January 22 to 28, 2009

January 22 to 28, 2009 ; Campeche ( city ), Campeche ( state ) to Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Thursday ; Campeche, Campeche to Uxmal, Yucatán

Today was another lovely, sunny, warm day. We left Club Nautico this morning, drove around the city of Campeche on the bypass ring road, then headed up the Gulf of Mexico coast on Mex. 261. We are now in the northeast corner of the Yucután Peninsula. I drove over an extremely unlevel railroad crossing at 50 MPH because I didn't see how rough the crossing was. We discovered later that many of the clothes hanging on clothes hangers in our bedroom closet bounced off the closet bar, making a big heap of clothes on the floor of the closet. And while we have very few glass items in the trailer, we did have a glass of raspberry honey from the Similkameen Valley back home that broke in a kitchen cupboard today, making a horrendous mess. ( sigh ) I guess I need to watch the road more closely, although I'm not sure that's possible. My eyeballs are already dried out from hours of driving without blinking, watching for topes.

After we had crossed from the state of Campeche into the state of Yucatán, Joanne started noticing that the older women we saw in the little villages were wearing a traditional style of Mayan dress called huipile ( ooeepeelay ). She wanted one ! It's a white dress with brightly embroidered neckline and hemline, above knee length, worn over a below the knee lace skirt / slip.

Our intention was to camp tonight at a campground called Camping Sacbe about 9 miles south of the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Uxmal ( ooshmahl ). When we arrived there, the campground no longer existed. Okay ... we decided that we would boondock in the parking lot of the Uxmal archeological site. We drove there and got ourselves set up. We had a late lunch and decided there was enough left of the afternoon that we would visit the ruins today. We had hoped to attend the evening sound and light show at the ruins, but it was cancelled due to annual maintenance.

The ancient Mayan city of Uxmal was built between 600 and 1000 A.D.. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the site, taking many photographs. While wandering around the archeological site, we occasionally saw very large iguanas, which did not seem very afraid of people. I guess they're used to seeing a lot of people. Kevin and I climbed to the top of the Great Pyramid. It seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity to be taken advantage of. As we exited the archeological site, there was a row of vendors selling, amongst other items, huipile dresses. Joanne selected a dress and lace skirt / slip. It's my birthday gift to her. Feliz Cumpleaños, mi amor !

As we returned to our rigs in the parking lot, the Adventure Caravans group of 18 rigs was arriving, and getting tightly squeezed into the parking lot. They had left Club Nautico a few hours later than we did. This will hopefully be the last day that we run into them, competing for campground space. They are staying here tomorrow, and should be continuing their travels a day or two behind us from now on. Eventually we'll lose them when they go into Belize and Guatemala.

Just as it was becoming dark, Joanne and I went for a walk around the luxurious hotel and restaurant complex adjacent to us. Very ritzy ! Very "rich and famous" secluded jungle hideaway kind of place. I prepared supper tonight, making huevos con cebolla, papas, y queso, an onion, potato, and cheese omelette. After supper I wandered over to the restaurant and sat at one of their outdoor tables to use their Wi-Fi. It was encrypted, but with some polite asking for the code from a waitress and waiter, I got online, sent and retrieved e-mail, and retrieved our MasterCard statements. When I returned to the trailer, Joanne was outside, in the dark, behind our rig, in the jungle behind the parking lot, feeding Bo's expensive dog food to a pregnant stray dog with ugly wounds all over the top of her head. HEY ... didn't I get chastised last winter in the Baja for doing something similar ?

Friday ; Uxmal to Piste / Chichén Itzá , Yucatán

Today was sunny and hot. This morning we discovered that yesterday's railroad track incident also resulted in a one gallon water jug that broke inside a cupboard, a spaghetti jar that broke, and a pot handle that broke. We left Uxmal and headed north on Mex 261 to the city of Merida, then east on Mex 180 to the town of Piste. Our goal for today was to visit the ruins of the Mayan city of Chichén Itzá on the edge of the town of Piste. When we arrived at Piste, the only campground in town, adjacent to the Stardust Inn, was closed. The Stardust Inn also seemed closed. Joanne finally found somebody deep inside the hotel, and we negotiated a no services / boondock stay in the closed campground. Hey ... it's Mexico ... everything is negotiable ! We walked to the site of Chichén Itzá , perhaps a bit more than a mile from where we were boondocked.

Chichén Itzá is a large, well preserved archeological site of a Mayan city that existed from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. We spent the afternoon wandering around, taking photographs, and dodging the many vendors of Mayan souvenirs. The other archeological sites we have visited were not populated with vendors, but this one certainly was ! Particularly interesting was the Group of a Thousand Columns, made up of carved stone colonnades on two sides of a huge plaza. The main pyramid on the site, El Castillo, had an amazing acoustic oddity. When you stood in front of the pyramid, and clapped your hands together loudly, it resulted in an echo off the pyramid that sounded like a musical note played on a stringed instrument.

By the time we had finished exploring Chichén Itzá , and walking back to our "campground", it was late afternoon and we were pretty hot and tired. We sat outside, chatting and cooling off until it became dark.

Saturday ; Piste / Chichén Itzá , Yucután to Cancún, Quintana Roo

Last night Bo kept us awake for much of the night. Poor little fellow was suffering from a lot of itchy bug bites. Well, as are we all. Yesterday evening while we were sitting outside chatting, Bo was near us, on his tie out. We were in a "closed" campground, with unkempt grounds. For the second time on this trip, while Bo sits near us, he gets bitten by a lot of bugs. And ... so do we. The tropical jungle bugs don't "hurt" when they bite, like a mosquito, so one is not aware of being bitten until much later, when each bite produces a large, itchy red bump. And poor Bo gets bit all over his abdomen and inner thighs when he sits beside us on the long ... grass, I guess it would be called. My legs and Kevin's legs are covered in insect bites also, from sitting around in lawn chairs while wearing shorts.

Late last night, before going to sleep, I was outside looking at constellations. The Big Dipper was turned vertical, with its handle pointed straight down, the last star in the handle just barely above the horizon. And Cassiopeia was upside down, looking like an "M" instead of a "W". Very weird !

Today was sunny and hot. A few miles after we left Piste / Chichén Itzá we came across an accident on the highway that was blocking the narrow two lane road. A flatbed tractor trailer had dropped a rear trailer tire off the pavement, and while being wrestled back onto the road, the tire was ripped off the trailer, the load of concrete beams spilled off, and the trailer flipped over, tearing itself loose from the tractor. At least that prevented the tractor from flipping also, so the driver was unhurt. But it created a real mess on the road.

We have become accustomed to seeing Pemex stations frequently, all with diesel. Today I got caught off guard. I had allowed our diesel to run lower than I usually do. When we arrived at the town where I was expecting to refuel, the Pemex station had no diesel. I didn’t have quite enough diesel to make it to the next town where diesel was available. I ran the “distance to empty” down to 20 km. / 12.5 mi. then put in my emergency 2½ gallons of diesel. Made it to the next Pemex with diesel, but not with a lot to spare. My fill there cost 1001 pesos. I was certain that the pump attendant would stop at 1000 pesos, but nooooo ... he went to 1001, hoping, I suppose, that I wouldn’t have a 1 peso coin, and I would end up giving him a 9 or 19 peso tip. Better luck next time, amigo ... I had two 50 centavo coins.

Across the street from the Pemex was a propane place, so while Kevin refilled their motorhome with diesel, I drove across the street to refill a propane tank. There was no propane available. I couldn’t understand the man’s explanation. Later in the afternoon, near Cancún, I got the propane tank refilled. We drove through the town, parking by the main square to have lunch.

While refilling with diesel, two men came by and were very interested in our truck and trailer. They asked me how much the truck cost. I told them $60,000. That didn’t mean much to them until one converted it to pesos, using an exchange rate of 14 pesos to the dollar. Then they both looked stunned. At the town square, children came by to see our two rigs, a one ton dually truck with a large fifth wheel trailer, and a large Class A motorhome. They were awe struck. I suppose the children in the little villages don’t see many rigs like this. One little boy came over and had a lot to say to me, quickly. I told him that I didn’t speak much Spanish. I asked if he spoke English. No ! As I stepped into the trailer, he spoke perhaps the only English he knows. “Give money ?” I wasn’t impressed ! As I was putting Bo into the trailer, two children came by and were eager to visit with Bo. A little gringo perrito wearing a bandana, and attached to a leash, is quite a novel sight to them. They asked his name. I told them. Then Teddy came out of the trailer, slowly walking down the trailer steps and onto the sidewalk into the square. Practicing my Spanish, I told them “This is my cat. His name is Teddy. He’s an old cat.” Then, as an afterthought, I added “He’s an old, grey cat”. I didn’t understand their Spanish response, but the looks on their faces said “Well ... we can see that !” HA HA HA !

After lunch we continued on to Cancún. We crossed from the state of Yucatán into the state of Quintana Roo. We drove over the “top” of the Yucatán Peninsula, with the Gulf Of Mexico shoreline on our left, to the north, then around the northeast “corner” of the Yucatán Peninsula, to Cancún and the Caribbean Sea. After a long, difficult journey through the city, we finally arrived at our campground, on the coast of the Caribbean, a few miles north of Cancún, in the suburb of Puerto Juarez, where the ferry to Isla Mujeres is. When we arrived at our campground, Trailer Park Mecoloco, we were assigned two sites right next to Rudy and Regina, friends of Kevin’s and Sandy’s. They met and became friends a few months ago in Livingston, Texas, at the Escapees park. We got set up in our sites, then visited with Rudy and Regina until it became dark and we were hungry for supper. Rudy and Regina are from Switzerland, but have lived for many years in Paraguay.

Sunday ; Today was sunny and hot. As planned, we spent most of the day getting caught up on chores and errands. When we came to Cancún many years ago as fly in tourists, we had a great winter getaway vacation. Now, as RV'ers, Cancún holds very little appeal for us. We don't want to spend more than a few days here. Kevin and Sandy want to stay longer. I'm not yet sure how that will get resolved.

This morning I did some minor maintenance, taking care of Mexico wear and tear on the trailer. I did an obedience session with Bo. It went very poorly. He was feeling ill, and very itchy. It was almost as if he had never heard an obedience command before. We gave him a bath. He was covered in itchy red welts from bug bites. He had one large, scabbed wound on the back of his cheek, under his ear. We clipped the hair off it, the scab came off during bathing, then we applied Aloe Vera gel to it. He had a blood blister, or embedded chigger, or perhaps even a pocket of chigger eggs, under one ear. We were unable to pluck it off with tweezers, or pop it open by squeezing. We'll watch it closely. Poor baby Bo. It's no wonder Mexican dogs always seem to be in such pathetically poor condition. I printed and reconciled our MasterCard statements I downloaded a few days ago.

Last night Kevin invited us to join him and Sandy on a lunch outing with Rudy and Regina to some beachside restaurant about 30 km. away. We initially accepted, then after some discussion changed our minds.

There are two Cancúns. There is the real city, Ciudad Cancún, where half a million people live, and the Zona Hotelera, the Hotel Zone, a seven mile stretch of wall to wall, all inclusive luxury hotels on a barrier island along the Caribbean. We went grocery shopping this afternoon in downtown Ciudad Cancún. It's the first time we've had to unhitch Lanoire from Harvey since we've entered Mexico. While driving in yesterday we noticed two large grocery stores. We went to Chedraui because we've already seen what a Mega is like. Chedraui is more than a grocery store. The centre is a department store, and the grocery store is all around the periphery. Lanoire would not fit in their indoor parking garage, so we had to find a parking spot on the street, not that easy to do. But the excellent selection of pan dulce in the panaderia made it worthwhile. HA HA HA ! An interesting feature of the large Mexican grocery stores is that the bag packers are elderly volunteers working for tips.

Next door to our campground is an archeological site of Mayan ruins. It's one of the smaller, less well known, less visited sites. But what's really unusual is one of the ruins is outside the boundaries of the archeological site, in our campground. Our trailer is parked about 50 feet from the remains of an ancient Mayan building.

I spent the evening working on my photos from Uxmal and Chichén Itzá .

Monday ; Today was sunny and hot. We cancelled our plans to spend the day on Isla Mujeres, because Bo was very ill. He was a bit ill yesterday, then very ill overnight and today. We're uncertain as to why he's ill. Perhaps he ingested some untreated water while we were giving him a bath. We prepared some boiled ground beef and rice to feed him, and I added a little bit of apple juice and Cipro to it. I reluctantly paid for a day of Wi-Fi at this campground so I could update my blog and retrieve my e-mail.

I spent much of the afternoon working online. We trimmed Bo's dew claws. I read and napped. I miss having regular afternoon naps. Late in the afternoon we sat outside and visited with Kevin and Sandy after they returned from a day of sightseeing around Cancún. They are not as impressed as they thought they would be, and are ready to leave the day after tomorrow. By supper time Bo began to improve, and actually had a bit of an appetite, which was a good sign.

We found out that the very efficient and friendly young man who manages the campground is the owner's son. We never see his father because ... he's in prison for 12 years for shooting some politician. I wonder if that's the typical Mexican way to express dissatisfaction with elected officials ? HA HA HA !

Yesterday in the grocery store we wanted to buy some ground beef. They didn't have any, so we bought hamburgesa, formed ground beef / hamburger patties. I barbecued them tonight. They were awful ! The meat was ground to the texture of ... like the inside of a hot dog. And while Joanne boiled one this afternoon for Bo's recipe, she thought that there seemed to be blood or blood meal added to the patty, as well as little chunky bits of gristle. I guess the Mexican definition of what meat should be ground up for hamburger, and how it should be ground, is very different than American / Canadian. I shudder to think what parts of the cow these hamburger patties were made from. They reminded me of a term we used in the pet food industry. We used to describe pet foods made of poor quality ingredients as being made of "lips and ***holes". Notice I didn't laugh, since that's likely what our hamburgesas were made of !

Well, that was certainly an odd, new experience ! I was sitting outside late at night working on my computer when a large frog jumped up and landed on my laptop screen. Scared the dickens out of me !

Tuesday ; Today was mostly sunny, hot, humid, and a bit windy. Bo was still ill overnight and today, although not as severely as yesterday and the night before. We spent the day on Isla Mujeres / Women Island.

This morning we drove in the Limey's toad to the nearby passenger ferry terminal to catch the ferry to Isla Mujeres. Isla Mujeres ( Eesla Moohairrays ) is an island a few miles offshore, about 4.5 miles long by 0.4 miles wide. I don't know exactly how far offshore it was, but the ferry ride was about half an hour. Once there we walked around the main village for awhile, sightseeing and negotiating rates for the rental of a golf cart for the afternoon. The posted rate was 500 pesos, and they readily discounted to 450 pesos. It took a lot of haggling for me to get a rate of 400 pesos, which was my objective. Golf carts are the preferred method of transportation for tourists on the small island.

We took off our shoes and walked along the beach, wading in the emerald blue waters of the Caribbean. We looked at the menu of many restaurants before deciding where to have lunch. I selected a restaurant that featured pescada Tikin Xic a las brasas ( con ensalada y orroz ) / Tikin Xic barbecued fish ( with salad and rice ). Tikin Xic ( Teekeen Cheek ) is a unique fish preparation method / recipe, found only on Isla Mujeres. Kevin, Sandy, and I all had Tikin Xic. It was very good. We each also ordered their two beer special. I tried Montejo ( Montayho ), a brand of Mexican beer I had not had before. Geeeeezzzzz ... I can't handle two beers ! I drank only 1½ , and I was ... affected.

After lunch we picked up our rented golf cart. Joanne was the only one who had not drank beers over lunch, so she became the designated driver. Sandy navigated, Kevin and I sat on the rear facing rear seat, and acted silly while we explored the entire island. We had an interesting experience when we saw a unique house that we wanted to take photos of. The house was designed in the shape of a sea shell. We stopped to take photos, and while we were taking photos, the gringo man by the swimming pool in the yard invited us into the yard to take photos. It was a three generation family from Wisconsin on a winter vacation. They had found this vacation rental home on the Internet, and were intrigued by its design. They were so enamoured of it that they invited us inside the house to take photos of the shell shaped master bedroom and shell shaped master bathroom adorned with shells embedded in the walls. Very interesting. We chatted with them for awhile about the full time RV lifestyle.

We drove completely around the island on the main road that circles the island. We stopped frequently to sightsee and take photos. Halfway through the afternoon Sandy took over the driving. She drives a golf cart better than Joanne. HA HA HA ! At 5:00 P.M. we returned our golf cart and walked to the main beach in town. We stopped at a food vendor cart preparing marquesitas, and each couple shared one. The vendor cooked a thin sort of a crepe, then put banana slices on it, poured con leche ( sort of a sweet cream ) or cajeta ( goat’s milk caramel ) over the sliced bananas, rolled it up, and heated it on his crepe grill until the bananas melted. As soon as he took it off the grill and handed it to us, the crepe hardened quickly to the texture of an ice cream waffle cone. It was really quite good ! We waded a bit, then sat at a picnic table, digging our feet into the soft, white sand, watching the sun set while we chatted. Around 6:30, as it became dark, we walked back to the ferry terminal and caught the 7:00 P.M. ferry back to the mainland. Gee ... I don't really like being on a crowded small ferry at night.

Wednesday ; Cancún to Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo

Happy 55th Birthday to Joanne / Feliz Cumpleaños cinquenta cinco a mi esposa

Ooooo ... Tikin Xic heartburn overnight. Tikin Xic colon cramps overnight. Bo was slightly improved, but still ill today. Poor Bo !

Today was sunny and hot. We prepared for departure this morning and departed from Trailer Park Mecoloco, heading south through Cancún, then south along the Caribbean coast to Playa del Carmen, about 100 km. / 60 miles south of Cancún. Even in a city the size of Cancún the road signage was poor, making it somewhat difficult and confusing to get through the city and out heading to the south. Today it was Kevin's and Sandy's turn to lead, so they had to do the difficult navigation work.

We arrived around noon at Playa del Carmen and found Paa Mul, our RV park. It's a very nice, although expensive RV park, right on the Caribbean beach. Very, very lovely. After some discussion, we decided to commit to staying for a week. We got set up in our sites, had lunch, then I went to the office to pay. On the way, I found Simon and Paul, the two fellows from England that we have met twice previously in the last couple of weeks. They are now joined by another friend, Lee, who flew to Cancún to meet up with them, and join them on their Mexican RV adventure.

Simon, Paul, Lee, Kevin, Sandy, and we sat around our campsite, chatting away the entire afternoon. I finally did go down to the office to pay, and sneaked over to the restaurant to order a birthday cake for Joanne. I have a very long tradition of secretly arranging for a birthday cake to be served to Joanne after her birthday dinner in a restaurant. After the sun set, we all went for dinner to the restaurant that is part of the RV park. We had a lovely meal, albeit expensive, while being entertained by a musical duo, a husband and wife from Clear Lake, Manitoba. I arranged for them to sing Happy Birthday to Joanne when her cake was served.

This rather large, and mostly full, RV park is populated almost entirely with license plates from British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec.

DSK

January 15 to 21, 2009

January 15 to 21, 2009 ; Veracruz (city), Veracruz (state) to Campeche ( city ), Campeche ( state ), Mexico

Thursday ; Today started out cloudy and warm, with intermittent light rain. We had planned to go to downtown Veracruz first thing this morning by bus, but Sandy wasn't feeling well, so we delayed going until mid-morning. We took Bo for a long walk on the beach. We did some off leash, long distance obedience work. Very well done, Bo, good dog !

We chatted for awhile with a young man from England who is in this campground. Kevin and Sandy enjoyed chatting with another Brit. Recently he cut his hand while in the United States. He needed emergency treatment at the hospital, the cut in his hand requiring five stitches. The bill was $5000 ! ! !

In Mexico there are no defined bus stops. One just flags down the bus. We had received instructions from the campground on how to use the bus to get into Veracruz and back. Three different bus routes pass this campground. We wanted the Penacho bus. We stood on the highway, and waved our arms at the busses as we saw them approach. The first bus that came by wasn't the Penacho service. The second bus that came by a few minutes later didn't even stop. Guess that wasn't the Penacho service either. We waved at the third bus that came along a few minutes later. It stopped, we hopped on, and away we went to Veracruz. Geeeeezzzzzz ... buses don't even slow down for the topes. What a tooth jarring ride ! The bus followed the highway into Veracruz, through the suburb of Boca del Rio, and into downtown Veracruz. We got off at a central park, Parque Zamora, and began looking for a bathroom. We had to ask directions three or four times but we eventually found a public bathroom. From there we wandered over to the Mercado, the central market area, a few square blocks of indoor / outdoor vendors of all sorts. We wandered around for awhile, marvelling at the wonders of a foreign ( to us ) marketplace. The Mercado was divided into sections of sorts. We walked around the restaurant / food section and decided on where to have lunch. We had wonderful tortas, large sandwich type things made with thick flat breads heaped with grilled meat, cheese, and an assortment of grilled and fresh vegetables. Kind of a Mexican version of a sub sandwich, I guess. From the fruit stand behind the torta shop we got a huge glass of freshly squeezed melon juice. It was a great lunch !

After lunch we continued wandering around. Joanne and Sandy bought some fresh vegetables and fruits, including a lovely, ripe papaya, half for us and half for Kevin and Sandy. A cheese vendor gave us each a sample of Queso Hualco, a stringy cheese. It was very good ! We bought some, as did Kevin and Sandy. I was fascinated by the fresh meats / butcher section of the Mercado. Various chunks of beef and pork hanging from hooks overhead. Fat, yellow chickens laid out on the counters. We found out last year that chickens in Mexico are not the same as in the United States and Canada. First of all, the chickens are very fatty. And second, they're yellow because in Mexico marigolds are used as chicken feed. The fish shops had all manner of fish and seafoods laid out in tubs on counters. The entire fresh meats / butcher section of the Mercado had an unpleasant odour. I guess that's not surprising for an area filled with unrefrigerated meats of all kinds sitting out in the warm, humid air. After we had had enough of the Mercado, we walked around downtown. WOO-HOO ... found a panaderia, and stocked up on pan dulces. WOO-HOO ... found a dulceria ( candy store ), and bought some Mini-CocoNugs and Nugs Crujientes.

Kevin wanted to walk along the malecon, the waterfront walkway on the beach. As we walked the ten blocks or so to the beach, the rain changed from mist to drizzle. By the time we got to the beach we were beginning to feel wet. We walked a few blocks, then decided to return home. We began to walk back towards Parque Zamora to catch a bus. As we walked I saw a bus approaching marked Antón Lizardo, the name of the small village near our campground. I waved, it pulled over, we hopped on. Easy as pie ! By the time we got back to Campamento El Rey, the rain had become steady, and it continued to rain for the rest of the day.

When we got home, I was giving some attention to Bo when I discovered a series of inflamed bumps on his abdomen. Each one had a little black dot in the centre, and when I probed, I realized they were extremely tiny, little ticks. HEY ... that must be chiggers ! I plucked about two dozen or so off him. Each one left a big red welt. Poor Bo. He is allergic to flea bites, and gets flea bite dermatitis. Same thing with chigger bites, obviously. We treated the big red welts with Aloe Vera lotion, then treated him with a flea and tick spray. I wonder if he got the chiggers from the beach, or the grassy sand dune area that is the campground ? I wonder how many more are on him that we haven’t found yet. Or how many more he’ll get before we leave here tomorrow ? We’ll examine him regularly for the next few days, I guess.

After we got home, I was hungry for a late afternoon snack. I had Queso Hualco with some crackers, and a galleta coco con lima ( lime coconut cookie ) from yesterday. MMMMM ! By evening, the rain and wind had increased to create quite foul weather.

Friday ; Veracruz ( city ) to Catemaco, Veracruz ( state )

EEEUUUWWW ... I don't like fresh papaya ! Today was raining most of the day. The part of RV life that I dislike the most is preparing for departure in the rain. Oh well, at least it was warm rain. We were awakened this morning at 6:15 A.M. by the damn caravan of 18 rigs loudly preparing to depart. We left Campamento El Rey about 9:30, backtracked through Boca del Rio and Veracruz to Hwy. 150, then headed south on Hwy. 150 and Hwy. 180 along the coast of the Gulf Of Mexico, curving around the "bottom" of the Gulf Of Mexico, to Catemaco. Tonight we are in a lovely campground on a river in the tropical jungle.

As we drove through a small village today there were a number of stands on the side of the road with vendors selling something in glass jars. We stopped to take a look. They looked like jars of preserved berries of some sort. The vendors called them "hoba". In Spanish that would be spelled "joba" or "jova" because "b" and "v" sound similar in Spanish. Our dictionary had no such word. The woman looked in the Spanish side of our English / Spanish dictionary, and could not find the word. I asked, in Spanish, if they were sweet or sour. She said sweet, opened a jar, and gave each of us a sample. I thought they were sweet pickled olives of some sort. Joanne thought they were sweet pickled cherries of some sort. We asked, in Spanish, if they were olives. No ! We asked, in Spanish, if they were cherries. No ! Aw, what the hell ... we bought a jar for 15 pesos, just slightly more than a dollar. Continuing to drive, Joanne came up with the idea of using them in a chicken breast over rice recipe. She invited Kevin and Sandy to join us for dinner, as they had agreed to share the purchase of the jar of "jobas".

We arrived at our campground in mid-afternoon. The Hotel Tepetepan ( & RV Park ) on the banks of the Tepetepan River, in the tropical jungle surrounding the town of Catemaco. We got set up in our sites, then took care of some chores before going out for a brief exploration of the town with Kevin in their toad. Sandy stayed home to do laundry. We drove around the little town, found a grocery store, and restocked a bit of groceries. The RV park has Wi-Fi, although it won't reach our trailer. I sat outside on the roofed patio doing catching up on e-mail and updating my blog. We had Kevin and Sandy over for our chicken breasts simmered with the jar of "jobas" and "joba" juice. It was ... well ... okay. A bit odd, I thought. Joanne, Kevin, and Sandy seemed to quite like it.

( sigh ) Repeatedly today I found chiggers embedded in Bo, and plucked them off him. They have now been on him for 24 hours or more, and so they are getting filled with blood, expanding to many times their original size ( like their much larger Canadian cousins, wood ticks do ), which is about the size of the head of a pin. And I found one flea on him, also. Poor Bo ! Welcome to Mexico, Bo.

Joanne's last words before going to sleep tonight were ... "AHHHHH ... Yomi Lala and a Nugs Crujiente ... what a great way to end a day". HA HA HA !

Saturday ; Happy 10th Birthday to Joanne's niece Madeleine

Darn ... another rainy day. I slept late, which was nice. For the last week of travelling, I have been getting up early, and haven't had my regular afternoon naps.

Joanne did some laundry this morning. This campground has a washer and dryer. Late this morning when the rain finally stopped we went for a hike through the neighbouring jungle with Kevin and Sandy. We looked at many interesting birds. We watched fishermen on the Tepetepan River. We saw bananas growing, and what we think was probably avocadoes. When we passed by the occasional residence, the young children, perhaps five years and younger, seemed awe struck. I think the young ones had not seen white skinned people before. We could hear one father encouraging his young daughter to go out to the trail to take a closer look at us. A few minutes after we had passed, the little girl came running down the trail with a bag of peanuts for us. How sweet. We gave her two pesos, about 15 cents. Back at our campground I noticed local townspeople walking home from a service in the iglesia ( church ) down the road from our campground. I gave a CANADA pencil to a little girl walking with her mother and sister. The little girl was too shy to take something from a big gringo, but the mother took it and thanked me. As soon as it was in the mother's hand, the girl was eager to have it.

After lunch we went with Kevin and Sandy in their toad for an afternoon of exploring. We drove into the town of Catemaco, and followed the shoreline of Lake Catemaco, the beautiful lake the town is beside. Then we drove about 7 miles southwest to the 150 foot waterfall at Salto de Eyipantla. We walked down about 260 stairs to get to the base of the waterfall. Quite lovely ! Apparently a movie by the name of Apocolypto with Mel Gibson had some scenes shot at this waterfall. I've never heard of that movie. We climbed back up the 260 steps and then walked over to see the top of the waterfalls. As we were driving back to Catemaco we passed through a small village where we saw a panaderia. STOP ! Ahhh ... bought some pan dulce and some sandwich buns. As we drove through Catemaco we saw another panaderia. STOP ! This one had chocolate muffins and chocolate loaves displayed in the window. Ahhh ... bought more pan dulce. What a great day ... two panaderias. HA HA HA !

Back at Hotel Tepetepan we sat out in lawn chairs until it got dark, chatting with two young men from England that we met at the last campground, near Veracruz. They are spending an extended period of time touring North America in two small motorhomes. Kevin offered me a beer, and we sat around drinking a beer and smoking hand made little cigars made locally. One of the young British fellows got a small package of these little cigars from a local store that wasn't able to make exactly the correct change for a purchase he made, so the shop keeper gave him the little package of cigars to make up the difference. Hey ... it's Mexico !

Sunday ; Catemaco, Veracruz ( state ) to Villahermosa, Tabasco

Today was the first sunny day we've had in Mexico since entering nine days ago. Last night a gecko climbed into a power box in the campground, blowing out the power to some of the sites, including Kevin’s and Sandy’s. As you might expect, the gecko did not survive the incident. And we were a bit delayed departing this morning because I really needed to get some online work done this morning on Wi-Fi which was not working last night. All infrastructure services in Mexico, such as power, water, Wi-Fi, etc., are extremely unreliable. They are not functioning more often than they are. That's just a fact of life in Mexico.

I have just noticed, while outside at 7:40 P.M., that a very large spider is spinning a very large and intricate web between the roof of our trailer and the mirror on the Limey's motorhome.

We have noticed that the vast majority of RV's travelling in Mexico have Canadian license plates. Of the dozen or so rigs in the campground we were in last night, one rig was American, and they lived in Vermont so close to the Canadian border that they could be honorary Canadians. Three rigs ( with American license plates ) were people from England, and the rest were Canadian. I guess Americans just really don't like Mexico. And / or the Canadians and Brits are that much more adventurous.

We continued heading "down" Mex 180. We are now travelling east "under the bottom" of the Gulf Of Mexico, headed for the Yucatán Peninsula. Guatemala is just a bit southeast of us. Our big challenge of today was getting through the city of Minitatlán. There were no signs directing us on the highway route through the city, and there were a number of "T" intersections where we had no idea whether to go left or right. We followed the main flow of traffic and eventually made it through the city.

We stopped for the night at a campground on the outskirts of Villahermosa. It's a s***hole of a campground, even by Mexican standards. It's part of a balneario, a swimming pool / water slide complex. It's nothing but a mud pit. The sites are so shallow a camper van could back all the way into a site and still be sticking out onto the muddy road. We each had to "parallel park" our rigs, each taking up about six sites. Doesn't matter, there's no other RV's here ... thank goodness. Given the less than ideal conditions, Joanne refused to pay the fee of 250 pesos, telling them we would pay 200 pesos. They could either accept that or we would leave. They accepted the 200 pesos. That's my girl !

There's no sewer connections, there's no water connections, the electricity is 15 amp incorrectly wired outlets. RV's require 30 or 50 amp outlets. Before plugging into any Mexican electrical outlets, I test them with a circuit polarity tester device. It's rare to find 30 or 50 amp outlets in Mexican campgrounds. Usually there are only 15 amp outlets. It's extremely rare to find an outlet that is correctly wired. My circuit polarity tester indicates that all the outlets here are "open ground" / not grounded. My 30 amp RV cord is plugged into a 30 amp to 15 amp 3 prong adaptor, which is then plugged into a 3 prong to 2 prong adaptor on which I have fabricated a ground wire connection with an alligator clip, to attach to something to ground the circuit. Thanks to the advice provided by Baja Winters, the caravan company we travelled with through the Baja last year, and Church's Mexican Camping book, I am fully equipped to handle all circumstances ... I hope.

The rough roads and innumerable topes have created a lot of "kitchen chaos" in our trailer, similar to our experiences driving through Newfoundland. While driving, drawers and doors pop open, utensils and dry goods fly out, etc.. The latch on one of the bedroom closet doors broke today. At the end of each long, difficult day of driving I have to take a few deep breaths, try to relax, and remember "Flexico".

I have just noticed ( at 10:00 P.M. ) that the constellation Orion is directly overhead. That doesn't seem right, does it ?

Monday ; Villahermosa, Tabasco to Isla Aguada, Campeche

Well, today was our first really great day in Mexico. Great weather, good roads, great adventure.

Today was sunny and warm. This morning before departure I checked the air pressure in the truck tires. That's my regular Monday preventive maintenance task. I sat down on the muddy grass beside the truck, and began to unscrew the metal cap off the metal valve stem of the outside rear dually tire, and ... ZAP ... I was electrocuted ! ! ! Thanks to the ungrounded, incorrectly wired electrical outlet, our entire truck and trailer rig was electrified. When I sat down on the wet muddy grass, and touched the metal valve stem, providing a path to ground through me ... ZAP ! I had heard stories of that happening with RV's, but it was a first for me.

Prior to leaving the s***hole campground, I chatted briefly with a retired couple from Steinbach, Manitoba, just east of Winnipeg, who were tent camping through Mexico. We drove into Villahermosa and found our way to Parque Museo La Venta, a combination of zoo and museum. Getting our rigs parallel parked on the street was a bit of a challenge, more so for Kevin than for me. I got the first and easiest parking spot, Kevin missed the opportunity and had to drive some distance through rush hour traffic, make a retorno ( u-turn ), drive back, make another retorno, then park. Not very easy in a large motorhome in a Mexican city during rush hour.

The zoo portion of Parque Museo La Venta was an interesting tropical zoo. The museum portion was our reason for being there. The Villahermosa region is the centre of the ancient Olmec culture. The outdoor walking path museum contains many Olmec "Heads", the statues of heads carved into rock by the ancient Olmecs. We enjoyed walking around the zoo portion, and enjoyed seeing and photographing the Olmec Heads even more.

We left Villahermosa shortly before noon, and drove 236 km. / 147 miles to Isla Aguada ( Eesla Agoowahdah ) in the state of Campeche ( Compeshay ). It took us about 4½ hours, which was much faster than we've been able to travel on previous days. The roads were mostly very good, fresh asphalt, wide, with paved shoulders, not very many towns, and therefore not very many topes to slow us down. When we passed from the state of Tabasco into the state of Campeche, we had to stop at a food inspection station. The state of Campeche imposes restrictions on foods being brought into the state. We knew that, and had adequately prepared by eating all prohibited foods over the last few days. The polite inspector who came into our rig searched our fridge and freezer. He asked about the oranges in our fridge. I told him they were mandarins we had purchased in Mexico. He was satisfied. He searched the fridge and freezer looking for eggs, poultry, and pork. We had only beef, which is allowable. The polite inspector who searched the Limey's rig was dissatisfied with the mandarins because he felt that some of the skins showed blemishes. He required them to peel their mandarins, and discard the peels at the state border. They were allowed to keep the peeled mandarins.

We came around the "bottom" of the Gulf Of Mexico, and entered the Yucatán Peninsula. We are now headed northeast into the Yucatán, still following the Gulf Of Mexico coast line. The Caribbean Sea is on the other side of the Yucatán. Guatemala and Belize are now a bit to the south of us.

We arrived in Isla Aguada, a fishing town on the coast with lovely beaches. We found our way to the only campground in town. When the American owner refused to honour the Passport America rate, despite being listed in the current Passport America directory, and verified by Kevin on the Internet two days ago as a Passport America affiliated campground, I threw a hissy fit and refused to stay. I knew from Church's Mexican Camping book that there was a nearby abandoned large ferry dock that RV'ers sometimes use for boondocking. We found our way to the ferry dock, and with some careful manoeuvering through a somewhat narrow entranceway, we parked at the far end of the ferry dock, all by ourselves, looking out over the water and the adjacent beaches. It was lovely !

We sat out in our lawn chairs, chatting, being amused by children from nearby homes playing on and around the dock and beach. The children, mostly boys, were fascinated by our rigs. A huge trailer that is obviously our home, and the Limey's huge motorhome, obviously their home. The children were very amused by a little gringo dog, on a tie out cable, hooked to the Limey's toad, wearing a bandanna, and with very eager social skills. Not at all what these kids perceive when they think of "dog". A few of the boys practiced what little English they knew by pointing at Bo and pronouncing "doag". And they were even more amused and stunned by seeing a cat in a tent. HA HA HA ! Some small children who were playing at the water's edge, catching little crabs, came over and offered some of their little crabs to Joanne. HA HA HA ... how sweet, but no thank you ... no, gracias.

Finally came the highlight of our day. Beside the ferry dock, on the beach, was a small family operated restaurant, Restaurante Familiar Memin, ( the Memin Family's Restaurant ), an open air restaurant under a thatched palapa. Since we had not spent money on camping fees, we decided to treat ourselves to dinner. We struggled to decipher the menu. We were doing pretty well, actually. Our Spanish ability has increased tremendously in the last ten days. Joanne was having difficulty understanding the price of the fried fish dish on the menu. We couldn't understand the waitress's explanation. She left and came back with a large platter with three different sized fish on it, each with a different price written on a scrap of paper. She explained that we could share, if we wanted. Great ... we ordered the largest of the fish, for all four of us to share. Pescado frito al gusto / seasoned fried fish. While waiting for the fish to be prepared we ordered tres cerveza y uno limonada / three beers and a lemonade. She served complimentary home made tortilla chips with freshly made mole ( pronounced "molay" ). Mole is a paste made from mashed bananas, some kind of unsweetened chocolate or cocoa bean powder, and crushed chili peppers of some kind. It's very unusual. I've had it before on a chicken dish and did not like it. But with the tortilla chips it was great ! It was so good I went and asked for another serving. The waitress and the cook, whom I think was the waitress's mother, looked extremely pleased with my request for "mas, por favor".

I asked what kind of fish it was. It was Robalo. The fish had been gutted, but otherwise left intact. It was thinly coated with a seasoning, then fried, then cut into large pieces, so we could share. It was served on a large platter with slices of tomatoes, cucumbers, and strong onions. It was accompanied by a ceramic bowl full of freshly home made tortillas, a staple of most Mexican meals. Oh, my goodness ... what a simple but wonderful meal ! ! ! Our total bill came to ... wait for it ... 180 pesos. About $13.50, for a meal and drinks for four ! For dessert, we ate Joanne's freshly made chocolate and cranberry sauce cake served with ice cream provided by Sandy, sitting in our lawn chairs in the dark, on the ferry dock beside our rigs, looking out over the dark water and starlit sky.

A great ending to a great day ! We need more days like this.

Tuesday ; Isla Aguada to Campeche ( city ), Campeche ( state )

Today was a gorgeous, sunny, hot day. We started our day by sitting out on our ferry dock "patio", enjoying the brilliant morning sunshine and warmth, and watching pelicans fish. Before departing at mid-morning we went for a long walk along the beach. I picked up some pretty shells and a very nice piece of sponge. Bo romped in the Gulf Of Mexico and played with the Mexican dogs that followed us along, as always. He's now smelling kind of "fishy". And the inside of the truck is now very sandy. A young boy asked us what was the name of our perrito ? In Spanish, "dog" is "perro", and the suffix "ito" indicates "little". Hey, Bo, down here in Mexico you don't even qualify as a full fledged perro. HA HA HA ! By the way, I discovered that somebody ate the small starfish that I had put on the back floor of the truck a few days ago to dry out.

We continued on Mex 180, the "free" road, trying to avoid Mex 180D, the toll road. Sometimes we have no option but to use the toll road, and the tolls are outrageously expensive. Yesterday our tolls were over 300 pesos ( $25 ), and we used the free road as much as possible. We are now driving northeast on the Yucatán Peninsula heading towards Cancún, still following the coast line of the Gulf Of Mexico. Today's drive was 160 km. / 100 miles of driving alongside endless beach, emerald green water, and wide, white sand beach. With nothing ... no towns ! We've noticed that the roads in the state of Campeche are considerably better than they have been in the other Mexican states we've driven through. And less litter. Not clean, by our Canadian standards, but less litter nonetheless. Perhaps the Campeche state government is more efficient than the others ?

The last few days we have occasionally seen fairly large, bright green lizards, and fairly large, bright green snakes on the road. Obviously we try to avoid hitting them, as much as possible. I did run over a snake. Sometimes we have to "straddle" the lizards, hoping that they stay still as the vehicle passes over them.

We arrived at our seaside resort campground, Club Nautico, on the outskirts of Campeche, in early afternoon. By Mexican standards, it's a great campground. Nevertheless, getting into our site proved to be an almost insurmountable challenge. The campsite has properly wired 30 amp outlets with 30 amp breakers, water, and sewer. But ... as usual, the water pressure flows at a trickle, perhaps a flow rate of a few cups per minute. When we arrived here, the Adventure Caravans group of 18 rigs was already here, but it's a large enough campground for them, and still lots more. After wrestling into our site, getting set up, and having a late lunch, I worked on getting our fresh water tank refilled, a lengthy process given the poor water flow rate. Kevin and Sandy went off to play a game of tennis. Joanne, Teddy and Bo all sat outside in the shade of the Tamarind tree on our campsite. I did some minor maintenance chores, fixing things that have broken and tightening things that have loosened over the last eleven days. I took my laptop outside and did computer work. AHHHHH ... what a beautiful afternoon ! ! !

Late in the afternoon we joined Kevin and Sandy in their toad and headed into Campeche for some sightseeing and grocery shopping. I brought along an empty five gallon water jug, hoping to find an agua purificado ( purified water ) place to refill our jug. We drove through the village of Lerma and into the city of Campeche. We drove around, semi-lost for quite awhile, looking for a supermercado / supermarket. Found an agua purificado place. A five gallon refill cost doce ( dosay / 12 ) pesos y cinquanta ( sinkwahntah / 50 ) centavos, a little less than a dollar. Asked a man for directions to a supermarket. He was no help. Asked a woman for directions to a supermarket. She gave us good directions to the Mega supermarket. It was really ... well, Mega ! I bought some fresh fish fillets for supper. They were a fish called Bagre Oriental. Never heard of it. But we had also never heard of the fish we had yesterday, Robalo. Two fillets cost 16 pesos y 68 centavos, about $1.25. Bought lots of pan dulce. I've decided after seeing the open air market in Veracruz, and this large supermarket in Campeche, that I will only buy fresh meats, fish, eggs, etc. at the large supermarkets where the fresh products are properly handled and refrigerated. By the time we left the grocery store it was already dark.

I barbecued the fish, seasoning it with Tony Chechere's, a Cajun seasoning mix from Louisiana. It turned out very nicely. I spent the evening working on photographs from the last few days. Late in the evening we sat outdoors chatting with Kevin and Sandy.

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm. This morning I lent Kevin my drill so that he could do more modifications to the plumbing vent cap that he had installed in the Rio Grande Valley that is proving to be unsatisfactory. They are getting waste holding tank odours in their motorhome as they drive. We sat around for awhile enjoying the fine weather.

Mid-morning we headed into the city of Campeche with Kevin and Sandy in their toad. We parked outside the fortress walls of the historic "old town" contained within the fortress walls. We wandered around inside the fortress walls, which contain the original old city of Campeche, built about 1540. We visited a church and a cathedral. We wandered outside the fortress walls along the waterfront to walk a bit on the malecon. We found our way to the Mercado, the open air marketplace. Most of the vendors were selling fruits and vegetables.

On the inside of the Mercado we found a "food court" of sorts. We wandered around looking for something interesting to have for lunch. At one of the vendors I saw a woman sitting at a table eating an interesting looking bowl of soup. We sat down there and I ordered a bowl. Joanne ordered a fried chicken plate, although it wasn't anything like what you would expect to be defined as a fried chicken plate. Kevin and Sandy liked the look of the soup, and ordered it also. When it came I tried to get the waitress to explain it to me. I was having difficulty understanding, so a nearby woman helped. She explained it a bit better, but when I asked her to write it down on a notepad, she told me she didn't know how to write. Oh ... I hadn't expected that ! It was sopa de mondongo y menudo y balzita, a tomato broth based beef tripe soup made with stomach, intestines, and either spine or tail bone. It was ... well ... interesting ! Probably won't be on Tim Horton's lunch menu anytime soon ! HA HA HA !

After buying a bag of tomatoes for siete ( seeyetay / 7 ) pesos, just a bit more than 50 cents, and a pineapple for doce ( dosay / 12 ) pesos, a bit less than a dollar, we returned to where the toad was parked. It was my turn to drive. I offered to split the toad driving with Kevin when we go on outings, because the driver has little opportunity to sightsee. We found our way to the agua purificado place so that Kevin and Sandy could refill a water jug. We left the city, refilling the toad with fuel on the way back to Club Nautico, our campground.

While Kevin and Sandy went to play tennis, we took Bo for a walk along the waterfront. The Club Nautico resort has a concrete wall along the water, so there's not really a beach, just the rough surf crashing into the concrete wall. We spent the late afternoon and early evening sitting outside relaxing, me working on photographs on my laptop, Joanne doing crosswords, Kevin and Sandy reading. I spent the evening updating and analyzing my investment files with data I downloaded a few days ago.

DSK

January 8 to 14, 2009

January 8 to 14, 2009 ; La Feria, Texas, U.S.A. to Veracruz (city), Veracruz (state), Mexico

Thursday ; Today was sunny and hot !

( sigh ) The ongoing saga of Daniel's colitis afflicted large intestine. After five days of an illness causing severe diarrhea, I have now been constipated for three days. A long term bout of diarrhea produces inflammation within my large intestine severe enough to block it. It's happened before. During the summer of 2005 while we were WorkCamping as campground hosts at West Hawk Lake Provincial Park, mismanagement of a similar incident resulted in me spending three days in the hospital in Kenora, Ontario. Since then I’ve been wiser about managing colitis and the hospital provided me with medication I had not had before, to manage this type of blocked intestine problem. I began taking that medication yesterday morning, and the problem was rectified ( hopefully ) by late this afternoon.

Today was a day for shopping in Harlingen. Lots of shopping, to replenish / reprovision for 2½ months in Mexico. Last year we found, while travelling through the Baja, that many of the household products and toiletries that we use are not available in Mexico, and we didn’t like some of the Mexican alternatives ! Mexican mouthwash tasted like kerosene ! And the deodorant was like battery acid ! First stop was PetsMart for dog food, cat food, and dog treats. Then while Joanne went to Dollar Tree I went to Hobby Lobby and bought something I needed to repair a broken magic prop. Then Sally Beauty Supply for Joanne’s hair care products. Then, of course, ( sigh ) the long, rest of the morning at Wal-Mart. I took my blood pressure at Wal-Mart. HMPH ! Abnormally low after being ill.

I refilled with diesel, again at a lower price. Every fill for the last three months has been at a lower price than the fill before. Joanne was hungry. I most certainly was not ! No appetite yet ! We went to Whataburger, where Joanne bemoaned that it might be the last time she ever eats at a Whataburger, since we don’t anticipate returning to Texas at any time in the foreseeable future. Hey, babycakes, don’t worry. In ‘N Out Burger in California is better anyway. HA HA HA ! Last stop was H-E-B for groceries and to refill our two five gallon drinking water jugs.

Back at Kenwood, after finding storage spots for all the groceries and supplies ( well done, Joanne ), and taking care of some other minor chores, we chatted with our next door neighbours for awhile. They are leaving tomorrow morning headed for the Daytona 500 in Florida. We took Bo for a walk, and garbage to the dumpster, and the last of the Christmas turkey scraps for the dumpster kitties. As soon as Joanne walked into the dumpster enclosure with a plate of turkey scraps, the little black kitten, the shyer of the two, came running over. "WOO-HOO ... THE TURKEY LADY IS HERE." HA HA HA ... how quickly they learn. We spent some time in the swimming pool and hot tub, the first time in the New Year that we felt healthy enough.

I helped Joanne with a large load of laundry. We didn't attend tonight's sock hop at the recreation hall, but I did enjoy the music while I was sitting in the clubhouse working on Wi-Fi. Very late in the evening, as we were coming out of the laundry room with a large load of clean laundry, the entertainers from tonight's sock hop were coming out of the adjacent recreation hall. One of them was an Elvis impersonator. As we climbed into our truck, and he climbed into his SUV, Joanne said "hey ... Elvis has left the building" and erupted in hysterical laughter at her wit ( rolling my eyes ).

Friday ; Today was sunny and hot. This morning we began to prepare for departure tomorrow morning. When I took the barbecue off its little table to put it away in the trailer pass through storage compartment, it dribbled grease all over the concrete patio pad beside the trailer ( sigh ). It was difficult cleaning grease off concrete. We left for McAllen, to meet Kevin and Sandy at the McAllen Travel Show at the McAllen Convention Centre. On the way there we made a quick stop at Wal-Mart in Weslaco to buy something I forgot to get yesterday. We spent about an hour at the McAllen Travel Show, then went for lunch at the food court in Simon La Plaza Mall. The travel show exhibitors were from all over Mexico and the southern U.S., mostly resort hotels, cruise lines, and tour companies.

When we got back home to Kenwood RV Resort I climbed up on the roof of the trailer and swept off the tops of the slides. A lot of leaves and twigs and stuff had collected up there over the last couple of months sitting in one place. We did a bit more preparation for departure tomorrow morning. We went to have a final happy hour visit with John and Eve. I took the laptop to the clubhouse for a final session on Wi-Fi before we leave. I have no idea when I will next have access to the Internet.

After supper, I repaired a magic prop that broke on Christmas Day. Well, it's repaired, but imperfectly. I will try to buy a replacement, although magic supply shops are few and far between. I used a strong carpet stain remover to clean the terrible stains on the bedroom carpet from the Damp Rid container I knocked over a few weeks ago. The stains appear to be removed, but we'll see how it looks after a few days of oxidation. I know from experience that some stains keep reappearing after a few days of oxidation.

Today was our first truly healthy day of the year. And what great weather today. How wonderful to be in a place where one can be outside after 10:00 P.M. in the first half of January, comfortable in just shorts, no shirt. We're ready to begin our Mexico adventure tomorrow ! ! !

Saturday ; La Feria, Texas, U.S.A. to La Pesca, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Today was mostly cloudy and hot, very windy when we arrived at the beach on the Gulf Of Mexico at La Pesca. As we prepared for departure this morning our new friends John and Eve came to say goodbye. We left Kenwood RV Resort, drove south on FM 506, then east on Military Hwy. 281 to Los Indios where we met Kevin and Sandy at the Valero gas station. As we crossed the Free Trade Bridge from Los Indios, Texas to Lucio Blanco, Tamaulipas, I bought enough American cigarettes at Brady's Duty Free to last for our entire Mexico trip. On the Mexico side of the bridge, we were stopped and inspected by a Mexican customs & border guard. We drove a few hundred feet forward and were stopped and inspected again by two Mexican soldiers. Apparently Customs and the military work completely independent of one another in Mexico. After all the inspections we parked and went inside for an hour and a half of bureaucracy. We obtained tourist cards and vehicle importation permits. There were lots of forms to fill out, lots of documents we had to produce, lots of photocopying to be done and paid for, and lots of fees to be paid. All at different windows with different agents. While still at the border crossing we bought pesos. The exchange rate was not quite as good as what we got in Hidalgo a month ago, but close enough. We were already entering Mexico and I didn't want to do any more exchange rate shopping.

Finally, we hit the road in Mexico. South on Hwys. 98, 101, and 180, then east on Hwy. 70 to the little fishing village of La Pesca where we boondocked overnight on the beach. We drove 363 km. / 226 miles today, a bit too much. We passed through countless small towns and villages. Frequently there were people on the side of the road selling things ; bags of corn, bags of pecans, bags of pan dulce / cookies, bags of freshly caught shrimp. There were a number of legless beggars at stop signs and at large topes ( TOH pays ... large Mexican speed bumps found frequently in Mexico, at all town entrances, at all school zones, at all pedestrian crosswalks, and often for no discernible reason ). The oddest "seller" was a man on the side of the road who held his "merchandise" up above his head as we drove by ; a live fox ! ! ! Squirming like crazy as it was held up above the man's head. Why would somebody buy a live fox ? ! ? Why would somebody sell a live fox ? ! ? Welcome to Mexico !

The procedure for "Mexican passing" is like this ; the vehicle being passed moves halfway onto the narrow shoulder ( when there is one, which is infrequent ). The passing vehicle straddles the centre line while passing. Oncoming vehicles move halfway over onto their narrow shoulder. No need to wait for oncoming traffic to clear. Just move onto the centre line and begin to pass. Everybody moves over. I'm okay with that process. I've learned to cope with it quite well. But today ... first day in mainland Mexico ... I encountered "double Mexican passing". I began to pass a slower vehicle. He moved halfway over. I was on the centre line passing him. The vehicle behind me passed both of us ! The vehicle behind me went all the way over, half in the oncoming lane, and half on the oncoming lane's narrow shoulder ! ! ! There we were, three vehicles abreast, highway speed, entire highway's width filled by the three vehicles. I don't know about the other two guys, but I certainly was hoping that there wasn't going to be any oncoming traffic anytime soon. This wasn't done on a straight stretch of road with long visibility. This was just done on the basis, I assume, of "let's hope for the best", by the guy behind me.

There were a lot of wrecked cars coming from the United States down into Mexico. Entire vehicle transport trucks loaded with wrecked cars. And lots of wrecked cars being towed along behind another vehicle. Sometimes there were wrecked cars being towed along behind other wrecked cars that were being driven. There seems to be quite an industry in Mexico rebuilding wrecked American cars.

The highways we drove on today varied from excellent to fair to poor to atrocious ! From fresh, smooth asphalt with narrow but paved shoulders, to dirt and gravel trails. We travelled comfortably at 100 km./hr. and uncomfortably at 40 km./hr.. Welcome to Mexico ! Hwy. 70 passes through the little fishing village of La Pesca, then ... just becomes the sand beach on the Gulf Of Mexico. We are on the beach tonight on a sandspit between two long rock jetties.

Oh, for crying out loud ! He always catches me off guard on the beach at night ! I just took Bo for a late night bathroom walk along the beach. Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, FLIP ... and he's rolling on something dead !

Sunday ; La Pesca to Tampico, Tamaulipas

Today was mostly cloudy and mild. The beach at La Pesca is a very popular sport fishing location. La Pesca translates as The Fishing. There were many people fishing last night when we arrived, some fished at night, and there were many fishing again by dawn or shortly thereafter. The Mexican version of "a fishing weekend" is very different than our concept of one. Some small groups of men, and some families, were obviously fishing for the weekend, Saturday overnight to Sunday. But ... no campers, no tents, no facilities of any kind. They just slept in their vehicles.

The Limeys had difficulty leaving the beach this morning because their motorhome has such a wide turning radius, and with the toad attached, the motorhome can't be reversed. They eventually had to disconnect the toad, and back up the motorhome. We drove the arduous 50 km. / 30 miles west on Hwy. 70 back to the main Hwy. 180 at the village of Soto La Marina. We refilled with diesel at Pemex in Soto La Marina, then continued south on Hwy. 180. The road today was not in very good condition for a major highway, but hey, it’s Mexico. We made it to the large city of Tampico, where we found our way to Bonitto Inn Hotel, which was listed in our Mexican camping directory as having space available for a few RV’s. Well, that’s true, but ... ! Getting our large RV rigs in there was quite an ordeal. And we have electricity, no water, no sewer ... for 300 pesos ( about U.S.$25 ) per night ! That’s an outrageous price by Mexican standards. The electricity is only 15 amps, and we had to run long extension cords over to the motel units. Oh, well ... our caravan leader on last year’s trip down the Baja taught us that RV’ing in Mexico requires “Flexico”.

We were tired, and not particularly motivated to explore Tampico. We spent what little was left of the afternoon after our arrival sitting outside, drinking tea made by Sandy and eating Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada fruit cake supplied by Joanne. While Joanne prepared supper, I downloaded and processed some photos I took this morning. After supper I went to the hotel’s lobby and used their Wi-Fi signal to send and retrieve e-mail. And I dumped our shower’s “grey water” waste holding tank on the hotel’s lawn. For 300 pesos, I felt entitled ! While I was working on Wi-Fi Joanne and Sandy went to the large supermarket across the street. WOO-HOO ... Joanne found her beloved Yomi Lala ( chocolate milk drink ).

Monday ; Tampico, Tamaulipas to El Tajín, Veracruz

Today was cloudy and mild. We drove 328 km. / 205 mi., and it took 8 hours ! Today was, without a doubt, the most challenging driving I've done in 4½ years of full time RV travelling. And it's only our third day in Mexico.

This morning, before leaving the Bonitto Inn Hotel, with very difficult manoeuvering, I backed the rig over to where there was a water spigot and refilled our fresh water tank. With full fresh water, and empty shower waste tank, we are ready for boondocking for the next two nights.

We are using Mike & Terry Church’s Mexican Camping book as our bible. They explain that large RV’s are not allowed to drive through Tampico, and all that do are fined. So, following the guidance in their book, we drove around Tampico. It took about 2 hours to drive 40 km. / 25 miles. Terribly bad roads, large, rough topes frequently, through industrial waterfront areas. Lots of big, stinky trucks. I don’t think commercial trucks in Mexico get tune ups regularly, if ever. Once around Tampico, we had a couple of hours of driving through an area of tropical jungle, with many small towns and villages on the route. We stopped for lunch in a small village whose name I didn’t get. While Joanne prepared lunch, I tried to chat with three children waiting for their school bus. They spoke no English. I was able to tell them in Spanish that I was from Canada, and I gave them each a CANADA pencil. We carry pencils imprinted with CANADA and the Canadian flag to give to Mexican children, who seem to really appreciate getting a pencil from a gringo foreigner.

After lunch we drove through an area of mandarin orange orchards. We stopped at one of the many roadside stands to buy some freshly picked mandarins. WOW ! ! ! I’ve never had mandarins as sweet and juicy as this before ! The vendors wrap twine around the stems, and sell a long “string” of twenty mandarins for 10 pesos. That’s less than a dollar ! We stopped to refill with diesel on the outskirts of Tuxpan. The police officer hanging around the fuel pumps tried to “bum” a cigarette from me. I said no. As my friend John back in La Feria would say ... “buck a gringo” ! That’s our code for the objective that many Mexicans seem to have to “rip off” each gringo that they meet.

Three times today we drove through toll booths. Once we paid the same as Kevin and Sandy, once we paid more, and once we paid less. One of the things that really irritates me about Mexico is the inconsistency in application of "rules". They often seem quite arbitrary, as and when applied to gringos ! Buck a gringo !

We missed the turnoff to Poza Rica, seeing it just as we zoomed by. We had just enough time to tell Kevin and Sandy, who were behind us, on our two way radios. They made the turnoff and waited for us. We had to drive 12 km. before I could make a u-turn, and even then, a very difficult one. The worst ordeal ... indeed, nightmare ... of the day was driving through the city of Poza Rica during rush hour. The traffic was gridlocked, with vehicles a few inches away on all sides. It was stressful ! And I thought driving through downtown Montreal was bad ? ! ?

Once through Poza Rica we made our way to the El Tajín archaeological ruins site where we parked overnight in their parking lot, which obviously doubles as a cow pasture. After we got parked, a man from the archaeological site came over to collect an overnight fee from us. We deserved a bit of a “happy hour” so we got out our lawn chairs, and I poured myself a very stiff Canadian rye and Diet Coke. I don’t drink much, so one large drink was more then enough to relieve my stress. And then some ! There was a pack of three dogs roaming around the large parking lot / cow pasture. Typical Mexican dogs, medium sized, non-descript mixed breed, brown dogs. One was a female, and she came over to visit ... to the extent that Mexican dogs will interact with people. She lay down near us, interested but afraid. With much effort I managed to persuade her to come close enough to take a dog biscuit from me.

At dusk, Sandy noticed there were “glow worms” near the trees at the edge of the pasture. We call them fireflies. She had only seen them previously in New Zealand. We have them in Canada. I enjoyed chasing and catching them as a child. I took Sandy and Kevin over to the edge of the pasture and caught fireflies for them so they could see what they looked like up close. Maybe I shouldn’t have made that drink quite so strong ? HA HA HA !

We will probably spend two nights here, spending all day tomorrow exploring the El Tajín ruins. I think they’re either Aztec or Mayan. We’ll find out tomorrow.

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm, a bit humid in the afternoon. We spent the day exploring the ruins of the ancient city of El Tajín.

This morning while I was outside waiting for everyone to get ready I was joined by a pack of six dogs. Eventually three came close enough to be petted, and then I couldn't get rid of them. Bo was very envious of their free roaming status, as he always is of Mexican dogs. Bo wants to be a Mexican dog, unleashed, roaming free in a pack. The six dogs obviously accepted Bo as worthy of joining their pack. They all came over and each urinated on the lowest step of the trailer. Bo didn't much like that.

The city of El Tajín existed from 900 to 1150 A.D.. It was a political and religious centre for the Totonac civilization. We wandered around the main part of the site, covering about one square kilometre. I got separated from Joanne, Kevin, and Sandy, so spent half the morning exploring on my own. Thanks a lot, folks ! ! ! The main building on the site was the Pyramid Of The Niches, a stone pyramid with 365 niches in the walls, one for each daily offering to El Tajín , the God Of Thunder and Lightning.

Just before lunch time we returned to the square at the entrance to witness a performance by Los Voladores. This ancient ritual of the Totonac people from the Papantla region takes place daily. Los Voladores / The Indian Flyers launch themselves from the top of a 100 foot pole and slowly descend, swinging in arcs around the pole, as the ropes tied around them and wrapped around the top of the pole unwind. One Voladore stands on the top of the pole and plays music on a small wind instrument and small drum while four Voladrores "fly" down.

Since I had become separated from the group, I had explored more than the rest of the group. They wanted to return for more exploring after lunch. I read and napped. When they all returned to our boondock camping site in the parking lot, I did some maintenance on our trailer, then helped Kevin do some maintenance on their motorhome. Kevin and Joanne did some trip planning for tomorrow. I took Bo out for a walk through the parking lot / pasture to visit a burro. Oh, boy ... Bo's never been in a campground with a burro before.

Joanne and I went for a long walk into the nearby small village. We wandered around, seeing the people, men dressed in traditional rural Mexican worker garb, white, baggy trousers pinched around the ankles, baggy white shirt, and straw hat. We looked at the homes and small businesses. About every third building was a small enterprise, usually an aborrote, a very tiny combination of convenience store, restaurant, and bar. We went into the only real restaurant in town and checked out their menu. We watched a man making a clay pot. We've always enjoyed getting away from the "tourism" and seeing the "real" place.

Wednesday ; El Tajín to Veracruz ( city ), Veracruz ( state )

Today was mostly cloudy and warm. We left the parking lot of El Tajín early this morning. We have found that travelling by RV in Mexico is excruciatingly slow. Poor roads, very poor signage, lots of towns and villages to pass through, and countless ( seemingly endless ) topes. Most of today was on Hwy. 180 heading south along the coast of the Gulf Of Mexico. Shortly after leaving El Tajín we passed through the old city of Papantla. Narrow, winding, congested streets made progress slow. We drove through areas of coconut plantations. We stopped in the village of Vega de Alatorre to see what the roadside vendors were selling. Coconut cookies ! Very, very good coconut cookies, made with shredded coconut, sugar, and a variety of fruit juices ; pineapple, lime, strawberry, and "con leche" / with milk. Just before noon, as we passed through the village of Santa Ana, people were standing in the middle of the road selling tamales. Fresh, still hot from the oven. I stopped and bought a bag of cuatro ( four ) tamales con pollo ( chicken tamales ) por vente ( for twenty ) pesos, about $1.50 ! Gee, a pack of tamales like that in the Rio Grande Valley was $6.49 ! We shared our tamales with Kevin and Sandy. Well ... and Teddy and Bo, of course. We leaned last year in the Baja that Teddy and Bo both looooove tamales. HA HA HA !

Much of the afternoon was spent driving along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico known as Costa Esmeralda / Emerald Coast. Little tourist towns along the beaches. Despite the horrible condition of the roads, there were many toll booths along the road. I wonder where all that money goes ? ! ? The tolls are killing us, costing $15 to $20 per day of driving. I had a dispute at one toll booth about what the man was charging us. The dispute ended when a Policia Federale wandered over with his machine gun. Kevin had exactly the same experience at the next toll booth over from us. Hmmmmm ... can you spell "mordida" ( bribe / kickback ) ? ! ? The Limeys had a cupboard door pop open, and a cup fell out and broke. We had a one gallon jug of water burst in a cupboard from the rough roads. We drove around the large city of Veracruz, and stopped for the night at a campground in a beach town suburb south of Veracruz called Antón Lizardo. The sites at Campamento El Rey ( King Campground ) have electricity and water only, no sewer. The electricity flows at less than 100 volts, and the water is intermittent. We had to search through a number of campsites using my electrical polarity tester before we found two that had correctly wired outlets. After getting set up in our sites we went for a long walk along the beach. First time Bo has been off leash in a long time. He really enjoyed running and romping on the beach, finding little starfish. Fortunately he decided after the first bite of the first starfish that they don't taste all that great ... do they, Bo ?

Shortly after we arrived at the campground, an Adventure Caravans group of 19 rigs arrived. I'm glad we arrived before them, and had our pick of sites. After our beach walk, we sat out in our lawn chairs and watched the commotion surrounding the large motorhome that had become stuck in the sand while trying to manoeuver into a site. We chatted briefly with a couple from Ontario who are with the caravan, about the trials and tribulations of travelling in a caravan. They are actually not a caravan of 19 any longer. One rig turned back to the Unites States this morning, after 4 days in Mexico. They had damaged their suspension from driving too fast, and had given up on Mexico.

It takes at least three things to RV through Mexico with a large rig. The rig must be in excellent mechanical condition, the driver's skills must be extremely good, and ... one needs a lot of courage to accept and survive the myriad of challenges of a journey through a third world country. Many, if not most, RV'ers are lacking in one way or another. And those who do have what it takes ( and some who don’t ) almost universally choose caravan travel. I'm proud of our abilities, enabling us to travel independently, with one other rig only. With hindsight, I'm very glad that it is Kevin and Sandy that we are travelling with.

DSK

January 1 to 7, 2009

January 1 to 7, 2009 ; La Feria, Texas

Thursday ; Happy New Year / Bonne Heureuse Année / Prospero Año Nuevo

Sick ! Very, very sick ! Food poisoning !

The last 24 hours we have been sicker than we have ever been in our lives. Joanne became violently ill at 11:30 P.M. last night, and the worst for her lasted about 10 hours. My metabolism must be slower. I became ill at 6:00 A.M., and the worst for me lasted about 15 hours. We have been in bed for 24 hours, getting up hourly or so to stagger to the bathroom to vomit or pass diarrhea. Mercifully we have not needed the bathroom at the same time. Joanne managed to find the strength to take Bo for a brief walk this morning around 9:00 A.M., and to phone Kevin and Sandy to cancel our plans to meet today to plan our Mexico trip. I struggled out of bed and took Bo out again about 8:30 P.M.

Joanne was so violently ill during the night that I considered taking us to the hospital. But ... I also realized that when we were going to need the bathroom, we had about 5 seconds warning. I decided that staying in the trailer, with a bathroom beside the bedroom, was probably as good as it was going to get. I doubted whether either of us could survive a trip to the hospital without getting sick on the way.

And I’m a little angry ! That someone would be so careless in their food preparation or handling for a potluck. We know RV’ers who refuse to eat at potlucks for this very reason. I used to say that I never met a potluck that I didn’t like. Well ... obviously that’s no longer true.

Now, after 24 hours, we are both dehydrated, extremely weak, have headaches and extreme fatigue. And I’m still having bouts of diarrhea every few hours. We’ve been trying to sip on water whenever we wake up, but it just flows right through. I’ve just remembered that we have Cipro, an antibiotic. It was prescribed to us by a physician specializing in travel medicine when we were going to Costa Rica, to be taken in case of food or water poisoning. I’ll take one. Maybe it will help.

Friday ; Around noon, after about 36 hours in bed, and about 40 hours without food, Joanne got up, prepared and ate a slice of toast and a scrambled egg, then promptly went back to sleep. Shortly thereafter I decided to attempt to get up, eat, and resume functioning. I prepared and ate a fried egg and a slice of toast. I was hoping that, after 40 hours without food, eating a bit would make me feel better. It didn't. Bo needed to be walked. I took him for a slow walk. I thought some fresh air would make me feel better. It didn't. Teddy had been pestering me to be put in his tent outside. When I went through the door he followed, sneaking out behind me. I didn't see him coming out, a gust of wind yanked the door out of my grasp, and it slammed shut on his tail. ( sigh ) Sorry, Teddy. I examined his tail, and he seemed okay, tail bruised but not broken. Disgusted with life, and still sick, I went back to sleep !

In 1971, when I was 16 years old, I had dysentery for 4 days while camped in a tent on the side of Mount Fuji in Japan, during a typhoon. I'm trying to decide whether or not this food poisoning was a worse experience. It's hard to tell, my memory may be flawed after all these years. Either way, it's a close call !

Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm, a bit windy. We both felt better this morning, although still a long way from healthy. Nevertheless we phoned Kevin and Sandy and told them we were coming over for the Mexico trip planning session that we cancelled two days ago. Time to get it done ! While walking Bo I found out from our friend Eve that she has been sick like us for the last two days. And she didn't attend the New Year's Eve potluck. SO ... maybe our illness was a flu and not food poisoning ? ? ?

We drove over to Kevin's and Sandy's RV park in Brownsville, about 45 minutes southeast of here. We were supposed to spend the day planning our 2 month trip around Mexico, but while they waited for us to get healthy, Kevin and Sandy had worked on trip planning. And they had prepared an excellent, detailed, 9 week, 8000 km. / 5000 mile loop around Mexico, including a one day side trip into Belize. Their plan was "on the same page" as us, so there really was nothing left to plan together. I felt very sheepish that they had done all the work, thus "spoon feeding" us. I had previously complained to them about my frustration with "other" travelling companions of ours who needed to be continuously "spoon fed" like that, leaving me feeling like an unpaid tour guide.

Sandy prepared lunch for us. My appetite was ... well ... non-existent. And the small amount of lunch that I ate made me feel worse, not better. We spent the afternoon chatting. I began to feel better by late afternoon. So did Joanne. When we left Brownsville, we drove to Los Indios, the border crossing into Mexico that we have decided to use. It's about halfway between Brownsville, where Kevin and Sandy are, and La Feria, where we are. We found a nearby large service station near the border that will be a good place for us to meet, to cross the border together.

We stopped at El Centro Foods in La Feria to buy some tortillas for supper. We were out of bread, and El Centro Foods has poor bread, although a large selection of good tortillas. As soon as we got home, Joanne started working on laundry before we had a late, light supper.

Sunday ; Today was sunny, hot, and humid. We woke up still feeling a bit ill ; weak, with queasy stomachs. Joanne improved throughout the day. Frustratingly, I got worse. By 7:00 P.M. I was downright sick again, in bed. Despite eating nothing for 2 days, and almost nothing for 2 more days, severe diarrhea persists. I can't tell where food poisoning / stomach flu leaves off, and colitis takes over ! A "broken" large intestine is like the Energizer Bunny. It just keeps going and going. And appropriate medications aren't doing their job. I'm having difficulty keeping myself adequately hydrated.

I partially removed and reinstalled the trailer's city water inlet assembly to determine what replacement parts I need to buy. Joanne defrosted the fridge, and did more laundry. I printed my bank statements and year end investment data. I reconciled the bank statements, then began the lengthy and tedious process of updating and analyzing investment performance for the year just past. Usually I find this year end activity to be quite pleasurable, but, obviously, not this year !

I felt too ill to go the pool and hot tub this afternoon. And I was downright sick again by the time of the ice cream social. Darn ... I wanted to go to the ice cream social and find out if any other people became ill after eating the New Year's Eve party finger foods. And, perhaps mercifully, I was too sick to attend tonight's live entertainment evening after the ice cream social, a performance by Banjo Jack.

Monday ; Today was cloudy and cool. Well, gee whiz ... we're both still sick ! It seems to me that our symptoms, and duration of illness, are more consistent with influenza than food poisoning, but who knows ? ! ? During the night I developed a severe case of chills. My moaning, and shivering, while asleep, woke Joanne up. She thought I was having a bad dream. Nooooo ... I was freezing ! ! ! She put a pair of sleep socks on me, wrapped me in our spare duvet, and turned my bed heater on to its maximum setting.

This morning I went to the office to pay for a one week extension, and our hydro usage. There was a long line up for service since the front office had been closed for four days. When I finally got to the front of the line, there was "confusion" and "amnesia" about the conversation I had with the front office a week and a half ago about staying an additional week, and what the charge would be ! HMPH ! Joanne checked on the dumpster kitties when she took out the garbage. They seem to be doing fine, growing rapidly. We drove to Ron Hoover RV in Donna to buy an RV part I need. Then over to H-E-B in Weslaco for a few groceries and refill our five gallon water jug.

Once back home, I went back to bed for a long afternoon nap. I ache all over ! Joanne cleaned the inside of the truck. We both felt not healthy enough to attend today's regular Monday afternoon social hour. We still have lots of cooked Christmas turkey scraps and innards for the dumpster kitties. Late this evening Joanne insisted we take a large serving to them.

WOO-HOO ! Martha Benavides is back from maternity leave on KGBT Action News 4 as the late night anchor. "Muy Buenos Noches, I'm Martha Benavides" WOO-HOO ! I've been disappointed since we arrived here in the Rio Grande Valley two months ago that Martha wasn't on the news. I hadn't seen my favourite newscaster in two years.

Tuesday ; Today started out cloudy and cool with misty rain, but by noon it had become sunny and warm. I had insomnia last night, but put it to good use. After tossing and turning for an hour, I got up and wrote another one of my "dog tips" articles.

This morning after being sick for 5 days I finally woke up feeling healthy. Unfortunately, Joanne didn't. She was too sick to come with me to Mexico this morning for our dental appointments. She'll have to have her dental work done in Los Algodones in March. I drove to Nuevo Progreso for my 9:30 appointment for a dental cleaning and examination. Whew ... lots of staining to be cleaned. The non-English speaking hygienist worked hard for 55 minutes. It was certainly worth the 25 bucks ! Our friend Susanna, who is a dental hygienist in Medicine Hat, Alberta, told us that a cleaning and examination in her dental clinic is ten times that amount ! I was a tad disappointed in the dentist's examination. I perceived a fair amount of "upsell" effort. Usually, that's common only in the small, really cheap ( $15 cleanings ), "storefront" dentists in Mexico. The larger, more modern and sophisticated clinics don't usually indulge in "upselling". I had been to Dr. Carreon before, 2 years ago, and there was no "upselling" that time. But ... the cleaning was excellent !

After the dentist I headed for the Amigos de los Niños de Mexico wrap up meeting and luncheon. Joanne had already discarded the notes she had made at the previous Amigos meetings, but our memories told us that today's luncheon was at Garcia's Restaurant over the Canada Store. I walked over to the Canada Store and went upstairs to Garcia's Restaurant. No ... no Amigos luncheon. Darn ... I guess our memories were faulty. Oh, well. I walked over to Linda's Pharmacy, a pharmacy I have shopped at many times in the past because of the knowledge and helpfulness of the main pharmacist, an older woman named Luli. I wanted to buy anti-malaria medication that Kevin and Sandy had asked me to pick up for them. They had been advised that it was prudent to take anti-malaria medication before travelling extensively in mainland Mexico. I bought some for them, and also for Joanne and me.

Kevin and Sandy had also asked me to buy them a bottle of Cipro, an antibiotic, because I had told them that a travel physician had prescribed Cipro when we were going to Costa Rica, to be used in the event of food or water poisoning. Luli got me a bottle of Cipro, then wrote a separate receipt for it. She rang the anti-malaria medication through the cash register. She advised me to declare the anti-malaria medication when I crossed back into the United States, but that I would have to smuggle the Cipro in. Cipro is not allowed into the United States. It is the treatment for anthrax poisoning. The United States has decided that terrorists who are planning an anthrax attack would bring Cipro with them ( rolling eyes ). Great ... now I'm a drug mule ! Crossing a border manned by soldiers with machine guns !

I went to the bank in Nuevo Progreso that I knew has a good exchange rate to buy pesos. They no longer sell pesos. I wasn't really able to ascertain why. The teller directed me to a notice on the front door, written in Spanish, of course, explaining why they no longer sell pesos. I think it said "effective January 1, 2009, we are no longer able to sell pesos to drug mules". HA HA HA !

So I returned home with my smuggled drugs, no pesos, and no Amigos luncheon. Joanne was just getting out of bed still feeling quite ill. I had a late lunch, then took a nap. While I napped Joanne went to Kenwood's office and settled our bill. Then she returned to bed. Well, since I'm finally feeling okay, hopefully she will soon as well. Late in the afternoon, while doing an obedience session with Bo, I saw John sitting outside. When I was finished with Bo, I went over to visit. Eve is still sick. She has been sick the same as us, at the same time as us. We must have all picked up a "flu bug" when we had dinner together at Mr. Gatti's.

Boy, my gums were really sore tonight. That hygienist really worked 'em over with that little water jet thingy of hers. Late this evening Joanne again insisted that we take a plate of Christmas turkey innards to the dumpster kitties. We have to get rid of it all before we leave Saturday morning. HMPH ... there was a fatal shooting / murder at the H-E-B that we shop at in Harlingen. Tough neighbourhood here in The Valley !

Wednesday ; Today was a beautiful, sunny, warm "June 18" day. I felt healthy today, although weak and sluggish. I felt as if I was always moving through neck deep water. And my muscles all seemed sore and stiff. Joanne was feeling better, although not completely healthy yet. This morning I trimmed my beard, so now, a month after that Mexican barber's hack job, at least my beard has been restored after everything under my jaw line had been shaved off.

This morning I replaced the trailer's city water inlet and check valve ... twice ! I didn't adequately test my repair the first time, and after finishing I discovered it was leaking behind the exterior wall, in an inaccessible area inside a bathroom cupboard, behind and below the laundry hamper. With a few days of warm weather I can only hope that it will dry out behind there before any water rot develops in the wood. I removed the new city water inlet and check valve, reinstalled it a little differently, and all was well.

This afternoon Joanne washed the trailer windows. I washed the truck. Everything is clean, in good repair, and ready for Mexico ! We did not attend tonight's potluck dinner. While it seems reasonable to now conclude that our illness was an influenza, and not food poisoning, nevertheless I now have, at least temporarily, and certainly in this RV park, potluck anxiety ! But the larger issue was that we've had no appetite these last few days. Eating has been a struggle.

It's a good thing I did some Internet research tonight on the anti-malaria drug I purchased in Mexico yesterday. The pharmacist looked up the dosage information in a Mexican drug book, and translated it from Spanish to English for me. She provided me the dosage information for treatment of malaria, not prevention.

DSK