Puerto Vallarta and on to Mazatlan

We stayed two full days in Puerto Vallarta. On Saturday Art took the time to check the flat on his bike. The tube was punctured in 4 places, all very close together! Too close for the individual patches he had so time for the new tube. He also noted a small dent in the rim. Likely the same grating that caused the flat.

As he was replacing the wheel a neighbour, an avid cyclist, came over to chat and see if he could be of help. Art mentioned the noisy brake and that he thought the brake rotor might be bent.

Stan had a look and noted that the spokes were very loose--spoke ends probably caused the flat when the wheel hit hard going through the grating!  He got his spoke tool (called a nipple wrench) but it wouldn't fit these spokes. Art put the bike back on the rack, he'd have it looked at in Mazatlan.



 On Sunday our friends Melcor and Marta and their son Alex dropped by; it looked like Melchor could be quite comfortable in the motorhome.

We then went with them for an excellent lunch at Beto's Mariscos in Pittial. The food was excellent, as good as any we have had. Again, we had left both  cameras behind.

We were surprised to realise that daughter Yesi graduates from university in Morelia this June! Melchor was our first Spanish teacher many years ago on our first trip to PV. We became friends, meeting his girlfriend Marta, and later received notice of their marriage. Years later we met their two kids. He now has his own Spanish School nearby. Time sure does fly!

That evening we met our expat Canadian friends Bill and Anita who first came to Puerta Vallarta in 1964 I believe when they started building Casa Anita. We had a great time with them and other friends at Blake's, a Canadian owned rest's Special, a 1 1/4 pound 924 ounce, 567 gram) T Bone steak for 185 pesos--$15.00.

Then in the morning just before 9:00 we set off for Mazatlan. You may remember last year we had a few problem on this leg of our return. Just to say for the moment that we made it unscathed this time. We navigated the laterals in PV without any incidents with buses and were soon well on our way.

The road was in pretty good condition though very sinuous for most of it and patience isn't so much a virtue as a necessity!We were fortunate to only once find ourselves part of a long line of vehicles caught behind a couple of slow trucks.

North of Bahia de Banderas there is a stretch where for miles, every so often, there are groups of roadside stands selling local fruit and delicacies. It seemed that there was a collection every few minutes. These two photos were taken half an hour apart.

We arrived and uneventfully passed through Compestela where last year we had the transmission problem and wound through the mountains and farming country towards Tepic.

12:20, we had a little of the city to drive through before we joined join the 15D, the toll road to Mazatlan.

 At 12:40 we stopped for lunch at one of the many toll booths and 50 minutes later were back on the road. The green sign reads MAZATLAN 289.
 

The plants on the dashboard were planted in Zihuatanejo along with the tomatos which of course we had to leave behind. The basil, cilantro and mint will be left with Christine and Joe in San Carlos, but not before we cut a few sprigs for ourselves.

At the end of the 15D (the toll road) it meets with the road from Durango then in a kilometer or so meets the libre into and through Mazatlan at La Union. Where the 15D ends it looks like it is going to be continued as bypass hopefull around Mazatlan, or at least La Union. This will be very nice.

 The above section is nice and flat, not like this:


There is also a toll road being built to Durango to replace highway one known as the Devils Backbone which is a very dangerous road winding amongst the mountain peaks. One of the major construction projects on this new highway is the Baluarte Bridge. Click this link for some amazing photos of this amazing bridge.





1090 pesos in tolls after leaving PV we arrived at San Fernando RV Park in Mazatlan at 4:50 PM.