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Mexico 2010
15 January 2006
Jan 15, 2010
Well we crossed at Nogales this morning. We spent the night in the Wal Mart Parking lot and got up at 6 AM to cross early. Boy was it cold, just a few degrees above freezing. This year, Homeland Security is checking you out for guns southbound, so we expected a longer delay, but when I told them we were Canadian & had to resort to poisoning each other instead of shooting each other, they waved us through. The usual hassle at km 21 with paperwork was done in about an hour although it was freezing and we drove to San Carlos, by the time we got there is was 30 C. Once again we are at the Tonaka RV park. This time we had to take a large detour as the main road in front is still washed out from last falls hurricane. We only have a week to get to Puerto Vallarta as Terry's son flies in on the 23rd, so we are booting it. Tomorrow it's Huabampito.
Jan 16, 2010
Terry pointed out a hole in the side of our camper this morning. It's about dime sized & we have no idea how it got there. A rock? Or did someone hit us in a parking lot. May have even happened in the US. Anyway I guess it means a trip to an RV or boat place to get some fibreglass repair done. i have filled it temp with putty til we get back in the US.
We drove to El Mirador in Huabampito today. A bit more crowded than last year but they immediately recognized Tomas, especially Daniel the waiter there. It seems he made a big impression last year. They seem disappointed we are only staying one night. I hit my first unexpected tope (speed bump) today. I spotted it about 20 feet before i hit it & slammed the brakes on, but still took it at about 20 MPH. This time everything stayed put in the trailer.
Fuel has gone up a bit this year, but the Canadian dollar is worth more against the Peso so it actually works out cheaper. About 70-75 cents a liter for liter for diesel. We are once again blown away by the friendliness of people here. Every time we pull over for a break, people stop & ask if we need help.
Jan 17, 2010
Made the long drive to Noe's at Celestino today, (just north of Mazatlan), We will stay here 3 nights.
Jan 20, 2010
We left Noe's at 10 AM this morning & arrived in San Blas about 3 PM. We decided to save some money on tolls & took the Libres most of the way although we did get nailed by 2 of them for $15 a crack, but I am sure we saved ourselves about $50 all together. The tolls near Mazatlan & south are quite pricey. We were actually glad we did it this way we went though some beautiful countryside. Once again every time we stopped at the roadside, people stopped to ask if needed help. It's amazing. We are at El Chaco RV park just south of San Blas. I noticed a Class C parked on the beach & it turned out to be Mr Tioga with his RV, Ms Tioga. I have emailed back & forth with George quite a few times but have never met him. He full times, most of the time in Mexico. He had a bout of cancer a few years back & decided to get the most out of his remaining years. here is a link to his blog. LINK. he took a picture of me so it will likely appear there in a day or 2. I will add some photos here when I get a proper connection. I am using a fellow RV'ers satellite link so I don't want to use up bandwidth.
On the road south of Mazatlan. Tomas is checking out a new spot to poop.
Ms. Toiga & her owner George on the beach in San Blas
Camped at San Blas
Another view of Ms. Tioga
The pool at the San Blas campsite
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This class A belongs to a couple from Victoria who have been in Mexico for the last 3 years. They paid $2500 top have this palapa & patio built so they have the use of it.
Jan 22, 2010
We drove south to Sayulita today. I have a heart Resuscitator that I am bringing down for a medical clinic here. I had picked it up at Kathies place in Sacramento where it had been shipped & smuggled it across the border. The doctor has me registered as a patient & I had a letter form him stating I had a heart condition. Hey, it's Mexico. We parked on the highway outside of town & unloaded the scooter. I went into town to check out the RV park there. It's was full, so no way to stay here tonight. After visiting a few pharmacies I managed to locate the clinic and he came out tot meet us to get the equipment. He was extremely grateful to us for bringing it. I justify my smuggling career with the thought I am saving lives. Heck my mother is descended from smugglers of the Romney Marsh in Kent, England, so I have it my genes.
We continued onto Puerto Vallarta & checked in Tachos RV Park. This is large RV park and there were only about 3 spare spots, the rest (apart form 5 spots) were filled with people from Quebec, most form a 70 rig caravan. not a word of English or Spanish to be heard. Some where very nice, others a language barrier. Terry's, son D'Arcy arrive tomorrow.
January 23rd, 2010
Took the bus to the Airport to meet D'Arcy at 4PM. Since we booked late we had to book him via Edmonton. As soon as I got there the flight from Abbotsford (where we live) arrived. And the flight from Edmonton showed 2 hours late. Bummer. He eventually arrived. As it turned out it was just as well it was delayed as his flight from Vancouver to Edmonton was also delayed & he would have missed his connection otherwise. Fortunately Terry did come with me. The words "Terry" & "patience" do not mix.
January 24th, 2010
We booted out of PV real early this morning, probably waking up sever French Canadians (yes!) with my loud diesel truck. I hate driving through Puerto Vallarta. It is usually a very nerve wracking experience, but early Sunday morning was no problem. We arrived in Melaque around noon and I unloaded the scooter to find a way into the Laguna del Tule RV park avoiding low trees which is a real issue. I found a way in and here we are for 3 weeks. This is a different campground than we used last year. It has a pool which is nice since the ocean is rough here. The campground is full. This time mainly people from BC. I am glad I reserved. Fortunately, most Americans still think taking an RV into Mexico means they will be murdered or you would never get into anywhere. I have only seen about 10% Americans anywhere we have stayed. I need to keep posting scary stories on the RV forums to keep more people out. I have to make some stories about French Canadians being murdered. D'Arcy has found a hotel room for $12 a night a block away. Tomorrow we are driving into Manzanillo to sign him up for diving certification, which i an paying for as a combined birthday & Christmas present. They say the diving condition here are the best they have ever seen in years, which is great. I will probably do several dives myself.
Last one is the view out our back door
Jan 25th, 2010
Cloudy today. D'Arcy & I drove into Manzanillo to sign him up for the diving course. A bit pricier than I exepcted since he is th eonly one, but it means one on one instruction.
Jan 26th, 2010
Dropped D'Arcy off at 7:30 at the bus station rather than have to make the hour long drive into Manzanillo for his course. Its sunny again which is nice. It turns out the guy camped across from me is someone I worked with for about 8 years at Telus, John Williamson. Small world. D'Arcy got back about 5:30 from his diving course exhausted. He said he did well. I am going in with him tomorrow to do some diving myself.
Jan 27th, 2010
Woke up at 4AM this morning. Tomas was in pain. It seems ot hurt if he moves his neck. He was running around on the beach a lot yesterday. I massaged it for an hour & he seems a tiny bit better. I took off with D'Arcy to go diving & left him in Terry's hands. hew was much better when we got back late in the afternoon. Diving was pretty good, a lot better visibility than in PV last year and once again we could hear humpback whales down there. D'Arcy did pretty good, the usual normal arm flapping when you first start, but he made it down 60 or 70 ft without any problems. He has to study using the dive tables tonight as he writes the test tomorrow.
Jan 28th, 2010
Tomas seems back to normal so I guess it was just a neck kink. he went over to the pool with me. the great thing about Mexico is that taking your dog poolside or into restaurants is no big deal. As long as he does not figure its an all inclusive & start demanding unlimited food.
Jan 29th, 2010
D'Arcy passed his diving course OK, so we decided to take him out to dinner. Being Mexico, we of course took Tomas along. He enjoyed his restaurant meal & a Margarita. Such a civilized country, we don't have to disguise him as a seeing eye dog.
Feb 1, 2010
The net is really unreliable around here so updating is hard. Not much happening. There is a circus in town & they tow 2 Bengal tigers around town in a caged trailer every day advertising it. I feel sorry for them & the townsfolk if they get loose. Went up to the beach at Chamela today & let the dog stalk crabs. D'Arcy has to catch the bus to PV tommorrow at 4 AM to get his flight back.
Feb 2nd, 2010
It pouring today, but warm & muggy. First rain so far, but it is an El Nino year. Yesterday the speedometer on my truck quit. It quit in stages, showing 70 when I was doing 20, etc, now it is stuck on the max, 120 (MPH, it's an American truck). I think something has come loose due to the rough roads. All the electronics including the odometer work, so its not a computer problem. The warranty expires on the 26th of this month and they won't honor it in Mexico, so I am going to take it to the GM dealer in Manzanillo, pay them to fix it then go for reimbursement later, Chances are it may be less than my $100 deductible anyway. I only paid $40 labor 4 years ago to have a water pump replaced. I was going to go today, but if I have to hang around a few hours, I would rather not do it on a rainy day. I dropped D'Arcy off at the bus at 4AM. Since he never came back by taxi, I assume it arrived OK. He should get to PV 7 hours before his flight. He absconded with our alarm clock, the bastard.
Feb 3rd, 2010
Wow, what a storm last night. 6 inches of rain in a few hours with high winds, thunder & lightning. I know its 6 inches because the pool is overflowing & the water level was at least 6 inches below the edge before. Everything is flooded around here. I had to pull in my slide to prevent water from getting in, not an easy thing to do with the command seating. I need to try & rig up a way to operate it from the other end of the camper. Several people lost awnings, I got mine in in time.
The bank behind our camper eroding
The street next to the campsite
This is what water running down the street did to the beach
Feb 4, 2010
More pictures of the storm from another BC couple in this campground. LINK
Bright & sunny this morning so I decided to drive the hour into Manzanillo to have my speedometer looked out. I found there is a hidden warranty that seems to be for this very problem. It's good for 7 years and 70k miles. My truck is 6 years old & has 50k. There were a few washouts on the way, the biggest problem was in small towns where the sand from side streets had flowed over the highway creating large Topes.
I found the GM dealer and he said he had not heard of the recall. Not surprising it only affected 2003's & early 2004's which mine is. They worked on it for an hour & said it needed a part they did not have. I wanted something to prove it had been in. For that they told me i had to go to the Chev dealer. I never realized Chev & GM were considered different down here. so off to the chev dealer I went. Driving between the 2 I noticed it now worked. Mexican mechanics have a reputation for performing miracles, but obviously sometimes they are not even aware they do. I got tot he Chev dealer at 1 PM and they told me they needed an hour. I got back at 2 Pm & then noticed the "Closed between 2 & 4 sign. 2 more hours of hanging around. When they came back they told me no trouble found. I managed to get a business card with a note scribbled on back as proof I had it in. I doubt that will help me much with the extended warranty business, but I am pretty sure it is recall related so i am going to take it into a dealer in Tucson when I cross the border & ask them to do it.
Got back to find Terry had finished cleaning up the storm mess, like crushed screen rooms etc. Bless here heart. There was huge splash in the lagoon behind our camper after dark. I am guessing that means the rumored crocs in there are close to shore now. Have to watch the dog. Hopefully it was just an iguana.
Feb 6th, 2010
We both rode the scooter into Barra Navidad. We managed to wipe out on it on our way back into town. They have filled the potholes with sand and when we hit one the scooter came to a dead stop. We both got scrapes and i pulled a muscle in my chest. We have booked an extra week here to give some recoop time.
Feb 7th, 2010
We have a black lab like dog hanging around. He is just a pup but seems in good shape, although thin. I am not sure if he is a stray or not. Nice & friendly. Tomas keeps barking at him & telling him to go find his own Gringo. On top of that he stole egg-man, one of Tomas' favorite toys on the beach the other day. I got it back eventually.
Feb 8th, 2010
It appears the dog is a stray and a couple here from Victoria, BC are planning on adopting him.
Feb 11, 2010
Pretty stormy day all day today after a hot & muggy day yesterday
Feb 12,2010
Hot & Sunny again. I thought I had got away from the Olympics, but the Hotel has put a TV outside set to CTV, so we are subject to it. Every time I passed it tonight it seemed John Furlong was still talking. I see we already managed to kill someone. Its rather strange to be watching a Vancouver TV channel down here, mind you most RV'ers seem to have dishes, except the Americans. Their satellite services won't work down here, but Starchoice from Canada does. If we wanted one ourselves, no problem sharing a subscription with one of them and getting a second dish. Not so sure I want it, though.
Feb 14, 2010
Nothing new to report, so some more photos of Laguna del Tule
Feb 19th:
Not much happening we have been here a month and tomorrow we pull out. I ran into my ex-wife, Megan & her boyfriend, Ted, in town today, so we went over to their hotel & spent an enjoyable afternoon with them chewing the shit. We get along great & I really like her beau, so everything is cool there.
Time to head south, Jerry Gale is camping about 100 km south of here so we are going to go & try to find him tomorrow. May not have easy net access for awhile.
We had a big birthday party on the beach tonight for one of the people here. Tomas got overfed.
Feb 21, 2010
We pulled out of Melaque this morning & headed south. We decided to take the Cuota (toll road) around Manzanillo. Wow, talk about expensive, it was about $25 for only 40 miles, but probably worth it rather than have to drive through the center. After taking the truck in there without the camper, I know what its like. We still managed to get lost in Tecoman, 50 miles further south which did not have a bypass. South of there the road becomes narrow & windy after we entered Michoacan State. A lot of road kill, we counted 4 dead dogs, 4 dead cats, 1 deer, 1 cow & one vulture. The scenery down the Michoacan coast is spectacular, very much like the Oregon Coast, with even one snow capped peak to the east. We are encountering military checkpoints now. We were stopped at one today and they searched the trailer. They asked us for ID, but when they saw Tomas with his bunny, they figured we were harmless & sent us on our way. This remote stretch of coastline is where most drugs get bought ashore, and Michoacan is the home of a couple of the biggest cartels, so one has to avoid hanging around in bars and places where you may accidentally socialize with them. That can associate you with them in the eyes of the police. For this reason, it is not safe to boondock on the beach. We drove into the fishing village of Maruata. Gerry & Paula Gale from Nova Scotia, & the Cardwells from California are here, both are members of our Truck Camper Club. We last met Gerry up at Chute Lake near Penticton. I saw Jerry’s cracked fender. That happened when he hit a tope and it bend his Torklift tie down. I did not think that was possible, he must have really hit it hard. Camping here consists of parking next to beachside restaurants. No hook-ups, but the price is right at $4 a night. The seafood is great.
The last picture is Jerry playing some game I don't know the name of.
Feb 23, 2010
We pulled out of Maruata this morning & said goodbye to the Gales & Cardwells. We were initially headed to a new RV park at km 103, but when we got there it was empty, and so was its pool, so we figured we would head on to Playa Azul, just north of Lazaro Cardenas. The road was extremely narrow & windy and at one point we almost got clobbered by the second trailer of a double semi which cut the corner too much. The only other exciting thing was a saucer sized Tarantula crossing the highway. We are now camped in what amounts to a parking lot behind a hotel in Playa Azul. It does have a nice pool, however, so we think we will spend 2 nights here. There is only one other RV in here from Ontario.
Feb 25,2010
Well this place has filled up in the last 2 days. All Canadians. We are going to head south tomorrow. One of the people here say there is a new campground about 50 km south of Lazarro Cardenas, so maybe we will check that one out for a night at least. One is headed north but I just got a message from Sandy the owner of Rancho Buganvillas in La Placita that the road has been blocked due to an ongoing Indian land claim dispute and there are people with guns all over. There were tons of soldiers in that area when we came through & we got stopped at a few check points. I am trying to get a hold of Jerry who is still in Maruata which is only 20 km away from the area, to see what the locals are saying about it, so they can decide whether to risk it. We plan on going north inland on our way back & avoid the area.
Feb 26, 2010
We drove down the coast to Troncones where there is supposedly a new RV Park. We eventually found it after driving 5 km down a dirt road with huge Topes. We missed one & hit it real hard and everything went flying inside the trailer. It also threw off the gas can I had strapped to the back of the camper & it went onto the road & split open. No permanent damage fortunately. The Campsite was nice but with few amenities.
Feb 27, 2010
Turned on the radio this morning & heard about the Chile Quake and a Tsunami warning. We packed up & headed to high ground. We sat on a hillside in the hot sun for 4 hours. We tried to warn people but no one listened including the campground owner. Oh well, I tried. We even pulled into Ixtapa (see photo below of the view from the hill we sat on) and tried to warn people. After the danger passed we headed down into Ziahuatenejo. Turned out it was just a large surge, you can set the wet sand mark in one of the photos below.
Tidal surge mark
Feb 28th, 2010:
This is a real nice little campground (El Manglar). Nearly all Canadians here, most are seasonal. There is another campground up the road that only allows French Canadians. It is run by one. This one has a small lagoon next to it with a couple of alligators in there, so we have to watch the dog in that area. I remember this beach (La Ropa) from the first time I was here in 1974 when this was a sleepy fishing village. It was deserted back then.
We all sat in the restaurant & watched the US-Canada Gold medal Hockey game. One lone American & a dozen Canadians. It is a good job Canada one or the Alligators would have been having American food. Note the flag in the pictures below. Tomas enjoyed the game.
Mar 1, 2010
More pictures, El Manglar campground & Zihuantenejo
Mar 5th, 2010
We have been here a week tomorrow. We think we will leave Sunday for the drive to Acapulco. We have confirmed that there is a real bad stretch of construction about 20 miles long, so hopefully they won't be working on it on Sunday. The folks in the campground put jacks under the axle of the owners van the other night, so when he closed the restaurant at midnight & tried to drive way he went nowhere. It was pretty successful judging by the laughter at 12:30 AM.
Managed to get a photo of the gator in the pond behind us.
March 7 , 2010
We got up early this morning to leave. We stopped at the Soriana's to stock up on groceries. It had a Scotiabank ATM so we managed to get a bunch of cash without having to pay service charges. The trip to Acapulco was not as bad as we thought. We hit a long stretch of new pavement (toll road, mind you) that we figure was probably the bad spot we were warned about. There was about 10 km of rough road (see photo's below) but apart from having a tight squeeze passing oncoming buses & trucks, it was OK. Very hot today, about 38 C.
We got pulled over at a military checkpoint. they searched the trailer & camper pretty thoroughly. We have noticed most police are wearing masks. apparently they don't want to be identified and targeted.
We have pulled into Playa Luces RV Park just north of Acapulco. Very nice place. The ocean is too rough to swim in, but they have a nice pool & even individual pools in each campsite (see photo). It used to be a KOA, I never even knew there were any in Mexico. The lady who runs it does not speak any English, but she seemed thrilled I could speak Spanish. She quoted me a rate about $5 a day less than what everyone else here says they are paying and asked me not to tell them. Really nice lady. I told her we will stay a week. Everyone here is talking about the couple from Calgary who were attacked in an RV Park in Mazatlan yesterday. No one says it will discourage them from traveling here, but hope it will keep American paranoid so they don't fill up the campsites here in future. It won't discourage us. We love this country & its people, but will possibly be a bit more cautious.
March 13, 2010
Well another week has gone. We pull out tomorrow to Cuernavaca. Not all was leisure here. We ran a new 30 amp service to a couple of new campsites for the owner. Being a retired telephone man, I of course, had most of the required hardware in my trailer, including an old central office soldering iron that you can almost weld with. Except a fish tape. As you can see in the photos below we had to go on top of a rig and try to get the string through the conduit with a weight. It actually worked. They bough too small a conduit, but we got it through with lots of grease and actually broke the pulls string twice. I did not think you could break that stuff, I wish I had a couple of balls of the stuff they used 30 years ago, you could pull a Mack truck through a conduit with that.
Tonight is a usual Saturday night party here, so I may have some more pictures of us drunk later.
Tomas spends a lot of time in the Air Conditioning, plus there is a very persistent beach dog who tries to hump him that he is always trying to seek refuge from.
Mar, 14, 2010
We left this morning around 9AM. We had a party last night as you can see by the photo above. I noticed a huge crack in my windshield. It originated form a small chip I had repaired a year ago. I think the heat must have triggered it. It can wait until we get home.
After leaving the campground, we managed to get on the wrong road. That was after crawling through Sunday market traffic as you can see in the first photo below. I don’t know how people manage with big 5th wheels & class A’s, it is hair raising enough with a Truck Camper & cargo trailer. The GPS took us up what I suspect was the shortest, but not most practical, route, and we ended up our worst nightmare a small village with too little clearance to get the RV through. We ended up having to disconnect the trailer to turn around, then Terry had to drive slow will I sat on the roof lifting telephone wires out of the way so we did not drag them down.
Eventually we managed to retrace our route & get on the correct road to connect with the Cuota to Mexico City. No sooner had we done that the road was blocked due to a motorcycle accident. I never figured out if he was still alive, but they put him in an ambulance. There was a lot of blood on the road when we finally managed to get through. He was not wearing a helmet. We were quite happy once we found the Cuota. It turned out to be an expensive one, it cost us almost $40 to get to Cuernavaca, but it was the best we have been on so far. Several large cable stayed bridges crossing gorges, & tunnels, which probably explains the high tolls. A beautifully engineered road. When we did exit we ended up having to go through several small towns with the usual narrow roads, topes & low trees to eventually get to our destination, Las Estaces. This is the most expensive RV Park in Mexico. $60 a night, but includes admission to the Balneario. This is the largest Balneario I have ever seen. Pools & lagoons everywhere. It also has a clear river running through it you can snorkel down. After paying for 2 nights we have discovered they do not allow dogs, so we have to keep Tomas hidden. The power also does not work, so we have to drag out the generator. It’s 36 C here, but at least the humidity is low.
This is fun?
I hope this is not intended as drinking water
Mar 15th, 2010
Spend a lazy afternoon drifting down the spring fed river here on foam noodles, trying to get our $60 worth. A bit cloudy & cooler today. Just as well since we have to leave Tomas in the camper all day.
Camping is popular in Mexico:
Mar 16th, 2010
We headed for Puebla today. Once again we got forced through some small towns with narrow streets. Just outside of Puebla we missed out turn and I had to cross 3 lanes fairly quickly to make a turnaround. No problems for nay Mexicans doing this, but a cop pulled us over & wanted to fine us 2000 pesos (about $160). We only had 70 Pesos on us. He took that. We tired the no speak any Spanish tact. I have a feeling the fine was not anywhere near that amount. In retrospect we should have just called his bluff, but after a stressful day of navigating narrow streets I was not in the mood to argue. We have been here for 2 months without getting shaken down yet, it had happened twice last year in this amount of time. It is just an expected part of traveling down here. You cannot get upset about it, just budget for it. We have decided to spend only the night here & push on to Teotihuacan and stay there for a few days. No net access here or the last location, so we need to either find WiFi at the next campground or an internet café.
Popocatépetl Volcano:
Mexican Cuota:
March 17, 2010:
Arrive at Teotihuacan around noon. An easy drive. All the way on Cuota (see photo). This is a lovely campground, all green grass & only a block from the town center. We plan on staying here until Sunday. We want to meet a friend who lives in Mexico City. Mariana came to Canada to look after our friends (Camilo & Rosario) kids. She was one of several they had & I think their favourite. We met her & her mother previously when we were backpacking about 4 years ago. Either she will come out here, or we will take the bus in. No way am I taking the camper into Mexico City.
Bath time for Tomas:
March 18th, 2010
We took a taxi to Teotihuacan today. I haven't been there in 30 years. Still impressive.
March 19, 2010
Nice relaxing day today, neither of us got much sleep. Its some sort of holiday, fireworks going off all night and I do mean all night. poor dog is terrified. Camilo, I suggest you go see Doctor Slash before showing the pictures below to Rosario, or you may be paying for another college education.
The church is Jesuit & dates to the mid 1500's
Mar 21st, 2010
Today we took the bus into Mexico City to visit our friend Mariana. It's crazy around here today with all the stuff happening at the pyramids with the equinox.
It took 1 hour to the end of a Metro Line, then a half an hour on the train. Mexico City's subway is very extensive and only costs about 20 cents to ride it anywhere. Riding the bus in convinced me to head north tomorrow and then east towards Morelia rather than attempting the circle road around the city which is shorter. Freeway or no freeway it was crazy even on a Sunday. god knows what Monday would be like. We cannot leave until 11 AM due to the traffic restrictions anyway. Mexico City is probably the worlds largest City, not a place you want to drive an RV through.
We met Marianna for a nice lunch, stopped at the main square on the way back to look around. Lat time we were there, a few years back, it was crowed with 1/2 a million people demonstrating over the federal election results.
March 22, 2010
We pulled out at 11 AM. After talking to some Germans in the RV Park who came the reverse direction we wanted to go, we decided to risk the ring road around Mexico City after all. They said the way to Querataro was well marked. Well maybe it was well marked in the direction they went, it was not marked at all in our direction & we ended up in a Mexico City suburb. I think I took 2 years off my life. Talk about traffic. We had one close call with a truck when we tried to go straight ahead instead of turning left at an intersection. Eventually we stumbled on the right road & got onto the Cuota. The new Cuota from Jilotepic to Atlacomulco is not yet open so we had to take the old highway which was pretty rough. Just as we reached the 15D Cuota to go across to Morelia, we were pulled over by the police. I knew I had done nothing wrong, so I wondered what sort of shakedown it was. I used the “no hablo mucho Espanol” tactic & convinced him we were lost (which we were not). I am not sure if he was trying to find something wrong we did or not, but he drew us a map, asked for all our paperwork & then asked for cigarettes. We just kept smiling through the whole thing. We shook hands and left & I handed him 40 Peso’s and told him to go buy himself some cigarettes. We eventually made Lago Cuizeo, the second largest lake in Mexico. Arturo, a Mexican-American is building a big RV park here, but it is not completely so temporarily he is sending people to a Hot springs Balneario nearby. Basic no service camping here, but we did fill with water & empty our holding tanks before leaving this morning so we are good for a couple of days. Arturo wants do some caravans down here, so I want to talk to him about maybe doing one for NATCOA in a year or 2. There is a lot around here like the Monarch Butterfly preserve. A bit late for it this year, but next year maybe, they peak in Jan-Feb.
March 23, 2010
Arturo showed up this morning and we went off together to take a look at what he is doing. He is extremely enthusiastic and has ambitious plans. He has started to work on what he hopes will become an RV resort that will attract seasonal RV’ers. He has a very large plot of land, the only fly in the ointment right now, is access. He has a very rough road into it that needs to be smoothed out and low hanging trees removed. The biggest problem is the grade to climb to get up there. The Cuota, however touches one corner of his property, but being a toll highway, you can’t get off it there. I suggested he approach the government and see if he could charge maybe 70 pesos for them for people to exit there. It would save them about 5 miles and the hill, I think people would pay it. He could prevent locals from using it by gating it. He has plans for a spa since the property has therapeutic hot springs and he has space for about 100 RV’s on large sites. The nice thing about this location is it is central to Colonial Mexico and very close to the monarch butterfly preserve where million of those come each year. Arturo wants to arrange tours to places like Mexico City & Guadalajara from here and he wants to bring caravans down form the US, something he can so safely since he is Mexican-American. I have has a lot of interest in a NATCOA caravan, but Terry is not too keen on it, so I think Arturo is the solution.
March 26, 2010
A very interesting day. Patzcuaro is a very nice place. It is one of the Pueblo Magico's which pretty well means no messy store fronts, clean streets, etc. We took a boat over to Isla Janitzio, a large inhabited Island in Patzcuaro lake. Quite a few photos below. Later this afternoon a couple pulled in with a Lance camper. As they were taking it off the truck, one of the jacks failed & the camper collapsed. Its quite a mess, the truck is damaged as is the camper.
Patzcuaro:
Fishermen:
The boat comes with entertainment:
March 28, 2010
Drove about 5 hours today to Mazamitla & Hacienda Contreras RV Park. To our surprise Jerry & Ken were there as was another couple we met in Playa Azul a month back. In fact there were quite a few considering it is late in the season. This is a great place run by a very nice couple. She is American, he is Mexican. She baked a bunch of cookies for happy hour and we spent an enjoyable eve sitting around a big fire. (It gets down close to freezing at night due to altitude)
Mar 29th, 2010
Drove an hour to Roca Azul on Lake Chapala. We were here last year, but a month earlier. Still quite a few people here. We have to stall through Semana Santa. probably head over to Villa Corona for a couple of days after & try to hit Santa Maria del Oro at the end of next weekend. Then its down to the hot humid coast for the drive north.
April 1st, 2010:
We have decided to stay a week to wait out Semana Santa. No desire to deal with 1000's or drunk drivers on the roads. This place is filling up with tenters and we attended a big party on the beach tonight. It is non stop partying and the best strategy is to simply join in. Yesterday we visited Dan & Andrea in Anjijic. I met Dan on a political forum on the net about 5 years ago. He is what I call an intelligent Republican. We actually agree that the way to solve Mexico's drug gang problem is to legalize drugs in the US. Anyways they are a very nice couple. They are from New Mexico and have moved here permanent. They have a beautiful house. It's to die for. This lake is very popular with ex-pats, at 5000 feet it has a perfect year round climate. We took our camper over there which was a bit of a mistake. It was a nightmare trying to get out of there with narrow streets, overhanging balconies, etc. terry had to walk ahead of me & guide me. Some balconies i cleared by 1/2 an inch. We are invited back on Sunday for a BBQ. Despite witnessing the disaster in Patzcuaro, we are pulling the camper off. Its a bit too far to use the scooter, esp with the drunks on the road.
April 3, 2010
Spent an enjoyable day playing mexican train & cards with a large Mexican family camped here
April 4, 2010
Today we went back to Dan & Andrea’s house for a BBQ. We decided it was best to take a taxi rather than risk the narrow streets again especially on Easter Sunday. It was pricey at $15 one way, but a lot less stressful. We had an enjoyable afternoon and decided to try the bus back with the dog which was a lot cheaper. He decided sitting on the floor was beneath him so he promptly jumped up onto my lap much to the amusement of everyone else on the bus.
April 5, 2010
Made an early start today to head toward Santa Maria del Oro, the crater lake we discovered last year. We decided to take about a 50 km detour to avoid Guadalajara even though a lot of it was over a secondary road. However, we took the same secondary road last year & I knew there were no non-negotiable small villages along it. At one point here as a German Shepard walking down the middle of the road. Obviously not a stray since he looked purebred. We missed him, but I saw the car coming in the opposite direction clobber him. We drove a mile up the road until we found a place to turn and slowly cruised back looking for him but did not find him, we had to retrace back another km or so to turn around again and this time spotted him walking across a field in the distance, so I guess he just got bruised. We arrived at the lake in early afternoon and will stay 2 or 3 nights. Met the owner this time who is originally English and speaks it, unlike his son who was managing it last year. There are still plenty of Semana Santa hanging-on Mexican campers here, but he said if we has shown up a day earlier we never would have got in. We have dropped another 2500 ft so it is noticeably hotter, (it is at 2500 feet itself) we will definitely have to search out places with pools or bathing beaches, once we hit the coast. We are about 2 weeks later than last year. Have to time out our stops so we cross the border on the 19th or 20th. I am going to make an appointment for my truck in Tucson on the 21st. 2 warranty items & some general maintenance. At least with the Canadian dollar at par (maybe worth more by the time we get there), it won’t cost me an arm & leg.
April 7, 2010
Seriously considering buying a 2 bedroom cottage available on this lake for 30K. Will think about it when we get home.The place was for sale last year for 35K and I do not think it will go soon, this place is a hidden gem. A swimmable fresh water lake. There are about 5 other Canadian & Americans that have the other properties here. The thought of being bale to just fly here for winter is appealing. Only issue is no internet, but the other owners are thinking of going in on a dish to provide that.
Tomas got attacked by a pack of 5 dogs when I took him for a walk today. No damage except to his ego. I now know what house to avoid walking him past.
April 8, 2010
Drove to Teacapan today. This is the first time here, it is located at the end of a long peninsular, south of Mazatlan. Only 2 other Rv's here, an American couple on their way to Argentina and a Mexican RV'er. Seeing very few other RV'ers on the road now. It's not as hot as we expected, a brisk breeze make sit very pleasant. It was actually hotter at Santa Maria del Oro which is n a crater. We had some trouble getting out of there, a lot of Semana Santa hangers-on parked along the access road.
April 10, 2010
Drove to Noe's place at Celestino about 70 km north of Mazatlan. Hal & Marge, a couple from Santa Fe, in an Arctic Fox camper whom we met last year rolled in as well. They winter out in Sayulita near Puerto Vallarta and are on their way north. They are traveling faster than we are, they drove all the way in one go and intend on going all the way to San Carlos in one day on Monday. That is 450 miles. For us that is a 2 day trip even though it is all Cuota. Nice to have company, very few of us left down here now. We are 2 weeks behind last year, it's amazing how more empty places are in just 2 weeks. We are headed further north on Monday, probably Huabampito.
April 13, 2010
We decided to stay an extra day & do the marathon to San Carlos after all. It was not too bad except I got a flat tire on one of my duals. It happened in the middle of nowhere except for a shack which turned out to be a roadside tire repair place. They replaced a cut valve stem & we were on our way. I need to look into stainless steel ones.
Well we crossed at Nogales this morning. We spent the night in the Wal Mart Parking lot and got up at 6 AM to cross early. Boy was it cold, just a few degrees above freezing. This year, Homeland Security is checking you out for guns southbound, so we expected a longer delay, but when I told them we were Canadian & had to resort to poisoning each other instead of shooting each other, they waved us through. The usual hassle at km 21 with paperwork was done in about an hour although it was freezing and we drove to San Carlos, by the time we got there is was 30 C. Once again we are at the Tonaka RV park. This time we had to take a large detour as the main road in front is still washed out from last falls hurricane. We only have a week to get to Puerto Vallarta as Terry's son flies in on the 23rd, so we are booting it. Tomorrow it's Huabampito.
Jan 16, 2010
Terry pointed out a hole in the side of our camper this morning. It's about dime sized & we have no idea how it got there. A rock? Or did someone hit us in a parking lot. May have even happened in the US. Anyway I guess it means a trip to an RV or boat place to get some fibreglass repair done. i have filled it temp with putty til we get back in the US.
We drove to El Mirador in Huabampito today. A bit more crowded than last year but they immediately recognized Tomas, especially Daniel the waiter there. It seems he made a big impression last year. They seem disappointed we are only staying one night. I hit my first unexpected tope (speed bump) today. I spotted it about 20 feet before i hit it & slammed the brakes on, but still took it at about 20 MPH. This time everything stayed put in the trailer.
Fuel has gone up a bit this year, but the Canadian dollar is worth more against the Peso so it actually works out cheaper. About 70-75 cents a liter for liter for diesel. We are once again blown away by the friendliness of people here. Every time we pull over for a break, people stop & ask if we need help.
Jan 17, 2010
Made the long drive to Noe's at Celestino today, (just north of Mazatlan), We will stay here 3 nights.
Jan 20, 2010
We left Noe's at 10 AM this morning & arrived in San Blas about 3 PM. We decided to save some money on tolls & took the Libres most of the way although we did get nailed by 2 of them for $15 a crack, but I am sure we saved ourselves about $50 all together. The tolls near Mazatlan & south are quite pricey. We were actually glad we did it this way we went though some beautiful countryside. Once again every time we stopped at the roadside, people stopped to ask if needed help. It's amazing. We are at El Chaco RV park just south of San Blas. I noticed a Class C parked on the beach & it turned out to be Mr Tioga with his RV, Ms Tioga. I have emailed back & forth with George quite a few times but have never met him. He full times, most of the time in Mexico. He had a bout of cancer a few years back & decided to get the most out of his remaining years. here is a link to his blog. LINK. he took a picture of me so it will likely appear there in a day or 2. I will add some photos here when I get a proper connection. I am using a fellow RV'ers satellite link so I don't want to use up bandwidth.
On the road south of Mazatlan. Tomas is checking out a new spot to poop.
Ms. Toiga & her owner George on the beach in San Blas
Camped at San Blas
Another view of Ms. Tioga
The pool at the San Blas campsite
]This class A belongs to a couple from Victoria who have been in Mexico for the last 3 years. They paid $2500 top have this palapa & patio built so they have the use of it.
Jan 22, 2010
We drove south to Sayulita today. I have a heart Resuscitator that I am bringing down for a medical clinic here. I had picked it up at Kathies place in Sacramento where it had been shipped & smuggled it across the border. The doctor has me registered as a patient & I had a letter form him stating I had a heart condition. Hey, it's Mexico. We parked on the highway outside of town & unloaded the scooter. I went into town to check out the RV park there. It's was full, so no way to stay here tonight. After visiting a few pharmacies I managed to locate the clinic and he came out tot meet us to get the equipment. He was extremely grateful to us for bringing it. I justify my smuggling career with the thought I am saving lives. Heck my mother is descended from smugglers of the Romney Marsh in Kent, England, so I have it my genes.
We continued onto Puerto Vallarta & checked in Tachos RV Park. This is large RV park and there were only about 3 spare spots, the rest (apart form 5 spots) were filled with people from Quebec, most form a 70 rig caravan. not a word of English or Spanish to be heard. Some where very nice, others a language barrier. Terry's, son D'Arcy arrive tomorrow.
January 23rd, 2010
Took the bus to the Airport to meet D'Arcy at 4PM. Since we booked late we had to book him via Edmonton. As soon as I got there the flight from Abbotsford (where we live) arrived. And the flight from Edmonton showed 2 hours late. Bummer. He eventually arrived. As it turned out it was just as well it was delayed as his flight from Vancouver to Edmonton was also delayed & he would have missed his connection otherwise. Fortunately Terry did come with me. The words "Terry" & "patience" do not mix.
January 24th, 2010
We booted out of PV real early this morning, probably waking up sever French Canadians (yes!) with my loud diesel truck. I hate driving through Puerto Vallarta. It is usually a very nerve wracking experience, but early Sunday morning was no problem. We arrived in Melaque around noon and I unloaded the scooter to find a way into the Laguna del Tule RV park avoiding low trees which is a real issue. I found a way in and here we are for 3 weeks. This is a different campground than we used last year. It has a pool which is nice since the ocean is rough here. The campground is full. This time mainly people from BC. I am glad I reserved. Fortunately, most Americans still think taking an RV into Mexico means they will be murdered or you would never get into anywhere. I have only seen about 10% Americans anywhere we have stayed. I need to keep posting scary stories on the RV forums to keep more people out. I have to make some stories about French Canadians being murdered. D'Arcy has found a hotel room for $12 a night a block away. Tomorrow we are driving into Manzanillo to sign him up for diving certification, which i an paying for as a combined birthday & Christmas present. They say the diving condition here are the best they have ever seen in years, which is great. I will probably do several dives myself.
Last one is the view out our back door
Jan 25th, 2010
Cloudy today. D'Arcy & I drove into Manzanillo to sign him up for the diving course. A bit pricier than I exepcted since he is th eonly one, but it means one on one instruction.
Jan 26th, 2010
Dropped D'Arcy off at 7:30 at the bus station rather than have to make the hour long drive into Manzanillo for his course. Its sunny again which is nice. It turns out the guy camped across from me is someone I worked with for about 8 years at Telus, John Williamson. Small world. D'Arcy got back about 5:30 from his diving course exhausted. He said he did well. I am going in with him tomorrow to do some diving myself.
Jan 27th, 2010
Woke up at 4AM this morning. Tomas was in pain. It seems ot hurt if he moves his neck. He was running around on the beach a lot yesterday. I massaged it for an hour & he seems a tiny bit better. I took off with D'Arcy to go diving & left him in Terry's hands. hew was much better when we got back late in the afternoon. Diving was pretty good, a lot better visibility than in PV last year and once again we could hear humpback whales down there. D'Arcy did pretty good, the usual normal arm flapping when you first start, but he made it down 60 or 70 ft without any problems. He has to study using the dive tables tonight as he writes the test tomorrow.
Jan 28th, 2010
Tomas seems back to normal so I guess it was just a neck kink. he went over to the pool with me. the great thing about Mexico is that taking your dog poolside or into restaurants is no big deal. As long as he does not figure its an all inclusive & start demanding unlimited food.
Jan 29th, 2010
D'Arcy passed his diving course OK, so we decided to take him out to dinner. Being Mexico, we of course took Tomas along. He enjoyed his restaurant meal & a Margarita. Such a civilized country, we don't have to disguise him as a seeing eye dog.
Feb 1, 2010
The net is really unreliable around here so updating is hard. Not much happening. There is a circus in town & they tow 2 Bengal tigers around town in a caged trailer every day advertising it. I feel sorry for them & the townsfolk if they get loose. Went up to the beach at Chamela today & let the dog stalk crabs. D'Arcy has to catch the bus to PV tommorrow at 4 AM to get his flight back.
Feb 2nd, 2010
It pouring today, but warm & muggy. First rain so far, but it is an El Nino year. Yesterday the speedometer on my truck quit. It quit in stages, showing 70 when I was doing 20, etc, now it is stuck on the max, 120 (MPH, it's an American truck). I think something has come loose due to the rough roads. All the electronics including the odometer work, so its not a computer problem. The warranty expires on the 26th of this month and they won't honor it in Mexico, so I am going to take it to the GM dealer in Manzanillo, pay them to fix it then go for reimbursement later, Chances are it may be less than my $100 deductible anyway. I only paid $40 labor 4 years ago to have a water pump replaced. I was going to go today, but if I have to hang around a few hours, I would rather not do it on a rainy day. I dropped D'Arcy off at the bus at 4AM. Since he never came back by taxi, I assume it arrived OK. He should get to PV 7 hours before his flight. He absconded with our alarm clock, the bastard.
Feb 3rd, 2010
Wow, what a storm last night. 6 inches of rain in a few hours with high winds, thunder & lightning. I know its 6 inches because the pool is overflowing & the water level was at least 6 inches below the edge before. Everything is flooded around here. I had to pull in my slide to prevent water from getting in, not an easy thing to do with the command seating. I need to try & rig up a way to operate it from the other end of the camper. Several people lost awnings, I got mine in in time.
The bank behind our camper eroding
The street next to the campsite
This is what water running down the street did to the beach
Feb 4, 2010
More pictures of the storm from another BC couple in this campground. LINK
Bright & sunny this morning so I decided to drive the hour into Manzanillo to have my speedometer looked out. I found there is a hidden warranty that seems to be for this very problem. It's good for 7 years and 70k miles. My truck is 6 years old & has 50k. There were a few washouts on the way, the biggest problem was in small towns where the sand from side streets had flowed over the highway creating large Topes.
I found the GM dealer and he said he had not heard of the recall. Not surprising it only affected 2003's & early 2004's which mine is. They worked on it for an hour & said it needed a part they did not have. I wanted something to prove it had been in. For that they told me i had to go to the Chev dealer. I never realized Chev & GM were considered different down here. so off to the chev dealer I went. Driving between the 2 I noticed it now worked. Mexican mechanics have a reputation for performing miracles, but obviously sometimes they are not even aware they do. I got tot he Chev dealer at 1 PM and they told me they needed an hour. I got back at 2 Pm & then noticed the "Closed between 2 & 4 sign. 2 more hours of hanging around. When they came back they told me no trouble found. I managed to get a business card with a note scribbled on back as proof I had it in. I doubt that will help me much with the extended warranty business, but I am pretty sure it is recall related so i am going to take it into a dealer in Tucson when I cross the border & ask them to do it.
Got back to find Terry had finished cleaning up the storm mess, like crushed screen rooms etc. Bless here heart. There was huge splash in the lagoon behind our camper after dark. I am guessing that means the rumored crocs in there are close to shore now. Have to watch the dog. Hopefully it was just an iguana.
Feb 6th, 2010
We both rode the scooter into Barra Navidad. We managed to wipe out on it on our way back into town. They have filled the potholes with sand and when we hit one the scooter came to a dead stop. We both got scrapes and i pulled a muscle in my chest. We have booked an extra week here to give some recoop time.
Feb 7th, 2010
We have a black lab like dog hanging around. He is just a pup but seems in good shape, although thin. I am not sure if he is a stray or not. Nice & friendly. Tomas keeps barking at him & telling him to go find his own Gringo. On top of that he stole egg-man, one of Tomas' favorite toys on the beach the other day. I got it back eventually.
Feb 8th, 2010
It appears the dog is a stray and a couple here from Victoria, BC are planning on adopting him.
Feb 11, 2010
Pretty stormy day all day today after a hot & muggy day yesterday
Feb 12,2010
Hot & Sunny again. I thought I had got away from the Olympics, but the Hotel has put a TV outside set to CTV, so we are subject to it. Every time I passed it tonight it seemed John Furlong was still talking. I see we already managed to kill someone. Its rather strange to be watching a Vancouver TV channel down here, mind you most RV'ers seem to have dishes, except the Americans. Their satellite services won't work down here, but Starchoice from Canada does. If we wanted one ourselves, no problem sharing a subscription with one of them and getting a second dish. Not so sure I want it, though.
Feb 14, 2010
Nothing new to report, so some more photos of Laguna del Tule
Feb 19th:
Not much happening we have been here a month and tomorrow we pull out. I ran into my ex-wife, Megan & her boyfriend, Ted, in town today, so we went over to their hotel & spent an enjoyable afternoon with them chewing the shit. We get along great & I really like her beau, so everything is cool there.
Time to head south, Jerry Gale is camping about 100 km south of here so we are going to go & try to find him tomorrow. May not have easy net access for awhile.
We had a big birthday party on the beach tonight for one of the people here. Tomas got overfed.
Feb 21, 2010
We pulled out of Melaque this morning & headed south. We decided to take the Cuota (toll road) around Manzanillo. Wow, talk about expensive, it was about $25 for only 40 miles, but probably worth it rather than have to drive through the center. After taking the truck in there without the camper, I know what its like. We still managed to get lost in Tecoman, 50 miles further south which did not have a bypass. South of there the road becomes narrow & windy after we entered Michoacan State. A lot of road kill, we counted 4 dead dogs, 4 dead cats, 1 deer, 1 cow & one vulture. The scenery down the Michoacan coast is spectacular, very much like the Oregon Coast, with even one snow capped peak to the east. We are encountering military checkpoints now. We were stopped at one today and they searched the trailer. They asked us for ID, but when they saw Tomas with his bunny, they figured we were harmless & sent us on our way. This remote stretch of coastline is where most drugs get bought ashore, and Michoacan is the home of a couple of the biggest cartels, so one has to avoid hanging around in bars and places where you may accidentally socialize with them. That can associate you with them in the eyes of the police. For this reason, it is not safe to boondock on the beach. We drove into the fishing village of Maruata. Gerry & Paula Gale from Nova Scotia, & the Cardwells from California are here, both are members of our Truck Camper Club. We last met Gerry up at Chute Lake near Penticton. I saw Jerry’s cracked fender. That happened when he hit a tope and it bend his Torklift tie down. I did not think that was possible, he must have really hit it hard. Camping here consists of parking next to beachside restaurants. No hook-ups, but the price is right at $4 a night. The seafood is great.
The last picture is Jerry playing some game I don't know the name of.
Feb 23, 2010
We pulled out of Maruata this morning & said goodbye to the Gales & Cardwells. We were initially headed to a new RV park at km 103, but when we got there it was empty, and so was its pool, so we figured we would head on to Playa Azul, just north of Lazaro Cardenas. The road was extremely narrow & windy and at one point we almost got clobbered by the second trailer of a double semi which cut the corner too much. The only other exciting thing was a saucer sized Tarantula crossing the highway. We are now camped in what amounts to a parking lot behind a hotel in Playa Azul. It does have a nice pool, however, so we think we will spend 2 nights here. There is only one other RV in here from Ontario.
Feb 25,2010
Well this place has filled up in the last 2 days. All Canadians. We are going to head south tomorrow. One of the people here say there is a new campground about 50 km south of Lazarro Cardenas, so maybe we will check that one out for a night at least. One is headed north but I just got a message from Sandy the owner of Rancho Buganvillas in La Placita that the road has been blocked due to an ongoing Indian land claim dispute and there are people with guns all over. There were tons of soldiers in that area when we came through & we got stopped at a few check points. I am trying to get a hold of Jerry who is still in Maruata which is only 20 km away from the area, to see what the locals are saying about it, so they can decide whether to risk it. We plan on going north inland on our way back & avoid the area.
Feb 26, 2010
We drove down the coast to Troncones where there is supposedly a new RV Park. We eventually found it after driving 5 km down a dirt road with huge Topes. We missed one & hit it real hard and everything went flying inside the trailer. It also threw off the gas can I had strapped to the back of the camper & it went onto the road & split open. No permanent damage fortunately. The Campsite was nice but with few amenities.
Feb 27, 2010
Turned on the radio this morning & heard about the Chile Quake and a Tsunami warning. We packed up & headed to high ground. We sat on a hillside in the hot sun for 4 hours. We tried to warn people but no one listened including the campground owner. Oh well, I tried. We even pulled into Ixtapa (see photo below of the view from the hill we sat on) and tried to warn people. After the danger passed we headed down into Ziahuatenejo. Turned out it was just a large surge, you can set the wet sand mark in one of the photos below.
Tidal surge mark
Feb 28th, 2010:
This is a real nice little campground (El Manglar). Nearly all Canadians here, most are seasonal. There is another campground up the road that only allows French Canadians. It is run by one. This one has a small lagoon next to it with a couple of alligators in there, so we have to watch the dog in that area. I remember this beach (La Ropa) from the first time I was here in 1974 when this was a sleepy fishing village. It was deserted back then.
We all sat in the restaurant & watched the US-Canada Gold medal Hockey game. One lone American & a dozen Canadians. It is a good job Canada one or the Alligators would have been having American food. Note the flag in the pictures below. Tomas enjoyed the game.
Mar 1, 2010
More pictures, El Manglar campground & Zihuantenejo
Mar 5th, 2010
We have been here a week tomorrow. We think we will leave Sunday for the drive to Acapulco. We have confirmed that there is a real bad stretch of construction about 20 miles long, so hopefully they won't be working on it on Sunday. The folks in the campground put jacks under the axle of the owners van the other night, so when he closed the restaurant at midnight & tried to drive way he went nowhere. It was pretty successful judging by the laughter at 12:30 AM.
Managed to get a photo of the gator in the pond behind us.
March 7 , 2010
We got up early this morning to leave. We stopped at the Soriana's to stock up on groceries. It had a Scotiabank ATM so we managed to get a bunch of cash without having to pay service charges. The trip to Acapulco was not as bad as we thought. We hit a long stretch of new pavement (toll road, mind you) that we figure was probably the bad spot we were warned about. There was about 10 km of rough road (see photo's below) but apart from having a tight squeeze passing oncoming buses & trucks, it was OK. Very hot today, about 38 C.
We got pulled over at a military checkpoint. they searched the trailer & camper pretty thoroughly. We have noticed most police are wearing masks. apparently they don't want to be identified and targeted.
We have pulled into Playa Luces RV Park just north of Acapulco. Very nice place. The ocean is too rough to swim in, but they have a nice pool & even individual pools in each campsite (see photo). It used to be a KOA, I never even knew there were any in Mexico. The lady who runs it does not speak any English, but she seemed thrilled I could speak Spanish. She quoted me a rate about $5 a day less than what everyone else here says they are paying and asked me not to tell them. Really nice lady. I told her we will stay a week. Everyone here is talking about the couple from Calgary who were attacked in an RV Park in Mazatlan yesterday. No one says it will discourage them from traveling here, but hope it will keep American paranoid so they don't fill up the campsites here in future. It won't discourage us. We love this country & its people, but will possibly be a bit more cautious.
March 13, 2010
Well another week has gone. We pull out tomorrow to Cuernavaca. Not all was leisure here. We ran a new 30 amp service to a couple of new campsites for the owner. Being a retired telephone man, I of course, had most of the required hardware in my trailer, including an old central office soldering iron that you can almost weld with. Except a fish tape. As you can see in the photos below we had to go on top of a rig and try to get the string through the conduit with a weight. It actually worked. They bough too small a conduit, but we got it through with lots of grease and actually broke the pulls string twice. I did not think you could break that stuff, I wish I had a couple of balls of the stuff they used 30 years ago, you could pull a Mack truck through a conduit with that.
Tonight is a usual Saturday night party here, so I may have some more pictures of us drunk later.
Tomas spends a lot of time in the Air Conditioning, plus there is a very persistent beach dog who tries to hump him that he is always trying to seek refuge from.
Mar, 14, 2010
We left this morning around 9AM. We had a party last night as you can see by the photo above. I noticed a huge crack in my windshield. It originated form a small chip I had repaired a year ago. I think the heat must have triggered it. It can wait until we get home.
After leaving the campground, we managed to get on the wrong road. That was after crawling through Sunday market traffic as you can see in the first photo below. I don’t know how people manage with big 5th wheels & class A’s, it is hair raising enough with a Truck Camper & cargo trailer. The GPS took us up what I suspect was the shortest, but not most practical, route, and we ended up our worst nightmare a small village with too little clearance to get the RV through. We ended up having to disconnect the trailer to turn around, then Terry had to drive slow will I sat on the roof lifting telephone wires out of the way so we did not drag them down.
Eventually we managed to retrace our route & get on the correct road to connect with the Cuota to Mexico City. No sooner had we done that the road was blocked due to a motorcycle accident. I never figured out if he was still alive, but they put him in an ambulance. There was a lot of blood on the road when we finally managed to get through. He was not wearing a helmet. We were quite happy once we found the Cuota. It turned out to be an expensive one, it cost us almost $40 to get to Cuernavaca, but it was the best we have been on so far. Several large cable stayed bridges crossing gorges, & tunnels, which probably explains the high tolls. A beautifully engineered road. When we did exit we ended up having to go through several small towns with the usual narrow roads, topes & low trees to eventually get to our destination, Las Estaces. This is the most expensive RV Park in Mexico. $60 a night, but includes admission to the Balneario. This is the largest Balneario I have ever seen. Pools & lagoons everywhere. It also has a clear river running through it you can snorkel down. After paying for 2 nights we have discovered they do not allow dogs, so we have to keep Tomas hidden. The power also does not work, so we have to drag out the generator. It’s 36 C here, but at least the humidity is low.
This is fun?
I hope this is not intended as drinking water
Mar 15th, 2010
Spend a lazy afternoon drifting down the spring fed river here on foam noodles, trying to get our $60 worth. A bit cloudy & cooler today. Just as well since we have to leave Tomas in the camper all day.
Camping is popular in Mexico:
Mar 16th, 2010
We headed for Puebla today. Once again we got forced through some small towns with narrow streets. Just outside of Puebla we missed out turn and I had to cross 3 lanes fairly quickly to make a turnaround. No problems for nay Mexicans doing this, but a cop pulled us over & wanted to fine us 2000 pesos (about $160). We only had 70 Pesos on us. He took that. We tired the no speak any Spanish tact. I have a feeling the fine was not anywhere near that amount. In retrospect we should have just called his bluff, but after a stressful day of navigating narrow streets I was not in the mood to argue. We have been here for 2 months without getting shaken down yet, it had happened twice last year in this amount of time. It is just an expected part of traveling down here. You cannot get upset about it, just budget for it. We have decided to spend only the night here & push on to Teotihuacan and stay there for a few days. No net access here or the last location, so we need to either find WiFi at the next campground or an internet café.
Popocatépetl Volcano:
Mexican Cuota:
March 17, 2010:
Arrive at Teotihuacan around noon. An easy drive. All the way on Cuota (see photo). This is a lovely campground, all green grass & only a block from the town center. We plan on staying here until Sunday. We want to meet a friend who lives in Mexico City. Mariana came to Canada to look after our friends (Camilo & Rosario) kids. She was one of several they had & I think their favourite. We met her & her mother previously when we were backpacking about 4 years ago. Either she will come out here, or we will take the bus in. No way am I taking the camper into Mexico City.
Bath time for Tomas:
March 18th, 2010
We took a taxi to Teotihuacan today. I haven't been there in 30 years. Still impressive.
March 19, 2010
Nice relaxing day today, neither of us got much sleep. Its some sort of holiday, fireworks going off all night and I do mean all night. poor dog is terrified. Camilo, I suggest you go see Doctor Slash before showing the pictures below to Rosario, or you may be paying for another college education.
The church is Jesuit & dates to the mid 1500's
Mar 21st, 2010
Today we took the bus into Mexico City to visit our friend Mariana. It's crazy around here today with all the stuff happening at the pyramids with the equinox.
It took 1 hour to the end of a Metro Line, then a half an hour on the train. Mexico City's subway is very extensive and only costs about 20 cents to ride it anywhere. Riding the bus in convinced me to head north tomorrow and then east towards Morelia rather than attempting the circle road around the city which is shorter. Freeway or no freeway it was crazy even on a Sunday. god knows what Monday would be like. We cannot leave until 11 AM due to the traffic restrictions anyway. Mexico City is probably the worlds largest City, not a place you want to drive an RV through.
We met Marianna for a nice lunch, stopped at the main square on the way back to look around. Lat time we were there, a few years back, it was crowed with 1/2 a million people demonstrating over the federal election results.
March 22, 2010
We pulled out at 11 AM. After talking to some Germans in the RV Park who came the reverse direction we wanted to go, we decided to risk the ring road around Mexico City after all. They said the way to Querataro was well marked. Well maybe it was well marked in the direction they went, it was not marked at all in our direction & we ended up in a Mexico City suburb. I think I took 2 years off my life. Talk about traffic. We had one close call with a truck when we tried to go straight ahead instead of turning left at an intersection. Eventually we stumbled on the right road & got onto the Cuota. The new Cuota from Jilotepic to Atlacomulco is not yet open so we had to take the old highway which was pretty rough. Just as we reached the 15D Cuota to go across to Morelia, we were pulled over by the police. I knew I had done nothing wrong, so I wondered what sort of shakedown it was. I used the “no hablo mucho Espanol” tactic & convinced him we were lost (which we were not). I am not sure if he was trying to find something wrong we did or not, but he drew us a map, asked for all our paperwork & then asked for cigarettes. We just kept smiling through the whole thing. We shook hands and left & I handed him 40 Peso’s and told him to go buy himself some cigarettes. We eventually made Lago Cuizeo, the second largest lake in Mexico. Arturo, a Mexican-American is building a big RV park here, but it is not completely so temporarily he is sending people to a Hot springs Balneario nearby. Basic no service camping here, but we did fill with water & empty our holding tanks before leaving this morning so we are good for a couple of days. Arturo wants do some caravans down here, so I want to talk to him about maybe doing one for NATCOA in a year or 2. There is a lot around here like the Monarch Butterfly preserve. A bit late for it this year, but next year maybe, they peak in Jan-Feb.
March 23, 2010
Arturo showed up this morning and we went off together to take a look at what he is doing. He is extremely enthusiastic and has ambitious plans. He has started to work on what he hopes will become an RV resort that will attract seasonal RV’ers. He has a very large plot of land, the only fly in the ointment right now, is access. He has a very rough road into it that needs to be smoothed out and low hanging trees removed. The biggest problem is the grade to climb to get up there. The Cuota, however touches one corner of his property, but being a toll highway, you can’t get off it there. I suggested he approach the government and see if he could charge maybe 70 pesos for them for people to exit there. It would save them about 5 miles and the hill, I think people would pay it. He could prevent locals from using it by gating it. He has plans for a spa since the property has therapeutic hot springs and he has space for about 100 RV’s on large sites. The nice thing about this location is it is central to Colonial Mexico and very close to the monarch butterfly preserve where million of those come each year. Arturo wants to arrange tours to places like Mexico City & Guadalajara from here and he wants to bring caravans down form the US, something he can so safely since he is Mexican-American. I have has a lot of interest in a NATCOA caravan, but Terry is not too keen on it, so I think Arturo is the solution.
March 26, 2010
A very interesting day. Patzcuaro is a very nice place. It is one of the Pueblo Magico's which pretty well means no messy store fronts, clean streets, etc. We took a boat over to Isla Janitzio, a large inhabited Island in Patzcuaro lake. Quite a few photos below. Later this afternoon a couple pulled in with a Lance camper. As they were taking it off the truck, one of the jacks failed & the camper collapsed. Its quite a mess, the truck is damaged as is the camper.
Patzcuaro:
Fishermen:
The boat comes with entertainment:
March 28, 2010
Drove about 5 hours today to Mazamitla & Hacienda Contreras RV Park. To our surprise Jerry & Ken were there as was another couple we met in Playa Azul a month back. In fact there were quite a few considering it is late in the season. This is a great place run by a very nice couple. She is American, he is Mexican. She baked a bunch of cookies for happy hour and we spent an enjoyable eve sitting around a big fire. (It gets down close to freezing at night due to altitude)
Mar 29th, 2010
Drove an hour to Roca Azul on Lake Chapala. We were here last year, but a month earlier. Still quite a few people here. We have to stall through Semana Santa. probably head over to Villa Corona for a couple of days after & try to hit Santa Maria del Oro at the end of next weekend. Then its down to the hot humid coast for the drive north.
April 1st, 2010:
We have decided to stay a week to wait out Semana Santa. No desire to deal with 1000's or drunk drivers on the roads. This place is filling up with tenters and we attended a big party on the beach tonight. It is non stop partying and the best strategy is to simply join in. Yesterday we visited Dan & Andrea in Anjijic. I met Dan on a political forum on the net about 5 years ago. He is what I call an intelligent Republican. We actually agree that the way to solve Mexico's drug gang problem is to legalize drugs in the US. Anyways they are a very nice couple. They are from New Mexico and have moved here permanent. They have a beautiful house. It's to die for. This lake is very popular with ex-pats, at 5000 feet it has a perfect year round climate. We took our camper over there which was a bit of a mistake. It was a nightmare trying to get out of there with narrow streets, overhanging balconies, etc. terry had to walk ahead of me & guide me. Some balconies i cleared by 1/2 an inch. We are invited back on Sunday for a BBQ. Despite witnessing the disaster in Patzcuaro, we are pulling the camper off. Its a bit too far to use the scooter, esp with the drunks on the road.
April 3, 2010
Spent an enjoyable day playing mexican train & cards with a large Mexican family camped here
April 4, 2010
Today we went back to Dan & Andrea’s house for a BBQ. We decided it was best to take a taxi rather than risk the narrow streets again especially on Easter Sunday. It was pricey at $15 one way, but a lot less stressful. We had an enjoyable afternoon and decided to try the bus back with the dog which was a lot cheaper. He decided sitting on the floor was beneath him so he promptly jumped up onto my lap much to the amusement of everyone else on the bus.
April 5, 2010
Made an early start today to head toward Santa Maria del Oro, the crater lake we discovered last year. We decided to take about a 50 km detour to avoid Guadalajara even though a lot of it was over a secondary road. However, we took the same secondary road last year & I knew there were no non-negotiable small villages along it. At one point here as a German Shepard walking down the middle of the road. Obviously not a stray since he looked purebred. We missed him, but I saw the car coming in the opposite direction clobber him. We drove a mile up the road until we found a place to turn and slowly cruised back looking for him but did not find him, we had to retrace back another km or so to turn around again and this time spotted him walking across a field in the distance, so I guess he just got bruised. We arrived at the lake in early afternoon and will stay 2 or 3 nights. Met the owner this time who is originally English and speaks it, unlike his son who was managing it last year. There are still plenty of Semana Santa hanging-on Mexican campers here, but he said if we has shown up a day earlier we never would have got in. We have dropped another 2500 ft so it is noticeably hotter, (it is at 2500 feet itself) we will definitely have to search out places with pools or bathing beaches, once we hit the coast. We are about 2 weeks later than last year. Have to time out our stops so we cross the border on the 19th or 20th. I am going to make an appointment for my truck in Tucson on the 21st. 2 warranty items & some general maintenance. At least with the Canadian dollar at par (maybe worth more by the time we get there), it won’t cost me an arm & leg.
April 7, 2010
Seriously considering buying a 2 bedroom cottage available on this lake for 30K. Will think about it when we get home.The place was for sale last year for 35K and I do not think it will go soon, this place is a hidden gem. A swimmable fresh water lake. There are about 5 other Canadian & Americans that have the other properties here. The thought of being bale to just fly here for winter is appealing. Only issue is no internet, but the other owners are thinking of going in on a dish to provide that.
Tomas got attacked by a pack of 5 dogs when I took him for a walk today. No damage except to his ego. I now know what house to avoid walking him past.
April 8, 2010
Drove to Teacapan today. This is the first time here, it is located at the end of a long peninsular, south of Mazatlan. Only 2 other Rv's here, an American couple on their way to Argentina and a Mexican RV'er. Seeing very few other RV'ers on the road now. It's not as hot as we expected, a brisk breeze make sit very pleasant. It was actually hotter at Santa Maria del Oro which is n a crater. We had some trouble getting out of there, a lot of Semana Santa hangers-on parked along the access road.
April 10, 2010
Drove to Noe's place at Celestino about 70 km north of Mazatlan. Hal & Marge, a couple from Santa Fe, in an Arctic Fox camper whom we met last year rolled in as well. They winter out in Sayulita near Puerto Vallarta and are on their way north. They are traveling faster than we are, they drove all the way in one go and intend on going all the way to San Carlos in one day on Monday. That is 450 miles. For us that is a 2 day trip even though it is all Cuota. Nice to have company, very few of us left down here now. We are 2 weeks behind last year, it's amazing how more empty places are in just 2 weeks. We are headed further north on Monday, probably Huabampito.
April 13, 2010
We decided to stay an extra day & do the marathon to San Carlos after all. It was not too bad except I got a flat tire on one of my duals. It happened in the middle of nowhere except for a shack which turned out to be a roadside tire repair place. They replaced a cut valve stem & we were on our way. I need to look into stainless steel ones.
xnorp