Sunset

We were watching the sunset from the beach near our park and saw a whale a few times blow and surface. I didn't get any photos but will keep trying.

La Bomba (The Pump)

The Corazon Gitano is running again. Luis came and installed the rebuilt fuel pump and wow, I don’t think she’s sounded this strong for a long time. Plus, turned out that both of our headlights were burnt out. I replaced those quite easily. Can you say retrograde mercury?

We felt so good about the repairs that we washed the entire bus, top to bottom, to celebrate. She shines!

Tomorrow I get fitted for my teacher-trainee uniform – shirt and shorts.

Less access

In our present location we don't have the internet access we had in Mazatlan. We will continue to be in touch but with less frequency.

Still waiting for the fuel pump but are starting to get around town. This is a very easy town to get around and take the buses.

Images of the past two days

Greetings from Puerto Vallarta

We’re more settled now. This park has cats and rabbits roaming around and, of course, the ever-present motor home dogs of all sizes and shapes. The smallest rig has 2 people and a Great Dane living in it.

I was going to get a bicycle to ride to my school on but there’s a big problem with that – big cobblestones. This entire neighborhood is paved with old, big, uneven cobblestones. So I walked to the school this morning and discovered it is only a 10-minute walk. Turns out that our location, the only one available in this town, is perfect.

Today we plan on taking the public bus to the harbor and tourist end of town to see the mercados (markets), malecon (sea walk), vendors, cafes (tarot readings?), and whatever else is there. This is not a town that you would want to drive in, unless absolutely necessary. The main highway goes through town and the driving is mucho loco. To make a left turn you need to be in the extreme right hand lane! Yep, that’s the way it works, folks. The lights are set for that and when they say “turn left”, there’s a mad dash to the left. Especially the taxis. Some pass the oncoming left-turners on the right, some pass on the left, some weave in and out, and somehow it works. People do the whackiest moves in their cars here and nobody seems to think it unusual. I guess when we were heading into town at 5mph that’s why we didn’t get stopped. Of course when we were too slow getting out of the left turn lane we got honked at frequently.

We were walking and saw a poster on the lamppost that advertised, “Learn how to drive in 7 days”. Explains a lot.

Off The Road Again

Well, here we are in Puerto Vallarta. What a long, strange trip it was. Including, waiting on the highway for over 4 hours for a mechanic, seeing Larry and Peggy from Mazatlan pull over to visit with us, having a local ask directions from us, and a long slow drive to P.V. And when I say slow I mean SLOW - about 5 miles/ hour at times. Last night we spent a surreal night in the ASA Combustibles parking lot and then a few hours in the Wal-Mart parking lot. When we pulled into our RV park it was at a crawl at 7 am. Whew!

Our mechanic - Luis from Mezcales came this afternoon and pulled the fuel pump. He'll take it to Tepic to get it repaired. Needless to say, we are relieved to be off the carretera and resting for a while.

Sayulita, dude

It's a surfing town.

Jungle Boogie

We're a few days behind in our reporting due to lack of access to the internet. We went to a magical crocodile farm in Aticama. They take care of the crocodiles, breed them and release them. There's other animals there also.

Mexican roadblock

More from the coast

More from our little spot overlooking a beautiful cove. We heard the waves gently splashing all night. This is the first place since before Mazatlan that we can see the night sky without city lights washing them out. Venus was so bright that we could see her reflection in the ocean. We are south of Baja now and are looking for whales every day.

The road off the highway winded through about 20 miles of jungle and small towns. The small town just to the north of us is very picturesque. It was Sunday on our way through and we saw dozens of townsfolk swimming in the town swimming pool - a wide spot in the river.

The weather is getting warmer now and we took off the top blanket on the bed. The ocean water is warmer for swimming also. We bypassed the town of San Blas which is famous for their jejenes - little no-see-um insects. There are still jejenes here but it is not too bad.

Last night we took a typical Mexico shower - cold. But it felt good after a long, hot day on the road.

On the road again

Well, after 8 hours of uphill driving, we are in a little town called Aticama on the coast on our way to Puerto Vallarta. We actually had to disconnect the truck and drive in tow separate vehicles after a while.

We will spend two nights here and then head south again. This blog coming to you courtesy of the internet from the hotel next door. The pictures show the beauty of this park but it's really just a quick-stop kind of place.

Leaving Las Jaibas

Tonight was our last night here, spent with friends who we will miss. We'll be up early and heading south. We're excited about moving on and getting to know new places.

The Day of the Iguana

We spent the morning with the biggest cross-section of flora and fauna in the Mazatlan Area - Estero del Yugo. We saw some incredible birds - Hawks, Great Blue Herons, ducks, pelicans, too many to list. And the plants and trees and cactus were abundant and varied.


There were turtles and deer and serpents, but they were shy today and we didn't get to see them.

Hal was lucky enough to spy an Iguana - we tracked it through the muck of the estuary, but never were able to get close enough for me to see it.

This place is amazing. We are already planning to come back next year.

The bocce tournament

Well, in our rookie season, the Santa Fe Allstars Bocce Team did not win the big tournament. However, this did allow us to sit in the spectator section, drinking gin and tonics, and making all sorts of silly remarks.

You can see the crew setting up the field lines with flour and the starting schedule in these photos.

We are starting to prepare to leave on Sunday, and heading south toward Puerto Vallarta.

The big game

Well, last night was the first playoff game of the semifinals. What fun! The local team lost but we had a blast and it was really good quality baseball.

The sea was angry that day my friend.

Full moon high tide had us scurrying to the beach this morning for the waves pounding the little dunes on the beach. It's fascinating to see how they form and disappear with the tides. This is probably the highest tide of the year.

Happy Full Moon

The biggest full moon of this year. We saw the sun set and the moon rise from the roof of a hotel by the harbor.

Busy day

The Mazatlan Venados baseball team are in the playoffs so we went down to the stadium and stood in line for two hours and came away with tickets. If you look closely you can find the top of Northie's head on line.

We also went exploring and toured the tequila plantation.

Then we came home and took a nap.