Rosa's Cantina

Today I checked one more thing off my "Things To Do List"! We tracked down Rosa's Cantina from the famous Marty Robbins song "El Paso" in El Paso, Texas. Yes, Rosa's has a Back Door, but no waiting horses. At least not when we were there.
Here is yours truly enjoying a "Wobbly Pop" in Rosa's Cantina.
Croft, Norma and our friend Les from Vancouver Island who caught up to us here after his own winter in Mexico. It was a great reunion. We went over to Ciudad Juarez earlier today where Norma and Les bought new glasses at Opticas Devlyn. The service was great there, the price was right and the glasses were ready in two hours!

Cattleman's Steakhouse Experience

As everyone knows, Texans like everything BIG and their meals are no exception! Tonight we went with our friend Les to the Cattleman's Steakhouse. It is located on a huge working ranch about 25 miles East of El Paso and is well worth a visit. The food is delicious and the portions huge! Norma had the Rib Eye, I had Swordfish done to perfection and here is our friend Les about to bite into the first of his pile of Ribs! The ranch even provides free overnight RV parking for it's customers so if you plan on eating until you cannot move, bring the motorhome along, y'all will be welcome !

El Paso's Mission Trail

El Paso has a series of Missions dating back to 1620. Today we drove the "Mission Trail" with our friend Les. The Missions are quite close together in both age and location but are very different in their architecture. Like Mexico, The Southern United States, which used to be part of Mexico, has many remarkable old buildings.

Essential Resourses for Mexico

These four books are absolutely essential for touring Mexico as we did. First is the Church's "Traveler's Guide To Mexican Camping" Every Mexican RV'er has one and every one is as dog eared as mine. It describes and gives the location and price of every RV Park in Mexico and is very accurate. Amazon .ca (Amazon.com) has them. On the road it is known as "The Bible", Don't leave home without it.
Next is the Guia Roji Road Map Book. You can find this at any OXXO Store in Mexico. Many Pemex Gas Stations have an OXXO alongside. They cost $190 Pesos or about $18 CAN. It is "THE" Mexican road map book!
This is the Lonely Planet Guide to Mexico. You can order it from Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca) before you leave. We also bought the Fromers guide but it only covers the large cities. Lonely Planet Guide has all cities and villages. Their hotel recommendations are spot-on and the prices quoted are accurate.
Have an English / Spanish dictionary with you all the time. You will find that in the interior of Mexico very few people speak any English at all. You will need to carry the book with you so don't buy one that will not fit in your pocket. If you are trying to read a menu the book will do you no good back in the motorhome or hotel! This one is put out by Lonely Planet and is good, but there are many others. Just make sure it fits in your back pocket. Maybe even have two for when you loose one.

What Did It Cost?

I tracked all our expenses in Mexico. I did not include our costs from Canada to the Mexico/USA border, nor did I include vehicle maintenance and repairs as these would occur anyway. I also subtracted $1000 from the total to reflect the refund I will get from my Provincial Vehicle Insurance after I prove I was out of the Country and had alternate insurance. The first figure is total, the second is per day (144 days). Sorry I cannot seem to do this in proper table format:

Fuel - Motorhome.................... $975 ($6.77 per day)

Fuel - Honda.............................. $368 ($2.55 per day)

RV Parks...................................... $2217 ($15.39 per day) - We boondocked a few nights in grocery store parking lots and Pemex Stations (maybe 10 nights total)

Groceries..................................... $2255 ($15.66 per day) - We entertained a lot, includes soap, TP and maybe a little liquor snuck in here although I tried to separate it.

Liquor........................................... $795 ($5.52 per day) - We entertained a lot and booze in Mexico is cheaper than in Canada but more than in the USA.

Hotels............................................ $345 - 7 nights (Guanajuato, Veracruz)

Taxis.............................................. $151 - Exploring Centros where parking is bad

Highway Tolls............................ $491 - No Comment!

Dining Out / Entertainment.... $3375 ($23.44 per day) - Average one meal out per day and many cervesas in sidewalk cafes.

Communications........................... $105 ($0.75 per Day) - SIM Card, Prepaid Cell Card, LD Card, Skype, WIFI charges a few times

Mex. Vehicle Insurance.............. $330 ($2.29 per day) - Motorhome, Honda, Dolly for 6 months.

Travel Health Insurance............ $1211 ($8.41 per day)

Totals........................................ $11,578 ($80.40 per day)... Try that in hotels and restaurants for almost five months!

The total is $11,578 for 144 days or, $80.40 per day! We did not hold back on anything. We ate well, tried to explore every day, entertained, and dined out an average of once per day. We took cabs downtown wherever the parking was bad. We left the motorhome and stayed in hotels for 7 nights

Monaco Coach (Wishful Thinking)

We are looking at a 2006 30 foot Monaco Class A coach here in El Paso, Texas. It is in beautiful, "as new" shape, has only 9,900 miles on it and is priced so that a deal might be there. It is at the absolute top end of what we planned to spend but there are many reasons why they might drop their asking price. Monaco is definitely one of the better quality coaches made. It has aluminum sides and a solid fiberglass roof - a big improvement, and is importable into Canada duty free. We have an appointment tomorrow morning to test drive it and I will let you know what happens. It would certainly make us a higher class of "Trailer Trash".

Update: We could not reach a deal. I depreciated the original MSRP for three years and made that offer. They said it was below wholesale and refused it. We ended up $3000 apart. We will keep looking.

I must add that working with J.P. and the Sales staff at Camping World in El Paso was a pleasant experience. They are not high pressure at all. We just agreed that I could (would) not go any higher and they could (would) not come any lower. We shook hands and parted on friendly terms.

Welcome Back to the USA

We crossed the border this morning back into the USA. The crossing was uneventful. The guard inspected our Passports and asked if we had fruit or vegetables. He took an apple off us but let us keep the limes which are legal now but were taken off us last year. He then asked if we had any liquor and I told him several bottles partly full but no sealed bottles and he was happy with that. He waved us through without an inspection. We must look honest.

We arrived in El Paso, Texas (our first time in Texas!), checked into the Mission RV Park and went for breakfast at the local IHOP. The meal was fine but two things really struck us. First, a child started screaming soon after we sat down. This startled both of us as in five months in Mexico we had never heard a child scream anywhere except in play. I guess Mexicans take care of their children. The second thing was when the waitress dropped off our bill before we had finished eating. This also never happens in Mexico where it is considered extremely rude to give a customer a bill before he asks for it. The rule in Mexico is; when you sit at a table, that table is yours until you ask for, "La cuenta, por favor".

While we in the restaurant we talked to three people and mentioned that we had just returned from five months in Mexico. Two of the three commented that it was very dangerous in Mexico and asked if we had any trouble there. I answered that I had felt more threatened in the past two hours in the USA than I had in five months in Mexico and that is not an exaggeration. All three of these people were obviously of Mexican heritage. Welcome back to the "Bush Politics of Fear", Croft and Norma.

Mexican Ambulances

As we left the Migration Office at Kilometer 30 of Highway 45 after turning in our Temporary Vehicle Importation Hologramas and our Tourist Cards, we passed by an ambulance parked beside the building awaiting a call. The door was open so we said “Buenas Tardes” to the driver who responded in perfect English. He wanted to know where we lived and what we thought of his Country. He introduced the man beside him as a Doctor. That set me back as I know Canadian and American ambulances do not come equipped with a Doctor. I asked him if all Mexican Ambulances had a Doctor riding along and was told “all the time on certain highways and on others just on busy holidays”. This is just one more of the very progressive services they provide down here. It is amazing what Governments can fund when they are not paying billions to have troops out killing innocent people in all corners of the world!

Motorhome Repair Confusion

When the Insurance Adjuster in San Miguel de Allende looked at the damage to the roof of the motorhome he told us that they would cover the repairs (less $500 USA deductible) but the work had to be done in Mexico near the USA border. Fair enough, it is their money. He asked where we were crossing into the USA and we told him Ciudad Juarez. He then gave us the name and number of their agent in Texas and told us to call him when we got near Ciudad Juarez and he would find a place to make the repairs and set up an appointment. All well and good but as luck would have it we arrived in Chihuahua, the closest city to Juarez with an RV Park, on Good Friday! Not a good day to find Insurance Agents working. We stuck around Chihuahua and on Monday called our contact. All we got was his answering machine and no call back. He must have taken a four day weekend. Good for him.

Tuesday morning we finally contacted him. He looked up our file and told us to call him back when we got to the USA because nobody in Mexico was approved to do RV repairs! It is now Tuesday night and we are parked near a Pemex gas station outside Ciudad Juarez for the night after paying the Security Guard a fifty peso tip to watch over us. As I don’t believe in God praying would be fairly pointless, but I sure hope it doesn’t rain! With the duct tape covered gash in the roof I am sure we would be flooded out. Next stop, El Paso, Texas and hopefully a repaired roof. Report to follow.

Thoughts On Leaving Mexico

We are very sad to be leaving Mexico. It is like leaving family. We had a fantastic winter here, saw so many great sights and met hundreds of interesting, friendly people. As we thank and say goodbye to perfect strangers, they all want to know how we liked Mexico. They are very proud of their Country and like to hear our impressions and we love to share our feelings. In our five months here we never felt threatened even once or had one unhappy experience. Well, maybe when I ripped the roof open in Guanajuato…. But that was my own stupidity. I never thought my Mexican RV Insurance would cover stupidity but apparently it does!

Museo de la Revolution Mexicana or, Pancho Villa’s Museum

Today we visited Quinta Luz, the Museo de la Revolution here in the City of Chihuahua. Quinta Luz is the mansion Pancho Villa used as his house and offices after his appointment as Provisional Governor of the State of Chihuahua. It is a huge mansion near the historic Centro and is filled with furniture, clothing, saddles and other itemsl used by the General. After Pancho’s death in 1923, Luz Corral de Villa, the only one of a hilariously long list of Villa’s “wives” determined by the Courts to be his legal spouse, was allowed to stay in the house to live out the remainder of her life. When she died in 1981 the Government re-acquired the Estate and turned it into a museum of Francesco “Pancho” Villa’s life.

The most bizarre item on display is the bullet riddled 1922 Dodge Touring Car that Villa was riding in when he was assassinated on July 20, 1923. As he drove away from his bank in nearby Parral that day, Villa was attacked by eight men firing rifles from the second floor of a nearby house. Five of the seven men in the car were killed, including the Generalissimo. One of the survivors remembered Villa’s last words as, “Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something important!” It has never been determined who ordered his murder.

A little side note. In a restaurant on Highway 45 we saw a very imposing painting of Pancho Villa. Under it was the inscription: “Pancho Villa, The Only Man Brave Enough to Invade the USA!”