Well ... I was completely wrong. That wasn't an early New Year's celebration taking place last night in the ejido ( small farming village ) behind the Pemex where we boondocked overnight.
Around 10 PM last night I took Bo out for his final "bathroom walk" of the day. Down the dusty dirt road leading into the ejido I could hear loud music and see bright flashing lights. Bo and I wandered down there, about the equivalent of three blocks and ...
HA HA HA ... Bo and I went to our first Mexican wedding ! HA HA HA HA HA! ! !
An outdoor wedding ! An ejido / small farming village outdoor wedding ! Must have been two hundred people there. Many were dancing. Many were drunk. And many were wondering ... "Who the hell is the old gringo ? And why does he have a perrito ( little dog ) on a 'rope' ? And what the hell are they both doing here ? ! ?" HA HA HA HA HA !
This morning I asked Joanne to come for a walk with me through the little village before we departed. Just as we were about to leave, four little girls walked by. The two youngest ones knocked on the trailer door. When I opened the door, they asked for "candy".
It's understood that gringos with large RV's are considered by Mexicans, especially children, to be ... gringos rico / rich white folks. And from their perspective, that's a pretty reasonable and accurate assessment ! BUT ... I don't give out candy, as Mexican children are fond of asking for from gringos. I gave the two younger ones, and then their two older sisters, each a CANADA scribbler and pencil. A little squabble broke out that
I didn't understand at first. The scribblers are all different colours. I gave a pink one ( rosa in Spanish ) to one of the older girls. The youngest one was named Rosa, and wanted the pink scribbler < rolling eyes >. I didn't have any more pink scribblers, but she was happy to trade her amarillo / yellow one for an azul / blue one. I guess I don't understand five year old girls in any culture !
I wondered if she was newborn or thirteen years old ? HA HA HA !
Interacting with the girls was the high point of the day. We find it common while travelling in Mexico to have days that make us feel very high spirits to very low spirits, all within the same day. < sigh > This was one of those days. While lost in Culiacan we bickered briefly, but the stress of being lost yet again, and the vicious bickering left both of us feeling absolutely defeated for half an hour or so before we managed to pick ourselves back up. As I type this in the evening I really don't know if travel in Mexico is worth it !
We continued southbound on MEX 15. We alternated between Cuota ( toll ) MEX 15 to Libre ( free ) MEX 15. And frankly, for much of the day, we weren't even sure which one we were on ! We paid tolls three time today. We have three Mexico maps. None of them is the same as the others. And none of them seems to be accurate ! ! ! Mexico's road signage varies from inconsistent to confusing to non-existent < sigh >. Shortly after we started driving it began to rain lightly for most of the day.
This morning I was still bemoaning the plight of dogs in Mexico, bothered by the old girl with the mushy eye yesterday at the Pemex ! Joanne tried to modify my negative thinking about Mexico by pointing out to me that while every fuel station in Mexico has stray dogs, most shopping malls that we've been to in California have homeless people ! ! ! Good point !
We stopped for lunch by pulling off the road near a village called Terreros. Across the road from where we stopped was a farmer and his "fruit stand". He was displaying some kind of small fruit hanging in bunches, as well as bags of larger, spiky fruit. The little ones hanging in bunches were called "aguamas", and the bigger spiky ones were "papachés". Have no idea what either are like. He was selling 600 ml. Coke bottles filled with what
I thought was aguama juice, so I bought one ... for cincuenta ( 50 ) pesos, about $4. We returned to the trailer and tried it. It was very thick, like a syrup. So ... we tried mixing it with water. Didn't work ! We tasted it. MMMMM ... very sweet and tasty. I walked back across the road to get more information. DUH ... it was honey ! Desert Cactus Honey ! Fresh, home processed ! Desert Cactus Honey is quite expensive in Yuma !
Before Joanne prepared supper I beheaded and deveined the three dozen shrimp
I bought yesterday. I put the shrimp heads outside for stray dogs to eat.
Monday ; New Year's Eve ; El Espinal to Teacapan, Sinaloa
Well ... we've arrived !
I've been having severe mood swings ! Depression, stress, and fatigue are a bad combination ! Joanne is still sick with a cold and has been suffering the entire trip, as well as being unable to make much of a contribution to the workload. Today I've been ready to declare that this will be our last road trip into Mexico. I don't have a positive enough attitude for this ! However ... while having dinner tonight Joanne was playing cheerleader. We've never enjoyed the "drive hard, drive fast, get from point A to point B" style of travel. It was a mistake to try ( and succeed ) to get from Yuma to Teacapan in five days. And it would be a mistake to drive back in a similar amount of time, especially since there are lots of military inspection points northbound. She suggests that we consider staying here a month, then go explore parts of Mexico we haven't seen before. Slow, dawdling, experiential travel, as we've always enjoyed. Yeah ... maybe that makes sense. The only part of the last five days that I really enjoyed was wandering around the ejido and interacting with the four little girls. Well ... and the wedding that Bo and I went to the night before. HA HA HA !
It rained heavily overnight. So ... I took that as an opportunity this morning to dump our shower and kitchen waste holding tanks right where we were parked, at the far back end of the large, gravel Pemex parking lot We pulled over to the diesel pumps, refilled with diesel, and refilled our freshwater holding tank. Even though our destination today was a serviced RV park, it always gives me a sense of security and comfort to travel with full freshwater and empty waste water holding tanks if possible. That "insecurity" comes from the number of times we experienced breakdowns with our previous truck.
UH-OH ... it's just started to rain ( at 8:15 PM ). I hope that doesn't force me to alter my midnight plans.
We continued southbound on MEX 15, taking the Libre ( free road ) all the way. Today the topography was mountainous farmland and jungle. Quite scenic. We arrived in Mazatlan around noon. We needed to shop for groceries. The Soriana grocery store was on the left side of the road, so I had to pass it, make a u-turn in the "retorno" lane, and come back. The traffic was heavy, and I got squeezed into the curb of the retorno by a bus. Mexican bus drivers are skilled, but so aggressive as to be dangerous. It's a maxim of RV travel in Mexico that if you're going to have an accident in Mexico, it's probably going to be with a bus or taxi. One of the trailer's tires was severely damaged, but did not blow out. I decided to try to make it the rest of the way to Teacapan without removing / changing the severely damaged tire. I succeeded. Finally ... some good luck !
I didn't have enough cash to pay site rental for a month, and they don't accept credit cards here ! I had to negotiate half payment today, half payment in two days. Within two days we'll have to drive back to Escuinapa to get more cash from an ATM.
Joanne doesn't like shrimp so she bought herself some smoked pork chop at Soriana. She's had that before in Mexico. I cooked and tried to eat a dozen of the shrimp I bought a couple of days ago. WHEW ... I could only manage seven. Five went into the fridge as leftovers.
Ever since we had planned a Christmas & New Year's trip here with Joanne's family a few years ago ( they backed out ! ) it has been on my "bucket list" to toast the passing of the old year into the new standing in the Pacific Ocean here with a glass of wine in my hand. HMPH ! I thought we had some wine in the trailer. We don't ! At 11:45 we went for a moonlit, barefoot walk on the beach. At 15 seconds before midnight we walked into the ocean, counting down the seconds. At midnight we hugged and kissed ... and got hit by a big wave. HA HA HA ! What a great way to pass into the New Year ! We returned to the trailer and toasted the New Year with Joanne's beloved Mexican chocolate milk Yomi Lala that she bought today in Mazatlan.
Tuesday ; New Year's Day
I desperately needed to sleep in this morning. I didn't even wake up when Joanne took Bo out in the morning, the first time in over a week that she's felt healthy enough to take responsibility for that chore. She's finally beginning to feel better. And since Bo was ill on Christmas morning, he didn't get his edible Christmas gift until this morning. As did Sully. Happy New Year, fellas ! I ate my breakfast staring with fascination out the window at the ocean, watching lines of pelicans flying slowly just a few inches over the shallow water along the beach, fishing I guess.
This afternoon we took Bo onto the beach for a session of beach doughnut fetch, a game that I expect we will play daily while here. Bo's "beach doughnut" is a styrofoam fishing net float that he picked up on the beach here about four years ago. I throw it out into the surf, he swims out and retrieves it, timing the "pickup and turnaround" between breaking waves. HA HA HA HA HA ... most of the time. The game ended today when I threw it a bit too far, the surf was a bit too big, and his timing was a bit off. A huge breaking wave caught him as he grabbed the doughnut. It flipped him over and dragged him under the water as it tossed him back to shore. Poor Bo ! He came up coughing, having ingested seawater into his lungs and stomach. Sorry, Bo, I guess I shouldn't throw it that far on days when the surf is that big. He was coughing and choking intermittently for the next hour or so.
We went for a long walk from one end of the campground to the other, and then along the beach. We set up the satellite dish, a chore that I was dreading because I seem to be so poor at it. It went reasonably well, so I must be getting better at it.
I spent much of the evening getting caught up on online work. I have to go sit on the swimming pool patio to get a Wi-Fi signal. Doesn't seem like that much of a hardship. HA HA HA !
Wednesday ; GREAT ! ! ! Now we've both got colds ! ! ! While hers is ending mine is just beginning !
Today was warm , temperature in the low 80's, cloudy in the morning, clearing in the afternoon. After a slow, late start to the day we headed into Escuinapa to get some money to pay our site rental balance owing. Escuinapa is a small city about 35 km. / 22 miles back to the mainland. We got directions to the supermarkets from our neighbours, finding out that the new supermarket in Escuinapa has only been open a few days. We went to Ley's, the old supermarket, because we knew for certain that there was an ATM there.
While Joanne shopped for groceries I lined up < sigh > to withdraw some cash from the ATM, then went to the in-store Farmacia and consulted with the pharmacist on cold medications. It was interesting to note that the in-store doctor consultation fee was 25 pesos, about two dollars ! After we finished grocery shopping we went to the town square and looked around and then to the mercado centrale / central market, indoor and outdoor. We had lunch at a comida economica ( cheap food ) restaurant. MMMMM ... good tacos carne asada.
We drove and walked around town checking out exchange rates at banks and looking for the casa de cambio ( money exchange house ) that everybody seemed to know about. Twice I asked for directions from a policeman. I knew I was close but couldn't seem to find it. The second time I asked a policeman, he indicated ... "that man right there" ... pointing. < blink blink > Escuinapa's casa de cambio was the equivalent of "the neighbourhood loan shark on the corner". HA HA HA !
When we returned home we took Bo to the beach for our daily session of beach doughnut fetch. HA HA HA ! What a lot of fun we all had. We were more careful today than yesterday, so there was no "near drowning" incident. We were invited to a neighbour's pizza party at dusk. Late in the evening I went to sit on the swimming pool patio to get online and post my blog entry for last week.
Thursday ; Sunny and hot ! If you're going to be sick with a cold, it might as well be on a sunny and hot beach, n'est-ce pas ?
Five days of hard travel, four of them on Mexican roads, produced about a dozen "Mexican road casualties" on the trailer. The roads are bad, the trailer is old. I hit a couple of topes at highway speed ! That's what I get for driving at dusk and in the dark ! ! ! Screws vibrate loose, things fall down / off, things break, etc. I spent much of today doing minor repairs.
The weather is so fine I decided we should have two beach doughnut fetch sessions daily. Once around noon, and once around 4 PM. Bo is in agreement ! HA HA HA ! Today I tried making movies of beach doughnut fetch. My new Nikon COOLPIX camera makes good movies ! Now if I can just teach Joanne how to throw the beach doughnut < rolling eyes > !
Around supper time I went to the pool patio and did some online work. We watched a bit of TV after dinner. And I began to work on 2012 investment updates and analysis.
Friday ; Another sunny, hot day. Another slow, late start to the day, both of us feeling ill with colds. Joanne's cold seems to be "stalled", she's not getting any better. I took the first of the Mexican antigripal tabletas I bought the other day. I admire Mexican attitudes towards drugs. They fill their cold medications with caffeine. If the medications don't make you feel any better, at least you're wired. HA HA HA ! Hey, baby, wanna go dancing on the beach ? ! ?
This morning I temporarily repaired a couple of Mexican road casualties with glue. We'll replace them when back in the United States. I took Bo for our noon beach doughnut play session in the surf. Joanne wasn't feeling well enough to join us. She watched from her folding chair behind the trailer. Each day that we play beach doughnut fetch Bo becomes more cautious about the big waves. I guess the first day's near drowning, and his advancing age, have tempered his fearlessness.
Despite sleeping until 10 AM, I napped from 1:30 to 4 PM. Still didn't feel any better !
HEY ... what's all this sand on my keyboard ? ! ? We've just returned from our afternoon beach play session. Somebody got sand on my computer !
In the evening I continued working on year end financial updates and analysis. Except for the fact that we spent WAAAAAYYYYY too much in 2012, it was a relatively decent year for us in the stock markets.
Saturday ; Still both sick with colds < sigh >.
This morning I set up the Sun Oven and baked a beautiful loaf of bread. Bo and I played beach doughnut fetch twice today, once just before lunch, and again just before Happy Hour ( Saturdays at 4 PM here ).
Right after lunch we drove into the village of Teacapan. Villas Onac RV Park is a few miles south of the village. First stop was the panaderia. The daily production of pan dulce ( pastries ) was ready, but we were told to return in forty-five minutes for some bolillos
( sandwich buns ). We bought some pan dulce and went off to run some other errands. We found the aqua purificadora ( water purifier ) and had our water jug refilled. We found the Farmacia and I bought more cold medication. We found a "meubles y maderas"
( furniture and wood ) business. I needed about three feet of 2" x 2" wood for a repair project. The entire wood inventory of this "wood shop" was about what you would find in the scrap wood pile of any gringo in NorteAmerica ! I found a piece of 1" x 2" that will probably be adequate. The wood shop owner wanted viente ( 20 ) pesos. I said I would only give him diez ( 10 ) pesos, and then only if he cut it to the exact length I needed. The 30.5 inch piece of scrap 1" x 2" has no measurable value. The saw cut is worth the ten pesos ! After he cut the wood, I offered him the smallest currency I had, a twenty peso bill. He didn't have change < rolling eyes >. I took my wood ( and money ) and left, telling him I would return later with ten pesos.
We returned to the panaderia where we got half a dozen bolillos as they came out of the oven. They were still hot when we got home. On the way out of town I stopped at the furniture and wood shop to pay the ten pesos I owe. It was closed for afternoon siesta
< rolling eyes >. Isn't Mexico fun ? We explored two beach areas between town and our RV park ; Playa Lupita and Playa Tambora. We went to see a couple of older RV parks that we remembered from our last visit here four years ago. Both are no longer in business. It seems as if Villas Onac is the only RV park still in business in this area. And they're less than half full. I guess RV travel in Mexico is way down !
We went for our late afternoon beach doughnut play session, then to the Saturday afternoon Happy Hour where we chatted with neighbours, almost all from BC. There's a new family just arrived, from France, on their way to Guatemala. Quite an adventure for a young family with two young boys ! They were very surprised that Joanne and I could speak French to them.
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