Barra de Colotopec (day 2)

Yesterday we just lazed around. We are beside the Colotopec River and so Ruth and Lindsey took Cameron down to the river to cool off. The locals from the mountains come down to this spot on weekends and lie in the river all day long.

Barra de Colotopec

Yesterday morning, we moved Sherman to our friends house in Barra de Colotepec. Or simply called, "la Barra" by the locals. On the way, we stopped by a hotel that has RV sites and used one of the dump stations to empty our tanks. They charged us 50 pesos ($4.00) to do that. There was only one RV there, a fifth wheel from Quebec.

Puerto Escondido (day 7)

Had another great day yesterday. Went for a walk up to the highest point overlooking the beach, then sat and watched the surfers, then went to la Barra for late afternoon dinner.

Puerto Escondido (day 6)

We relaxed for the morning yesterday, then we took a taxi downtown. For 3 people (plus Cameron!) it costs 15 pesos ($1.20) in total to take the camionetta and we would have had to walk up to the main road. The taxi took us right to where we wanted to go and it was only 30 pesos ($2.40).

Playa Zicatela

We didn't so much but laze around the beach yesterday, so I figured I'd tell you a little about the place we're staying. It's called El Salvador Restaurant y Cabanas.

Puerto Escondido (day 4)

Yesterday, Alfredo, Mary and Nataly came to get us with Uncle Eugenio's borrowed pickup truck. We could have just sat in the back and bounced around, but Alfredo suggested we make it more comfortable. So he went and put two of his uncle's beach chairs in the back for us. That worked well!

Puerto Escondido (day 3)

Yesterday before lunch, we took a camionetta (a small pickup truck with benches in the back designed to carry passengers) to Barra de Colotepec, the small pueblo where Mary and Alfredo live about 7 kms south of Puerto Escondido.

Puerto Escondido (day 2)

We sat on the beach most of the morning. Mary and Nataly were coming over at some point, and just before lunch they showed up and went into town with us.

Puerto Escondido

We left Playa Ventura just after 8:00am. Destination, Puerto Escondido, about 281 kms (174 miles). We don't like doing much more than 200 kms a day under good driving conditions, so this was a pretty long day for us given the topes and small towns we had to drive through.

Playa Ventura (day 2)

30C (86F) every day. Clear blue sky every day. No need to check the weather forecast because it's exactly the same, every day! From here south to the Guatemala border it is rare to have a cloudy day in the winter.

Playa Ventura

We were a little late getting started yesterday, and we left Acapulco Trailer Park just before 10:00am. First thing we had to do was to stop for gas. And this is where we encountered a minor problem.

Acapulco (day3)

Yesterday was a "relax" day. We pretty much just hung around the RV park for the day except Ruth walked down to the end of the road with Lindsey and Cameron just to show them the area and buy a popsicle!

Lindsey and Cameron arrive!

Spent the earlier part of yesterday morning just doing some maintenance and cleaning of Sherman in preparation for Lindsey and Cameron's arrival. Checked their planes status on the internet and it looked like they were going to be about 45 minutes behind schedule so we didn't need to be at the airport until about 1:00pm.

Acapulco

We left our boondocking spot at Piedre de Tlacoyunque at just before 7:00am. There were fisherman already showing up at 6:30, so we got an early start. We won't boondock there again though.

Piedra de Tlacoyunque

We left our spot near "el Centro" in Zihuatanejo early yesterday, but pulled in to the huge Commercial Mexicana store to do a grocery shop. Deal of the day? An imported bottle of Scotch for 90 pesos ($6.93). I love Mexico.

Zihuatanejo

Yesterday morning we did the short 35 km (22 mile) drive into Zihuatanejo. We parked in the large Commercial Mexicana grocery store parking lot while I walked into El Centro to make sure that the same parking spot we used last February was available once again.

Playa Troncones (day 3)

Yesterday morning while having our coffee we heard big trucks going by outside. We opened the blinds, to see that some of the trucks were marked as television production and were surprised to see two motorhomes in amongst the convoy. An ambulance and state police went by as well! There was something going on!

Playa Troncones (day 2)

The roosters woke us up around 5:30am yesterday, so we got up around 6:30am. Another day in paradise, and we don’t have any real plans for the day. First on the agenda was to find a laundramat and then internet.

Playa Troncones

We were up early yesterday morning, and by 7:00am we were pretty much ready to leave…except that it still wasn’t light enough! We waited another 20 minutes before pulling out.

Uruapan (day 3)

Yesterday morning we walked 4.5 kms to El Centro. Fortunately, the route took us through the National Park that is located right in the city! This park is special because the Cupatitzio River has it's underground source at the beginning of the park. Throughout the park, underground springs continue to add water to the river, and by the time it reaches 10 kms south of the source it becomes the beautiful Tzararacua Waterfalls.

The Paricutin Volcano

In 1943, a farmer was working in a corn field when he saw the ground start to crack and steam, and a fissure broke open. By the next day, lava had been flowing out of the fissure, and  there was now a cone the size of a house. This was the first ever recorded human witness of the birth of a volcano. The Paricutin Volcano continued to erupt for nine years until February of 1952 when it stopped as abruptly as it began.

Uruapan

Yesterday was a driving day, but not a long one. Only 65 kms (40 miles) but of course it took us over two hours. Partly because we stopped for groceries at a Soriana just before we left Patzcuaro, but even on the toll road it was difficult to get over 70 km/h (42 mph).

El Estribo Grande hike

Yesterday morning, we moved from our couchsurfing friend Jorge's place on the far side of the lake to the Villa Patzcuaro RV Park. Only for one night, and this way we can stock up on groceries and dump our tanks.

Villa Patzcuaro Hotel and RV Park

We are at the Villa Patzcuaro Hotel and RV Park. This is a perfect spot to explore the town and surrounding area.

"I'm going to eat some iguana today."

We didn't exactly wake up yesterday morning with that thought in mind, but that's what ended up happening!

Another hike!

This time, we did about 7.5 kms (4.5 miles) but it included going up 580 steps!

Beautiful day for a hike

We took off for a hike yesterday around 10:30am. We had spent much of the morning on the internet, and it had finally started to warm up. It gets chilly overnight, but daytime temperatures are about 22C (72F).

A visit to Patzcuaro

Ever since we became fascinated with Mexico, we've wanted to visit Patzcuaro. Yesterday, we took the collectivo minivan bus from the place where we are staying, all the way around the west shore of the lake and down to the city of Patzcuaro.

The shore of Lake Patzcuaro

Yesterday was a travel day...a long slow travel day! We only had to drive about 200 kms (124 miles) but between the twisty, windy roads and the topes it was pretty slow going. We figure if you drove non-stop it would take about 5 hours to do this 200 km drive! Once again, never expect to get anywhere quickly driving in Mexico.

Mezcal

Yesterday was a great day. Anytime you get see and experience something that not very many foreigners ever get to see, it's a great day.

Birria

We have eaten birria four times in the last week! Yesterday, we were all invited to Sal's aunt's house for a birria family get together. What is birria, you ask...?

2012

Well, here we are in 2012. I wonder what the year will bring. You can make all the plans you want, but sometimes things don't go the way you expect. We are making plans, but there is nothing written in stone...yet.