Villa Corona, The Park

The RV park here is quite nice. Power is good at just over 120 volts, the water pressure is good for Mexico although it smells slightly of sulphur from the thermal springs. The hot springs are huge and actually supplies the town with free hot water through a separate water line and tap. There are four pools that are open on different days and at different times of the day. One is very hot and has hydro massage jets that you stand in front of. The park becomes very busy on weekends when families from Guadalajara drive or bus down for the day. They bring food which they cook in the dozens of barbeques in the picnic area. There is free WIFI which you have to walk over to the office to get. Many people spend the entire winter here but for us is is a convenient stopover.

Saturday Is Not A Good Day To Drive!

The Guadalajara traffic was brutal! I thought Saturday might be a better day than a weekday but it was not. As soon as we got past the Periferico Sur ring road the traffic on all streets leading into the centro stopped pretty much dead. It took us almost three hours to make the 44 KM drive into town and over two hours to get back.

We found a pay parking lot about two blocks from the unique downtown where many streets are pedestrian only. It is a very beautiful city and families were out strolling! I have said this many times, but I love Mexican children! They are always smiling and happy and never cause problems for mom and dad.

We stopped in a restaurant that we remembered from previous trips and ordered what we thought would be a light lunch. We ordered a salad, a guacamole dip with chips and a Grande Coctil Camerone to share. All portions were huge and we ended up leaving some on the table! The bill, including a limonada for me and a bottle of water for Norma was $230 pesos. Considering where we were and the quantities involved, this was a great deal.

Here are some more shots from our stroll:

“Hey mom! There are free pesos in the water!”

This clown is selling boots:

Inside the restaurant:

The street with no cars:

This human statue came to life when Norma dropped some pesos in his dish!

Vegetating in Villa Corona

We have not been doing anything blogable (if that is a word). We went swimming yesterday in the beautiful pools here. Our payment for the RV park includes entrance fees to the hot springs complex plus there is an extra pool for the exclusive use of the RV park and casitas. This pool is filled at 6:00 pm when the other pools are emptied for the night. The pools are not heated so they are quite hot when they are filled and then gradually cool down during the day. This process repeats itself the next day.

We are going to have breakfast and then are thinking of a drive into Guadalajara for the day. We have always taken the bus into town since getting very lost the first time we took the car but now with the MX maps in the GPS I feel more confident!

Talk to you later!

Tepic to Villa Corona

We made it safe and sound to the Villa Corona hot springs and booked for four nights. I will post tomorrow with photos! It was in the high 80's today! Not that I like to brag.....

Mazatlan to Tepic

After saying goodby to our friends we got a bit of a late start today. We drove the quota (toll) road from Mazatlan to Tepic, about 170 miles away. As we left Mazatlan, I noticed I had about 3/4 of a tank of gas, maybe a little less, plenty for the trip (I thought). This is a great highway but the only things that break the monotony are toll booths, not gas stations. the road started going uphill as we got about 75 km from Tepic and with 40 km to go, my gas warning light came on! Like I said the road was uphill and the Ford engine was gearing down to keep us moving. I tried to keep my speed up to avoid dropping down another gear but at many points the traffic did not co-operate. By the time we pulled into Tepic we were running on fumes!

We are now parked in the same toll booth on the Tepic - Guadalajara highway that we parked in two years ago. There are more trucks here this time and no other RV's. One truck pulled in for a good half hour and sat idling with his cab and reefer unit right beside our window. He did it on purpose as there was lots of other parking available. He was just trying to make some point or other. Anyway, he is gone now and we can breathe again. We will make a light dinner and watch some of the shows we recorded on Starchoice. I love the fact we can store about a hundred hours of programing and then watch them without having the dish hooked up.

We have about a three and a half hour drive tomorrow and we will be in Villa Corona where all the hot springs are. Not that we really need them, the temperature hut 88 on the road today. Great signal on my Telcel Banda Ancha (Wide Band) here. Life is Good.

Life Is A Beach!

Here is a better shot of Contessa, Norma and I having lunch on Stone Island yesterday. It was taken by Colin who is a professional photographer. Reprinted with his permission. Thanks.

Drug Store Trip And The Weather

I came down to Mexico a little short on my prescription drugs. We stopped at Mega today and I went to their pharmacia to buy 60 days worth of Metformin (generic) for $140 pesos and 120 days of Lipitor (brand name) for $1100 pesos. These are both a little more expensive than back in Canada but still very manageable. I like the Mexican way of letting people buy their drugs responsibly without a prescription.

I was checking the Weather Underground site and see those of you who are back in the southern States are rather chilly! Yuma is 15/2 Celcius day/night while Casa Grande is 11/-4C, Tucson is 11/-2C and Brownsville, TX is 11/1C. Even Northern Mexico is suffering the chills. Our friend Chris is in Chihuahua and complaining about -5C! On the other hand, our friends Joanna and Mimi are snug as bugs in Merida, MX at 30/20C. Here in Mazatlan we are very comfortable at 25/15C. We have yet to see an actual bandito or a bodyless head rolling down the street.

Our friend Don in Pahrump, NV had his bird bath freeze last night and it is a chilly 7C there today.

I love Mexico (specially the southern parts)!

One More Day

We decided to stay in Mazatlan one more day. Norma did not sleep well last night so we will take it easy, head down to the Panama Bakery for breakfast and to pick up some of their great bread and deserts.

The park WIFI is good here and is still free, at least for overnighters. I have only had to use my Telcel stick once when the WIFI went off. This device has connected every time I have turned it on. I don't know how we managed without it in the past. It gives Internet for just over $1 per day.

The wash guys failed to show up so we gave the MH a quick wash ourselves to get the cow crap we ran over along the way cleaned off. Our travelling home smells a lot better now! That inspired us to wash the car. The local water leaves spots so everything has to be dried after washing.

Well, off to town. It just might turn nice and sunny today! Life is Good!

Great Day!

Contessa and Colin are fun! We caught the panga ($25 pesos each return) and rode the five minutes or so across the bay. We got off and saw our hosts walking towards us way down the beach. I phoned them to make sure it was them and we met in the middle of the beach. Contessa recommended a restaurant on the beach and we stopped there. I had ceveche de camerone and Norma had tacos pescados. Very good! the beer and margarita I washed it down with were also excellent!

We then walked down the beach to their RV space right on the beach for a glass of wine for Norma and a Pacifico for me (well, two). It was a great visit with great people and too soon we walked back along the beach to the small dock and the ride back. What a great day!

Croft, Norma, Colin & Contessa

 Croft & Norma:

 The beach. RV park at far end:

Their Rig. Great spot right on the beach!

Adventure Day

It is bright and sunny for a change so we are going over to Stone Island to meet fellow Blogger Contessa. Her and Colin are from Kelowna, BC and winter on Stone Island which is not really an island but rather a peninsula accessible either by "bad" road from the airport or by panga from downtown. We will take the panga and hopefully get some photos to post!