Last Day At Isla Aguada

We drove to Cudad del Carmen today for groceries and cash. The route there takes us over a very long bridge across the entrance to the Laguna de Terminos. Back in the days of pirates, this laguna was used as a refuge for the pirates. After they plundered Campeche or Champoton, they would make a run down the coast to Isla Aguada where they would sail into the laguna with their shallow draught vessels, hotly pursued by the Spanish. The Spanish Galleons were too large to sail into the shallow laguna after them so the pirates could sit and thumb their noses at the Spanish while safe and sound in their refuge!

The Bridge and the Laguna:

After the drive we went over to the restaurant where we had another great meal, entertained by the most charming little one year, eight month old girl whose name translates to “Shining Light”. Her and her parents are visiting from Mexico City.

Croft’s Red Snapper Dinner, before and after:

The Cook with his masterpiece:

Isla Aguaga

We are at Isla Aguada, parked at Freedom Shores RV Park. Things have changed here a bit since last year. Bill, the handicapped American owner and pleasant host is in the hospital in the USA being treated for bed sores from sitting in his wheelchair for extended hours in the heat down here. He has been in the hospital for nine months and his wife, who is running the park here says she hopes he will be back in November when it cools down a bit. He can no longer handle the hot summers here. We hope he will be alright.

There are four rigs in the RV park, two from Canada and two from the USA and one American in the hotel. It is very quiet. The place is set up for handicapped travelers but none of the present guests are handicapped.

There is no WIFI. Bill had two of them on site last year but rarely was more than one working at a time and he was constantly battling with his providers. He also had a Hughes DataStorm system on his motorhome which we all used until he got FAP'd for too much use of the system. I guess it was just too much bother for his wife and she has given up on it.

There are too many trees for me to get StarChoice reception. I tried it in a few places yesterday but branches are always in the way. I may give it one more try today but we are leaving tomorrow anyway so t is hardly worth it and I have a book to read. Speaking of books, I have read about twenty so far this winter. Somewhat of a record for me!

We had dinner in the park restaurant last night and they have the same cook as last year. He is very good and the meal was excellent.

Today we are taking a drive to the nearby town for a few things and will try to find a payphone to call our son and my sister.

Telcel seems to have me on their very slow internet. I guess that was the compromise they reached as a result of my trying to initiate my renewal too early and (they say) losing my time. If my Spanish was better I would argue with them but why bother? I can Blog as long as I am patient to let photos upload and do email. That is all I really need anyway so Life is still Good!

Isla Aguada Sunset

To Get North, You Drive South

Directions are a little different here on the Yucatan. The coast of the Gulf Of Mexico curves to the South so as we drove today the GPS told me we were heading South West. We were headed for Isla Aguada and the Freedom Shores RV Park but stopped for a bite to eat in the little shrimping village of Champoton. It is a neat little town but difficult to explore as the highway going through it is narrow and busy with no place to park the motorhome and the side streets are very narrow and congested.

We stopped a little past town where there was a shelter set up that was being used to repair shrimp nets and a portable Coctil Stand was selling seafood coctils. I could not pass this by. These dishes are much different that you get in the USA and Canada. They are light and fresh and the sauce is much thinner than we get up north. I ordered a Grande Coctil, Camerone y Pulpa, por favor. That is a large shrimp and octopus cocktail. He made it right in front of me and pulled a plastic table over for us to sit at. It was delicious! Ice cold and the seafood “cracked” in your mouth. We shared it (me 95%, Norma 5%) while nibbling on the plate of tortilla chips it came with. The charge was $50 pesos, or about $4.50 CAN.

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night

We were awoken at about three in the morning with the motorhome rocking and rolling and rain pelting the side and roof. We are only a hundred feet or so from the water so we are fully exposed to the weather. It kept up for several hours with little sleep in between gusts. In the morning we discovered the StarChoice dish had been blown way off the satellite but, thanks to my tying it down securely to the car dolly, it had not blown over. We had planned on leaving today but decided to spend one more day to get things tidied up and to take advantage of the saunas in the clubhouse.

Hopefully the weather will be nicer tomorrow and we can start our way North. We will start putting in longer days on the road with some overnight stops in Pemex stations and shopping centres. We would like to visit with Juan and Chris in Monterrey before we cross into the USA. We have still not decided on a route home through the USA and this decision will depend on weather and inspiration as we go.

Dinner Out

Last night we went downtown to the El Langostino Restaurant. This eatery is highly rated by The Lonely Planet Guide to Mexico. It is located on a narrow street about two blocks from the water. As soon as we were seated and drink orders taken a waiter brought over a platter with all of the nights specials on it. There were the largest lobster tails I have ever seen as well as crab legs and a plate with twenty four large shrimp. The prices were written on a slip of paper beside each dish. Everything looked delicious but most of it was a little expensive. The lobster tails were $750 and $700 pesos respectively, the large crab legs were $400 and the smaller ones $350. The camerones were $280. The camerones (24 of them) would be a good deal for two people. I ended up ordering garlic shrimp and got eight large camerones for $150. Norma had the pepper steak. The house wine was from Chile and was good for $40 pesos a glass filled to the brim. We met a nice couple from Oregon there and managed to share a conversation between mouthfuls! They have spent many winters in Mexico and she would like to start her own Blog.

Garlic Shrimp!

Laundry

We picked our month’s worth of laundry up yesterday morning. Everything was spotless as usual. The pasta sauce stains were off my new shirt, in fact all the stains were gone off everything! All 22 kilos of laundry was perfectly folded and wrapped in easy to handle sized, clear plastic bags. These bags made a pile about three feet high. $220 pesos ($10 pesos or $.90 CAN per kilo) paid in advance and I gave her a $30 peso tip when we picked it up. It was 90 outside and probably well over 100 inside the laundry. The two of them were smiling and content. I am sure we pay a little (maybe a lot) more than a Mexican would if they came in with the same load but for us it is very cheap and worth every peso.

There are few, if any traditional coin operated Laundromats in Mexico. Some RVs have their own laundry but to get a washer and dryer in, you have to give up something else and to us, we would rather not make that tradeoff. Other people do their own laundry in buckets and hang it on makeshift lines outside. This too is too much of a bother and too time consuming for us. We have better things to do and we certainly do not mind helping a hard working Mexican family earn a living. Twenty bucks for a month’s worth of laundry is a bargain!

Club Nautica

Club Nautica is a private membership park with an RV park. It is in a beautiful setting with 30 amp power, an infinity pool, saunas, restaurant and clubhouse with Internet. The RV park is great, but like RV parks all over Mexico this year, almost empty. Out of about 30 spaces, four are occupied, one with a stored unit.

Telcel Comes Through!

The nice lady at Telcel must have successfully convinced her boss that I was too stupid to follow the instructions properly to initiate the 3G Internet service. We went downtown to drop off a month’s worth of laundry ($220 pesos for 22 KG of laundry! Cheap!). We then had lunch at a little waterfront restaurant while we waited for the phone call to tell me how her meeting with the boss went. The call did not come so I thought I would try to use the card anyway and it worked! I have 15 days of service that will see us out of the country. Here is the lavanderia where we dropped off the laundry:

This is just another example of how easy it is to start up a business in Mexico if you are not afraid of (hot, sweaty and long hours of)work. Their equipment consists of three non matching sets of used washers and dryers, a scale to weigh the laundry on, a sheet of painted plywood for a folding table and a calculator. It is run by a couple who appear to be husband and wife. They will never get rich but they will earn a living and buy lots of tortillas for their kids!

Today we will try out the new infinity pool here at Club Nautica and go into town for dinner later. They say Campeche sunsets are spectacular…

Here is lunch! Nice hat, eh?  (it is on loan from the waiter.

Limonada:

Crab and shrimp salad to share, free ceviche:

Rainbow RV Park - Merida

The Rainbow has changed a bit since last year. Many new sites have been added but sadly, infrastructure has not improved. Every four sites still share a single 15 amp breaker so even if you are by yourself in that group of four you cannot run the air conditioner, even on low. We ran the fan and when we tried to heat coffee in the microwave at the same time, the breaker tripped so I doubt the breaker is even delivering it’s rated 15 amps.

The park was almost empty while we were there with a MH with two Swiss couples were there for a couple of days and when we left there were three other rigs, all from Canada. The pool was empty and showed no signs of recent use. The park is under new management and there is someone living on site and the rate is still $250 pesos per night. There is little shade and Merida can be HOT, especially without air conditioning!

I am sure the only thing that keeps it open is the fact that it is the only park near Merida, one of the cities that cannot be missed!

Across the street is a Liverpool Shopping Center. Liverpool is a high end department store. Very few regular working Mexicans will be found there as it is mostly used by wealthy Mexicans and ex-pats although the ex-pats we know do not shop there either.

We walked over a couple of times, once for dinner at Chilies Restaurant and once so Norma could buy a new bathing suit and some English magazines at Liverpool. In the middle of the mall is one thing seldom seen in Mexico. A skating rink!

And a 12 screen theatre!