Blowhole at the waterfront of Xcaret Park near Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Toluca on December 24th!

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

A couple of days to get caught up

Compared to last year's trip, we have a lot more days of rest on this trip. It's one of the things we wanted to change, and so far, we think we have found the right balance. In fact, someone left a comment yesterday saying "Sure sounds as though this small caravan is working for you two."

And yes, we think it is. We had a little discussion yesterday with some of the group about things we could change or do differently, and it would seem that everybody is very happy so far. Including us!

So yesterday was a "relax day". We all did our own thing. Six of us walked into town (about 1 km each way) for lunch. We just went to the market building for some food.

Cooking up our lunch!

Denise, Bob, and Susan.

Ruth had Birria de Chivo.

Birria is a Mexican dish originating from the state of Jalisco. The dish is a spicy stew, traditionally made from goat meat or mutton. This one was more like a soup than a stew, but it was yummy anyhow.

I had a beef huarache. Delicious!

After lunch, Denise, Bob, and Sue walked back home, while Ruth and I continued with Garth to a Telcel store to get him some internet. He has his U.S. cell phone here with him, but wanted to buy an inexpensive Mexican cell phone to use only as a hotspot for internet access. 

We got him set up with an Alcatel smartphone that included the SIM card and 800 MB of data... for 750 pesos ($39 USD, $52 CAD). Then, we added a one month data package for 500 pesos ($26 USD, $35 CAD) that gave him 10 GB of data! 

What a deal, compared to Canada or the U.S..

The main church in Tepotzotlan.

Then, we walked back to Pepe's Hotel and RV Park.

Which, by the way, has been a great place to stay. They really look after us here. As soon as we arrived, they made sure we had purified drinking water, and propane. They asked if we needed a mechanic, if anybody wanted their RV washed, and if anybody needed laundry done. 

We leave tomorrow, and so this afternoon our hosts are giving us a going away party!

The price went up January 1st. Still a very reasonable 300 pesos ($15.75 USD, $21 CAD)per night with full hookups.

They don't have a website, but here is the contact info...

Edith at 551-259-5129 or email at [email protected] or [email protected]

On a different note, some of our regular readers may have noticed that I haven't posted our expenses the last two months. It's only because I got behind. Today is another day off, so hopefully I'll get caught up on that.

Oh, and December 31st ended another year of competitive Backgammon and Yahtzee between Ruth and I. As much as Ruth doesn't want me to advertise it...

Yahtzee.... my score was 124,266 and Ruth's was 120,664. I won by 3,602 points!

Backgammon... I had 492 wins, and Ruth had 443 wins. I won by 49 games!

Highs around 20C (68F), and lows around 6C (43F).

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And in Canada...






16 comments:

  1. Food looks great and what a great price! The walk back to the RV spot probably wore off any calories, can't wait to see where you go next!

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    1. The food was delicious, but the walk back to the park wasn't long enough to wear the calories off. :-)

      Cholula and Puebla next!

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  2. Love the big pot on the cook's stove...full of soup? I always thought you couldn't use Mexican made crock plates, bowls because they were full of lead. I see you were served food on crock plates...one with a chip on it LOL. What the temp in the area you're in?

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    1. I have no idea was was in the big pot/kettle.

      Some Mexican glazes on the dishes may contain lead and some may not but we don't worry about it because we aren't eating off these plates every day. And yes, some of the dishes contained chips and cracks it just makes the experience all that more authentic. :-)

      Kevin added the temperatures to the bottom of the post.

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  3. Seriously the Yahtzee gameoff would be a relationship-ender at my house lol (one of us is severely competitive....not me). Sounds like a great RV park and good center to see the city.

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    1. That is about the fourth or fifth year that I have lost a yahtzee but never by this much, it was definitely a hard pill to swallow! I will keep on trying though. :-)

      We have really enjoyed our time here at Pepe's, a little hard getting into because of the traffic but it is walking distance into town and nice and handy for getting into Mexico City for a few days at a time.

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  4. My husband worked for a company in GA that had many Hispanic employees and when we held employee dinners, we quickly learned they didn't care for our thick-cut, grilled rib eyes, but chivo was a favorite. We would cook goat parts in these huge steel pots and I tried it once, but I can promise you this, only threat of death would make me eat it again. :)

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    1. We don't mind goat when it is cooked up in birria providing that it isn't goat parts and is just the meat itself. It is a little stronger tasting than beef or lamb/mutton but cooked with the spices it tastes great. We feel the same way you do though if it was menudo put in front of us, lol!

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  5. Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character. John Wooden :) Next year Ruth!

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    1. Thanks Chris! My fingers are crossed that I will have a better year with the games. :-)

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  6. I have been using an Alcatel one touch smart phone for two years now. I am very happy with it as a budget phone. Highly recommended.

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    1. That is good to hear, we will let Garth know that you have been very happy with your phone. :-)

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  7. My late wife was the Yahtzee-Queen around our neighborhood...I topped her now and then..We had a friend who would come over and play with Joyce after work...Sometimes they would stay up all night, I would have to go out and sleep in the motorhome..
    I'd starve rather than eat what you folks are chowing down on...I'm just a meat & potato..chicken-pork-beef kinda guy..Not "parts"...
    Keep on having fun!

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    1. We love yahtzee but maybe not quite as much as your late wife. We normally only play two games a day as we are eating our dinner in the evening. I used to do really well at yahtzee or at least we thought I did until we starting keeping a yearly total and every year since then I have always came out the loser but never by this much! ;-)

      We are a "normal" meat kind of people, we may eat goat but we DON'T eat animal parts! The birria was made with goat but there were NO PARTS in it. :-)

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  8. So just a question? Who is in charge of adding the yearly totals. I'm starting to smell a rat Kevin??

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    1. Nope, Kevin doesn't keep track of the scores at all, so I'm afraid it isn't a rat you are smelling! ;-)

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