The end of a long and winding road . . .

We are here at our final destination - Lo de Marcos, Nayarit, Mexico . . . it all feels so familiar.  It took us three days from the USA border to get here - some of it good, some not so good.  Last time we were here we said our 5th wheel was too big and that we would not be bringing it back to Mexico . . . but here we are again!  The worst part, in my humble opinion, is the long and winding hell - I mean hill, from Tepic to Las Varas.  It's about 70 kms I think of narrow, twisting road with little or no shoulders.  And, unknown to us, this was a long weekend in Mexico - so we were travelling against all the traffic returning to Guadalajara from a long weekend at the ocean.  I don't have any pictures of the "hill" - as I was too busy hanging on for dear life to snap a photo.

Beginning the descent out of Tepic

Loaded with sugar cane!
 

When we got to an area where we could stop, we pulled into a roadside restaurant for something to eat and take a little break.  This little spot looked fine - but there was no menu, and the young girl who was waiting tables spoke no English at all.  We thought we were getting something with chicken (chicken tacos perhaps) and knew for sure we had a coke and fresca to drink, but other than that it was anyone's guess.  As it turned out, we each received a bowl of beef soup and a tortilla.

Mystery soup

Wash station outside the bathroom

Free range rooster . . .

 wood fired oven - so they must have been doing some kind of baking here - ?  bread, pizza perhaps?

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 We asked for "la cuenta, por favor" - it came to $140 pesos!!  That's equivalent to about $12 Cdn Dollars - we have noticed things have gone up in Mexico - but that much????  As we left, we wondered if we had more food coming that we missed out on, or if that's the price when you pull up in a big rig . . . whatever it was, we paid WAY too much for soup and a pop!!  But, again, an experience and the atmosphere was truly Mexican!

Back on the road, and within a couple of hours we were setting up the patio for one of many Happy Hours at Cruz Maria RV Resort.

Tuesday morning at the panaderia!

Getting our days supply of bollos

The zoccola in the plaza is still the same . . .

On Wednesday morning, Arturo went to play baseball, I walked Kipper up the hill to the other beach, and it all was very de ja vu -ish!  Kind of like the movie Ground Hog Day - just the same as many other days down here.  For us it's all good - but I wonder about the local people sometime - it just never changes for them.  Well, almost never - this little palapa and sitting area was built since last time we were here - it's a beautiful spot to watch the birds, turtles and maybe even a crocodile in the swamp.

New palapa on the beach road

The Kokanee Ranger - Mexican style

Looking forward to our first Saturday Taco night tomorrow . . . yum, yum, I have been waiting for months!

Hasta Luego - Arturo y de Beeb

Kipper is a "dalmata"????

 

 

We are in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico . . . where we have been many times before.  It is the perfect spot to get your Mexico legs under you. 

As planned, we left Casa Grande, AZ, at 0530 . . . it was early, but worth it to get to the other side of Tucson early in the day. 



Hooked up and ready to roll . . . still dark out!
 

Rolled through Tucson in "early rush hour" - but no problems - reached the Nogales border crossing about 0830 . . . no problemos  . . . well, except we got into the truck lane (we have a truck after all) . . . but it was the lane for importing goods in big trucks.  Wouldn't you know, that we couldn't just go through, but had to back up the fifth wheel (that's not as easy as it sounds), get a gate unlocked, make a tight turn . . . and get into the proper lane (all with sign language as the attendants after all, we Mexican . . . and didn't speak English) .  You would think that we would know this all by now - but, no, it's always an adventure.  All the documentation for entering Mexico is done 21 kms down the road - and luckily, there was only three or four other vehicles there when we started the import process.  It still took us an hour - but no hassles as we had all the proper documentation to bring the truck, fifth wheel, us and Kipper into Mexico . . . we are good for 180 days!

No surprises along the highway . . .except this . . .

Kind of blurry, but taken through the windshield of the truck
 

WTF - were we seeing things?  The truck traffic northbound is always stopped here for inspection - they are lined up for at least two kms . . . but then we saw this truck ahead of us in the southbound lanes . . . are we seeing things??? . . . we thought it had tried to bypass the line up by crossing into the southbound lanes - but we weren't catching up to it????  WTF???  excuse my language, but really, we were getting concerned!

As it turned out, it was a truck transporting a truck . . . so it really was travelling southbound.

OK, not so exciting, but the most exciting thing that happened to us this day!

Arrived in San Carlos and got set up for the next couple of days.  Last night we enjoyed our first Mexican meal and sunset . . . this is what we are here for!

Kipper got his Mexican haircut from Manuel . . . looking good, Kipper!

And we had a really nice visit with our friends, Dick and Mary.  We met them in Tenacatita 7 years ago - and have kept in touch ever since.  Great friends from Colorado . . . good luck with the Super Bowl tomorrow! 

We'll be in touch on our way back north for sure.

We will be on the road again tomorrow - hopefully through to Mazatlan.  This is a long drive - but we are planning to be up and at 'em by 0600 . . . then one more day to Lo de Marcos . . .

So far . . . so good!