Experiences like this are why we travel!

It was already almost 30C (86F) when we set off just before 9:30am. But we were headed from 500' altitude to over 5,000' altitude. So we were looking forward to more comfortable temperatures.

We stopped and filled Igor's fuel tank for what should be the last time until we return to Mexico in October.

And then we began the climb uphill.

Going through the town of Matlapa.

Mexico highway 85 is marked as a main road on the maps, but it is actually not used much because it is a twisty curvy road. However, it offers some of the most spectacular scenery in Mexico. In fact, we took our last Mexico RV Caravan group on this road back in March 2020, and the blog post at the time was titled The most beautiful drive in Mexico? And I maintain that it probably is.

This time though, we were doing it in the reverse direction.

Scenery along the way.

There are several small towns located along the route.

The town of Chapulhuacan.

The only problem with MEX 85 through the mountains is that there are very few opportunities to spend the night. Not only to spend the night... very few opportunities to even pull over and park to take a photo or rest. And even if you were able to find a spot, it is unlikely to be anywhere close to level!

We did stop in the town of Zacate Grande. I had seen on google maps satellite view what was marked as a football (soccer) field. It looked like you might be able to park there, and if it's a soccer field, you'd think it must be fairly level.

Ruth stayed with Igor, and I walked back up the road to see what it was like.

Scenery from my walk.

I love these little places up in the mountains.

Ruth and I have a little phrase we use whenever we are in one of these out of the way places. "Guaranteed we are the first Canadians to ever be here". And that's definitely the way it felt walking up this road. The locals definitely notice, but they are all friendly. 

I got to the road that google maps said led up to the soccer field. But it wasn't a road!

Steps up to the soccer field.

So that idea wouldn't work.

I was walking back down when I passed a group of men standing by a pickup truck. One of them yelled "Hey, how are you?". This happens often, and it's usually someone who worked in the U.S. for a period of time and has varying degrees of English. In this case, my Spanish was better than his English, but I told them I was looking for somewhere to park for the night. He said we would be fine parking under the roof of the basketball court in town, but we didn't think it was suitable.

We carried on.

Looking back at where we came from.

We passed a side road that had a sign pointing to a chapel in the tine village of El Ecote. I don't like taking roads where I'm not sure what the road is like, or if I'll be able to turn around. Much prefer to walk it first.

A little ways up the road was a pull off with a view. There was a small shop there advertising drinks, snacks, and gasoline, but it was closed. I left Ruth there with Igor, and I walked back to the road leading up to El Ecote. I could see on my map that it was about a 1 km walk.

There was a nice level spot with a view beside the tiny church. I asked one of the locals if it would be okay to park there for the night, and he thought it was fine.

The view from the spot I was thinking about parking.

I walked back to Igor, and by the time I got there, a car had pulled up and the guy was at Igor's window talking to Ruth.

Turns out that Francisco had spent some time in Lexington, KY in his youth, and his English was maybe slightly better than our Spanish. His wife Madeline and three children don't speak any English though.

Anyhow, Francisco and his wife run the little shop at the side of the road and had just opened for business. They invited us in for a cold drink. We got to talking, and he said they live in a village 2.5 kms (one mile) further on, and that we were welcome to come and stay at his place. Of course we noticed that he hadn't run any of this by his wife Madeline, and we didn't know if there would be suitable parking anyhow. But he insisted. Then, he insisted that we stay for lunch as he was about to grill up a feast of chicken wings.

The view from the little shop at the side of the road.

Francisco had to go to his house to pick something up, and he said "why don't you come along in my car and see my house?". Ruth was going to stay with Igor, but he said that Madeline would be watching the shop so she would keep an eye on Igor as well.

Okay then. So we hopped in the car with their 15 year old son Eddie doing the driving! The things we get ourselves into!

8 year old Maritza is a little sweetheart.

Pretty tough to get a photo of the house.

It turns out there is nowhere suitable at the house for Igor to park anyhow. So that settled that idea.

Back at Igor, I had noticed that there was a nice level spot below the shop where the horse Chiquita was living. It was an absolutely beautiful spot with a great view... and it looked like Igor could probably get through the entrance gate to get down there. I asked Francisco if maybe we could park there for a night. "Sure, the property belongs to my friend, he won't mind".

Maritza and he sister Amairany (6) hopped in for the ride down.

They love the motorhome!

Yep, this will do for the night!

GPS 21.09706, -99.018641

Definitely one of our top ten ever free camping spots!

Amairany (6) and Maritza (8).

What a beautiful place!

Can't help a couple more photos of Igor.

The girls noticed that we had some games. Ruth suggested that we could teach them how to play Yahtzee. So we brought the game up to the shop and sat around the table for an hour and played a game of Yahtzee! Too funny. Certainly not what we expected to be doing yesterday afternoon.

Inside the shop.

Francisco, cooking up some wings.

Did I mention how beautiful it is up here?

This is the little shop they have just opened.

Group photo.

The guy on the left is the guy who owns the property where Igor is parked. We never got his name. Then Francisco, Maritza, Ruth, Madeline, Amairany, and a local who stopped in for a beer.

Such nice, welcoming people. These types of experiences, and interacting with the locals to see how they live are why we travel. 

Sunset from where we are parked.

We had gone back down to Igor to make some supper. 

We said our goodbyes, and left them with a can of pure Canadian maple syrup to thank them for their hospitality. But the girls still wanted to be with us. It was kind of funny because they kept being called back up, but then would return again. I think they did that three times.

Maritza helping Ruth make some soup.

Our nighttime view.

We had a totally peaceful night, and with cooler temperatures since we are now at 5,200'. It was a comfortable 18C (66F) when we woke up.

I opened to front curtains to enjoy the view... and this is what I saw...

Wow!

One of the things that I love about this type of nomadic travel is opening the curtains in the morning to see where we are! Especially when we are at a place like this!

We need to move on though. We fly to Madrid a week from today.

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