The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Laguna del Santa Maria (day 2)

Yesterday's post has now been updated with pictures, so maybe you want to check that out first. The following was written Tuesday evening, with an update from this morning later on...

(Tuesday Nov 15, 8:00pm). We went through another time change when we crossed the border into the state of Nayarit. Between the daylight savings time change and the border time change, our schedule is a little messed up. It’s only 8:00pm as I write this and it feels like it should be bedtime.

I thought this was a leaf on Sherman's windshield!

Ruth and a big tree we found on our way around the lake.

So Tuesday morning we went for a hike around the lake. Part of it is on a trail, and part is on a dirt road. We brought Ruth’s little laptop with us and the cell stick. Sure enough, half way around the lake I was able to get a weak signal that was good enough to post yesterday’s blog.

Kevin, posting yesterday's blog.

Further around the lake we saw several expensive homes, although it looks like they are all only used on weekends or holidays. Quite a few maintenance people around, but it didn’t seem like many people actually live in them. And, we stopped in at what looks like a very expensive resort, but there was nobody around.

A very expensive looking resort...with nobody around!

You’ll remember on Monday when we met the two drunken guys in a pickup truck. Well, don’t we come walking around a corner this morning and there’s a tow truck hauling our drunken friends pickup truck out of the ditch!  And a deep ditch it was. And their windshield was badly broken where their heads hit it. I bet they didn’t feel a thing! So we still don’t know what happened to them. Maybe they tried to outrun the cops yesterday, or maybe they simply meandered their way off the side of the road. Either way, justice seems to have been served and thankfully they only hurt themselves. We thought it was kind of funny, and they got what they deserved.

Hey, Buddy...!

Spent the afternoon sitting by the lake, reading. I tried to pay our bill here, but nobody seems to be around. What a strange way to run a business. The caretaker guy we spoke to yesterday said he would be back this afternoon, but he never showed. I found one guy who was more like a gardener, and tried to tell him that we wanted to leave at 7:00am Wednesday morning, and I wanted to pay the bill. He said that Oscar would be back then, but I will be surprised. If there is nobody around, I guess we will just drive away without paying. How are you supposed to collect money from your customers if you don’t have somebody in charge to pay?!

(Wednesday Nov 16, 9:00am). Was up at 6:00am and ready to go by 6:50am. Walked around, went to the caretakers house and knocked on the door. A little 3 year old girl came, and I asked for Oscar. She said something to the effect that nobody's there. I tried explaining I wanted to pay the bill, saying it loud enough that hopefully an adult would come to the door, but no response. So we drove away. If they want their money, they can come and look me up, rather than me having to look them up. What a way to run a business.

We had to leave early for two reasons. The little town we had to drive through was very tight and we wanted to get through it before it was busy. And we did. And second, the RV park we are at in Tepic is located behind a small shopping mall, and if there are too many cars at the mall, it's tight to get into the RV park. Sure enough, we made it into Tepic at rush hour this morning and there was a lot of traffic. But we made it into the RV park without issue. Tepic is a fair size city of about 300,000. This little RV park is nice, and the lady is charging us 100 pesos without hookups. We're parked in the sun, so we should be good for a few days. This place looks fairly secure, so if we are confident enough of that, we are going to leave Sherman here on his own and take the bus up to Mazatlan to visit with our friend Lee, and hopefully meet with fellow blogger Contessa.

13 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great day and too bad you had free camping !! The bus trip will be nice and if you get to meet Contessa and others from the resort say Hi for us. The water taxi to Isla de la Piedra (Stone Island) from Mazatlan is only a few minutes and a short walk along a quiet beach to Tres Amigos, nice place. Have fun. Try Benji's Garlic shrimp pizza, awesome! Wish we were going with you.

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  2. Hey Buddy! Watch me drive off the road!
    I'd almost feel sorry for them, but I have very little empathy for drunks, especially if they're at the wheel.
    We saw some crazy assed shit in Puerto Rico too, so I'm thinking it's kind of a "Latino" thing?
    It's probably the result of our somewhat tight assed culture when it comes to alcohol, but the first time I saw someone driving down the road drinking from a can of beer, I did a bit of a double take.
    You weren't kidding about that road. Just seeing if from google maps gives a pretty good impression. Poor Sherman must have had a good workout to get back out of there.

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  3. What lengths you go through for us followers.
    Thanks for the update on your two acquaintances. I hope they weren't badly hurt.
    LOVE the header picture. Just beath taking.

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  4. You tried your best to pay, andwhat kind of a person sends their 3 year old to the door to run interference for them?
    So glad you were able to change that header picture...that scorpion photo gave me the creeps
    Its going to be 28 here tonite, so think of us while you are in your shorts and tank tops

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  5. I agree with Donna, glad you got rid of the scorpion picture. This one is much more relaxing. At least the place we stayed in Butte, MT had an envelope and a drop to put the payment in. We never did find anybody in the office. Not how I'd run my business. Thank goodness I don't have one to run.

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  6. I love the picture of you sitting in the middle of the road blogging. Thank you for that from one of your followers. LOVE all the pictures, but I vote with the group of no scorpion pictures.

    Safe travels

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  7. much much better picture :)....love them all but the scorpion freaked me out...looks like gorgeous weather....I have seen that leafy like bug right here in Canada..maybe he hitched a ride with you!!! take care and hug Contessa for me..can't wait to see pics of your meeting...

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  8. must have been the only one that loved the scorpion picture... think i would have just left money with the girl... but that is me...

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  9. Love reading about your travels - your pics are so neat - love them all - that tree is huge! I even liked the scorpion pic because never saw a real one. Tell Contessa that Connie from PA said HI! Keep on having fun - you're so lucky!

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  10. Happened to us once. Looked all over for someone to pay, they knew our checkout plan, finally we gave up and took off. We left a note just in case to cover our butts. That was in Texas.

    Have fun in Nayarit. Beautiful place and beaches.

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  11. You do well with limited access to internet. Another great account of your travels. With your savings from accomodation you can buy some refreshments.

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  12. love the pic,have to say I disagree with Bob`s comment on the "Latino Thing"I think drunk is drunk dispite race.Keep on roling!

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  13. You did what you had to do. You certainly tried hard enough to pay.

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