Today's route had some beauty, some monotony, some scary sections, more rain and waaaay too many topes (speed bumps). Not all topes are painted yellow and some don't have any signs alerting the motorists...enough said? Might need to check the suspension and grab some new pimpin rims. lol....but not really.
We left the hotel at 830 and found the one and only Starbucks in Manzanillo. But the ruta 200 seems to end in a cul du sac, so off we went looking for help/directions. Back in the 200 heading south and we actually have two lanes of traffic and it is moving well. I have spoken too soon.
The "highways" here seem to take you right through town, topes and street lights included. And again in Tecoman, the ruta 200 just ended. We were supposed to "know" to take the right fork in the unlabeled road!! Back on the highway into the state of Michoacan and then later into Guerrero. Our clocks have also lost another hour, so it is hours ahead of Vancouver and 1 hour behind K-W. This will remain the same in Huatulco, but I do know they have a time change coming. Mexico has wacky time zones and dates as to when they change.
As we crossed into Michoacan, we stopped and did this:
To find out what was in these:
And found these:
Who knew?
We drove too fast and passed by a yard with over 100 little houses...all for the roosters running around. Crazy!!
Went through two military checkpoints and were waved through both times. The checkpoints are not so scary except the Mexicans do not seem to smile so much (because it is so hot?) and then throw them in a uniform and give them a machine gun....enough said?
Along this part of today's journey, we hit the mountains again. We went around and around, up and down, all at a speed of about 30 km/hr. In the first 4 hours, we managed to drive 225 km...yikes. And these are not those no work, stress free, put it in cruise control km's. These are gear up, gear down, get passed on blind curves and watch out for topes km's.
As we were driving these passes, Bex scrambled for her yellow pail (Arnold family reference), but all we had was a zip lock bag. Thank goodness as it keeps "freshness in and air out"!! All of a sudden I hear Bex yell "ASS" and I am thinking I am in trouble for all the corners and gearing up and down.
But I was not in trouble, she had seen this on the road:
This beauty was just walking around the mountain pass with her two buddies. She looked lost so Bex got on her and went looking for the owner. We are happy to state, he was VERY happy Bex had found her and brought her home!!
As we exited the pass, about 40 km from Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa, the rain started again. But we did manage to pull over and take this photo before that all happened. Kind looks like the Oregon coast...minus the donkey!!
As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I love the new Canon camera. Bex took some of the other shots with the Canon I received as a Christmas gift from my wing man TS. A great Canon as well.
About 10 km from Ixtapa, the dos carilla road (two lane...one each way) was being worked on so we came to a complete stop for 20 minutes. Mexican way of doing things. It would be like completely closing off the 401 or the #1 in Vancouver. Oh well...what can you do? While waiting, we used the tire iron to open a ginger beer for Bex and I reached back into the cooler for another Diet Coke!!
They are celebrating 200 years of Mexico being Mexico and they have relabelled some highways Ruta 2010. At this speed, we have relabelled them Ruta 2011!!
Based on our internet research, we knew Zihuat was after the Ixtapa turn off. We thought we would find more economical hotels in Zihuat, thus the decision. Well...we did not see any and we ended up driving through Zihuat and headed to Acapulco!! We did the u-turn (retorno) and headed into Ixtapa instead. It is 5pm, raining and soooo muggy!! Maybe that is why, but we were not impressed with Ixtapa. We saw one place that looked good and Bex checked out the price. Right on the playa (beach), but they wanted 1100 pesos...almost $100. Great if it is sunny, not if you are not even going to use the beach. Did I mention we own a 100 feet of beach front?
So onto choice #2...Sara Suites. Always ask how much and check the room. It is low season so the room was stuffy, but it looked ok. Unload, move all the stuff and then we find problema #1...hormigas. Small ants on the bed. So off to the front desk and in Spanish, I ask for another room. Off we go up the stairs and into room #2. Here we find that the out lets do not work so we cannot plug in our cooler and the exterior walk way slopes inwards so the rain water has leaked in and there is a small flood.
Back to the desk and we go to room #3. It is fine but I have brought the cooler to test it. It does not work and I am now thinking the cooler in ka-put. We bring it to the office and plug it in and ah-ha...it does work!! Off to room #4, right next to room #1. It is soooo muggy as we move from room to room, and Bex is still in room #2 waiting on the outcome. We take room #4 and just get the bed cover changed and some extra sheets...in case of hormigas!!! It is Mexico and this stuff happens...just don't like dealing with it after such a long day. The pricio? 650 pesos...$55 Cdn. Best part? I don't need to leave the room to use the internet!!
Dinner was at Senor Frogs, a good salad and fajitas for Bex and a Mexican rib-eye (no marbling) for me. One cold Pacifico and we are now back in the hotel,
We will have to decide tomorrow's route/plan as we go, because if it is like today's, we just won't have enough time in the day. From here to Puerto Escondido is 647 km and at today's speed, that is a 10 hour day. Might need to squeeze in 500-550 km and then drive the last 220 on Monday morning. We just don't know what kind of accommodations we will find at the 500-550 mark. Oh well. That is why this blog is called The Bex and Bubba Mexican Adventure!!
We also saw an ad in a paper for 45 channels on tv and 2 mbps internet combo, all for the price of $380 pesos/month. We hope it is this easy once we are in Huatulco.
So...enjoy NFL and Nascar Sunday, and we will try to update you tomorrow, or on Monday (if we can) from where ever we are. We will be in Huatulco by Tuesday for sure and will send out that update.
Saludos
Bex and Mark
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