End of the trip

Our last night in Huatabampito we had a pleasant surprise when Al & Carol showed up quite unexpectedly. We had hoped to run into them in San Carlos, but this was just a bonus. The 4 of us travelled on to the Hotel de Cortez. It was fun to spend some time with them before they headed for Yuma and we were to go to Kino. Unfortunately, on Friday night, Merle experienced a tightness in his chest and arm pain which escalated into a tachycardia topping out at 240 bpm. We checked with the hotel desk for directions to the hospital and even better than that a young man named Luis accompanyed Merle and I, and directed me to the hospital which I would have never found otherwise. He stayed until they had Merle's heart rate down and was able to translate and help us communicate with the doctors and nurses. He left around midnight and returned the next morning to be sure we were ok. It took 36 hours to stabilize Merle's heart so that he could be transported to Hermosillo to a much more modern facility. I even had to bring Merle's meals to him in Guaymas and he was never moved out of the emergency room. In Hermosillo they were able to take EKG's and more sophisticated blood tests. They kept him for two days before they felt he could fly home. Our son, Randy, had flown in on Sunday and was able to help me get the 5th wheel and atv trailer moved to Hermosillo ... 100 miles closer to the border. He had never pulled anything bigger than a U-Haul trailer, but he did quite good and got his training on Mexican highways. On Tuesday, Randy's father-in-law, Bob, flew in. On Wednesday, Randy and Merle flew to Denver, while Bob and Tris took the rig out of Mexico and on to Denver. I had to stay with the rig in order to comply with Mexican import paperwork and to keep our insurance valid. At the vehicle station, they would not accept our import paperwork as they could not find the ID number on the atv trailer. After consultations with the Aduana and then the Hefe Aduana, we took the rig about 5 miles down the road to a welder who literally tattooed the number on the tongue of the trailer. Back to the vehicle station and everything went smoothly. It took us 36 minutes from the time we got in line to cross the border at Nogales until we were through the US side and on our way. There have been horror stories all winter about the long waits at the Nogales border, but you wouldn't know it when we went through. Bob pushed through and we were at our home in Indian Hills by 4:30 pm on Thursday. Many who know the route have been amazed that we made it in that little time. Merle will pursue his heart issues with his cardiologist here and we have every intention of being on the road next winter. Our winter travels were a bit abbreviated from our original itinerary, but the part of the trip we got to do was wonderful. Hasta la Vista ... until next year, Adios

Two of the 4 day in Huatabampito were terrifically windy. We took one of the windy days to go out to a shell beach that was quite a long bumpy, dirty road, but well worth the drive once we got there. Never have I seen so many shells on one beach. We passed a shrimp farm and an oyster farm on the way, so stopped to buy oysters on the way home. Mario shucked them for me and we got 2 dozen for about $5 US. We had part of them fried and part of them in a stew. Our last night at Huatabampito as we ate dinner there was a loud knock on the door and there was Carol of Carol & Al. So glad to see them ... the 4 of us headed north to Hotel de Cortes near Guaymas. What fun to get to spend a couple more days with them.

Huatabampito

We got off fairly early Saturday, but had problems with the small trailer hitch and monkeyed with it for about 45 minutes before getting it figured out. Then it took an hour and a half to get the 12 miles to the pavement. All the rains had left ponds in the road and it was a bit more washed out and bumpy. We took the libre out of Mazatlan and stopped around 4 in the afternoon in a Pemex just a few miles from Culiacan. This morning we got on the road and drove on to Huatabampito using the Maxipista and the cuota roads. It is a bit cooler here than it was on Stone Island when we left , but beautiful with a nice breeze off the sea. Even on the 4 lane highways you will see horses, cattle and goats grazing beside the highway and in the middle between the lanes. Usually the horses are tied or hobbled, but not the cattle and goats. Another good argument not to drive after dark in Mexico. When we were on the Baja a few years back the main animal you would find on the road were donkeys. And you can just drive around them, they are not going to move!!!

Villa Union

This is the small mercada in Villa Union and their beautiful cathedral. Note the German Shepherd in the aisle about halfway down.

I know I have remarked on the fact that you can buy anything in the Old Mazatlan Mercada ... I took this picture just to reinforce the wide range of good available. Not only can you get a pig's head, but any other part of that pig is available as well!!! Tomorrow, Saturday, we hook up and head north. We will take about a week to get to Kino Bay where we will stay for most of the month of March. We do plan to be across the border before Easter. Mazatlan and all the friends, old and new, have just been wonderful this year. It is nice to have the quiet of the island with the easy access to the city.

Aquarium and Manicure

It was rainy here on Wednesday, so we took the opportunity to go into town and do our laundry, grocery shopping, etc. We visited the Acuario Mazatlan. We caught 2 of the 3 shows they have ... the sea lions and the birds. I thought when I got home I would check my dictionary and find out what the show we missed was. Unfortunately, none of my dictionaries have the word "bucco". Anyone know what this is? The sea lion show was just exceptional .. the bird show and the walk through the gardens was beautiful.

Check out these fingernails!!! This young lady was on the water taxi with us the other day and I couldn't resist asking if I could take a picture of her hands. These are definitely "Carnaval" fingernails. Carnaval and Valentines Day fell at the same time and both are big celebrations in Mexico. One of the girls in the park had a manicure and she got hers done similar to this, but not quite so bejewelled. It took 4 1/2 hours for them to finish her manicure. I am afraid I would never be able to do anything with all of that on the end of my fingers

The water taxi dock and the unique Mazatlan conveyance ... the Pulmonia

Our tractor pulled carriage and the Puesta de Sol

Happy hour at Al & Carol's

Mazatlan Cathedral

The Mercada where you can buy almost anything

Pizza at Benji's on the Island ... Garlic shrimp pizza was the best!

February 9-14

When you are about 2/3 of the way to the top, you find steps (335 of them) for the final 1/3. Merle in front of the lighthouse and me with old Mazatlan in the background ... had to have proof that I really did get up there!

Well we have had another week here in the sun and sand. It has been a busy one ... lots of running down the beach at low tide to find sand dollars and other treasures! I found a part of a paper shell nautilus and was thrilled. I would love to find a whole one. Years ago on Tecolote beach out of LaPaz, Merle and I were walking in the surf when a Mexican man approached me and gave me a paper shell ... It was almost perfect and is one of my prize possessions. Neither of us spoke the others' language, but managed to communicate my appreciation. We were soundly defeated in a crib tournament despite winning 3 of our 4 matches. Unfortunately, keeping total points, the fact that we were skunked (almost double skunked) really hurt us. We have made several trips over to Mazatlan and enjoy exploring old town. We took a party boat out to watch the fireworks ... reenactment of Mexico's defeat of the French near Olas Altas ... We had joined the crowds in Olas Altas two years ago for Carnaval and the fireworks and didn't really want to battle the crowds again. The boat we went on carried 250 people ... 30-40 from our two parks. They picked us up at 7:30 (dark) with a tractor (no headlights) pulling a big wagon ... We were taken to the water taxi dock and a panga shuttled us across the harbor. There we boarded the Puesta de Sol for our trip. They provided an open bar and a fantastic spread of food. It was really nice to be on the water for the display as you could see the fire from the cannons firing from shore and we were quite near the boats shooting back. The display was over about 11:30 and we got home a little after midnight. Our neighbors had company visiting ... the man is the head of the music department at the University in Culiacan. He is one of the world's leading classical guitarist and he gave us an impromptu recital ... so it was well after 2:00 before we got to bed. Valentine's Day, we went across and hiked up to the lighthouse. It is the 2nd highest lighthouse in the world and the highest in the Americas. I think it is 550' to the top of the hill it sits on. It was an arduous climb for me ... but well worth it for the 360 degree view from the top. Last night then we went back to Union and the Cuchupeta restaurant for dinner. We need to get over there during the day so we can visit their lovely old cathedral and shop in their mercada. Neither of which we could do on a Sunday evening.

Margaritas, food and the game on 3 televisions.

Machado, Super Bowl and Mechanic

Eating with friends and shopping at the Machado on Saturday night. They close off the streets around the square and the restaurants use the space to extend their eating area ... the vendors are out. This is the theatre and arts area of old Mazatlan and a concert was going on so they had it piped out to the plaza and showed it on a large screen. Very nice!

We are glad we did not go to points further south this winter ... the rain we had this past week was a class 2 hurricane in Puerto Vallarta. Did quite a bit of damage to the towns just north of PV. We just got the heavy rain without the winds. Sunday was Super Bowl with lots of US and Canadian fans ... Roger and Suzie made their spot available for all of us to congregate and watch the game together ... Everyone brought food and enjoyed the usual superbowl hype and chatter while eating all of this yummy food. We have a new margarita maker and he was pretty funny with lights on his hat. Our quad has had a problem with a squeak and yesterday the display was not showing the right gears. We asked around and got directed to a mechanic that was doing some work on the atv's they rent out on the island. We went to his house and he kept our quad for a few hours checking everything out and changing the fluids. When I went to pick it up he let me know that the problem was with an electronic part he could not get, but the transmission was fine. He also said the squeak was a ball bearing problem, but it was alright to drive. He will get a part and we will take the quad back to him on Tuesday to finish the repairs. Now, this was all understood without me speaking Spanish nor him speaking English. I utilize my Tex/Mex and charades and he is used to tourist on the island and we managed to understand one another fairly well. I tried to pay him for the work already done on the quad, but he would not let me. He wanted me to wait until he finishes working on it. He spent several hours going through the quad and checking everything out, but I doubt the fee will reflect the work done. They work for very little and usually are very good at what they do. I will let you know Tuesday what the final bill is. I think we are talking hundreds of dollars in the states ...

Oysters, driftwood ...

Merle's practice range

I absolutely covet this beautiful piece of driftwood, but the reality is that there is no way Merle will try to get it across the border. It would look great in my front yard!

The birds are in the lunch line ... waiting for the surf to serve them.

Well, our repairs held up to the rain Wednesday night. Of course, it wasn't the hard rain we had on Tuesday, but I think it is fixed. Take note of this ... my non-seafood eating husband took me to a restaurant in Union we had heard about called El Cuchupeta ... I had heard they had wonderful barbecued oysters and I really wanted to try them. I hoped they would have something non-fish for Merle, but, wouldn't you know, they did not. Being a good sport he ordered their crab salad and really liked it, but the amazing thing was he tried my oysters and really liked them, so we ended up sharing. They reminded me a lot of oysters Rockefeller. We both agreed it was the best meal we have had since we left home and I am pretty sure I can get him to take me back. We cut out about 9 miles of bad road by driving down the beach (like a super highway) to the 3 palm trees (shown in the background of the picture of the driftwood). A quick trip through a coconut grove and we are back on the road for the last 2-3 miles of bad road before we hit pavement.

Repairs

Margarita Mondays, shopping, rain

I was without my camera for a few days as I could not find lithium batteries here and I failed to put any in my camera bag before we left home. We have Margarita Mondays in the park. These will change considerably since George is heading north this week and his blender has been the center point of our margarita making. Homemade with a real gasoline motor controlled by motorcycle handlebars, this contraption makes the happy hour quite festive and unique. Since I did not have my camera available and George and blender are now enroute to Arizona, you will have to use your imaginations to envision this engineering masterpiece. Aha ... I was able to borrow a couple of pictures from someone else!!! Merle and I took the water taxi over and spent the day Monday doing a bit of shopping and exploring in old Mazatlan. Tuesday has been the first overcast and cool day since we got here. Temps were in the low 70's and felt quite cool after our higher temps. About the time Merle returned from his golfing ... the bottom dropped out and we really had a downpour ... I am not sure how much rain we got here, but one of the campers said PV (Puerto Vallarta) and points north got 11 inches. We would definitely be a point north of PV. Merle thinks we got at least 6". Anyway it came down so hard and fast that we discovered a couple of leaks and Merle has gone up on the roof to resilicone a few places.

Hermosillo wins Mexican Championship

We had a great time at the game on Friday night. We went out for tacos, oysters, etc. before the game and then headed over to the stadium. Their stadium holds about 10,000 and it was full. They really support their team and enjoy the partying at a function like that. We got to see Mazatland even it up and make them go to game 7 to decide the championship. The fans celebrated with lots of beer thrown in the air and general celebrating. After standing in line for 4 hours to get our tickets for Friday night, we decided not to even try to get in for Saturday's game. Instead on Saturday we went into the Mechado Plaza and had dinner with friends. They were having the Carnaval Queen selection in the theatre and had a screen and chairs set up in the plaza for overflow crowd to watch. Wish we had realized what a spectacular show it was and had gotten tickets, we enjoyed watching part of it on the screen, but it would have been really neat to have attended. We also watched to baseball game on tv while we were there. Hermosillo won it 1-0 ... a real heartbreaker for Mazatlan. They will now go to Venazuela to participate in the Caribbean Cup.

Volleyball, Baseball, etc. etc.

We have been busy. The people in this park are very active and organized. They have volleyball on the beach 3 mornings a week. They have a golf date on Tuesdays at Estrella del Mar. Various card tournaments, outings, beach bonfires, etc. Merle is loving the volleyball and golf. They play 5 matches in the sand and then all take a swim in the sea. I join them for the swim. We have had our boogie boards out in the surf. I am tickled my back will let me boogie board! Merle has been looking for a surf board ... he considers himself a surfer since his lessons in Sayulito. I have found a great place in old Mazatlan to get a deep tissue massage, so now will make it a point to get over there at least once a week for that. Jeannie & I went shopping in the Mercado and out to lunch on Tuesday and then she took me over to this spa. It was Jeannie two years ago that put me on to the masseuse we used then. She is a great resource. The Mercado is an interesting market. All types of vegetables, fruits, meat, clothing and all types of tourist goodies too. It is housed under one roof right in the middle of old Mazatlan about a block or so from the cathedral. The building it is housed in is massive and covers a full city block. The Mazatlan baseball team and the Hermosillo baseball team are in a heated championship playoff … The Mazatlan team is owned by Pacifico and the Hermosillo team is owned by Tecate … So it is a beer battle. A bunch from the park buy a block of tickets for the games in Mazatlan. Merle and I had missed out on the beginning of this as when we got here the games had moved to Hermosillo. They are back here now and we are going on Friday night to the game. There will be 40 of us going over for the game. At the moment Hermosillo is ahead 3-2 in the series. Tomorrow night's game will be the end of the playoff if Hermosillo wins again. If Mazatlan wins on Friday, the final game will be on Saturday. The winner from this playoff will advance to the Caribbean Cup in Venezuela .. so it is a big deal. Merle brought his glasses prescription down here and has purchased two pairs … regular and sunglasses . The price for the two pairs were about 2/3 of what one pair usually costs in the US.

Which Way Amigo ... Lost Laundry

Stone Island week 1 … Second night here we took our drinks, snacks and bag chairs and sat out on the end of the breakwater to enjoy the sunset and watch the cruise ship leave. The veggie men … there are 2! … come thru our camp daily. What a luxury. Such beautiful fresh fruit and vegetables available daily. I could easily get spoiled. Did not plan on posting this quickly, but today was a real comedy of errors and almost irretrievable laundry. Today, Saturday, we needed to drive into town to get gas for the quad. We decided, since we would be going in anyway, we might as well take our laundry and see if we could find someone to do it. For those who haven't traveled with us... I consider it my contribution to the Mexican economy to never do my own laundry this side of the border. Two years ago, we had a lady on the island do our laundry and we were not too pleased with the job she did. Anyway, we found a lavendaria and negotiated a deal with the senorita … The problem was we were not on the road we thought we were on when we went into Mazatlan nor were either of the cross streets major streets … So our laundry was lost in Mazatlan for awhile as we tried to reconstruct our way. The good news is that we did finally find our laundry and we were very happy with the job she did. We think we can return there next week with our laundry …

Isla de la Piedras

We arrived at Stone Island (Isla de la Piedras) yesterday afternoon. We are happy to be setting up camp for a month. Took a trip down the beach after we got here yesterday. Love having the quad in a place like this. There are a few changes in the village, but everything is pretty much like we remember from two years ago. The road in is a slow go with a camper. This 12 miles takes about an hour to negotiate with a rig, but is not quite as bad as the 10 miles we take into our camp at Kino Bay. We had just been on the dirt road a short distance when two policia pulled around us and stopped. Apparently they had picked up a part of our quad trailer that had shook loose! On closer examination, Merle discovered several loose bolts, so will be doing some work on that trailer before we head out. At Celestina Gasca, we discovered two cracks in the front of our 5th wheel. Merle has already purchased some glue and silicone to do a repair there. He has his work cut out for him before we head north again. Guess we will have to make a trip to Puerto Penasco and get something clever painted on the front. Have met a couple of our neighbors, plus looked up a couple we were neighbors with two years ago. Another couple is on a road trip to Guadalajara and will be back in a couple of days. He is someone Merle enjoys playing golf with. So, we are settling in. You tend to forget how beautiful this place is until you return.

Celestina Gasca

Left Huatabompita on January 17 … Skipped Las Glorias since we had not received any e-mail from them verifying that they had room. Have heard that they have been full most of the season and did not want to drive the 30+ miles back in only to find there was no room in the inn!!! We made it to just south of Culliacan. Stopped in a Pemex. Merle has become quite good at finding the guard that is on the night shift and tipping him to keep an eye on us. Early on January 18 we drove the 70 miles to Celestina Gasca. We are in a different RV park from two years ago and we really like it much better. It is smaller, friendlier and the beach is nicer. Another plus has been their swimming pool. The temperatures have been in the low 90's here and the pool has been refreshing. We made a trip south looking for the Institute Tortugas, but, once again, failed to find it. It is a place where they go out on the beach and dig up the turtle eggs, transport them to their facility, rebury them. Once they hatch and are ready to return to the sea, they take them back to the beach after dark and release them. This is so the birds don't get them as they return to the sea. We have been using ATM's as we are having difficulty finding banks to exchange our US dollars. The exchange rate is almost 13 to 1 right now. I understand that I should be able to exchange money in Mazatlan. We have never had this problem before, but the exchange rate has not been this good in our previous travels. Tomorrow, January 20, we will go to Isla De La Piedras (Stone Island). Our plan is to spend a month there.

January 15 & 16-- Doble Remolque

Arrived at Huatabampito yesterday afternoon ... The first people to greet us were people we have known for several years from Kino. Small world! We are enjoying a day of relaxation on the beach today. We will leave tomorrow for Las Glorias or somewhere just south of Los Mochis. I have not heard yet Whether Mr. Morro's in Los Glorias has space for us. If I do not hear from them, we will plan on a Pemex stay enroute to Celestina Gasca. Once you get south of Guaymas it is amazing how the area is prosperous. Around Obregon there is a lot of ranching, as you get near Navajoa you find a lot of farmland. Both of these cities are clean and bustling. The temperatures are mid 80's with a sea breeze to keep them comfortable. We took a sunset ride on the beach on the quad.

January 13 & 14

Crossed the border. Had problems with our import paperwork … They find it very confusing as we pull our 5th wheel and behind that we pull a little trailer with our quad on it. Seems like every time we cross the border we have to do something different. Last year we had to import everything in my name as Merle is still on the books with our old 5th wheel. This year they had me import the 5th wheel, but Merle imported everything else since our Colorado registration for the quad did not have my name on it. We spent 3 hours figuring out what had to be done and consulting the Aduana for approval. Still would have been ok getting to Hermisillo except about about 40 miles from our destination we got caught up in a military pest control operation. Still not sure what pests they were looking for, but they inspected our trailer inside and out until they found our Pepsi … Two of those put us back on the road 45 minutes later. Merle was worn out at that time and it was rapidly getting dark. We opted for a Pemex parking lot for our first night. After a good night's sleep we took off for Miramar. Arrived here a little after lunch and spent a leisurely afternoon and evening. Weather here is mid-70's with a bit of a breeze. Miramar is between San Carlos and Guaymas. We stay at an RV park that is part of the Hotel de Cortez. It is a beautiful old hotel with some wonderful ,very old artwork. Tomorrow we head for Huatabompita.

Another winter on the road. Left home with the snow falling, blustery and foggy on January 6. Arrived in Casa Grande AZ in the evening of January 7. Have enjoyed several days of visiting friends and family. Tomorrow, January 13, we will head for Nogales and another Mexican winter. This is the first year we have travelled without friends travelling with us. Will be a new experience, but, fortunately, we know people at both of our major destinations from past travels. With luck at the border tomorrow, we hope to make Hermosillo to spend tomorrow night. Any hangups with the border paperwork and we will have to settle for Santa Anna or Magdalena.