Caught in the rain!

First of all, thanks for all the anniversary well wishes yesterday! 

We had a good day... we had to go into town anyhow, so we timed it around lunch and went out for a meal to our favorite enchiladas restaurant here in Valle de Bravo.

And they said it wouldn't last...

Actually, only one person said it wouldn't last... my friend Paul, who at the time said we hadn't known each other long enough and he gave it five years. He has now been married three times!

Ruth and I met on March 5, 1983 and within two months we had decided to get married. But we didn't tell anyone yet because they would have thought we were nuts!

Thought this was funny...

I didn't leave the house all weekend! Unbelievable. This trip planning is fun for me, and I enjoy it, but it sure is time consuming.

Ruth did manage to get out and pick up a few groceries from the local shops.

Our China trip plan... the planning is half the fun!

I spent much of the day yesterday doing trip planning for our upcoming three weeks in China.

We arrive in Chengdu on June 21st, and up until yesterday that was all we had planned or booked. We had an idea of some of the places we wanted to go, but didn't have a route or accommodations booked. That is now changed, although I'm not done yet!

That's it, we're going back to Canada!

"That's it, we're going back to Canada!". As we joke to each other sometimes when we have a frustrating day. But it's definitely just a joke. A bad day in Mexico is better than a good day in Canada!

So we had three problems yesterday, two of which are still not fixed despite literally hours of trying.

Lots to keep us busy for the next ten days!

The other day, we were invited to our friends Fernando. Yessie, and their daughter Aminah's house for lunch. 

Fernando had been away on a business trip to Bangladesh, so that was really interesting talking to him about that.

We are well stocked up on wine!

Coming home to an empty fridge and cupboards meant we had to get into town and do a grocery shop yesterday. 

There's a discount store in Mexico called Tiendas 3B that often has some great deals, and we learned recently that they have a boxed red wine that is quite good.

I can't believe we made it!

A bit of a long travel day, but really, considering that we sat on buses for 9 hours, we felt the time went by fast enough.

Our hotel in Oaxaca, the Hotel Posada San Rafael was a bit of a disappointment though.

An evening in Oaxaca City

We spent the morning and into the afternoon getting Igor all cleaned up and ready to be stored. At least he'll be clean when we return in October. Other than a layer of dust I expect!

Then we drove over to the storage place. This is the old Oaxaca Campground that we stayed at several times in the past.

The nicest campground in Mexico?

We've been to several nice and well equipped campgrounds in Mexico. But certainly the one we are staying at now here in the outskirts of Oaxaca City ranks right up there with the best of them. 

We're at El Rancho RV Park. The two brothers who own it did a really good job of making this exactly the way most RV'ers like things.

April Expenses

What did it cost us to tour Veracruz and into Oaxaca for the month of April?

Well, we spent a total of $2,799 CAD ($2,060 USD) for the month, but of course that also included the rent on our house.

Look what I found!

Yesterday, we did the drive down from the mountains into the city of Oaxaca.

We went from 2,900 meters (9,600') altitude down to 1,550 meters (5,100'). And so it's certainly warmer down here in Oaxaca City, but not as hot as it was in Veracruz!

A few photos around the ranch

Well, it's time to start heading home. We've been gone for a month now, and we want to spend some time at home prior to heading to Kyrgyzstan on May 17th.

So today we will drive down the mountain and into the big city of Oaxaca, We'll stay at a nice campground there for two or three nights and get Igor ready for six months of storage. 

We found a great spot

Tuesday morning, we went for a short hike up a hill across from where we had been parked on Monday night.

It had been a great sleep... the temperature went down to about 12C (54F), so it was nice and comfy at 9,600' altitude.

Up to 10,000' altitude!

Yesterday we drove from pretty much sea level all the way up to 3000 meters (10,000'). What a refreshing change in temperature!

It was 40C (104F) when we left, and 25C (77F) when we arrived.

Even I went for a swim!

The last time we were in the state of Oaxaca was March 2020 just before Covid began. So six years ago. 

We headed out of Veracruz city and onto the toll road. We took the toll highway to get out of the city and then a free road heading south into the mountains. But you actually don't begin gaining any altitude to speak of just yet.

The aquarium, and Veracruz city at night

The plan was to get to the Aquarium close to opening time at 10:00am, but because we decided to walk there we were actually closer to 11:00am. There was a bit of a lineup for tickets, but only for twenty minutes or so.

Baby, it's hot outside!

As go the lyrics of the famous song. 

We arrived in the Gulf Coast port city of Veracruz yesterday. Made our way through the port area, and then the central part of the city before arriving at our hotel towards the south side.

The interesting little town of La Antigua, Veracruz

Wednesday night was likely our only beach stop on this trip. The Gulf Coast beaches aren't the best and as you all know, we're not beach people to begin with.

But we couldn't leave Playa Chachalaca without doing a walk down to the dunes.

Made it to the beach

We left our Walmart parking spot in Xalapa at almost 11:00am and headed out on the main highway towards Veracruz City. It wasn't very far until our first stop at the Hacienda del Lencero.

The house at the hacienda dates back to 1525. It was one of the original Spanish haciendas located along a trade route where some Spanish were granted lands to establish inns, making the town of Xalapa and the surrounding region a mandatory passage area.

We finally made it into central Xalapa

Xalapa is a big city. It's probably one of the last big cities in Mexico that we have never visited. The other is the coastal port city of Veracruz, and we are going there next.

Xalapa is the capital of the state of Veracruz. Population is about 550,000 people.

Well, this is better than most Walmart parking

Some overland travelers in Mexico use Pemex gas stations to park overnight. Walmart is popular in Canada, and especially in the U.S., but for us those two options have always been for emergency use or as a last resort. It usually doesn't take much effort to find something much better.

But here in the city of Xalapa, parking is at a premium, even for regular sized cars. It's a fairly congested city, and there are no RV parks or campgrounds that are suitably close.

Moving on today

We haven't been having the greatest weather... mostly overcast ever since we arrived here on Thursday. So it's nice to wake up to some sunshine and blue sky this morning!

Yesterday turned out to be the "relax" day that we had needed. They were calling for rain, and we did get a few showers throughout the day.

Well, it was supposed to be a relaxing day!

But it wasn't. We ended up going for an uphill walk that turned into a lunchtime destination, and a bit of a mystery tour on the way back down.

We often just take off on a backroad walking just to see what there is to see. And of course to get some exercise.

Looks like we're making an unplanned trip to Kazakhstan!

As regular readers know, we are heading to Kyrgyzstan in May where we have a one month campervan rental booked. We're flying Mexico City to Madrid, and then Madrid to Bishkek.

Or at least that's what we had booked. Until the other day when I received notification that our flights from Madrid to Bishkek have been cancelled.

This is far better than the mechanics backyard!

We got going around 9:30am. Said goodbye and thanks again to the mechanics, then headed out on a half hour drive! Igor ran perfectly. So happy to get that over with.

We were headed to an "adventure park"... it's kind of a farm that has some activities and a camping area. It gets great reviews on iOverlander and looked to be exactly what we needed.

Igor is fixed, and we are ready to get back on the road!

Igor is running and fixed... but not fixed properly. Mexicans mechanics are really good at making things work, but the two mechanics we were dealing with needed some guidance from me.

We're not convinced they would have ever found the problem. It was me who did that. Well, me and ChatGPT!

Igor is still not fixed...

When we left you yesterday, we were pulled off on a farmers track by the side of the road. We were about 2.5 kms (a mile) or so downhill from the small town of Tuzamapan in the state of Veracruz.

The nearest larger town is Coatepec (pop 55,000), about 14 kms away. And we are about 24 kms from the city of Xalapa (pop 450,000).

Bit by a dog, and then knock, knock, knock... it's the police.

The mechanic shop didn't open until 9:00am, but when I walked over there to talk to them he said his mechanic wouldn't be in for another hour and a half or so.

So we walked up to the big Monday market to have some breakfast and pick up a few things.

Time to move on... but we didn't get very far!

We planned a 10:00am start because we knew we weren't going very far. First planned stop was a town about 50 minutes north towards Xalapa.

We were going to have a look around and then decide if we would stay for the traditional Monday market. It's supposed to be quite the local event. But we didn't have to decide, because Igor decided for us!

Busy day... lots of photos, and a surprise meetup with friends!

We wanted to do one more trip into the beautiful city of Orizaba. Still can't believe that more western tourists don't visit this area. 

We went to all of the "touristy" highlights yesterday, and didn't see any other gringos.

Our planned return to Canada

Well, we've pretty much got our return to Canada figured out and booked. We fly from Mexico City to Toronto on August 20th, which is our daughter's 40th birthday! Yikes!

We wanted to be there for the big day, and she will be at our son's place near Gravenhurst visiting him at the time, so it will be a fun family reunion on her birthday.

More visitors, and a trip back into Orizaba for some fun!

When we arrived back from our adventure on Wednesday, a couple more rigs had arrived. One of them was one of those big German Unimog style offroad RV's... with license plates from Luxembourg!

And the other was a Canadian couple from Quebec.

Exhausted!

Tuesday was a relax day... we just did some chores around Igor and I got the taxes pretty much completed.

We needed a break after our hike on Monday... plus, we were about to have another busy day on Wednesday!

Good thing we're not on a schedule!

We have some more visitors here at the campground. A British guy with two girls from Czechia. All of them currently live in Canada, and driving a car with British Columbia plates.

We were all invited by our hosts to join them on a hike up the mountain where the cable car takes you in Orizaba.

Well this is going to be a fun adventure!

They were calling for rain in the afternoon, so I made a plan to just hang around Igor and get started on our income taxes that are due on April 30th. We have to pay every year, but we don't mind giving it to them because they spend it so wisely!

And I could watch the baseball game while doing the taxes! Ruth took off with our host family here at the campground to a local municipal park.

Igor may never return to Valle de Bravo

We walked over to the nearby Soriana and picked up a few things there before walking back to Igor where he was parked at the Walmart in Orizaba. Then we did the 20 minute drive to Dos Tierras Campground.

We often use the iOverlander app to find suitable overnight spots for Igor. And many European overland rigs arrive at the port in Veracruz, so this is an easy stop for some of them. 

I can't believe we've never been to Orizaba!

Orizaba, Veracruz is a small city of about 125,000 people located in a valley at an altitude of about 1,250 meters (4,100'). But despite the relatively low altitude, it's within sight of the highest point in Mexico... Pico de Orizaba.

Pico de Orizaba is a dormant (but not extinct) volcano, and also the third highest mountain in North America.

Hiking in the mountains near Orizaba

We had a very peaceful night sleeping in the village of Palo Verde. Surprisingly, not even any dogs barking or roosters crowing!

And we woke up to a beautiful clear blue sky, although they were calling for showers in the afternoon. 

We ended up at a beautiful overnight spot.

Our goal is always to arrive at our overnight spot by 2:00pm because that allows lots of daylight hours to fix any problem that might come up. So when we only have a two and a half hour drive ahead of us, we don't need to rush out in the morning!

And so we didn't hit the road until about 11:00am.

Views around Cholula

As I said yesterday, we've been to the Cholula Trailer Park in the outskirts of Puebla many times, but the last time was six years ago... so we still wanted to go wander around Cholula one more time.

Cholula is where the largest pyramid in the world is located. The pyramid is also the largest man made monument in the world.

Nice drive to the big city of Puebla

We were a bit lazy getting going yesterday morning, but we knew it was only a two and a half hour drive so we would still be close to our goal of arriving at our destination by 2:00pm. 

We hit the road at 10:45am to do the 140 km (87 mile) drive.

Well that didn't go according to plan

We figured it would be busy on a Sunday, so we set of before 9:00am to do the climb up to the Tepozteco Pyramid.

A series of rocky steps lead you up a steep path. It gains about 352 meters (1,150') in about one km (0.62 miles)... so it really is steep.

Those are some weird looking trees!

We originally planned a hike that would take us to some waterfalls. But this is dry season... the waterfalls aren't running!

So instead, we hiked up to a viewpoint... about 10 kms (6 miles) round trip.

Finally made it to Tepoztlan!

The caves at Grutas de Estella didn't open until 10:00am, and we were there right at the open. We wanted to see the caves, but we still had a fairly long drive, part of which would take us through the middle of the big city of Cuernavaca. And, we wanted to stop at a Walmart along the way.

So... busy day!

Igor was up for the challenge!

We managed to get on the road by 9:20am... not bad, considering our planned 9:00am departure time. 

We had to go through Valle de Bravo, so we made a stop for a few groceries and an ATM before carrying on southeast.

And, we're off!

Igor hadn't had a bath since we got back from our last trip with him towards the end of January. And he was sitting underneath a tree and covered in bird crap. So my job for yesterday was to give him a bath.

I went outside about 10:00am to get started... but the job was already done!

Igor is a happy camper... and our route east

A month or so ago when Lindsey and the kids were here, we had been out in Igor when I heard some rattling from underneath the motorhome. 

One of the exhaust hanger brackets had broken, and I ended up doing a quick fix with a wire coat hangar to temporarily hold things in place.

Aiming for a Thursday morning departure

Just as I thought I was done with fixing things for a while, Ruth reminded me that Igor's windshield wipers have been acting up the last few times we used them.

Which fortunately at this time of year doesn't really matter because there's not much in the way of rain. But still, I figured I had better have a look.

It's a good thing I'm not paid by the hour

It takes me forever to do a project like this. Don't get me wrong... I like it this way. Putter around for a couple of hours, then come back to it again tomorrow. Of course that's the way it's supposed to be when you're retired!

But if I was paid by the hour, they would have fired me by now.