A Few Interesting sights

We went to a town that was on an island. A really small town. The island floods in the rainy season and the streets become canals, so they say this is the Mexican Florence. NOT. Florence is much more beautiful, I am sure.
Here are some fish drying in "Florence". the place is really called Mexcaltitan, a Pueblo Magico.
This was really a sight. Mexicans dont load their trucks based on weight, rather on space avaliable. This truck was loaded to the top with palm fronds to use for roofing. Every turn he took the load swayed, every bump he hit, the load jumped. We thought for sure we were going to see it all on the road.

San Carlos

This was the view out our window at about 6:30AM. This heron was in the pond by our coach everyday
This is where we Wild Camped for 3 nites. It is a beach front area very near San Carlos. Great sand, quiet, I think San Carlos is going to continue to grow. It has a nice harbor and good fishing.
Another shot of the beach where we camped our last nights in Mexico.

Here is KC working out. She is 18 yrs old and just as active as can be. We saw her move from this postion once, almost everyday.
Here is Joel, doing a 'performace test on Mercy's new zero gravity chair. The test took about 3 hours.
Here is Mercy, verifying the test results. This test was performed at Playa Amore, about 15km South of San Blas. the test took 2 days and was successful.

A Pig In A Poke

Mexican Pork is really good. The tocino (bacon) is excellent, as are the chops and hams (jamon). We took this picture outside a meat shop along the Hwy. Today we saw a shop sorting out pigs feet for the deep fryer. They use every part of a pig. I think they have even figured out how to use the squeal.

Punta Perula

This is the main street in Perula, at mid day, note all the traffic. We have been in this town for 8 days. Super quiet, nice people, reminds us of Sayulita 10 years ago.
This is looking the other direction on the main street. This is the only paved street in town, There are NO stop lights, and only 4 Topes (speed bumps)
This is the garden and pool area of the Hotel Dorada where we are staying. The hotel has a 9 space RV park with really nice showers, pool, beach and security.
This is a view looking South from in from of the RV park. This is Chamala Bay for about 4 miles. This is probably what Puerto Vallarta (Banderas Bay) looked like 50 years ago.
This is looking North. The village is at the North end of the bay. For as far as you can see, there are no highrises, yet.

Punta Perula is about a 2 hour drive south of Puerto Vallarta on MX 200, a 2 lane road that you have to drive on as fast as you can, just to be safe. Driving the Trek on this road we have to stay in the middle to avoid the jungle trees growing over the road.

Fish Soup

Today in Perula, we bought a whole red fish, head and all. It was 4.7 kilos and cost 300 pesos. Last week at a restaurant I had a great bowl of fish soup, so tonite we are going to try and make a similar version. "Muy rico", is what the fish monger said when I asked him about the meat on the head. We'll see.

So, we ate it and it was very flavorful,(muy rico) but I made a mistake, and didn't wash off all the loose scales. So 2 bowls was the limit. Next time I think we will use a filet.

This is a waterfall about 35 miles inland from Manzanillo. Barb Salvitore and I went up there for a day trip. That is me in the water. It was perfect temp and clear as a bell. There is a water park up there and you can camp there if you are in a small rig.
I am practicing, practicing, practicing. My old hat is going to bite the dust pretty soon.
KC is my best fan, she thinks I can play the Uke pretty good. Of course, she is deaf and 18 years old!

Manzanillo Beach Boondocking

We finally left Chimulco RV park in Villa Corona and headed for the coast. It took about 4 hours and about $60. in tolls to get to Manzanillo. This is the biggest, deepest port in MX.
We found this site right along the beach, just N of town, and we settled in. We are traveling with a couple from Langley, BC and their dog, a standard poodle named Raz. We wound up staying at this site for 7 days, until our holding tanks were almost full.
No power, no internet, no water. Mexican people are very social, and tend to be very close, so personal space is different. Almost every nite there were people right next to us camping. A few nites the mattress dudes were there, other nites Lovers were there. Always there was music and smoke, trash or cooking smoke. Everywhere in Mexico there is smoke.

The VW from Mexico

Somehow, this old VW came rolling down the RV Park road with 3 boys pushing it, a lady and a puppy giving instructions, and a driver, sort of. You see, the VW had absolutely NO Steering! So to make a turn, the boys would each kick a front tire while the "driver" tried to move forward or back. The only problem was that the boys were kicking against each other, and the engine kept dying. To top it all off, the clutch was bad and the gears were grinding!
I am bit ashamed to say that I was laughing my head off. I tried to help by showing them we could simply lift up the front end and move it over, but that didn't sell well to the Mexicans. After about 30 minutes of grinding, kicking, starting, stopping, they finally got the VW into the RV site. Funniest show we've seen yet.

Chapalla

We are still at Chimulco RV Park in the town of Villa Corona. We usually take a day trip once a week or so, this week was to Lake Chapalla and the town of Chapalla. While in Chapalla we met some Americanos who live there year round. The Guad Int'l airport is 30 minutes away, Costco is 45 minutes, good Dr's and Dentist. The climate is excellent, all year, not too hot, not too cold. It is no wonder there are so many Expats down here. A guy named Bob, has 4 really nice two bedroom apts he rents for $500/month with a daily maid, water, and trash. Nice property.

This is the Cathedral in Chapalla. the town has a Malecon that is new and very nice, the only problem is that the lake water is very dirty, I wouldn't swim in it.
This is a really neat statue right in the center of the Malecon, can you see the peir? there are boat Taxi that will take out to the island. The lake is very full this year, but we have been told that a few years ago, it was almost dry.

Chapalla & the Lake

This Arch is in a park at Jocotepec, (Hoe.Co.Tea.Peck) a small town on the west end of Lake Chapalla. I looks like they started building the arch and then realized that there was a tree in the way. Funny. At least they have public art, Newport could take a lesson from them.
This is showing Mercy looking East over the lake, that white stuff in the water is a herd of big birds. That hillside in the background is the N shore of Lake Chapalla The road along there reminds us of Alii Drive in Kona, and it leads to the town of Chapalla.
This is one of several benches in the park, ornately done with tons of tiles.
This light tower is at the west end of the lake, great brickwork, but as usual, the lights don't work, and the property is unkempt.

This is one of the Tour Buses in Tequilla, the town where all the trouble started.
Here we are having a taste of Quervo with the founders. They were Stone Drunk
These were the original stills at Jose Cuervo
These are the Pinos, the heart of the Afave cactus that they make tequilla from. They weigh up to 50# and the guys have to chop some in half so they can then bake them for 18 hours before squeezing out the juice
This is Wayne, Gordon and myself, believe it or not, this was bfore we went on the tour. They made us wear hair bonnets.

I think I'm getting this

These are Baby Agave plants. Ready to be planted. It takes years to mature an agave. A mature agave sprouts off several of these babies. Something like the Hen & Chick plant.
These 2 photos are of the Ruins we visited a week ago. The view behind them is of the valley and the lake that the natives controlled. They made rafts out of reeds to float on the lake, and they grew corn on the rafts. That way the bad guys couldn't get their food.

This is a picture of the leftover steel after the big press cut the knife blades. You can see the knife shape.
This is the old press that makes the steel into the knife shape. I think this thing is about 100 years old, still functioning. This was a fifth generation business, in the same location. They made the wooden boxes, the handles, everything right there.

Still Here

This was the final game of the New Years Bean Bag Tourney. Mercy and Wes came in second, There were 26 teams. We are planning on building a bean bag game when we get home. Its fun and easy.
This is one of the pools that they fill with fresh water everyday. This pool is about 3 ft deep, and the water is about 99 degrees, This pic was taken on a Saturday, so there are alot of Mexicans in the pool. During the week, there are usually only a few. Wwe ususally spend about 1 hour in the pool every morning.
This is called the Splash Factory. It has water coming out all over the place, and the big buckets fill up with water and then spill out all over the people. A loud air horn blows right before it spills. The kids love it.
This is the field where you can lose your head ! Of course taht was about 4000 years ago.



Here we are Jan 19th, still at Chimulco RV / Water Park. We have really settled in, so settled, that Mercy went ahead and paid for another month. I guess we will stay here a while longer, especially since we are getting reports of foul weather in Patsquaro and San Miguel De Allende. We have had 2 days with a bit of sprinkles here and that is it. Still in the low 80’s/high 50’s/low at nite.
Last week three couples of us hired a driver and a van to take us to the town of Tequilla. On the way we stopped at a ruin of a village that was active about 3000 years ago. There was a play field where they played a ball game where the winner got his head chopped off! That was considered a real honor. There is some really odd history down here. The town of Tequilla was interesting. We went to the Jose Quervo distillery and sampled some. They make 30,000 liters per day there. The agave plant takes 11 to 18 years before harvest. It is no wonder there is a pending shortage of Tequilla.
On Thursdays, there is a group of Mexicans, mostly older women and a few retired men, that gets together to do exercises in the pool at about 10:AM. They workout for about 2 hours. Last week, they invited Mercy & I to a Fiesta for a woman who was going to have a baby. A shower. Mercy joined right in and had a blast. Ask her when you see her about the circle thing that they did. It was very funny. George, (Hor-Hey) and I drank tequila while the women played games. George was the past President’e of Coculah. He speaks zero English, so our conversation was very animated. It was a blast. We all ate weird food, laughed at each others poor Spanish/English. The music was provided by the Bee Gees on CD. Loud of course! So, this Thursday, they have invited us to another Fiesta after exercise, for a couple who are celebrating their 50th Anniversary. The Mariachi will be live, so it will be fun. The Mexicans are very willing to have a party, willing to visit, and happy to play their music really loud.
Last nite we went a couple of towns S to the Mariachi and dinner. This town, Coculah, says it is the birthplace of Mariachi, and the bands and singers are quite good. The MC of the show was a trip, if you give a Mexican a microphone they go off, talking just as fast as they can, maybe even faster than they can. What a trip, sounds like a trilling bird, rolling the r’s and throwing in a ton of L’s. Some folks here in Villa Corona left on foot and caught a bus and they beat us to the Mariachi, and then they beat us back!!
A few days ago we went down to Sayulah, a town where they make knives. I met the 5th generation owner of the knife factory. Beautiful stuff. We made it just in time, for it was 1:30 and siesta begins at 2: We then went back North to a town where they make those pig skin chairs/tables/stools. These people are very resourceful. They can make do with very little. Most people don’t own cars, so the bus system is really good and cheap.
This morning was sort of typical. We woke up at about 8:30, had coffee, then went to the warm pool for a soak and a visit for about an hour, then came back and had a breakfast at about 11. This morning we had a couple of Tamales that Mercy got in town last nite, and salad followed by a Pacifico. Delicious. Lunch was at about 4 and then on to Bean Bags during happy hour. Maybe we will go to town tonite to see whats up, maybe get some good Mexican ice cream. There are some others here who play guitar, mandolin, bass, and so we will get together and play for a couple of hours.
Today, a caravan of 7 small RV’s pulled into the park. All women. Watching them all hook up reminded us of watching the boat launch at the lake. Really funny.
I will post some pictures soon. Posting pictures is a bit of a technology challenge!!

Here are few pictures

This is the inside of the church at Tapalpa, some of the nicest brick and mortor work we've seen so far.
This is the entrance to the dentist office

This is a duplicate

This is the chicken guy at the market. Right in the middle of the place, killing the chickens right there, see them bleeding out into that bucket? It is gross, then right next door is the fish monger. Since they are in the middle of the market, you have to walk by there.