Lindsey and Cameron arrive!

Spent the earlier part of yesterday morning just doing some maintenance and cleaning of Sherman in preparation for Lindsey and Cameron's arrival. Checked their planes status on the internet and it looked like they were going to be about 45 minutes behind schedule so we didn't need to be at the airport until about 1:00pm.

Acapulco

We left our boondocking spot at Piedre de Tlacoyunque at just before 7:00am. There were fisherman already showing up at 6:30, so we got an early start. We won't boondock there again though.

Piedra de Tlacoyunque

We left our spot near "el Centro" in Zihuatanejo early yesterday, but pulled in to the huge Commercial Mexicana store to do a grocery shop. Deal of the day? An imported bottle of Scotch for 90 pesos ($6.93). I love Mexico.

Zihuatanejo

Yesterday morning we did the short 35 km (22 mile) drive into Zihuatanejo. We parked in the large Commercial Mexicana grocery store parking lot while I walked into El Centro to make sure that the same parking spot we used last February was available once again.

Playa Troncones (day 3)

Yesterday morning while having our coffee we heard big trucks going by outside. We opened the blinds, to see that some of the trucks were marked as television production and were surprised to see two motorhomes in amongst the convoy. An ambulance and state police went by as well! There was something going on!

Playa Troncones (day 2)

The roosters woke us up around 5:30am yesterday, so we got up around 6:30am. Another day in paradise, and we don’t have any real plans for the day. First on the agenda was to find a laundramat and then internet.

Playa Troncones

We were up early yesterday morning, and by 7:00am we were pretty much ready to leave…except that it still wasn’t light enough! We waited another 20 minutes before pulling out.

Uruapan (day 3)

Yesterday morning we walked 4.5 kms to El Centro. Fortunately, the route took us through the National Park that is located right in the city! This park is special because the Cupatitzio River has it's underground source at the beginning of the park. Throughout the park, underground springs continue to add water to the river, and by the time it reaches 10 kms south of the source it becomes the beautiful Tzararacua Waterfalls.

The Paricutin Volcano

In 1943, a farmer was working in a corn field when he saw the ground start to crack and steam, and a fissure broke open. By the next day, lava had been flowing out of the fissure, and  there was now a cone the size of a house. This was the first ever recorded human witness of the birth of a volcano. The Paricutin Volcano continued to erupt for nine years until February of 1952 when it stopped as abruptly as it began.

Uruapan

Yesterday was a driving day, but not a long one. Only 65 kms (40 miles) but of course it took us over two hours. Partly because we stopped for groceries at a Soriana just before we left Patzcuaro, but even on the toll road it was difficult to get over 70 km/h (42 mph).

El Estribo Grande hike

Yesterday morning, we moved from our couchsurfing friend Jorge's place on the far side of the lake to the Villa Patzcuaro RV Park. Only for one night, and this way we can stock up on groceries and dump our tanks.

Villa Patzcuaro Hotel and RV Park

We are at the Villa Patzcuaro Hotel and RV Park. This is a perfect spot to explore the town and surrounding area.

"I'm going to eat some iguana today."

We didn't exactly wake up yesterday morning with that thought in mind, but that's what ended up happening!

Another hike!

This time, we did about 7.5 kms (4.5 miles) but it included going up 580 steps!

Beautiful day for a hike

We took off for a hike yesterday around 10:30am. We had spent much of the morning on the internet, and it had finally started to warm up. It gets chilly overnight, but daytime temperatures are about 22C (72F).

A visit to Patzcuaro

Ever since we became fascinated with Mexico, we've wanted to visit Patzcuaro. Yesterday, we took the collectivo minivan bus from the place where we are staying, all the way around the west shore of the lake and down to the city of Patzcuaro.

The shore of Lake Patzcuaro

Yesterday was a travel day...a long slow travel day! We only had to drive about 200 kms (124 miles) but between the twisty, windy roads and the topes it was pretty slow going. We figure if you drove non-stop it would take about 5 hours to do this 200 km drive! Once again, never expect to get anywhere quickly driving in Mexico.

Mezcal

Yesterday was a great day. Anytime you get see and experience something that not very many foreigners ever get to see, it's a great day.

Birria

We have eaten birria four times in the last week! Yesterday, we were all invited to Sal's aunt's house for a birria family get together. What is birria, you ask...?

2012

Well, here we are in 2012. I wonder what the year will bring. You can make all the plans you want, but sometimes things don't go the way you expect. We are making plans, but there is nothing written in stone...yet.

December expenses

Once again, we are under our $1,000 monthly budget. Not by much though, and we'll have to be really careful in January when our daughter and grandson come to visit, plus we will have higher gasoline expenses because of our upcoming drive south of Acapulco.

Wedding #2

Yesterday started off beautiful, but we actually had some clouds move in later in the morning and even had thunder in the afternoon. Saw one or two rain drops, but certainly not enough to say it actually "rained" so we are maintaining our rainless streak that now stands at 11 weeks.

Wedding #1

Just another beautiful morning at Hacienda Contreras yesterday, but after lunch we were off to a wedding!

Las Jaras Hot Springs

Fellow campers Ulli and Heinz were going to the Las Jaras hot springs in the town of La Garita and they invited us to come along. So we left just before 11:00am. It was about a 40 minute drive on the other side of Mazamitla.

The castle

All of the campers hiked over to the "castle" yesterday morning. It's not really a castle, but it is an interesting building that you can see from the campground. Ruth and I were there just last February, but some of the campers had never been before.

Bike ride to town

You would almost think that sunset photo has been touched up, but that was the true color of the sky. We have beautiful  sunRISEs almost every day here at Hacienda Contreras, but it's not very often that we have a sunSET this colorful.

Hacienda Contreras (day 6)

We sure do like having shorts and t-shirts weather on Christmas Day! I've been reading some other blogs where RV'ers are freezing cold in most parts of Texas and Arizona. Although we would like to explore those areas more, those states obviously don't have warm enough weather for us in winter. And parts of Florida are nice, but Florida is simply too busy for us. Mexico has great weather, and more...

Another fun day at Hacienda Contreras

There is always something going on around here. Never a dull moment. We were just starting our morning walk around the park when we were hijacked by Barb and Sal who were going into town to see Barb's Christmas present. She had no idea what it was...and it turned out to be a burro!

Feliz Navidad!

Well that's a very cute grandson, even if we do say so ourselves! Can't wait to see him and Lindsey next month. Cameron is now almost 9 months old. Seems not that long ago that we were up in Nova Scotia for his birth. Time sure does fly when you're having fun!

RV'ing in Mexico for under $30 a day.

I just wanted to give an overview of how much it cost for our 6 week trip (actually 46 days) around Puerto Vallarta. RV'ing in Mexico can be so inexpensive!

Mexican Christmas Feast

At 6,400 feet altitude, it does get chilly at night. The temperature inside Sherman when we wake up in the morning is around 10C (50F) so we put the furnace on for half an hour to take the chill off. But by 9:00am it's warming up outside and with the sun shining it becomes perfect daytime weather around 23C (74F).

Back at Hacienda Contreras

Didn't rush out of Colima yesterday. Figuring we would let the morning traffic die down, we left at around 9:00am, and got onto the toll road heading north towards Guadalajara. We've done this route a couple of times before, so we were familiar with the roads.

Colima

Arrived in the city of Colima around 11:00am. This is the third time we’ve driven that highway, so we’re now a little bit familiar with the area. There’s no actual campgrounds in the city, but there is a listing in our Mexico camping guide for an event and party salon that allows RV parking. So that’s where we went.

Cuyutlan

Went for a walk along the beach yesterday morning before leaving Manzanillo. Beautiful sunrise with the ships in the harbor, and as we were walking a cruise ship was coming into port as well. But we wanted to get out of this part of town before things got busy, so we left right after our walk, just before 8:00am.

Manzanillo

Yesterday morning, we went for a bike ride to Melaque. It was only about 4.5 kms each way. Besides seeing the town, we had been invited to visit one of our readers who has a house there. But it wasn't meant to be!

Barra de Navidad

Only a short drive yesterday morning. We drove a total of 20 kms (12.4 miles) to the towns of Melaque and Barra de Navidad which are on opposite ends of the bay.

Ecocamping Los Ingenios (day 2)

Went for a walk in the village yesterday morning. We were looking for a view, and there is a new house built way up on the side of a hill so we found the road that leads up there. Very steep!

Ecocamping Los Ingenios

We had read about a new campground a couple of kms inland from La Manzanilla. So we set off yesterday morning to check this place out. It was only a 63 km (39 mile) drive.

Punta Perula (day 3)

Went for a bike ride to explore the town yesterday morning. Quite a few Canadians have bought property in the area and built winter homes. Most of them previously showed up here in an RV, then decided this was where they wanted permanent winter digs.

Punta Perula (day 2)

We are parked up at the Hotel Punta Perula (GPS 19.59053 -105.12751). They have seven RV sites at this nice place, and there's only us and one other couple.

Punta Perula

We were up at 6:00am yesterday morning, and had the tanks dumped and the water filled by 7:00am. Gary was up to say goodbye to us, and we hit the road about 7:10am.

Rancho Altarose (day 7)

What a fun day we had yesterday! Well, not so much in the morning as Ruth did a bunch of laundry...but just after lunch Gary took us on the ATV's up to the tequila ranch in the hills. And THAT was fun!

San Sebastian del Oeste

We were up at 6:00am yesterday morning, and by 7:00am we headed out on the 2.3 km (1.4 mile) walk into town to catch the bus. We had to catch our second bus at 9:00am, and we arrived there just in time!

Rancho Altarose (day 5)

Well, I said we would be busy here, and we have been. Took us a little while to get going yesterday morning, but then we packed a few snacks and headed out on the 4 wheel drive ATV's up into the hills with Gary.

Nopalea

Yes, this is the drink sourced from the fruit of the nopal cactus. The healing properties of the nopal cactus have been relied on for centuries by native peoples and they're now available in Nopalea.

Rancho Altarose (day 4)

Our plan for yesterday was a hike in the morning, and a bike ride in the afternoon. The first part of the plan came together, but we lost ambition for the bike ride, so we'll get to that this morning!

$4 visit to Puerto Vallarta

We figured out how to take the local bus from here to downtown Puerto Vallarta. We walked about 2 kms into the town of Valle de Banderas and asked at the central square where the parada (bus stop) was.

Rancho Altarose (day 2)

Around 11:00am yesterday, Jean came by and asked if we wanted to go into town. That was our plan anyhow, so we went with her...sort of! She took her quad ATV, and we followed along behind on our bicycles!

Altarose Rancho

We woke up at 6:00am yesterday and got ready to leave Sayulita. We had a coffee and wrote the blog post for yesterday, and we were on the road by 7:00am. Kind of surprised that there was still a fair bit of traffic at that hour on a Sunday morning, but I’m sure it was quieter then than it would have been later on.

Sayulita (day 2)

We slept fine parked on the road. We were still up early though, we tend to get up around 6:00am anyhow when the sun starts to come up.