Villa Corona

Sunday March 22…9:45pm
We got up at about 6:30am, but it was still about 8:00am before we drove out.

We wanted to head to the Chimulco Trailer Park near Guadalajara. It’s a popular park because you get access to the Chimulco hot springs water park included in your camping fees.

But to get there from Hacienda Contreras, you have two choices…one is the shortest distance, about 118 kms, but much of the road is under construction, and several others told us they have done that route and said they would not do it again. The other option, is a route about 175 kms total, but in relatively good shape.

We decided to do the shorter route, despite the construction. Our thinking was that because it was a Sunday morning, and there wouldn’t likely be much construction traffic, we should still make not bad time.

It turned out to be a catch 22. There was not much traffic, but as had been explained to us, the detours were very slow going. During the construction route, we averaged 34 kms (21 miles) per hour. By the time we made it past the construction area and to the Chimulco Trailer Park, we had done 118 kms (74 miles) and it took us 2 hours and 48 minutes. I think the longer route would have been a much easier drive, but would have taken the same amount of time. Oh well.

Detour due to road under construction

Road repairs

View of Lagona de Chapala

There are about 50 RV sites at Chimulco, and we’d guess that about 45 are occupied. Most of them are from Quebec, with the balance from Ontario and the western provinces of Canada. We are paying 220 pesos ($19.00 CAN, $15.50 US) which is about the most we’ve paid in the last 4 months. But, it gives us a good base from which to explore Guadalajara and of course access to the water park.

There are a few other couples here that we know…3 of the same couples we met at the Acapulco Trailer Park are here.

Being a Sunday, the water park area is very busy with Mexican people coming from Guadalajara. I find the water park rules funny….ummm…because there are no rules! For example, the main water slide has people go down one at a time…or in groups of six at a time…doesn’t matter. If someone goes down alone…another person will go down right behind them. If they crash into each other…oh well!

Many Mexicans at the Chimulco Water Park on a Sunday

They have a “splash zone” where a huge amount of water builds up in a bucket and when it gets full, it tips over a crowd of about 50 people. It’s really funny to watch. Maybe tomorrow or Tuesday Ruth and I will try it out when there’s not so many people around.

We went for a bike ride this afternoon to the town of Villa Corona. They have a church made of sand…apparently it’s in the Ripley’s Believe it or not ratings…and it’s a kind of neat place. There’s a hill of very hard sand, and in 1939 someone dug into the sand and built a church…it’s been there ever since and some of the tunnels in the sand have been expanded into a real maze.

Tomorrow we are going to take the bus into Guadalajara…the second largest city in Mexico.

Total nights sleeping in a motorhome…512

March Fuel $233.20 CAN

March Grocery $218.88 CAN

March Overnight costs $126.17 CAN