finally just as the train was pulling up, she found her last items….all is good now. Also standing and waiting for the train was this wonderful lady with her baby.  I sure hope she gets a big discount on the price of the train ride.  

 We had originally planned to take the First Class accommodations (a little newer car and seats, and a MUCH more expensive lounge car) but found out that the only option we had for a Sunday travel was first class.  Oh yes, and it’s three times the cost of our trip up…Sunday returns are more expensive.  Now get this…if we would have stayed at the hotel one more night and caught the early Economy train back, we would have more than paid for the train, hotel, AND the cost of our campsite in El Fuerte…and most likely the cost of two or three margaritas as well !!!  Well we ended up pulling up to El Fuerte at 6:30, taking the cab back to the campground, and heading into the fair…  The fair was now in town

and it seemed like the whole county came out for it.  Now I’m not sure, but I think we just happened to “sneak” in without paying.  When we pulled up in Sol’s truck, we just walked across the drive and walked under and through a rope that was holding up a large tarp.  The reason that I think we snuck in was no one else followed us.  In front of the tarp was a large audience that was listening to this pitchman.  He was talking so fast and loud (especially since it was amplified the Mexican way…) trying to sell Mexican blankets.  We didn’t see anyone buying anything, but they sure liked to watch and listen.  Meanwhile, we were hungry and were on the lookout for the largest crowd around the tables and taco stands.  Finally we found just what we were looking for, a large group of hungry eaters and the smell of something truly amazing.  Sol and I each had 4 and the girls 2 each, and then it was onto finding the churros.  Now there we made the wrong choice…the grease was so burnt that the churros tasted like the fat looked…we had to toss and find another churros stand.  Walking around and watching the people we came up to a large group that had their eyes trained to the sky.  Up on top of this large and very tall pole were 5 men.  One was standing up-right with a drum and flute, and the other 4 were tied to the center pole with a long rope.  Soon the 4 leaned over and started circling their way back to the ground as the rope turned away from the pole and lowered them to a safe landing.  On another stage we watched 4 or 5 groups dancing Mexican traditional dances. 

Overall, we had a great time…except the first churros which taught us a very important lession...check the color of the oil !!!

26 November ‘09

Happy Thanksgiving… 

We just got back from enjoying a true Thanksgiving meal.  Turkey with all the trimmings (although we did start out the true Mexican way…cheeps, salsa, and margaritas).  This will make a special meal no matter where you are.  We started the day out with a Mexican breakfast on the beach. 

 Taking our shoes off, we took a walk in the surf splashing the Sea of Cortez all around us.  Making it back to the campground, we prepared for our laundry to be picked up and then jumped into our bathing suits.  The surf was strong this afternoon with waves strong enough to knock you flat on your back if you weren’t prepared.  Water temperature was close to 80 degrees, and the day cloudy and humid.  We still enjoyed the beach, no matter what the weather man would sent our way.  After getting back to the coach we found our neighbors looking up into a lime tree across from us…sitting high on the top branches sat two Iguanas soaking up the rays.  Now that is living high !!!

25 November ‘09

Our Google Earth position is:  23.25996N,  106.45864W   which is the San Fernando RV Park in  the middle of the "Gold Zona", Mazatlan, Mexico. 

We arrived here this afternoon after staying a night in Los Mochis.  Sol was looking for a place to change the oil in his CHEVROLET and I was going to have the air conditioning system looked at again in Los Mochis, but we decided to push on to Mazatlan and get it done there.  We traveled the toll roads all the way down to Mazatlan, primarily to save time and wear on the vehicles.  The unfortunate side of that decision is what the tolls cost…  This is just a guess, but for Louise and me, we had at least 7 toll plazas and the average cost per toll for us was $100+ pesos, or about $60 US.  For Sol and Carol, who have a HUGE 5^th wheel trailer and a HUGE 4x4 CHEVY pickup, it must have cost close to $100US.  I’ve emphasized the fact that Sol drives a CHEVROLET because apparently I wrote “once” that it was a GMC (God forbid…).  Anyway, we arrived in Mazatlan about 2 and fortunately the traffic wasn’t too bad as we were having a heck of a time trying to figure out where and how to get to our campground.  It was supposed to be across the street from the beach and across the street from another campground that is on the beach.  Well we drove by it and I was told (by Louise) that I should make a “U-Turn” and drive back the one block to get into the park…Well, I missed the place (the ONLY PLACE) that we and Sol could make a U-Turn, so we continued for EVER trying to find another spot to turn.  Finally I gave up on the U-Turn and made the decision that we would just go around the block…BAD IDEA !!!  When I made the turn (followed by Sol and that CHEVROLET pulling a 35’  5^th wheel) I started getting a bad feeling in my stomach.  The pavement turned to inlaid stone and we passed under an arch with a name carved across the arch.  We were now entering into a private neighborhood and the streets went from narrow to impossible.  I guess it wasn’t completely impossible because Sol continued to follow me deeper and deeper into trouble.  Finally we arrived at “THE” spot…a small fountain in the center of this stone pathway.  No way was there a chance for Sol to take his rig around this fountain, through it, yes, but we really didn’t come to town to sit in jail.  Well it came down to this, we’ve got to turn around.  Impossible, yes, but we’ve got to get it done.  Fortunately we had another corner sitting beside us but it went to a dead end 50 yards away and it was just as narrow as the one that we’re on.  Talking it over together, we turned up into this new 50 yard long path.  Now all we had to do was back it down and around the corner and head back the same way we came in…(you should have been there).  First the sidewalk was about 10 to 12” high, second, there was a wall beside one of the sidewalks that was about 4’ away from the curb.  Now on the other side we had a telephone pole that sat directly on the corner and wouldn’t give an inch. 

Fortunately we only had 10 to 12 cars and vans coming through constantly (or at least it seemed like it) and the neighbors didn’t come out to take bets on our not making it, and we didn’t see or hear anyone screaming profanities at us.  Now we haven’t known Sol and Carol very long, and I had no idea as to how he would handle such a predicament, but he did it with grace and with a good attitude.  I don’t know if I could have done the same…  One thing’s for sure, once we got parked at the park we got together and hit the bottle (well maybe just one cerveza…).

21 November ‘09

This morning, Sol, Carol, Louise and I loaded into a large 4x4 van and took off with our guide Rodrigo, for a day of visiting the Tarahumara

and the valley and canyons where they live.  We weren’t going into the deep depths of the Copper Canyon, but another very interesting area.  Our first stop was along the banks of the Largo Arareko, a 100 acre reservoir. 

It sits in a woodland of tall Pine and smaller brush.  Scattered throughout the water you can see pinnacles of granite standing high.  There is no doubt, Lou and I wanted to immediately paddle out into this wonderful water area…it is spectacular.  We were immediately met by the Tarahumara children who were holding their wares for us to purchase

 while their mothers were sitting just within sight while knitting or weaving more items to be soon sold. 

This wasn’t a “hard sell” from the little ones, but you could hear it in their voices and see it in their eyes…”Please buy this from me…”.  We knew we had to pace ourselves and carefully make the right decisions as to what we were going to purchase, but to purchase was a given…  Our next stop was at the end of a drive that was made only by 4 wheel drive vehicles.  Once we drove off the pavement and onto the dirt roadway, we were holding on.  While swaying from side to side and bouncing almost high enough to bump your head on the top of the van, we weaved ourselves through the large rocks and small creeks.  Finally coming to a stop, we walk another quarter of a mile to find Cascada de Cusarare.  On the way, we came across a couple of Tarahumara women washing their clothes in a small river while their children watched and played close by. 

These falls weren’t as large as they can be during the rainy season, but they were still beautiful. 

After stopping at a number of locations around the top of the falls, Louise and I descended the 276 stairs to the rocks below the falls. 

Now all we had to do was get back up those 276 stairs…  Actually we did it like did it every day at this altitude (7,600 ft.)…no problema…  Then we went deeper into the canyon to see the “Mushroom Rocks”

and visit a Tarahumara village “Ville de los Hugos (mushrooms).  Again we drove off the pavement and onto a dirt roadway? that took us deep into the Tarahumara.  As we passed those walking, working on their crafts, or washing clothes in a small stream we seemed to be invisible to them.  They are very private and rather we weren’t there.  In the center of their land of rock and hills,

we found a mission that dates back to around 1510.  It’s the mission St. Ignacio. 

The doors were locked but we could look through a small crack in the door to see that it was very sparsely appointed.  It’s a case were the men are dominant and attend the service, standing at the front, and the women stand along the sides or the back with the children staying home.  At one time, the Tarahumara lived in caves (or most often, a large crack in the side of a large rock wall). 

 We only saw one cave home that was still being used in its full capacity, but we did come across another were the kitchen of the cave was still in use.  Sebastion was a leader that had a large plat of land and lived in a cave of a size that lent it to be of more than 5 rooms (divided by boards and branches).  His wife and his extended family of his daughter, husband, and 4 children still use the kitchen in the cave. 

 Small bedroom buildings and a couple of other wooden buildings make up the rest that sit on this property.  We really enjoyed watching the kids run through the tall grass of the fields and off to a cave across the way.  They were like kids with no fear or wants, just having a great time running and chasing around. 

Back at the top and settling down for our last dinner at the hotel/hostel.  In the morning we will have another tour and then back on the train for our return to…

20 November ‘09

Our GPS Google Map Lat/Long  for Creel, Mexico and the Copper Canyon is: 27.7523N, 107.6346W

A taxi arrived for us at 8 this morning to pick the 4 of us up.  We were heading for the train, Barrancas del Cobre that would take us up to Creel and the Copper Canyon.  This will be the first time that we have left our little Minnie Winnie behind and it was kind of hard.  I guess we could have taken a different route into Mexico from the states and driven to Creel from the area of Cuauhtemoc, but that meant that we were going to spend a lot of time traveling a lot of mountain roads and in the state of Chihuahua, which isn’t one of the most safe states to be in right now.  We also opted to take the “Economy” train,

 that way we would be more with the “local people” and it would also cost us half of what the “First Class” train would run, besides, we could then take the first class train back and be there quicker.  The truth of it was, once we got up there and ready to come back, they were only running the first class train and the prices for the Sunday run was just about triple of the costs going up…surprise, surprise, surprise.  All that aside, we had a great time in Creel and the surrounding areas of the Copper Canyon.  The train ride up was very comfortable and had everything we needed.  We started at sea-level and topped off at over 7,600 feet.  Our train route would take us around and over canyons

and twice over the same tracks we had traveled earlier but several hundred feet below us. 

The restrooms were spotless, and the prices in the diner were as expected, but we were ready with all the treats and water we needed…well we thought so anyway.  We did end up purchasing lunch.  We opted for a micro-waved ham and cheese and a dish of “cheeps”.  The sandwich was as expected, but the cheeps…it was a dish of corn chips covered with queso fresco cheese (a soft crumbly cheese), and hidden below the first level, a soup of cheese/brownish stuff.  It must have been good because we finished it all…with a spoon.  The views from the doorways at the end of each rail car were stunning.

  We were able to take a lot of photos from there as we hung out the top half of the door.  We didn’t have to “fight” for position, but we did have to hold it.  It also gave us an opportunity to do a little shopping when we pulled up to one of the smaller stops along the way.

  While I was taking the pictures of these two ladies, Louise was buying a bag of fresh made cookies and empanana's (filled with sweet jam)... they were good!!!   We did have great window seats for the views but for photos it was best not to have to shot through the windows.  One difference from the “First Class” train vs. the economy was all the short stops along the way.  We stopped to let one person off to a dozen, and some of those stops were out in “no-man’s land”.  Then of course, we stopped at 8 or 9 other villages that clung to the tracks along the way to Creel.  Arriving at Creel

 kind of reminded me of arriving at the airport in Cabo San Lucas many years ago.  As soon as the doors of the train opened for us to disembark, we were pounced upon by hawkers.  It just so happened that all of them seemed to have been working for the same hotel and that hotel was the one that we already had decided to stay at.  All worked out fine, the couple of guys that stayed and fought the hardest to get our attention got their commission, the others will have to work harder next time. 

We paid $350 pesos a night for 2 and that included breakfast and dinner.  The room was nice, clean, and had a great heater that we found was really needed. 

We had traveled from sea-level to over 7,600 ft. and a temperature difference of mid 80’s to Creels high of 60.  The low for the night left ice on the windows and I really didn’t care to ask how cold it might have been.  Fortunately the sun was out beautifully the whole time.

19 November ‘09

Tonight’s position of our camp site in El Fuerte, Mexico can be found by going to Google Earth at:  26.41020N,  108.62613W

This is going to be a little short because all we’re really going to do for now is head into El Fuerte central and do a quick look before heading back for a quick nights rest.  We arrived here in El Fuerte fairly early so that we could set up in our campground and prepare for tomorrow.  Unfortunately it wasn’t all that simple…we’re in Mexico…  Our guide book told us of this nice campground that most RV’rs used while taking the train up to Creel and the Copper Canyon.  In following the detailed directions we found the sign indicating “RV Camping” and an arrow pointing down this narrow dirt road.  Trees hung over it quite low and bushes made it even more narrow than it was originally.  This looked a little strange and made us tell Sol and Carol to hang back while we drove deeper into this road of unknown.  Fortunately we didn’t have our Endeavor, it wouldn’t have even come close to getting in.  We finally arrived at the end of the road and found ourselves in someone’s personal driveway (still dirt).  Well we’ve got to make a turnaround and head back out, but now we’ve encountered some low hanging wires and branches of some pretty good sized trees.  I’m sure this wasn’t the first time that an RV’r had come down this lane and found themselves in this yard because it didn’t take long and we had the “man of the house” outside and helping with directing and watching as we negotiated through the maze of leaves, branches, and wires all within a wire fenced yard.  Fortunately we left all the wires behind, but I’m sure that the senior will soon be out at the main road and re-painting that RV Campground sign to a large red circle with RV-Camping in the center.  It turned out that the campground had closed up a couple of years ago but just a quarter of a mile and around the corner was a hotel that allowed camping…we’re saved.  Now we’re all checked in, set up,

 and making our drive in Sol and Carol’s truck to town.  El Fuerte has been accepted as a “Magical Town”, or as we might say…Historical town by UNSCO.  It’s also the home of Zorro…  I must say, it’s kind of fun riding in the back seat of Sol’s truck as he takes this “behemoth” down and through some of these busy narrow streets with cars, trucks, and buses parked on both sides.  Then there are the tight corners that he navigates so well as all the pedestrians stand to watch.  After finding a parking place long enough for this 4 door dually to fit, we all climb out and head for this wonderful machine that spits pesos out at us at demand.  Then it’s off for a walk through town, window shopping and looking for the best restaurant or stand for our nights nourishment.  Prior to finding our choice of taste, we happened upon the town museum.  It sits high on the hill

overlooking the town, the surrounding neighborhoods and hills, and the river that snakes its way outlining El Fuertes central district.  It’s always surprising to all the information that you can get from these museums, with the understanding of the language or not.    Down below us we heard a marching band practicing for the next day’s Revolution Parade…the sounds of the drums (not quite in sync.) and the trumpets (not in sync and off tune…) making their way around and around the town square,

how many times I’m not sure, but let’s just say it lasted most of the time we were in town.  The museum was set into the walls of a garrison that surrounded the town water supply.  As you walked the walls of the garrison it felt like we were walking the walls of one of the many castles of Europe (maybe not quite, but you get the idea…).  Now it was time to find our dinner…  in the central part of town is the location where all the busses arrive with those coming and going from a day of working, shopping or even school.  As always, this is found to be one of the best locations to find a great taco con carne…  It is amazing, you can have one and you can have two or three, but you never tire of them, ever….

17 November ‘09

Look to Google Earth at 26.59364N, 109.58949W to find us today at El Mirador RV Resort on the shores of the Sea of Cortez and the beach community of Huatabampito, Sonora, Mx. 

Out of the mountains and back to the Sea of Cortez.  Huatabampito is a hidden beach area that is just about straight west of Navojoa.  It only took us just over 2 hours to get here from Alamos, but the difference is staggering.  All there is here is a white sandy beach with Aqua Blue water washing up to the door of our motor home.  We are but 2 of the 5 RV’s here and we all have beach front standing.  Unfortunately the economy and the US press running the “drug wars” scare has set back business for those that have opened their doors to the RV community over the past years. 

 Louise and I have been the only RV in some parks and it still continues as we head south.  This afternoon Sol, Carol, Louise and I drove out to a small fishing village about 5 miles down the coast.  We were looking for a good deal on large shrimp.  Well, we found them and we found more…  we purchased totally 3 kilos of jumbo shrimp for $100 pesos a kilo or about $7.50 for over 2 lbs.  We also purchased 10 Pacific Spinney Lobster for the same price of $100 a kilo.  With lobster being on the menu for our evening BBQ, we went to bed a little later feeling like “Extra” Happy Campers…

One pretty big negative that we’ve been experiencing since our camping just north of Los Angles, California and all the way down here is, mosquitoes and “no-see-ums”…it’s about ready to drive us nuts.

16 November ‘09

This morning we head off to Alamos to take a guided tour of the town.  For $150 pesos each, or about $10.50 US, we enjoyed 3 hours of history, architecture, and the life of today in Alamos.  I’ve mentioned the exquisite homes that line the streets

and the beautiful cathedral that sits in the middle of the town, but I didn’t take any time in writing about the children of Alamos…  Today was “Parade Day”,

in celebration of the 1910 Revolution.  It was also the day that all the children dressed in costume to play in marching in bands, walk, dance and climb into pyramids

as they made their way throughout the route.   The tour group was sitting and listening about all the history of Alamos when the first band started up, and that was all it took, all attention was lost. Our host invited us to come back after the parade but go out and enjoy the festivities until then…  there is no doubt, I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the parade and that was because of the kids and their dress.  Now it was time to get back to the reason that we were in town…the guided tour.  Our tour took us inside 3 completely different homes of Alamos. 

One was very simply done, but very comfortable.  Another was the home of a wealthy person that apparently only shows up in town once or twice a year.  It did have the family pool,

fountain, plants and trees that made it like a park, and beautiful rooms surrounding it all.  The next was a total remodeling project by a Texan that just went overboard by going completely modern.  By that time we had seen all that we wanted to see so off we went on our own. 

15 November ‘09

Sol and Carol drove in this morning and we joined another couple that is parked here in the campground in a hike.  The hike took us to one of the highest points of the town and gave us a great chance to get a feel as to how the town is laid out. 

With the streets of the town being so narrow, the sidewalks elevated as much as 3 feet, and the walls of the homes and businesses running another 10 to 12 feet above that, you lose all sense of where you are.  Speaking of the homes, or “Haciendas”, this is what Alamos is all about…  Los Alamos was once a huge gold and silver mining area of the world, and those that lived here then and for years after had developed one of the most beautiful towns in the world.  It wasn’t so much the town it’s self but the large and beautiful homes that the wealthy built.  There are so many homes that cover a square block of Alamos that you could hardly count them.  With the tall walls giving support for the many rooms that surround a large courtyard

 that most often is decorated with waterfalls, fountains, pools (swimming and reflection), and fully grown trees and bush.  The colors of the flowers in the courtyard are as magnificent as the colors of the walls and furniture that are in play throughout.  So today we hiked the hill and walked the streets, strolled the street market,

and enjoyed the music, food, and the people of Alamos. 

We were told that there was another hill town that we should visit before we leave…La Aduana.  We drove out of town about a mile to where we found a sign that told us take a left on to a dirt road.  We followed this road? through some pretty tough going while driving in and out of a dry river bed.  Finally after about 4 or 5 miles of steady climbing we came upon a very small old mining town.  It is mostly abandoned, but the church of Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Balvanera

 remains strong…well maybe a little weaker and not quite as polished as it once was, but still there.  Fact is, today was a day that is set aside for a pilgrimage from all the towns and villages of the area to the church and Aduana.  The church was built to celebrate a miracle which resulted in the discovery of silver in the town.  It was amazing to see the loyal walking the highway and then the dry river bed to give thanks and recognize the church and the miracle.  Not only were we there to see the pilgrimage, we found some amazing bread…Carol and Louise could hardly hold their selves back

trying to get their pesos’ out and get a taste.  I must say, it was quite good and will not last long around the Minnie Winnie… 

14 November ‘09

We had a great time in San Carlos, but now it is time to move further south.  Our destination is Los Alamos or just plain Alamos.  Louise and I are going to have company traveling with us for awhile… Sol and Carol have decided that journeying a little further south sounded pretty good so they are joining in.  We’ve got it a little easier traveling because we’re in a 27’ motor home and they are pulling a 36’ 5^th wheel with a 4x4 GMC 4 door dually.  We were under way by 10:30am and heading for Guaymas and soon will leave the Sea of Cortez behind. 

 Hwy 15 will take us inland and directly through this major town, meaning that we’ll have heavier traffic all around us that will be jockeying for position at each and every corner and stoplight.  As it turned out, the traffic wasn’t too bad and we were able to skirt through without any problems or mis-directions.  Hwy 15 then takes us across some flat landscapes and leads us into the second of three large cities that we’ll have on this drive south.  Now as we were about half way across this flat landscape, we came upon a sign that caught us off guard…  There was a large red circle with a slash across it that said “NO FREE ZONE” and just about 100 yards in back of this sign was the station that we should have driven into…  Unfortunately we were past it before we got our senses of ourselves and decided that we should turn around and visit this “official looking building”.  For Louise and me, we were fine and could pass by but for Sol and Carol, we knew that they hadn’t applied for or had their vehicles “imported”.  This is very important to be able to continue further south, so that is the reason that we made that impossible turn-around.  Fortunately we were only about 2 miles past the station so we were able to get right back without backtracking half a day or more and possibly have a huge fine for Sol if caught without that import tag.  Things always seem simpler than they are.  We knew that they didn’t have their vehicles imported but we didn’t realize that they neglected to get their Tourist Visa’s as they came across the border as well.  Now this does make it a little harder…Now they had 2 choices…one to head back north and take their time and enjoy the northern part of Mexico all over again or two, head back to the airport just north of Guaymas and pick-up their tourist visa and then back to the import station (about 80 miles round trip) and get import taxes and stickers taken care of so that they can continue south.  Sol and Carol told Louise and me to continue heading for our destination of Los Alamos and if everything went OK, they would join us that evening, or check our email if they weren’t there and there might be a message that they were turning back.  Well we continued onto Ciudad Obregon.  Now we’re close to 12:30 so we stopped and had lunch at a great “Taco Stand”. 

 From here we traveled south to Navojoa and then due east and up into the mountains to our destination of Los Alamos.  We’d been at sea level for so long that as soon as we got above 300 feet our ears started to plug so I was constantly taking a deep breath or pulling my ear to equalize…strange.  After 30 miles (50 kilometers) we drove through the gates of Los Alamos and headed down into town and our campground.  Getting all settled in, we grabbed the camera and took a short walk into town.  The townspeople had been gathering throughout the day to celebrate “The Revolution of 1910” but seeing as how we were getting into town so late, we missed just about the whole thing but fortunately they will all be out again on Monday for the big parade.  Well, we were going to make a short night of it anyway, so we just opted for another “street” dinner

and headed back to the coach.  Just about 9pm a large truck pulled up next to us and a voice came with it…”We’re back and ready to go…”  Sol and Carol got all the paper work done, signed and copied, and paid for before heading on to meet up with us once again. 

12 November ‘09

Day two in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico…  If you would like, you can find us located at:

27.96431N  111.02526W

We traveled out of Bahia Kino with Sol and Carol and headed east to Hermosillo.  After doing a little shopping at Soriano’s we turned south for San Carlos.  Traffic was heavy going through Hermosillo and when I looked in my rearview mirror I wasn’t too surprised to see a policia pull up beside Sol and Carol (or me for that matter) and flash their red/blue lights at them.  Well, Sol is driving a 4X4 GMC 4 door pick-up and pulling a 37’ 5^th wheel so finding a spot to pull off the road was almost impossible.  For us, it was still impossible until we got another mile or so up the highway until we found a spot long and wide enough for us to get off the road.  We had no idea as to what they wanted, but we did know that there was nothing we could do by sitting beside the road in this hot weather waiting.  After about 10 minutes or so, we pulled back on the road and continued south.  Not long after I noticed a 5^th wheel coming up on us pretty fast and knew Sol was trying to make up time.  The drive from Hermosillo to San Carlos was just over an hour and 30 minutes and that’s when we found out what happened back there…”they ran a red light”…  400 peso’s later and they were on their way.  I’m not sure we should be keeping this kind of “company”…  Totonaka RV Park is across the street from the sea but after the last storm that came through here in October, the access to the beach might as well be in the next state.  It was one of those storms that took all the sand from the beach and shifted it somewhere else.  It left a big mess and tough access to the beach.  Like in Bahia Kino, Sol and Carol asked us to go out with them and explore the area in their truck.  It’s very nice when people take pity on us for not having a car/truck to get around in.   This is another beautiful beach community that deserves the kind words of those of us that were given the opportunity to visit.  With the exception of the damage and the work that is now being done because of the storm, San Carlos is a small Cabo San Lucas, but 30 years behind, and this is all good...  We took a short break from our drive and found a great little lagoon to do some swimming.  The water was great, sand soft, and the surrounding mountains were magnificent.  Refreshed from our drive and the swim, we headed back to the campground.  At the entrance to the campground is this restaurant/ bar that offers a free margarita to those of us that are staying at the campground so we made a stop for refreshments.  I must admit, this “Free” margarita was one of the best I’ve ever had…fact is, we all thought so.  We thought it was so good that we had to be polite and have another with dinner.

9 November ‘09

Bahia Kino is a very small village that sits on the eastern banks of the Sea of Cortez.  With some homes, small single and two floor condos, a couple of restaurants, and 5 small vendor stalls, and a half dozen vacant lots, you get a feeling as to what Bahia Kino is all about…”kicking back”.  Some find it too kicked back, and others find it just a quiet and amazing soft sand beach area with great fishing from boats or beach.  Yesterday we hauled the kayak down to the water’s edge, ate a great breakfast of Huevos Rancheros, a Bloody-Mary,

 and took a paddle for a couple of hours.  The water was amazingly warm and flat.  The fish were abundant below us, and the pelicans were having a feast for breakfast all around us…it was quite a sight.  We paddled down the beach for about 100 yards and then out and around the rock hills that come to the deep water.  All along the rocks, the fishermen were tossing out their lines for the days catch, some already lucky and others still hanging tough.  We paddled from one protrusion of rocks to another and onto another until we had come to a small development of the only large homes we have seen in Kino Bay.  One smaller home that was already finished and right down on the beach was absolutely beautiful, and then there were the 3 others that sat higher on the hillside that were going to be huge when finished…pretty nice, but how the hell do you get to them???  The only paved road is the one that comes into Bahia Kino from Hermosillo and then takes a right for about 6 miles and then comes to an end.  The rest of the roads are heavily rutted dirt and a tough ride it is.  We’ve met up with a couple (Sol and Carol) from Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  They arrived the day before we did and we happened to find a location to park right in front of their 5^th wheel.  For the last couple of evenings, we’ve gotten together at the edge of the beach to watch the sun go down. 

This morning Carol asked us if we would like to explore Old Bahia Kino and try to get out to the land spit that connects the mainland to one of the island.  Well we found the road (dirt and heavily rutted), but it only took us about 1/3^rd of the way to the island.  From there it was walking only if you wanted to continue.  We did find a small area were the fishermen leave and come back from the bay. 

Not only did they have a catch of fish and crab, but the beach was covered with some of the best shells Louise and Carol have ever had a chance to collect from.  They were both very happy to walk through all that soft mud to get their riches.  After lunch at one of the beach-side restaurants in Ole Kino, we headed out the 12 mile “test track of dirt roads” to the Western Horizon Resort that we were going to camp in (Louise and I started out that road and immediately said “Hell will freeze over before I continue…”).  Sal has a large 4 wheel drive pick-up and wanted the challenge…we got there and back and found it to be a very nice resort, but still on the road from hell.  Then we went by the golf course that Sal has been golfing on.  It is a desert sand course and looks to be quite nice and challenging. 

Tonight we enjoyed another sunset and dinner at Jorge’s…just another day in PARADISE !!!

6 November ‘09

If you want to see our location on Google Earth it is located at;

28.85973N  /  112.02493W

I’ve mentioned before that the “cab air-conditioning” hasn’t been working and ever since we’ve worked our way south of Los Angles, California, we’ve suffered “terribly”…  We tried to have Freon put in while in Indio but the cost of $100 a pound (and we need 4.5) plus labor, AND the great possibility that it would just leak out again before too long made us think that if we could suffer long enough to get south of the border maybe we could save a little CASH…  Well yesterday, our host Edgar made a call and found two fellow Mexicans that would fix us up…  It turned out that there was a fairly large hole in one of the high-pressure air-conditioning lines that they could weld while still on the van.  All said and it was done.  For $130 we had a welded line, 4.5 pounds of Freon and COLD AIR coming out of our vents for the first time and making us HAPPY CAMPERS once again.  This morning we were once again on the move.  We said our thanks and good-byes and headed to Hermosillo.  In Hermosillo we found both Wal-Mart and Costco… what a gold mine for us and the locals.  They were busy!!!  And, the city of Hermosillo was busy with cars and trucks everywhere and in a hurry.  Hermosillo has a population of approx. 300,000 people and I think they were all on the roads that we wanted to travel on.  It kind of reminded me of driving in Istanbul, the leading fender wins…  I loved every second of it and it drove Louise crazy.  After having a quick slice of pizza at Costco we drove west to Bahia Kino. 

Bahia Kino is a small, lazy, kick-back, beach town that has one of our Western Horizon campgrounds.  The campground is located at the end of a 12 mile dirt road? that is soooo pot-holed that I gave up after a mile or two and drove back to town and found another campground to stay in.  I thought we would make it out there, even though we had heard some horror stories, but I was wrong…who wants to put themselves or their RV through that kind of torture???  Well what the heck, I really didn’t want to go all that way out of town anyway… 

4 November ‘09

It seemed a little strange waking up to an empty campground…  Lukeville really doesn’t have a lot around it except the border crossing, gas station, small grocery store/restaurant/insurance office, the campground, and a motel that has closed down awhile back.  That’s ok, all we wanted we received, enough electricity to run our air-conditioner and make my coffee in the morning.  We were up and ready early and across the border into Mexico by 9.  15 miles down the road we stopped at the immigration office and took care of our travel papers and importation sticker for the Minnie Winnie.  I really don’t mind all the paper work that it takes to travel here in Mexico, but it’s all the running back and forth from one building to another and then back again to the first.  Then once that’s all done, you’ve got to run to another to have copies made of all that has been done and returned to the first again…anyone make any sense out of that????  We did get “ripped off” at the copy shop, that will qualify for the first “ripped” opportunity here in Mexico and it only took being here a couple of hours.  3 pieces of paper copied (one copy each) and it was $5 US!!!  I probably could have avoided the opportunity if I had smaller peso change available, but all I had were $200 peso’s (about $15+) and they didn’t have any change (but the $5 would work PERFECTLY!!!).  OK, boo-hoo…  We drove the rest of the way to our next stop of Santa Ana on really nice wide roads that were lined with the desert hills and mountains on both sides. 

These were quite a surprise to us, as we had expected much the same as we’ve experienced driving the Baja, narrow, very narrow at times, and no shoulder…the roads to day were reminiscent of roads we drove in Poland.  These are nice 2 lane roads with a “driving” shoulder.  When a car, bus, or truck comes up from behind, you move over onto this shoulder area and let them pass…it could be that there are 4 vehicles that meet side-by-side with the two inner lanes being the passing lanes.  Anyway it works and I’m grateful that we only had 3 abreast while passing or being passed…  Our campground here in Santa Ana is one of the smaller campgrounds we’ve camped in but the couple that own it are wonderful….Ana and Edger. 

We’re using the “Mexico Camping” book by the Church’s and they recommended this one to us and their recommendation was spot on.  There is only room enough for 8 to 10 RV's parked here so when your here your "Like family"...  Most of their customers are "return" RV'ers and we will be as well when we come out in April.  We also used the Church European Camping Guide when we did our journey through Europe…we wouldn’t be without one.  Just before going to dinner, we took a walk into town.  Santa Ana sits down below us so we started our walking journey walking down hill…the town is a wonderful little town with great Spanish architecture that dates back to 1790 or before.  It’s not new, and it’s not all that well taken care of, but it’s great!  In the center of the town is the Catholic Church with a wonderful green grass park to one side.  Further up on the hill we came across this large cemetery that was all decorated up from the “Day of the Dead” celebration. 

Over-all we walked about 2 to 3 miles before getting back in the dark and then we had to find our “taco stand”… 

 Taco’s, a cerveza, all taken care of we head back to the coach (Minnie Winnie) and enjoy a warm and beautiful night under our awning.