Arrived in Zihuatanejo!

Will be working on the incomplete posts below over the next while, but we are now officially on Mexican Time.



15th November

At 9:30 we left the RV park stopping a bit down the the road to fill up on propane. We like to do that inland as on the coast sometimes what you get butane which doesn't do well in cold temperatures. We try to keep as high a propane concentration in the tank as possible.

The fuel gauge still looked good--we would refuel in Zihuatanejo just before parking for four months. The road was mostly down hill. We were at about 6000 feet in elevation here and were heading for sea-level so we should do well fuel wise! Some of the long steep downhills made us glad of the freightliner chassis, air brakes, Cumins engine and Allison transmission with exhaust brakes.


It's a pretty route through very mountainous country and alongside some 25 kilometers of man made lake used for power generation.




We arrived at about 2 PM at El Manglar RV Park and Restaurant. Leaned on the airhorns to announce our presence, RV Park owner and friend Edmundo and waiter Martin came out to welcome us with big grins.

Abandoned the rig crosswise in the parking lot, took the dogs for a quick pee then headed to the restaurant for lunch.



Wednesday morning the carwash crew arrived. We had many months of dirt to be removed. We also had them give the rig a good paste wax and polish.

We'll get it done again before we leave in March to clean off all the salty dust from 4 months in the park.


18th of November was opening night for Tanya and Kenny of La Hija del Capitan restaurant for the new tourist season. We are on our way! This is one of our favorite restaurants, their menu includes a yummy lasagna and their chipotle burger is wonderful.



Only a week here and already the grass is growing under our feet and friends are are dropping in to visit!





We bought a small canopy to protect the car from the overnight dew but it seems to be a little on the small side. We'll have to get a bigger one!



Within the week we had the hammock up and tested and Art had found a place for "La Suegra".













The first day of our second week in Zihuatanejo came to a typical close.



As November drew to a close we continued connecting with old friends and new and re-acquainting ourselves with the scenery and the beach.

Art came across one of our old friends who works on the beach: Not sure if he's just resting after a hard day at work or if it was a particularly hard landing!--Art threatened to show it to his boss--a good friend of ours.

Patzcuaro

Morning of the 13th, we left the RV Park in Guanajuato at 9:30, destination Patzcuaro. Our route was nearly straight south to Morelia then around the periferico and west to El Pozo RV Park.


The drive was uneventful on good roads through farming country. We had been this way before (and got slightly off course) but this time we had no problems. South of Silao there were many roadside stands selling strawberries and cream. This area is famous for its strawberries. Art asked Gillian if she wanted him to pull over somewhere to get some and she replied that we would get some in Patzcuaro as we had to shop anyway.



One interesting part of this drive was crossing the marsh and the very extensive but shallow lake. There is a dead straight causeway 5.6 kilometers long across Lago de Cuitzeo and almost that far over the march before that.

In previous crossings we have seen many birds, fishermen with their nets and even cattle up to their hocks in water grazing on the vegetation. This time there was nothing but the occasional gull.


Other than the traffic, Morelia was no problem thought we almost missed our exit to the road to Patzcuaro. Fortunately Art recognised the turn at the last minute and was only one lane out of place! The right turn signal on and moving right, he managed to squeeze in and make the turn. At that moment we were the biggest rig so we got no argument from the other traffic!

At 1:00PM we had arrived at El Pozo (The Well) RV park. There were no other rigs there so we carried on down to the bottom of the field and parked the rig.

This spot would give us the most sun for the solar panels, cleared the trees for the satellite RV and left a large clear area to our right for the dogs to wander about. Westbound the park is very easy to find: there is a large sign over the highway right at the enterance!



While Art got parked, leveled and set up Gillian took the dogs out for a short break then went up to the office to book us in for a couple of days. This photo and the next two are actually from our trip home last March. Somehow we didn't take any this round.

El Pozo means The Well, which you can see in the foreground of the picture.




This is a quiet park other than a bit of traffic noise as we are right beside the highway and of course. . . . . the TRAINS which must blow their whistles as they approach the crossing at the park enterance.





Once we were settled we phoned our friends Jorge and Lulu in Morelia and invited them to come for lunch tomorrow at the RV Park. Then it was into town for grocery shopping. We found everything we needed - - - except strawberries! There were none to be had.

Next morning Art took the car to centro to check out the market. Not a parking space to be found! On the way back to the RV park Art had a thought and detoured to a small business area near the lake. He found several shops and markets, but no one had strawberries. One booth said "al rato" meaning soon! While parking the car on the side of the road here he was approached by a young man with a bucket of suspicious looking murky water and a questionable rag asking if I wanted a carwash. Having seen in the past what a man with filthy water and rag can do with a dirty car he agreed and upon his return to the car it was gleaming! 30 pesos. ($2.50)

Later in the day he returned to the market and purchased a huge basket of strawberries, picked that morning. This was to be the dessert for our afternoon meal.

Jorge and Lulu arrived around noon, we had a wonderful time chatting and talking about things in Mexico. They are both concerned about the growing drug violence here. It is something we will have to keep and eye on.

Soon they had to go--work in the morning, but they asked us to make a reservation for them at El Manglar for the 18th of December. It was at this RV park where we first met them some years ago.

Guanajuato and Dolores Hidalgo

November 11 and 12

Thursday morning we were southbound at 9:30 in reasonably light traffic. A pleasant discovery that improvements to the periferico were continuing and were almost complete. We were pleasantly surprised 8 months ago northbound through here to find a real bypass partially completed. The first time we drove this route about seven years ago the truck bypass essentially went through the edge of town on narrow roads that were in terrible condition and punctuated by topes.



Before long we were again rolling down the highway on wide open roads. Today our route would take us around the city of Aguacalientes on the outer periferico, which in March was in terrible condition. It was not a lot better this year, though the worst spots had been repaired.

Once clear of the city traffic we began looking for an open area on the 45D for lunch . At 2:20 we found a suitable place and took a 40 minute break.

Around the city of Leon, though there was lots of traffic, shops, businesses and industry we were still far from the city proper, then through Silao where we turned off onto the toll road to the city of Guanajuato. (Map below)

Guanajuato is nestled in a steep sided valley, the toll road really the only option for larger motorhomes.

It is a beautiful city with lots of history but we decided to forgo a detailed visit here this round. We were most interested in visiting the town of Dolores Hidalgo in hopes of purchasing a vanity sink for the downstairs bathroom.

Shortly before five we had arrived at Bugamvilla RV park. This is the only place in the area where a large motorhome will fit. We have been here many time. It is essentially a large field with power and water and a semi-primitive dump station located at the far end. We were the only rig here.

We left the rig while Gillian took the dogs out and Art went to check power and water before choosing a site. Good thing he did too--none of the sites in the first two rows had electric power. A close look explained the problem. A grass fire had burned the wiring at several posts beyond salvage!

Next row over was fine, a young man with as lawn mower was in the progress of cutting the long grass. We suspected that the grass fires had been intentionally set as a quick way to control it. We later found this to be true, the owner was not happy when Art informed him that the first two rows had now power and showed him the burned wires. He called his son over and had a few words!




We spent the remainder of the day relaxing, playing with the dogs and not doing much of anything at all. Dinner at home was a shrimp pasta, followed by white wine and dark chocolate. Later we vegetated in front of the TV for a while watching the news from home.




Friday: shopping day. Much of our route planing had been to bring us to this point. Off by car to the town of Dolores Hidalgo, hoping to find a bathroom sink for downstairs. Size, shape and colour had to be just right. Gillian was unsure that she could find the exact shade of turquoise that she was looking for but had brought a hand towel as a colour swatch!



The car could have used a wash, but there was a large "No Car Wash" sign prominently posted. Perhaps we could find a place in Dolores Hidlago. Meanwhile the pixie prints on the hood would accompany us.






Since the RV Park was on the southeast outskirts of Guanajuato we decided to take the circle route, southeast from the campground on the yellow road then curving north to Dolores Hidalgo. This again is high dry country, though there were signs of the good rainy season which had just ended. The pointer indicates the campground's location.





We have been this way before but still don't tire of the scenery, it's different every time, depending on the amount of rainfall and how long it has been since the last rain. In March, following four or five rain free months things look very different. The dogs however seemed to think they had seen it all.


Entering the town we went directly to the strip where all the artisans shops are located. Starting at one end of the street we wandered the entire length of the street, though we had found the sink we wanted about half way along. The particular shade of turquoise Gillian was looking for was not available, even on special order. However she found one basin that contained the colours she wanted, but the surrounding tiles were not available. Special order could be arranged.

After checking the rest of the town we returned to the shop and ordered the surround tiles. We will stop in on our way home on March to pick up our order.




During our wanderings amongst the artisan shops Art was taken with this wonderfully whimsical dragon ornament. At 190 pesos ($16.00 Canadian) it was impossible to ignore. Art calls it "La Suegra" (Spanish for The Mother-In_Law!) He hopes she still has a sense of humor! It has a place of honour beside the hammock.








Returning to Guanajuato via the "red" road (map above) we traveled first through farm country, acres of drying cornfields. As we climbed into the mountains the countryside changed, greener and cooler.

As you can see from the GPS map the route was just a little twisty!



At the approach to Guanajuato we stopped at a funky looking "Restaurant Bar" that we had bypassed several times before. This time we were hungry and decided to check it out. They still had the "Dia del Muertos" decorations. Gillian was particularly taken with one of them. We asked the waiter what had happened to his friend and he responded that he didn't eat enough! Remember to enlarge a pic just click on it. You can click again to further enlarge. Use the "<" at the top left of the screen to return to the blog. We each ordered a beer and a main course, then "on the house" appies appeared! Art ordered the chipotle chicken and Gillian a fish dish with green chile salsa. Both were surperb.







Moving on after a wonderful lunch we had planned to go into town for groceries. We were pleased and surprised to find a new grocery store right on the main road, which meant we didn't have to navigate through the town centre. The photos and the GPS picture will give you some idea why this was a good thing!




Back at the RV park we fed the dogs, (we were not really interested in supper!), watched the sunset, a bit of TV then called it a night.

Zacatecas

November 10th

Breakfast, dog walking, packing up finally done we left the RV Park in Saltillo at 10:45, estimating our arrival in Zacatecas to be in the neighbourhood of 5:00PM.


The drive through and around Saltillo was uneventful, the trip the day before made it a lot easier. It was still about 45 minutes before we were southbound on the highway. On the peiferico detour we did eventually get past the gravel truck, but waited until the road was a bit wider!

We decided not to take on any more fuel at this point, thinking that with the new fuel use program on the laptop we weren't just guessing. Art felt sure we could make it all the way to Zihuatanejo with just one fuel stop along the way, probably somewhere near Zacatecas.



The drive was much the same as yesterday, lots of plains, slowly rising ground and the odd mountain pass. We measured several straight stretches at more than 50 kilometers without a bend! The railroad kept us company for a large part of the trip.





Traffic was a little heavier but not bad at all. The road surface for the most part in good shape though there were a few spots where we had to slow down a little due to the rough surface. As mentioned on the previous post, passing down the middle is not only acceptable practice but expected and perfectly legal, when the line marking the shoulder is broken. We spent a significant amount of time well onto the shoulder--the view from the right hand seat sometimes a little unnerving!


About two in the afternoon we found a wide spot on the road where we could safely pull off and made our lunch stop and relaxed for about 40 minutes. A bit further down the road we came across a proper rest area and picnic site marking on the Tropic of Cancer. We stopped briefly for an Abql photo and moved on. Rest areas in Mexico can be very infrequent and are not marked on the maps.

Shortly after this stop we pulled into the next Pemex we came to and took on 210 litres of diesel into our 330 litre tank. Our tank minder said we still had 31 US gallons so it was spot on. Still lots of fuel, but we do like to keep a good reserve and don't like pouring fuel into a nearly empty tank and risk stirring up any sediment that may have settled on the bottom.

The road into Zacatecas has been up graded a lot since we first came this way, now a two lane divided highway with wide shoulders. There were a lot of changes on the approach to town but as the hotel was on the main truck bypass we were not concerned. Then we began to see signs indicating the distance to the hotel and they were frequent. Anyone coming this way for the first time will have no trouble finding it.

At 12 minutes to five we were parked, almost level, jacks down, 50 Amp electric connected, TV dish up--we were here.


This 5 star hotel has quite a few RV spaces but they are very narrow. We needed two spaces in order to put the slides out. The 50 Amp RV outlets are extremely rare in Mexico. We didn't really need that amount of power but the rig is is equipped with a 50 Amp cord so we might as well connect without needing adapters.

Indoor heated pool, weight room, showers, sauna, bar, restaurant--it has everything, though all we made use of this year was the restaurant. Food and restaurant service here was OK, certainly not up to what you might expect in a 5 star place but good enough. At this late date I don't remember what we ate, though Gillian did take a doggy bag for tomorrow's lunch.


The highway in the picture (looking north) is the the road we came in on, and would take southbound tomorrow, right beside the hotel. This is the Trafico Pesado (heavy traffic) route around Zacatecas so we had traffic noise all night. Parallel to this highway, on the other side of the hotel, right alongside the rooms, is the railway. Trains all night too. Fortunately with the new overpasses the trains no longer need to sound their horns at level crossings!