What's in the plans for 2025...?

Obviously, we are starting 2025 in Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

But on January 2nd, we are heading west towards the Pacific Coast. It will probably take us the full month of January to get there, because we have a stopover planned at Valle de Juarez... one of our other favorite places in Mexico!

Market day!

We love going to the once a week Sunday tianguis market here in Valle de Bravo!

So around 11:00am, we said goodbye to friends Paco and Oti. They were getting ready to head back to Toluca and would be gone by the time we got back from the market. We are hoping to see them again late January around Mazamitla or maybe even Guadalajara.

I had to sneak a photo through the bushes!

One of the kitchen items that Ruth had purchased before we set out with Igor was a small 2 Quart Electric Crock Pot. She's used it a few times already, but yesterday she did a small pork loin. So it was on cooking all day. With clear skies and sunshine, the rooftop solar panels combined with the new portable one put out enough power to keep our batteries nicely charged up, even with the crock pot cooking away.

Fantastic views above Valle de Bravo!

I was going to tell you about our plans for 2025, but since we did a little excursion yesterday, the 2025 blog post can wait until we have a quiet day.

We've definitely been feeling like we're lacking in the exercise department so yesterday we went and did some hiking! 

2024 Year in Review

We started the year 2024 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and we ended the year in Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

And in total, we were in 15 different countries during the year. Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Maldives, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Turkiye, France, England, Albania, Italy, Portugal, Canada, and Mexico. Several of these were new countries, and we have increased our total countries visited count to 72.

Well that was a bit of a marathon travel day!

We got up at 3:30am Wednesday morning. Then we had to do a one hour drive from Playa del Carmen to the Cancun airport in order to get there early enough for Lindsey and the kids to get their 8:00am flight to Montreal.

We said our goodbyes, then headed to a nearby beach parking lot where we had a snooze for a couple of hours in the car!

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One last day at the beach!

We relaxed for much of the morning, then headed to the touristy southern end of Playa del Carmen. There's an upscale area called Playacar where there are some small Mayan ruins that are actually part of the residential complex there, and we remembered from our last visit to this area that there were a lot of iguanas hanging out on the rocks in the sun.

Akumal, Mexico

Ruth found out that there is a Sunday tianguis (traditional market) here in Playa del Carmen. I was skeptical, since it's such a touristy area, but when we arrived I was pleasantly surprised. It was much like the tianguis that we have been to in non touristy areas, and there were very few other gringos.

Busy day with lots of photos!

A highlight for many visitors to the Playa del Carmen area is the fabulous Xcaret theme park. 

Xcaret is part water park, part zoo, part cultural exhibition. There is a lot do see there, in fact you can't see it all in one day. And it's all very well done.

It's also VERY expensive!

Beach photos

 Just a few beach photos today!

Coba ruins and cenote swimming

We were up early, and on the road by 9:00am. We had an hour and forty minute drive to the Coba ruins, and there was heavy traffic getting out of Playa del Carmen. In fact, it was heavy all the way to Tulum.

It's unbelievable how much this area has developed since the first time we were here in 2003. In fact, even since we were here in 2018 it seems a lot busier. Especially the Tulum area.

Off to the beach!

The kids were looking forward to going to the beach, so we set off just after 10:00am to drive down to the central tourist area of Playa del Carmen.

The entire central area is pay parking on the street, and you have to pay at a machine and then leave the slip of paper on your dash that displays the time that your parking expires.

I saw a guy standing there with a sign with my name on it!

Up at 4:15am Tuesday morning along with Paco and Oti who were so nice to take us to the airport at that ungodly hour. 

No traffic at that hour of course, it took only twenty minutes or so to get to the airport from their house. It was only a local flight so no need to get there too early. We already had our boarding passes, and we didn't have any bags to check. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 6:10am.

Bus trip to Toluca, and visit to Metepec

Boy, it doesn't take long to get a day behind when we're busy. 

Monday was travel day! We took the bus from El Arco on Monday afternoon, for the hour and a half or so bus ride to the city of Toluca where we were met by friends Paco and Oti.

Next stop, Playa del Carmen!

We headed back into town yesterday to try and do something with Ruth's shoes. Also, Sunday is market day in Valle de Bravo, and while we didn't need anything because we won't be here for the next week, we always enjoy wandering around the market.

So anyhow, we made it to the place we bought Ruth's shoes... and the door was locked. They took our money and ran!

It actually arrived!

Despite the fact that I thought we had a rooftop solar panel setup sufficient for our needs, we still wanted a portable panel for the times when we might want Igor to be set up in the shade, and yet still be able to have electricity coming from a panel that is set up in the sun. 

Or, for when we have a cloudy day and need an extra boost.

Sometimes it's just not worth trying to be cheap

Once again, our attempt to be frugal has backfired.

Ruth had wanted a pair of walking shoes. She didn't want anything fancy, just something to wear when she wasn't wearing her hiking boots or sandals.

Crazy stuff!

Thursday afternoon we went for a walk along the road north of here that follows the shoreline towards Colorines. 

There is a big gated community on the hill and we wondered if they would let us in to go for a walk around.

A trip into town

We needed to do some more grocery shopping, plus we hadn't yet wandered around town. So we hopped into a collectivo taxi that runs by the roadway out front to take us into the center of Valle de Bravo. 

The cost is 25 pesos ($1.75 CAD, $1.25 USD) per person one way.

A sad day in the RV blogging world

When we started writing this blog many years ago, there were several other RV'ers also writing blogs. And although we were among the first, having began in 2007, there was one other RV blog that began the year before us... Al and Kelly from The Bayfield Bunch.

It was most common for these RV bloggers to use the same Blogger platform that we do, and many of them had read each others blogs, so it was easy to follow each others travels and sometimes even meet up when the routes crossed.

Fun afternoon out on Lake Avandaro

Paco and Oti had some friends visiting, and they invited us to join them all in their boat for a tour out on the lake.

Once again, an absolutely gorgeous day.

We're pretty excited

A week from tomorrow we fly back to Cancun. We were only there a month ago, but of course it was just a one night stopover on our way to pick up Igor at the border. 

This time, it's to meet our daughter and grandchildren. And even though that area of Mexico isn't our favorite, we're pretty excited!

Well that was a fun day!

Market day is Sunday in Valle de Bravo, but just for a change we decided that we would go to the Saturday market in the town of Colorines, about 16 kms (10 miles) away.

We have to take the collectivo (shared taxi) to get there, and it costs 25 pesos ($1.75 CAD, $1.25 USD) per person each way.

New friends, and other news!

Last week when we were in Valle de Bravo doing some shopping, we overheard someone speaking English. And as they walked past, I mentioned to them that's not a language we hear very often in this area.

That started a five minute conversation, and by the end of it, we were invited for lunch!

Views above Valle de Bravo

We finally got up enough ambition to get some exercise. So we set off to walk up a road that leads behind the village of San Gaspar, about a kilometer away. We have done this hike a couple of times in past years.

However this time, we got to the path that leads off the road and there is now a locked gate. We spoke to a local guy, and he suggested a different route that led up to a quartz quarry.

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November Expenses

November was yet another expensive month. It started off in Ottawa, Canada and ended up in Valle de Bravo, Mexico! So, there was quite a lot of travel expense involved.

I had guessed a budget of $3,750 CAD, and we ended up spending $4,769 CAD ($3,389 USD). We actually did pretty good, considering most of the extra comes down to a new laptop for me, and Igor's fuel pump needing replacing. Two things that we couldn't have planned on. Otherwise, we were actually pretty close to target.

Another beautiful day in Mexico...

Just a relaxing day yesterday!

Friends Paco and Oti took off back to their house in Toluca, but they will return here on Friday. Really nice that they left out their sun loungers and hammock so that we can use them while they're gone!

Sunday is market day in Valle de Bravo

We always love market day! The weekly tianguis markets in Mexico is where you go to get the best prices on the freshest produce, and there is always lots of delicious street food available.

We set off with Paco and Oti at about 10:30am to head into town. Sunday is a busy day in Valle de Bravo, so best to arrive early to get a decent parking spot!

Back to Igor, and a nice surprise!

We didn't have to leave our hotel room until noon, so we went down for breakfast around 8:30am and then had showers and took our time getting ready. The plan was to walk from the Mexico City historic district to the Observatorio bus terminal... a distance of about 11 kms (6.8 miles).

And we had a couple of stops to make along the way.

Walked our feet off again!

It was a pretty good included breakfast here at the hotel. Scrambled eggs, toast, sausages, mixed vegetables, fruit, and of course coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. As I said yesterday, we got a good deal at 773 pesos ($53 CAD, $38 USD) a night. I forgot to mention the name of the hotel... it's the Hotel MX lagunilla. Wouldn't hesitate to come back here. 

The only drawback is that it's beside a busy road, and there is a fair amount of road noise if you get a room facing the street, which we did. One of the interior rooms would be quieter, but without the view. It's a tradeoff.

Mexico City!

The bus was leaving central Valle de Bravo at 11:00am, but we were able to pick it up at nearby El Arco so that we wouldn't have to go into Valle de Bravo. It arrived there at 11:15am, and there were still quite a few empty seats.

Cost from El Arco to Mexico City's western Observatorio Bus Station was 295 pesos ($20.35 CAD, $14.50 USD) per person for the two hour trip.

A new furry friend, and a little birthday celebration...

When we arrived here at the marina, we noticed that our host Chago had a new puppy. 

The puppy's name is Solitario (Lonely), and we think that he sometimes lives up to that name. He's only about four months old. Chago isn't here all the time, and it's especially quiet here during he week. And when Chago is off running errands, Solitario gets tied up under a nearby truck. 

Excited to arrive at one of our favorite places in Mexico!

We woke up Tuesday morning in anticipation of arriving at the destination that will be our home base for the next month or so.

We spent the better part of 13 winters in Mexico between 2007 and 2020. And we haven't been back since the spring of 2020, so almost five years. And we made a lot of friends in Mexico during those years.

Tlalpujahua, the Christmas town

Up at 6:00am to say goodbye to Adrian and Roman. Adrian drives Roman to school at 6:45am, and then he heads to work. Brenda is currently a homemaker because she has a bad wrist and is awaiting surgery.

But she made us a delicious breakfast, and then we had showers and did some laundry. Always nice to set out fresh again! Thanks for looking after us!

Into the city of Queretaro, and the El Cerrito Pyramid

It was chilly Saturday night up in Mineral de Pozos. We woke up in the morning and it was 2C (35F) outside, and only 7C (45F) inside Igor. Nice and comfy under the covers, but a little cold getting out of bed!

We decided to drive for half an hour and use the engine heat to warm us up. By the time we parked up for breakfast, the sun was shining and the temperature headed up into the 20's (70's).

The ghost town of Mineral de Pozos

We actually had a pretty good sleep in the hotel parking lot. There is a lot of heavy truck traffic in that area on the outskirts of the city of San Luis Potosi, and we had been hearing a fair bit of it prior to going to bed. But then in the morning, we each mentioned that we had woken up at some point during the night and it had been perfectly quiet.

We got up and hit the road right away to try and beat some of the traffic, but I'm thinking that the north - south highway 57 never really quiets down.

Not every day goes according to plan!

When we travel by motorhome, we think it's best to have a plan to arrive at your destination by 2:00pm. That way, there is lots of daylight hours left in case your plan doesn't go according to plan! And if everything does go well, you've got a few afternoon hours to just relax and enjoy yourself.

Well yesterday was one of those days that didn't go according to plan.

The caravan showed up!

We had a nice morning just puttering around. Ruth was going to do some laundry, and we both remember that there had been an old washing machine in the RV Park area, but maybe we were thinking of somewhere else. Anyhow, there is no washing machine here now!

The hotel wanted typical rip off prices to do any laundry, but I don't really blame them. They aren't in the business of doing laundry, so if you want it done, you have to pay.

It's a good thing Igor broke down!

Wow, lots to talk about today! And so, a long blog post with lots of photos. And lots of good news!

The mechanics didn't begin work on Igor until about 10:00am, which was okay with us. We left them to do the installation of the fuel pump and re-install the gas tank, and we decided to do a 10 km (6.2 mile) walk to a nearby lake.

Progress!

Man, we've had a lot of bad luck lately. First my laptop breaks, then my Amazon account gets closed, then Igor breaks down. It helps that we are pretty good at rolling with the punches!

By the same token, we've got a lot of great things on the go as well. Number one is that we're in Mexico!

Stuck on the side of the road...

We headed out from Chris and Juan's at about 9:45am... about 15 minutes later than planned. We always try to have a plan that sees us arriving at our destination by 2:00pm or so. That always gives you lots of daylight hours in case you have problems.

Well.. we had problems.

Time to head further south

Yesterday morning we said goodbye to Bjorn and Freya. Chris and Juan drove them to the bus station in central Monterrey and they took the bus from there to Nuevo Laredo at the border.

They then walked across the border and into Laredo, Texas. They said it was the easiest border crossing ever.