Missing Mexico

I’ll edit this later but after crossing the border on Wed, we’re now near Knoxville, Tenn. We checked into a “resort” and it hit us when we were given the brochure that listed the “rules”. There are 20 something rules of behavior, every single one of which are common sense being a good citizen! How did we spend 60 days SOB and never received such a list? Oh, it’s personal responsibility!

Missing

• The beautiful scenery, people, and food.
• Temp…well, sort of…it was 100 in Catemaco and here it is 60!
• Someone pumping the gas!

Not Missing

• Toppes
• Double trailers

Run for the Border

Cartels put an RPG through the Jeep; Shot out the windows of the coach; Daniele kidnapped and held for ransom (Dinkus said he only had $700); Cops arrested me;  PEMEX pump jockeys robbed me blind; I and the dogs have pig flu but we barely got across the border at 1200.

PS: None of this happened…not 1 incident of any kind…nary a moment in 2 months where something did not just feel right.  Never a hinky feeling. 2466 miles in Mexico over 60 days. Every single person we encountered was as nice as could be.

This is a quickie update since so many of you thought that the stuff we wrote in the 1st para WOULD happen. I need to update the last few days, esp for RV’ers.

We left Cd Victoria at 0745 and arrived at Los Indios at 1200.  Daniele woke up by 2 very nice armed soldiers at the one check point. I forgot to tell them she was there…I was outside joking with the Lieutenant and Sergeants…sorry…it’s a soldier thing. I don’t know who was more surprised! :-)

Went in the Mex side to turn in Visas and hologram for the Jeep. No line at all! Took time to find the guy to come to the lot remove the hologram. Then went to the US side. 3 cars ahead of us. Very nice agent checked our passports and sent us to secondary (all RV’s go to secondary). Two very nice, yet thorough, agents walked through the coach and sent us on our way, after admiring the dogs. From the time that we arrived on the Mex side to the time we departed the US inspection: 36 minutes!!!

Now at Naval Air Station Kingsville TX restocking. Heading towards Richmond starting Fri.

Last Days at Catemaco (this trip!)

Awww…this fellow got invited to the cookout down at the beach

 

Well, we don’t know if he was the cookout, but he was at the cookout. And, it was only Friday.

We did another ride out to the beach but this time circled the entire route. Great and beautiful drive of 80 miles. The end was tiring because we were back on a main route and struggled to get past truck after truck climbing grades. Will do some pix in a slide show format for those that care.

 

We Really Should Move On (?)

Mañana (not really)

Yep, still at Catemaco. Here’s a LINK that has interesting info on the area. We decided to stay here and explore some more, plus it will be too hot to stay at the beach. Their electric is not strong so we could not run the AC there. We’ve met some nice folks in the park. We do drives out into the surrounding areas and explore. We remain really impressed with here and think that this could become the southern command post.

 

The beaches are about an hour away and the drive is beautiful. Very tropical here. We haven’t been able to get good lake pictures because of a haze that the camera doesn’t get through.

Plans: We’ll probably leave here on Sat 9 May and start working our way to the border to cross on the 13th.  From there we will  head to Richmond to help chase Eli while Chris recoups from his surgery.

Catemaco, Veracruz

We love it here! When we drove in and saw the beautiful lake and dense green tropical foliage, it reminded us of Daniele’s parent’s place in Lake Como. Wow! This could be come the southern command post. We have liked everywhere that we have been but this has it all…it seems. We’re extending our stay here to check it out more. Want to get this posted so Claire can send these to Daniele’s parents.

 

This website HERE has a lot of info on the area.  More later. Siesta time.

Swine Flu

I do have a craving for BBQ. Is that a symptom? Staff in stores, toll collectors, soldiers at check points, etc are wearing masks. No one seems panicked. Restaurants and shops sparsely attended.

RV in Mexico Stuff

This is for fellow RV’ers. We left Isla Aguada at about 0915. We took 180/180D the entire way until Minatitlan where we picked up 145D for a short distance to Acayucan where we got back on 180.  Roads were fairly good most of the way. We stayed on 180 through Villahermosa with no problem and we were towing a jeep. Several Transitos passed us with no second looks. Some Tope Minfields. Tolls totaled 602 pesos. Distance was 327 miles. We arrived at Catemaco at 1730.

Several military check points along the way…hardly any delay. In all but one we went through a thing with the trucks that was apparently a drug/explosives sniffer…you drive at a crawl. In one they didn’t have that thing so a soldier walked slowly along the sides and rear with a handheld sniffer.

We are staying at the Tepetepan RV park. Quite nice. We’re extending our planned stay.

Last Days at Isla Aguada

Sadly, we must thing about returning NOB. Today was a last minute picture day and some odds and ends.

You think we are adventurous??? Check this out. These folks from France stayed next to us for 3 days. They have been on a global tour for 3-4 years in this vehicle. Rather than repeat it and get it wrong, check out their blog HERE. Fascinating reading.

 

For you Belgique Gourmande fans (our former restaurant in northern Virginia), Bill and Thelma asked Daniele if she would show them some recipes that they could use. So, DJ returned to the stoves in a VERY hot kitchen to do gazpacho and Toast aux Champignons. This was fun but it cured her of any desire to get back in a commercial kitchen. I was afraid she would do a Gordon Ramsey! Thelma is in red, I’m sorry but I can’t remember the other lady’s name…she’s an old friend and manager.

 

Fishing Boats.  Since we lived on a boat on the Potomac and Chesapeake for 8 years and have been on the water so much, I am always fascinated by how fishermen design their boats to accommodate the waters in which they fish.  These craft, single engine, no electronics (only a cell phone, maybe) go out 30 miles or so in the Gulf. Sadly, they often don’t come back. When things work right they leave just before dark (no lights) and come back at about 0700. The boats have a very narrow beam for open water, I think, but ride dry and are quite fast with only about 75HP and several guys and nets on board.

 

How’s this for a crop of coconuts? On the beach right in front of us.

 

Frog House

(I made sure to put this post as far away as possible from the first one for today :-))

Claire loves frogs. How about this house on the waterfront?

Happy Birthday Daniele!

Today was DJ’s birthday. Early in the week I spoke with the owner of Freedom Shores, Thelma, about doing a seafood feast that her husband, Bill, had told us about. Maybe some flowers? Maybe a cake? Well, Thelma went all out. I had avoided the topic with DJ and she started hinting that she wanted crab for her birthday. I practiced selective hearing. So, in the morning, I said be in the car at 1830 (a ploy to get her to think we were going somewhere else…it worked). I backed out of the parking slot and straight back to the patio where Thelma had this beautiful table set. And she had a musician! And, we were the only residents in the park! All this for Daniele.  Well, I think DJ was very surprised and very happy with the evening. The staff joined us for cake and sang the Mexican version of Happy Birthday…which is much better than ours! Then, Bill talked Thelma into singing Malagueña"… BEAUTIFUL (she is a professional dancer and singer)! We have a lot of this on video which we’ll load to You Tube when we have good connectivity.  For now, here are the stills. Thanks Thelma, Bill, and the entire Freedom Shores staff for such a great evening.

   

Busy Day

Man, what a day.

One thing after another

Need a Siesta

Just Another Beach Day

Never tire of looking at the water. Lots of porpoise activity and the pelicans are everywhere. One thing in the routine is the bread kid. At about 1600 everyday we hear a bicycle horn. It is Marcella peddling through the park

 

Under the cover he has a table filled with bread, cookies, cakes, etc. We always buy at lease 2 small baguettes since they are very good. Cost is about 50 cents. He doesn’t dilly dally because if a few minutes, several boat loads of bridge workers dock next door and they always buy a lot of his goodies.

The park also has a deck boat that they take guests out on. Since some guests are in wheel chairs, its a complicated process but they do it easily. First the guests are loaded inside the park and Bill (himself a quadriplegic) drives a short distance to a place on the beach where the boat can be launched. Since the water is shallow, he designed an extender that puts the trailer a long way behind the van.

I sat with Bill in the van…he’s in his chair, pulling and pushing a lever and maneuvering that van in very tight quarters. He’ drives his 40’ motor home the same way!

Well, all this excitement wore everyone out.

 

Family Beach Days

Curt asked if we were with locals. The park (resort) we are staying in is right on the, but like most everywhere in the world, the public can use the beach front. The park has a fence separating it. We found that on weekends when we let the dogs out, the locals went nuts. We felt like being inside the zoo.

On weekends, generations of families come and set up command posts. Probably, 2-300 folks on a small beach.

An aside, when they leave, the beach is virtually spotless...no trash...no drunkeness...no rudeness...just generations of a family having a great wholesome time. I'm sad for how many of our own would be in this regard. We "talk" to many of them. Today we had great conversations in broken Spanish with several including a lady. I noticed that when it became time to break camp, she was the boss and busted the guys to get stuff packed and cleaned up. I went up and said that I see you are the Jeffe (Boss). All the family roared (including the macho men) and laughed...she roared with laughter too and said, no, she wasn't, her mother, with a cane was the boss. Her mom laughed too and said gracias but her daughter really was running things! What an experience!

Our first reaction was to not go outside with the dogs on a weekend. Then we said, to hell with it and did. Wow! What a great response! A zillion people all asking the names of the dogs and just in awe. We started taking them outside the wire and letting the kids play with them and swim with them.

What a joy! Some came inside the wire and these are the pix. One is of Fernanda who petted Pasha for a long time and then left. She soon came back with a conch shell to give us for letting her pet Pasha. <tears of joy>

The amazing thing to us is that here we are in a RV that costs much more than their homes yet there is no "envy" or hostility. We understand enough Spanish and body language to know. Several of the families come several times a week and always are effusive with greetings. There's one special lady who always says (with appropriate gesture to the sea): La Vida!!!

By the way, not one single person has ever asked for anything.