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.
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.
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.
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? 
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.
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.
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.
Some can’t find Isla Aguada on the map. Understandable since it is quite small. Perhaps its time to do a map of where we have been. Realized that we have travelled 1,300 miles in Mexico so far. This is as far south that we will go (Oops, looking at the map I should say that this as far east that we will go!)
If we ever decide to leave Freedom Shores, we’ll work our way back north along the coast…i.e., Villahermosa, Veracruz, Emerald Coast and back into Texas.
By the way, Keith asks about the dogs. We haven’t mentioned them for awhile. Well, they and the cats are huge hit here on Isla Aguada. The beach is public in front of the park and we get a large number of kids, and adults, who come to the fence to admire then beasts and to ask all about them. Some come to the beach everyday and they always call out to the dogs by name and call the cats by name when they see them on the dash looking out. When they leave at night, they always tell the dogs bye in Spanish. Yesterday I took the beasts on the beach so that the kids could pet them, throw sticks for the Lab and swim with them. All had a ball. Sorry, no pictures. We’ll get some.
Today was only a short 217 miles from Villahermosa to Isla Aguada. Still left Sam's early (0740) for fear of the parking lot getting full and hampering maneuverability. Man, the roads were great and the scenery very tropical…reminded us of Thailand. We’d be there in record time. Wrong. There is one village that has a road stretch of about 10 miles. They have to be in the Guinness record book for Topes per mile, total number of Topes, and ferocity of the Topes. Recall that Topes are speed bumps. In Mexico, they are not bumps. For many, you WILL stop and creep over it, and remember we are towing a car so that is 4 crossing per tope. They are very hard on RV’s and trucks. The solution is to just chill out, crawl behind the truck in front of you, and enjoy the village. I don’t know how they deal with the ambulances.
Anyway, we arrived at our park at 1140 and amazed at having averaged 54mph in spite of the Tope minefield.
Ok, the park. Absolutely fantastic in every way. To get the theme and purpose, just check their website HERE.
Bill and Thelma have poured a ton of work and money into this operation in the 2-3 years they have had it. Lots of cement walkways for the wheelchairs but very nice for all of us. Our site is cement level and right on the water…steps from the beach. The utilities have all be upgraded and are first class. The staff (and there are lots of them) constantly work raking, sweeping, watering, etc. The restaurant would get perfect score in any US health inspection (you know we notice things like that since our own restaurant).
The fantastic food passes Daniele’s critical inspection!
Oh, and the Pina Colada’s are great too!
We’re going to be here a long time so there will be more to say and show.
Semana Santa is over so the beaches are available again. we enjoyed Puebla/Cholula but we never really got over the altitude. So, we departed at 0900. What a trip! 313 miles to Villahermosa on what should be good roads since they are mostly toll. Wrong. Over half the route was pretty rough. We did not stop until 1700 so if you do the math, we averaged 39mph and only stopped once for gas! And for this privilege, we paid $130 in tolls (motor home plus the Jeep we tow). Well, the scenery was great, we saw an area that needs to be examined for more long term habitation, we drove slow so it wasn’t too bad, and we arrived safe. Oh…we didn’t see the campground we were looking for so stayed in an expensive one:
I say expensive because we bought lots of supplies at Sams. It was a good evening…the only concern was getting out because of tight turns. By the way, Sam’s (and Wally) are just like the ones in the States. Same stuff plus they sell booze. Even found pretty good bagels!
Happy Easter to all. It’s a beautiful Easter morning in Cholula, Mexico. I got up early and went to town before the crowds arrived. The Mercado (Market) was in full swing. Everything from clothes to chickens, to beef, to flowers, to beautiful vegetable, etc. Really quite an experience. These pictures do not do it justice but will give you the idea.
%5B2%5D.jpg "Thin cut beef. For what?")
%5B2%5D.jpg "Small portion of the market")
%5B2%5D.jpg "One of many chicken stalls")
%5B2%5D.jpg "All kinds of pork and sausage")
%5B2%5D.jpg "More chickens")
%5B2%5D.jpg "Veggies")
%5B2%5D.jpg "More veggies")
%5B2%5D.jpg "Beautiful Radishes")
%5B2%5D.jpg "Tomatoes that have taste!")
Some notes on the prices (US cents/pound):
Roma tomatoes=18; Cukes=44; Beans=80; Limes=16;
White onions=10; Strawberries=40; Guavas= 15
%5B2%5D.jpg "Still more veggies")
After the market I stopped by the church to remember sick family and neighbors and caught the last part of a Mass. Very moving. Church was packed. Lots of tots in all white for First Communion.
We kicked back the rest of the day and were deciding what to do for dinner when this fellow rode by delivering to a family that lives here.
Yes, we did it. We had a Domino’s “Extravaganza” delivered. Wasn’t cheap though: $18.80 for a medium. But, it was excellent.
%5B2%5D.jpg "How's this for a pork rind? There are bigger!")