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, January 20, 2016

You win some, you lose some...

We're pretty good at finding decent (and sometimes great!) overnight spots when we're traveling in the motorhome. But ocassionally things just don't work out. Of course when we end up in a spot that's less than stellar, it's always only for one night.

We like to check out different possibilities though, and we had read about a hotel north of Queretaro that had an RV parking area. In fact, at one time, the Juriquilla Inn had space and hookups available for up to 70 RVs!

So yesterday morning, we finished up 9 nights parking at the Flamingo Hotel in Queretaro. Management has told us that they will no longer be accepting RV's there as of January 31, so that option has disappeared. We had a good stay though, and enjoyed the city of Queretaro.

But, time to move on!

We emptied the holding tanks and filled the fresh water tank and hit the road just after 10:30am. A bit of a late start, but we were right downtown and wanted to let the morning traffic die off a bit. Plus, we weren't planning on going very far! The Juriquilla Inn is only about 15 kms (9 miles) north of the city.

But it's such a built up area now. 10 lanes of traffic heading north out of the city, which becomes 8 lanes by the time it reaches Juriquilla.

Traffic heading north out of Queretaro.

Pulled in to the Juriquilla Inn and I went into the reception. The guy there spoke really quickly in Spanish and I missed half of what he said, but he led me out to an area where you could see that they used to have a lot of parking spots with RV hookups, but none of the hookups were functional. I had explained that we didn't need any hookups...just somewhere to park.

It was a terrible looking section, right close to the highway and it looked like a construction zone dump site. Terrible. I wouldn't have parked there for free. 

Their website had said that RV parking was 180 pesos ($15 CAD) with full hookups. This guy wanted 200 pesos ($16.60 CAD) just to park. Nope. I told him it was too much. They had another RV section towards the back, and on grass but he said that area had been leased to a construction company and there was no longer any access to it.

We were about to drive away, when he came and knocked on the door. He showed me another possibility beside one of the hotel units. It was a lot quieter there, and I offered him 150 pesos ($12.45 CAD) and he accepted.

But it's not ideal, and we don't recommend going here. I honestly think they're trying to get out of the RV park business, and even the hotel itself has seen better days. Juriquilla is a growing area, and it's probably one of those situations where the property had become worth more than the business itself.

Sherman, parked up at the Juriquilla Inn.

Okay, for one night.

But the view from our side window overlooks another construction zone, and the main highway. Terrible. You win some, you lose some!

On the other side of the highway is the modern upscale planned community of Juriquilla. It's based around a small lake formed by a dam. The dam has been there for many years, but I'd say it's only within the last 10 years or so that the property around it has been developed. Now, there''s a golf course and many middle to upper class condos, apartments, and homes being built.

So we went for a walk on the other side of the highway.

Golf course beside the lake.

Many expensive homes.

Two brand new high rise apartment buildings.

I looked up some prices and even the smaller row type homes start at about 2 million pesos ($160,000 CAD). Definitely a mid to upscale neighborhood.

Ruth, with a chili fruit cup.

We bought a fruit cup from a guy with a stand at the side of the road. Watermelon, pineapple, and honeydew melon, with hot chili sauce! They put chili on everything here, and it was delicious! 15 pesos ($1.25 CAD).

We did about 8 kms (5 miles) just exploring the neighborhood, then walked back across the highway.

We used a temporary scaffolding walkway to get across the highway.

Yikes. It didn't seem very stable, but it did the job!

Played a bunch of backgammon and cribbage for the rest of the afternoon.

Slept okay, despite the highway noise. But still, one night is enough here, especially since we paid. We could have parked on the street in one of the residential areas for free and it would have been nicer.

So we're headed towards the Botanical Gardens at San Miguel de Allende, which is not very far away, but we're going to take the back roads to get there. Or at least we're going to ty to. There is one section that looks to be about 7 kms (4 miles) of dirt road, so hopefully it's going to be okay. Sherman says he's ready for some adventure!

So if we find somewhere to overnight along the way, there likely won't be internet available. And if it's nice, we might stay for more than one night. So if you don't hear from us for a day or two, then that's what happened.

Oh, and congratulations go to Vicki Gateley of Estell Springs, Tennesee...the lucky winner of our contest to win a Go-Pro camera! Thanks to Motorcyclehouse.com for sponsoring the contest!

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And in Canada at Amazon.ca...



25 comments:

  1. Good luck finding a new spot. It seems they are not that interested in catering to the RV crowd as they just can't make money at it.

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    1. Unfortunately that is the story through much of Mexico. RV parks by the ocean seem to do well but ones inland, not so much. It is really a shame because there is so much to see inland but many people who RV down to Mexico go to the coast and then find a campground and stay for the winter. Luckily we aren't tied to campgrounds so we always find somewhere to stay.

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  2. Tasty looking fruitcup. Shelagh would rather play chicken in the traffic than cross one of those overpasses. We all have our fears... Beter luck to you finding a more suitable place to overnight today. A brand new condo for less than CDN$200,000.00 is a good deal! In greater Vancouver you won't find a barn for that kind of money. However it would buy a very nice RV... Hmmm.

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    1. It was a delicious fruit cup!

      I remember you mentioning in your blog about Shelagh not liking the overpasses and she had mentioned it to me too and she really wouldn't have liked this one. We thought of her as we were crossing it but if you didn't use it, it would have been like trying to cross over the 401 and that wouldn't be fun.

      A $160,000USD is still be a lot here in Mexico but they did look like nice town homes. Yes, that would buy a very nice RV but for us, we are really happy with Sherman and he serves our purposes perfectly.

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  3. Fruitcup looks good... very refreshing!

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    1. I was just what we needed seeing I forgot to bring our water with us and we couldn't find a tienda in this upscale area!

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  4. Be safe. I know you are careful, but still...

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  5. I can't imagine chili sauce on fruit. Maybe because I don't like chili sauce!!

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  6. You two do get yourselves into some strange parking spots. That one did look a bit on the scary side.

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    1. It wasn't scary at all. We were totally safe there, it just didn't have a nice view and we were too close to the main highway and a construction site but it was fine for the night.

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  7. Hmm - chili in a fruit cup. Sounds interesting. You folks are brave in many ways. The parking spot looks functional. Looking forward to the next one..

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    1. Trust us you should try it, a whole country full of Mexicans can't be wrong! ;-) I think the chili helps bring out the sweet fruity taste.

      Yes, the spot was functional but it was only good for a night, wouldn't have wanted to stay any longer than that.

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  8. You are so adventurous. We are enjoying your travels as we get ready to move on our way.

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    1. Thank you, we like to be adventurous otherwise we would miss to many things. Hope you have as much fun on the road as we have. Good luck with your travels.

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  9. Thanks for writing about the good and the bad.

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  10. Interesting adventures are always a lot of fun.

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    1. Yes, they are! If we didn't have them we would be bored.

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  11. Darn-- sad news to hear that Flamingo will no longer be an RVing option for Queretaro. Are there any other viable RV parking options there?

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    1. Yes, it is sad news about the Flamingo but they really never got many RVs there and on the weekends they would just get too busy with the hotel, the restaurant and any events that they may have going that they really needed that area for parking. We checked out the Juriquilla Inn just north of the city and it is not a viable place either. In fact it looks like they are also are getting out of the RV park business. The Walmart would work but you would need to enter from the side as the road leading into it right beside the bullring has a low barrier right near the end. Otherwise all we can suggest is finding a suitable hotel, restaurant or balneario with a large parking lot and then ask if you can stay and take local transportation into town.

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  12. The fruit with chili sounds good to me! I have never tried it but will look for it the next time we are in Mexico. I am curious, when you are negotiating for these parking spots, are you doing that all in Spanish? You've mentioned that your Spanish is not great, so I wonder how difficult these negotiations are. I am sure I'd stumble all over my words and not understand much of what they are saying, but your Spanish is probably better than mine!

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    1. Yes, totally in Spanish Emily. Sometimes we stumble too, but most people are pretty patient with us and appreciate the effort. And sometimes we have to get them to repeat themselves and speak more slowly...this guy spoke very quickly!

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    2. I am impressed -- good for you. We definitely have farther to go in our Spanish speaking and comprehension. When they speak fast, my mind just goes blank!

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