Interesting day in Uruapan

We set off walking from the hotel/RV Park at 9:30am, headed for the national park located right in the city of Uruapan. Ruth and I have been here several times before, but it never gets old. It's a beautiful park, and an easy place to spend a couple of hours.

It was about a 35 minute walk all downhill.

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Valle de Juarez to Uruapan, Michoacan

We were on the road yesterday at our planned 8:00am start time.

Our original schedule called for us to spend a night at Lago de Camécuaro National Park on the way to Uruapan, but because we took an extra couple of days to fix Garth's oil cooler line, we decided to make the park a lunch stop instead to make up one of those days and then head directly to Uruapan.

The first part of our drive began on what is arguably the worst stretch of highway in Mexico!

Time to hit the road!

Sunday morning, most of us decided to go to La Cocinita for breakfast. It's a popular spot and we've been here for two weeks now and still hadn't made it over there.

We arrived at about 9:00am to find that a large group had taken over most of the tables. Still, half of us managed to get seated and served, while the other half had to wait another 45 minutes or so.

But it didn't matter. After all, we have lots of time!

Market day, bike ride, and steak for dinner!

Saturday is market day here in Valle de Juarez, so we walked into town at 9:30am to do our weekly grocery shopping. We think it's fun stopping at the wide variety of stalls and shops to do our groceries.

There is one larger grocery store here, but almost everything is available if you know where to go to find the smaller shops.

Nice to take a relax day every now and again

With an unexpected three additional days here at Valle de Juarez, yesterday turned into a mostly relax day. It was supposed to be a travel day, but we have now put that off until Monday. Nobody in the group seems to mind, and that's the whole idea... a relaxing trip with lots of flexibility.

I did get a few things done though. About a year ago we had bought a new shoe hanger thing that was designed to go over the back of a door. But we cut it into sections and then attach them to the bed frame. Just for another use of space in the motorhome.

Time ran out!

Ruth and I like to play Yahtzee and Backgammon. In fact, we play those games almost every day. It's become kind of a habit when we are traveling in the motorhome to play a game or three of backgammon before happy hour. And we play Yahtzee while we eat supper!

A few years ago, we started keeping track of our scores on an annual basis. Are you ready for the final scores of 2019?

Kicking off the New Year with a 20 km hike!

But before we get to that, make sure you check out our December and 2019 full year expense report, published only yesterday evening.

And next, we have to back up a little to New Year's Eve! In the morning, Ruth went with the group over to "the castle"... an event center located nearby that has some interesting things to see. Late afternoon, we had wine and cheese happy hour, and then an evening campfire to ring in the new year.

December Expenses and 2019 Expense Review

December was a bit higher than expected. Seems we are having a lot of those kind of months lately. Still, at $2,175 CAD ($1,680 USD), we saw an awfully lot of neat things during the month! Plus, a big chunk of that was gas for the motorhome.

But, we finished the month with pretty much a full tank of gas and the liquor cabinet is full and so is the fridge. So maybe it wasn't such a bad month after all.

2019 Year in Review, and 2020 Preview

Wow, what a year we had!

We were on 21 different airplanes and we were in 7 different countries... bringing our total countries visited to 38.

We began 2019 in Mexico leading an RV Caravan group. We were with them for the months of January, February, and March.

Whiskey's tree, and Mazamitla for lunch

Yesterday was a bit of a cool, overcast day with a high of only 17C (63F). Things look back to normal today though with sunshine and 22C (72F) in the forecast.

In the morning, a bunch of us walked over to the old Hacienda Contreras campground. It's only just down the road from where we are staying now. We spent a lot of time there between our first visit in March of 2009, and our last stay there in March 2016.

Market day in Valle de Juarez

Saturday is market day here in Valle de Juarez, so around 9:00am yesterday we all headed into town. We were still early enough that some stalls weren't yet finished setting up... but they were quite happy to sell to you anyhow. Besides, we wanted the best selection of fruits and veggies, which is why we were going in the first place.

I've mentioned this before... market stalls in Canada and the U.S. tend to be overpriced artsy fartsy "organic" events. But here in Mexico, the local weekly market is where you go to get the best produce, and at the best prices.

We were due for some exercise!

Absolutely perfect day for a hike yesterday. Lots of blue sky and sunshine, with a high temperature of about 22C (72F).

On the other side of the small lake here at Valle de Juarez there is a hill with a cross on the top. The locals call it "Picachu". Ruth and I have been to the top two or three times in the past, but we had always gone with the group from Hacienda Contreras when it was open, and every time we had got a drive about half way up and hiked from there.

This time, we decided to hike from the campground, a one way distance of about 8.5 kms (5.3 miles).

Shrimp tacos and a view

We can't seem to get enough of the shrimp taco place near here. Yesterday was another lunch visit... our third time since we arrived here 5 days ago! And I just know that we will be going again. Yesterday, I tried their shrimp and cheese empanada... and I found it even better than the shrimp tacos!

Mona and Roger have two of their kids visiting, so they have taken off to another town for a few days to do some exploring on their own. So our group is down to 12, however friends Heinz and Uli are spending some time with us so we are usually back up to 14 anyhow!

Perfect Christmas Day weather...

We had a nice relaxing Christmas Day. And the weather was perfect... highs of around 22C (72F). The day started off sunny with cloudy periods, but by mid afternoon, it had changed to cloudy with sunny periods. Still, it was perfect Christmas Day weather in our opinion.

The group planned a Christmas Day brunch starting at 11:00am. That gave everybody some time to do their own thing for the morning.

Merry Christmas from Mexico!

We had a great Christmas Eve yesterday!

It started off with a stop at the shrimp taco place again where everybody enjoyed an early lunch. Then we did a long walk through the town of Mazamitla to the waterfall. Ruth and I have been there five or six times before, but it's always fun to show it off to new people.

Then in the evening, we had a party!

Off to the dentist!

We haven't been to a dentist in Canada for over 12 years. We've had a fair bit of work done in Mexico though... and have saved thousands of dollars as a result. We found one dentist that we're really happy with, and she is located here in the farming town of Valle de Juarez.

And because her English is quite good, we recommended her to our caravan group. So a few months ago I made appointments for most of us.

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day- Etzatlan to Valle de Juarez

We got an early start on Sunday and left Delia's Trailer Park in Etzatlan at 8:00am. We only had to drive 210 kms (130 miles), but we know how long it takes to get anywhere in Mexico, and especially when we would be taking the back roads the whole way.

And, we wanted to arrive before 2:00pm. Our friends Barb and Sal had told us that the church was doing a fundraiser and there would be a fiesta going on with lots of inexpensive homemade local food.

Christmas in Etzatlan

 Saturday was a dull day with a few showers. Most of the group went into town, but Ruth was doing some baking so we stayed behind to look after the fort. I managed to get the balance of the Texas grime washed off of Sherman.

When we had arrived in Texas in November, Sherman had been sitting since April. It's amazing the accumulation of dirt on the exterior. I had got the windows and the passenger side done early on, but had never got to doing the driver side and the back end.

Afternoon entertainment, followed by steaks for dinner

Friday started off overcast, and we had a few light showers throughout the day. So we didn't plan anything other than going into town to the butcher. Everybody wanted to cook steaks over the fire, so we put in a big order at the local butcher and a few of us walked over to pick it up.

Most of us wanted rib eye. It's not normal in Mexico to cut them thick... thin is much more common here. So if you want them thick, you pretty much have to specifically ask for that.

Saw some interesting things yesterday!

We took the group for a hike up to the big cross overlooking the town of Etzatlan yesterday.

We were up there last March when we were here, but back then we hiked past the cross another couple of kilometers. This time, some of us decided to go further than that. Then, we came back to town and met up with the rest of the group for lunch.

We saw some interesting things along the way!

Tequila!

We are located only 45 kms (28 miles) from the town of Tequila... made famous by the drink of the same name. But the town of Tequila is a bit touristy and most of the distilleries there charge a hefty fee for their tours. We prefer the group to see something a little more authentic.

There is a long bike path on the other side of the highway from the RV Park. Many of the group have bicycles with them, so we hopped on the bikes and rode the 10 kms (6 miles) or so over to the Destiladora Agave Azul Tequila Distillery.

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Tepic to Etzatlan

On Tuesday, we did the drive from Tepic to Etzatlan.

We planned to leave Los Pinos RV Park in Tepic right at 9:00am, but before we could do that we had to pay the bill. Normally, we pay when we arrive. But at that time, there was only a cleaning lady there and she said she had called the manager. But he never arrived, only the maintenance caretaker guy. He had come over and gave us the wifi password, but he never asked us to pay, and I didn't think he was the guy we were supposed to pay.

The city Of Tepic, Nayarit... and a minor repair job!

Yesterday was a day off for the group. We are here in the city of Tepic (pop around 500,000). The city itself is nothing special, but we are just taking a rest day on our way to Etzatlan.

Most gringos don't visit Tepic, even though it's the capital of the state of Nayarit. Located only 170 kms (105 miles) or so from the popular beach areas at and around Puerto Vallarta, most tourists from Canada and the U.S. head directly there.

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Mazatlan to Tepic

We had an 8:30am start from Isla de la Piedra near Mazatlan yesterday. It was about a 300 km (182 mile) drive, and we planned to take the free road the entire way.

Mexico has a toll highway system, but where there is a toll highway, there is almost always a corresponding free route. Most of the toll highways are very expensive, but they usually save you driving time. The toll highway fees also include break down assistance should you have any trouble.

I think we need to change our plans

We crossed the border into Mexico 4 weeks ago today.

Time is going by far too quickly! I think we need to change our plans. Maybe we should extend the trip by a month or so!? If we do one of these trips again, we need to make it six months! Especially when we are fortunate enough to have such a great group of people. It's difficult to get 14 people together who all get along without any apparent personality clashes, but it seems that is what we have this year.

November Expenses

I know, this is a little late! I usually try to post our expenses right after the end of the month but we had bought quite a few things from Amazon before we left Texas and I never got around to converting them to $CAD until now.

November was quite expensive, partly due to travel costs, and partly due to stocking up for four and a half months in Mexico. Of course that will all come out in the wash over that period of time.

We spent $4,152 CAD ($3,150 USD) in November...

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Mexiquillo to Mazatlan. The Devil's Backbone highway

In 2014, they opened a new toll highway through the mountains from Durango to Mazatlan. We have done that highway before. But the old narrow curvy road that was built around 1960 is still there. And we have done that one twice before.

We decided to take the group on the old curvy road. It's much slower going than the new road, but the new toll road is very expensive. They both have spectacular views.