Back at Playa Ventura

We were up at our normal time around 6:30am , and started getting everything ready to go. By 7:15am, we went and woke up our friends in the house, and everybody came out to say goodbye.

Our first stop was the Pemex station to get some gas. We put in 1,000 pesos ($84.00) worth, which is about half a tankfull. This station was the one with the credit card machine that wouldn’t work last time we were here, and once again we had to pay with cash.

Then, we stopped at the local trailer park to use their dump station. We had gone two full weeks without emptying the tanks, so that’s pretty good. There were three rigs at the trailer park this time, all from Quebec. There are definitely far fewer RV’s on the road down here this year. It was still early in the morning, so I just pulled in and emptied the tanks the same way as last time. Then, I went looking for somebody to give the 50 pesos to. Finally found a guy cleaning the bar area near the pool, but he said to just not worry about it, so off we went without having to pay.

Next stop was the bank to get some more pesos. The cash machines in Mexico work work the same as they do in Canada or the U.S.…just insert your bank card, and do a withdrawl. You get Mexican pesos, and your home bank account is withdrawn at a favorable exchange rate. Very convenient.

We knew it was about six hour drive to do the 280 kms (174 miles) to Playa Ventura. So we wanted to find somewhere about half way, but we didn’t want somewhere near the highway. We did see what we thought might be decent possibilities down some side roads, but Mex 200 highway doesn’t have any shoulders and very few spots to park where I could take the bicycle down these side roads to see if Sherman would fit and be able to turn around somewhere. So we just continued on, and arrived at Playa Ventura around 2:15pm.

Funny little taxis in this town we passed through.

Had to stop and let these guys go by!

This town was a little congested. Yes, we were driving through it!

We were pulled over at two different military checkpoints. The first time, they asked for our passports, said everything looked to be in order, and sent us on our way. The second time, they wanted to do an inspection, and a young soldier came on board. He opened the fridge, and a few cupboards in the bedroom and asked a few questions about where we were going. Not much of an inspection, but we’ve said before that we think they are just curious about the motorhome. They said we could go, and I thanked them for their security.

It’s a Saturday, so there are a group of eight or so young people tent camping at our spot. We weren’t able to park the same way as last time we were here before Christmas, but we’re still set up fine and the owners were happy to see us again. The young people will likely be gone tomorrow, and then we’ll probably have the place to ourselves for the rest of our time here.

We set up our chairs overlooking the beach, and did some reading and played backgammon. Spotted a couple of whales that were fairly close to shore, and watched them with the binoculars for a few minutes before they disappeared. At one point, we had lost track of them and weren’t looking through the binoculars, when all of a sudden one came up through the water almost like a dolphin would at a marine show…and came crashing down with a huge splash. Wish it would have done that when I had the binoculars to my face!

Ruth and I had both read the book “Lonesome Dove”, and enjoyed it. I’ve downloaded the TV miniseries of the same name, and we watched the first hour tonight.

Once again, no internet here, so these blog updates won’t be posted until we get to civilization, likely when we head back to Acapulco on Tuesday. (Found a little internet cafe in Playa Ventura, so able to post this Monday morning!)