I missed providing a blog update yesterday, so here is a quick snapshot of Thursday.
-gym...like hot yoga...but hotter
-breakfast...pan frances...delicious and cheap...service lacking for such a slow time of year
-beach...frigging hot
-noisy Americans from a cruise ship
-our wash was done for 165 pesos...only in Mexico...
-villa ideas galore...this property is 100 feet wide...like ours in Huatulco
-great hole in the wall place for a pre-dinner quesadilla and agua con gas for Bex (sparkling water)
Today, hit the gym and had another order of pan frances for breakfast. At the gas station for 915am and off we went. The gas jockey was fun. We bantered some words back and forth and I gave him a 20 peso propina (tip) and he was thrilled!! About $1.50 to make someone smile...worth every peso.
At an intersection, we picked up a copy of the local newspaper, The Noroeste, and here is a photo of the big front page story:
After doing some translating, this article is just reporting on what was posted in Canada, and is the Mexican's point of view on the whole situation. They say it is too bad about the warning as there have really been very few incidents in all of Sinaloa and that most of the problems are the drug traffickers along the USA border.
Sinaloa is the state where Mazatlan is located and has been a Canadian tourist destination for years. They are obviously concerned about the effect these types of warnings have on the industry. Again, Bex and I feel safe as can be and just avoid areas we should not be in.
The tolls today were not cheap with several being 160 pesos. There was construction out of Mazatlan, but after that, the 15 was fast all the way to Tepic. The highway from Tepic to Manzanillo is the 200 and it was brutal for the first 200 km. We drove a total of 650 km today, and it took almost 10 hours. Yikes. Bex learned a new phrase "otro vez?" and we tried it out on the toll booth attendant and she smiled. Getting the Mexican's to smile is our new mission. Otro vez means "again?"
The craziest part was the part in Puerto Vallerta. The high way had lots of construction, but it enters the city center, over cobble stones, through the back streets and then seems to end at a cul-du-sac. Asked a cabbie where routa 200 was and we ended up driving up the hills onto a road with enough and big enough pot holes to sink a bus. This 10 km stretch took an hour plus. And then of course the blinding pouring rain came. It is soooo green/lush out, but the roads are flooded and damaged.
Before Tepic, we had to swerve to miss an iguana that was sunning itself in our lane. We swerved and as we drove by, he winked at us...his way of saying thanks. True story...the song we had playing from our iPod was Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help From my Friends"!!
On the road we learned about the 4 way hazard lights. They use them here in the heavy rain, when passing and when coming to a complete stop from 120 km/hr for a guy waving his shirt as a make shift flag, warning us about construction!!
As mentioned...torrential rain storm through the mountain passes. We had also picked Manzanilla as our end point for today, but due to the delays, we were way behind schedule. Darkness, rain, bad drivers and pot holes galore made for my first stressful day of driving.
Also saw an armadillo sleeping on the side of the road... :(
We could not find accommodations in the small towns we drove through prior to darkness and Manzanilla, so we pressed on and in the dark, drove into Manzanilla, no idea where we were as this was a new town to both of us. Arriving at 830pm, we found a new'ish looking hotel, Hotel Posada, where we have a great room, clean, king bed...all for 500 pesos or $40 Cdn. Internet works great...just outside the door on the walk way!! lol
Drove a few blocks looking for food, but did not know where we were, so we ended up eating in the outdoor restaurant connected to the hotel. They made Bex's salad from scratch and my quesadilla's were quite good. I admire how hard many of the Mexican people work to make a living for themselves. People in Canada and/or USA should see this life and then try to complain about theirs.
Our current plan is to drive 600 or so km for each of the next two days, arriving in Puerto Escondido (a surf town 120 km from Huatulco), by dinnertime Sunday. This allows us a quick drive to Huatulco on Monday, so we can meet up with our landlord Rick, as well as unload the truck while being some what rested.
Tomorrow is all about the drive to either Zihuatanejo (watch the Shawshank Redemption) which is about 441 km, leaving us 647 km on Sunday to Puerto E, or we drive 685 km to Acapulco, and then another 402 km to Puerto E on Sunday. Will see how we feel as we are wiped today!!
We hope all is well in your lives!!!
Until next time,
Saludos
Bex and Bubba
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