Cuitzeo, Mexico

We seem to have a problem getting on the road early. We left Bugamville RV Park at around 10:00am, but we keep on saying to ourselves that on travel days we really want to be on the road by 8:00am.

So we have a goal to change that!

Today, we backtracked to the road that leads south to Morelia. We’re not planning on going into Morelia, but the the area leaves us with a few choices, and we haven’t quite figured out direction from there. More on that tomorrow.

We use a 2008-2009 Guia Roji Mexican map book. It’s pretty detailed, and probably the best road maps that are avaiable of Mexico. But, it is 2 years old. And, our GPS unit works pretty good with the major roads, but doesn’t include any residential areas. But I’ve noticed that it’s maps aren’t very up to date either. And usually, I’ll check out Google maps to just confirm where we want to go. These seem to be the most up to date.

But today, the three venues of information together didn’t give us enough.

Heading south towards the town of Juventino Rosas, one map said there was a bypass around the town. This is fairly normal. We got to an intersection and we both agreed to turn right around the town. We even pulled over and checked. The road was not on the GPS, but it was a logical detour around the town. It was a good road and scenic. But when we realized that it didn’t go where we figured, it was kind of too late. Not a big deal, we just adapted. We were heading straight into the city of Salamanca (pop 160,000).

We were quite a bit further west from where we wanted to be, so rather than go through town we got on the toll road heading east. Just to enter the highway, it cost 86 pesos ($7.35). Then, we found out that the very next exit was the one we wanted and there was another toll booth. I tried to explain in my broken Spanglish that we had only just paid. Turns out they have a procedure for this, and when I handed him our billeto (ticket) from the first toll booth, he gave us 65 pesos ($5.55) change back.

At the toll booth, we pulled over for lunch. There was a truck and 5th wheel RV also pulled over here…another Quebec couple. We have to give the Quebecers credit. We have seen more of them than we have Canadians and Americans put together. Yeah, I know, Quebecers are Candians too! We said hello to them, and between our English and broken French and Spanish, and their French and broken English and Spanish, we had a coversation. Too funny.

Once again, the toll road was in great condition. It was expensive though. We paid 342 pesos ($29.00) for the next 80 or so kms (50 miles). They keep wanting to charge us heavy truck prices, where we are supposed to be charged autobus prices. I’ve argued the fact three times now, and have won each time despite our limited Spanish.

There is supposed to be a Mexican American guy building a new RV Park in this area and our Mexico camping book detailed his contact info. We tried with Skype, but couldn’t get through. We ended up parked at a Balneario (hot springs swimming) and paying 100 pesos ($8.50) for the night. Hopefully we can get in touch with him tomorrow because he apparently knows of a few free spots we can stay in the area. Whiskey isn’t happy because much of the ground here has “espinas” (prickly burrs) that get caught in her paws. But it is a pretty spot as you can see!

Todays drive...177 kms (110 miles)