Back to the countryside!

We walked to the market one last time before leaving Dolores Hidalgo yesterday morning. Picked up a kilo of fresh tortillas for 12 pesos ($0.96 CAD), and a kilo of lean ground beef for 140 pesos ($11.20 CAD).

We hadn't asked for the price ahead of time, since ground beef has never been that expensive. But 140 pesos per kilo for ground beef is getting up there. Had we asked in advance, we probably would have shopped around a bit.

Well stocked up on food, wine, and beer, we were now prepared for five nights of dry camping away from all services.

We fired up the motorhome, and headed out for our destination...a whole 8 kms (5 miles) north of town!

Sherman was barely warmed up when we arrived at the Oasis Balneario. A "balneario" is a water park, often supplied with natural thermal hot water. I had read online about another couple who had overnighted at this particular waterpark and had paid 60 pesos ($4.80 CAD) per person for the privilege.

The gate was closed, but there was a house right by the entrance. So I went and spoke to the lady there who it turns out is in charge of things. She tried calling the owner to confirm that we could stay, but couldn't get through. In the meantime, I asked if I could walk ahead in and check things out. "Sure", she said...and I walked on in and about 10 minutes up to the parking area.

There was a huge olymic size swimming pool...totally empty, and a smaller pool and a bunch of palapas for shade. At this time of year, they only fill the pools on weekends.

By the time I arrived back at the motorhome, a guy was standing there and talking to Ruth. His English was quite good, and although we're not sure of his relationship to the park, "Billy" did say that we could overnight. I wanted to confirm pricing though. He was saying around 150 pesos ($12.00 CAD) per night, but if we wanted to use the pools it would be 200 pesos ($16.00 CAD). I said that we didn't want to use any of the facilities, we just wanted a parking spot and I offered him 500 pesos ($40.00 CAD) for five nights. He said that he would have to check with the owner, but was confident that we would work something out and he opened the gate for us.

Sherman, parked up at Oasis Balneario north of Dolores Hidalgo. GPS 21.200835, -100.967975

All by ourselves, and quite far from the highway.

No wifi available, but we get three bars on our Telcel cellular 3G, so we're fine for internet.

We were sitting relaxing when the lady from the house out front came walking up. She asked for payment, saying that it would be 100 pesos per person per night. I had already explained about not using the facilities and said that was too much money for a parking spot. After all, I think that the RV park near Guanajuato that we will be going to next is only 180 pesos per night with full hookups. 

Once again, I offered 500 pesos for 5 nights, and explained that we were prepared to drive away otherwise.

She got on the phone to the owner, and he accepted our offer. 

It's nice and quiet here, although it will likely be busier on Saturday and Sunday. Billy had explained that it was a huge property and that we were welcome to wander the trails in behind the waterpark. Also, there is a lake on the other side of the highway with a lot of trails there too. And we're thinking possibly some more boondocking opportunities as well. We'll check that out another day.

I had an afternoon nap, and then we went for a hike behind the waterpark. We were only gone an hour, but we did almost 4 kms (2.5 miles). Really interesting scenery back there!

An old adobe house.

Lots of huge cactus plants.

And even a small canyon.

With some interesting cactus growing down there too.

Out for a hike.

Quiet night except that at one point some kind of a pump came on and it droned for about half an hour then suddenly shut off. And it got chilly! It was only 6C (43F) inside the motorhome when we woke up. We're at exactly 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) altitude though, so fairly high up. But the sun is now shining and things are warming up!

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