First order of business was to get some gas. I had scouted out a station that looked easy to get in and out of, and sure enough it was. However, the attendant tried to rip me off. This is a fairly common problem in some parts of Mexico, and I'm not surprised it happened in a big tourist area like Puerto Vallarta. What happened was that I asked for 1,000 pesos worth of gas, and I had two 500 peso bills in my hand to pay for it. When the attendant was finished, I handed him the two bills. They were together, but I had them slightly separated so that he could see there were two of them. As I handed them, he asked if I needed a receipt and he turned around for a second as he looked at the pump. This is when he did the switcheroo and when he turned back he showed me the bills but now there was a 500 and a 50 note. He pointed at the pump and tried to say that I only gave him 550 instead of 1,000! I immediately laughed at him, hopped in the motorhome, locked the door, and simply drove away. As I started it up, he was at the passenger side and simply waved at me. It's always an adventure in Mexico!
Highway 200 driving through Puerto Vallarta. Not much traffic at 7:45am on a Sunday morning.
Believe it or not, the main highway still is on old cobblestone road in this part of town. Yes, everybody including tractor trailers has to drive on this section of the highway.
And this part is under construction and at one point is down to one lane.
We were headed for the Vallarta Botanical Gardens which is about a half hour drive south of Puerto Vallarta. I had emailed them asking if we could overnight in their parking lot after visiting the gardens and they had said that was fine. By the time we got there it was about 9:10am and so it took almost two hours to do the 62 km (38 mile) drive from Rancho Altarose. That included stopping for gas, but never expect to get anywhere fast in Mexico!
When we got there, we were the first visitors to arrive. Only problem was, their parking lot is NOT suitable for RV's. Too small, and not even close to level. A beautiful place to visit, but not with an RV. We did manage to get parked well enough to be able to visit though we wouldn't be staying overnight. It cost 60 pesos ($4.68) each for admission.
Ruth on one of the many trails in the gardens.
There is a nice river that even has a beautiful swimming area called the Emerald Pools.
This tree started to fall, but Ruth quickly held it up!
Kevin on the jungle trail.
Some of the flowers in the orchid display.
This one was beautiful...sorry about the focus!
The main building at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens.
We left the gardens at about 12:15 and headed further south. We knew the beach town of Punta Perula has some RV sites, but that was still pretty far south so we didn't know if we would find something before that or not. We ended up pulling over for lunch for about a half an hour, and there were certainly lots of spots where we could have spent the night if we had to, but decided to continue on to Punta Perula.
Our Mexico camping book lists 4 or 5 different RV parking possibilities. We parked at the central square and decided to walk to check them out. We went to the cheapest one first at the Hotel Punta Perula (Chino's) and there we found about 7 full hook up sites. One site taken by an older couple from Victoria, B.C., and we went and spoke to them and she went and got the owner. He wanted a very reasonable 175 pesos ($13.65) for full hookups including wi-fi. I explained that we just wanted a parking spot, and we agreed on 100 pesos ($7.80) per night. He gave us the wi-fi passcode anyhow, and we have (so far) lightening fast internet at this little Mexican beach town!
A: Our departure at Rancho Altarose
B: Vallarta Botanical Gardens
C: Punta Perula
We drove 182 kms (113 miles) yesterday, our longest driving day in quite some time.
More about Punta Perula tomorrow! Can't for the life of me figure out why anybody would stay in Puerto Vallarta when they could be here!
The gardens are beautiful. Looking forward to your visit in Punta Perula.
ReplyDeleteLove the orchids. My, Ruth is very strong! She probably could hold sherman up for you to change a tire!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great deal at the RV Park... you know how to deal that is for sure ~ If we ever go I am taking you!!! LOL
ReplyDeleteHave fun & Travel safe
Donna
I'm glad you didn't get ripped off...or arrested! Looks like a beautiful place.
ReplyDeleteGood catch at the Pemex!!
ReplyDeleteI agree about PV, be sure to go swimming in Punta Perula.
Beautiful photos of the gardens. We are enjoying reading about your travels and great deals.
ReplyDeletegorgeous gardens..glad you didn't get ripped off...good catch...great camping rate-have a super week
ReplyDeleteYou sure do know how to get around in Mexico on a dime. I'm taking notes! Sure is gorgeous everywhere you go.
ReplyDeleteSherry
www.directionofourdreams.blogspot.com
Such a beautiful area there. And like you say why go to the big tourist areas when there is so many much nicer places to visit and more reasonable too. Good deal for the internet
ReplyDeleteGreat post - great pics! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGreat pics. The Pemex scams have been around forever. I remember going through the same thing in 1994.
ReplyDeleteIt is beautiful there, been following u, altho can't quite figure where u are as i don't have a good map of Mexico! Don't u worry about crime? Tioga George has had 2 break-ins now....
ReplyDeleteJust as well you had your wits about you with the gas attendant. Your photos tell great stories. Ruth is remarkably strong.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures. Never been that far south into Mexico but it looks beautiful. Lovely flowers in the gardens.
ReplyDeleteCAE...I think in general there are fewer Pemex scams than there used to be. This was the first time we had someone try to rip us off, in our 4 years of travelling in Mexico.
ReplyDeleteLuci and Loree...You can have a great Mexico map right at your fingertips. Just bring up Google Maps and type in the town that you see on our map and then you can just zoom in or out to see where we are in location to the rest of Mexico.
We don't worry anymore about crime here than we do in the States. George's problems have both occurred in big cities that are known to have crime problems, not really sure why he was in those cities to begin with.
Kevin and Ruth