We hated to leave Teacopan but they were full so off we went at 0845. We decided to try the free (Libre) highway because other RV’ers say they are fine and the toll roads can get very expensive. They are right! We were on toll for only a short section and saved at least $75US. Plus the free highways were great and scenic. You get to see more towns and these do not slow you down much. We had 2 or 3 instances to getting stuck behind trucks, but nothing of concern. It is the libre for us (except in mountains, probably).
We arrived at our campground in Culiacan about 1400. It was lovely…a water park with a nice lake and pools. So far so good. As we neared the site, the coach began vibrating. When we stopped there was a loud, steady ka-thump, ka-thump. It was “music”. Thinking it was just workers with a boom box we set up and unhooked the Jeep. Steve drove (it was that far) to where the “music” was coming from and it was a DJ setting up! Steve drove to the office and asked (it was loud there too, a mile away) about it. “Oh, that is a fiesta.” When will it end? 0200. We left.
Driving was good so we pressed on to Las Mochis and arrived at 1830. We’re in a bare bones campsite that is used as a storage place for RV’s while the owners take a train into the Copper Canyon (Mexico’s grand canyon, which is bigger than ours!) Doesn’t matter, it has utilities and is fairly quiet. We’re ahead of schedule so now we’ll be able to spend extra time in the colonial towns of El Fuerte and Alamos.
We traveled 357 miles today, a long way in Mexico. We also chatted about what we’ve done so we did some numbers:
We left NC on 25 Oct
We arrived in Mexico on 9 Dec
We traveled 3,382 miles (so far) in the US
We traveled 2,004 miles (so far) in Mexico
Grand total of 5,386 miles, so far.
Some random observations:
•We have not seen one single person begging for money, anywhere.
•We have not seen anyone sleeping on the streets or sidewalks.
•We still get smiles and waves from people everywhere
•No one has tried to cheat us (other than the “Dr” in Mazatlan) and we have never felt uneasy in spite of having traveled from the biggest to the smallest areas.
•Dirt streets seem normal now, we don’t even notice them
•There are very few signs admonishing you to not do something. There seems to be an attitude of act like you know you should act and be responsible for yourself (we are told that lawsuits are almost unheard of here…you should have watched where you were going)
•Baseball is a big deal here. We’ve seen quite a few games being played in village ballparks. The players are in nice uniforms and there is always a fair size audience
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Friday, January 5, 2007
Friday 5 January 2007, Teacapán (State of Sinaloa)
A really lazy day. Did very little of anything. We tried to stay another night but the park is full and even has RV’s dry camping on the road. That did not effect the pool or beach though. The bungalows here are really nice. We checked and a 1 BR is $322US/week! They are really neat looking and the pool etc is first class. Maybe we can get folks out of Dade City and Richmond to here for next Christmas?????
Thursday 4 January 2007, Teacapán (State of Sinaloa)
Wow!!! Every place we go, we think it cannot be any better. Well, here we go again. We have miles of secluded, beautiful, beach with, at most, 3 or 4 other people on it. The dogs wore themselves out in the surf and we had a relaxing time just chilling out. The place is quiet with the only sound being the surf. Sunset was spectacular…not a cloud in sight. Went by the pool today and it looks fantastic…even has “bar stools” in the water next to a bar so you can imbibe while in the pool (the bar is not in operation at this time of year).
Found out that the company won both of the competitions that I had worked on. This was expected but, as my boss says, a signed contract is the only one that matters. They want me to work on 2 more in Norfolk that will encompass most of Feb.
Had dinner is a beach side Palapa last night. No one else there and the Senora did all the cooking herself. Daniele and she chatted a long time about the life of being a chef. Daniele’s Spanish is getting better by the day. We had 3 shrimp dinners of different types for $21US. The shrimp were fantastic…great taste.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Guadalajara
Tue 2 January 2007, Guadalajara
Stayed in the park today waiting from the Dr to call re Daniele’s med. Waited and waited. Went to the office to pay and to ask the manager to help call some pharmacies. Well, he had THE solution: “Jessie”. Jessie happened to be in the office and both the manager and Jessie said that he helped park guests all the time. He then handed me a card that said: “Jessie…Serving the needs of visitors to Mexico for over 24 years”. I gave him the prescription and off he went. Couple of hours later he showed up with the right meds in a sealed box. Seems that he knows that only hospital pharmacies carry this and he knew where to go.
We are leaving here Wed for Teacapan. It is below Mazatlan on the southern border of the state of Sinaloa. May or may not have wi fi for a few days. Cell phone should work.
Wed 3 January 2007, Guadalajara to Teacopan (State of Sinaloa)
Banditos!!!
Left Guad at about 0815 and proceeded SW. Beautiful day. Was getting close to our comfort level on gas so pulled into a Pemex but it was closed. 2 fellows were there and told me there was one about 10KM ahead. I thought they were giving me directions but it turned out that I had just offered them a ride to Tepic, about 2 hours away! So they piled in, pushed dogs aside and off we went. Mind you, Daniele is asleep in the back! They were really nice fellows with very little English. Later Daniele came into the living area and they all started chatting big time since her Spanish is not too bad, especially comprehension. The older fellow has 2 daughters married to Americans in Wisconsin. We actually hated to see them go when we dropped them off in Tepic and we expect the ride in a motor home will be the subject of conversation for awhile. We then went through some light rain…more than we’ve seen since Oct.
We arrived at the Onac RV Park in Teacopan at about 1530. (www.villasonac.com) (click on the US flag for English version) What a park and only $15US/nite! The view is amazing. The beach is fantastic with light surf. We’re right on the water, concrete pads, Wi-Fi. Just watched the sun go down in the West and here comes a full moon in the East.
Doesn’t get any better than this. The best park ever.
We pan to be here for 2 nights but might just stretch it to 3…the damned cat in Kino will have to wait.
Stayed in the park today waiting from the Dr to call re Daniele’s med. Waited and waited. Went to the office to pay and to ask the manager to help call some pharmacies. Well, he had THE solution: “Jessie”. Jessie happened to be in the office and both the manager and Jessie said that he helped park guests all the time. He then handed me a card that said: “Jessie…Serving the needs of visitors to Mexico for over 24 years”. I gave him the prescription and off he went. Couple of hours later he showed up with the right meds in a sealed box. Seems that he knows that only hospital pharmacies carry this and he knew where to go.
We are leaving here Wed for Teacapan. It is below Mazatlan on the southern border of the state of Sinaloa. May or may not have wi fi for a few days. Cell phone should work.
Wed 3 January 2007, Guadalajara to Teacopan (State of Sinaloa)
Banditos!!!
Left Guad at about 0815 and proceeded SW. Beautiful day. Was getting close to our comfort level on gas so pulled into a Pemex but it was closed. 2 fellows were there and told me there was one about 10KM ahead. I thought they were giving me directions but it turned out that I had just offered them a ride to Tepic, about 2 hours away! So they piled in, pushed dogs aside and off we went. Mind you, Daniele is asleep in the back! They were really nice fellows with very little English. Later Daniele came into the living area and they all started chatting big time since her Spanish is not too bad, especially comprehension. The older fellow has 2 daughters married to Americans in Wisconsin. We actually hated to see them go when we dropped them off in Tepic and we expect the ride in a motor home will be the subject of conversation for awhile. We then went through some light rain…more than we’ve seen since Oct.
We arrived at the Onac RV Park in Teacopan at about 1530. (www.villasonac.com) (click on the US flag for English version) What a park and only $15US/nite! The view is amazing. The beach is fantastic with light surf. We’re right on the water, concrete pads, Wi-Fi. Just watched the sun go down in the West and here comes a full moon in the East.
Doesn’t get any better than this. The best park ever.
We pan to be here for 2 nights but might just stretch it to 3…the damned cat in Kino will have to wait.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Happy New Year!
Mon 1 Jan 2007, Guadalajara
Here we go again. Cannot find Daniele’s other medication. The Dr in Puerto Vallarta wrote her a prescription for it effective today but after visits to quite a few pharmacies, no one has it. The closest to an answer is that it is controlled and there are only a couple of sources but no one seems to know who those are.
Did a SkyPE New Year’s calls to France, Richmond, Tampa, and Cedar Island…what a great system! In the afternoon we took a long drive down to Chapala and surveyed potential future sites. Very nice area and countryside. Had a great dinner…very affordable. No black-eyed peas and pork though.
Here we go again. Cannot find Daniele’s other medication. The Dr in Puerto Vallarta wrote her a prescription for it effective today but after visits to quite a few pharmacies, no one has it. The closest to an answer is that it is controlled and there are only a couple of sources but no one seems to know who those are.
Did a SkyPE New Year’s calls to France, Richmond, Tampa, and Cedar Island…what a great system! In the afternoon we took a long drive down to Chapala and surveyed potential future sites. Very nice area and countryside. Had a great dinner…very affordable. No black-eyed peas and pork though.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Mucho Catchup
Sorry, but haven't had internet much and still don't have it well enough to post pictures. Here's a draft update:
Wed 20 Dec Mazatlan
Well, it started out a very nice day in Maz and then went downhill. Daniele can only get a 30 day supply of her pain meds from Pain Management and there are a ton of DEA rules concerning her meds about not post dating prescriptions, calling then in to pharmacy, yada yada. It seems that every trip we are on we have to go through a goat rope to get meds. Well, being in Mexico adds to that drama. I check we a pharmacy and they said they carried what she needed. We then saw a clinic and went in. No problem…just be a minute. She saw a Dr and he said he could only give 20 pills at a time but could write several more scrips that could be filled later. The clinic also switched between dollars and pesos in prices. They said $65US for the office visit plus the cost of the meds that the pharmacy would deliver. Okay, it’s a tourist area so $65 is high but not unexpected. Then the Visa card rejected…hmmm…Oh, he was trying to charges us $800US not $800 Pesos (rate is about 10 pesos to the US dollar)! We then found he was trying to charge us $65 for EACH of the scrips that he was writing! We raised hell and told them to stuff it and they then said charge for only one office visit and 2 boxes of the meds for a total of about $130 US. We didn’t like it but at least she had some Meds until we could get out of a tourist area. Back at Destino we found he was lying when he said her Med wasn’t available in Mexico and what he provided was a substitute. A simple Google search proved that. So we're out $130 for meds that won't work.
After that exercise we did nothing else but develop a plan for how to get meds in Lo e Marcus. Friends on an RV forum gave us some leads.
Thur 21 Dec Leave Mazatlan for Lo de Marcos
We did a 1030 start for the 5 hour drive to Lo de Marcus (50 miles North of Puerto Vallarta in the State of Nayarit). The roads here were not as good as we have seen but not too bad either. There was a lot of traffic with people rushing home for Christmas. The landscape is BEAUTIFUL! Reminds us of Thailand with palm, mango, and coconut trees growing everywhere. We took a shortcut which wound through the jungle and through some very nice towns with the usual villagers waving at us. Made us forget the tourist trap quack in Maz. We made one wrong turn and ended up on really small and rough dirt streets in a village. No problem though. With the traffic, the trip ended up being about 7 hours but at least it was enjoyable.
The town is quaint. Cobblestone (and rough) street with nice little shops throughout. They still have Topes on the street but they are hardly noticeable with the cobble stones! The Town Plaza is very neat and had villagers sitting around it chatting when we passed through. We arrived at our RV Park and love it. It is small and family operated. The beach here is out of a post card. Fantastic!!!
Fri 22 December 2006 Lo de Marcos
The mission is to get meds! Went to an internet café and found that a lead provided by a member of the RV forum paid off and a Dr had sent us an email setting everything up. They have many of the same restrictions here so the bad news is that the meds won’t be here until Tue or Wed. This means Daniele will be having to cut her dosage in half to make it until then….will not be fun for her. That solved we didn’t do much. Did get a pay as you go cell phone especially so that we can be contacted for an emergency and in case Claire and family have a problem on a connection on their flight here Sunday. Steve will have to drive about 5 hours, one way, to Guadalajara to meet them and would not be reachable without a phone. The phone and $10 of air time was only $35US so that wasn’t bad. We called Claire for a quick hello and 1 minute ate up $3!!!!. Within Mexico it won’t be too bad.
Sat 23 Dec 2006
Daniele decided that the pain was there rather she sat around or did something and doing something might make her forget it a little. So, we took off for Puerto Vallarta (aka PV) and shopping. Before we got out of Lo de Marcos we saw a shop where several ladies were making Piñatas…they were creative and gorgeous!!! Not sure it was a shop or a group of ladies making some money but their work was amazing.
PV is about an hour away over a very good road. We mumbled something about having to drive an hour for a big shop and remembered that is what we have to do on Cedar Island! Soon we were entering a Sam’s Club along with a million other people on this the last Saturday before Christmas. If you did not know better, you’d never know this Sam’s was in Mexico. Same stuff, laid out the same way. Exception that Sam’s (and Wal-Mart) sell booze of all kinds! We got what we wanted and hit a line that wasn’t too long and then went next door to Wal-Mart. Again, same things for the most part although this one had a huge fish market and deli. We finished that off and headed home. Nothing exciting.
Sun 24 Dec 2006 Lo de Marcos
The Deane’s Arrive! Claire et al fly into Guadalajara (aka Guad) today about 1300. We’ve gotten different estimates on the drive time ranging from 3.5 to 5 hours. Plus there is a time change and we lose an hour. By the way the reason for Guad instead of PV is the flights were significantly cheaper and there were none to PV that did not require an overnight stay.
Steve launched out at 0530 because he wanted to be sure and be there. The road quality is very good except that about half of it winds up down and around several mountain chains so the going can be slow. Well, Steve made it to Guad in about 3.75 hours and had lots of time to spare. The airport was very nice and modern: dining option included Burger King and Starbucks. The Deane’s arrived almost on time and we were on our way back to Lo de Marcos and arrived just before sunset so they got to see the place in daylight. We had a sort of traditional Christmas Eve dinner while Eli ran himself crazy trying to burn off energy form almost 12 hours in a car seat!!
Christmas Day, Lo de Marcos
We had a Merry Christmas although it seemed strange not to be at least cool or to see some of the things we see back at home. We missed being In Dade City, for sure. They had a nice Mass in the little town church with one man playing guitar and about 6 villagers singing songs. After that the mission was to find Dinkus fishing opportunities. For that, we drove over to Sayulita. It is a very touristy town that was teeming with people swimming or just walking around. We signed up for 2 different charters on Thursday and Friday. Both were about $150 for the boat (not per person) for 4 hours. Since the deep water and big fish are close to shore, there is almost no travel time and it is all 4 hours of fishing! We asked one guide where we could buy a surf casting rod so that Dinkus could surf fish and the fellow went somewhere, came back with one and said bring it back before you go home! He doesn’t know us or where we are staying! Dinkus fished a bit…caught some Moray Eels and lost a lot of tackle because the fish dive into rocks when caught. Rest of us played with Eli including him splashing in the Pacific. We had a traditional, at least for Mexico, dinner and enjoyed watch that old favorite: A Christmas Story. We got a camera to use for SkyPE so now you can see us! A nice Mexico Christmas Day.
Tue, 26 Dec, Lo de Marcos
Dinkus and Steve found a ponga (sp?) fisherman down the beach from us and using sign language etc asked about taking Dinkus fishing. No problem so tomorrow Dinkus has a 0600 rendezvous with fish. Later Dinkus did some surf fishing in front of the park and impressed the natives by catching a very nice fish. Eli played in the ocean and had a ball.
Relief! The Dr from Puerto Vallarta called and said Daniele’s meds were in! We went there in heavy traffic in the afternoon…took an hour each way. Dr Suarez was fantastic!!! He took a very thorough history (entering it in his Palm P:ilot) and amazed us with several of his comments. He easily recognized some of the more obscure meds that Daniele takes and identified her esophagus problem which no other Dr, anywhere, has done except for the one at Bethesda who originally figured out what was wrong. He had some very interesting ideas on how to back off on some of the pain meds…ideas that we have sought but never got at home. Will be interesting to see what they say at home. This was medicine at its best! By the way an interesting comment he made. Daniele asked what Mexicans took for pain since it seemed like her meds were rare here. It turns out they use an med that we did not recognize…if a Caucasian takes it, it attacks bone marrow but it has no adverse impact on Hispanics!
After the Dr we went to Wal-Mart and did a quick shopping. Then we came back to Lo de Marcos for a very nice meal at a local restaurant. Remember the complaints about the cost of restaurants? The 4.25 of us at for $50 including margaritas and beers! Really good!
Wed, 27 December 2006 Lo de Marcos
Dinkus joined the fishermen at 0600 and did a launch through surf. They trolled for awhile for Dorado but no luck. They did see a lot of porpoises and, even better, had a close up encounter with hump backed whales!!! They were right next to the huge mother and a baby. Dinkus says the blow hole on the adult was as big as a basketball and the geyser of mist went up in the air 50’ or more. Again, this was in a 16’ workboat with zero life jackets etc. One of the crew turned to Dinkus and said “Dios Mio”! They later caught a couple of very nice trigger fish but the whale sightings made the day. On the return they did the high speed run to shore and beached the boat about 30 yards from the water’s edge with the prop spinning! The stopped exactly where Steve had been standing seconds earlier!!! Total cost for about 4+ hours of fishing (and whale sightings) was $70US…Dinkus tipped generously because the guys had been so very nice and a whale sighting tourist boat would have been 2 or 3 times that much.
In the afternoon, Daniele and Claire went to Sayulita for shopping and whatever and had a blast. They did the town and walked everywhere so Daniele’s meds are really helping. For dinner we had the fish that Dinkus caught.
Thur, 28 December 2006 Lo de Marcos
Steve was going fishing with Dinkus this morning but after the whale story gave up his seat to Claire so she could have a chance of seeing the whales too (Steve and Dinkus will go out Fri AM.) They’re back! Dinkus got a nice Dorado (Mahi Mahi) and they got to see a whale. They’re delighted.
Fri, 29 Dec 2006 Lo de Marcos
Dinkus and Steve did the fishing trip today. We went Fidel, a Captain who was born and raised here. He has a great reputation and is all business. Great anticipation because yesterday he caught a lot of big Mahi. The Ponga is about 18’ long with a high bow and broad beam. It is powered by a 70HP Yamaha…no electric start and no power tilt. He keeps the boat very nice and it rides very dry in spite of a through the surf launch and fairly good swells. We rode for about 20 minutes and saw whales off to one side…not real close but you could see a lot of them. Out of no where we see a few coke bottles tied to a cord that goes WAY down to the bottom. This is a substitute for an artificial reef since marine life grows on the rope and attracts bait fish which attract the mahi. The amazing thing is that there are several of these way out and Fidel and the others find them without GPS or ANY electronics of any kind on the boat. Well, long story short: no mahi anywhere. Fidel was getting agitated so he decided we’d go for Rooster Fish (called that because their spines look like a rooster. They are his ace in the hole when Mahi are gone. His way of fishing for them is to troll just behind the wave before it breaks into surf. So here we are coasting down the back sides of waves hoping that the Yamaha would keep running because the shore was a beautiful rocky hillside. For about an hour all that was caught was a big pin fish and a pelican (he was freed). Then Dinkus got caught on a rock because his huge rod and huge reel bent double and line paid out like crazy. Fidel knew it wasn’t a rock. 3 or 4 times Dinkus got the fish near the boat and then it took off again and was unstoppable. Finally he got him at the boat and it was a HUGE Rooster Fish…at least 50 pounds. Just as Fidel tried to gaff him the leader broke at the swivel and the fish was gone. Dinkus was still happy because he said he had never caught a fish that fought like that one.
The rest of the day we just began packing and some final beach time.
Sat 30 Dec 2006 Lo de Marcos to Guadalajara.
At 0930 we left Lo de Marcos and headed across some huge mountains to Guadalajara. Beautiful scenery but a good portion of the road was 2 lane and wound all around the mountains…slow going but Destino handled it fine. US interstates are limited to a 6% grade…we can tell you that Mexican highways are not! Went by Tequila, the town, and many many agave fields….gorgeous. Got into the RV park at about 1430. Nice park and hardly anyone here. It is on the outskirts of Guadalajara and convenient to the airport. Had a quiet evening letting Eli run and burn off energy. Chilly compared to Lo de Marcos: got down to 45 deg.
171 miles today but we think all of that was uphill!!
Sun 31 Dec 2006, Guadalajara
Steve took the Deane gang to the airport and got there ate 0710. Small airport he said and small plane so 2 hours is more than enough. It was a zoo and was packed. They ended up barely making the flight!
Wed 20 Dec Mazatlan
Well, it started out a very nice day in Maz and then went downhill. Daniele can only get a 30 day supply of her pain meds from Pain Management and there are a ton of DEA rules concerning her meds about not post dating prescriptions, calling then in to pharmacy, yada yada. It seems that every trip we are on we have to go through a goat rope to get meds. Well, being in Mexico adds to that drama. I check we a pharmacy and they said they carried what she needed. We then saw a clinic and went in. No problem…just be a minute. She saw a Dr and he said he could only give 20 pills at a time but could write several more scrips that could be filled later. The clinic also switched between dollars and pesos in prices. They said $65US for the office visit plus the cost of the meds that the pharmacy would deliver. Okay, it’s a tourist area so $65 is high but not unexpected. Then the Visa card rejected…hmmm…Oh, he was trying to charges us $800US not $800 Pesos (rate is about 10 pesos to the US dollar)! We then found he was trying to charge us $65 for EACH of the scrips that he was writing! We raised hell and told them to stuff it and they then said charge for only one office visit and 2 boxes of the meds for a total of about $130 US. We didn’t like it but at least she had some Meds until we could get out of a tourist area. Back at Destino we found he was lying when he said her Med wasn’t available in Mexico and what he provided was a substitute. A simple Google search proved that. So we're out $130 for meds that won't work.
After that exercise we did nothing else but develop a plan for how to get meds in Lo e Marcus. Friends on an RV forum gave us some leads.
Thur 21 Dec Leave Mazatlan for Lo de Marcos
We did a 1030 start for the 5 hour drive to Lo de Marcus (50 miles North of Puerto Vallarta in the State of Nayarit). The roads here were not as good as we have seen but not too bad either. There was a lot of traffic with people rushing home for Christmas. The landscape is BEAUTIFUL! Reminds us of Thailand with palm, mango, and coconut trees growing everywhere. We took a shortcut which wound through the jungle and through some very nice towns with the usual villagers waving at us. Made us forget the tourist trap quack in Maz. We made one wrong turn and ended up on really small and rough dirt streets in a village. No problem though. With the traffic, the trip ended up being about 7 hours but at least it was enjoyable.
The town is quaint. Cobblestone (and rough) street with nice little shops throughout. They still have Topes on the street but they are hardly noticeable with the cobble stones! The Town Plaza is very neat and had villagers sitting around it chatting when we passed through. We arrived at our RV Park and love it. It is small and family operated. The beach here is out of a post card. Fantastic!!!
Fri 22 December 2006 Lo de Marcos
The mission is to get meds! Went to an internet café and found that a lead provided by a member of the RV forum paid off and a Dr had sent us an email setting everything up. They have many of the same restrictions here so the bad news is that the meds won’t be here until Tue or Wed. This means Daniele will be having to cut her dosage in half to make it until then….will not be fun for her. That solved we didn’t do much. Did get a pay as you go cell phone especially so that we can be contacted for an emergency and in case Claire and family have a problem on a connection on their flight here Sunday. Steve will have to drive about 5 hours, one way, to Guadalajara to meet them and would not be reachable without a phone. The phone and $10 of air time was only $35US so that wasn’t bad. We called Claire for a quick hello and 1 minute ate up $3!!!!. Within Mexico it won’t be too bad.
Sat 23 Dec 2006
Daniele decided that the pain was there rather she sat around or did something and doing something might make her forget it a little. So, we took off for Puerto Vallarta (aka PV) and shopping. Before we got out of Lo de Marcos we saw a shop where several ladies were making Piñatas…they were creative and gorgeous!!! Not sure it was a shop or a group of ladies making some money but their work was amazing.
PV is about an hour away over a very good road. We mumbled something about having to drive an hour for a big shop and remembered that is what we have to do on Cedar Island! Soon we were entering a Sam’s Club along with a million other people on this the last Saturday before Christmas. If you did not know better, you’d never know this Sam’s was in Mexico. Same stuff, laid out the same way. Exception that Sam’s (and Wal-Mart) sell booze of all kinds! We got what we wanted and hit a line that wasn’t too long and then went next door to Wal-Mart. Again, same things for the most part although this one had a huge fish market and deli. We finished that off and headed home. Nothing exciting.
Sun 24 Dec 2006 Lo de Marcos
The Deane’s Arrive! Claire et al fly into Guadalajara (aka Guad) today about 1300. We’ve gotten different estimates on the drive time ranging from 3.5 to 5 hours. Plus there is a time change and we lose an hour. By the way the reason for Guad instead of PV is the flights were significantly cheaper and there were none to PV that did not require an overnight stay.
Steve launched out at 0530 because he wanted to be sure and be there. The road quality is very good except that about half of it winds up down and around several mountain chains so the going can be slow. Well, Steve made it to Guad in about 3.75 hours and had lots of time to spare. The airport was very nice and modern: dining option included Burger King and Starbucks. The Deane’s arrived almost on time and we were on our way back to Lo de Marcos and arrived just before sunset so they got to see the place in daylight. We had a sort of traditional Christmas Eve dinner while Eli ran himself crazy trying to burn off energy form almost 12 hours in a car seat!!
Christmas Day, Lo de Marcos
We had a Merry Christmas although it seemed strange not to be at least cool or to see some of the things we see back at home. We missed being In Dade City, for sure. They had a nice Mass in the little town church with one man playing guitar and about 6 villagers singing songs. After that the mission was to find Dinkus fishing opportunities. For that, we drove over to Sayulita. It is a very touristy town that was teeming with people swimming or just walking around. We signed up for 2 different charters on Thursday and Friday. Both were about $150 for the boat (not per person) for 4 hours. Since the deep water and big fish are close to shore, there is almost no travel time and it is all 4 hours of fishing! We asked one guide where we could buy a surf casting rod so that Dinkus could surf fish and the fellow went somewhere, came back with one and said bring it back before you go home! He doesn’t know us or where we are staying! Dinkus fished a bit…caught some Moray Eels and lost a lot of tackle because the fish dive into rocks when caught. Rest of us played with Eli including him splashing in the Pacific. We had a traditional, at least for Mexico, dinner and enjoyed watch that old favorite: A Christmas Story. We got a camera to use for SkyPE so now you can see us! A nice Mexico Christmas Day.
Tue, 26 Dec, Lo de Marcos
Dinkus and Steve found a ponga (sp?) fisherman down the beach from us and using sign language etc asked about taking Dinkus fishing. No problem so tomorrow Dinkus has a 0600 rendezvous with fish. Later Dinkus did some surf fishing in front of the park and impressed the natives by catching a very nice fish. Eli played in the ocean and had a ball.
Relief! The Dr from Puerto Vallarta called and said Daniele’s meds were in! We went there in heavy traffic in the afternoon…took an hour each way. Dr Suarez was fantastic!!! He took a very thorough history (entering it in his Palm P:ilot) and amazed us with several of his comments. He easily recognized some of the more obscure meds that Daniele takes and identified her esophagus problem which no other Dr, anywhere, has done except for the one at Bethesda who originally figured out what was wrong. He had some very interesting ideas on how to back off on some of the pain meds…ideas that we have sought but never got at home. Will be interesting to see what they say at home. This was medicine at its best! By the way an interesting comment he made. Daniele asked what Mexicans took for pain since it seemed like her meds were rare here. It turns out they use an med that we did not recognize…if a Caucasian takes it, it attacks bone marrow but it has no adverse impact on Hispanics!
After the Dr we went to Wal-Mart and did a quick shopping. Then we came back to Lo de Marcos for a very nice meal at a local restaurant. Remember the complaints about the cost of restaurants? The 4.25 of us at for $50 including margaritas and beers! Really good!
Wed, 27 December 2006 Lo de Marcos
Dinkus joined the fishermen at 0600 and did a launch through surf. They trolled for awhile for Dorado but no luck. They did see a lot of porpoises and, even better, had a close up encounter with hump backed whales!!! They were right next to the huge mother and a baby. Dinkus says the blow hole on the adult was as big as a basketball and the geyser of mist went up in the air 50’ or more. Again, this was in a 16’ workboat with zero life jackets etc. One of the crew turned to Dinkus and said “Dios Mio”! They later caught a couple of very nice trigger fish but the whale sightings made the day. On the return they did the high speed run to shore and beached the boat about 30 yards from the water’s edge with the prop spinning! The stopped exactly where Steve had been standing seconds earlier!!! Total cost for about 4+ hours of fishing (and whale sightings) was $70US…Dinkus tipped generously because the guys had been so very nice and a whale sighting tourist boat would have been 2 or 3 times that much.
In the afternoon, Daniele and Claire went to Sayulita for shopping and whatever and had a blast. They did the town and walked everywhere so Daniele’s meds are really helping. For dinner we had the fish that Dinkus caught.
Thur, 28 December 2006 Lo de Marcos
Steve was going fishing with Dinkus this morning but after the whale story gave up his seat to Claire so she could have a chance of seeing the whales too (Steve and Dinkus will go out Fri AM.) They’re back! Dinkus got a nice Dorado (Mahi Mahi) and they got to see a whale. They’re delighted.
Fri, 29 Dec 2006 Lo de Marcos
Dinkus and Steve did the fishing trip today. We went Fidel, a Captain who was born and raised here. He has a great reputation and is all business. Great anticipation because yesterday he caught a lot of big Mahi. The Ponga is about 18’ long with a high bow and broad beam. It is powered by a 70HP Yamaha…no electric start and no power tilt. He keeps the boat very nice and it rides very dry in spite of a through the surf launch and fairly good swells. We rode for about 20 minutes and saw whales off to one side…not real close but you could see a lot of them. Out of no where we see a few coke bottles tied to a cord that goes WAY down to the bottom. This is a substitute for an artificial reef since marine life grows on the rope and attracts bait fish which attract the mahi. The amazing thing is that there are several of these way out and Fidel and the others find them without GPS or ANY electronics of any kind on the boat. Well, long story short: no mahi anywhere. Fidel was getting agitated so he decided we’d go for Rooster Fish (called that because their spines look like a rooster. They are his ace in the hole when Mahi are gone. His way of fishing for them is to troll just behind the wave before it breaks into surf. So here we are coasting down the back sides of waves hoping that the Yamaha would keep running because the shore was a beautiful rocky hillside. For about an hour all that was caught was a big pin fish and a pelican (he was freed). Then Dinkus got caught on a rock because his huge rod and huge reel bent double and line paid out like crazy. Fidel knew it wasn’t a rock. 3 or 4 times Dinkus got the fish near the boat and then it took off again and was unstoppable. Finally he got him at the boat and it was a HUGE Rooster Fish…at least 50 pounds. Just as Fidel tried to gaff him the leader broke at the swivel and the fish was gone. Dinkus was still happy because he said he had never caught a fish that fought like that one.
The rest of the day we just began packing and some final beach time.
Sat 30 Dec 2006 Lo de Marcos to Guadalajara.
At 0930 we left Lo de Marcos and headed across some huge mountains to Guadalajara. Beautiful scenery but a good portion of the road was 2 lane and wound all around the mountains…slow going but Destino handled it fine. US interstates are limited to a 6% grade…we can tell you that Mexican highways are not! Went by Tequila, the town, and many many agave fields….gorgeous. Got into the RV park at about 1430. Nice park and hardly anyone here. It is on the outskirts of Guadalajara and convenient to the airport. Had a quiet evening letting Eli run and burn off energy. Chilly compared to Lo de Marcos: got down to 45 deg.
171 miles today but we think all of that was uphill!!
Sun 31 Dec 2006, Guadalajara
Steve took the Deane gang to the airport and got there ate 0710. Small airport he said and small plane so 2 hours is more than enough. It was a zoo and was packed. They ended up barely making the flight!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Catch up
Sat 16 Dec
Bye Sonora
We left Mirador at about 0830 and resumed our journey south. For the first time we leave the State of Sonora and enter the State of Sinaloa. As we did so, the desert landscape began giving away to vegetation and we now see a lot of agriculture. We also see herds of cattle ranging near the highway, usually watched by a cowboy on horseback...and, the number of people that wave at us with a big smile continues to amaze us.
We were on Mexico 15, much of which is toll, and it is not cheap. Today we went 298 miles and the tolls were $60! By practice, if there is a toll segment there is usually a free segment very near by. But, that free side goes through towns and you really lose a lot of time. So, what happens is that you’ll speed along at about 55mph on the toll segment and then all of a sudden you enter a town and the dreaded Topes (speed bumps) that slow everything down. Then a bit later, you’re back on the toll segment. All this means that the best we have averaged in Destino is about 40-45 miles/hour. The roads remain very good. They (and we’re also talking about side roads here) are smoother than many of our interstates and wide enough. More and more we’re seeing better shoulders so that eliminates the only negative we had before. So far, including going through busy cities, we’ve not felt uncomfortable driving Destino and pulling the jeep.
By the way, gas is about $2.40/gallon. The price is the same everywhere and it is always pumped by an attendant. I hear that some Pemex’s take credit cards but have not seen any yet. We also continue to see Wal-Mart’s, Sam’s, AutoZone’s, Sherman-Williams, etc. We’ve not been in any big store yet since we’ve been in small towns. We will soon need to because we’re running low on dog food and a couple of other things. They have Pedigree dog food in the little shops but only in small bags and is pricy.
One other observation on this Sat before Christmas: half, maybe two-thirds, of the autos on this highway (the main route down the West cost of Mexico) were vans and SUV’s with California plates and were loaded with Mexican men and treasures from the US. Presume they are legal workers who are bringing presents home for Christmas. The things we saw most often were bicycles, washers and dryers, and toys. We left the main highway at about 1500 and headed east to Las Glorias. Nice 2 lane road through the beautiful countryside. Lots of cattle munching the grass on the shoulders under the watch of a herder on horseback. The little village has lots of restaurants on the water…don’t know how they are supported. We proceeded to our RV Park and WOW! While it is not fancy, the facilities are very nice and we are right next to the beach! If we were any closer, we’d be in the water! We will post pictures when the site lets us. Had a nice dinner in the restaurant here and then read listening to the surf. This place is fantastic and it will be hard to leave here. There are only about 4 other RV’s here so we have this huge beach almost to ourselves.
We did have a moment of home sickness yesterday when we remembered that Anne was doing her Christmas cookie decorating event for the grandkids. That has been a traditional thing during our many years of Christmas in Dade City and it reminds us that we won’t be there, at least not in person.
There is no internet near the Park so we’ll be out of touch except when we find a café. You have the info on the park and the cell says we have a good signal but don’t know if it works. Don’t call the cell unless it is an emergency because it is very expensive.
Until we get internet again…..
Sunday 17 Dec
Internet, sort of.
Went to the office to say hello and lo and behold there was a PC. The owner was proud that he had it up and running and invited me to use it. It is an old PC on a marginal dial up going through Prodigy. After about 45 minutes was able to send a quick “we are safe” email to Claire and Frank. Other than that, we did not do much except walk on the beach. Did go to a local tiny store for some small things. They were making tortillas for the village…quite good, we might add. Our plan now is to leave here (sadly) on Tue and stay 2 nights in Mazatlan. It is a bigger city with stores for some Christmas shopping.
Monday 18 December 2006
Woke up to a light fog. Most of the day was overcast so we just chilled out. RVpark did laundry for us: $6 for 3 kilos (6.5 lbs). Not cheap but neither was it exorbitant. On that subject, at least so far, things are not what you would call very cheap. Dinner at a normal place is about $40 for 2. Fresh shrimp (we watch the boats here every night) average $12 for 2.3 pounds. Yes that is cheaper than big cities but we pay about $2-3 on Cedar Island. We were surprised at how much we spent in a little 7-11 type store. So far, things are not expensive but they are also not “cheap”. There’s not much competition where we’ve been so far so that may change as we head on south tomorrow.
But, then tonight our meal was $25 for both of us….go figure.
Tuesday 19 December 2006
Woke up to a cloudy day but the temp is good. A skiff type oat with 4 fishermen sped towards the shore and beached the boat at full throttle. They were streaming out a long gill net that we realized was connected to the beach about 200 yards away and manned their by 4 fishermen. They then started pulling the net in and walked towards each other. After about a half hour of hard work they got the net in and had about 100 fair size fish.
We headed out towards Mazatlan. The area is now very much agriculture with huge fields with rows covered with plastic and in some cases tents of a fiber material of some type to keep varmints out. The road is now almost US Interstate standard (and better than some we have been on) with shoulders and dividers in most areas. Speed limit is 70mph. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the toll for about 100 miles was $68!!!!! The alternative was a slow road and we would have probably burned that in extra gas. Saw our first genuine Sombrero today and not in a tourist area. A chap was talking to his friend out in the fields a long way from anywhere and had one on. His friend was wearing a white cowboy hat…the usual attire that is very prevalent everywhere.
We arrived Mazatlan about 1400 and got a place in the only RV park on the water. Excellent facilities and view from the front row but it is tight! It is fun being in a town after several weeks of country with only tiny convenience stores. We went to a huge store last nigh that was like a Wal-Mart but has excellent selections in food and veggies. Their bakery and deli had stuff that is usually only found in Europe. We had a fantastic time there and will do another one today: we’re stocking up for the kid’s arrival and for Santa.
The cat’s back….well, he’s been seen at the RV park that is now 15 hours away! They can’t catch him. So now, we’ll have to figure out what to do…probably have them board him and we go back through the same route rather than through Texas.
Bye Sonora
We left Mirador at about 0830 and resumed our journey south. For the first time we leave the State of Sonora and enter the State of Sinaloa. As we did so, the desert landscape began giving away to vegetation and we now see a lot of agriculture. We also see herds of cattle ranging near the highway, usually watched by a cowboy on horseback...and, the number of people that wave at us with a big smile continues to amaze us.
We were on Mexico 15, much of which is toll, and it is not cheap. Today we went 298 miles and the tolls were $60! By practice, if there is a toll segment there is usually a free segment very near by. But, that free side goes through towns and you really lose a lot of time. So, what happens is that you’ll speed along at about 55mph on the toll segment and then all of a sudden you enter a town and the dreaded Topes (speed bumps) that slow everything down. Then a bit later, you’re back on the toll segment. All this means that the best we have averaged in Destino is about 40-45 miles/hour. The roads remain very good. They (and we’re also talking about side roads here) are smoother than many of our interstates and wide enough. More and more we’re seeing better shoulders so that eliminates the only negative we had before. So far, including going through busy cities, we’ve not felt uncomfortable driving Destino and pulling the jeep.
By the way, gas is about $2.40/gallon. The price is the same everywhere and it is always pumped by an attendant. I hear that some Pemex’s take credit cards but have not seen any yet. We also continue to see Wal-Mart’s, Sam’s, AutoZone’s, Sherman-Williams, etc. We’ve not been in any big store yet since we’ve been in small towns. We will soon need to because we’re running low on dog food and a couple of other things. They have Pedigree dog food in the little shops but only in small bags and is pricy.
One other observation on this Sat before Christmas: half, maybe two-thirds, of the autos on this highway (the main route down the West cost of Mexico) were vans and SUV’s with California plates and were loaded with Mexican men and treasures from the US. Presume they are legal workers who are bringing presents home for Christmas. The things we saw most often were bicycles, washers and dryers, and toys. We left the main highway at about 1500 and headed east to Las Glorias. Nice 2 lane road through the beautiful countryside. Lots of cattle munching the grass on the shoulders under the watch of a herder on horseback. The little village has lots of restaurants on the water…don’t know how they are supported. We proceeded to our RV Park and WOW! While it is not fancy, the facilities are very nice and we are right next to the beach! If we were any closer, we’d be in the water! We will post pictures when the site lets us. Had a nice dinner in the restaurant here and then read listening to the surf. This place is fantastic and it will be hard to leave here. There are only about 4 other RV’s here so we have this huge beach almost to ourselves.
We did have a moment of home sickness yesterday when we remembered that Anne was doing her Christmas cookie decorating event for the grandkids. That has been a traditional thing during our many years of Christmas in Dade City and it reminds us that we won’t be there, at least not in person.
There is no internet near the Park so we’ll be out of touch except when we find a café. You have the info on the park and the cell says we have a good signal but don’t know if it works. Don’t call the cell unless it is an emergency because it is very expensive.
Until we get internet again…..
Sunday 17 Dec
Internet, sort of.
Went to the office to say hello and lo and behold there was a PC. The owner was proud that he had it up and running and invited me to use it. It is an old PC on a marginal dial up going through Prodigy. After about 45 minutes was able to send a quick “we are safe” email to Claire and Frank. Other than that, we did not do much except walk on the beach. Did go to a local tiny store for some small things. They were making tortillas for the village…quite good, we might add. Our plan now is to leave here (sadly) on Tue and stay 2 nights in Mazatlan. It is a bigger city with stores for some Christmas shopping.
Monday 18 December 2006
Woke up to a light fog. Most of the day was overcast so we just chilled out. RVpark did laundry for us: $6 for 3 kilos (6.5 lbs). Not cheap but neither was it exorbitant. On that subject, at least so far, things are not what you would call very cheap. Dinner at a normal place is about $40 for 2. Fresh shrimp (we watch the boats here every night) average $12 for 2.3 pounds. Yes that is cheaper than big cities but we pay about $2-3 on Cedar Island. We were surprised at how much we spent in a little 7-11 type store. So far, things are not expensive but they are also not “cheap”. There’s not much competition where we’ve been so far so that may change as we head on south tomorrow.
But, then tonight our meal was $25 for both of us….go figure.
Tuesday 19 December 2006
Woke up to a cloudy day but the temp is good. A skiff type oat with 4 fishermen sped towards the shore and beached the boat at full throttle. They were streaming out a long gill net that we realized was connected to the beach about 200 yards away and manned their by 4 fishermen. They then started pulling the net in and walked towards each other. After about a half hour of hard work they got the net in and had about 100 fair size fish.
We headed out towards Mazatlan. The area is now very much agriculture with huge fields with rows covered with plastic and in some cases tents of a fiber material of some type to keep varmints out. The road is now almost US Interstate standard (and better than some we have been on) with shoulders and dividers in most areas. Speed limit is 70mph. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the toll for about 100 miles was $68!!!!! The alternative was a slow road and we would have probably burned that in extra gas. Saw our first genuine Sombrero today and not in a tourist area. A chap was talking to his friend out in the fields a long way from anywhere and had one on. His friend was wearing a white cowboy hat…the usual attire that is very prevalent everywhere.
We arrived Mazatlan about 1400 and got a place in the only RV park on the water. Excellent facilities and view from the front row but it is tight! It is fun being in a town after several weeks of country with only tiny convenience stores. We went to a huge store last nigh that was like a Wal-Mart but has excellent selections in food and veggies. Their bakery and deli had stuff that is usually only found in Europe. We had a fantastic time there and will do another one today: we’re stocking up for the kid’s arrival and for Santa.
The cat’s back….well, he’s been seen at the RV park that is now 15 hours away! They can’t catch him. So now, we’ll have to figure out what to do…probably have them board him and we go back through the same route rather than through Texas.
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