November Expenses

November was yet another expensive month. It started off in Ottawa, Canada and ended up in Valle de Bravo, Mexico! So, there was quite a lot of travel expense involved.

I had guessed a budget of $3,750 CAD, and we ended up spending $4,769 CAD ($3,389 USD). We actually did pretty good, considering most of the extra comes down to a new laptop for me, and Igor's fuel pump needing replacing. Two things that we couldn't have planned on. Otherwise, we were actually pretty close to target.

Another beautiful day in Mexico...

Just a relaxing day yesterday!

Friends Paco and Oti took off back to their house in Toluca, but they will return here on Friday. Really nice that they left out their sun loungers and hammock so that we can use them while they're gone!

Sunday is market day in Valle de Bravo

We always love market day! The weekly tianguis markets in Mexico is where you go to get the best prices on the freshest produce, and there is always lots of delicious street food available.

We set off with Paco and Oti at about 10:30am to head into town. Sunday is a busy day in Valle de Bravo, so best to arrive early to get a decent parking spot!

Back to Igor, and a nice surprise!

We didn't have to leave our hotel room until noon, so we went down for breakfast around 8:30am and then had showers and took our time getting ready. The plan was to walk from the Mexico City historic district to the Observatorio bus terminal... a distance of about 11 kms (6.8 miles).

And we had a couple of stops to make along the way.

Walked our feet off again!

It was a pretty good included breakfast here at the hotel. Scrambled eggs, toast, sausages, mixed vegetables, fruit, and of course coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. As I said yesterday, we got a good deal at 773 pesos ($53 CAD, $38 USD) a night. I forgot to mention the name of the hotel... it's the Hotel MX lagunilla. Wouldn't hesitate to come back here. 

The only drawback is that it's beside a busy road, and there is a fair amount of road noise if you get a room facing the street, which we did. One of the interior rooms would be quieter, but without the view. It's a tradeoff.

Mexico City!

The bus was leaving central Valle de Bravo at 11:00am, but we were able to pick it up at nearby El Arco so that we wouldn't have to go into Valle de Bravo. It arrived there at 11:15am, and there were still quite a few empty seats.

Cost from El Arco to Mexico City's western Observatorio Bus Station was 295 pesos ($20.35 CAD, $14.50 USD) per person for the two hour trip.

A new furry friend, and a little birthday celebration...

When we arrived here at the marina, we noticed that our host Chago had a new puppy. 

The puppy's name is Solitario (Lonely), and we think that he sometimes lives up to that name. He's only about four months old. Chago isn't here all the time, and it's especially quiet here during he week. And when Chago is off running errands, Solitario gets tied up under a nearby truck. 

Excited to arrive at one of our favorite places in Mexico!

We woke up Tuesday morning in anticipation of arriving at the destination that will be our home base for the next month or so.

We spent the better part of 13 winters in Mexico between 2007 and 2020. And we haven't been back since the spring of 2020, so almost five years. And we made a lot of friends in Mexico during those years.

Tlalpujahua, the Christmas town

Up at 6:00am to say goodbye to Adrian and Roman. Adrian drives Roman to school at 6:45am, and then he heads to work. Brenda is currently a homemaker because she has a bad wrist and is awaiting surgery.

But she made us a delicious breakfast, and then we had showers and did some laundry. Always nice to set out fresh again! Thanks for looking after us!

Into the city of Queretaro, and the El Cerrito Pyramid

It was chilly Saturday night up in Mineral de Pozos. We woke up in the morning and it was 2C (35F) outside, and only 7C (45F) inside Igor. Nice and comfy under the covers, but a little cold getting out of bed!

We decided to drive for half an hour and use the engine heat to warm us up. By the time we parked up for breakfast, the sun was shining and the temperature headed up into the 20's (70's).

The ghost town of Mineral de Pozos

We actually had a pretty good sleep in the hotel parking lot. There is a lot of heavy truck traffic in that area on the outskirts of the city of San Luis Potosi, and we had been hearing a fair bit of it prior to going to bed. But then in the morning, we each mentioned that we had woken up at some point during the night and it had been perfectly quiet.

We got up and hit the road right away to try and beat some of the traffic, but I'm thinking that the north - south highway 57 never really quiets down.

Not every day goes according to plan!

When we travel by motorhome, we think it's best to have a plan to arrive at your destination by 2:00pm. That way, there is lots of daylight hours left in case your plan doesn't go according to plan! And if everything does go well, you've got a few afternoon hours to just relax and enjoy yourself.

Well yesterday was one of those days that didn't go according to plan.

The caravan showed up!

We had a nice morning just puttering around. Ruth was going to do some laundry, and we both remember that there had been an old washing machine in the RV Park area, but maybe we were thinking of somewhere else. Anyhow, there is no washing machine here now!

The hotel wanted typical rip off prices to do any laundry, but I don't really blame them. They aren't in the business of doing laundry, so if you want it done, you have to pay.

It's a good thing Igor broke down!

Wow, lots to talk about today! And so, a long blog post with lots of photos. And lots of good news!

The mechanics didn't begin work on Igor until about 10:00am, which was okay with us. We left them to do the installation of the fuel pump and re-install the gas tank, and we decided to do a 10 km (6.2 mile) walk to a nearby lake.

Progress!

Man, we've had a lot of bad luck lately. First my laptop breaks, then my Amazon account gets closed, then Igor breaks down. It helps that we are pretty good at rolling with the punches!

By the same token, we've got a lot of great things on the go as well. Number one is that we're in Mexico!