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.

Friday, February 8, 2019

It's always an adventure in Mexico!

Driving days are always interesting because you just never know what's going to come up! Yesterday was definitely one of the more interesting ones.

We were only doing 170 kms (105 miles), but as I've mentioned before, coastal highway 200 is pretty slow going. You'd be lucky to average 60 km/h (36 mph). So we planned to set off at 7:30am, with intentions of arriving at our destination by 11:00am or so. But we were a few minutes late leaving!

We were getting Sherman ready to go, when I turned on the two way radio that we use to communicate with the other rigs... and there was nothing. The light didn't come on, and there was no sound. So I disconnected the plug and checked the voltage... and there was nothing!

I've got that radio connected directly to the engine battery. So I figured there must be a bad connection or a bad wire or something. But having a quick look didn't help, so I tested the battery itself... and it was stone cold dead!

Used a battery pack to boost us, and Sherman fired right up.

But I can't find anything that was left on, so there has to be a short somewhere. However the battery is fully charged now after the drive, and it didn't lose anything overnight last night. Possible whatever wire caused the short got jostled around enough during the drive? Who knows? I'll keep testing the battery and just generally keep an eye on it.

Anyhow, we got on the road only a few minutes late.

There was already quite a bit of activity at 7:45am.

This lady yelled in English "Hello everyone".

Heavy load!

They made a water park by this river!

Mango orchard.

Scenery along the way.

More scenery.

This truck carrying pallets looked like it was going to tip over!

More scenery.

This coastal highway has some pretty views.

And fortunately, it's not that busy.

We were going through one of the little towns (Papanoa), and we were only 24 kms (15 miles) from our destination when traffic came to a total stop. 

I knew something was up. There was a taxi in front of me, and another taxi came by the other way and told him what was up. I was about to go talk to him, when a guy came walking down the road and I waved him over. I didn't catch everything he said, but I understood that there was a problem up ahead and the road was blocked and there was wood on the road. I asked how long he thought it would take, and he just shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't know.

We waited for maybe 15 minutes and then I went for a walk to see if I could see what was going on.

This is what I found.

It was a protest by the construction workers union in the area. Usually, this kind of thing happens in Chiapas or Oaxaca state, and we have encountered it before. In fact, we're kind of surprised we haven't seen it before now on this trip. But, I guess it happens in Guerrero state too!

I spoke to a couple of police officers there and they said "it could be 10 minutes, or it could be 10 hours".

I walked back to Sherman and told everybody what was going on.

Eventually, we figured out that they were letting smaller vehicles through at certain times. But the buses and commercial traffic were not being let through at all.

A lady who looked to be in charge came and spoke to us and asked us to move over. I wasn't quite sure why, but then some small vehicles came up from behind and lined up beside us. It was all very confusing. Then, the lady came to me again and said they were going to let our group through!

It took them a while to get all the vehicles out of the way, but she finally waved us on. We got up to the roadblock itself...

Stopped at the roadblock.

Now, they had to move vehicles on the opposite side! This took another few minutes. After a while, there was a pathway that we could make it through. The protesters moved one of the vehicles blocking the road, and let us though!

Making our way through the blockade.

We had been stopped a total of an hour and fifty minutes.

When traveling Mexico, you need to be patient, and you need to roll with the punches. This is part of the deal, and our group is well aware of that. It's always an adventure in Mexico!

We arrived at Casa Rayo del Sol RV Park and I left all the RVs up on the highway while I walked down to the park to see how to get everybody organized. There was of course very little traffic on the highway due to the blockade!

Yesterday's drive, 170 kms (105 miles).

I met Mark and Lorraine, the Canadian owners of this property. It's not the biggest place, but I had contacted them ahead of time to make sure they would have room for all 8 of us. It was a bit of a tight fit, but one by one we got ourselves in here. This is one of those parks where we are glad we are all under 30 ft!

Nice beachfront site!

And a nice beach!

The sites are not really suitable for larger rigs.

But this little trailer made it in just fine.

I think I see some hammock time coming up!

Some of us went next door for a late lunch.

I had ceviche tostados. They were delicious!
90 pesos ($4.80 USD, $6.30 CAD) for the food, and 21 pesos ($1.15 USD, $1.50 CAD) for the beer.

Happy hour watching the sunset.

End of another great day in Mexico!

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28 comments:

  1. I could just stay put there for the next few months!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a great place, if you love the beach it won't be hard to do here! For ourselves we are good for a few days and then we need to move on. To be honest we are ready for the mountains once again. :-)

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  2. Very pretty highway views. I think patience is a necessity of life, not just travel. The park views are wonderful. Too bad they don't accommodate bigger rigs. Enjoy your time there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The views along this stretch of highway really are beautiful!

      The website says they can take a Class A motorhome up to 35 feet and we would say that is definitely doable providing the campground isn't too full. This is one of the reasons that we feel traveling through Mexico in a smaller rig is the best way to explore Mexico.

      Delete
  3. I'll third that, nice place for sure to just relax and decompress

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We agree, and we are definitely taking advantage of it! :-)

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  4. Great post. Loved everything about your adventure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, we are glad you are enjoying our posts. :-)

      Delete
  5. Well, after some excitement on the road I see alot og smiling faces under the palapa! What a pretty spot! Some hammock time is definitely not wasted...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, there were lots of smiling faces, after all they call it Happy Hour for a reason! ;-)

      Delete
  6. That looks like a lovely little park, excellent views and your tostadas look very tasty

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love our views!

      Kevin said the tostadas were delicious. :-)

      Delete
  7. Omg, so beautiful to be camped right at the ocean. I so want to be retired now and just go, lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it is a beautiful spot!

      We hope you don't have long to before retirement, if so we say quit now and just hit the road. :-)

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  8. Great pictures! Making a mental note as that looks like my kind of place. Ceviche tostadas look amazing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you would love this place Scott! Definitely very Mexican and in the middle of nowhere. Public transportation into the nearby bigger town is cheap and they have everything there that you would need to survive.

      Kevin said the ceviche tostadas were delicious!

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  9. Replies
    1. Feb 1st was the half way point of our four month trip.

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  10. Unfortunately, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, Edomex, and Hidalgo are all a bit conflictive and lots of poor union activity. They also happen to be among the poorest states in Mexico.

    This drive looks fantastic and an area we would enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it is unfortunate when these things happen and we know that they are trying to get a point across at least they were very polite about it and it seems that the locals just learn to live with it and deal with it.

      The drive was a very pretty one with some great views. :-)

      Delete
    2. It's their country. All you can do is take it in stride and make the best of things.

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    3. Yep, and that is actually what we did! :-)

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  11. Beachfront property, beautiful views, perfect place to relax - you can’t beat that!!!!!

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  12. Glad the Protesters finally let you pass.
    Nice to be able to relax after a hectic day.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was really nice of them to let us pass though because they could just as easily have let us hang back with the transport trucks and buses. I think because we are "visitors" is why they let us through.

      Delete

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