Med Hat to the world Senior Games

About 30 Senior ball players from Med hat are heading for St. Geo, UT to play in the world Senior Games. Med Hat is entering two teams this year, 60 to 64 and 65 to 69, which is the age bracket for me. We did not have enough 70 + this year so many of the 70,s are playing for other teams throught the province such as St. Albert, Stettler, Calgary and a few are on an american team.
This has been an Annual event for 25 years and has grown to a total of approximately 10,000 participants over the 2 week period. I use the word participants because you can hardly call Crib and Wisk a sport. The majority of the participates are ball players since there are 350 to 400 teams over the 2 week period.
They have about 24 ball diamond in St Geo and they are the best I have ever played on.
We actually have a warm up tournament in Mesquite , NV on this Friday and Saturday and then move to St. Geo on Sunday to start play Monday.
Many of the ball player from Med Hat leave a week early to golf on the way down. The weather in southern Ut, ( below Salt lake city) is warm so golfing is still on. Incidentally the temp in St. Geo yesterday was around 100F, I think that is about 36C. Thankfully it is cooling off on Monday to 85 F.
Carroll and I , along with several others left on Wed and we will be in Mesquite, NV by 4;30 or 5 PM Thursday. IT is sort of a calvacade of Alberta cars on I-15 as there are many teams from Edm, Calgary, St. Albert, etc heading down. Unforetunately we end up playing teams from Albert due to the luck of the draw and in fact we play Edm on tues morning. We have already played them in 6 tournaments this year.
The trip down is very boring , mostly since we have driven I-15 many time while heading south each winter. It is 3 hours to the border from Med Hat, then I pick up my 2 bottles of Crown Royal at the duty free, Cross the border,and head south. There was nobody ahead of me today which is nice. After that it is 8 more hours of 120 Km/h until we reach Idaho. The speed limit in MT and ID is 75 MPH so 80 is the norm.
I picked up a case of beer ( MGD ) yesterday, 30 cans for $20.00. That would cost me $50.00 in Med hat.
It is now 6 AM on thurs so we will have breakfast and hit the road. Apparently the beer in Mesquite is held on ice until we get there. cheers t and C

Chilliwack and Comox, BC 10 Sept 2010

We arr in Chilliwack on Friday afternoon and easily found our Hotel. Our meet and greet for the EGS Tech Reunion was scheduled for 5 PM at the old CFB Miltary base. For any of you retired Mil pers who served at CFB Chilliwack, you will not recognize the base, as it has been taken over by several gov't dept such as the RCMP, Fraser Valley Colloge ( now a university ), a trades training school for the province and several others.

We first met Dave Connolly at the hotel, who was in boot camp with me in 1962 however, I do see him often as he lives in Calgary. Dave was the driving force behind this Reunion , althought Rene and Caroline Gratton did all the organizing for the reunion and is to be congratulation on a job well done. We then went to the ASU mess at the base where we met all our friends and their spouse. We swapped stories as usually , talked each others ear off and had a typical "happy hour " meal . We all called it a day about 10:30.

The next day we had a scheduled tour of the Military Museum , whiich of course is also on the Base property. Before the tour we went to visit Al and Elaine Dempsey, who was my boss in Shilo ( 1978 to 81 ) and who we have kepted in contact with over the years. Al's civillian job for 9 years was to help develope the old PMQ area ( Military Housing ) and the area has been re-done to a very up-scale subdivision. Al and Elaine gave us the grand tour of the base proper, the MQ area and the local area.

After the museum tour we all met again for a supper at a local resturaunt which lasted until 10:30 PM. A Brunch was scheduled for Sunday at 10 am but we had decline as we had to catch a ferry to Comox.



We had to be in Comox at 2 PM to meet our friends Shirly and Bob Carlyle before they left on a camping trip. We did manage to have a 2 hour visit with them. We finally arrived at Helen Mazarolle place ( our B and B ) for the next 3 days and to catch up on all the nec gossip since we had not seen Helen for 2 years. Helen made us a wonderful Salmon supper, knowing full well we parire dogs did not need beef when we are near the ocean. We will call some of our many friends in Comox to sqeeze in a coffee session to catch up on their happens.

The next chapter awaits. cheers. T and C

Summer of 2010

I have decide to do a Blog on our happening for this past summer, which was not all that exciting but some addressees may be interestedso here goes.
In april on our return from MX I was still suffering from what the doctors determined and I was convinced was Acid Reflux. This problem was so bad that i could not cut the lawn or play ball without an attack. However, i was also getting some mild chest pains so I insisited on seeing a Heart special who immediately sent me for an angiogram. The angiogram showed that i had a few slight restrictions in my arteries but so does 90 % of the people my age including most doctors. The Heart special then decided that I must have a stomach bacteria called H-Pyloria and he spoke to the Specialist who had tested me for the same thing a year earlier. I was again tested and found to have this bacteria so I had to take some antibiotics twice a day for 2 weeks and I had to go on a NO ALCOHOL diet. Such is life. After this treatment I believe i am now cured . Also i'm back playing ball which is most important.

Now for the travelogue.
We left home today, 7 Sept, heading for Chilliwack BC to a Military reunion. However, our first stop is at Todd's place in Okotoks for a G/Kids fix; tomorrow it is off to Todd's cabin near Fairmont Hot Springs, BC on Columbia Lake ( just built this summer ) to install some blinds that Carroll found in the Budget Blind store that where mis- measured or the wrong colour for someone. She found several blinds with a retail price of 900.00 for a bargin price of 145.oo cash, no invoice. She is always looking for a bargin. We will stay overnight at the cabin, and then head for Kamloops to visit and overnight with Joe and Marg Barker who have been friends since the earlier 70's and of course where also in the miltary with us.
On Friday we will head to Chilliwack to meet with out Military friends, some we have not seen for 30 years so it will be great to swap stories. We will have a meet and greet on Friday and a dinner on Saturday evening with some tours during the day. On Sunday we are going to Vancouver Island ( Comox ) to see a close friend , Helen Mazerolle, who lost her husband 2 years ago and who we travelled with for years. Since we lived in Comox for 6 years we will no doubt visit many other friends.
We will return to Todd's place on the 17 th Sept as the Twins ( Megan and Quinn ... 16 months old ) would like us to babysit them while Mom, Dad, Emily and Rhett go to a wedding in Edmonton on Sat and Sunday.
We will return home on Monday until the 29 th Sept at which time we will leave for Mesquite , NV to play ball in a 2 day tournament on that weekend, then we move to St. Geo, UT ( 50 miles ) to play in the World Senior Games starting Monday which hopefully will last 5 days.
We will do some touring to places like Zion national park and Bryce Canyon on our way home and expect to be home on the 11 th or 12 th on Oct. We don't have any plans for the rest of Oct and \Nov so we close this saga for now.

San Felipe to San Miguel Allende and onward to TX

We left San Felipe after being  euchred by the lack of butterflies and headed to San Miguel, a one day causal drive on mostly two lane  mountainous roads and thru several small cities. The view was great but we unfortunately got slowed by a Semi pulling a Pup so it was impossible to pass on the mountain roads.  The upside is that we ( mostly I ) got to see the scenery because this area is mainly a variety of agriculture from hay fields to garden type veggies. Amazing thought, the MX diet contains a large consumption of Roma tomatoes and surprising we don’t seem to see may fields of them. However, there are large areas  under  screen like tarps so these may be tomatoes. This area grows a zillion acres of strawberries and these are under screens, probably to protect them from the birds. The strawberries are sold along the Toll roads and there are stands every few hundred yards. The berries are sold in “weaved “ basket about the size of an ice pail for 100 P (about 8.50 cdn ) and of course Carroll made me stop to buy the strawberries but I think it was the basket she wanted. ha ha. We had to drive thru the main street of this one particular town and it first appeared like it was going to be problematic as we had to navigate around the town square. However, a policeman seen us coming (very slow and carefully)  I might add ,so he stopped the traffic and waved us thru. Several people stopped to stare in amazement at us and the Rig as I  doubt that they see very many 5th wheels or Motor Homes. The police and the people in the small towns are very helpful in direct us as getting lost seems to be our strong suite.

We finally arrived in San Miguel and since we had been here a few years ago we where sure we knew exactly how to get to the campsite. However, what we did not realize was that we where entering San Miguel from a different direction, either that or someone turned the country of MX 90 degrees without telling us. Anyhow we traveled about 500 M when we realized the KFC was on our left and it was suppose to be on the right. Oh Oh, we where heading into the city and this was a no no. Now was the time to do another U-turn even thought the sign suggested otherwise and hopefully the police where busy elsewhere. We got to the camp site which is located behind a hotel and the English speaking receptions said to park anywhere and pay me later. We chose to park in the shade beside a 45 ft motor home to have more shade. After we set up and I tried my computer I then realized the motor home was blocking out the wifi signal.  Oh well, he was leaving in 2 days and i was staying for a week so I would make sure nobody parked there once he left. 

The next day, folks from Nova Scotia, that  we had met 3 weeks earlier in Villa Corona and traveled with them to Patzcuro happen to drive in.  That last we heard they where going to MX City and then to some Pyramids, so this was a surprise to see them. Anyhow we toured San Miguel at night as this is a very old colonial city and the town square is where all the action is at night. The church is the centre piece of the cities architecture as can be seen by the pictures. Also a lady we met from NFLD told Carroll that she must have a pair of “San Miguel” shoes. So we had to search and find the “San Miguel” shoe store and Carroll is now the proud owner of a pair of “overpriced” San Miguel shoes

 

The pics of this huge church in San Miguel

Supper with our new friends from Nova Scotia

The next day the four of us headed for Dolores Hidalgo which is known for its’ Pottery. We spent several hours checking out the different styles of pottery and of course we purchased some more pottery; as if we need another pot from MX. These are huge pots and,  are now “seat belted” in the back seat and they each take a hold seat.

The following day we travelled to Guanajuato . This city was built on an old silver mine, which of course has been “mined Out” and they now  use the mine shafts as underground streets. Our friend have a small  car so he drove thru these underground streets before we toured the city. We called it touring but the truth be known we where lost at times but we finally found a parking mall to park the car. Besides walking or better to say “wandering” around the city we took a Trolley tour of the city. Needless to say, this city has a zillion jewellery store that sell mainly silver products which attracted Carroll and Jane but bored the hell out of me.

We took an Incline ride to the top of this mountain and this is the view of the city

Our Trolley tour was in Spanish so I did not get the significants of this statue but every city in MX has many statues.

 

We had planned to leave San Miguel and head for Arizona, which would be a 3 day trip by our self.  This trip would have taken us thru Chihuahua, which was not all the endearing  as we did hear there was trouble in the area. Our Nova Scotia friends where heading for southern TX, a place they had never been too but we have expert knowledge of the area as we have been there at 6 times.  Since we both where travelling alone , we decided over Happy Hour to lead our friends to TX which would take about 1 1/2 days. That way, if we had any problems with our vehicles we could assist each other and of course safety in numbers. The first day was uneventful and roads where excellent , especially since there was only one toll. That evening we stopped at a 24 hour PEMEX truck stop. This was a fairly new PEMEX and well lite. We ask the attendant if we could stay and he yes so we tipped him 2 buck each. I’m sure if we had tipped him 5 bucks he would have thrown in his “first born”. We decide to have our last Happy Hour in MX and during the ritual we noted that we each had a 1/2 gal of wine that was not worth taking to TX so we gave that to the attendant. He was last seen stashing it in his car before anyone else seen it and he had a grin from ear to ear. 

The next day we had about a 4 hour drive to the US border , mainly on a 4 lane hwy. it was clear sailing for the 1st 2 hours and then the traffic STOPPED. We assumed an accident while we inched our way forward, until seen a sign which said “Army Inspection”  500 Metres. As we got closer we could see that they where inspecting every vehicle and going thru every piece of luggage. People had to remove their luggage from the roof rack for inspection. Tanker trucks with Gasoline, milk and other products where checked closely. After 55 minutes we made it to the front of the line and my mine was racing just thinking of the mess we would have after they unloaded our trailer.  Finally we where wave forward and unbelievable as it may seem we where waved thru, no conversation; just an Army guard with a  Red flag waving us on our way. I even stopped to ensure that he was not just moving me to another location. After we got thru I radio our Nova Scotia friends who were behind us and in another line about the good news. They reached the front of the line 20 min after us and they too where waved thru. I don’t know why we where waved thru, maybe because we are Cdn but whatever the reason; it works for me.

The next hurdle is at the border where we have to turn in our  visitors Visa and the vehicle stickers. This is required so they know that we have left MX with the vehicles that we brought in. They do want us to sell our vehicles in MX. However, this year, apparently they need to take a picture of each VIN Plate for all vehicles. Our trailer is an 2001 and the VIN plate is not metal as most are but it is a plastic material and it has faded badly.  The VIN is visible,  to the naked eye ,although barely,  it is not apparently “Photogenic” to the MX camera eye. Therefore it took 3 managers , two cameras and 1 hour of my time before they finally got a picture that met their standards, whatever that is.

Then we moved on to the US border. I know from experience that Texas  collects a $1.25 for each litre of booze brought in to TX so I had 6 or 7 litres. We also had a Mango and a slice of ham which we knew was not allowed. We normally give them something to take as I think they feel good and besides they usually want to look inside your trailer. Although they were polite they ran the drug dog into our trailer and looked into the storage compartments but did not move a thing. After about 15 mins they said to go so i never paid the Booze Tax. We then went to the Southern Comfort camp site which is the winter home of several friends. After 3 1/2 month it was nice to be in the USA.

Patzcuaro to San Felipe and the Butterflies

We left Patzcuaro on for a 3 or 4 hour casual and scenic drive thru the beautiful countryside to San Felipe. But first we had manoeuvre our drive thru Morelia and then find Hwg 126. Well, we got on the periferico ( ring road ) which we thought would not be busy on a Sunday morning because we all know Mexicans go to church. Well, I’m here to tell you ,many of them played hooky on this Sunday. As an aside, a guide who was showing us a few churches ask if we knew why so many Mexicans go to church. We assumed it was because they where good Catholics. He said No.. It is because they are “scared” as to what would happen if the did not go. However , once on the periferico we where looking for hwy 126 but in Mx style they must have run out of those signs so the used MX 15D as a substitute, which we did not realize soon enough. Once we did realized we had missed the road we needed ,we now had to turn around which meant a U-turn on a 6 lane street but we had the light in our favour and I guess the cops where in church.

We finally decide that hwy 15 D was the correct road so we headed for San Felipe.  We stopped for fuel along the way and we ask the attendant for the best road to take. I suggested a route but he no, “road no good” , go thru Marvato so I took his advise . Well, most of the road was good except the 1st 10 KM which was under construct so this was really slow going. The road really needed re-construction but they are building it into a 4 lane hwy so when any of you folks are this area it will be 4 lanes.

We arrived in San Felipe in the early afternoon and found our camp site which was a Dry camping but grassed area at a hotel which we knew from our travel bible. However, the entrance was gated as per normal but the entrance was also narrow and the walls where built out to the street so there was no way I could turn right hence i had to drive a few miles down the road so i could U-turn and attack the entrance from the left, which i did successfully. 

The butterflies  are not actually in San Felipe; this is the closes camping area for our rig, so after we setup we decide to check out the route. The first town that we needed to find was Ocampo which was 15 KM up a mountain on a windy road, albeit paved but narrow. The direction from the Hotel owner was that Ocampo was a 10 or 15 min drive and when you enter the town take the 1st right and follow the signs. Although i never notice it, but I assume the Hotel owner has a Rocket ship  that she uses when she goes to Ocampo because it took us over 1/2 an hour because we had to negotiate several small towns and their topes. However, we found Ocampo and followed the sign for a few miles in the direction of the butterfly area . This road is most interesting because is two lanes wide but only the travel area is concrete and the area between the travel lanes is cobble stone. i very much doubt that this road will every wear our and i assume the maintenance is very low. According to the book this road is only 11 KM, mostly up hill  but driving this road seemed much longer. This road took us thru several small towns and the area was littered with small farms. What amazed us was that we were well over 7000 ft and the farm land was above us. After travel about 10 KM we reached the area that was damaged by the rain which caused a river to overflow its’ banks and wash out the road along with several homes. However by this time the mud had been cleared but the roads where  in bad condition and a make-shift bridge was in place for us to cross. The ditch was only about 2 ft deep so i figured , even if it collapsed I could still get thru so i challenged it with a problem.

This is what the farms look like in the mountain and we are above 7000 ft

This is the bridge I had to cross

 

This is near the end of the road to the Butterflies and it was washed out during a 4 day rain storm a month earlier. Incidentally we picked up an old man and 2 older ladies along the way and gave them a ride ( about 5  KM ) right to the end of the road. Mexicans always right in the  truck box so you can imagine what the ride was like

We finally reached the parking area and we where the only ones there which was not to encouraging. The parking attendant was fluent in Spanish, but no English; we on the other hand are fluent in English but no Spanish so he was of little help. Then luckily i seen a lady, who looked like a Gringo walking down the mountain road so i ask her for some assistance. Lucky for us she spoke English, Spanish and her mother tongue was French. Unfortunately she advised us that the butterflies would not be available this day because it was cloudy and they will not leave the trees unless it is sunny and warm and the next day did not appear to be promising. As we later learned she had traveled over many miles of rough terrain in an old Van only to learn that the butterflies would not flying this day. She also advised us that she was going to walk 11 KM to Ocampo to catch a bus, one of three, I might add  that would eventually get her to Mexico city. While she carried on down the road we pondered our next move because we had spend 2 days just to get to see the butterflies and we hated to leave this adventure without its’ conclusion. After several minutes, we accepted failure and decided to return another day and another year. On the way down the mountain and after we carefully crossed this newly constructed bridge,  we picked up the French lady from Montreal that we met early and headed down the 30 KM of mountain road. Since this trek would take the biggest part of an hour we drummed up a conversation with the lady whose age i would guess was north on 40. She was a world traveller and was not afraid to travel alone as we learned during the conversation. Since her “butterfly” trip was also a failure she was now on her way to MX City to meet up with a partner and then to fly home. She had to catch a bus in a city about 5 KM from our camp site so we said we would take her to the bus terminal, which of course neither of us knew where it was. Since she speaks Spanish ( also French and English) we stopped on the street to ask directions and luckily we where told to turn left and  continue and we would see it. After 10 block we begin to question her Spanish, so we ask direction again but with the same results; continue on, so we did. We then drove through some of the worst slum areas you could imagine and this was right in the city. Most of the homes where poorly constructed shack. Anyway we reached the bus depot and bid farewell to the French lady. But this drive just shows that Mexico still has the lowest of the lower class who have to exist day to day.

The next day we headed for San Miguel Allende and of course is another story.

Patzcuaro/ Morelia/ Santa Clara

We arrived in Patzcuaro  at Rancho La Mesa on Sat afternoon and met up with our friends , Jean and Brent from Nova Scotia. After setting up and having the proverbially Happy Hour toast we  decide to eat supper at the restaurant which is also located on the Ranch. It had good food and cold beer, what else do you want. We also planned our tours in the 3 above mentioned towns/cities which would take care of the week long stay.

The first day we hired an English speaking  tour guide for 4 hours to tour us around the area as we where interested in the History of the bldgs and the area. We advised him that we did not want to see any Ruins nor did we want the tour of some convent that our friends advised us to avoid as it was boring. By avoiding these two items , therefore  shorten the tour by 2 hours. However the tour guide was a retired teacher and a carpenter. He said he had to stop teaching and get a job that allowed him to feed his family. And being a tour guide pays better than a carpenter. Anyhow he gave us a great tour which included a good history lesson and a visit to several shops that are not available to a casual tourist. These shops included a man who carves masks used during the celebration of the “Day of the dead”.  This celebration is very important to these folks as the go to the  grave site and take items , mainly food, but other items, even cigarettes,  that they think or know  the dead person would like if they were alive. At the end of the day they take whatever is left over ( food ) home.

Other Artisans that we met where a lady who does needle work, a lady who does pottery without the use of a potter’s wheel, her son who has another shop with a Potter’s wheel and his two adult children who have a different style than Dad.It seems common for Artisan's children to follow in their parents footsteps. We also got the church tour but it was interesting because it dated back to the time that Spain colonized MX and the church was a means to get the natives to accept the Spanish religions ways. The people of this  particular town (area ) have the  features of the native Aztec people.

We then visited a church which we knew we would. In MX you must visit at least one church per tour. However, this visit was most interesting as the guide explained how the Spanish used the church to win our the natives. Then we were directed to the market where we could buy more MX Junk. I somehow think the tour guides get a cut for bring us to the market,  however I  made it quite clear I was not paying him to watch us shop so we quickly returned to the Van and returned to our camp site. In hind site this is the only way to see the important site of this city and i was glad we use the tour guide.

Patzcuaro is situated on a large lake and there are 5 island located in the lake. The largest  island is about a 15 min boat ride from Patzcuaro and is inhabited for reasons i will never understand. It is in fact a small mountain, with many restaurants and boutiques that sell MX Junk . You can walk up or down , there is no level ground. Of course we visited island , stayed for lunch and bought some junk, so i guess the Mexicans had plan after all.
After spending 4 hours on the island we returned to Patzcuaro and visited the town square. The square always has activities of some kind. We settled for watching the people and having a coffee and dessert.

In MX some small towns are often known for making one thing. Santa Clara is known as a  copper town. Most people are directly or indirectly associated with  the manufacturing of copper  products such as pots, pans, tables, bath tubs, picture frames and any thing you can think of. We first visited a store to admire the products and then Carroll ask if they made there own products in town. The sales clerk took us to the factory about 2 blocks away and we were blown away. All of the products are made by hand without the use of a bending machine etc.  They simply take a sheet of copper and hammer, shape and bend with only a hammer and piece of wood. There is one exception ; they do have a welding machine to weld the seams of large items such as a bath tub. I should add that they change the colour from shiny to dull by heat it with a tiger torch. We also ask about wages; if you can hammer all day you get 15.00 USD a day, if you have some knowledge of shaping and bending you get 20.00 per day but if you can weld you may get up to 30.00 per day. oh! did mention there was no union. ha ha. when we seen the fancy bath tub , sinks and mirror we ask who the customers where because we knew the workers could not afford them. The said all the fancy stuff was ordered from the USA and Dubai.

Carroll and I visited another town with a pop of 5000 and they only builds furniture products made of wood. We visited about 20 stores just to admire the products and  most stores had a shop in the rear where they make the products. We also seen at least another 20 workshop which cause us to say… who is buying this stuff. However we did notice a difference in quality so I’m sure the good quality is going to the high end stores, hotels and out of country. The lesser quality furniture is probably going to majority of the middle and lower class Mexicans.

Our last trip was to Morelia which was 50 KM down the road. Morelia is the capital of the state of Michoacán. It is a very old colonial city as a result I “think” the guide told us that 21 blocks of the downtown area has been designated by UNSECO as a Historical area and as such the building exterior and interior can not be altered ever from its’ original state. A little history now. MX obtained its’ Independence 200 years ago but the church still had too much influence on the Government and a gentleman named Morelia lead a group of mostly men but some women too Reform the country by making the church look after religion not government. This fight took 15 years but Morelia and his group finally Reformed the country and separated the church from the government. Thereby allowing Mexico to become a Democratic country. As a result of Morelia’s fight the city’s name was changed from Michoacán to Morelia and became the capital of the state.  The city tour last 2 hours and cost 40 P  per person ( about 4.00cdn ) and the guide was excellent and the tour was great. In fact one of the better tours we have had in MX.

Our next blog will our trip to San Felipe and the butterflies.

 

Villa Corona to Patzcuro

While in Villa Corona I stop to chat, as usual, with a couple from Nova Scotia who where on their 1 st trip to MX in their Motor Home. As we swapped story I told them we were heading for Patzcuaro and they said they too were thinking about going there. So we told them which way we were going, which was not the exact route they had planned, then they reconsidered and followed our route since we may have sounded like experienced travelers. We also changed their mine as to which camp site we would stop at in Patzcuaro. They left Villa Corona about 1/2 an hour ahead of us so we did expect to see them in route. However we made another small navigational error, thanks to a lack of signage, which cost us another 1/2 delay. However we made up the time by taking a toll road for part of the trip.

Most of the trip was uneventful , and we were again amazed at the different types of agriculture. As we got close to Lake Chapala ( there is a city called lake Chapala and a huge lake called Lake Chapala) , we drove around the south side of the lake as the city is on the north side, and there were acres and acres of Raspberries and Strawberries. As we traveled around  the lake we seen a few fields of Tequila, corn , some oats, several  feed lots and some dairy farms with Holstein cows. One particular farm near La Barca was milking cows by hand. They had 10 open air stalls so I honked the horn and they  beckoned us in to help them.

We traveled thru several small town on this trip, which is nothing new but a few did provide some challenges as usual. The navigator is usually the one under pressure as the driver is busy watching for topes, ( speed bumps ) stop lights , close encounter with narrow streets  and poor parking habits and those who take advantage of a Gringo driver because they know we don’t want to have an accident. After several hours of negotiating our way thru the small towns we headed to La Barca and the Toll road. The main street in La Barca is also the truck route, which it not surprising as the street is 4 lanes with a boulevard and two lanes on each side which i would can collector lanes. However we know just enough Spanish  to know that a  “sign” say all trucks must use the collector lane and by MX definition we are a truck. So now I have to navigate my way off the main street onto the collector lane , which we did as quickly and safely as possible and before the police notice my error. We now hit the toll road which allowed us to travel at 100 Km/h for a change but not with out paying the toll of 144P ( 12.00 Cdn ) . After our sabbatical on the toll road it was back to the small towns. One particular town was having a celebration on the main street and it looked like a great party but the street was so crowded we had to creep thru , mainly to avoid hitting people and several times we were stopped so we snapped a few pics of the different stalls selling goods. We had hoped to find a PEMEX ( gas station ) so we could park and take in the festivities but this town did not have one on this street so after about 20 min we cleared the town.

Pics of the town hosting some sort of celebration

                              

You will note the venders are on the street so when you add street parking it does not leave much room for us.

We had hope to arr in Patzcuaro before 5 PM so we could set up before dark. We knew that we had to make a right turn in a town/city called Ouiroga and we had hope to see a sign directing us to Patzcuaro. Now this town was again blessed with narrow streets but there was a Coke truck ahead so I knew if he could get thru I could also. But what we did know was the sign to Patzcurao was missing and we missed the intersection until we past it. Now we had to find a place to U-turn. After a few blocks i found a small parking lot that had the potential for a U-turn assuming there where no police in the area. Carroll was suspicion about my ability to do it but after surprising a few Mexican on-lookers I made it. Now we headed back to find the correct intersection which we did find and we are on our way and only an hour away from our destination. Once we got to Patzcuaro  we had to follow our MX travel bible to find the camp site. It reads ; follow Hwy 14, it is also hwy 120 thru the city , merge right when you see a sign to Santa Clara, follow the sign to Autopitsa ( means expensive toll road ) , cross  the Autopisa and drive .6KM and turn left and take the immediate left road. Road, my eye; it was is a 1/2 Km of a ploughed field coupled with several topes and a few craters. Now doesn’t that sound easy. However, we did reach  the camp site which is located on a ranch about 500 ft above the  city and also has an excellent restaurant.

 We arrived just before Happy Hour and where glad to get here. Our friends from Nova Scotia arr 35 min before us. We had a beer and agree to test the restaurant food.  Carroll and I had Cordoue Bleu and a drink and it cost a total of 200 P or about 18.00 cdn. this was certainly a cheap supper.

Incidentally ,we are located at about 6500 ft hence the temp at 6:30 AM, when I get up is as low as 3 C but by the time the Sun gets up at 8;30 or 9 AM  it is shorts and tee shirt weather.

The next blog will be about this beautiful area. cheers T and c

 

Etzatlan/Magdalena to Villa Corona

On Monday we drove to Magdalena, with the truck only, so Carroll could, as she phased it,  “ check out “ the Opal shops. I knew that meant buying Opals but she insisted it was just to admire them. First we check to see if there was a better route thru the town for our return trip. There was not. Then we hunted for a parking spot. We found one. Then we headed for the Opal shops, we found them.

While being bored looking at “polished rocks” I ventured around the city to find a better parking spot as I was in a 1 hour spot and I knew Carroll would be longer than an hour. I was standing in the town square when i seen a huge gravel Crushing rig coming thru town on the same street that i would have to travel on my trip out. He would have to make a sharp 90 degree left turn at the square followed by a sharp right and he would need both lanes. Well he accomplished the manoeuvre without even stopping so that made me breathe easier as he was much larger than our rig. With that problem solved, I then found a parking spot and went to get the truck. When i got back to my parking spot it seemed to shrink in size and i had to back a short distance down a one way street to get into it. A friendly Mexican notice my struggle so he directed me into the spot. The problem in small towns is that they put the power pole on the street side of the curb and I have to touch the curb with my tire or there is not enough room for vehicles to pass. Finally, I found Carroll in an Opal shop and she had ordered a couple of items but they had to make them and they would not be ready for 3 hours, which really meant tomorrow.

Since it was now lunch time we decided to grab a Loungie (sp) from the street vender, of which there are many and eat it in the Town Square and watch people. Loungies are the MX version of a cheap “Subway " sandwich with a choice of chopped  chicken, beef and sometimes pork. You add your own condiments, which includes a sauce, if you want it,  but you better ask which sauce is for Gringos because the MX sauce is Hotter than boiled water once it reaches your tongue. Of course we used our best Spanish to order and we order 2 Loungies, we thought, however  we apparently order “ two orders” which means we each got 2 Lounges. I can not eat two loungies but we took them anyways. We also ordered a bottle of water and the cost for our lunch was 30 P or approxi $2.75 cdn. I really don’t know how these people can make a living at that price .

After lunch we decided to drive 22 KM to Tequila just to “scout it out” and to make arrangements for a tour of a Tequila distillery for the next day. I must tell you the road to Tequila is probably the best 2 lane hwy I have ever driven on in MX. The road was as wide as ours in N.A. and it had passing lane which is a rarity in MX and you could drive safely at 100 Km per hour.

When we arr in Tequila we were surprised at the size but we did not do any research on the city before  so our vision of it was just another small city of 10 or 20 thousand. Once we seen that the main street was 6 lanes with a boulevard , this  quickly changed our impression. Anyhow , we continued with our drive-thru and happen to notice a small trolley outside a Distillery so we stop to inquire about a tour. As it happened, an English speaking tour , which consisted of 6 young Auzzies , had just started so we joined the tour. Our young tour guide spoke fairly good English and was very knowledgeable on the processing of Tequila. I will not bore you will the entire process but I give you a few of the highlights.

The Tequila plant will only grow in certain areas of MX and require lots of Sun but does not require much water hence no need for irrigation as a little rain will do. The plant takes 7 to 10 years to mature and the fruit, which is called a Pineapple weighs between 120 to 200 pounds and is the size of a 5 gallon pail. The leaf is left in the field for fertilizer and the pineapple is loaded by front end loader onto a truck. Once in the distillery the pineapple is split in half and loaded by a  loader into a large horizontal boiler type cylinder and then steam is induced to produce the juice. The pulp, when dried, is used for making paper, insulation, animal feed and many other items. The juice is further processed and distilled into differed qualities of Tequila much our whiskeys. 

Loading the boiler with the Tequila pineapple

This tequila Pineapple weighs 150 lbs or more

This the plup after the boiling process

This a mature Tequila field

 

This the tasting room in a small ( less than a 1000 L per week ) Tequila distillery. This room was probably 10 times the size of the distillery hence they sell all the Tequila they can brew.

Our tour guide gave us a 1 hour trolley trip around the city to show us some of the other distilleries and advising us that the population of Tequila was 60,000 and that 85 % of the working population had a job related directly and indirectly  to the Tequila industry. Incidental, there are 35 distilleries  in Tequila, however most are small which by definition , small means they produce 1000 L per week and as a result they  do not pay any  “ booze” taxes. Large distilleries do pay the taxes. Another thing I found interesting is that you can buy real good Tequila  by the gallon in a plastic container for about 15.00 Cdn but a 1 L glass container would cost over 20.00 Cdn. All glass bottles are Hand Blown and as a result drives the cost of Tequila higher.

We left our camp site after 3 days and headed down that dreaded road to Magdalena on our way  to Villa Corona. As mentioned the road had a zillion pothole, some large enough to be called a crater. The 20 KM trip took 35 minutes mainly because I did not want to break a spring nor an axle. After passing thru Magdalena on the way to Etzatlan I was a little apprehensive about my return trip, as these small MX town are not all constructed with a Gringo and his 32 ft 5th wheel. However, as has happen many times, we made it thru another small town without incident. We decided to take the Libre “ free road” from Magdalena to Guadalajara because I hate paying the tolls even if it is faster. The trip was uneventful until we got close to Guadalajara. We again made the decision to avoid Guadalajara by taking hwy 70 and going to Ameca on our way to Villa Corona. Apparently there are no “hwy 70 signs” in MX, oh yes there is a hwy 70 , just no signs. Also we expected to see a sign for Ameca since it was on hwy 70. Apparently there are no signs for Ameca in MX either, so as usually happens, we ended up in Guadalajara along with the other 4 million people to share the road with. However all went well and we made it to Villa Corona and enjoyed the hot pools for 2 more days. Our next blog is our trip to Patzcuaro. Carroll say it was stressful trip and she wasn’t even driving.  Stay tuned.

 

Rincon to Villa Corona

We left Rincon on Sunday 21 st Feb. However i must tell you about a few happenings in the park for Tues to Sat.

On Tues evening/ Wed we got rain again for the 2 nd time in a month which is very rare in MX at this time on year. That also was the day that we took Todd and family to PV to return home. PV is one hour from Rincon. Also while we where in PV we had to visit Costco to pick up 15 dozen dinner rolls because our park was having a Cowboy Style chuck wagon supper ( on Thursday ) hosted by all Albertans but for all  other campers. The,  menu was , of course Stew, Chilli, Beans, Salad, dessert and cowboy coffee. This meal was intended to be eaten on your lap , much like a cowboy at a roundup so there was no tables, however, we are seniors so TV  tables did appear in most cases. One of the ladies is a camp cook for her son’s hunting camp so she made the cowboy coffee, which for the “City slickers” and non-hunters is simply boiling water poured over the coffee grinds in a large pot , then places on a low fire to simmer. A cup of cold water is poured in to take  ( most ) of the coffee grounds to the bottom. Some of the people  were heard to say how do you make such good coffee in such a large pot ; because it did taste great and the Aroma attracted most people.Here are a few pics:

                                                     

A piper from Sask Piping in  a Scotchman from ON

 

Ringing the dinner Bell

Carroll checking the menu

You probably never gave it much thought but we campers have usually two choice to wash and dry your clothes. The quick and easy choice is to take it to a local Launderia and a MX ladies will wash, dry and fold it for a very reasonable price. Some of us have a washer and dryer and those ladies, including Carroll,  chose to use the camp clothes lines instead of the dryer.  I, being a good helper assisted Carroll by hanging the clothes and at times retrieve them. On Sat, Carroll sent me to get the clothes as we were getting ready to pack up to leave on Sun and she was busy doing something. I thought I would recognized most of our clothes but apparently I don’t own or wear  Stanfield underwear, size 40 and Carroll doesn't own any size 12 tee shirts. Carroll ask me why i would steal these clothes since they did not fit. ha ha. Carroll returned the clothes to the clothes lines while everyone was at Happy Hour which save me the embarrassment of being accused of stealing.

We left Rincon around 9 PM on Sunday and headed for Magdalena which is on the way to Guadalajara, and is known for its’ Opal mines.  However the nearest camp site is located 22 KM south of Magdalena and of course we had to wind our way directly through the entire city which includes going thru the centre of town. Although this was  a Sunday and the downtown area was busy we managed the initial left turn without incident, but i knew there was a tight right turn coming as I have seen this “movie”  many times. But a cop seen me coming and he probably has seen us “Gringos “ with our large rigs before so he gave me the “stop sign”, cleared the oncoming traffic, made the right lane traffic stop short of the intersection and cleared me thru. What a relief. Now we had 22 Km of 2 lane road thru the farming area to reach our camp site. What could be easier. We have never seen an asphalt road with so many deep potholes. Even the MX slowed down for the potholes so you know they were deep.

We finally reached the city of Etzatlan and followed the directions to Delia’s trailer park. Our “Travel Bible “ suggested that  big Rigs pull off to the right side of the road and make sure the gate is open and size up the entrance method. Mexicans do not make wide gates. As soon as I got thru the gate I was sure we where in the wrong lane way because I could see down the lane an  the opening was about 8 ft wide and 10 ft high. I need 13 ft to get thru. We kept going hoping for a miracle, and after 300 m there it was , an opening on our right which lead to a very nice camp site that was all grass. The only  occupants where two Cdns, one from  Mitchell, ON and the other from Winnipeg. The owner, a young lady met us and said to pick any spot of the 10 left. Since the area was well treed I wanted a spot where I could set up my satellite. The guy from Wpg heard me and said to take the spot near him and connect to his Satellite as he had 2 empty terminals. We often let neighbours connect to our satellite.

Today we are off to Magdalena.

 

Villa Corona to Puerto Vallarta/ Bucerias/ Ricon

We left Villa Corona on 4 Feb after 4 days of rain,just as the Sun began to shine on MX again. We where glad to see the Sun because we had to manoeuvre our way thru and around Guadalajara as it is the best way to get to Puerto Vallarta albeit mostly by toll roads. Toll roads are expensive ,especially when pulling a 32 ft trailer as it cost us about 50.00 Cdn to go 325 KM. There are Free roads “Libre “  but they are 2 lanes , no shoulder and usually slow so if you are in a hurry you must " pay the piper ". As you may remember , we were heading to Bucerias to camp as that was the closes camp site to the location of the Kid’s Condos ( 7 km\).

The Jonk family rented a 3 bedroom condo which could sleep 10 pers. We had a great time with the Kids and with several members of Yvonne’s family . The beach was excellent and there  was two great swimming pools and 5 hot tubs.

 

 

 

 

 

Todd and Rhett on the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

Todd and Rhett in one of the pools.

Emily between the 2 pools.

Grandma and Rhett when he seen G/Ma at the PV airport.

A pic of the kitchen in the condo. It has a Beer fridge, a wine cooler and a freezer/fridge. There is another fridge on the patio along with a complete kitchen with a gas Bar-B-Q 

We stayed in a camp site in Bucerias ( 7 km from the condo ) . The lane to the camp site was hard to enter from a busy 4 lane hwy and  extremely difficult to get into it as they never seem to make the gate openings large enough for our RVs. Getting into the site area was no walk in the park either. Two of the campers gave us a hand to back into a site and as usual the DAM palm trees where another hazard. One of the campers had a machette and  so he  removed 6 limps that where in my way and after 20 mins I managed to get into the site. I could see that it was going to be much more difficult to get out but that was a week away so I would cross that bridge later.

The day of Reckoning arr on Friday 12 Feb when we had to move to Rincon and believe me there was not much wiggle room to get out of the park but with the help of the same two guys we managed to get out the Gate. Once I got out of the park I had to climb a 15 % grade, all cobblestone in Bull Low in 4 wheel drive and then make a right turn onto a 4 lane hwy and I could not see the un-coming traffic. Therefore  Carroll had to signal when there was an opening in the traffic because Mexican drivers do NOT give way. However, after driving in MX for 5 years, it is just another day in Paradise.

We moved to Rincon Guayabitos  on Friday where we will stay for a week or so. On Saturday we returned to the Condo to pick up Todd’s family and Yvonne’s brother Henry and his wife Cheryl since they where not leaving until the 17 th.  Todd , Yvonne and her brother and wife took  our truck and traveled to Guadalajara ( 325 KM ) and the surrounding area for 3 days.  As a point of interest only a Blood relative ( because we are foreigners ) can drive your vehicle in MX and you must have a letter in the vehicle with permission to drive it. We had Emily and Rhett for 3 days and since we are only a few hundred feet from the beach so they thoroughly enjoyed the water. Also another family from Edm had there kids who had a 2 year old boy so he and Rhett played together  much of the time.

On sunday  we intend to complete our trip to Patzcuro, which we started to do about 3 weeks ago. As usual, our plans are never cast in concrete,and the only date that is “ Firm “ is 13 April, which is when we will be home. Cheers T and C

Eslers Mexico Travelogue

We arrived in Villa Corona around 4 PM on the 19 th Jan . We attempted two different sites before we could find one large enough for us. Once we got parked and where setting up a neighbour came over to invite us to Happy Hour which we accepted.  Although they are from Calgary they where born and raised  in Springfield, Ont. Their names are Carl and Jeanne Bearss. He was a Banker, a realtor and owned a grocery store before moving to Calgary. Hence we became friends for the next two weeks and probably longer. This is also a good conduit to swap travel info.

Villa Corona is a town of 5000 plus pop. but it has everything an RVer needs. They have several small stores which we would describe as a 7/11 type. Every Tuesday is market day with the very best of fruit and veggies, fish and prawns, CDs and DVDs, in English of course. Villa Corona also has two large PEMEX service stations and they are much like our truck stops with a well stocked much like our store like Max Milk but they also stock Beer which our stores don’t. This town is also a busy route for Truckers going to Guadalajara and for the large farm trucks the move sugar cane from the field to the processing plant in the area. Most of the sugar cane is cut by hand and load by a front end loader, however I have seen a few trucks that had sugar cane that was combined and loaded directly on the trucks.

The park is called Chimuclo and is an RV park with 56 sites with full hookups and a large soccer field as overflow. It is also a water park  complete with waterslides, and has 5 or 6  large naturally fed Hot pools which we are allowed to use and comes with the price of the campsite which is 231 P per day or approxi 21.00 cdn. We the campers migrated to the pools every morning to soak and to pass valuable information on what to do and where to visit in the area. Also the new folks like us need find out where to get veggies, meat, beer, wine and of course good resturaunts. All the pools are empty every evening and refilled in the early morning, however, us Gringos need a hot pool in the evening so the soak before going to bed so the fill one small pool ( 20’ X 40’ ) just for us. Talk about being treated like “Royalty”.

On our second day in Villa Corona we where convinced that we had to stay at least a week as there was too much to see. The next day we decide to visit Guadalajara so we foolishly thought we would drive which  was a bad idea. When we reached the outskirts of the city it was chaos so we decide to take the next Returno  which is a legal U-turn in MX and to use the MX Bus service to visit the city some other day.  So as not to waste a day , we drove south about 30 KM to Lake Chappla which is another tourist town that was on our list of “Must Visit “. This a small town/city that many Cdns and Americans spend the winter months as the temperature is not too hot like the coast areas and not too cool, although the temperature could drop to 10 or 12 C at night.

 

Villa Corona is on the bus route to Guadalajara and for the price of 30 P it will deliver you right to the Centro Bus station. From there it is another 30 P taxi ride to the city Centre which is always a “ Beehive of Activity “. It is also the place where you would catch the Double-Decker Bus to tour the city. Now,  this two tour will cost you 60 P ( 5.25 cdn ) . You can also take two more tours with the same ticket but we could only handle two tours in one day.

Since we did not see all we wanted to see in Guadalajara we decided to return another day but we needed at least a days rest so the next was just a lazy day. now I have been bragging about the gorgerous weather in MX and rightly so because it is normal great. But  “Elneano” has kicked us in the teeth just like everywhere else in the world. Therefore we rec 4 days of continous rain but the up side is that we had NO wind much like the folks along the west coast. Well, the sun is shinning again so all is forgotten.

On 4 Feb we moved to Bucersia ( 7 KM from Puerto Vallarta because Yvonne , Emily and Rhett where arriving at 8 PM and we where there to pick them up and deliver them to their rented condo. They are staying with Yvonne’s Mother , one sister and teenage son, 3 brothers and a sister in law , all in the same condo. I must tell you that this condo is a Penthouse and is 3000 sq ft approxi of living space, and 1200 sq ft of outdoor patio complete with a Bar B Q kitchen on the patio and a hot tub. The hallways and foyers are not part of the living space. This Condo is located right on the beach and has a huge heated pool with a swim up bar, which i do not use since i would have to pay for my own drinks. ha ha. This Condo is owned by a friend of the Jonk family so the rent was reasonable but it would normally rent for 800.00 per day. And i know you all want to know the cost to purchase the Condo so here goes. The owner paid 5 million dollars for this condo and it is not his only condo. I believe the staff think I own the place because every time I drive in ( it is gated ) they just open the gate and the Bell Hop parks my truck and retrieves it when i leave. Unfortunately we have to return to our 32 ft triple slide trailer at night.

We also visited with another friend ( Roy Olsen ) from Medicine Hat who has  a beautiful 3 bedroom condo in downtown Puerto Vallarta and again we went for supper and stayed for breakfast. It seems to be a trend of ours. ha ha. This condo has a self parking area so now when i go to downtown PV I just drive to Roy’s condo and drop his name and condo # and  they let me in to park. It is very difficult to find a parking spot in PV. It sure is great to have friends.

Todd is flying in on tues for a week, so we will pick him up and deliver him to “ The condo “. After Todd and family go home we will proceed to Patzucaro , Morelia and hopefully to see the Monarch Butterflies.  This the end of my first Blog so i hope it works. The next Blog should include some Pics, once I learn how. All replies are greatly accepted. Bye T and C