Our Mexico Road Trip
Part 2: Uxmal to San Diego
Click on photos below to see full size
2/12 Uxmal
Disaster
struck on the road to Uxmal! We were just a couple of kilometers from our
planned stop for the
night and one of our trailer tires exploded. Pam
heard the noise and thought we had run into an overhanging tree. I saw
pieces of something black flying behind
us and thought at first we had run over
a black trash bag, or maybe that we had run over a zopilote. Alas, it was
the tire. We were doing about 55 MPH at the time, so we were fortunate
there was no damage to the body of the trailer. Most of the tread came off
in one piece and wrapped itself around the axel.
Bob and Chuck came to our rescue and helped change the tire (after everyone took
pictures). We were back on the road within a half-hour.
The next surprise came when we arrived at the RV park. There was a big
sign in front of the entrance, “No RV Facilities”. We were just a couple
of miles from the Uxmal archeological site, and we had heard we could park in
their lot overnight, so we headed there.
It turned out to be the better choice anyway. For 100 pesos we were
invited to park in a separate parking area. It was just a few yards from
the park entrance and across the road from a nice hotel and restaurant. We
were told that if we had lunch in the restaurant we could use their restrooms
and swimming pool. Can’t beat a deal like that.
After lunch (and a quick swim) we hired a guide from the hotel reception desk
and entered the park. A
single fee is good for both the daytime entry and
a return for the evening light show. That is were our camping location
really worked out well.
We spent a couple of hours touring the park and learning more about Mayan
society.
We have toured Palenque, Tulum, Ek’ Balam, Chichen Itza, and now Uxmal. We
still haven’t learned why they made the steps so steep. They say the
Mayans were only about four feet tall. They must have had even more
difficulty managing these high steps than we have. Another mystery lost to
the ages…..
We learned that the easiest way to navigate the steps is at an angle. And
don’t look down.
After climbing a few structures we were ready to find a way to cool off.
Back to the pool, then margaritas in the shade behind the trailers.
In the evening we returned for the light show. We arrived early to try to
stay ahead of the tour groups. We did that, and got the best chairs.
There must have been four or five bus loads that arrived after us.
Pam and I had seen the show, so we listened in Spanish. The rest of the
group rented earphones to hear the English translation. I think I
understood at least half of the dialog. It helped that I already knew the
plot.
In the morning we made a rapid departure for Campeche.
2/13 Campeche
Our
destination in Campeche is the
Club Nautico,
which has an RV park that is built to U.S. standards. We found the club
without difficulty, after driving through the city. This RV park has
plenty
of everything. Paved parking areas, plenty of water pressure, and
plenty of
electricity. Possibly too much. We put a meter on the electrical
outlets and found th
ey were providing about 130 to 135 volts. We are a
little concerned about damaging something because of high voltage.
We decided to keep the refrigerators on gas and to leave the air conditioning
off. Fans are adequate as it cools off nicely when the sun goes down.
They have a nice pool here, which we have taken advantage of.
2/14 Isla Aguada
We had a very enjoyable ride along the coast to Isla Aguada. The coastline
is very flat and the beach looks very shallow. We think you could really
be in trouble if a hurricane hit here. There isn’t much development along
this coast yet but we did see some new houses going up and at least one hotel
development.
We reached Isla Aguada early, in time to be all situated in the RV park before
noon. The park has a new
owner and he has changed its name to “Freedom
Shores”. They have a web site at
http://www.isla-aguada.com
The town is pretty small. We decided to take a tour by motorcycle taxi,
and arranged for an hour’s ride. We had seen everything within the first
half-hour, so we decided to stop at a restaurant on the beach for a beer.
When traveling in Mexico, we have always found this to be a welcome option when
we have nothing much else to do.
Tonight we plan to have dinner at the restaurant, to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Tomorrow we hit the road again for Villahermosa.
2/15 Villahermosa
We had a pretty decent drive, until we reached Villahermosa. We missed a
road sign (I swear there was no sign) and didn’t turn where we were supposed to.
We had to navigate through a few blocks of downtown until Pam was able to get us
some directions. It was fun trying to navigate narrow streets with three
narrow lanes of rush-hour traffic.
We
stayed in the parking lot at the local fairgrounds, which is the best location
for RV camping in the city. About three hours after our arrival the
caravan that was at Isla Aguada with us drove in. With 24 vehicles in the
parking lot there was still plenty of room left. No hookups of course, but
that is never a problem for a night or two.
There is a Walmart about a mile away, so we made our usual visit and stocked up
on fruit and vegetables. We had bought bags of shrimp on our way to
Villahermosa, so we bought the rest of the ingredients for shish kabobs.
I found an internet café a short distance away, so I was able to hook in to
their network with my laptop and get caught up on my web site maintenance.
While I was gone, Pam cleaned the shrimp and Karen cooked the kabobs. Good
planning! I returned just in time for a glass of wine before dinner.
The next morning we hooked up in the rain and got on the road ahead of the
caravan. Our drive to
Catemaco was mostly in the rain, sometimes in very
heavy showers. They grow sugar cane in this area and we had been seeing
pieces of cane all along the roadside. We finally learned why. They
load as much cane as they can in the trucks and they lose pieces with every bump
and pothole. There are a lot of potholes!
2/16 Catemaco
We had
looked at the map and decided the 300 miles from Villahermosa to Veracruz was
too much to try in one day. We generally try to arrive early so we can do
a little shopping or sightseeing. We picked Catemaco from the map in the
camping guide, as being a place
to
stop that was a bit more than halfway to Veracruz. What a fortuitous
decision!
We are staying in an
RV park at
the edge of town, run by the Hotel Tepetapan.
It is just a short walk to the malecón, the street along the edge of the lake.
It is a
good sized lake, probably several miles across. We had never heard
of Catemaco but we learned it is the ninth largest tourist destination (in terms
of number of visitors) in Mexico.
We were also interested to learn that this is the location Mel Gibson used to
film Apocolyptco. The film gave several of the locals opportunities to be
extras.
We
strolled down the malecón and around the zócalo. We resisted the offers of
boat rides
and the opportunity to buy souvenirs (mostly), although the wives did a lot
of looking.
Bob also found a store of interest. He was debating the wisdom of
following up his tattoo with some kind of body piercing. I’m not sure if
it was good sense or the fear of having something pierced that dissuaded him
from
entering the shop.
Bob’s real weakness is hardware stores. He decided he needed a piece of
PVC pipe to make a storage holder for the wrench he uses on his trailer hitch
sway bar. He needed a foot-long piece. The store refused to sell
anything less that a standard length pipe, so he bought a 20-foot section.
(They did cut it in half for him.) He carried the pipe around town while
we were sightseeing. Chuck and I pretended we didn’t know him.
Tomorrow we drive on to Veracruz. Next week is Carnaval in Veracruz,
supposed to be the second-largest celebration in the country.
Theoretically Carnaval starts on Tuesday but we hear the city is already filling
with visitors. We hope we will find a place to camp.
2/17 Veracruz
It was a very nice drive to Veracruz. The first part, through Los Tuxtlas
(three small towns) was slow with
lots of topes. Then we had a few miles
of road construction, with rough road surfaces. Then the road improved and
we could relax and enjoy the view. We passed an area that must have been
some kind of quarry. It looked like the hillside had slipped in obvious
planes. If you click on the picture at the right you can see a couple of large
dump trucks. They give
some perspective to how large this area is.
As we drove past we saw some workmen about three-fourths of the way up the
hillside. We speculate they were doing something, possibly preparing
explosives, to break loose more of the rock. The area was quite
spectacular.
We
arrived in Veracruz and found the RV park without getting lost and without
making any wrong turns. Possibly a first. The park,
Los Reyes, is on the
beach. We have a great view of the ocean and the wind-blown surf.
When we drive in I observed that the trees had windbreaks on the beach side.
Apparently the wind is constant. The park has plenty of grass growing on
the sand. The adjacent properties have bare sand and we can see it blowing
from our trailer. There are two sets of campers in tents. They must
have had an interesting night, since the wind
was
strong enough to shake our trailer.
We immediately made a new friend when we arrived. This little dog was so
friendly, and wanted to play. We are missing our own dogs, so it was fun
to play with this puppy for awhile.
There is a small town, Anton Lazardo, about three kilometers from Los Reyes. We
took our dirty laundry to the local lavanderia and dropped it off. We will
pick it up Sunday afternoon.
There are several parades in Veracruz this week. We heard that the
Saturday parade is at night, so we planned to attend. We were advised to
leave our cars at the Walmart parking lot and to take a taxi downtown to the
parade route. It sounded like a good plan.
Our first problem was to find Walmart. We had been given a map at the RV
park, but we soon found it was inaccurate. We saw a VIPS restaurant, which
is a chain owned by Walmart, and expected to see the
mega store adjacent to it.
Not this time! We drove around for awhile, getting directions from
several pedestrians enroute, and finally located it. Walmart also owns the
El Portón restaurants and there is one next to the store in Veracruz.
At any
rate, we accomplished phase one of the parade excursion plan. Then we
started looking for a taxi. We realized we would need two taxis for the
six of us and we couldn’t even find one. Pam came to our rescue again by
finding which bus would take
us
downtown, and where to find it. A few minutes later we had paid five pesos
each and were on our way. We arrived at the parade route just before four
in the afternoon. The main street along the malecón was closed off and
lined on both sides with bleachers. We began to get an idea about how big
an event this was to be.
The Sol beer division of the Tecate brewing company is the corporate sponsor of
Carnaval. Every fifty yards or so along the parade route is a two-storey
Sol structure. At ground level they sell beer, and on the second level
they have a couple of scantily dressed girls dancing to very, very loud music.
Definitely an attention getter.
As the crowd grew in size we decided to find some seats. The grandstands
were all marked off with numbered spaces and you needed to buy a ticket for 50
pesos. We decided to rent some seats and then go find a restaurant for
dinner. Although the parade was scheduled to start at 6 PM, we were told
it wouldn’t arrive in our area until after seven.
We
found a restaurant on the beach and had a rather mediocre dinner of shrimp. 
The time was not a complete loss. We were
surrounded by vendors and managed to buy T-shirts, net carrying bags and
blouses. As soon as we bought something we became the center of attention
for all the rest of the vendors.
When we returned to our seats we found that the crowd had grown. It
continued to grow for the next two hours. The parade route was filled with
people walking back and forth, and always congregating in front of the beer
stands to dance and cheer the girls.
Finally, at about 7:30 PM we heard sirens and saw police arriving, clearing the
street ahead of the parade. This was a very slow process. In the
front row were SWAT or riot police in full protective gear and large shields.
They were followed by other SWAT police on quads, then 20 or 30 motorcycle
police. They had a difficult time clearing the street and seemed to get
bogged down frequently. Just beyond our seats they were pushing people
with their shields. The crowd started to chant “Puta, Puta, Puta” (whore)
and “Perros, Perros, Perros” (dogs). There was also an occasional chant of
“Veracruz, Veracruz”. Clearly the police are not popular here! The
people sitting around us said it is because
the
police treat everyone as “delinquents”, whether they have done anything wrong or
not.
The floats finally began to arrive. Between the floats were dancers or
bands. The first
band was a Navy band. We noticed that the police
were only at the beginning of the parade. Walking along with the marchers
were Navy personnel in uniform, the Mexican version of Shore Patrol. They
each had a large baton, but they were pretty well accepted by the crowds and
weren’t having any problems.
Given the size of the crowd, we decided not to stay to the end of the parade.
We had to fight our way out of the grandstand, cross the parade route between
floats (Pam resisted the urge to dance this time) and find a way through the
crowd on the other side. We managed that, but couldn’t get through the
fence behind the crowd. We finally came to a section of fence where there
were EMTs and an ambulance. They wouldn’t let us through. Pam told
them she had claustrophobia and that she was the only one who spoke Spanish so
her gringo friends had to get out with her. That seemed to work and they
let us out. A good story works every time!
Then our challenge was to find a taxi to take us back to Walmart and our cars.
Nada. The streets a couple of blocks from the parade were deserted.
Pam thought we should walk to the Zócalo to find a taxi. Then we learned
we were a couple of miles from the Zócalo. Well then, let’s find a bus.
Number six bus brought us here……
Suddenly I heard someone scream “Stop”. I think it was Jean. They
grabbed a passing taxi and we all piled in. When I say “piled in”, that
exactly describes the situation. The taxi’s here are all small, about the
size of a Fiat. Ours was a Nissan with room for three adult passengers.
All six of us managed to squeeze in. There were a few numb limbs and sore
necks but we made it back to Walmart. Our return to the RV park was
uneventful after that.
The next day the wind was blowing even harder, so we decided to pick up our
laundry and depart for Córdoba.
2/18 Orizaba
We drove to Córdoba, having selected it as a stopping place because it is
between Veracruz and our next destination, Puebla. We had no information
about RV parks, but decided we could always spend the night at a Pemex station,
since many have large parking areas. We drove through Córdoba, hoping to
find a
place to park. No place was evident on the main road and we weren’t
about to go exploring side roads with trailers behind us. Back on the main
highway we started checking out the Pemex
stations. They were either too small or were already full of parked
trucks.
We decided to head on down the road toward Puebla (100 miles distant) until we
found a Pemex with space. A few miles later we saw a
large
station just off the highway on an intersecting road. We found a place to
return and took the exit. I saw a motel next door which advertised cheap
rooms. I suggested we stop there, rent rooms, and just stay in their
parking lot. As we
pulled up we first came to an “Autopista Motel”.
Pam said “We’re not staying there!” (They rent by the hour.)
The D’Alba motel was next door. As we pulled in we saw a big sign, “RV
Park”. What luck!
We had
a secure, paved parking area. The next morning we found what a beautiful
place we had spent the night.
After a substantial breakfast of huevos rancheros we hit the road for Puebla.
We seemed to be climbing for the first hour. We reached 8,000 feet before
we dropped back down to about 7,000 feet and stayed there. We didn’t climb
very fast but we all made it. The road is not at all bad, except for a few
potholes.
Enroute we saw Pico de Orizaba, one of the four volcanoes around Puebla, and we
think the highest mountain in Mexico.
An hour or so later we bypassed Puebla and stopped at our destination in
Cholula, the Trailer
Park Las Americas.
2/19 Puebla
We were all set up in the
RV park by noon,
so we had a quick lunch and planned some housekeeping chores. A gas truck
drove by so we gave him our empty propane tank. They will return it the
next day. T
hen we located an internet café just a few blocks away and
checked our email. It was time for an oil change too. When we were
enroute to Catemaco we had stopped at a dealer and bought oil and a filter.
We use 5W30 oil and it is not common in Mexico.
We stopped at a refraccionario and they changed our oil for us. We had a
long discussion with the couple who ran the place. She was from San Miguel
de Allende so we asked them how best to avoid Mexico City in going to San
Miguel from Puebla. We poured over the map book and worked out a route.
We returned to camp and Chuck and Karen followed us back to have their oil
changed as well. While they were changing his oil, we took the truck to an
auto wash next door and got it cleaned. I should better describe it as
having the truck detailed. They really d
o a thorough job of cleaning a
vehicle inside and out. All for less than
five
dollars.
We still had some time left, so we went to visit the Talavera pottery factory
(Talavera de la Reyna). They really have some beautiful pottery. It
is also very expensive. This turned out to be one of those great shopping
stops for us – look, admire, but don’t buy anything.
Finally it was back to the RV park for the evening ritual of a glass of wine.
I started up the grill and put on some chicken while Pam fixed the vegetables.
We are able to get a WiFi connection from someone in the neighborhood so I can
upload the latest changes to our web site. Our external WiFi antenna is
working pretty well. It boosts our connectivity range so that we have been
able to get an internet connection quite frequently.
Tomorrow we will visit the pyramid, which is very close to where we are camping.
2/20 Cholula
When we
decided to go to Cholula my favorite hot sauce came to mind. There isn’t
any connection with t
he city other than the name. This suburb of Puebla is
the site of the largest pyramid in the hemisphere, larger even than the Pyramid
of the Sun in Mexico City. This city is also said to have
365
churches. That isn’t really correct – there are only 183.
When
the Spanish conquerors came here there were 365 temples, platforms, or pyramids
used as places of worship by the native people. The Spanish destroyed them
all and built churches. They created the legend that there were 365
churches replacing the native temples. The legend continues to this day.
The real story of the pyramid is much more interesting. When the Spanish
arrived they found a big hill, so they built a church on top. The picture
to the right shows the 400 year old church.
In 1928
there was a heavy rainstorm and much of the hillside was eroded. Enough of
the underlying structure was revealed to start an archeological investigation.
Beginning in 1931 archeologists began digging exploratory tunnels through the
hill. Ultimately there would be 8 kilometers of tunnels.
They found not one structure, but seven, each on top of another. There
were no artifacts or tombs, just platforms. They determined that there
were seven cultures beginning with the Olmecs who began building about 500BC,
and continuing to the Aztecs, who were the sixth culture to build. The
final builders were the Cholula Indians, who pulled off the most astounding feat
of all. When they learned Cortez was invading their territory, they
covered the entire pyramid with dirt to hide it from the Spanish. They
were successful, with their subterfuge lasting until 1928!
Our
guide (at left) took us through the tunnels, showing us the steps of earlier
pyramids. His story was interesting also. At 88 years of age, he has
been a tour guide here for 70 years. (The tunnels were begun 71 years ago,
so he has been here almost from the beginning.)
A few years ago a tomb was discovered, and determined to be post-classical
(after the Cholulas). Our guide said the bones were of a husband and wife.
He claimed they had the interesting practice of burying husband and wife
together. Whichever one died first, the other was buried alive alongside.
Charming tradition.
Two volcanoes, Popocatépetl and Iztaccuatl are just west of Cholula, just
visible in the haze (smog). Popo has been issuing occasional puffs of
smoke for the last 13 years. Chuck observed that we were walking through
tunnels under unknown tons of earth in what must certainly be a seismic zone.
We survived.
Puebla tour.
We
decided to “tour” downtown Puebla on foot. While we were in the zócalo we
were entertained by a couple of local dance groups. I guess they were
practicing for their appearance
in a Carnaval celebration. Each group
seems to have a different costume, according to a local tradition. These
groups all wore masks, which represented men’s faces.
We also
met two police officers who were on patrol. One was a woman, something we
find more and more common. They very happily posed for us.
Many of the dancers were teenagers, and they seemed to be having a great time.
This group posed for us also. We were the only gringos in the area and
they made us feel quite welcome.
We found a restaurant on the second floor of one of the buildings at the
edge of the zócalo and had an excellent, if a little pricey, dinner.
Time to hit the road again, for San Miguel de Allende.
2/22 San Miguel de Allende
We found a good location to park in San Miguel, the
La Siesta Hotel and
RV Park. It was on the outskirts and near a bus stop for access to the
town.
I think Pam was a little disappointed with San Miguel. It has changed from
the sleepy little artist’s town she knew to a thriving tourist center. I
suppose the artists ar
e still
there, but so are hordes of gringos. When we arrived at the park in
the center of town (in front of the Cathedral), it was full of what appeared to
be gringo retirees. Upon reflection, that pretty well describes us als
o.
The local police department has a post on the edge of the zócalo and a group of
policemen were out in front, apparently for shift change. I caught Pam
watching them – she always did have a thing for men in
uniform!
We also enjoyed finding a carving of a head above a doorway with the label “El
Grito”. This has special significance in celebration of Mexican
Independence.
The next day we drove a few miles out of town to a restaurant and spa ca
lled La
Gruta (the grotto). They have a grotto and several pools that are fed from
hot springs. The hottest water flows into the grotto, which is an enclosed
rock room. The water is probably more than 100 degrees in the grotto.
It is like being in a Jacuzzi and steam bath at the same time. Then the
water flows through a succession of pools, getting cooler in each pool. We
spent a few hours relaxing and had lunch in their restaurant. It was
definitely a “kick back” day.
2/24 Guanajuato
Guanajuato is a mining town, nestled in a valley. It is a place you
definitely do not want to drive through w
ith trailers. We stopped in an RV
Park south of town (Bugamville)
and found a bus to the center of town.
One of the fascinating things we learned about Guanajuato was their system of
tunnels und
er the city. They have turned more than 30 kilometers of old
mine
shafts into underground streets under the hill.
They have made a tourist site out of one of the old mines. We had to wear
hard hats to visit the mine, but that seemed more of a tourist gimmick than a
sign of danger. I was a little surprised to find that the mines are still
in operation, though at a lower depth. They are taking out a variety of
minerals, including silver, but not much gold. The mine we visited was
bought by a Canadian company who still operate the lower levels. We were
told that the street tunnels are just the top level. Below the streets is
another level that is used for sewage and storm water drainage, and below that
are still more levels that are being worked as mines.
We managed to find another nice restaurant for an excellent dinner. My
memories are of a very nice, clean, colorful town. We’d like to visit it
again.
2/25 Pátzcuaro
We
stayed at a nice trailer park at the edge of Pátzcuaro called
El Pozo. It is a
very nice park but you have to cross railroad tracks to enter. We didn’t
think much about this until later in the evening when we
heard the train
whistles. Several trains passed every night. We quickly became more
cautious about crossing the tracks.
The area around Pátzcuaro is known for copper works. We visited Santa
Clara del Cobre, a small town on the outskirts of Pátzcuaro where the principal
occupations appear to be manufacture or sale of copper bowls, plates and other
art objects (and a fair amount of tourist junk). Our visit was on a Sunday
so many of the stores were closed, but we still had plenty of opportunity to buy
things. We visited the local museum, which was closed also. However
there was one craftsman working and he told us how the copper is hammered into
bowls and other shapes, how they are treated to bring out different colors, and
how the different shapes are created. We bought a couple of bowls that we
will probably fill with dried flowers.
On
Monday we took a boat ride to the island of Janitzio. We teased Pam a
little about this trip being a pilgrimage of sorts, since this is where she met
her first husband at the day of the dead celebration when she was in college.
The
island is pretty much built up with houses and shops, and I would guess most of
the people live off the tourist trade. At the very top of the island is a
huge statue
of
José María
Morelos, hero of the independence. Inside the statue is a
continuous mural of scenes from his life. It is very spectacular. We
climbed up the inside to the very top to enjoy the view of the other islands and
of Pátzcuaro.
The lake is very shallow, about 25 feet at the deepest. It is famous
for its small white fish, considered a local delicacy. I think the lake is
pretty much fished out, as they now have a limited fishing season. The
traditional “butterfly” fishing nets are no longer used, as the catch is too
small.
We
returned to Pátzcuaro for some more shopping, particularly to visit the Casa de
Once Patios (house of t
he eleven patios). This is the former Dominican
Convent of Santa Catarina de
Sena.
Inside, dozens of artisans have set up workshops and stores. Most were
closed for the day (Monday is a day for recovering from the weekend), but a
couple of the
lacquerware shops were open. I enjoyed watching an artist
painting a plate with incredibly detailed flowers. I really wanted to buy
an example of their art but it was priced out of our range (after buying the
copper bowls).
We really enjoyed the old building, with its beautiful patios and
gardens. I didn’t get around to counting to see if there were really
eleven patios.
2/28 Guadalajara
Guadalajara is our last “big” stopping point of the trip. We stayed in an
RV Park call San
Jose del Tajo. From here we are more or less retracing our route home.
Pam and I had each been here a couple of times in th
e distant past, so we were
interested to see what had changed. Like everywhere else, it has grown.
I remember the periferico (the highway that circles the city) as being pretty
much out in the countryside and now the area is all built up. Our first
planned destination was the suburb town of Tlaquepaque. This small town
(as we remembered it) was full of small shops that offered bargains from all
over the country. Not any more!
Tlaquepaque is now completely surrounded by the city and prices in the stores
are sky high. Clearly the influx of gringos has turned this into another
tourist trap. We visited the city market and found a few things in our
price range.
For some reason Chuck and Bob elected to remain at the trailer park while I
drove the ladies to Tlaquepaque. I took a book along just in case I needed
to find a shady spot to have a beer and wait while the ladies shopped. I
managed to survive, although I wound up carrying several bags for Pam.
Late in the afternoon we all climbed on a bus to the downtown to visit the local
market and the zócalo. It was a longer bus ride than we expected, showing
just how far we were from the main part of town. We managed to reach the
Mercado a half-hour or so before closing time. It was mainly the
restaurants that were closing on time. Most of the vendors seem to stay
open as long as there are customers roaming the building. Bob managed to
find a couple of tequila glasses he liked and a fancy belt buckle, so he was
content.
As we exited the market we saw a line of horse drawn carriages, so we decide to
take an
hour-long city tour. It was just approaching dusk, so we saw the
lights come on at the public buildings.
We also saw a number of painted cows, all in different designs. It
reminded us of the painted pigs we saw in Sedona, Arizona. We learned that
the cows are a promotion of the Lala milk company.
After o
ur carriage ride through rush hour traffic, we had the driver drop us off
at the Plaza de los Mariachis. We thought we would have a beer and listen
to a song or two. The going price seems to be 10 pesos per song for each
member of the band. Our first song was eighty pesos (about 8 dollars).
We quickly realized a concert would turn into a pretty expensive event.
We enjoyed a couple more songs that were Pam’s favorites (she sang along) and
then we headed for the taxi stand at the market for the ride home.
It was a quick visit for such a beautiful city. Pam and I plan to return
one September to stay for a week during the annual Mariachi Festival.
3/1 Tequila
Tequila, the town, is where they make Tequila the liquor. The two big
distilleries here are Jose Cuervo and Sauza. The Cuervo company is
very well organized to promote their p
roducts to the public, with a facility
they call Mundo Cuervo 
(Cuervo World). We decided to take their
tour, which included substantial tasting opportunities. As the designated
driver, I needed to restrain myself (slightly), but everyone else
enthusiastically tried the various grades of tequila, ending with margaritas and
a passion fruit cocktail.
We followed the production process from the unloading of piñas, the large base
of the blue aguave
cactus. It seems to be a fairly simple process: cook
the piñas for 36 hours with steam; let them cool 8 hours; crush the cooked piñas
and let the juice ferment for a day. Then the “must” is distilled in a two
step process and voila, tequila. Of course the devil is in the details.
We learned that the Cholula hot sauce company is owned by Jose Cuervo.
They have a nice restaurant on the corner next to Mundo Cuervo, so we naturally
stopped for lunch.
Tequila is a nice clean little town, which has clearly prospered from the
tequila industry and all the tourists. As we drove out of town we passed
long line of trucks bringing piñas to the distilleries. It was a nice way
to spend the day.
On to the next stop.
3/2 Teacapan
The route from Guadalajara to Mazatlan is probably two-thirds toll road and the
remainder under construction. We were told of another area on the coast
about 50 miles south of Mazatlan called
Teacapan, so we decided to stop there
for the night. We are in a small RV park called
Villas Onac. Our
campsite is about 50 yards from the beach and we have full hookups (including
WiFi) so we have decided to stay two nights.
We
drove in to the town for dinner, in what was probably the nicest place in town.
We were the only customers and received excellent service. The food was
good also!
Today (Saturday) some of the other campers showed up. All the women seem to like
to get together to compare notes. Chuck, Bob and I all managed to busy
ourselves elsewhere.
We looked at the map and planned the remainder of our trip. From here we
go to
Las Glorias, on the beach near Guasave, where we will stay two nights.
Then to
San Carlos, on the coast just west of Guaymas. We plan to stay there
three nights. Then the last leg in Mexico, through Nogales to Tucson, to
spend our last night at
De Anza Trails, near Green Valley. Our last day will be a long one,
about 425 miles to home. That gets us home on Saturday if all goes well.
3/4 Las Glorias
After a long drive (330 miles) we arrived at our destination for the next two
nights. Our trip today was mos
tly by toll road, except for the last
25 miles from Culiacán to Las Glorias. We arrived at
Mr.
Moro’s RV Park without getting lost, and found they had plenty of room for
us. We picked spots close to the beach, settled in, and headed to the
poolside for margaritas.
It is a little windy tonight so we are cooking inside. We plan to barbecue
tomorrow.
Monday…. We started the day with breakfast at poolside. Pam had
Huevos Rancheros and I had the machaca con huevos. Then we took a short driving
tour of the town. The place is pretty dead on Monday. Now we know
why we saw so many
cars full of families coming from the town yesterday.
The town boasts one store, one hotel (with RV Park), about 50 beachside
restaurants and a Tecate deposito. The Tecate store looks like the newest
building in town.
This is another kick-back day. We bought a big filet yesterday in Culiacán
and some large shrimp in town this morning. Time to set up the grill.
Tomorrow is another long day – 280 miles to San Carlos – next to Guaymas.
We plan to stay three nights there.
3/6 San Carlos
We
took the bypass around Guaymas and drove through San Carlos to the
El Mirador RV Park. As we
turned the corner we found a caravan of RVs
on the street waiting to enter the park one by one. We were on a hill
above the park and could look down as the caravan began to fill up the spaces.
Pam and Karen walked ahead to the office to see if there would be any spaces
left for us. Fortunately they had room for us, but in small back-in spaces
that are perpendicular to the driveway. It was a real challenge to get
into the spaces, with quite a bit of driving over curbs, etc. As I
prepared to unhook, I noticed my rear truck tire was getting flat. We
pulled it off for inspection, and found that it was losing air at the valve
stem. After breakfast we will find a vulcanizador and get it repaired.
We had an excellent breakfast at the
Fiesta Real Hotel.
We had dropped the tire off to be repaired “in an hour”. When we returned
to pick it up, they had not even started on it. Oh well, Mexican time.
We decided to look over the area and check out the shopping.
We
quickly found prices to be some of the highest we have experienced – even higher
than at Tlaquepaque! At least the cost to repair my tire was reasonable.
A new valve stem fixed the problem.
Wednesday evening we drove up to the mirador to watch the sunset. We took
our wine with us, of course. We were delighted to see a large pod of
whales just off the coast. They were too far out to see what kind they
were, but they were moving slowly and spouting often, so we assume they had
their calves with them, headed north.
Thursday we drove into Guaymas and stopped near the zócalo. We arrived in
time to see
some of their celebrations of “Dia de las Mujeres” (women’s day),
sponsored by the local city government. We saw an attractive young couple
that seemed to be getting a lot of attention and learned he was the mayor of
Guaymas.
There were dozens of young women dressed in red business suits. Pam talked
to one and found that they were all city employees and that they always wear
red.
The crowd in the park was being entertained by dance groups, of which the best
was a group of young women dancing the water dance (I’m not sure of the proper
name for this dance). They balance a glass of water on their head while
they dance, demonstrating (most of the time) their balance and posture. A
few
glasses fell and broke.
Then they were joined by male dancers, also balancing glasses of water. In
one dance the boy simulated a bull and the girl a toreador. Quite
colorful. The dancers and the crowd were enjoying themselves.
We
located the city market – never seem to miss that! It isn’t very large, so
we didn’t spend too much time there. Just long enough for Bob to get lost.
In the photo to the left, I c
aught the rest of the group leaving the market
after an unsuccessful search for him. We decided to head back to the
zócalo to see if he had returned there. A few minutes later we found him
wandering along the street. He had returned to the parking lot where we
left the cars.
We topped off our gas tank and returned to the RV park. The girls all
headed for poolside to veg for the rest of the afternoon.
Tomorrow we head for Sonoyta to cross the border (Lukeville on the Arizona
side). We decided not to try to cross at Nogales since at least one of the
caravans here is planning to cross at Nogales tomorrow.
Sonoyta/Lukeville
The drive to Sonoyta was fairly uneventful. We stopped at the customs
checkpoint about 20 miles short of the border and had our vehicle permits
removed from the windshields. Our group sustained one more casualty
though. As we prepared to continue to the border, Chuck found another tire
with a bubble, his second for the trip. We put his spare on and continued
to Sonoyta.
Sonoyta is a small border town and Lukeville, on the Arizona side, is a gas
station, a small shopping center, and a large RV park. The RV Park was
nearly deserted and we followed the directions on the gate sign to find a place
to camp, and then go to the insurance office across the street to pay the fee.
We didn’t bother to unhitch, just filled and emptied the appropriate tanks.
Pam and I decided to get an early start Saturday and drive all the way to La
Mesa, while the others planned to stop overnight at Bob’s daughter’s place near
Ocotillo, in the desert.
Sonoyta was a great place to cross the border. We were a little
disappointed that we weren’t even asked what we were bringing back from Mexico.
We could have smuggled in more booze! This was one of those rare crossings
where you just drive up to the gate without a wait. We don’t see that much
anymore. .
We were on the road early Saturday and had an uneventful drive back to San
Diego. We really enjoyed Interstate 8 after driving in Mexico two months.
I even convinced Pam to drive for a few hours.
We arrived home in the early afternoon to a raucous welcome from our dogs.
Another great trip!
Click here to go to part one of
our Mexico Road Trip
