Day 13 We Arrived!!!

WHERE ARE WE? La Penita, Nayarit, Mexico

We only had a short trip today to get to La Penita.  We arrived about noon to 35C high humidity and immediately remembered why we shouldn't come this early.  It is like being in a sauna!!  Sergio met us at the gate an welcomed us back to our winter home.  Jen and Ed were watching for us to arrive and sent us a picture from their surveillance camera!!!

Here was our travels today.

We will have to take a day or so to get acclimatized to the extreme heat and humidity before we start getting all the stuff out of summer storage.  The high tides and waves which were a reminant of hurricane Simon have washed more sand into our sitting area which is nice.  The winds also tore the top off of our big palapa, but it was time for it to be replaced anyway.  Joel and I will get rid of the stuff that is no good.  The place is in great shape otherwise and the grass is soooo green.

First plan for me was to get something to eat, so I headed down town for some liver and onions at my favourite spot "El Pollito".  The waiters all welcomed us back and remembered what we wanted.

When I got back to the park I got busy setting up RRV.  It is a bit of a struggle in the heat but we managed to get in place and the basics done.  

Part of staying cool is using the pool lots.  The next few days we will be in the pool lots to cool off in between getting the place up and running.  It is a necessity in this weather.

We took a little time in the evening to just sit and watch the ocean, and Archie dug a hole in the sand to keep cool.  

Kenia and Oscar came to visit after supper and we had a great time with them.  Kenia is a month away from having her first baby and is super excited.  I think she is glad we are here to share this event with her.  We look forward to meeting little Kiera.

I was hungry so we headed downtown for taco's.  They were everything I remembered them to be.

We are so happy to be back and how could you not believe that you are in paradise when this is your post sunset view!!!!  Good Nite!!!

Day 12 We Made Some Miles Today

WHERE ARE WE? Roca Azul RV park, Chapala, Mexico

We were up and on the road in good time this morning and it was a beautiful day, so we decided to make a run for Roca Azul RV park which is almost 600 kms away.  Some of the roads were rough, but for the most part it was a relaxing drive.  Here was our route today.

The countryside is typical Mexico today, with some beautiful mountains and lots of waste land.  It has its own sort of beauty.

Lots of these funny looking trees in the median.  Sorry for the dirty windows.

                                         

This one looked like Big Bird!!

The new highway sections have some neat work done in the cuts.

Archie has had enough of travelling.  Her really wants to get to his Mexican home with the big yard where he can roam free.  I don't know if he enjoys the scenery or not, but we do.  

We seemed to think that there was more construction along the way this year.  That is good because the road are starting to deteriorate we noticed.  Nothing big, but those kind of bumps that rattle RRV.  All and all the roads are good though.

We have a couple towns to go through where the streets are narrow and the traffic is heavy.  The lanes are barely 9 feet wide so you have to pay attention.  Lots of truck traffic.

We had a little incident today on a narrow 4 lane in a town where a big 2 trailer semi pulled up on the passenger side of us to pass and he was going a bit fast and had to make a maneuver to avoid a car in front of him so he weaved pretty hard and whipped his back trailer towards me, so I hit the brakes but the back end of his trailer clipped our passenger mirror and broke part of it.  That was a bit scary. Only a scratch on the outside frame of the mirror but the small lens is gone.  We watched him as he went up the road ahead of us and he definitely should not have been driving a big rig like that.  He was weaving all over the place and jeopardizing the traffic as he did so.  We are thankful it was only a small clip cause he could have taken us out!!!

We arrived at Roca Azul after a long day and drove down the narrow overgrown bumpy rough 3 km lane way into the park.  The area where we would normally park was a water logged muddy mess so we just parked on the edge of the soccer field.  I wasn't impressed with our accomodations there at all.  We paid for a serviced parking spot but could not get near any of the open ones for the mud and water.  Oh well, we had a good sleep and will travel on tomorrow.  Good Nite!!

The very narrow road into the park

They always like to build big wall that restrict the Motorhomes from moving easily.

Parked up in the soccer field for the night.

Day 11 Our First Day Travels in Mexico

WHERE ARE WE? Matahuala, Mexico

We were up at 6:45 this morning and headed for the Columbia Bridge Border crossing into Mexico.  As usual there was a line of cars waiting to cross when the border opens at 8 am.  Most of them are just driving in to Mexico and have a quick inspection and off they go.   We require a FMM which is like a visitor visa as well as import papers (TIP) for RRV and the Jeep.   The whole process took us 2 hours which is kinda average for this process. Any way about 10 am we were headed south toward Monterrey.

It wasn't long and we were getting into the mountainous terrain that we will have on either side of us for most of the trip.  They are awesome mountains with lots of greenery on them right now.

We soon began to notice a change in the police and their presence on the roads.  The last couple years we used to see lots of Guardia de National policia on the road but this year there is a change.  We have seen a huge showing of Policia Cival in SUV cruisers.  They are patrolling the highways and always travel in 2's and are in no hurry, usually going less than the speed limit.  We went by one headquarters and there were probably 50 or 60 of these cruisers sitting there.  Something is changing and I hope it results in keeping the highway thugs restrained.  Good job Mexico!!

Anyway we arrived at Las Palmas Motel at about 4 pm and drove around back down a little road an a guy meets you at a gate and there is an RV park way in the back.  

We got set up and had a little nap before supper.  I noticed that the Green Angels are staying here as well.  These are the guys that patrol the highway giving assistance to anyone who needs it.  We have never used them but its nice to know they are there.

We didn't have much for food in the fridge so we went out for supper. Sue had fish and I had pork chops.  Both were great.  We even had chips with hot sauce.  It will take a few days to get used to all the hot things down here.

Well thats what we did today and where we ended up after todays journey.

 The temperatures are wonderful here and it should be a great sleeping night.  We will have brace ourselves for the heat in La Penita.  

We have an easy day tomorrow so we won't have to get in a rush in the morning.  Good Nite!!!

Day 10 We Are on Deck For Mexico

WHERE ARE WE? Laredo Texas

We took our time doing some things we need to get done before going into Mexico.  We have to buy special Mexican vehicle insurance because Manitoba Public Insurance doesn't cover us in Mexico.  MPI does reimburse us for all the time we are in Mexico, so the cost is sort of a wash.  We get our insurance through a broker.  Bill Bell is a Canadian sells insurance and the nice thing is that he actually lives in La Penita in the winter.  If you have an accident, you call him and he looks after you personally.  Kinda gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.  After we got that done, we went shopping in Walmart for some things we will need for our stay in Mexico.  Like Miracle Whip, Bush's Beans and of course some small bottles of Coke for the check stop cops along the way.  One thing I noticed were these faucet caps.  They were made of Styrofoam and were to cover your outside taps so they wouldn't freeze.  Doubt that would work back home right?

As we headed south, we started to get into that rough tough scrubby looking countryside that we will be travelling in for the next few days.  Sort of bordering on a desert except there is more greenery.

Our route today was a short one but we had to run into Laredo to fuel up.  Red shows where we have to go in the morning to get to the border.

I like to have enough fuel to get through the first day without having to fuel up.  Gas was $3.78 a gallon there.  

Then we backtracked about 10 miles to a Rest stop north of Laredo.  It is about 50 kms from Columbia Bridge where we will cross.

Archie and I went for a walk and he sort of ignored the signs around the Welcome center.  I guess he figures the snakes are not out and about when it is cooler.  I still keep my eyes open just in case.

Some pretty flowers on some of the trees around here.

We got all parked up in the truck parking area for the night.  We will be up and atter about 7 am tomorrow to be at the border when it opens at 8.

Sunset was nice again tonight.  A few more nights and we will see them over the ocean again.  

We watched a little Survivor and it was off to bed.  Good Nite!!!