Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

New RV Park in Jalisco, Mexico

Yesterday morning we were up bright and early. Sherman was going to stay at a new RV Park. Quite a change for him, as he's been parked at the same place since March 16, 2012! We had taken him for a drive a couple of times over the past two years, but he hasn't been to a new RV Park in that time. Hard to believe.

Yesterday, he got a change of scenery. Except it's only a kilometer (less than a mile) down the road!

The four other rigs at Hacienda Contreras were all leaving. Starting the trek north, but with a few stops along the way. We decided since they were heading out that we would too.

Heading out, caravan style!

The last of the regulars at Hacienda Contreras. From left...
Pete and Madeline, Sal and Brab, Jerry and Paula, Heinz and Uli, Ruth and Kevin.

We said our goodbyes, although confident that we will see all of these people again at some point. Pretty certain that we'll all come back to this area at some point, but it won't likely be at Hacienda Contreras. Even though the park is expected to be open next fall , when the gas station and truck stop open up next door, we don't expect that the noise and lights will make for an enjoyable RV'ing experience.

Hence why Sal's cousin Chema took the initiative to open his own RV Park one kilometer closer to town!

Sherman fired right up! I bet it didn't even crank over twice and he was raring to go. The engine battery is weak and I expect he needs a new one. It's the original battery that was in him when we bought the motorhome in August of 2007, so it's done well. But we have a booster pack with us, so we're not stuck if the engine battery should fail. 

We were very low on propane so we drove about 9 kms (5 miles) to the propane fill station. Like everything else, propane gas has also gone up in price. Still far cheaper than Canada though. We paid 7.17 pesos per litre. We put in 59 litres (15.6 gallons) for a total of 423 pesos ($37.00).

The malecon at Valle de Juarez. Can you see Sherman?

Next, we drove into town and parked at the malecon. We walked to the plaza and went to the carneceria (butcher shop).

Ruth at the butcher shop.

Meat for the week.

We bought 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of fresh ground beef, 1/2 kg (1.1 lbs) of pork loin, 1/2 of a large whole chicken, and a strip of chirizo sausage. Total was 179 pesos ($15.75). Not bad.

We stopped in to see Chema (he runs a restaurant in town) and pick up the keys for the new RV Park. Yes, we'll be the only ones there!

And then it was off to the Saturday market. Our regular readers know that we love getting our fruits and veggies from Martin, the guy with the best produce and best prices in Mexico! Sure enough he remembered us!

Martin's fruit and veggie stand.

Our haul for the day!

As always, we need to gloat about this.

Large bag carrots, 5 onions, 3 green peppers, 1 bunch broccoli, 1 bunch cilantro, 1 small watermelon, 1 pineapple, 2 mangoes, small bag green beans, 3 zucchini, bag of potatoes, 4 tomatoes, small bag mushrooms, 4 small cucumbers, 1 head lettuce.

All of this for 120 pesos ($10.50). We love Mexico!

Then, we went and got set up at Chema's RV Park. That's what we'll call it for now, although that may not end up being the official name. He's put in 10 RV sites with full hookups. They're located behind his son's restaurant just on the outskirts of town. GPS coordinates are 19.940483,-102.95867

Sherman, parked up at Chema's RV Park.

Looking back at the restaurant.

The sites are totally finished and ready to use. Sherman is only the second RV ever to stay here! The washrooms and showers are not yet ready, but they're pretty close and will certainly be fully operational within a couple of weeks. There's still some tidying up to be done, but I spoke to Chema yesterday and he's going to have it totally finished by the time anyone wants to be here in the fall. He's planted some trees, and it will take some time for it to be really nice, but it's a start.

I think he's planning on charging 150 pesos ($13) a night for full hookups including electricity.

We'll stay for two or three days and give you an update on our experience.

We relaxed for the afternoon.

Ruth made some kebabs and I grilled them up.

Overall, a good day and we're so happy to be back touring Mexico in the motorhome again!


14 comments:

  1. Nice to get moving again, and a decent price for the campground too.
    Good to see that you have your Weber Q fired up again.

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    1. We think when Chema has this park all up and running by fall, it will be a nice little spot to return too. It was a treat to have the Weber back in operation.

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  2. Guess we'll meet up in Canada! The place looks good. Walking to town is even easier.

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    1. It will be so much easier to walk to town from here, especially once they get the road all fixed up.

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  3. Great that you had a nice place to stay for a while before travelling off again.
    PS; the market photo comes out huge, and when I clicked on it it was a close up of the little kid picking his nose. HAHAHA.. too funny.

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    Replies
    1. We could have stayed at the other park but we wanted to check out Chema's before we headed on, even though it really isn't quite ready for guests yet but it is close enough.

      Kevin said the picture didn't come out big for him but it does for me as well. Guess it is a Google glitch!

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  4. Thanks for the info on the new park. I assume that you will be sending the pertinent info onto the Churchs and the Bells and whoever else needs to know.

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    1. Kevin will definitely be doing that in the fall when it is officially open and he has all the correct info although he did put a link to the blog post about it on Bell's "On the Road to Mexico" facebook page.

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  5. You've still got that "Beware of the Dog" sign in the window!
    A few more trees will make it nice. Curious to see the rest of the place now.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Yep, and it will stay there! It is a little bit of a deterrent, even if it is in English people here knows what it means.

      It won't take long for the trees to grow and what you see in the picture is mostly what it looks like at the moment. There is a restaurant on site as well and Chema has mentioned that the campers can use part of it in the evenings, it's also a great way to meet the locals and practice your Spanish.

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  6. Did you give Sherman a hug? He sure was faithful in starting up and running well after all that time awaiting your return! :cD

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    1. You bet we did! He has been getting so much attention since we got back that I think we even heard him purring, he is one happy camper now.

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  7. nice that Sherman wasn't too upset with you both for leaving him for so long! enjoy your stay..looks like a great park at an even better price!!

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    1. I think he was lonely and enjoying having us back and being put to use again. I know that we sure are happy being back in him.

      Chema's is a nice park and it will be even better by next fall but we will miss Hacienda Contreras although it will still be open it won't be the same without Barb and Sal there, so Chema's will certainly fill that void.

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