Lo De Marcos, Mexico West Coast

Dear all, been some time since I last blogged due to poor connections. We are now on our last leg of Mexico trip and in a small resort on the West Coast, 50 miles from Puerto Vallarta. From Pie De La Cuesta we stayed a couple of nights at Ixtapa and then went inland to Lake Chapala, biggest lake in Mexico. On the way, hit a roadblock, burnt out cars and armed men which was our scariest moment so far driving. We turned around sharpish and found another route. Before leaving Pie De La Cuesta we went to the Paella Festival in Acapulco, we were on the British Consulate table, most couples were Brits with Mexican wifes who now have South Welsh accents and the like. It was great fun and toasted the Queen and the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, no singing of the National anthem though..... After we went to Kathy's place, what a magnificent home, overlooking the Acapulco bay, we rounded off a great day with champers in the pool with the best veiw.
We have just spent 3 nights in Guadalajara, old colonial city, very impressive and clean. The big city's here have been a very pleasant surprise. Then on the way to the coast we visited Tequila, well you have to..."when in Rome"!! There are agave plants everywhere and had a try at getting to the pineapple like "fruit" which they steam for the juices to create tequila. Everywhere you can taste different tequilas and we did a few, learnt the process and have started to gain some appreciation of the different tequilas. For the drink to be called tequila the agave plant has to be grown in the state of Jalisco. You never know pub quizers, that could be some useless information for you.

FANTASTIC MEXICO CITY!

18th May - 24th May - MEXICO CITY

We have spent 6 amazing days in Mexico City, it is one of the best cities we have ever visited. Surprisingly clean, a very European feeling, wide boulevards, plazas, great cafes/restaurants, bars, museums with a lot of historic buildings and very peaceful for a city with 20 million people. We caught the coach from Acapulco, 5 hours drive with magnificent mountain views and we were conveniently dropped us at the metro station which made it very easy to get into the centre for 3 pesos a journey (30p/R2.5). We were in the city for 45 minutes before getting our haircut, the 80s mullets are at last history!
Our hotel was in Zona Rosa, the “pink” area which made partying very easy as there were lots of bars and clubs around. The street eating in Mexico is one of the highlights too…. fresh fruit salads cut fresh for 50p (R4), fresh juice (50p), hamburgers (50p), tacos, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches…everything seems to be 10 pesos.  We had some great Argentinean steak too in a very smart restaurant area, Condessa, and also ate some great meals with Adele’s friend in an area called Coyacoan, where Frida Kahlo lived, her house and museum was well worth the visit.
Transportation was very easy, good Metro system and the taxis were cheap. The one night we were “dragged” into one of the clubs, we did not want to pay the entrance fee as we only wanted to have night cap then the manager chased us down the road to ask why we were not coming into his club. He then frog marched us back to the front of the queue, stamped the hand and let us in for free….it was packed and we had a great time and many night caps! Don’t think that would happen in London!
Now we are heading back to our RV, left in Pie De La Cuesta, hoping all is well and looking forward to a much needed rest, the high altitude of Mexico City has taken its toll although it was a lot cooler up there.

8th May - 18th May- PUERTO ESCONDIDO/ PIE DE LA CUESTA (Acapulco)

A 7 hour drive from Puerto Escondido, which was another surf beach gem, we hit the outskirts of Acapulco and negotiated a stay in a beach side restaurant for one night. We are getting the hang of this boon docking! Then we made our way through Acapulco, got stopped by the police who obviously was looking for a bribe. They accused us of going over a fly over…AND…!!! After we pointed out all the other heavy vehicles going the same route they gave up on getting a peso from us. Pie De La Cuesta is 10 kms outside Acapulco, miles of deserted beach with a lagoon on the other side. We found a great campsite, right on the beach, with individual camp site pools, which we are dipping in naked. The roar of the sea can get a bit scary during the night, it seems so close. We have dusted off the fishing rod but only caught small fishes we are using for bait so far. This is a great spot.

To the West Coast of Mexico.

24th April - 26th April - PELANQUE - CHIAPAS - Mayabell (£8/night)

Another very famous Maya ruin in Pelanque, this one set in the jungle, more preserved than the others. The Mexican are very different this side, more indigenous Indians. Got talking to a couple of locals at a restaurant but did not appreciate it when she puked at her table, through drinking beer, and then continued to drink! It is famous area for Magic Mushrooms, which we tried, and it basically just sent me to the toilet.

26th April - AGUA DULCE - Ranch Hemanos Graham (£5/night)

A stop off on the way to Oaxaca Coast, but a nice surprise as it was a campsite in a nice shaded wooded area but gosh its getting hot!

27th April - TEHANTEPEC - Pemex Garage (FREE)

Another stop over required, this time we pulled into the truck parking in the garage. It was bit noisy but fine.

OAXACA COAST

At last beach and sea again, the West coastal road is extremely hilly but dramatic scenery, enjoying the coastal breeze again. We are now on the Pacific side of Mexico.
 
28th - 29th April - BAHIAS DE HUATULCO - Club Playa Tangolunda (£5/night)

This was a very tranquil campground, surrounded by all inclusive hotels, the beach was okay but the sea was very rough. When we arrived Adele went to explore the beach, in the meantime a Mexican guy came to the RV and came out with a story that he was a student studying reflexology. He needed to have some more “practical” sessions in particularly with foreigners to practice his English. Anyway niave Meylan fell for this story and agreed for him to massage the feet. By the time Adele came back to the RV, I was getting comfy for my massage by setting up the chair outside etc. she was very suspicious anyway (something for free? And to be filmed?) especially as she spotted that he had a huge tent in his shorts!! He obviously enjoyed his work and was very much wanting to get his hands or something, on my feet!! Once alerted he was sent off with not so much of a touch of a big toe. He came back 2 more times BEGGING for us to have a massage…it was time to move on….

30th - April - 4th May - ZIPOLITE - Ferannado’s La Pamera (£6.25/night)

Laid back, un-commercial, hippy vibe, surfers, good cheap restaurants, lovely bay and wild seas….this is heaven! Our first glimpse of the bay there were dolphins, we walk the 1 mile bay back and forth twice a day and we are enjoying being beach bums. When we arrived met a couple from Finland who roped all the bar into celebrating their National day, we had Finnish songs and streamers, stories about Finland, was a good laugh. They passed out by 7pm, all those vodka’s! We love this place and can see why many foreigners park of here and just don’t go home…There is just the start of commercialism ruining this place, there is one apartment block just being finished, how long can the beach shack owners hold on for. I hope it wont go the Goa route, similar places there are now like the Costa Del Sol.We are hoping to spend another 2 nights here then to the next coastal town, Puerto Escondido.

LIMPING TO CAMPECHE

20th - 22nd April 2011- Campeche - Nautico Club - (£17.50 per night)

After Cancun, we drove 3 hours to a place called Valladolid, an inland town, famous for its sausage! We stayed in a place that had its own ceynote, a cave with a natural swimming pool with a ole for light in the roof. It was eerie in there with bats but so cool and the water clear and cold. Later we went into the town to sample the sausage,  spicy and thin, enjoyed it.
The next day we drove to Merida and then South towards Campeche. About halfway in between the 2 cities we heard a massive bang, our two back tyres on the passenger rear had exploded and were in tatters. Interesting, we only had one spare! Also our levelling jacks had stopped working and we had no other jacks. Luckily not too long after a Canadian RV passed us and stopped. Bear in mind, this is only the 2nd RV we have seen on the road in Mexico. He promised to stop at the nearest place and send help. This was on a very busy road, but only 2 lanes, no hard shoulder and the trucks were flying past us…we had no cones and had to tie a “flag” to the stepladders in the end to stop the cars and trucks hitting us. It was so hot on that road I was getting redder and redder and Adele’s flip flops were melting, oh and they hadn’t long burnt the bracked on the side so we were black from the ash. About 45 minutes later a man came with cones, a jack and tools but still took him about 3 hours to get the tyres off and the only spare on. We then went to his garage. He did not have another tyre of the right size so he fitted a slightly smaller one with our good spare. So we hit the road again but by this time it was getting dark, There was funny noise coming from the tyres so eventually we decided to stop at a little restaurant. Our spare tyre was just about to burst, it had no tread on at all, gosh if that blew again in the dark…we were I the middle of nowhere and we would have had to leave the RV. Anyway luckily the man had a tyre “garage” thing next to it. He had old tyres and tools for getting rims off etc. He let us stay there and the next morning rang the police who rode around the local area looking for tyres for us. (All this by the way, no one spoke English but we managed). They found one tyre so we limped into Campeche, driving 15 miles an hour and then found a Continental dealer who had the right tyre in stock. We have realised that we play Good Cop Bad Cop very well and reduced the price of the new tyres by 600 pesos each (£30). Me amiga (that’s Adele) wants check precio) and then he caves. We have now replaced all the tyres on the RV since we bought it and now have 2 spares, not taking any chances.
We are now in a very upmarket resort with the wealthy Mexican’s, enjoying Semana Santa, overlooking the Mexican Gulf by the infinity pool. All is good again and the levelling jacks are working again and new tyres for our journey to Pelanque.

Happy Easter everyone!

Leaving the Caribbean.

29th March - 19th April 2011 - Cancun - El Mecoloco - £10 per night
With a little tear in our eye we are leaving the Caribbean behind and heading out of the Yutacan and to the other side of Mexico. Cancun was a bit of a surprise, in a good way, we stayed in the “Mexican” area near Puerto Jaurez, and by a local beach with seafood restaurants within easy walking distance. We took a ferry from here to Isla Majueres, 30 minute boat ride, spent the day  with a Canadian girl we met, Lisa, and we had really enjoyable day, good company , seafood and a few beers. We have met some really great people here and will keep in touch. Katie, a mad Scottish lass was a real hoot.
We spent the last weekend at the  Zona Hotelera, miles of big, beach front hotels, it is commercially obscene but we can see why people come. It must be one of the nicest sand and clearest bright turquoise seas in the World. There is everything here in Cancun, most people speak English to the detriment of our Spanish, living here would be relatively easy.  Have a feeling we will be back some day for another visit.

More Beautiful Mexican Beaches

Tulum - 25th March - beach road - (FREE + £2 tip)
We parked overnight on the Tulum beach road, in front of a little Mexican man’s yard so gave him a tip to watch things. We wanted to be close to the famous Mayan ruins here and we were knocking on the gates at opening time to avoid heat and crowds. It was not as impressive as other ruins we have seen but at least we had very few Americans in our photos.

Xpu-Ha Camp site- 26th - 29th March- (£10 per night)

Guys, more gorgeous beachy spots I’m afraid, this is the best yet. A spot 20 miles South of Playa Del Carmen, parked on the beach, not a lot there a bar/restaurant, couple of small resort hotels and best bay we have come across in Mexico so far. We are considering coming back here but have been warned sea, sand and Easter = hordes of Mexican families. Now to Cancun…..

CHETAMUL - YAX-HA RESORT (£12/night)

20th March - 26th March - we are camping in one of the best RV parks so far, grassy site overlooking the Chetamul bay. Went over to the duty free shopping area in Belize yesterday, easy to get to by bus (Mexico public transport is very good) but not nuch to buy. It was full of Chinese copy clothing and Chinese restaurants, we are being taken over! We have decided not to go to the Belize Cays and as we have plenty of time are going to head back up to Cancun. More to see there like Tulum and Cozumel so heading up there tomorrow...after we have listenend to the South Africa v New Zealand cricket game.