November expenses

November turned out okay for us. Still well under our budget of $1,000 per month, November came in at a total of $879.17. Nothing out of the ordinary, so here's the details...

Rincon de Guayabitos (day 5)

Went off to do some exploring yesterday morning. The two towns here, La Penita and Rincon de Guayabitos, are separated by a river. Guayabitos is more of a resort town with a nicer beach, and La Penita comes across as more of a working class town, although it also has it's share of rental accomodations. Not quite as touristy though.

Rincon de Guayabitos (day 4)

We knew we were going to have to get water and empty the tanks soon so decided to do some driving yesterday. We drove a whole block! Hardly had time to warm the engine up! And what a place we arrived at...

Rincon de Guayabitos (day 3)

Whales? There are no whales in this area. At least there weren't yesterday. The whales took Sunday off! So it's a good thing we didn't pay very much for our three hour tour, because it was a kind of a bust.

Happy 50th Birthday Ruth!

Well today is a special day! If you look on the left sidebar it says "We are almost 50 years old"....now I'm going to have to change that because one of us is 50 years old!

Rincon de Guayabitos

We left Chacala yesterday morning and drove the 30 kms (19 miles) to Rincon de Guayabitos. This town caters more to Mexican tourists from Tepic and Guadalajara. There are a few American and Canadian people here, but that is largely due to the 7 different RV parks in the area.

Chacala (day 2)

Yesterday morning we went for a walk to try and get to the beach on the other side of town. It turns out that the entire property surrounding the other beach is private property and inaccessible by the average person. The only way to get to the beach there is by boat. All beaches in Mexico are public property, however sometimes access to a beach can only be by boat.

Chacala

We were up early yesterday and we left Tepic at around 7:15am. Made a quick pit stop for 52 litres (13.8 gal)  500 pesos ($39.00) worth of gas and we were on our way. We like to get an early start, and arrive early. Besides, we didn't know exactly where we were going to end up last night.

Back with Sherman

Yesterday we caught the 11:00am bus back to Tepic. This time, we did manage to get the cheaper bus at 220 pesos ($17.16) each. And, it was a nicer bus! Watched a Steve Martin movie en Espanol, and the trip was uneventful.

Mazatlan (day 3)

Yesterday morning, we went back to the historic central area with Lee. She works as a volunteer to help tourists in need of information or directions, so it made sense to share a taxi down there because we were meeting fellow bloggers Contessa and Colin in the same area at 11:30am.

Mazatlan (day 2)

We've been in Mexico for 8 weeks now, and we finally made it to the ocean! But first, we had to have some breakfast, and Lee took us to a restaurant called "Te amo Lucy"...I love Lucy. The restaurant is owned by an ex-pat American, and his Mexican wife Lucy is the chef.

Mazatlan

We left Sherman at 6:00am yesterday morning an walked to the bus terminal. We had done this route the day before so that we would be familiar with where the station is, and so that we could confirm what bus we were taking etcetera. The plan was coming together. Or so we thought.

Tepic (day 3)

Well, by the time this is posted, we will be on a bus to Mazatlan!

Tepic (day 2)

First thing yesterday we had to find a laundry. The lady here said there's one two blocks away, so we walked over there first and made sure they were open and could do it before we lugged our clothes all that way.

Tepic

We got ourselves set up in the Los Pinos campground in the city of Tepic. The campground itself has been here for many years, and the city has grown around it. Now, you have to enter below an arch that is part of a little shopping plaza and if you didn't know it was here, you might have a hard time finding it.

Laguna del Santa Maria (day 2)

Yesterday's post has now been updated with pictures, so maybe you want to check that out first. The following was written Tuesday evening, with an update from this morning later on...

Laguna del Santa Maria

We said our goodbye’s to Bonnie and we left Delia’s Trailer Park near Etzatlan at 10:10am, just a little later than we planned.

Etzatlan, Mexico (day 7)

Yesterday was our last day here at Delia's Trailer Park. We're heading out of here this morning, back on the road!

Etzatlan, Mexico (day 6)

We decided to walk into town yesterday morning. It's not really that far and Bonnie had said that the town market was on Saturdays.

Etzatlan, Mexico (day 5)

What a busy day we had yesterday! We had the use of Bonnie's car for the day, and we were going to the ruins at Tuechitlan. But near there was the road turning off to Piedras Bolas, so Ruth came up with the idea that we should return there to complete the hike we tried to do last Monday.

Etzatlan, Mexico (day 4)

Had a relaxing morning yesterday. Then Bonnie had said we could use her car to go visit some ruins, but she needed it again late afternoon so we said we would wait another day because we didn't want to rush or risk being late.

Etzatlan, Mexico (day 3)

Another beautiful day. Bonnie was driving into town early so we hitched a ride with her at about 8:30am. We wanted to hike up to the mirador (lookout) up the mountain behind the town.

Etzatlan, Mexico (day 2)

When we arrived here at Delia's Trailer Park on Monday, a woman came out and welcomed us in Spanish. We said our hello's, and I was quick to explain that I only spoke a little bit of Spanish. She asked if I spoke English, and I said yes. And it turned out that her English is perfect!

Etzatlan, Mexico

We made it to a little RV park just outside the farming community of Etzatlan. But what a ride we had getting here! There was no easy direct route, so instead of taking the main highway back up to near Guadalajara, I decided to take some backroads.

Chimulco Water Park, Villa Corona

We wanted to leave Roca Azul early yesterday, and it was 8:07am when we did. We knew we only had a short drive, but because it was Sunday we wanted to get to our destination ahead of the crowds.

Roca Azul (day 2)

Another beautiful day yesterday, and we decided to go exploring on our bicycles for the first time since entering Mexico. We ended up doing 23 kms (14.5 miles)!

Roca Azul

We left Hacienda Contreras at our planned time of 10:00am. Said our goodbyes to Barb and Sal and their daughter Andrea who's visiting for a few days, and we look forward to returning in time for Christmas.

On the road again!

Just a short note this morning. We're hitting the road again today! After nearly five weeks here at Hacienda Contreras, it's time to go exploring!

Tope

Pronounced "tow-pay". Or several, as in topes "tow-pays". This is the Mexican version of a speed bump, and they are everywhere in Mexico. And, they are very effective.

Dia de los Muertos

Day of the Dead. November 1st and 2nd are Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico. It's actually one of the reasons we're still here at Hacienda Contreras as originally we were expecting to have headed out by now.

October, our cheapest month ever!

Well, in keeping with our budget goal of $1,000 a month, we are pleased to report record low spending for the month of October! Living expenses came in at a total of $707.14.