Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 65 - Feb. 29, 2012 Bahia de Pascuales

Happy Leap Day!

We took advantage of having an extra day in February to chill. Slept in, made breakfast burritos, read, walked down the road to check out restaurants for lunch. It’s really interesting that many of the restaurants have swimming pools for their patrons – all sorts of pools! I guess it gives the adults a chance to relax and enjoy themselves and the kids can cool off without having to get in the ocean. Definitely a win-win.
After splitting a fish filet plate for 80 pesos ($6.25 USD) we spent the afternoon relaxing.Tobey caught up on some e-mails and checked our electronic bills. I took my Kindle to the beach and read. We then took a walk through the river that flows out to the ocean and up the beach.

We found a spot that was only about waist deep to cross. This morning we watched as the fishermen timed their entrance and exit from this river into the ocean based on the waves. It was pretty cool.

I love seeing all the birds on the beach.

We met some really nice people from Colima -  Victor, Diana, and Horatio. Victor and Horatio had both worked in the US and spoke some English, and Diana understood some.

Victor let Tobey fish with him. Victor caught several with a net, Tobey wasn’t so lucky with the fishing pole. We spent some time visiting with them this evening. It was fun using my Spanish and getting to know more about them. They were really nice.

GPS 18.86093°N, 103.96668°W

Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 64 - Feb. 28, 2012 Marauta – Bahia de Pascuales

Last night we took a walk about 9pm trying to spot any turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. No luck, but we did spot a crab. He froze when we shone a flashlight on him.

We set the alarm to get up at 6:30 to try our luck this morning.

We had a nice sunrise and heading south we saw several fresh tracks, but the locals dig the eggs up and eat them, so all of the nesting areas had been disturbed.

We then walked north along the beach and saw the fishermen heading out.

We went past several coves and smaller beach areas.

The water was surging through the tunnel in this rock. 

When we got to the last cove Tobey spotted a turtle on the beach! We saw her tracks and she was in the process of digging a hole to lay her eggs. We watched for a while, then my camera batteries started to die, and I didn’t bring any extras! Tobey made a dash back to the RV. A little while later, she abandoned her digging. I did get a few shots and a little video, but Tobey missed her journey back to the ocean.

Turtle digging a hole to bury her eggs–Maruata Mexico

   
We saw lots of birds on our way back to the RV.

As we drove north on MEX 200 it reminded us a little of Hwy.1 along the California coast. It snakes along, up and down the hills with lovely views of the ocean. The biggest difference we can see is there aren’t many pullouts here for stopping to look at the views, however, there was one pullout and a great view of a long beach.
We had heard about a good place to boondock near Bahia de Pascuales, about 12km from Tecoman so we thought we would check it out. We are parked near the end of the road along the black sand beach. We are close to where a fresh water lagoon empties into the Pacific.

We had dinner at a little restaurant next door and watched fishermen in the water as the sun set.

We drove 79 miles today and plan to spend two nights here.
GPS 18.86093°N, 103.07668°W

Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 63 - Feb. 27, 2012 Puerto Beyo Chuquiapan Playa - Maruata

This morning we watch some men scraping the coconut meat from the husks just next to our beach camp. They dry the meat and take it to be processed for the oil. The man in charge said when they get 1000 kilograms, they take it to market.

We went north on MEX 200 to check out some more beaches. We stopped at several beaches and a couple of campground areas to look at the views. The coast is beautiful with lots of beaches, but not all of them accessible.

Pemex is the national gas station. A few of the small villages that we went through don’t have an official gas station, but they do have stores that sell gasolina. Notice the different size containers they have available! We have seen people buy these, then they filter the gasoline through a rag and funnel into their vehicle.

MEX 200 winds around, up and down the hills, past fields of mangos and papayas, as well as farmland. At one point, we had to wait for these goats to cross the road.

We arrived in Maruata early this afternoon and looked at a couple places for camping. We ended up behind Letty’s restaurant, and are paying $100 pesos (about $8 USD). There is another truck camper here, Jerry and Paula, from Nova Scotia. They have been really helpful and friendly and we have enjoyed visiting with them. There is a nice covered palapa restaurant so we enjoyed a pizza from Dona Lupita’s outside tonight.

 Views from our beach.

We drove 76 miles today, averaging about 25 mph. Once again, no internet service – hopefully tomorrow we will be able to post!

GPS 18.26989°N, 103.34684°W

Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 62 - Feb. 26, 2012 Patzcuaro - Puerto Beyo Chuquiapan Playa

Today we retraced a good portion of our route to Patzcuaro as we headed back to the beach. We didn’t have a particular destination in mind for tonight, so when we saw a sign for a playa, we headed down the road. We found a nice spot on the sand just in front of a little restaurant. We shared a delicious shrimp dinner for $132 pesos ($10 USD) including tip and are staying here for free.

We took a walk before dinner and found several sand dollars and Tobey spotted the remains of an unfortunate sea horse. There is also a river that empties into the ocean just past our camping spot. There were lots of birds in the estuary.

Again, a nice sunset over the water.

We drove 196 miles today and paid $467 pesos in toll fees (about $36.50 USD). No internet again tonight, so we will look for a place tomorrow so we can post.

GPS 18.04859°N, 102.60769°W

Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 61 - Feb. 25, 2012 Patzcuaro – Quiroga - Patzcuaro

We took a boat to Isla de Janitzio, the largest of the five islands located in the Lago de Patzcuaro this morning. The island is inhabited by Tarascan Indians. It is a “touristy” kind of thing to do, but we enjoyed it. The round trip boat fare was $45 pesos each ($3.50 USD).

  

Steep stone sidewalks weave their way to the top of the island where there is a huge statue of Jose Maria Morelos, a hero of the Mexican independence struggle. We paid our $6 peso entrance fee (about $.45 USD) and went inside. We were able to climb the stairs all the way up in the arm. Once at the top, there is a small bench and Tobey climbed up to the window to look at the view. There are vendors and restaurants all along the walkway and the steep steps reminded us a little of Greece.

When we got back to the dock area we saw the fishermen doing a demonstration of how they used “butterfly” fishing nets. Now it is just for show, but in years past these type of nets were used by all of the fishermen.

After our trip to Janitzio, we took the scooter up to Quiroga, a pleasant town near the north shore of Lake Patzcuaro. It has served as a marketplace for surrounding towns and villages for more than 500 years so it was fun shopping.

The stands on south end of the main plaza are famous for their excellent carnitas, so we made that our first stop. Carnitas are tender bites of steamed and fried pork served with a stack of tortillas and freshly made salsa, or as a filling for tacos. Many of the vendors were giving samples trying to tempt us to buy from them. We got pork carnitas tacos from two different stands just to check them out. The meat was delicious, but the pico de gallo was really spicy!

We wandered the streets and looking at the handicrafts from several vendors, many of which are from neighboring towns.

We enjoyed sitting in the late afternoon shade at the square doing a little people watching.

Restaurants and shops line the arched walkways surrounding the square.


On our way back to Patzcuaro we did a quick stop in Tzintzuntzan to look at some of the crafts, pottery, and stonework. Many of the vendors were closing up shop because it was after 5pm, but there was still a lot to see. The long garlands were made from straw or pine needles and for every occasion. Some looked like Christmas decorations, others looked like they were for weddings or birthdays.

While we were in Quiroga, Tobey thought we should have the scooter looked at again since it was not running smoothly at the high altitude. We found a repair shop and they actually seemed to do more damage than good. On our way back to Patzcuaro, the scooter died and Tobey had to push it quite a ways before there was a place wide enough to stop. He left me with the scooter and took a collectivo back to get the RV. He came back and we loaded the scooter, called the repair shop, and headed back to Quiroga. They changed a spark plug, fiddled with it some more, and it seemed to run. We loaded back on the RV and headed back to Patzcuaro AGAIN, this time in the dark. Neither of us very confident about the fix and will probably be taking collectivos or taxis to do much of our sightseeing from this point forward.

There were several things we didn’t see in the area surrounding Patzcuaro, so we have added it to our “we are coming back here” list!

Tomorrow we head back to the beaches and work our way north.