WE ARE HERE!!!
This will be the shortest blog on record. Just want to let all of our friends and family know everything is fine. We got in yesterday afternoon a bit early, so we decided to park the fifth wheel at Roca Azul RV Resort just down the mountain from us, and come straight up to El Nido. Rick thought ahead and sent Ron an email and payment so the internet would be turned on for us, and it is. It is even working a lot better than last year. So we fed ourselves and just went to bed and slept soundly. Today it was banking, shopping, our caretaker-neighbour dropped by, and we are starting to get settled in...tomorrow I will give you the whole low-down, but for now, just want to thank each and everyone of you for staying along with us on this momentous tour of North America, and caring enough to send messages and well wishes. We love you all!!
Barbara and Rick
November 4, 2013
November 2, 2013
Mazatlan at last....
It seems like forever. But we finally dodged all the potholes we could, straddled the middle line, traveled the fast lane when empty and still managed to jolt the propane hose loose, toss half the small items around in the camper, and worry about the damage it was doing to my already problematic back.
But (she says sweetly) we are HERE. HERE is Mazatlan, our last stop before HOME. It is hot and humid...31C (88F) at 3:30 PM, and we have the air conditioner blasting out full. We are pretty tired, and don't really care for dining out or seeing the sights. We are eating the last of the available food in the refrigerator tonight. It might be an interesting combination....eggs, toast, beans, lots of salsa and guacamole, cheese. It sounds good to me though. Last night we had no internet at our overnight stop in Los Mochis, so no blog entry. But the entire length of this highway has been flat as a pancake since we left Guaymas and not so interesting as what came before. The major change was from Sonoran desert with cactus and the odd few cattle grazing, to a greener more lush and productive agricultural vista. The farms are huge and commercial in grade. The coastal plain is 30 plus miles across in places, and I saw huge huge fields of tomatoes, and rice paddies (empty). The plains are crossed through with many irrigation canals, and a complicated system of smaller canals irrigating the fields themselves. The rows are contour ploughed, and formed into ridges and furrows. The plants are on the ridges and the furrows hold the irrigation hoses. Everything by the time we got halfway to Mazatlan was extremely green...thanks no doubt to hurricane Raymond who just blew through last week or so. I can't be more exact, as I have completely lost track of time, day, month. All I know is that we are tired of jolting ourselves down the endless highway and we just want to get HOME.
I did manage to get some photos snapped before the battery went dead today...sigh...haven't you noticed how all these glitches attack once you start feeling a bit under it all?? So here is a small sample to keep you entertained and up to date...
Before we leave Guaymas and Hotel Playa de Cortes, I thought a few more photos would be nice:
Here are more interiors of the lobby and the entrance courtyard:
After leaving Guaymas, the first major city is Ciudad Obregon which is the centre of a huge fertilizer industry. This serves most likely the entire agricultural plain between Guaymas and Mazatlan (about 500 miles). It certainly provides a total contrast to the loveliness of Guaymas:
Fortunately, Ciudad Obregon was soon behind us and the rest of the 500 miles just looked like this:
Well, this just about brings us up to date. Hopefully tomorrow will be an uneventful trip up the 5,000 foot ascent to the central plateau of Mexico where we find Lake Chapala and our home overlooking it. I did forget to mention that the regulator on the propane tanks seems to have been cracked by the jolting it received today, which means that we might have a wee problem with cooking dinner and keeping the fridge cold. Not to worry. We can always eat out and buy a cooler for the food. We consider ourselves lucky to have traveled 4500 miles in all sorts of conditions and made it this far before something broke!!!
But (she says sweetly) we are HERE. HERE is Mazatlan, our last stop before HOME. It is hot and humid...31C (88F) at 3:30 PM, and we have the air conditioner blasting out full. We are pretty tired, and don't really care for dining out or seeing the sights. We are eating the last of the available food in the refrigerator tonight. It might be an interesting combination....eggs, toast, beans, lots of salsa and guacamole, cheese. It sounds good to me though. Last night we had no internet at our overnight stop in Los Mochis, so no blog entry. But the entire length of this highway has been flat as a pancake since we left Guaymas and not so interesting as what came before. The major change was from Sonoran desert with cactus and the odd few cattle grazing, to a greener more lush and productive agricultural vista. The farms are huge and commercial in grade. The coastal plain is 30 plus miles across in places, and I saw huge huge fields of tomatoes, and rice paddies (empty). The plains are crossed through with many irrigation canals, and a complicated system of smaller canals irrigating the fields themselves. The rows are contour ploughed, and formed into ridges and furrows. The plants are on the ridges and the furrows hold the irrigation hoses. Everything by the time we got halfway to Mazatlan was extremely green...thanks no doubt to hurricane Raymond who just blew through last week or so. I can't be more exact, as I have completely lost track of time, day, month. All I know is that we are tired of jolting ourselves down the endless highway and we just want to get HOME.
I did manage to get some photos snapped before the battery went dead today...sigh...haven't you noticed how all these glitches attack once you start feeling a bit under it all?? So here is a small sample to keep you entertained and up to date...
Before we leave Guaymas and Hotel Playa de Cortes, I thought a few more photos would be nice:
Here are more interiors of the lobby and the entrance courtyard:
After leaving Guaymas, the first major city is Ciudad Obregon which is the centre of a huge fertilizer industry. This serves most likely the entire agricultural plain between Guaymas and Mazatlan (about 500 miles). It certainly provides a total contrast to the loveliness of Guaymas:
Fortunately, Ciudad Obregon was soon behind us and the rest of the 500 miles just looked like this:
Well, this just about brings us up to date. Hopefully tomorrow will be an uneventful trip up the 5,000 foot ascent to the central plateau of Mexico where we find Lake Chapala and our home overlooking it. I did forget to mention that the regulator on the propane tanks seems to have been cracked by the jolting it received today, which means that we might have a wee problem with cooking dinner and keeping the fridge cold. Not to worry. We can always eat out and buy a cooler for the food. We consider ourselves lucky to have traveled 4500 miles in all sorts of conditions and made it this far before something broke!!!
October 31, 2013
Guaymas, Sonora Mx...
Oh gosh, what a surprise. We have usually stayed at San Carlos on the way down the coast, which is a resort community about 15 miles around the bay from Guaymas. It is nice, but the usual gringo resort in Mexico. This is our first time to stay any real time in Guaymas and to explore it at our leisure.
It is a complete delight, all levels, all directions, a series of small neighbourhoods strung together around the mountain peaks. I counted about 20 mountain peaks, and that probably wasn't them all. We drove across the penninsula through small Mexican neighbourhoods to the east side of the penninsula. The first thing I noted was the surprising degree of cleanliness in the open ground surrounding these neighbourhoods, and the cleanliness of the urban sections as well.
Guaymas really impressed me. It is a real Mexican small city, but it also has all sorts of European and Mediterranean flavour. It's style is different from the other parts of Mexico I have seen. It is not so frantic, it has more visible wealth from the port activities, it has a charm all of its own.
Nothing prepared me for the vision as we came to the Sea of Cortez and the malecon (promenade) that led us into the centre of the Old City.
It began like this:
And progressed to this. On the left are lovely Mexican villas overlooking the sea. In the distance on the right are the port facilities:
And of course, there has to be food and drink:
Old Town Guaymas:
The city itself is a mixture of old (and sometimes crumbling) colonial architecture, Mexican modern, and industrial:
Town Hall
Crumbling colonial
Gate
Pink
Coffee house
Funky art street
This is a quickie tour. Tomorrow we saddle up again, and head southwards for hot Los Mochis (91f). Good thing we have a very satisfactory air conditioner...see y'all later.
It is a complete delight, all levels, all directions, a series of small neighbourhoods strung together around the mountain peaks. I counted about 20 mountain peaks, and that probably wasn't them all. We drove across the penninsula through small Mexican neighbourhoods to the east side of the penninsula. The first thing I noted was the surprising degree of cleanliness in the open ground surrounding these neighbourhoods, and the cleanliness of the urban sections as well.
Guaymas really impressed me. It is a real Mexican small city, but it also has all sorts of European and Mediterranean flavour. It's style is different from the other parts of Mexico I have seen. It is not so frantic, it has more visible wealth from the port activities, it has a charm all of its own.
Nothing prepared me for the vision as we came to the Sea of Cortez and the malecon (promenade) that led us into the centre of the Old City.
It began like this:
And progressed to this. On the left are lovely Mexican villas overlooking the sea. In the distance on the right are the port facilities:
And of course, there has to be food and drink:
Around the corner and we could see the centre of the Old Town. This is where the malecon proper, starts (promenade). As you can see, it is very lightly used in the mornings...
The city itself is a mixture of old (and sometimes crumbling) colonial architecture, Mexican modern, and industrial:
Town Hall
Modern
Old
Gate
This is a quickie tour. Tomorrow we saddle up again, and head southwards for hot Los Mochis (91f). Good thing we have a very satisfactory air conditioner...see y'all later.
Guaymas Sonora and our Mexican siesta...
We entered Mexico at Nogales and officially filed the paperwork at km 21, As with most things, Mexico does this differently. One doesn't stop for immigration at the border crossing but 21 kms down the quota (toll highway). I already have a resident visa so only Rick goes in and gets his visitor's visa. The vehicle importation was all arranged in advance online, and they shipped it to us at Gabriola. They are very prompt and organized about getting it to you by courier. The immigration at km 21 is as usual a Mexican maze of parking, signs, offices, bank, bathrooms, customs lanes and overhead signs in Spanish.
We felt very at home here, strange as that may sound. It was our 5th or 6th crossing, and this time it felt very familiar and comforting. Usually we have a "re-entry" issue, similar to coming back to earth from outer space, a major adjustment to the change in culture, language, people and so forth. This time the Spanish signs and directions were easy. Maybe these aging brains were actually learning and retaining something from the previous years??
The next 240 miles to the twin cities of Guaymas/San Carlos were painful....literally!! Never has the road been in such bad state of repair, and pulling the fifth wheel accentuated the bumps and grinds. We only saw one other RV on the way down, and like the trucks and buses, he was travelling straight down the centre line to reduce the jolts. Finally, we got to the turn off, negotiated the entrance to Guaymas, found our exit to the hotel and followed that to the end of the road, to Hotel Playa de Cortes. The RV side of the parking lot had 2 other rigs, out of a sea of maybe 100 plus slots? The place was as it was last year when we checked it out....virtually empty. Rick went in and paid the RV fee of $23. For that we got a parking space with full hookups, overlooking the gardens and main entrance of this historic hotel complex of traditional Mexican/Spanish design. We also got high speed internet, a lap-sized swimming pool, gourmet restaurant and beautiful grounds overlooking the Sea of Cortez. Here is a small collection of photos from the hotel:
This is the beach in front of the hotel...
One wing of the u-shaped hotel...They also have freestanding bungalows they rent...
The interior courtyard and fountain...
Lovely lovely 50 foot completely empty pool (except for me) to do my laps...
Evening shot of setting sun on the mountain in the middle of Guaymas. The whole city is
built around these mountains, giving the city its unique shape. It is on a peninsula jutting out into
the Sea of Cortes, has salt water all around it, many little coves and bays, and a jumble of neighbourhoods and cityscape built around the flat areas in among these mountains...
Side entrance to the grounds and beach in front of the hotel...
Our little rig in its temporary home...
Well, we are off today to do more exploring of Guaymas, so will check back in with all of you a bit later to share the harvest (of whatever we find)...
The next 240 miles to the twin cities of Guaymas/San Carlos were painful....literally!! Never has the road been in such bad state of repair, and pulling the fifth wheel accentuated the bumps and grinds. We only saw one other RV on the way down, and like the trucks and buses, he was travelling straight down the centre line to reduce the jolts. Finally, we got to the turn off, negotiated the entrance to Guaymas, found our exit to the hotel and followed that to the end of the road, to Hotel Playa de Cortes. The RV side of the parking lot had 2 other rigs, out of a sea of maybe 100 plus slots? The place was as it was last year when we checked it out....virtually empty. Rick went in and paid the RV fee of $23. For that we got a parking space with full hookups, overlooking the gardens and main entrance of this historic hotel complex of traditional Mexican/Spanish design. We also got high speed internet, a lap-sized swimming pool, gourmet restaurant and beautiful grounds overlooking the Sea of Cortez. Here is a small collection of photos from the hotel:
This is the beach in front of the hotel...
One wing of the u-shaped hotel...They also have freestanding bungalows they rent...
built around these mountains, giving the city its unique shape. It is on a peninsula jutting out into
the Sea of Cortes, has salt water all around it, many little coves and bays, and a jumble of neighbourhoods and cityscape built around the flat areas in among these mountains...
The view from our little patio...
My fella, enjoying the view from the hotel. I wonder which one it was??
Maybe this one??
Or this one???
Or maybe these chaps???
Well, we are off today to do more exploring of Guaymas, so will check back in with all of you a bit later to share the harvest (of whatever we find)...
October 29, 2013
Bye bye Arizona...
We have had three glorious days of rest at Desert Trails RV Park on the outskirts of Tucson, and next door to the Tucson Park and the Saguaro National Park. Because of extreme internet limitations, I shall make this a brief entry, and post photos of the campground and the park.
The campground was still fairly empty although new people are arriving every day. It is quite lovely like this (half empty) and it has very nice amenities like the heated swimming pool, library, gym, community gathering building and so forth. And the sites are laid out higgeldy-piggeldy tucked away between stands of cactus and Palo Verde trees. However, they are quite small and I have noticed that many people arrive with two vehicles along with their RV, so that when this park is full, it must be a mass of cars, trucks, RVs dogs, people and so forth. Better to use it off season, I think. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable for us and here are some photos:
We were lucky to find a site with open spaces on both sides and a number of Palo Verde trees on the west and south that gave us filtered shade all day...
Even Molly found her little patch of shade and had her doggie mat to lie on.
A nice heated swimming pool...
The park from a viewing platform...
Yesterday we drove into the National Park/Tucson Park next door and had a fine drive. We stopped at the Desert Museum just long enough to read all the various plaques and signs and get one photo of me at the entrance
We quickly realized that the Desert Museum deserved an entire day, and we wanted to explore the park. So we made the decision to explore and leave the Museum for another trip. The Old Tucson museum where they filmed old westerns was closed so we couldn't visit there either. The brochure we had said it was open October to May, but it failed to say only on weekends (grrrrr). Instead we drove through a few loop roads and enjoyed the vast vistas of mountains, desert floor and the wonderful Sonora desert flora and fauna.
This morning we are loaded up and off early to cross the Mexican border at Nogales, 55 miles south of Tucson, and travel to Guaymas, Sonora on the Sea of Cortes, where we will settle in to the RV area behind the Hotel Playa de Cortes. We will be staying here at least 2 full days, enjoying the beach, swimming pool, restaurant of the hotel and exploring Guaymas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaymas
The campground was still fairly empty although new people are arriving every day. It is quite lovely like this (half empty) and it has very nice amenities like the heated swimming pool, library, gym, community gathering building and so forth. And the sites are laid out higgeldy-piggeldy tucked away between stands of cactus and Palo Verde trees. However, they are quite small and I have noticed that many people arrive with two vehicles along with their RV, so that when this park is full, it must be a mass of cars, trucks, RVs dogs, people and so forth. Better to use it off season, I think. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable for us and here are some photos:
We were lucky to find a site with open spaces on both sides and a number of Palo Verde trees on the west and south that gave us filtered shade all day...
Even Molly found her little patch of shade and had her doggie mat to lie on.
The park from a viewing platform...
Yesterday we drove into the National Park/Tucson Park next door and had a fine drive. We stopped at the Desert Museum just long enough to read all the various plaques and signs and get one photo of me at the entrance
This morning we are loaded up and off early to cross the Mexican border at Nogales, 55 miles south of Tucson, and travel to Guaymas, Sonora on the Sea of Cortes, where we will settle in to the RV area behind the Hotel Playa de Cortes. We will be staying here at least 2 full days, enjoying the beach, swimming pool, restaurant of the hotel and exploring Guaymas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaymas
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)