Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Salina Cruz to Ocozocuatla. And, donation update!

Lets get to the donation stuff first, because it is the most important!

Our group has arrived at the Hogar Infantil Orphanage in Ocozocuatla, Chiapas, Mexico. Ruth and I have been here before, and we have learned about the care that goes towards the kids who call this place home. If you haven't done so already, please take the time to read the following..

https://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2020/02/ruth-and-i-will-start-things-off.html

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Huatulco to Playa Brasil

We hit the road at 9:00am Saturday for a planned 130 km (81 mile) drive. We are actually headed for the Hogar Infantil orphange in Ocozocuatla, however to do it in one day would be too much, so I had found a possible overnight spot at Playa Azul (Playa Brasil) just west of Salina Cruz.

Sure enough, it all worked out as planned... in fact, if you take into consideration the delicious food at the little beach hut restaurant, it turned our far better than planned!

The donations are rolling in...

Yesterday was a relax day with nothing planned for the group. Roger went scuba diving and Larry went snorkeling along with him. They went out in a boat to a couple of different dive sites.

The diving was not the highlight though... while they were out there a big humpback whale put on a show for them that lasted about 45 minutes, including coming right out of the water and doing spins and flips and everything. They got some video footage so I'll try to post it another day for you.

I've never had a chamoyada before!

Yesterday, we took the gang to a roast chicken restaurant for lunch in the nearby town of La Crucecita. It's a pretty basic place, but they make great roast chicken.

Afterwards, we walked over to an ice cream place where I decided to try something different!

Ruth and I will start things off...

Next week our group will be staying for most of the week at the Hogar Infantil orphanage in Ocozocuatla, Chiapas, Mexico.

For Ruth and I, this will be our fourth or fifth visit to the orphanage and we are looking forward to showing the rest of the group why this is such a special place.

Please, continue reading right to the end...

Beach day with lots of fish and birds!

We had a good day yesterday! Everybody hopped in Roger and Mona's rig and Aron and Owenita's rig and drove over to Playa la Entrega. They decided to camp out there for the night, and they wanted to bring their stand up paddle boards.

We got there early and got ourselves seated in the shade at a restaurant overlooking the beach.

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Puerto Escondido to Huatulco

We left La Barra de Colotepec at 10:00am headed further south towards Huatulco. And actually, during the drive we would be at our furthest south point on the trip! Really though, it only feels like we're headed south. In reality we are actually going east!

It was only 112 kms (70 miles), but I knew that would take well over two hours, probably closer to three hours when we include a gasoline break.

Beach time and baby turtles

Yesterday morning, we drove from the laguna to the parking area at Playa Carizalilo in Puerto Escondido.

The parking area is not great, but there's enough room for all of us and it gives us the opportunity to get some groceries and laundry done and spend some time at a nearby beach.

Our campsite and some bird photos

Yesterday was just a relax day. I got caught up on some computer stuff, and even put my hammock up and had a snooze!

Four of the group went into town and found a beach club with a swimming pool where they spent the day. Not a bad idea. You pay 200 pesos entrance, and then can use that 200 pesos as a credit to uy food or drink if you wish. And you get to use the facilities for the day.

Searching Puerto Escondido

Finally caught up on the blog posts. When I get a day behind, it's been difficult to get caught up because we're either too busy, or the internet connection is not decent. As it is right now, we are parked up at the Centro Turistico La Alejandria where they advertise free WiFi... and it is, but it is slow as molasses, and especially when everyone is trying to use it. But even when everybody is sleeping, it is still slow. Takes forever to upload photos. And, we do have a cell signal as well but it is not much better!

Anyhow, first world problems, right?

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Playa Ventura to Puerto Escondido

And on top of that, Friday was my birthday!

Despite the long drive, I had a great day.

We hit the road out of Playa Ventura at 8:30am. We knew that including stops it would be a six hour drive. Ruth and I have done this route in both directions quite a few times. I'm only guessing, but we've probably done it seven or eight times. And it's a long drive.

Beach day - Playa Ventura

Just getting caught up on some blog posts since we didn't have decent internet while at Playa Ventura. In case you missed it, I posted one last night...

https://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2020/02/heading-further-south.html

So, we made the decision to spend an extra day at Playa Ventura. It's a pretty quiet place midweek, and everybody enjoyed a relax day.

Heading further south

On Wednesday, we headed further south. We enjoyed our time at Paul's place south of Acapulco, however it was baking hot and not enough ocean breeze reached into our camping area. A couple of nights was good, but we had been there four nights and we knew it was time to move on.

We knew we didn't have a far drive, so we headed out at 10:30am south on highway 200 towards Puerto Escondido.

A visit to Acapulco and a great Acapulco sunset

Tuesday morning, we had planned a day trip into Acapulco for anybody who was interested. It turned out that not many people were interested! Also, a couple of people weren't feeling well. There is some kind of 36 hour bug going around the group, and almost everybody has had it now to some extent... except me!

Knock on wood...!

Anyhow, Ruth ended up going in with Jim to see the cliff divers and some of the city.

Almost too hot

Yesterday morning, Ruth and I went for a walk on the beach.

Our regular readers know that we aren't beach people. Especially when the temperature is 32C (90F). We much prefer to be in more moderate temperatures. Perfect for us is maybe 24C (75F) during the day, and 10C (50F) at night. It's one of the reasons that we spend a lot of time away from the coast at higher elevations while we are in Mexico.

Some photos and January Expenses

Not a lot to talk about from yesterday, so we'll mix in January's expenses with today's blog post.

It was just after 10:00am when a bunch of us hopped into a collectivo to go to the big Chedraui store to do some stocking up. We had wanted to do this when we drove by it on our way here on Saturday, but the parking lot was busy, and not really suited for RVs to begin with.

Long drive to the coast, but now we have some beach time ahead of us!

On the road yesterday right at 9:00am for our 307 km (190 mile) drive to the coast. Since most of our route is on toll road, you would think that would be a three or four hour drive, right?

Nope.

You never get anywhere fast in Mexico. As well, we had to plan in a fuel stop and a lunch stop... so I figured we might get to our destination by 2:30pm or so.

Off to the beach!

Yesterday, we visited the ruins of Xochicalco, and we found a great overnight spot.

We left the El Paraiso Trailer Park at about 10:30am and only had a short (but convoluted) drive to the ruins. We didn't know at the time where we were going to spend the night, but we had several ideas to check out. The first stop was a big restaurant that didn't make it and the big parking lot was locked up.

Day trip to the silver town of Taxco

Yesterday, the group split up and did different things. Larry and Martha have their daughter and a friend visiting for a couple of days, and they planned a trip to the nearby silver mining town of Taxco. Denise, Jim, and Ruth decided to join them.

Bob and I stayed behind, as did Garth, Roy, and Sue. Roger and Mona, and Aron and Owenita went out for a 3 hour bike ride.

The saga continues...

If you haven't read part one of our travel day to Cuernavaca, you might want to check that out first...

https://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2020/01/the-day-started-off-great-and-went.html

So, when we left you off there, it was about 4:00pm on Tuesday. I had just returned with Jim to the Lagunas de Zempoala National Park where the rest of the group had been waiting. They had been there for maybe two hours or so.

The day started off great... and went downhill from there!

What a day we had... one that we don't want to repeat.

It started off great. We left at 9:00am and had an easy drive up the toll road leading up from Valle de Bravo to the next toll highway that bypasses the north part of the city of Toluca. Lots of great scenery and blue skies. There isn't much traffic on the toll road until you get close to the city itself.

Last day in Valle de Bravo... out on the lake!

Yesterday was a free day with nothing official planned for the group. I spent the morning puttering around Sherman checking the tire pressure and then cleaning out some of the lower compartments and my tool box... just generally straightening things up.

For lunch, we went up to a taco joint down the road. Sammy's... some of the group had gone there last year and enjoyed it, and some had already gone this year but Ruth and I had never been.

Market day in Valle de Bravo

Our original schedule had us leaving Valle de Bravo yesterday (Sunday), but everyone is enjoying themselves by the lake so we decided to stay an extra couple of days. Really like the fact that we have a fairly flexible schedule... after all, it's all about enjoying your time and not feeling rushed.

Yesterday was market day in Valle de Bravo and we needed to stock up on some fruits and veggies.

Surprise trip to Toluca

Just getting caught up on the daily blog posts because... there wasn't one yesterday. Not often that we miss a day, but there was just too much going on. So if you missed yesterday's post about our paragliding fun, you can read all about it here...

https://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2020/01/another-fantastic-paragliding-flight.html

We got up on Saturday morning with plans to go to the top of the Toluca Volcano. Ruth and I had been there in 2013 and we figured this would be a fun excursion for the group.

Another fantastic paragliding flight

Last year on January 1st, we took some of the group paragliding. What a great way to start off 2019! I thought the flight was fantastic, and was really looking forward to doing it again.

I was not let down by my second flight. In fact, it was even better than the first!

Valle de Bravo is a world class paragliding destination, and it's one of the reasons that the area gets a lot of international visitors.