Too Darn Hot!

That's right, after only 5 weeks of sunny weather, I'm conceding defeat to the heat!!  I'm told it only gets hotter...........




Beautiful scenery like this on the way to Acapulco from Zihuatanejo.

Zihuatanejo was awesome; we had enough amperage to use our A/C in the trailer, and a little shade in the late afternoon over our bbq.  Then we visited Acapulco:

Although the huge crashing waves of Acapulco are a considerable draw for many, the "rainy season" of April through August is not the time to be there!  Actually, this was my second time in Acapulco, and I looked forward to sharing my discoveries with Jonny.  After a fairly long, but easy drive, we arrived in a small, neighboring town where we found our campsite.  The trailer park in Pie de la Cuesta was beautiful; we parked right next to the beach wall, with palm trees all around........ but no air conditioner!  The breeze coming off the pounding waves nearby made daytime tolerable, but our fans were unable to draw any cool air in at night.  I spent part of the night sitting outside in the camp chair, and the other part sitting on the couch in front of our large fan.  Jonny was able to adapt to the heat enough to sleep on the bed, but even the dog and cats were suffering in the heat.  The next night we moved both fans into the bedroom to no avail!

We walked along the beach, noting the few people brave enough to face the dangerous rip tide along the steep, gritty beach.   For $5 US we sat under a palapa, then bought a couple drinks, each had a massage and bought a souvenir mask for a total of about $100 US.  Hmm.  The eatery and bar along the main drag where I had good memories years earlier, were closed or had changed hands, leaving only pricey establishments.









Cooling off in Acapulco.





Jonny gets a much needed massage.



Driving in the city itself, either with or without a trailer, was frustrating.  It was a dirty, crowded town with a beach you can only look at.  To top it all off, we missed a sign directing heavy loads onto a side route and got stuck with a fine leaving town.  We both agreed that Acapulco is highly overrated!



Driving in Acapulco....





After two nights of miserable heat, we made our move toward Puerto Escondido, a destination of about 380 kilometers (or 240 miles).  We traveled about 150 miles the first day, and finally settled on a small eatery near the edge of Pinotepa Nacional.  After partaking in some food and drink at the small restaurant, we engaged the owner in conversation (he spoke English fairly well), and he offered to let us stay at his fenced in lot adjacent to Rancho del Mar. 



The owner of Rancho del Mar, Luis, offered to let us park our trailer in his parking lot for the night.  It was a great offer since we knew of no other spot in the area; it was fully fenced which offered some security.  Pinotepa Nacional, Mexico.




Rodeo talents practiced in the field next to the eatery.



Ochta, a patron of the bar, was very friendly and bought Jonny a Victoria beer;  he taught us a few words.



 He had showers and bathrooms available; it seemed as though work had begun on accommodations, but never been completed.  We dry camped there for the night, without fans, in the almost stifling heat -- it rained and stirred a slight cool breeze.  There was an incredible lightning show prior to the brief rainshower that night, and I was able to tolerate the couch directly inside the open door.  It was fortunate for us that Louis allowed us to stay for the night because we didnt have many other secure options.  He agreed he would be open to future visits from Rvers making the run between Acapulco and Puerto Escondido.  The next morning we started out for Puerto Escondido, and the opportunity for A/C (we hoped)........

Portals of Mexico: Doors, Windows, and Balconies




 

The Mexican culture is known for its love of color, shown here. 

I love the way they've attached these natural wood pieces!

Intricate detail from the carved wood door and handpicked sentry posts, to the woven bamboo shades!  The straight lines of this house are all softened by the thatched roof which offers the dark contrast in color, as does the door.  Not shown were matching bamboo style windows and second story balconies, finished with dark, woven bamboo skirting.





Classy yet functional, these wrought iron decos found on almost every window and door, keep thieves out while allowing the breeze to flow through.  It is amazing to see how many different designs people come up with.



Zihuatanejo!

"Tell you where I'd go : Zihuatanejo. It's in Mexico -- a little place on the Pacific.  You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific?  They say it has no memory.  That's where I want to live the rest of my life; a warm place with no memory.....open up a little  hotel right on the beach, buy some worthless old boat and fix it up new; take my guests out charter fishin'....."

"That boat, that hotel, I dont think that should be too much to ask."

"I guess it comes down to a simple choice: get busy livin', or get busy dyin' !"

-Andy Dufresne, from Shawshank Redemption

Fellow fans of Shawshank Redemption may recognize those lines from a scene just prior to the famous jailbreak from Shawshank Prison, by Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins).  The good news is that you dont have to go through what Andy did to get to Zihuatanejo!  It's a beautiful city of about 40,000 (although it looks twice that size) situated on a shiny blue bay on the Pacific Ocean.  It's kind of interesting that this bay looks so similar to the other ones we've seen on our trip so far, but the city itself sets it above the others. 

The architecture is so creative --there's a lot of money here!  Everything you need is here,or rather, all of the services we need are here, plus some! 

If you missed my last entry, we had some hard stretches of road-- possibly gouged our trailer brakes with gravel during some road resurfacing.  Knowing we need to have those looked at and possibly replaced, we drove into town dragging a noisy leaf spring as well!  To our untrained eyes, it looks as though part of the leaf spring totally fell off , perhaps over one of the thousands of speed bumps (topes) we've crossed on our 3500+ mile trek thus far! This is the perfect place to have a 4-5 day layover and repairs done.  Others had suggested skipping this town, but due to the fact it was idolized in one of our favorite movies, we had to come!

 The beach here is wonderful, the RV camp is great (and actually has other inhabitants), and the town seems clean and able to support the tourism.  One thing that makes this an enjoyable tourist town for us is that you don't see the mega resorts or timeshares.  There are a billion hotels and bungalows to rent, but they fit in to the natural look of thatched roofs and native materials.  We even have our own lagoon full of 10-15 ft crocodiles adjacent to the camp!

 Apparently they meander across the beach to the ocean at night to feed. 
Our RV neighbor did tell us that he and his wife (who take late night walks with their dogs) witnessed a croc
in a deathroll with a homeless beach dog one night.  We keep a good eye on the animals.

Eli, our fit-but-aged pitbull, has met a lovely young female beach dog named "Mango" who he plays with every day.  She is kind of the adopted protector of the camp inhabitants; if any of us goes for a short walk on the beach or to the local market, she is right beside us, ready to fight off any evildoer.  There is a Doberman guard dog next door who is a bit aggressive and she communicated her willingness to take him down if need be!  Apparently one of the ladies who works at the restaurant here at the camp, volounteers at the local humane society; needless to say, Mango has been well taken care of by them when needed.  She is fixed (looks like she had a litter or two prior), and has a front leg that was broken and set twice.  Eli has donated a couple of doggie bones and shares his food and water with her occasionally, so she is almost a permanent ornament! 









The RV neighbors here in the park consist of an older woman who drove herself down here in a motorhome (first time driving one) six years ago and has never left, and a couple probably in their late 40's from Vancouver, B.C. who are very friendly.  The canucks arrived amid last fall's tropical storm and flooding, and will probably drive back next month. ( They were here for a business venture which ended up falling through.)
We told them about our venture involving the hot springs and Lake Yojoa; maybe they will end up there someday.  They feel similarly frustrated with the canadian politics as we do with the US, and are looking to retire elsewhere.
Well, we have been in Zihuatanejo for about a week, and are almost done with all of the repairs we needed; had our trailer brakes looked at for $30 US, the leafspring on the trailer replaced for about $110, and right now are having part of our propane line replaced along with a fitting for our water hook up for $120.  Almost all of the service providers in Mexico will do work onsite, and of course you can haggle a bit over price. 
Today the water was higher and waves were bigger than we've seen since arriving.  The ocean waves were actually reaching into the croc lagoon!  It may have rained nearby last night; we saw some pretty dark rainclouds on our way back from the supermarket. 

We will probably head out tommorrow for Acapulco area, then on to Puerto Escondido (which will be a real long drive, but apparently there are no good stops before that!)  We were told to anticipate fairly good roads to Acapulco, then smaller hills and curves to Puerto Escondido.  I believe that PE is our last coastal stop before turning inland toward San Cristobal and Palenque.  Then, its across the border to Guatemala and down to the Honduran border!!!!!!!  

By the way, I was asked to add more pics, but they either take so long to download or they just wont completely download.  Dont know whether its the service down here or our camera or what.  Not only that, but trying to manipulate these pics at all is a joke!  Sorry!



Life is cooler with a girlfriend! 



Fun in the Surf!





Los Gatos is a little beach with restaurants that you access via a water taxi, or a rocky path that is not good in flip-flops!  Owen Lea, who worked with Jacques Cousteau, bought this peninsula in the 60s, only to have it taken from him during various government changes; they have decided to let him live there until he dies.  He has a book on it called Prisoner in Paradise or something like that.







beto watersports has their homebase right outside the restaurant nearby; you can find their website at http://www.betowatersports.com/

Tough days on the Road.......

The mountain tops afforded excellent views of the ocean bluffs below.

The policia wanted 1000 pesos, (100 US) for illegally parking in a bus zone.  Puerto Vallarta is a tough town to get through, even with directions, when pulling a 26' trailer!  Luckily, the young policia led us to the main road, stopping traffic to get us the f#** out of his town before we caused a major accident or jam!  I dont know whether it was worth $100 US, (later we were told it was a 200 peso fine normally), but he wanted us to stay the night and pay his police station 1000 pesos the next day, in return for J's drivers license.  The other option was to pay it in Manzanillo (which is where we told him we were headed) and wait 5 days  while the license was mailed to us!!!! Yeah, right!!!!

We had been told that under no circumstance should we give the original drivers license to a policia in Mexico-- only a copy.  J had tried that, but the officer insisted he needed the original.  At least he got us headed in the right direction!  We had to twist his arm to take the 1000 p personally so we didnt have to wait for the license.

Anyhow, we got past Manzanillo, which is a huge port (we were told the largest on the Pacific Coast of Mexico) and on towards Playa Azul.  We climbed horrendous mountain roads with hairpin curves and no shoulders for miles.  We were hitting 20-30mph on these hills, and passing dump trucks and busses with no room to spare!  Yikes!  Then we hit the road resurfacing; oiling the road and laying gravel down............  We drove about 2 miles or so behind the pilot car and another pickup with vehicles behind us before reaching the end.  Just as we got out of the gravel, our truck and trailer started screaching like we were pulling the trailer across the pavement with no tires!  We finally came to a spot and pulled over.........to find nothing but an electrical hum from the trailer brakes.  We decided there were some tarred rocks scraping grooves in our trailer brakes, and after we played around with the brake controls, it quit screaching.  We decided to have them looked at in the next town if not before!!!!!!!!!!!!  Next, we encountered extensive road reconstruction.  Apparently the flooding last fall took out a number of bridges and stretches of road.  Instead of rebuilding the bridges, the state of Michoacan undertook filling in the ravines ( big ravines) and widening the Mex 200.  It was still in a state of dirt and partial asphalt for about 10 miles, with big bumps preceeding and following each stretch.  Our trailer was a shambles by the time we reached our destination!!!

Playa azul was not the town we needed.  If you wanted groceries or restaurants, the beach or a car wash, you were in luck.  We were almost out of clean clothes; no laundry place in town.  We needed a mechanic, no mechanics around.  They didnt even have a tire shop, which every wide spot in the road had!  The only saving grace of our host (playa azul hotel), was the pool!!!  Actually two pools and a ping pong table.....and free water.  We were the only people in the hotel for about 40 hours, then the mexican weekend tourists showed up and took over the pool.  By then, we were ready to leave.  We were hoping Zihuatanejo held more promise and better access!



Eli enjoys a great romp on an empty beach after a long drive.





Move over Pancho Villa!  J stars as bartender at Don Crispin tequila factory.



Surf's up in Sayulita!!

Sayulita may be the coolest place we have visited thus far.  However, if you're not into warm weather, warm water, fishing, surfing, playing in the ocean, beautiful architecture, creative or traditional art in the form of glass, ceramics, paints, clay, semi-precious or precious stones, socializing or relaxing, you probably shouldn't waste your time!  This is an art mecca of sorts; kind of like the best of Portland, OR  shoved into a small surfing town.  I was reading a flyer on a post as we were sitting enjoying an ice cream cone (probably the only thing in town not artfully created-- it was a Baskin-Robbins kind of ice cream), about a woman coming soon to Sayulita for a yoga seminar; she was from Portland, OR.  A little while later, we visited with a woman who runs a large shop giving surf lessons.........from the Portland area.  When we drove into our RV camp, an SUV near the office had Oregon plates.  It could be that the only gringos left in Mexico are from the Pacific Northwest and Canada, waiting for the good weather to kick in at home!

In fact, we've decided to stop here and start a small business of our own:

Just kidding!  Patricia is the woman I was talking about from the Portland area.  She visits Oregon in July and August.  She said it hasn't rained in Sayulita since September!

Last fall was a rough one for Sayulita-- they had some flooding and they lost the one bridge that goes into the main part of town.  The river has since dried up (pretty much), and they've created a land bridge to cross until the new bridge is completed.  It looks like several businesses along the river are repairing supports lost to erosion as well.  Many inhabitants use 3-wheelers and mopeds to get around anyhow, and the new bridge can be crossed by pedestrians at this point.

Things were quite interesting when we decided to leave a few days later; due to a missed turn, we drove across the dirt/gravel land bridge and found ourselves unable to turn around in the busy downtown area.  Luckily there was another way out of town that put us back on the main road toward Melaque and Boca Beach campground, and a hellacious day of driving...........

(Jonny smiling as he fishes at sunset)

Ohhhh, the Lovely Ostiones...........!!!

Tables piled high with raw oysters and baby limes lined the street as we drove into San Blas.......what a great sight to see after that small road winding through the mountains!  I bought 5 for 20 pesos and drenched them in fresh lime juice with a drip of hot sauce--wonderful!  Next, I set my eyes on the lobster tails and smoked fish fillets on the bbqs, but J convinced me we would see more down the road to Puerto Vallarta............

San Blas is a little coastal town surrounded by mountains, mango groves, and the ocean.  The surfers love it for the waves, and tour busses bring crowds for the weekend.  The beach is lined with huge palapas offering food & drink, and little cabanas you can rent for short stays.  We walked around a bit on the beach after applying an ample bit of mosquito repellent on each other, then headed the opposite direction to the town square and dinner.  We were surprised at the lack of people hanging around the square for a Saturday night, but maybe we were early -- its hard to keep track of time, these days!  The chorizo tacos are quite good, and J can probably write a book by now comparing quesadillas in different towns!  Just outside the town is a mangrove swampy area with beautiful white birds that look kind of like egrets-- they fly, so I dont think they are flamingos, although there are some pink ones as well. 

We decided to press on toward Puerto Vallarta the next day since we knew there was still a lot of Mexico to see.

Mazatlan in May............

After a brief one-night stay in Los Mochis, in nothing more than a parking lot off the highway with some very nice canucks going north, we continued our journey southward to Mazatlan!

Sinaloa is a much richer state than Sonora in that it is a farming state with rich soil and an organized irrigation distribution system.  We passed acres upon acres of corn, wheat, some cotton, tents of tomato production, and seed production for the US.  Roadside stands boasted bags and bags (probably 50-100 lb sacks) of onions, potatoes, and tomatos.  Right after leaving Los Mochis we passed over a land bridge just wide enough for the highway and some roadside stands; there were bags of huge oysters or clams or something that I would've loved to stop for (not that we could use that much).  The bags probably stood 3 feet tall, like a grainsack!
We encountered a number of toll stops between both San Carlos to Los Mochis, and Los Mochis to Mazatlan.  At least 4 toll stops worth 123 pesos per stop to Los Mochis, and I think more to Mazatlan.  We did find out that if we have tire damage due to poor road conditions on the toll road, we can get our tire fixed for free by showing our paid toll receipt. Interesting form of insurance.......  We also had an agricultural inspection upon leaving the state of Sonora and entering Sinaloa; they asked not about the $350 vaccinations we are required to treat the animals with before entering Mexico, but whether we were transporting any fruit.    Hmm.

Jonny just pointed out a beautiful bright yellow-bellied bird perched on the roof of the small building next to me-- about 10 feet away; it flew off when I turned to check it out.  There are these awesome blue birds here that have a long tail--probably 8-12" long that dangle as they fly, very cool.  Oh, and the pelicans are huge; they fly real low along the top of the waves looking for a meal-- these little silver fish (sardines?) jump around in the shallow surf maybe 20 feet  or more from shore.  The rest of the time, the big birds just bob around out in the ocean waiting for mealtime.  In San Carlos these huge birds would fly around, then dive straight down into the water to get the  fish-- J got a video of them.

Yesterday afternoon we pulled into town past the fields of blue agave plants (tequila factories) looking for a specific rv park in our book-- we took a wrong turn onto a dead-end right next to a tourist bar on the ocean.  It took two friendly tourists to back the trailer all the way back down this road; we owe them a beer........he was a fireman from Edmonton, Canada.  Anyhow, once we got turned around and found the park (right on the beach), we went walking down the beach along with lots of other vacationers (mostly mexican) and happened along this man fishing on the beach.  He had hooked something in the surf and it took a while for him to finally get it in-- it was a small manta ray, probably a foot or 15" across!  Nobody around wanted it, so after some difficulty, he finally got it back in the water again!  That was a first for J and I!  Eli even thought it was pretty cool.
(Eli has been a little grumpy since he broke a nail off short and was attacked by 3 feral dogs in the same day!  J kicked one dog away and Eli fought the other two off.  We had just stopped at a quickie mart store outside of a toll stop in the middle of nowhere, talking to an older mexican outside the store who was in a wheelchair with no legs-- he had a big rock to scare off the invading dogs.)

Today we took the motorbike along the oceanfront drive to old Mazatlan; we found some fishermen there who had just come in with their catch, and picked up probably 4 lbs of triggerfish (Cochi?) for less than $5 US.  We plan on bbq tonight, then deepfrying the rest later.  Last night we went to a little place, Juanitas, for marlin tacos!  They were awesome-- didnt taste like fish at all.  Today I went to a cuban-mexican restaurant while J was fishing and had a plateful of my favorite fried plantain with an incredible Mojito.  They use so much fresh lime and freshly ground mint leaves that the drink is actually pea green!  This place is a must visit if in Mazatlan-- Carlos & Lucia's Mexican-Cuban restaurant.  I plan on going back tonight and getting some cuban rice and beans to go with our bbq fish steaks. 

The weather is nice although its been poor visibility all the way through Mexico so far-- smog?  Today was downright hot and somewhat humid, and all the locals say it gets much more humid between now and June.  J is sporting a bright red burn from fishing in the surf for two plus hours in the middle of the day!  He found a good fishing spot off some rocks near the end of his effort, but just caught catfish which he didnt keep. 
Yesterday when we drove in to the park, we had our pick of the place; we just had another couple pull in about an hour ago, headed north to Brookings, Oregon.  They've been driving around down south for about 5 months.  Its good to have some other RVers to talk to.
Our google earth location is just next to the Holiday Inn in Mazatlan along the beach.

VIVA LA MEXICO!!!!! (the border crossing)

  After spending a night in Nogales at the Mi Casa RV park, WE SUCCESSFULLY CROSSED THE BORDER WITH NO PROBLEMS'!  Thats right, we are still in good mental and physical health (relatively), have heard no gunfire, nor have had any negative interactions.  (We did get a scare when we got to part of the border crossing and opened the trailer door to find Eli with his head out of a window, screen popped off, ready to jump out;  I think the border guard was partially amused.) 

THE BORDER was a series of stops, kilometers apart from each other, so it was kind of questionable as to whether we were done with border responsibilities.  I'm sure each border crossing location is different, but from Nogales, this is what we encountered:
First, we drove toward a booth between two lanes (I took the lane with no vehicles, since there were no visible signs, and had to back up 20 or 30 feet to re-enter the other lane.  As I pulled closer, I noticed a sheeet of scrapwood leaning up against a sawhorse, behind a bunch of cones that had the two words spraypainted on either side: "cars"  and "trucks".  Apparently I was a car.)  A policia standing outside the booth on the driverside asked where we were going and how long we were going to be there.  He also asked if we were familiar with the area and said to be careful and have a good trip.  The end.
Second, we came to a more structured area with a real building and parking spots and lanes with vertical (metal detectors?) things about 6' tall on either side.  As we went through, an alarm went off (as it did for the car behind us), and a uniformed guy with a german shephard came up to the driverside and asked if we spoke Spanish.  I told him I spoke a little.  He continued on in English, asking where we were going, if on vacation or immigrating, what was in the RV trailer (besides a dog), etc. ( At that time I wondered how he knew we had a dog in there.....)  He then asked us to open the trailer door to look inside with his dog.  J opened the door for him and immediately came back with a distraught Eli.  Eli really dislikes riding in the trailer for some reason, and we only have made him do it twice for brief periods of time.  Anyhow, he briefly looked around, poked his head in the bathroom door where the cats were, and told us to drive on.  The end.
Third, we came to a very structured series of buildings a few kilometers later (maybe even 10) with a large parking lot.  We parked and went up to the closest building a filled out a short form with name, birthdate, passport number, address, etc that we had been given.  We returned the forms (one per person) and were asked if we were driving a car or what.  Then I was given a tiny piece of paper that he said to take to the bank out the door and around the corner.  I left the building and walked past a copies building and down a walkway to a series of windows at the "bank".  They looked at my little piece of paper and asked questions about what we were driving, checked the titles to the vehicle, trailer, and motorbike, kept copies of each title, asked for $47 for the bike, $50 for the trailer, and needed a visa for the vehicle (charging another $30 something).  She kept copies of our passports, one for each vehicle.  Then she asked me to go back to the first building and get two copies of my form at the copies building, and come back.  The guy at the first building tore off half my form and kept it after seeing I had paid my fees at the bank, then I paid for two copies of my half of the form, took it back to the bank teller who was waiting.  She had me sign a few more forms, then I was done.  The end.

One thing that made all that paperwork easier, was following advice from a guy who wrote a blog about trailering a boat through mexico.  He suggested having an expandable file folder with multiple copies of each vehicle title and current registration, passport and current drivers license, insurance info, etc FOR EACH BORDER CROSSING.  We started out with 4 copies, plus originals, of each.  We also have our printer/copier with us to make more if needed.  We were never asked for the health certificates for each of our animals (a $350 expense), but we have those as well.  If you dont have copies with you, its an adventure of running back and forth between the copy place and the bank.  We had no lines at any point during the border crossing (about 15 miles worth, total).  I attribute that to the bad publicity of recent crime/murder rates, since we crossed about 10 am on a Saturday at the end of April.  Our experience was not at all difficult or unsafe.  The border guards seemed fairly relaxed and helpful, not at all like they were nervous about any illegal activity, and they werent trying to rush everyone through or have a sense of urgency.  It was a good experience.

FYI- Before crossing the border, we were getting insurance at Sanborns in Nogales ($316 for combined vehicle values of 20K for 1 month or 6 months -same),  where a local told us that they arent taking US dollars at retail establishments in Mexico anymore.  (In the past they have taken payment in dollars or pesos.)  However, the border crossing and rv parks have been taking us dollars so far, and we think the gas stations would've taken US dollars as well.
AS OF APRIL 30TH, EXCHANGE RATE IS 11 PESOS FOR 1 US DOLLAR
Just to be on the safe side, we exchanged some money prior to crossing the border.

VIVA LA MEXICO!!!!!!

So Now, we are relaxing in San Carlos, which is near Guaymas.  Wonderful vacation spot-- lots of bars and eateries and sun and warm water and scuba diving and deep sea fishing and caves to explore and lots to do.  We are staying in a nice RV park here near lots to do; yes Mom, the place you saw on google earth was Charley's Rock which is a restaurant/bar across the street and down about 3 buildings from the rv park!  You can really tell the impact of publicity on the tourism here-- we are one of about 12-15 RVs in a park built for about 150.

San Carlos is still part of the Sonora Desert, yet it is right next to the ocean (Sea of Cortez); the cacti grow next to the ocean!  Kind of hard to wrap my head around that one.  It is comfortably warm here and uncomfortably expensive!  Last night we ate dinner at an "inexpensive" restaurant; dinner for two and a dacquiri each set us back 305 pesos = $27 US before tip!  The RV park is $24 per night. 

We drove around today and saw some cool sandy beaches and awesome views of the bay, and plan on riding our bikes down the street to get some cold coconut milk!