Arco Norte From The East

We drove the new Arco Norte from Puebla to Queretaro today. When we got to the toll booth on 150D just west of Puebla I asked the toll guy where the Arco Norte started. He told me “quatro kilometres and turn right”. Click on all photos to enlarge. Photo quality is poor as most were taken blindly out the windshield and cropped down from wide angle.

We counted off the kilometres and sure enough, there was this sign:

Followed by this one:

And this exit. As you can see, this sign is a little ambiguous. HWY 75D is the key:

Soon you will come to the Toll Booth where you will get an electronic card (look up high for the card dispenser):

It is now official!

At the Queretaro exit the nice lady took the card, scanned it and charged us $450 pesos for about 150 Kilometres of great highway. Since we came down in January, they have opened a Pemex station in each direction. They are at KM 162, near the Puebla end of the route.

The pushpin location is not exact, but it is close.

Health Care Passes!!!

Americans now have Health Care! Well, a watered down crappy version of it thanks the the Republicans. Thirty-three Democrats also voted against it. If I was Obama, these turncoats would be easy to identify from the imprint of my boot in their asses!

Anyway, something is better than nothing and it can now be tweaked to make it better! Congratulations to my American friends!!

EDIT: Just a comment after reading the comments to this post. Yes, it is hard to get a doctor in Canada but once you have him, he is yours for life. My advice is to call all the offices and ask if a new doctor is starting out. They are always looking for patients and this method has worked for us in every new town.

Norma's 28 year old hip guy is supposedly the best in Canada and he works three part days a week. He decided how much money he needs to live the way he wants and decided that is the number of hours he has to put in. The rest of the time he kayaks, hikes, swims, travels and writes articles for medical journals. If he had decided to put in all the hours he could come up with patients to fill he would be working 14 - 18 hours a day, seven days a week and he would be dead in a few years. He bills Canada's Medicare system and charges nothing extra and like I say, is reputed to be the best "hip man" in Canada. Her bout of skin cancer thirty years ago was treated quickly and permanently as well.

Canada's medical system has worked very well for us and I would argue that it is not broken. I have gone through a shattered ankle near the Alaska border and got a free Lear Jet ride to Vancouver where they fixed it (also for free). I had kidney failure twenty five years ago and it was fixed quickly and professionally. We have never been put on a waiting list, we have gotten immediate attention quickly every time we needed it. We never had to pay a nickle for any of the above.

Others may have different results and I don't question them. I just know for us, the system works.

Villahermosa to Cordoba

We were kept awake last night by a party and loud music next door to the RV park until 1:00 am and then the rain started pounding down about 3:00 so it was not a very good night for me. We left the RV park at nine and headed up the highway. This stretch from Villahermosa to Puebla is very boring, made interesting only by the terrible condition of the road. The fast lane is not bad but the slow lane is full of uneven pavement, ruts and potholes. To add insult, it is a toll road and out total for today was $650 pesos and we are not in Puebla yet!

We came up to a military checkpoint and I mentioned how unusual it was that we had not been stopped in one in several months. They take one look at the old fart driving and wave us through. I should have kept quiet because as soon as I said it we got waived into the secondary inspection area. Norma showed one soldier our passports while I let two more into the back. One checked all the cupboards and the fridge and freezer while the other opened all the closets and drawers in the bedroom. They were polite but very thorough. Never once though have they asked to look in the outside bins or in the huge storage area under the bed.

The guy in the kitchen area finished first and told us what a nice rig it was. He saw Norma's cigarettes and asked if he could have one. When the other guy came out of the bedroom she offered him one and the guy she showed the passports to came to the door with a hopeful look on his face. She ended up giving them the whole pack to share. These guys have a very dangerous job to do and I admire them very much. They do not go around the world shooting up other countries but stay home and take on the drug cartels who have a much higher budget and are better armed.

We continued on and realized we were both very tired from the bad night. We started looking for a place to pull off for the night and passed up a couple of Pemex stations because they were too small and finally arrived in Cordoba. The Pemex here has a restaurant, an Italian Coffee Company and lots of parking. The only problem might be trucks applying their jake brakes as they approach the toll booth just down the highway. I am tired enough to sleep through it!

 

Isla Aguada to Villahermosa

We got a late start from Isla Aguada this morning after having breakfast at the restaurant and saying goodbye to the excellent staff. It is a little confusing and frustrating to get through Cudad del Carmen and onto the highway west. The road takes you through downtown and, as usual lanes are not marked so it is left up to the drivers to decide if it is two, three or four lane traffic. No matter what, you will be beeped at as you take up part of what someone thinks is their lane.

A little later you go past an inland waterway and an area with the most topes I have ever seen. Some of them are separated by only a few feet and many are not marked. It is a very slow trip.

Coming up to Villahermosa we saw the sign saying there are no trailers allowed but this time I saw extra lettering that seems to indicate this might only in effect between 0700 and 0900. Still, we saw no other trailers, only cars and light trucks on the highway through town and a traffic jam where the periferico joined up with 180 on the north end of town. We may have broken the law again and gotten away with it. If this is the case, it will have been the third time. If I ever get caught I will deserve the fine.

Backtracking a little, when we entered Villahermosa the traffic was very heavy, as usual. We found ourselves in the wrong lane to turn right onto 180 and were being forced past the turnoff and into the centro. This is the one place in Villahermosa you do not want to be with fifty feet of motorhome and tow car!

I stopped for a light and while I was frantically searching for a way out, a Collectivo bus stopped beside Norma's window and motioned to her to wind down the window. He asked if we were lost and told us we could not go into town. I told him where we needed to be and he started giving directions in rapid Spanish that I could not follow. The light changed to green and he motioned for me to let him in front of me and to follow him. His bus was full of laughing Mexicans who thought it was a great time helping out the stupid Canadian. I followed him for a couple of blocks and he pointed out the road we had to be on. I pulled up and offered him some pesos but he would take none. With the bus driver and all his passengers laughing and waving we made it onto highway 180.

This is why I love Mexico! Would a bus driver in downtown Vancouver or Phoenix go off his route to help out a lost, confused RVer who did not speak the language? That question does not even need an answer. But if it did, the answer would be no.

We made it through town and pulled into the Recreativo El Gordo Y San Pancho RV Park and public swimming complex just north of Villahermosa. We are the only RV but the pools are full of kids enjoying a beautiful Saturday. We parked, paid our $260 pesos for the night and joined about a hundred kids in the pool.

Tomorrow we head for Puebla and the start of the Arco Norte. It is about 650 KM away so we will probably spend one night on the road somewhere in between. My Telcel 3G is working so I will be able to post as long as we have a cell signal. I love Mexico!

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!