Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 72 - March 7, 2012 Puerto Vallarta

We went to listen to a time share presentation this morning. It was supposed to be 90 minutes long and we would receive $3250 pesos ($255USD), a buffet breakfast, and two bottles of tequila. It seemed like a good deal. WELL, six hours and four different sales levels later, we were finally in a taxi back to the RV. The resort WAS beautiful, but we really didn’t need to buy another timeshare. This iguana was in one of the lagoons at the resort.

We had to deal with the Tel-Cel banda again because it wasn’t working, so we went back to the office. They seem to have fixed it, we’ll see. We are hoping that maybe we are just in a bad cell area.

We went back down to the malecon and had dinner at a local taco place. It was okay, but nothing to rave over. We were stopped by another fellow and chatted for quite a while. He used to live in Colorado and still had family in Denver. Then he asked about going to a timeshare presentation tomorrow. Geez, when will we learn. We reluctantly said yes because his offer was REALLY good and he said it would help him earn some “credit” that he really needs.  We’ll see how it goes and report back later.

GPS 20.65697°N, 105.23244°W

Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 71 - March 6, 2012 Punta Perula - Puerto Vallarta

We were on the road by 8am today on our way to Puerto Vallarta. One big disadvantage to getting an early start is we drove through fog for quite a while. There are lots of rivers and low-lying areas and when you combine that with the high humidity, the fog was thick. The road to Puerto Vallarta was also winding and rough with some construction. Once you get into Puerto Vallarta, RVs, trucks and buses have to get onto the “laterals” which are like frontage roads but with lots of stop and go. We managed to negotiate all of them correctly and made a stop at the Wal-Mart for supplies and groceries.

All things considered, we made the 95 mile trip and shopping in pretty good time, arriving at Nacho’s Trailer Park by 12:30. We are paying $250 pesos ($19.50USD) per night, without electric. It was higher if we use their electric! As we drove into town we noticed workmen sprucing up the bridges. We loved the bright green paint!

Pulling into Tacho Trailer Park we noticed several iguanas. They are quite large and can climb trees very quickly! There are lots of RVs here also – most of them have been here for the winter. 

After getting set up we took the scooter and went into the Centro to walk along the malecon (seafront walkway). There were two cruise ships in, so there lots of “gringos” besides us here. It was fun to see the funky sculptures and sand castles along the beach. 

We strolled along and passed over the Río Cuale and spent some time among the handicrafts stalls in the Municipal Crafts Market.

   

It was fun seeing all of the different sculptures.

Water-inspired art, and funky stuff, too!

A little further down the malecon we looked over at the beach area and saw this woman making balanced rock formations. She had a “propina” (tip) box out so we gave her a couple pesos to take pictures.

As we headed back north we took a side trip about three blocks from the malecon to see the old church. It was really pretty on the outside, but the inside was not nearly as ornate as many of the other churches we have seen.

GPS 20.65697°N, 105.23244°W

Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 70 - March 5, 2012 Arroyo Seco Playa Grande - Punta Perula

This morning we had to stop for our first cow in the road. Bull, actually. He was really stubborn and did NOT want to give up his real estate. Tobey honked the horn at him a few times and inched the RV forward, but he wasn’t going to budge. He finally realized that we really were bigger than him and he begrudgingly moved to the side of the road.

We had driven by Agua Caliente, a small town about 6km south of Arroyo Seco, and had heard that the river had hot springs in it. We decided to check it out and drove back to Agua Caliente. The river was a little south of town, so we found a wide spot in the road and parked to walk down to the river. The water was warm, but we couldn’t see where it was supposed to be bubbling up. It definitely had that sulfur smell to it that comes with hot springs, but we decided that further investigation to find the source would have to wait until our next trip.

Back on the road we were headed to Punta Perula. There are five RV parks here and we looked at all of them. We were not overly impressed and their prices were high ($250-$300 pesos/night $19.85-23.80USD). We stopped at Chee-Chee Restaurant right on the beach and asked if we could park here for the night. The owner told us it was no problem, so we are staying here. The down side is we have no internet. The upside is we ate dinner here and the food was great! I had shrimp in almond sauce and Tobey had the red snapper grilled with garlic. They had yummy chips and salsa and both dinners came with rice and salads. Dinner was $195 pesos including tip ($15.50USD) so Tobey likes to think we paid $195 pesos to camp and got dinner free!We spent the afternoon walking the beach, which is really long.

About a mile to the south there is a resort and there were several blonde-haired folks hanging out. We stopped to ask them about the resort. The one fellow we talked to said they were from Norway and were here in Mexico filming a reality TV show, “Paradise Hotel.” He was a camera man, but Tobey mostly seemed to noticed three of the girls that were probably part of the show. He told us it was one of those “dating-type” shows where the first part has 6 guys and 5 girls, they have to arrange dates … and “whatever” (my words, not his). Then the show changes and you have 5 guys and 6 girls. He said it was great spending two months in Mexico during Norway’s coldest part of the year.

We came back to the beach by our RV and spent some time swimming. The water here is much calmer. We also talked to three women from the States. One of them lives here at least 10 months of the year – she and her husband are building a house here. The other two were friends who had spent several months here also. The funny part was they were all from the St. Louis area, less than 2 miles from Tobey’s home turf!

After dinner we noticed these fishermen not far offshore. The birds noticed them too and were following them quite closely! We stopped to watch the sunset then stopped at one of the RV parks just down the beach to visit with some of the folks there before coming home.

Today we drove 40 miles and had a pretty relaxing day. Tomorrow we head north again and hope to find a Tel-Cel office so we can renew our internet banda.

GPS 19.58843°N, 105.12469°W

Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 69 - March 4, 2012 Arroyo Saco Playa Grande

We drove 2 miles today – from our isolated spot on Playa Chica to a less isolated spot on Playa Grande, the other beach at Arroyo Saco. When we got back to town we stopped to ask directions at one of the restaurants, and Rafael told us to follow him. He spoke excellent English having taught English in Tijuana. He offered to let us park on his property, or showed us a spot here on the beach just across the road. We opted for the beach.

Rafael showed us all around the house he is building. He is also the caretaker for the senator’s house across the road. He told us that the senator hardly ever comes here. As you can see, we are in a lovely spot!

We did the beach walk – to the north as far as we could go until we came to huge rock outcroppings.  Both Rafael and Artemio from the Surf Shop had recommended eating at Los Frailes, so we opted to have lunch there. It was a good choice. Tobey had the house special shrimp – cooked in garlic and peppers. It had a little zing to it, but not overpowering. I had breaded shrimp. Both came with ceviche appetizer, 12 shrimps, delicious rice, and a salad and our bill was only $185 pesos ($14.70 USD). The owners had lived in the US and spoke English – it certainly makes it easier to have menu items explained!

After lunch we did the beach walk to the south – a LONG walk – all the way to Playa Magica. This was a huge crab that we spotted digging back into the sand.

Pounding surf on sandy beaches with rocky points and islands offshore make this beach beautiful, but not good for swimming. There are surfers here, and we watched several taking on the waves this afternoon.

At Playa Magica, an old abandoned resort graces a high bluff overlooking the surf, as well as several homes lining the coast to the South, some abandoned, others inhabited and well cared for. 

When we got back we asked Rafael about the resort. He told us that a high-ranking general built the resort, but died before it was completed. It now stands neglected on the bluff. He also told us there is talk of a new resort being developed in the area. We really like that it is quiet and not really developed!

GPS 19.31495°N, 104.93965°W

Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 68 - March 3, 2012 Malaque - Arroyo Seco, Playa Chica

Tobey said that today was a perfect day; we only drove 28 miles and we are the only people camped at this beach.

We turned off MEX200 at KM 29.5 and followed the road 3 km to the tiny town of Arroyo Seco. The road is in varying stages of  construction, but was quite navigable. Once we arrived in town we followed the signs to the playa. There are two different beaches here – accessible by two different roads. We took the road to Playa Chica. It was quite narrow and overgrown with brush in some places. A man that worked on the land next to the road came with his machete to help Tobey cut some of the low-lying branches so we could get through. Further down the road, Tobey got his saw out and climbed on the roof of the RV to cut more! It was quite rutted and we drug bottom on the scooter hitch, too! We were rewarded with a beautiful view of the beach.

There were three cars here when we arrived. It turns out that Playa Chica is a surfing beach. We talked to a group of students from Guadalajara who said the waves weren’t very good today, but it usually is. We had fun watching the waves crash on the shore.

We did the beach walk a couple times, played cards and backgammon, read, and watched a couple of shrimp boats that trolled back and forth across the horizon.

There is an estuary behind the beach with some different types of birds.

Tobey also spotted an area that has been fenced off by the Christian Surf Team. It is set aside for protecting turtle eggs before they hatch.

www.christianossurfteam.org  

After dinner we met Artemio, the young man who runs the surf shop. He is in charge of this area of the beach and the turtle project and president of the Christiano Surf Team.

He said they had moved about 15,000 eggs there, but raccoons often come and dig up the eggs. The eggs take 30-45 days to hatch.  He told us it is the slow season for turtles, that they usually lay their eggs during the rainy season. He said it is possible we might see some babies in the morning. We will keep our fingers crossed.

 

We had another beautiful sunset view from our little “casa-rodante.”

GPS 19.32961°N, 104.95807°W

Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 67 - March 2, 2012 Malaque

There are definite advantages to staying in the same place for two nights. I don’t have to pack up the kitchen and secure everything for driving and we can sleep in. We walked into town this morning and scheduled massages for this afternoon, then walked back on the beach to the RV.

We took the scooter to Fredi’s and shared a medium shrimp cocktail for lunch. It came in a large glass and had about 24 shrimp, along with an avacado, onion, chopped tomato, and lime type of salsa. Add lots of toasted tortilla chips and a soft drink and it was a good meal for the two of us $110 pesos ($8.60USD).

Views of the lagoon behind the RV.

Late this afternoon we went back to town for massages. We both signed up for the deep tissue/therapeutic massage. At $300 pesos for an hour ($23.80USD) they were okay, certainly not deep tissue, but they were relaxing. Another day in paradise.

GPS 19.21598°N, 104.69261°W

Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 66 - March 1, 2012 Bahia de Pascuales - Malaque

This morning we headed north to Malaque, just 82 miles. We again passed coconut plantations and coconut processing plants. Truckload after truckload come in and dump their coconuts out. There are men there cutting the nuts open and drying the fruit as we had seen on the beach a few days ago.
We then passed sugar cane fields, bananas, papayas, mangos, and tomato fields. There were several fruit stands along the way and we kept seeing a large fruit we had never seen before so we had to stop. The woman told us it is called a “yuka” fruit and grows on large trees. The inside of the fruit was an orangish-yellow color, similar to a mango. The flavor was kind of a cross between a mango and cantaloupe. Interesting, but not great enough to warrant buying one of those bad boys! We also tried a chicozapote, which was a round fruit that reminded us kind of a cross between a pear and something else. Again, not especially to our liking, so we paid for one and were on our way!

We arrived in Malaque and found our way to the Laguna Del Tule RV Park. It is packed! We arrived in the middle of the bocce tournament and had to wait until the round was finished before moving
into our RV spot. The RV park is located between the ocean and a lagoon. We are on the lagoon side and we are paying $200 pesos ($15.85USD) for the night.

There are three other RVs from Colorado, as well as many Canadians. Our neighbors just across from us, Bob and his wife, Charlie, are from Elizabeth, Colorado. They are the greatest!

We took the scooter off and he loaned us his jumper cables to get it started after our last repair. Tobey then spent some time trying to fix some of the “fixes” from the last scooter repair shop. He got the housing reattached properly and it doesn’t shake all over anymore.
Bob also gave us lots of tips and information about the area, and helped Tobey cut some low-lying palm fronds from brushing the top of the RV.

We checked out Barre de Navidad to see what it was like. It is across the bay and seems to have more hotels and restaurants than Malaque. This statue was near the beach area. I think Malaque will be quieter and we are happy with our choice.

Just behind our campsite is a lagoon. There are several different types of birds, and there are supposed to be crocodiles in it. We haven’t seen them yet!

On Bob’s recommendation, we had dinner at Scooby’s Tacos and it was delicious! We had barbeque ribs and barbeque chicken with potatoes and salads. It was only $140 pesos ($11 USD) for both dinners with drinks and we were stuffed! The barbeque sauce was so delicious we bought some to take home with us. Now if I can only figure out the recipe …

GPS 19.21598°N, 104.69261°W