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| Mazatlan and Texas It is from the comfort of our home in England that I write to tell you about the last part of our trip to Mexico. That’s not to say that it is a dim and distant memory, far from it. It is like it was just yesterday. We gave ourselves a few days to recover from that wonderful trip through the Copper Canyon. It’s so good to get back to your own bed again and be able to put the kettle on for a real cup of tea. Our next stop was Mazatlan, on Saturday, 3rd March. The drive was 314 miles. Phew, it was a long way especially when you are driving on fairly narrow roads. We arrived in Mazatlan to find a  good campground with WiFi and full hook-ups. Across the road was the sea with the longest sandy beach you could wish for. Then of course there were the sunsets across the water, what can I say, it was gorgeous! Even a photo doesn’t really do it justice. Mazatlan is a busy tourist town with a bustling centre and long sea front. It has lots of history and interesting parts to visit. Not forgetting of course, it has a WalMart and a bull ring! We stayed for nearly two weeks and were very reluctant to leave. We had a wonderful birding experience with Orioles and Yellow Blackbirds, tree sappers and our best ever sighting of a Painted Bunting. I had put out our hummingbird feeder in the hopes that there may be one around, instead all these other birds came along in succession and feasted on the sugar water. It became better than watching TV. Finally as we sat on the beach and watched the sun go down we knew it was time to move on. Our next stop was Tepic. The road there was  a wide lane toll road so we could get a move on. It was a pleasant enough drive but when we got to Tepic, which is a fairly big town, finding the campground was a different story. When we realised we had driven straight past it, the horror of having to find somewhere to turn hit us. It is at times like these that you try desperately not to panic!! There was nowhere to unhitch the car. So we drove in towards town. Luckily we did find a junction which led us to enough space to turn around. The campground when we finally got there was good, plenty of room with clean showers and toilets. We had full hook-up and that was all we needed other than a cup of tea. It was that night that we checked our volt meter and realised that we were on 130+ volts! Ooops. So we switched the power off and went to bed! Neither of us slept well that night hoping that the high voltage had not done any damage. The following day we headed into town. We got onto a bus, hoped it was going in the right direction took our seat and waited. Sure enough we arrived in the town centre and spent the rest of the day doing the ‘tourist’ bit. That evening when we got back one of the campground workers came round with a bucket of fruit. It wasn’t fruit we had seen before, green round fruits. He didn’t speak English so we weren’t able to identify them. We tried to find out what to do with them and he took one to a tap, washed it and took a bite. We did the same and it tasted similar to pear, not a bad taste. But here is lesson 1. We didn’t think about the water we washed it in straight from the tap! Well I did think about the water later that night, over the toilet!!!!It was time to move on, now we’re heading for Guadalajara. The road climbed up into the mountains and through the lava fields and past some old extinct volcanoes. The scenery was really impressive but it soon ended and we were  back in town traffic. Mexicans certainly have their own way of driving and it has to be said that it’s not for the faint hearted. Nevertheless we found the campground safely, tired but unscathed. Over the next few days we did the tourist bit again, played with the traffic a bit and resisted the temptation to buy some of the very nice ceramics. Well almost resisted. Having had enough of the city, we went on a tour of a Tequila factory in the town of Tequila. For the uninitiated, the Aguave plant which they make Tequila from is like a huge pineapple which takes 8 to 10 years to mature. There are fields of it everywhere and once picked, the leaves are removed and it is cooked, then the processing begins. Having sampled the results we headed back to Guadalajara and sat out under the trees in the 80 degree F heat and reflected upon our trip so far. I think alcohol makes you do things like that! Next stop, Guanajuato. This is a very pretty town, unusual as it had numerous tunnels under the centre. These are old riverbeds which, when the river was diverted left the opportunity to make the riverbeds into roads. Now as road tunnels they help the congestion in town and are definitely a sight to be seen, preferably with a good map! Our campground here was basic. We had water and electric along with the constant company of the owners ‘stray’ dogs. One of them who we named Mabel soon realised that we were to be a soft touch. It is very hard to distance yourself from these animals, they were there in the morning and although they did not bother or pester you felt compelled to improve the quality of their life. This is one aspect of the Mexican way of life that we find hard to deal with. There are so many dogs that run loose and fend for themselves. But they do and some do quite well. They gave us heart rendering looks as we left but we consoled ourselves with the fact that there would be another unsuspecting camper due to arrive who would also get the ‘sad hungry look’. We didn’t stay long enough in Guanajuato there was more to do than we had expected. It’s definitely somewhere we would go back to. Time to move on. We were soon on the road again, a C road or yellow road to San Miguel Allende. The road is fine both ways. San Miguel looks great and well worth a stop next time! Colourful and not too big. Then we took another back road to the 57, except this time it really is a narrow road and I have to nearly stop when passing the trucks coming the other way. They just carry on regardless, but they have most likely travelled this road many times before. We head now for San Luis Potosi. It is here that we experience our first stop by the police. The police car pulls in front of us and this young clean looking policeman heads our way. He goes to the passenger side and starts speaking in Spanish to Mags. I decided that now is a good time to get out and speak to him face to face. He rattles away in Spanish, the only words I pick up are violation and ticket. I knew that we had done nothing wrong and that this was a try on. He didn’t have a ticket book with him and I expect he was hoping that money would cross his hand. Well forget it! I just kept repeating that I didn’t understand and finally he gave up and waved us on our way. So much for that!. Violation, I don’t think so, tourist and a money making opportunity more like, but not with our money! All this led to us missing our next campground so we decided that an overnight on the forecourt of a Pemex gas station was our best option. So we did and by morning we were surrounded by large trucks. By the time we had had our breakfast they were gone and we were alone again! A night in Saltillo and then the border crossing. We had heard all sorts of rumours about some border crossings and how dangerous they are. Well the Pharr crossing is fine. There was a long queue but once we had handed in our documents we were finally in the US again. Good old Texas. Mind you, I did have to hand over the last of my Madjool dates at the border. Even though they were bought in California and had spent all the time in our fridge they had to be confiscated. I wasn’t too pleased about that! From the border we drove to Victoria. A medium size town in a flat area of Texas. The campground was fine. Next problem, the weather! Well they forecast a storm and my oh my, they were not wrong. Tornado warnings, strong  thunderstorm warning, flood warning, the lot. We monitored the progress of the storm on TV. By 3 a.m. it had started and didn’t it just pour down! We headed for safety in the toilet block! I have never seen or heard such rain, wind, lightening, thunder and flooding. We sat praying that the tornado did not come our way. By 8 a.m. we gathered up our things, our torch, chairs and of course flask and paddled back to the motorhome. She was still there and in one piece. The car too. Surrounded by flood water, but that’s ok. What about the other campers you may ask, well they stayed in their vans and probably slept through it. I guess they are more used to the weather conditions than we are. Our journey then was to Livingston, Texas where we spent a few weeks before our flight back home. Verdict so far on this trip, we would not have missed it for the world. Mexico – give it a go but bear in mind it’s a different culture but the people we met were lovely friendly and very helpful. Yes we would go back again. Signing off till the next trip… Di & Maggie (The Brits)  |
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