The Winter of 2009 - FL & Mexico

Yesterday was very festive around here. Many locals come to the beach, especially on weekends to run their cars, atv's, tractors, motorcycles, and whatever they have on the beach. Many of them stop at the outdoor bar here at the RV park for drinks and/or food. A live band playing Mexican music (of course - duh!) entertained most of the afternoon.

I think today and tomorrow will be relatively quiet now that the weekend is over.

It's 69 this morning at 7:00 am. I just looked online at the Elkhart Truth web site as I do every morning and see the current temperature is -7. When is the cold wave going to end?

It's pretty nice here where we are, but we keep hearing how much nicer it gets the further South we travel. Now that we have had a couple of nights to relax we are getting antsy to move on. We paid for four nights here, but don't be surprised if we leave early tomorrow morning. The next stop is 45 miles north of Mazatlan - a drive of about 325 miles. On Mexican roads that will be a long drive. The speed limit even on the 4-lane toll road is only 100 kph or 62 mph! The area we want to reach is Celestino Gasca, or just Celestino as it is referred to. Currently there are four RV parks that are all on the Ocean (two open for a few years, one since November, and one just last week has opened its gates. And we understand two more are in the planning stages. Some say that as the real estate in Mazatlan continues to increase in value more and more of the RV parks there will sell out to developers as many already have. Making Celestino the new RV'ers destination of choice.

So we want to spend a night or two there just to take a look at them and the surrounding area for possible future travel. Plus that will make the next drive to our final destination, Tres Amigos, a short two hour trip. So we hope!

Since I wrote the above we traveled into town for Pesos at the ATM and to Ley's (Safeway) supermarket for supplies.

Dinner tonight was crab tostadas, fish tacos, marlin stuffed chillies rellenos, and guacamole delivered to the RV from the restaurant. $24.00 US plus tip. Why cook?

The following is from an email I sent to Brother Tim with detail about our trying time Saturday getting here. It kind of wraps things up.

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This whole thing is a learning experience. So far, mostly very good. Our problems on what was actually our third day in MX was trying to follow directions in Spanish and we can't! Road signs, that is. We have a turn by turn map to follow but when you are in heavy traffic going through a big city even a good map can be of little use when you can't read the fucking signs! We followed our instincts, and not the map leaving San Carlos and that started our problems. Went through Guaymas on the free road and not the toll road. It saved me a few bucks but we had to negotiate our way through the city. Finally got back to the toll road and in the next big city, Obregon, our map said turn at a road by the name of Sinaola. We never saw that name so we missed the turn to stay on the toll road. So instead of bypassing the big city we went right through it. All roads lead south, but cities are to be avoided. Again, we eventually found our way back to the toll road, but a lot of stress. Well we were doing just fine, finally, and the RV park we are at now gave us a short cut to reach them to bypass the city of Navojoa. We had heard about construction in the area and called weeks ago to verify the proper way in. They told us no construction! Take the shortcut! Others told us not to but we believed the RV park owners. We hit a detour and could not understand the signs. Traffic behind us and no where to pull over. Had to make a choice. Don't know if it was right or wrong, but we went through a lot of narrow and crowded streets not knowing where we were going. Found a sign that pointed us where we wanted to go and it put us in a construction zone with the street taped off. I can't back up so I just went on through because I could see a road on the other side but the going, I could see, was going to be rough. It WAS! But I got through. Damaged my step to the motor home but I was able to hammer it back into operation. Knew we had to travel West and South so just made turns following those directions. The GPS does not work down here, but it does show me a compass heading. Anyway, we finally got back on the road we needed to be on and were back on track. But what a fucking anxiety trip!

We are on the beach, great views, great people, great food served here, and a nice little town about 20 miles inland for groceries and cash from the ATM. Plus the way south from here is a straight shot out of town. We were going to leave in the morning, but when the fellow campers found we were leaving early they begged us to stay and promised to show us a little more of the area. We gave in and will stay the fourth night. Only planned on two, but we are in no hurry.
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Hey Norm & Donna (our Las Cruces neighbors),
Thanks for the comment on the blog. Hope you find the blog interesting and maybe of value for your own Mexican Trip. We'll be back to The Hacienda and maybe we will see you again.
Buen Viaj

Buenos Noches,

Elena & Diego

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