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).
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. 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.
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_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. |
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