Views above Melaque

During Covid, one of the projects for the town of Melaque was to improve the west shoreline, so they built a nice malecon along that section. 

During our two past visits here, we spent most of our time at the eastern part because that's where the big RV park is located. But now that we've spent some time in the western part, we like it much better.

Arrived in Melaque, Mexico

We took our time getting ready to go Wednesday morning. We knew it was less than a two hour drive, so we didn't leave Cuyutlan until about 10:00am.

Our route took us up and around the big port city of Manzanillo. It's a huge shipping port, and the busiest container port in Mexico.

Heading north up the coast towards Puerto Vallarta

Good news! Our new Starlink Mini Satellite Internet hardware has arrived in Puerto Vallarta and is ready to be picked up. That was fast!

And it has to be picked up within 7 days or they send it back, so we need to be there by Monday just to be on the safe side. That's about when we wanted to be there anyhow.

Day trip to some different beaches... and some great Starlink news!

Yesterday morning, we hopped in Barb and Mark's pickup truck with Barb and their son Shawn. Mark stayed behind because they were having some work done on their property.

We weren't going far... just a half an hour or so down the coast to check out some different beaches.

Beach time

Rancho B RV Park is located on a 10 km (6 mile) long stretch of virtually empty beach. There is a nearby town called La Placita, and occasionally you'll see some locals at the far end of the beach, but otherwise you can have it totally to yourself.

Yesterday morning, we tried to get out before it got too hot, but it was 10am before we got down there. We will do better today!

Down to the coast of Michoacan, Mexico

We tried to get going by 9:00am, but it was almost twenty after by the time we pulled out from Sue and Roy's place at Valle de Juarez. We had a great week with them while Igor was getting his top painted. Thanks for putting up with us!

We headed into Mazamitla to fill Igor's fuel tank at 24.70 pesos ($1.75 CAD) per liter. That's about $4.61 USD per gallon. 

Igor is finished, and we are off to the coast today!

For anybody just checking in, Igor spent Monday to Friday parked at a body and paint shop here in Valle de Juarez, Jalisco, Mexico. 

We wanted to get the fiberglass cap painted. They removed the striping and molding, smoothed out the seam under the molding, removed the awning brackets and filled the holes, and filled the kitchen exhaust vent hole on the other side. 

Igor will be painted today!

No, Igor was not ready yesterday, however they will be painting this morning and we should be able to pick him up this afternoon. We'll drive back over to Sue and Roy's, then tomorrow morning we'll head down to the coast.

Yesterday afternoon, Ruth and I took a walk over to "the castle".

A looong walk in the hills! And of course an update on Igor's paintwork...

We set off at 9:20am heading up into the hills behind Valle de Juarez towards the village of El Tigre, 12 kms (7.5 miles) away, and almost 2,500' higher up in altitude.

We've done this route before, the last time was with some of our RV Caravan group on New Year's Day 2020.

Igor update #2

Not much to report, really. They didn't start work until about 9:30am. We walked back over to Sue and Roy's at around 10:00am, spent the day there, then walked back to Igor around 6:30pm. 

It was dusk, and they were just finishing up. 

Progress report on Igor

We moved Igor over to the body and paint shop at 7:30am on Monday morning. We hadn't discussed with the guys what time they would get started, but we figured we would have him there before they opened, just in case they got started right away.

And there were pretty much right on schedule as they got working at about 9:00am!

Thinking about Starlink Satellite Internet

Actually, we're not only thinking about it, we've decided that we want it! There's only one thing stopping us.

Back to Mazamitla

There is a restaurant in Mazamitla called "La Troje". We've been there many times, and have never had a bad meal. We've never been there for breakfast, but Sue and Roy have and they highly recommended it. So the four of us hopped in their car and we went to Mazamitla for breakfast.

Slight change of plans!

Yesterday morning we moved Igor from the campground over to an empty lot beside Sue and Roy's place. 

Along the way, we stopped in town at another auto body and paint shop to get another price on painting Igor's fiberglass cap.

Off to the dentist, and good news!

Yesterday was dentist day!

We've been going to Dr. Lissette Gomez here in Valle de Juarez for quite a few years. She's really good, and of course we get charged the same prices the locals pay. Nobody likes going to the dentist, but at least the reasonable prices make it bearable!