Zihuatanejo

We arrived about 14:30 December 1st as planned after a pleasant drive. The weather was cloudy so cooler and as we approached Zihuatanejo we ran into a few spots of rain. We filled up with diesel just north of town and 20 minutes later we pulled into El Manglar RV Park.

We were met and greeted by the regulars already here and by Edmundo, the park owner; parked the rig and headed into the restaurant for lunch then back to park the rig properly, jacks down, slides out. Edmundo had to trim a few palm branches to make enough room at the back.

One thing that we soon realised was that the house batteries were not fully charged when we arrived--they had been charged somewhat by the solar panels but were not completely charged as they should have been. They charge fine (though slowly of course) with the solar panels, with the generator and when plugged into "shorepower", just not by the alternator when driving. The chassis/starting battery was fine. Oh well--something to occupy the lazy day times ahead!




We didn't put too much stuff out right away as we had decided to get the rig a wash and paste wax to remove all the dirt and muck accumulated on our 5800 kilometre journey and we would have to move the rig out and over several feet , away from the neighbour at least 6 or 8 feet so their awning, mats and chairs wouldn't get too wet.







The crew arrived at 8:30. One man stayed working throughout, at various times there were one or two others for an hour or two. They finished about 2:00 pm. Cost? roughly $100.00 Canadian.







Once the rig was done we moved it back into place and began setting up; Carpet down, chairs and tables out, barbecue connected to the main tank and of course, the fan.

We had to ask Mundi (Edmundo) to trim a few more branches to make room for the hammock, but eventually all was done.







A few days later the croc made an appearance on the sand under the foot bridge.

(You can enlarge any picture by clicking on it, then use the Back button to return to the blog page)











December 6th we received some terrible and shocking news; a very dear long time friend had died due to an accident at home. We were both sick at heart, feeling his loss deeply. After a brief discussion, it was decided that Art would fly home for the service, leaving Gillian and the dogs in Zihuatanejo as there was just no where we felt comfortable leaving the dogs for that length of time.

His flight was due out of here at 11:45 Monday morning, but surprise, surprise, it was 40 minutes late leaving. Art was a little nervous as he had only one hour for the scheduled connection in Mexico City for Puerto Vallarta! When the aircraft finally stopped at the arrivals gate he had 15 minutes! Fortunately he was traveling light, had only one small carry on and he made the connection with a couple of minutes to spare!

Not looking forward to airline food, which cost extra anyway on Alaska Air, Art had purchased a couple of ham, cheese, avocado and chili pepper sandwiches (80 cents each!) from the little corner store near our RV Park. After clearing security in PV he bought a bottle of water at one of the shops. 600ml at 27 pesos (2.25 Canadian)!--we pay 17 pesos for 20 litres in the RV Park! That wasn't bad enough—at the boarding gate, security was there again, re-checking the carry on bags and confiscated his almost untouched water!!!!!

After takeoff, when the Alaska Airlines drinks and food cart finally showed up, Art was able to talk the flight attendant out of a bottle of water and 2 cans of Canada Dry ginger ale! It was now well into the late afternoon and he had already eaten one of the by now somewhat dry sandwiches. The water went down really fast and the first can of ginger ale soon followed, saving the second can for the second sandwich!

The Alaska flight dropped into San Francisco for customs and immigration, at least half an hour late due to headwinds but made up most of the time on the turnaround, landing on time in Seattle where he had to change to Horizon Air for the flight to Victoria. Here, (Victoria) the aircraft taxied up to the gate, the door opening exactly at the scheduled arrival time, 23:45 – 14 hours after the scheduled departure from Zihuat.

He was the first through customs and immigration, the officer pointing to his tiny carry on case, asking “Is that all you have?” at Art's affirmative response, he replied “Good for you!” and that was that.

Except for the temperature. He had left temperatures in the high 20's, arrived to sub zero. He was met by a neighbour who was putting him up (putting up with him?) for the few days he would be in Victoria and was soon back at Willis Point, showered and fast asleep.

Tuesday was taken up with getting the old BMW going and digging through the mail—one of which was very important. It appears that there had been an error in our tax returns, and we were being re-assessed. A quick call to the accountant got things moving.

Wednesday was the memorial service and Art was very glad that he had returned for it. He was able to spend a bit of time with our friend's wife and daughter, as well as his brother who had flown in from Europe. We had met Rudy before and had spoken on the phone and it was good to renew that friendship.

Thursday, a bit of running around, picking up a few things to take back—some of which were things we had forgotten in October! Art had also set up appointments to touch base with our broker and banker and of course the accountant, who had by this time contacted Revenue Canada and all was well. A pittance to pay, which we could do on line and if done before the end of December there would be no penalty. This has made us realise that we really will have to set up some way of dealing with the mail for our 10 or 11 month long trip that we have planned for next year.

His long term shoulder problem hadn't done well on the flight, so he managed to book an appointment with a physiotherapist who confirmed that yes, his rotator cuff injury was quite likely now a frozen shoulder. Half an hour later, with a list of do's and don'ts, he was on his way feeling much better.

Thursday evening Art's flight departed Victoria at 8:00 PM. Again, 14 hours in total time, but this trip there were only two stops—one in Vancouver (dinner) and one in Mexico City (breakfast). A total of 7 hours flying and 7 hours in airports! This time all flight were on time, which is just as well—in Mexico City it took Art almost 2 hours to clear customs/immigration, then find and get to the right gate—by bus to a different terminal but he still had time for a leisurely breakfast before boarding the last leg.

The YVR-MEX leg of the flight had not done Art's shoulder any good-- the seat tops were contoured, forcing him to sit round-shouldered; it was impossible to get comfortable. Sleep was not going to be an option here. Fortunately, while rummaging in the BMW for lost keys, he found an SF novel by Todd McCaffery, which he had purchased back in early October and not yet read—due to its having fallen under the passenger seat.

As the plane taxied up to the ramp at ZIH he completed the last page! He stepped off the the plane into beautiful warm (28 C) weather and by the time he had walked the few hundred feet to the terminal was properly warmed up again and had shed all but one layer of clothing!

Gillian and the dogs were there to greet him and carry him home, where he had a much needed shower and fell into bed for the next 5 hours.

That evening we attended a reception at a hotel in Ixtapa in honour of the immigrants to Mexico, mostly American and Canadian. There were speeches, mostly in Spanish, of which we understood maybe half; music, from pathetic to very good; and food, which spanned the same range as the music. After a small plate from the buffet (which he enjoyed very much) and listing to the music of Josie Kuhn (same) Art decided that he had had enough fun and leaving Gillian in the care of our good friend Julia, caught a taxi home and fell into bed. His next awareness was the recognition of daylight and by 7:30 AM he was up and making breakfast.

While Art was away, Gillian and our neighbour Julia took the dogs to beach near the airport, Barra de Potosi. This is a beautiful long sandy beach where Gillian let Trekker run to his hearts content while Julia walked Tia on her leash. This is a beautiful area with a very large lagoon behind it, full of wildlife. Unfortunately, Gillian had neglected to take the camera.

Later Gillian decided to join Trekker for a swim in the bath-water warm ocean. With the noise of the surf she didn't hear Juilia yelling at her until the third time and by then it was too late. Julia was trying to warn her of a mounted cowboy galloping his herd of 20 or so cows along the beach.

Yes, galloping cows. As Julia had feared, Trekker found this irresistible and immediately gave chase. No amount of shouting or calling had any effect, but eventually Trekker had had enough fun and returned, tongue panting and tail wagging. Fortunately the horseman found it funny and was laughing, as was the staff in the nearby restaurant. Gillian however did not find it so --until later as she told Art the story.

On Wednesday (December 16th) when Gillian was taking the dogs on their morning walk, she decided to return via the bridge and through the restaurant. As she got to the restaurant gate she noticed this fellow relaxing on the sand. The table in the foreground is where we usually sit with the dogs.

The croc lay here most of the day; fortunately the restaurant was closed, it being Wednesday, its usual closing day.

We realised later that the summer storms had built up the sand dune in front of the estuary as well as slightly changing the shape of the mouth of the estuary. This has resulted in high water levels in the estuary as it is not draining as often, so there are no longer any sandbanks behind the fence for the crocodiles to rest or sun. (See pics at top of blog)

This morning, Friday, the croc was back. When Martin the waiter (think Manuel from "Faulty Towers") arrived for work, he proceeded to rake the sand and lay the tables with tablecloth and napkin dispenser as normal, ignoring the croc, who ignored him as well!

The cocodrilo (Mexican name for crocodile) lay quietly all morning, until about 1:00 PM when Memo, the owner, thought that perhaps the croc was scaring away customers so decided to see him off. Shouting and waving his arms had absolutely no effect, nor did waving a plastic chair. Finally Memo poked the croc's tail with the chair and jumped back and the crock slowly slid back into the water. Unfortunately I was a half second slow with my shutter finger but you can get the idea: (click the pic)

Today when we came in for lunch Art decided that we would forgo our usual table and sit at the other end of the restaurant at one of the beautiful new tables, the tops made of a slice of tree trunk. The wood is Parota, a very beautiful local hardwood, that came from the owners' family ranch.

Eventually we got the Christmas decorations up.

Saturday the 19th was our day for going out and also tidying the rig inside and finishing up the decorating. (To tell the truth Gillian did that part!)

We went to the next neighbourhood over, Playa Madera, for breakfast at La Casa Cafe and were pleasantly surprised to find live Latin American music--Guitar, charango, flute and panpipes. Beautifully played and sung. The food too was very good and the coffee excellent. Gillian ordered the breakfast burrito, Art huevos mexicana, (scrambled with tomato, onion and chili peppers) served with refritos and fresh tortillas. We shared a large plate of cut fruit--melon, papaya, pineapple and banana. Cost: 155 pesos. (The exchange rate varies from 11.75 to 12 pesos to the Canadian dollar, so $13.00)

We had set off soon after Gillian got up; Gillian and the dogs walking and Art following about half an hour later with the car. There was very little parking, but eventually he found a space not too far away just as Gillian and the dogs arrived. The dogs went into the car and we walked down to the restaurant.


Just past the Cafe the road was closed, a stage being built in the middle of this dead end street, thus all the parked cars; everyone that lived on the other side of the stage had move d their cars out. This was in preparation for La Posada that would be held in the street later that evening for which we returned. Dancing, singing, music, and of course food. The show ends with a nativity pageant acted and narrated by the children, the narration this year in Spanish and English by a young Mexican girl.

We left before the pageant was over as we had arranged to meet friends at Daniel's, a restaurant in centro, where Jimi Mamou was playing and singing at 8:00 PM. So at 8:30 we headed over--no taxis in sight bu t it was only a pleasant 15 minute walk. It would have been a 10 minute walk if we had thought to walk the other direction and over the foot bridge!

We joined our friends who were sitting with Judy, Jimi's wife, and were later joined by Jimi on his break, and later by friends if his from Toronto a dad, mom and 2 teenage boys. We stayed a couple of hours then took a taxi home to the patiently waiting dogs.


Tuesday we were invited over for drinks and appies by Jorge and Lulu, a Mexican couple from Morelia that we had first met a here in the RV Park couple of years ago. They were accompanied by their friends Sergio and Leonor whom we had also met previously. Also joining us were a few neighbours from the park and we had a great bilingual visit. We had a chance to pra ctice our Spanish and they their English.

Then next day (the 23rd) Lulu dropped by to show us an article in the Michoacan newspaper featuring our friend Leonor and her accomplishments in Latin American swim meet. This year she has won a total of 17 medals and in her latest meet set 3 Latin American records in the masters class!

Christmas Eve we hosted a happy hour at our site for the park and other friends, after which the two of us returned to Daniels for more of Jimi Mamou, arriving home before Santa was due.

Christmas day we just took things easy then in the afternoon Gillian and the dogs set off on the half hour walk over the hill to Playa Madera and the house of our friends Cal and Linda. Art followed a bit later with the car loaded with food and chairs.

We had a great evening, Trekker and Tia given free run of the house and fenced yard, getting re-acquainted with Rojo, a very large golden retriever and meeting for the first time Ebony, a black street dog recently adopted by Cal and Linda and a tiny Chihuahua puppy. Trekker was highly excited so needed reining in a bit for a while but eventually settled down. We sat in their courtyard enjoying snacks and drinks and catching up on the year and meeting and conversing with new friends as well.

There were about 16 for dinner! Salads, Roast Pork with apple sauce, pork curry, potatoes, yams, etc etc etc.

Then the cake!

Sometime during the dinner, Linda promised Cal that she would bake his favourite chocolate chip cookies the next day.






Boxing day was another quiet day, during the afternoon we returned again to Cal and Linda's for lunch. This time Gillian and the dogs rode in the car going to the house but elected to walk home.


The rest of Christmas week passed lazily, just enjoying the weather and visiting with friends. Trekker hasn't had his walk on the beach as it is just too busy. This two week period over Christmas and New Year the time when many Mexicans from the interior hit the beach. The other day there were 12 tour buses parked on the road, most of them arriving in the morning after a 4, 6, or 8 hour drive, stay until dusk then load up and head back. Many drivers sleep the day away in the luggage compartments, both sides open for the breeze! The Para Sail gang had their hands full trying to keep the landing zone clear!



Sunday night or Monday morning the estuary broke through the sand bar, it's level dropping a couple of feet. One of the crocodiles also decided to push through the fence and head out into the bay during the night. Unfortunately, there were too many people on the beach later when it wanted to return and being nervous of all the activity it lay in the shallow water in the ocean and up on the sand waiting for everyone to go away. The authorities arrived and after a while captured it and took it to a larger and quieter refuge. This happens here once a year or so; you can see pictures of a similar operation on our blog pages of last year. We hadn't gone the the beach that day so missed all the excitement. Lot's of tourists, both Mexican and foreign, will have stories to tell this year.

DUH! I have JUST figured out the easy (correct?) way to place photos where I want them! Up until just this minute, when the downloaded photos appeared at the top of the page I have been dragging them through all the text and pics until I get them to where I want them. This frequently disrupts line spacing etc. so then I have to go back and correct that. For the last two photos, when they appeared at the top of the page, I tried placing the cursor on the photo, right click, cut, move the cursor to the appropriate line, click paste. . . And there they were!!!!!


Wednesday evening Dieter and Anna, friends and neighbours in the RV Park, had a group of us over to graze the evening away, some from the park and some from town. Again a Gringo and Mexican gathering, so there was lots of language practice and lots of fractured Spanish! The Mexicans spoke far better English than the rest of us did Spanish. But we are all learning and progressing.




NEW YEAR'S EVE

We had decided that New Years Eve would be very low key and providentially our next door neighbours Bill and Jean (from Oyama BC) invited us to join them for an evening of appies and drinks and, if we were all still awake at the magic hour, walk to the beach to watch the fireworks welcome in the New Year. We actually got together at our site, though Bill and Jean provided the drinks and food. The reason for this was twofold; there was more space by our rig, and Marlow, their dog (an American Staffordshire Terrier), was better behaved off leash than our two!



Bill arrived first with a round of Mararitas in pint jars, followed by the food and Pina Coladas--also not short measure! Time passed, we were fading fast and about 11:15 we decided to call it quits. Somehow, 15 minutes later we all realised independently that there wasn't that much longer to wait and the fireworks would keep us awake anyway, so down to the beach we went!


2010 arrived as expected and well within the hour we were all asleep!



Fuel on the last leg, just north of Zihuatanejo; 144.8 litres. We'll sit 3 months with a full tank, ready to roll in March!

5822 kilometres from the last fill before starting out on this trip, 5522 kilometres from home.

Average fuel "economy" over the trip:

26.88L/100Km
10.53 mpg (imperial)
8.79 mpg (US measure)

Approximately $1130.00 Canadian fuel costs.

(Please feel free to check my figures!)

PV to Barra, Melaque, KM 103 1/2

We left Puerta Vallarta about 11:00, still in good time for the 4 hour drive to Melaque, where we fueled up before carring on the next 10 minutes to Barra de Navidad. We have visited Barra before but not stayed overnight as there has not been an RV Park. We had seen in Church's book that there may be a new park so we went to check it out.





Cadillac Ranch, Barra de la Navidad. One of the newest RV parks on the coast--just opened. The entrance road could use a bit of work.










Click to see why it's called the Cadillac Ranch











The restaurant/bar with some of the locals.


Our rig the only one here at the moment.





Barra de Navided and
San Patricio de Melaque


Left, Barra de Navidad.

Right, overlooking San Patricio de Melaque and the "nearly free beach" with all the RV's near the lagoon.

In the distance at the top right of the picture is Barra.



Next day we took a run up to Melaque looking for a bank machine (couldn't find one in Barra!) and went to look up friends from the Vancouver Islanders FMCA Chapter who were at the "nearly free" beach. We found them with colds but other wise well. We were surprised to find another couple we know well from the chapter, not realising that they were going to be making their first Mexican trip. We had a good visit and plan to see them in Zihuatanejo as they carry on south early in the New Year.





Bugs grow big here!










Monday November 30th we left Barra at about 9:50 for the scenic but challenging drive down the

Michoacan Coast





We both believe this to be the most beautiful and unspoiled coastline in Mexico. The drive however is something else! A bit twisty as you can see from the GPS image! Click the pic to see our speed. This must have been on one of the straighter bits!







We stopped at a road side rest area (few and far between) for an hour long lunch break and a bit of a rest and of course to take a few pictures. Unfortunately it was a little misty but you can get some idea of the beauty of the place.























Km 103 1/2 We pulled in here about 15:50. Long enough on these roads!

This is a small campground owned by the Ejido (a communily owned village). Its proper name is either Zipote Tizupan Centro Ecoturistico or Parador Turistico Tizupan depending on which publication you are reading. The common name comes from the fact that is located half way between kilometer markers 103 and 104! It has 11 serviced sites for RVs as well as a couple of small cabins, a pool, hammocks, washrooms. cold showers and a restaurant.



View from the restaurant towards the RV park, which is behind and beyond our rig and the view from the rig towards the restaurant.

We didn't bother unhooking for the one night, just leveled the rig where you see it.





Chocolate (the dog) trying to get up enough nerve to approach Gillian. He was a lovely though shy dog about a year old. We were tempted to make an offer!

The pool was very welcome after the hot day's drive.









Restaurant and their custom crockery. If you look closely (click) you will see that the village name seems to be short a letter!





We pulled out about 9:45 for the relatively easy run to Zihuatanejo--at least it will be easy once we clear this bit of coastline!


Fuel; 191.8 litres

Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta RV Park; Lots of shade. Almost no rigs here in early November but it will likely be full by January.















We quickly found a space where we would A) fit and B) the roof top automatic StarChoice dish could see the satellite. Believe me if we had arrived later in the season both of these requirements could have been a problem. We like this park for 2 reasons; the trees and its location. We dislike this park for one main reason: the trees make receiving a satellite signal a real challenge!








There was only one other rig in the park: Katheryn, whom we had met in Alamos, had beat us there! She was building a house in Yalapa, a village down the coast accessible by boat only. She came to PV once a week on Wednesdays, but had to stay the night as the last boat was at 5:00 PM Small World. We meet someone for the first and we think the last time and keep running into them.





Tuesday morning we started classes; 3 hours a day, three days a week, three weeks. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Art also signed up for (surprise!) conversation class, Tuesdays and Fridays, 4 to 6.

It was great to see Melchor and Marta again, and we soon fell into the regimen of study. We were pleased to find that things were coming back to us fairly quickly. Level 3 is certainly much easier than level 2 (Even the text book warned us about level 2.) What we really need now is the opportunity to use our Spanish on a daily basis.


A few days later Art went to wash the dishes and there was no water from the hot water taps! Any of them. Checking the tank proved it to be hot. The pressure relief valve when pressed spit out a bit of hot water. Removing the plug proved that it was full of hot water. Using the bypass valve allowed cold water to flow through the hot taps, as it should. The only possible thing that could cause this would be a stuck or blocked check valve. Changing this however will not be an easy job--it appears that the hot water tank will have to be removed, the propane and water lines disconnected. Since the water line fittings are not available in Mexico and the fact that the work is beyond Art physically, we are living with cold showers until the first RV repair shop in the USA!


One Sunday we were invited to an afternoon at Melchor and Martas home, where Marta had prepared her famous tamales. To tell the truth, we were a little apprehensive, having had mostly unappetizing tamales in the past. What a surprise--they were delicious! We ate more than we should have, then had to try some spaghetti with some of Melchor's special bolognese sauce YUM! Stuffed!

The party was held on the roof top, beautifully done up. Melchor built his house himself, with some help from his father and brother. I wish we had pictures of their house but we had forgotten the camera. Again.





Towards the end of class today Art's cell phone buzzed. Since we were expecting a call from friends from home so he stepped outside. The phone said that there were two messages. On checking for them he some how managed to delete both with out seeing who they were from! Back to class.

Later that afternoon we went looking for our friends and found them poolside at their hotel. Twenty or so years ago, during our first trip to Mexico, we had also run into these same friends down here and gone out for dinner with them. We thought we should repeat the experience, so we decided go out somewhere that night.


We remembered a place place on Badillo in Old Town that had always been good, having been there several times over the years, and a few years ago we had gone there with our friends and teachers Melchor and Marta and their two kids. But we couldn't remember its name in order to tell our friends where to meet us! Art pulled out his cell phone and called Melchor—he remembered the name—Casa de Olla—so we set up a meet for 8:00PM


By the time we had done our grocery shopping, walked and fed the dogs and had our (cold) showers we were running a few minutes late, so the decision to be made was which way to go; straight through town and along the Malacon, or around, via the two tunnels on the bypass route? “We” decided to take the direct route. Within a few blocks of passing the bypass turn, traffic became very heavy and slow on both of the main lanes, though the left lane (ours) seemed to be making a bit more progress. The two laterals were also very busy, and we began to wonder what would happen when the laterals ended in a kilometre or so and that traffic would have to merge with the main lanes. To be truthful, there wasn't a lot of speculation here—we knew things would get ugly.

Shortly we began to notice that many then most of the vehicles in the right lane were Volkswagens of all shapes and sizes. After the two laterals had merged ,with a surprising lack of blaring horns (just as well—ours had failed on our way back from the grocery store) pretty much all of the right lane was taken with VWs though there was a group of motorcycles in there too. A shortened VW beetle (back seat removed and body re-done was followed by a stretch beetle limo! There was a pink shortened beetle convertible named “Barbie” carried on a trailer.

As we approached the Malacon—still several kilometers to go, the police were diverting all traffic—except the VW's!--to the left then right down a single lane cobbled street parallel to our previous route.. Art quickly realised that though this street would merge again with the Malacon street it too was plugged solid with traffic! So there was nothing for it bit to turn left here and head north, back the few kilometres to the bypass route.

We covered in a few minutes what had taken about 20 going south! On the tunnel route the traffic was extremely light and 10 minutes later we pulled up in front of Cafe Olla. No parking in sight so Gillian go out in search of our friends and Art went looking for a spot to park. At the end of the block ahead he noticed a car pulling away from the road side—but the car in front of him took that space—surprise! there was room for two so Art was soon sitting in the restaurant ordering his margarita!

We had a good meal and a great time visiting and chatting, and made plans to go out again on Tuesday, this time to Ernesto's, near our RV, and famous for their ribs.

Thursday was our friends' wedding anniversaries and they invited us to their suite for dinner. Wednesday night Art woke up feeling ill, this time worse than previous times. Still no actual vomiting, but he really didn't feel well at all. The long standing “tummy bug” problem seemed to have returned with a vengence.

In the morning Art managed a cup of tea then went back to bed as Gillian went off the class. There was no way Art was going anywhere except to bed, where he spent most of the day. That evening Gillian went off to our friends and an hour or two later Art began to feel a little better—better enough at least that he was thinking again and realised that he probably had a fever. Yup—103 deg F. Hate to thing what it had been earlier. Art's GP in Victoria had given him a prescription for Tamiflu and instructions to take it at the first sign of flue—fever, muscle ache etc. So he started the 2 a day for the next 5 days. Don't know it it made any difference, but his fever came down quite a bit the next day, and bit by bit everyday after that.


Monday he went off to see a doctor at the nearby clinic. There was a GP/Internist available who gave him a thorough examination and history, finding his temperature still a bit elevated, but not a concern. He was not convinced that Art had had the flu, but told him to finish the Tamiflu. He also gave him a note for Cipro, a broad-spectrum antibiotic (available over the counter in Mexico. We don't like the general wide spread use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, as that is one of the reasons so many bacteria are developing resistance to antibiotics, but in this case there didn't seem to be any reasonable option. He also had Art get two weeks supply of acidophilus tablets. Cost of the doctors visit: just over $40.00 Canadian.


As the week progressed Art began to feel better, but unfortunately not well enough to return to the classes. Our grammar classed were about done any way, but he missed the last two conversation classes. The good news is that he had lost 3 kilos and now has to wear a belt!





The park managers have had a man at work cutting coconuts this week to reduce the risk of a large coconut falling on a rig, or worse, someones head. He will often open one for a drink for himself or the local police who use the RV park as a rest area, often eating lunch here.



One of Trekkers favorite past times is shredding coconuts, then working away at the fresh coconut meat inside. All he needs is a start--a coconut that someone has cut a hole in one end to get at the nectar then tossed aside. He soon has the nut scraped clean. He has had lots to choose from this week!










There still are not many rigs here--one family from France who landed their French RV in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and are on their way to Patagonia! Their kids and our dogs delighted in each others company. No language barrier here!







The night before we left Art felt well enough to go out to dinner with our friends Melchor and Marta and their son Alex. Daughter Yesi is away in Morelia going to university. Melchor is our first Spanish teacher--we met him and his girl friend Marta, during our very first trip to Mexico some 20 years ago.