Ruth, enjoying the view of the lake at Valle de Bravo, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Cancun on December 17th!

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Tepic to Etzatlan

On Tuesday, we did the drive from Tepic to Etzatlan.

We planned to leave Los Pinos RV Park in Tepic right at 9:00am, but before we could do that we had to pay the bill. Normally, we pay when we arrive. But at that time, there was only a cleaning lady there and she said she had called the manager. But he never arrived, only the maintenance caretaker guy. He had come over and gave us the wifi password, but he never asked us to pay, and I didn't think he was the guy we were supposed to pay.

Ruth and I had stayed here at Los Pinos RV Park in Tepic way back in 2011, so of course we didn't expect the price to be the same. But now, they have this ridiculous pricing structure. I had read the recent reviews on iOverlander that stated people had paid 285 pesos each. And to a certain extent, that was accurate and I would have been happy with that.

Prices at Los Pinos RV Park in Tepic.

Well it turned out that the maintenance guy is also the manager. Nice friendly people (he and his wife), but there was no negotiating despite the fact that many of our group hadn't even plugged in to the somewhat sketchy electricity. 

418 pesos each for the three class A motorhomes in our group is pretty pricey by Mexico standards. And normally, we get a group discount. In fact most parks do not charge the group leaders at all. But as I said, they were non negotiable. I expect that the manager is not the owner, and he could not have given us a fair price even if he wanted to. Anyhow, we paid the 4,875 peso ($337 CAD, $257 USD) bill for our 2 night stay and said I told him we would not be back next year.

If I had known the prices ahead of time, we would not have stayed for two nights. My fault for not asking.

Anyhow, we got on the road at 9:00am. 

We had three choices of which route to take to Etzatlan. We could have taken the highway 15 cuota, or the highway 15 free road, or a twisty curvy back route that went through a few small villages. I checked the price of the cuota (toll road) on the Mexico Government toll fee website and it seemed pretty reasonable, so I chose that route. The website has always been fairly accurate when I've checked it in the past.

It should have been 191 pesos for the whole route.

But the first toll booth we went through was 155 pesos and the second was 208 pesos for a total of 363 pesos ($25.20 CAD, $19.20 USD)... almost double what we expected. Maybe this is an anomaly, but it seems you can't trust that website for accurate info any longer.

Still, it was a fast drive and the roads were in good condition.

Sugar cane harvest.

Lots of police and military presence on the toll road.

Scenery along the way.







Lava field rock.

Nice sky. 







We came back through another time zone change so we lost an hour entering the state of Jalisco. We are now on central time, one hour behind eastern.

We got off the cuota at the town of Magdalena and we had to double back through the town itself in order to get on the road to Etzatlan.

Going through Magdalena.

Pretty tight through here with some truck traffic doing the same thing.

We were happy to be back at Delia's RV Park in Etzatlan. We've stayed here quite a few times over the year and Bonnie and her daughter Sam always look after us well. We are here for a five night stay.

Pretty sunset at Delia's RV Park in Etzatlan.

We had a nice campfire last night.

Today, we are taking the group to a local tequila distillery. 

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12 comments:

  1. Beautiful countryside. When you think you've got it down they change it up. Enjoy the nice weather.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it is very beautiful countryside. This is the kind of landscapes that we just love. :-)

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  2. Lovely sunset picture. Nice to stay put in a place that you are welcomed back too versus the previous place

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    1. The sunset was spectacular!

      It is very nice too be welcomed back to Delia's, we truly love it here. The campground in Tepic wasn't unfriendly they just had such a messed up pricing structure that we thought was totally unfair and there was just no negotiating with them on it, and because of that we just won't be back there again.

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  3. The Mexicans have learned to charge!!! The joys of navigating gringo tourist country. We sometimes have a tough time with it here, but we knew what we would be paying up front! Its still an experience not a lot of people get to enjoy!!

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    1. We don't agree with that at all Lorne! It is definitely more prevalent in your area because you are at the beach and in a very "gringoy" area but most of the places that we travel in Mexico we feel that we are treated fairly and are not being taken advantage of and that is one of the many reasons that we love traveling to places that aren't touristy.

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  4. Enjoy your stay at Bonnie and Sam's!! Please say hello to them from Barry and I....we had really wanted to make it back there but circumstances made it impossible this year...safe travels.....Jeannie and Barry

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    Replies
    1. We are definitely enjoying our stay here with Bonnie and Sam ans we will make sure to say hello to them for you. Hopefully you and Barry will make it back here next winter. :-)

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  5. Just makes you feel wonderful when you're being taken advantage of, isn't it...

    yow. The stay bill especially seemed high.

    We had this happen in Oklahoma on a toll road -- more than $12 to go 100 miles! And if you got off, then back on, you started all over again. We protested, but the blank face of the collector basically said, "Heard it before. Too bad. Now beat it." Aaarrrghgghghghgh.

    I'm REALLY enjoying touring Mexico with you and your group. Thank you for being so specific in your posts! (And Merry Christmas)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was partly our own fault for not asking at the very beginning what the price would be, although the manger wasn't around at the time and they don't display their pricing anywhere either. We will know better next time and in the further we will find somewhere else for our overnight stop. It is a shame really as it is a pretty park.

      I think we have only ever once taken a toll road in the USA in our motorhome and that was around Dallas I think, and it was years and years ago.

      We are glad that you are enjoying our posts of our travels through Mexico with the group. :-)

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  6. Those prices are worse than U.S.A. K.O.A.'s... We've only stayed in one on the way to Devil's Tower. It was over 100* and needed the electricity, they did have a 20'x 10' pool.....With barking youngsters.....
    The Agave field picture is really swell, the colors..Mmmmmm

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    1. These prices are way better than any KOA campground in the USA. I doubt that there are any KOA's that are less than $40USD dollars a night now but maybe I am wrong. However, at least in the US they would have sufficient power to use, whereas at this campground it was too sketchy to plug in as the power was too high in voltage.

      We are in Agave country now, and yes the fields look lovely.

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