Our Final day in Mexico - April 24

HoseHey and Sweety ready to hit the road

Our final day of travel out of Mexico started off good.  We had successfully hooked up the tow bar to the truck and double checked the tightness of the bolts on the tow bar receiver brackets.  We hit the road shortly before 8 a.m. Per the GPS, we had just over 4 hours of travel to get us to the Nogales-Mariposa border crossing.  Of course, as mentioned before that doesn’t account for the time it takes to stop at any tolls along the way. In total we’d have four more tolls plus one final stop for fuel before we made it to the border.

By noon we were on another new stretch of highway that the GPS didn’t have record of.  That’s not a bad thing, new roads are great especially after what we dealt with the day prior!  The drive itself wasn’t stress free however.  We were nervous about our “fix” of the tow bar brackets and frequently stopped so I could get out and visually assess whether the bolts were staying tight.  Sadly, on more than one stop we needed to pull the tools out and re-tighten.  It was particularly bad after a small detour stretch that took us once again down roads that were more suited for 4x4 vehicles!  

Another interesting part of our travels was learning trucker language.  Being such a big rig, truckers tended to treat us like we were one of them using their lights as a form of language on the road.  Some of the signals we understood such as a flash of the headlights to let a passing vehicle know it was safe to merge into the lane.  That one is often used here in Canada as well.  But there were many other new signals that were extremely helpful such as:

• Use of left hand blinker to advise vehicles behind you that it is safe to pass
• Use of right hand blinker to advise vehicles behind you that there is an obstacle on the right hand side of the road/shoulder (could be a car, person on a motorcycle, person walking, tractor…anything that is a possible hazard)
• Use of hazard lights to advise vehicles behind you that you are slowing down or driving slowly or even that there is a hazard in the road - such as a pothole ahead.  We saw many trucks on the Mexican highways put on their hazards then move from one lane to the other to avoid a major hole in the road.  That was SUPER helpful (once we understood what they were doing). 
• Honking twice to say “thank you” and honking once to say “welcome”
• Tapping brakes or flashing 4 way flashers twice was also a “thank you” from truckers who we’d let pass

Dan used this language for the entire remainder of our drive as a method to communicate with other truckers and even other smaller vehicles who may have been stuck behind, unable to see past us.  We did notice that this kind of trucker language was much more widely used in Mexico.  Definitely not used as frequently in the US.

By 12:30 p.m. we made it to km 255 where we would stop to return our Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for the truck.  When we arrived in Mexico we needed to purchase a TIP.  A TIP is required for areas outside the free or border zone.

Mexico Free Border Zone (link)

Because we were travelling past the free zone we had to have a TIP while we were in Mexico.  Upon leaving you stop at a small building to return the TIP and receive a refund.  The TIP used to be a sticker that was applied to the windshield but recently changed to a paper format only.  They also issued a unique QR code that you can upload to your cell phone and provide if ever asked for it by officials. When we entered Mexico the TIP cost us just over $600 Canadian and once the refund was processed (approx 5 business days later) we received just over $500 back.

It’s important to pay attention so that you don’t drive by this building.  There are a series of red and white radio antenna towers along the highway as you get close.  That’s what we were keeping our eye out for, as well as the kilometre markers on the highway.  The building itself is almost directly across the highway from the building we got our TIP at on the way down (at KM 21).

The small building where you return your TIP.

I borrowed the photo above from the More Golden Years (link) blog. The writer Carol does such a great job documenting the road conditions and key stops along the route from Nogales to Mazatlan and back. If you are ever interested in more details about the road conditions and navigation I’d highly recommend checking out her blog.  She updates the route every year with lots of detail and pictures.  She and her husband have been travelling down to Mazatlan for a number of years each winter.  Click on the blue font link of her blog name above to check it out.

As we arrived at the booth there were about eight cars (no RV’s) in line.  Many were getting agitated and were getting out of their cars walking up to the booth to see what the hold up was.  Of course, it was our first time there so we didn’t know what to expect.  From the way the other people in line were acting it seemed like the wait must have been longer than “normal”.  We figure they might have been short staffed.  After a 30 minute wait in line, another agent appeared and they split the line and things started moving.  Because we were in an RV, we used the centre lane, on the left hand side of the building.  There was no way we were getting around the right hand side of the building as there is a tight turn upon exiting that side.  When it was our turn an agent came out, took photos of our VIN, took our original TIP paperwork and went inside to process the refund to our credit card and returned to give us our receipt.  Then we were on our way for the final leg of our journey to the Nogales-Mariposa truck crossing border.  

Nogales-Mariposa
Mexico-US Border crossing

By 2:00 p.m. we arrived at the border crossing.  Digital signs indicated it was a 38 minute wait.  There was lots to look at to keep occupied while in line with many vendors walking in between the vehicles selling everything you could imagine from food, hats, ice cream and of course many options for those last minute souvenirs.  In the picture above you can see a number of vendor stands on the right hand side.  Remember, click on any picture to make it larger.  

Within about a half an hour we were directed to an RV only lane where we were the only ones in line.  Two US border agents came out to greet us, asking what kinds of food we had in the RV, whether we had any alcohol, drugs, tobacco etc.  They also asked us to open up each of the RV bay doors for a visual inspection.  We were lucky in that when the agent asked us what food we had, we forgot we had some sliced ham in the freezer.  When he came into the RV to look through the fridge and cupboards he found it and confiscated it.  Thankfully, he let us off with a warning, but said that he could have given us a $400 fine.  He also took our fresh eggs, which we did tell him we had.  Although I did some research on what we could bring across, we figured we’d just answer their questions and let them take whatever we couldn’t bring across.  That way, we’d know for any future trips what we could and couldn’t take across.  Here are the food items we learned are not allowed:

• No fresh eggs - hard boiled would be allowed
• No chicken or pork of any kind fresh or frozen.  We had frozen steaks in the freezer and even though they were only in ziploc bags and not marked with the store name/item, we were allowed to keep those.  We also had frozen hamburger in the store packaging, that too was allowed
• No fresh vegetables or fruit - frozen is ok

And although they asked us if we had our “paperwork” for the animals, they didn’t ask to see it.  When the food inspection agent boarded we safely secured the cats in the soft sided dog kennel we brought down with us and we took Heffay outside on his leash.  That worked really well as the last thing we wanted was a cat to escape at the border!  After they visually checked all the bays and took away the foods we couldn’t cross with they had us drive slowly through a large x-ray machine.  Once we exited they waved us on and we were officially in the US.  All done, it was only one hour in total from the time we first got into the lineup until we officially crossed at 3:00 p.m.

Our first stop after crossing was at the nearest tool supply store in Nogales, Arizona where we bought lock tite, larger ratchet wrenches and more washers so that we could better secure the loose bolts on the tow bar brackets.  After an hour or so crawling around on the hot pavement in the store parking lot, we were feeling MUCH better about the secure mounting of the tow bar bracket to the truck and headed back on the highway to our final destination for the night.  By 5:30 p.m. we were stopped at a beautiful rest stop located about halfway between Nogales and Tucson on Interstate 19. 

Canoa Ranch Rest Area, Arizona (link)

Guaymas, MX to Canoa Ranch Rest Area, AZ - April 24

Total miles driven - 282 miles

Total number of tolls - 4 tolls

Total cost of tolls - $785 pesos (approx $51 Cdn)

Total cost of fuel - $22.25 pesos/litre - topped up tank (18 gal/68 L) for $1,500 pesos ($98 Cdn)

Accomodation - $0 

The next morning we would head into Tucson to find an RV dealer where we could buy a new Blue Ox tow bar to replace the bent one.  We’d then continue our journey en route to Las Vegas for a one week stay at the mid way point to home.

Until next time / Hasta la proxima vez!

DAMAGE! Los Mochis to Guaymas - April 23

June 13, 2022

Day 3 route
Los Mochis to Guaymas

Day three of our journey out of Mexico started mid morning at around 10:00 a.m. when we left the Lima  truck stop in Los Mochis and headed for Guaymas.  Most of this stretch of road was also quite bad when we made it in December, so we were expecting more bad roads.  Expecting them is one thing, then the reality of driving on them kicks in as you hear and feel everything rattle in the RV while Dan navigates numerous pot holes on lengthy stretches of road.  Thankfully all our cats just curl up on the bed and seem unaffected for the most part by the road conditions.  Good thing we have a comfortable bed!  Heffay bears the brunt of it with us up front in the cab.  

The day started out as we expected, with bumpy potholed roads for certain bad stretches.  Thankfully there were periods of good road mixed in too which gave us a bit of reprieve.  

One thing we noticed during our travels in Mexico was that the condition of the toll roads seemed to depend on the state we were in.  Overall we travelled through three Mexican States - Sonora, Sinaloa and Nayarit.  By far the worst stretch of roads was in the state of Sinaloa. By the end of day three, we’d make it out of Sinaloa and into Sonora.  Sadly Sinaloa didn’t want us to leave without a reminder of how “wonderful” their roads were. We wouldn’t realize this “gift” until we were well into Sonora though.  

https://www.mexinsurance.com/destinations/

By noon we were driving through the centre of the city of Navajoa.  Although the toll roads often route you around the cities there are still some places where it takes you right through the centre of town.  Thankfully this town had nice and wide roads.  It was a very clean city with many businesses lining the main road including a McDonalds!  And, as in other larger Mexican cities it also had a variety of different vendors and entertainers at the major intersections.  Although we saw fire breathers and many many window washers I wasn’t able to capture any on camera.  I did have success capturing a short video clip of a juggler at one of the intersections though.  In Mexico there are so many creative ways people  make money.

Navajoa Centro, Sonora Mexico

Back to the “reminder” Sinaloa gave us of their roads.  Just before we left the state of Sinaloa we encountered some bizarre sections of toll road that appeared almost like detours but weren’t.  It was on one of these stretches littered with potholes that I remember Dan saying “what was that!” then asking me if everything looked ok on the rear view dash cam and on the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS).  He had gone through some rough patches and felt something different in the steering wheel.  I looked at the rear view camera and at the TPMS and from what I could see all looked good so we continued on our way.  Lesson of the day = STOP if that ever happens again and confirm it is actually ok!

We have a routine when we drive.  Dan does the driving and monitors the numerous gauges in the dash and navigates the roads, traffic and obstacles while I monitor the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) and rear view dash cam and of course keep an eye on our furry beasts.  The TPMS is a device that tells us the pressure of each of our 10 tires (6 on the RV and 4 on the truck).  Tiny monitoring devices mount to each of the tires where the tire air caps would screw on.  As we drive the system regularly runs through each tire sensors reading to report the tire pressure and temperature of each tire.  It’s an invaluable system to help monitor tire pressure and ensure you don’t have any issues going on that you otherwise wouldn’t know about possibly until it’s too late (such as a flat tire or overheating tire).    I also monitor the rear view camera to make sure everything looks ok with the truck as well as the kayak mounted to it’s roof.  I basically make sure it’s staying in line with the RV and nothing looks wonky.  

Pic of what a TPMS looks like

Having checked the systems, we continued on our way gradually experiencing better and better roads.  We were super excited to get on a new stretch of highway that diverted us around the city of Obregón, the second largest city in the state of Sonora.  It was an absolutely gorgeous highway, such a difference between the stretches of road we’d been on for the last day and a half!  Below is a short video clip showing a small section of the wonderful new road that goes around Ciudad Obregón.  

 

15D toll road around Ciudad Obregón
Not yet marked on Google Maps as the 15D

Things were going so smoothly.  After about two hours of driving we came upon a toll booth located just to the north of Ciudad Obregón - the Casita Libramiento Obregón Sonora.  It was here that the toll attendants alerted us to an issue with our tow bar and truck.  There was a bit of confusion around what they were trying to alert us to and that is when the attendant went and took a picture of the front of our truck where the tow bar connects so he could show us what he was seeing.  I got out of the RV to go inspect and that’s when we realized it had almost completely disconnected on one side and was on it’s last bolt!  We were so thankful they noticed it and after paying for the toll we pulled over right on the other side of the booth.  Although Dan felt something in the steering wheel when it initially happened, it seemed to balance itself out and we had no idea the damage that had occurred.  

There are often pull off sections at the tolls.  This was convenient in more ways than we could imagine because the toll station called a highway road mechanic to come and help us.  We were SO grateful to have his help, even though we were all at a bit of a loss as to how we could repair the damage.  We were also faced with the added challenge that he didn’t speak any English while we were only mildly familiar with Spanish. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the damage.  We just went right into problem solving mode and the last thing on my mind was grabbing my phone to take a picture.  I did manage to snap a couple shots of the repairs in progress but that wasn’t until probably hour two of this four hour ordeal.

Having taken no pictures of the actual damage I’ll do my best to describe what it is that happened and how it looked.  The first thing I remember thinking though is how lucky we were.  The damage was so bad that we could have at any time lost the connection between the truck and the RV.  Now, there are safety measures on the tow bar set up that would apply the brakes on the truck if it came disconnected but who knows what could have happened once it was disconnected!  Especially if it happened on a curve!  We were SO lucky!

Ok, back to the damage…what we figure happened is that in one of those bad stretches of road as we left the state of Sinaloa the truck likely dropped into a hole.  When navigating the RV around holes, it is pretty much impossible to also navigate the truck around them too.  As mentioned above, the truck connects directly behind the RV but it’s wheel base is much narrower than the RV’s so although the RV tires could miss a hole, the truck could end up hitting it.

What we discovered was the bolts that mounted the steel tow bar brackets to the truck had broken leaving the mounting bracket hanging by just one bolt.  In addition part of the heavy steel framing for the brackets was severely bent.   Thankfully our truck has a rock guard plate mounted under the front end and this plate actually caught the part of the bracket that was hanging and kept the last bolt from sheering off.  If we didn’t have that rock guard plate that last bolt would have sheared off way sooner and we’d likely have lost the truck.  

After at least three hours of labour and four different runs to the AutoZone parts store by the Mexican men who were helping us along with grunt force to bend back the steel framing bracket, we managed to reconnect the tow bar mounting brackets.  It was far from perfect though as having driven with it damaged for some time had not only sheered the bolts but had also widened the holes the bolts were in.  So while we were able to replace the bolts, the holes were too big and impeded our ability to tighten them down sufficiently but, we wouldn’t realize that until later.  

Then there was the issue of the tow bar itself which we quickly realized had also been damaged.  One arm was bent and would not lock into place as it is supposed to.  Without the ability to lock the arms we could not connect the truck.  And there is nowhere on our route in Mexico to purchase a replacement tow bar.  We would have to wait until we got into the US to do that.

So, after three and a half hours repairing the tow bar mounting brackets we said our farewells to the wonderful Mexican mechanic who was helping us out.  There was no charge for this service, it is part of the service provided on the toll roads.  When we tried to give him a tip he waved us off, but then we realized we were within eye sight of the main building of the toll booth and he would likely get in trouble for taking a tip.  To thank him for his time and service Dan had to be creative so he tucked a $500 peso bill into the palm of his hand and then shook the mechanic’s hand and said “muchas gracias”.  He knew exactly what Dan was doing and the transaction went off seamlessly, other than the big smile on the mechanic’s face.  Such a wonderful man!  We then headed down the highway with Dan driving the RV and me in front of him driving the truck.  Our destination for the night was an hour and a half away at a truck stop just north of Guaymas.  Thankfully, we have walkie talkies and were able to use those to stay connected while we drove to our destination for the evening.  

The final stretch of the day was tiring and stressful, all I could think about was whether we’d be able to fix the tow bar to be able to reconnect so that I didn’t have to drive through the border crossing on my own separated from Dan and the animals.  In a truck I’d be directed to a different area than Dan would go in the RV and I can only imagine that would make things very confusing for the border control people.  And, confusion at the border is the last thing anyone wants!

We made it without incident to our stop for the night at around 6 p.m.  Well I should say without incident until we were at the gates of the secure parking lot.  I was behind the RV waiting for Dan to proceed.  A security guard was at Dan’s door with a clipboard asking for $50 pesos for the night and for some reason Dan wasn’t moving.  I didn’t see him hand out any money from his window and the guard was just standing there staring up at him.  Unfortunately I didn’t have my walkie talkie.  Before going to the secure parking area I parked the truck and met Dan at the fuel station pumps so I could go and fill up the RV.  Although the attendants fill it, I need to unlock the fuel door and also watch that the pump is zeroed out before they start.  When I did this I inadvertently took my walkie talkie with me and left it in the RV figuring we didn’t need it anymore for the day.   *Side note:  when driving long distances Dan takes his prosthetic leg off as it is much more comfortable and easier on his back.  Because of that, I take care of filling the truck at the fuel stations.

So, here I am in the truck waiting behind Dan to get into the secure parking lot but Dan isn’t moving and I can’t figure out what is going on.  After waiting a few minutes I decide to get out and go see what is up.  I thought maybe the security guard was not going to let us park there, or there were language issues.  When I approach the guard I ask him if we can stay there and he says in Spanish yes, it’s $50 pesos then he looks at me strangely then motions toward Dan.  It’s then that I can see something is terribly wrong with Dan!  OMG, I run to the passenger side and quickly jump in asking him what happened.  I can see he is in agony and can’t move, but I don’t know what happened.  He asks me quickly to put the RV in neutral and apply the parking brakes (it’s a yellow button on the dash of air brake equipped vehicles).  He then asks me to grab his wallet which he had dropped on the floor and couldn’t reach.  He explained that when he went to get his wallet to pay the attendant he dropped it and when he bent over to pick it up he had the most severe pain in his stomach and was not able to move.  The pain was so severe it took his breath away and he was essentially immobilized.  OMG, could this day get any worse!?  I quickly pay the guard and Dan somehow manages to pull the truck into the lot and park.  The pain continued and he barely made it out of the driver seat and onto the bed.  All this time though I’m thinking OMG, who do we call, where do we go, what is happening, how serious is this?  Thankfully, after a bit of time it gradually subsided.   We think it was likely a pulled muscle or muscle spasm from being sprawled out on the concrete in odd positions for so many hours working on fixing the tow bar brackets.  We were both very grateful when it subsided and even more thankful that it has never recurred!  

Fletna truck stop, Guaymas

Once things settled and Dan was feeling better I had a chance to get Heffay out for a short walk to survey our accommodations for the night.  This Fletna truck stop was so much nicer than the truck stop we had stayed in the previous night in Los Mochis.  The best part was the amazing restaurant it had.  That night we had the most delicious burgers and french fries we’d had in months!!  We just barely finished our supper when exhaustion from stress of the day kicked in.  We slept like babies that night but not before Dan formulated a plan for how to safely connect the tow bar to the truck the next morning.

I am so grateful for Dans problem solving abilities.  He has MacGyver like instincts and is always quick on his feet to troubleshoot issues.  Our final day of travel in Mexico would be the next day - April 23.  We got up early, safely secured the truck to the RV following the plan Dan came up with the night before and hit the road before 8:00 a.m. This day we’d be exiting Mexico through the Nogales border which was about a 400 km drive.  All we had to do was get there with the truck still in tow safely behind us!  

Los Mochis to Guaymas - April 23

Total miles driven - 222 miles

Total number of tolls - 5 tolls

Total cost of tolls - $1,263 pesos (approx $80 Cdn)

Total cost of fuel - $25.35 pesos/litre - topped up about 1/3 tank (30 gallons) for $3,000 pesos ($188 Cdn)

Accomodation - $50 pesos ($3 Cdn)

Until next time / Hasta la proxima vez!

Mazatlan to Los Mochis - April 22

June 8, 2022

HeyZeus exploring Las Jaibas RV Park, Mazatlan
(click on any picture to make it larger)

We arrived at Las Jaibas RV park just before 3pm on Friday April 21. One day down, three to go until we hit the border!

The park was practically empty and we had our choice of any of the spots at the back which would allow us to keep the truck connected to the RV.  I’ve been following a blogger who stays in this park every winter and she’s documented how it has changed over the years.  In the most recent years a huge condo development went in surrounding the park where there had before been jungle.  I can only imagine what it would have looked like before.  I really didn’t care for the high cement wall that surrounds the park separating it from the condos.  It’s also not on the beach, it’s about one block from it.  That too would be a negative in my mind when it comes to wintering there.  We do however really like Mazatlan.  We were pleasantly surprised by it when we first visited on our way down.  In particular we liked Punta Cerritos RV Park where many of the sites are leased year round and people have built beautiful palapas and outdoor kitchen areas.  Las Jaibas is only a short drive from Punta Cerritos and the other park we stayed at, Mar-a-villas.  You can read more about our five night stay in Mazatlan in December here.

The price at Las Jaibas for one night stay was $700 pesos or approx $45 Cdn.  That seemed kinda high to me, but we were there for the convenience of the park being on the north end of Mazatlan and it having sites big enough for us to drive into without unhooking the truck.  When we were in Mazatlan in December we drove into this park to check it out.  At that time we were told it was $400 pesos per night ($200 pp).  I’m not sure why it was $700 when we visited in April.  It may have been because of the international motorcycle festival that was happening that weekend (although the park had only one motorcycle tenter while we were there on the Friday night).  Or, it may have been related to the size of our motorhome.  When we stopped by in December we were in the truck, not in the RV.  

Our site near the back of the park

Google Maps view of the park and proximity to the Mazatlan beach

Arriving in the mid afternoon gave us time to take HeyZeus out for a walk.  He loves his walks and would get so excited as we opened the RV door to a new location.  Below is a short video clip of him fascinated with the Chachalaca birds that were roaming the park, they have quite the song.  There were some HeyZeus was watching but I didn’t dare take my eyes or the camera off him for fear he’d bolt on me and get out of his harness.  That’s one of our biggest fears when travelling and taking him out on walks.  If he is fast enough and can pull the leash taught he can very easily back out of the harness. Thankfully, he gets so many walks in a day that he doesn’t attempt that.  It’s really only if he gets spooked that it can happen now.  And, those birds are big enough and loud enough that they could easily freak anyone out.

There are many different types of Chachalaca birds.  The ones we saw in Mazatlan and also in Lo de Marcos are called rufous bellied chachalacas.  They are a fairly large bird roughly the size of a small pheasant.  They roost high in the trees and can really make some noise when they want to.  I found a good video clip on YouTube that captures the “song” of the plain chachalaca, it sounds the same to me as the song the rufous bellied ones have so I’m thinking the song doesn’t really change too much between the different varieties of this bird. Click the link: Screaming Chachalacas

Rufous Bellied Chachalaca

HoseHey watching the Chachalacas from the safety of the RV dash.  

Everyone is ready to go!

As planned, we hit the road for day two of our journey out of Mexico at around 10:00 a.m. April 22.  Our destination was Los Mochis where we’d stay in a gas station truck stop overnight like we did on the way down.  10 a.m. temps were 26 degrees celsius and sunny when we hit the road. 

This stretch of road was pretty bad on the way down, so we weren’t looking forward to it all that much.  We had memories of long stretches of “shake, rattle and HOLE!” due to heavily potholed roads as I documented in this previous Blog post.  Thankfully, on this stretch leaving it was not as bad as we remembered.  There were still bad stretches, but not as many as we had on the drive down. I did manage to take a short video clip of one of the bad stretches to give you an idea.  Pardon the swear words lol!

GPS estimated our arrival time to Los Mochis at just before 3pm.  Of course the GPS doesn’t account for stopping at the numerous tolls along the route.  When we finally made it to Los Mochis it was closer to 5pm.  The overnight accommodations weren’t fabulous but it was fine for one night.  We stopped at a gated trucker stop with onsite security and paid a donation of $60 pesos (approx $4 Cdn) to the security guard.

Lima Truck Stop, Los Mochis

Mazatlan to Los Mochis

Total miles driven - 246 miles

Total number of tolls - 6 tolls

Total cost of tolls - $1,321 pesos (approx $85 Cdn)

Total cost of fuel - $24.99 pesos/litre - filled just under 1/2 tank (40 gallons) for $4,000 pesos ($250 Cdn)

Accomodation - $700 pesos ($45 Cdn) Mazatlan + $60 pesos ($4 Cdn) Los Mochis 

Day three would take us from Los Mochis to Guaymas and what a day it would be!  😳 More on that in the next post.

Until next time / Hasta la proxima vez!

Leaving Lo de Marcos - April 21

June 5, 2022

HeyZeus helping with the navigation
(Click any picture to enlarge)

After four fantastic months living in Lo de Marcos (LDM) we packed everything up, hooked up the truck and said our farewells to the few RV’ers who were left in the park along with the owner Juan Jose and his wife in the early morning hours of Thursday April 21.  It brought a smile to our faces to see Juan Jose and his wife come out to wave us goodbye as we drove off.  Something totally unexpected and wonderful.

The drive from LDM to the Mexico/US border would take us four days.  The first day was to be a relatively short day, taking us into Mazatlan (MZ) for the night.  But as things go in Mexico even though the GPS said we should arrive by 1pm, it took three hours longer than that!  This is not for any accidents or major issues in the drive but because of a mix of issues with Stella leading us astray. We named our GPS Stella because we experienced a few not so fun “detours” she sent us through on our drive down.  And, not one to let us down she reminded us why we named her that not long into our first day’s drive.  Our delay in arriving in MZ wasn’t just Stella’s fault though, there was an international motorcycle festival starting in MZ the following day that saw many many bikers on our route.  They didn’t slow us down, what slowed us down was the additional time it took all of us to go through the NINE tolls we would navigate that day. We estimated each toll took 15-20 minutes, about 2 or 3x longer than normal.

On our drive out of LDM we knew we needed to program the GPS a little differently than just putting in “Mazatlan”.  This is because on the drive into LDM Stella led us through the most windy and crazy road along the coast which nearly gave us a heart attack.  But don’t you know that route was supposed to be 20 minutes shorter than the route we should have taken?  Ah, Stella is always so thoughtful.  Too bad she seems to forget that we are 61 ft long (with the truck on the back), 8.5 ft wide and 13.5 ft tall and are not meant for narrow windy roads with overhanging trees and no shoulders!  And she shouldn’t forget as she’s an RV GPS which has our measurements programmed in her!  Argh.  Then again, it is Mexico and I’m pretty sure Stella isn’t Mexican.  Learning our lesson we plotted our route inland through Tepic then onto MZ.

The blue route is the one we plotted.
The grey route that follows the coastline is the route Stella “guided” us to in December

Rather than take highway 200 the whole way, we veered onto the new “autopista” which had recently opened while we were in LDM.  It branches off the 200 right around the small village of Monteon which is only about 5 or 10 minutes outside of LDM.  In the picture below you can actually see the small yellow strip of highway if you zoom in although, when we left it hadn’t been updated on Google Maps yet.  Had we seen it on the map we wouldn’t have taken it.  It is labelled as the hwy to Tepic but in reality is just a small offshoot of the 200.  For the 118 pesos or approx $7 CDN it cost it was not worth it.  It very quickly looped us back onto the 200 without saving us any time in my opinion.  I think it’s just not finished yet.  Once back on the 200 we started to climb into a mountainous region with many many cuuuuurrrrrvvvvy stretches, no shoulders and narrow roads.  The scenery was gorgeous, so long as you didn’t focus on the lack of shoulders and the sheer drops!  Needless to say, we didn’t speak too much during this long section of windy mountainous road.  Too much concentration required.  Oh, and I almost forgot…on one stretch there was a man stumbling along the road.  Pretty sure he had too much tequila the night before.  Sheesh!

Some of the vista along hwy 200 toward Compostela

Somehow our friend Stella thought we needed some extra excitement on day 1.  The drunk man and crazy curvy mountainous roads weren’t enough and she threw a curve ball at us in Compostela.  GPSs are fun…especially when they say things like “take the next right…take the next right” but give you no indication of how many meters away that “next right” is.  Well, you can guess what happened.  In one of those frantic “take the next right” moments we of course took the wrong “next right” and ended up heading into the cramped city of Compostela.  Remember what I said above about the size of our rig?  Cramped cities and our rig do not go together.  Thankfully Dan is an absolutely amazing driver and it was in this detour that he proved it beyond question.  In the midst of trying to turn us around Stella directed us down some incredibly narrow side streets.  As Dan manoeuvred us around the corners we thought for sure we were going to get stuck.  With the truck on the back it is not possible to back up the RV.  It will damage the tow bar.  And, if you’re in the middle of a turn and you get stuck, good luck getting the truck unhooked.  To hook it up and unhook it you need to be directly behind the RV.  So don’t get stuck in a turn!

The first (and last) detour Stella took us on - into Compostela

So here we were, attempting to make an number of extremely tight right hand turns down narrow streets where the sidewalks are a good 2 feet above the street level and there are lampposts IN the street - not in the sidewalk.  We were literally within inches of hitting a lamppost with the truck.  I got out of the RV to stand by the post and guide while Dan watched me and manoeuvred the front wheels up onto a shallower section of sidewalk that raised up double in height after only a few feet.  We were within inches of the bumper hitting the raised sidewalk portion.  It’s funny, when this happened of course we jumped into troubleshooting mode - I got out and monitored the back end and we navigated the turn together.  It did make me think though of all those YouTubers out there who in a moment like this would have grabbed their camera to capture it all on film.  I couldn’t even imagine doing that.  It would be way too much of a distraction.  I don’t know how those YT’ers do that, but then again some of them make pretty good money so I guess that’s the difference.  I was happy enough to be able to find the exact detour on Google maps and then use street view to share what the actual streets we went down looked like (see below).

I’m pleased to say that Dan navigated this detour with not one scratch on our Beautiful Beast and even without one single swear word.  Sure, we said “what the hell Stella!” a lot but Dan never lost his cool although he did desperately need a smoke after that! He is an amazing driver.  Once he managed this miracle I’d laugh every time during the rest of the trip when he’d jokingly say “I’m not sure I can make this turn”.  To which I’d reply “Yeah right!” And we’d both smile. 😊 

Check out the height of those sidewalks on the left hand side of the street.  With a rig our size we always have to pay attention to our tail swing.  These raised sidewalks add another layer of complexity. This was the actual street we turned right off off (Allende) and onto Rosales -  see below.

This is the actual corner Dan made the crazy turn on
Thankfully that sidewalk on the left was slightly lower at the corner and that raised lip didn’t start for a few feet. We needed every inch we could get!

The last right hand corner Dan navigated - off Rosales and onto Hidalgo.  Another tight corner onto a narrow street with another lamppost almost in the street

You get a sense of how narrow the streets are in this picture

Once out of Compostela we thought we were back on track.  It was only after a few miles that we realized we were headed east and inland rather than north toward Tepic.  Stella had re-routed us toward the 15D toll highway.  And although it would eventually get us to Tepic, it did add time to our drive (not including the time it took for our detour into Compostela).  Once we realized this we made the decision to turn Stella OFF.  Although we watched the map we went “old school” and decided just to follow the signs and stay on the 15D toll highway until we got to the border.  Best decision ever!

The route we ended up taking from LDM to Tepic then onto Mazatlan

You can see from the map that the route we were on took us along some extinct volcanos.  The terrain was so incredible!  Even though Stella seemingly led us astray, we enjoyed this route immensely.  Amazing highways and incredible vistas! Remember, to see any picture larger, click on the picture.

Lava fields!

More lava fields 

Beautiful highway- 15D

See the volcano!!

This was new for us.  We’d never seen a red line in the middle of a highway lane before.  This one was on a long stretch of mountainous highway.  In Mexico this red line notifies truckers that there is a runaway lane up ahead.  Truckers with brake failure are to drive in that lane so that they can be positioned to the runaway lanes for a safe stop.  

Blue agave fields lining both sides of the highway, nourished by the rich volcanic soil

More agave fields - on the left

Our co-pilot - HeyZeus 💕 

Cool terrain - this reminds me of an elephant trunk

Getting closer

Side view as we pass it

Sugarcane fields

All of the above pictures were just on that stretch to Tepic.  Absolutely stunning! 

After what felt like an incredibly long day, we pulled into Las Jaibas RV park in Mazatlan just before 3pm but what felt like 4pm as we had gone through a time zone change.  It was neat to stay there as it is the park where a blogger I follow stays every winter with her husband.  I’ll write more about the night we spent in Las Jaibas in another post as this one is getting a tad too long, even though the pictures are amazing.

Total miles driven - 314 miles

Total hours driven - 8 hours

Total number of tolls - 9 tolls

Total cost of tolls - $3,214 pesos (approx $207 Cdn)

Fuel cost - Diesel $24.80 pesos/litre ($1.54 Cdn) - topped up 1/2 tank for $3,000 pesos ($189 Cdn)

Until next time / Hasta la proxima vez!

Semana Santa in Lo de Marcos

June 4, 2022

Lo de Marcos beach during the height of Semana Santa 2022
(Click any picture to enlarge)

Leading up to Semana Santa (Holy Week) we were admittedly apprehensive.  Most of the people we’d shared the RV park with throughout the winter had packed up and hit to road by the end of March, just prior to Samana Santa.  This left us questioning whether we should have done the same.  Our plan was not to leave until April 21st but we started considering whether we should move that up once we began talking to people who had experienced it before.  Some said it was fine, lots of fun although loud and crowded on the beach.  Others spoke about long line ups at stores, garbage everywhere, RV parks getting overcrowded with tenters with loud music and fireworks at all hours of the night. 

Easter is one of the most important religious observations in Mexico and is celebrated over a two week period. The first week leading up to Easter is Semana Santa (Holy week) which runs the week starting Palm Sunday while the second week Semana de Pascua (Easter week) starts on Easter Sunday.  During this period school is out for at least the first week for high school and universities and for the full two weeks for elementary students.  Most businesses close for the first week providing a mandatory rest for their employees (other than the tourism sector for the most part).  Many Mexican families head to the beaches with their extended families to celebrate the holiday and spend time together. In 2022 the two week period was from Sunday April 10 to Sunday April 24. 

Part of our apprehension in staying was knowing that our plans to leave on April 21 might see us stuck without a way to safely get our large RV out of town if the streets were too busy with cars and people.  It’s a tight drive as it is, let alone when the town is flooded with tourists.  I also asked some of the RV regulars in the park as well as the owner Juan Jose what we should expect.  I was super pleased when Juan Jose explained that he doesn’t let the park get overrun with campers.  He shared that he’d done that in the past and it was not worth all the problems that caused with broken/overflowing washrooms, damage to sites and garbage etc.  We went back and forth for a couple days and then made the decision to stay and see for ourselves what it was like.  And, I’m happy to say our apprehension was not warranted.  True to his word, the park did not get overrun.  The park did fill up with a few large Mexican families who spread themselves out over 3-4 sites with a main gathering canopy tent in the middle.  There was some music in the park but nothing unbearable.  I only remember one night when I could hear the music into the early morning hours but that was coming from another area of town and not from our park.  The beach did fill up but there was still plenty of room to walk through the crowds to get to the water or to set up a chair and umbrella. Regulars to the park had told us there were some years where the only way to get a spot on the beach was by roping off an area near the park gate to ‘reserve’ space on the beach.  The local restaurant/bar staff also told us to expect tents and umbrellas packed on the beach with people sleeping there overnight. We didn’t see any of that this year, at least not at our end of the beach.  And, because we’re the ultimate preparers we did our grocery run prior to the start of the week so we didn’t need to worry about going into town and battling the crowds. And of course, Enrique’s regular veggie truck visits helped to keep us stocked up on fresh veg, fruit, eggs and cheese. 

Given the experiences of others in past years, I’m thinking that the reason it wasn’t quite as crowded and noisy this year could have been because we were at the tail end of the Covid 19 impacts.  Who knows, 2023’s celebrations might look a whole lot different.

I managed to take a couple panoramic shots of the beach before and during the height of Semana Santa to capture how it changed.  They are compressed quite a bit to fit the blog but remember, to see any picture larger just click on it and then you can pinch in to zoom even more if you like.  

April 9 - before Semana Santa officially started
Some umbrellas and canopy tents are starting to get set up

 April 13 - this is about as busy as the beach got
Still lots of room

Monday April 17 - right by our beach access gate
This marks the beginning of the second week of celebrations
The beach crowds quickly dissipated early this week.

That wraps up our very first relatively quiet experience of Semana Santa in Mexico in the small beach town of Lo de Marcos.  As planned, we safely navigated our way out of town first thing on the morning of Thursday April 21, 2022 and began our trip north.  Our 180 day tourist visas were set to expire in early May so sadly, it was time to hit the road.  More posts and pics are in my draft folder to share that very eventful journey.  Stay tuned!

Until next time / Hasta la proxima vez!