San Marcos

Arriving in Acapulco was hectic. We were not expecting a city that big. It reminded me of LA and New York Mexican style. I quickly took these photos so our friends could see why to avoid visiting Acapulco. We quickly stocked up at the Gigante (the large supermarket) and then carefully maneuvered our way out of the city to San Marcos.

San Marcos was a dusty dirty little neighborhood. We were lucky to find a clean hotel in back of a local families home which consisted mostly of a yard. Ivy got tagged again when the families dog bit her, again she was lucky he did not draw any blood. She was fine although her feelings were hurt. This was a one night stop but Dorian and I did enjoy the fire flies at night.

Ixtapa

Our next stop after Rio Nexpa was Ixtapa. We originally were going to stay at Playa Azul but we needed to visit an ATM machine and the one machine available five km. east in the next town of Playa Azul was out of cash. We quickly headed south to Zihuatanejo but the rapid city drove us back up to Ixtapa.



Ixtapa is the Lahaina of Mexico. It is neatly gardened to resemble Hawaii. The signs are in English and there is a Dominoes Pizza. Although the beach is blocked by huge expensive hotels it is beautiful with turquise warm water and white sand beaches.



We were able to find a modest hotel meant for families. A nice mexican butist woman managed it who we enjoyed talking to. Unfortunately I was unable to snap some shots of Ixtapa.



We haven't been staying a many nice hotels. It is very difficult to find ones that allows Ivy inside.

Rio Nexpa

We are experiencing so much it is hard to keep the blog updated. I hope to keep you still connected through pictures and emails. Although we are still in Mexico we have seen what seams to be several countries.

Rio Nexpa was our next stop after La Ticla. This is a well-known surf destination and Dorian was excited to get in the water. The waves were very rolly that day. They were great for long-boarding.

This is the first destination where we agreed it was now jungly. From then on it was warm, humid at full of vegetation. I love humidity. We found some new friends there that we had previously met at Lat Ticla. There alot of waves to be found in this general area. A few of which are world class. Most go unridden every day.

Friends at La Ticla

Pictures in La Ticla

Our Camp at La Ticla

Waves at La Ticla, Mainland Mexico

Boca de Iguanas

Boca de Iguanas

We drove through a few surf spots along the way to check out some waves, including a spot called Tecuan. This abandoned town has strong ocean currents. There wasn’t anyone around for miles although we did spot a women walking slowly down the creepy dusty road. We felt we could have stayed there unnoticed, but there were no waves to be found.

We continued to head south to Boca de Iguanas. This camp is expensive and the waves were small but we knew it was getting late and we needed to camp. We soon met the only other group of people camping. Dorian was not fond of these three guys as they were really drunk, so we politely tried the shrimp they offered us and then found a spot to camp further towards the southern end of the campground. Unfortunately we found out later that we were not far enough away when the drunkest of the three decided to prance around naked on the beach trying to get our attention.

Boca de Iguanas didn’t have any frills although it did have gorgeous palm trees of all sizes. Dorian was able to fix the ungrounded electricity the campground provided. Although the facilities weren’t that nice, the different levels of foliage gave us a lot of privacy and was amazing to be around.

Later that night Dorian cracked us open a coconut and a bottle of wine. We didn’t want to set up camp completely so we hung out until dark and rested our traveling bones.
As we woke I started experiencing excruciating abdominal pain. Dorian said “ah, you just have mexibelly” and I was not worried. We packed up and headed towards highway 200 again. We were both sick of one nighters so we continued our journey south in search of waves and a place to stay for a couple of weeks.

Punta Perula

Punta Perula

Luckily when we arrived in Punta Perula we found a campground we both liked, although Dorian was unlucky in finding waves there. We were the only campers there, and the hotel/campground offered a pool to cool off in. I met some local kids and passed out surf stickers. They came back with more kids and I made some new friends.

The beach was private and beautiful, although the ocean water had a brownish tint. We walked down the beach where we found our dream house/hut. Dorian said with confidence “I can learn to build you that Ang.” We dreamt together and walked back to camp. Punta Perula is a quiet town, just how we like it.

The next day we decided to check our phones. They did not work previously but we thought we would give it a try. I tried calling my mom and to my surprise the phone started ringing. “Hello, Hello”, I shouted through the phone. After the second Hello I could hear my mom’s voice. I shouted we are doing great and we talked and talked. I was so excited to be able to make a few calls. Our friends’ and family’s voices were good to hear that morning since we had not talked to anyone since entering Mexico.

Before leaving I was able to get a picture of some of the local kids we had met. I also showed them pictures of the U.S. and northern Mexico which they really enjoyed. The local kids were very kind. As we left the campground our new amigos quickly ran up to the gate to open it, and wished us well on our way out. We enjoyed talking with them even though I had trouble understanding them, as usual. We got back onto highway 200 and start heading south. We weren’t sure where we were going to stop next.

Puerto Vallarta

Today was our most unpleasant day so far. Dorian was frustrated from his injured foot and I was not in the best of moods either. We were having trouble agreeing on a town to stay in for a night. So we kept driving south in hope of finding a spot we liked. Once arriving in Puerto Vallarta I was interested in watching the people walking around. “Civilization” I said to Dorian (we had previously been almost alone for close to a week). We were then greeted by our first rain. It was a refreshing gift. We were hot of course from the drive and I immediately took in the cool humidity.

After the pleasant rain turned into a downpour we got lost, grumpy, frustrated, and tired. We had not found a place to stay for under $100 that allowed pets. Of course, we thought of the no tell motel (there were two in this town), but we were unable to pull our rig under their low entrances. We discovered while driving in circles that Puerto Vallarta is an illusion. The main strip is kind of clean, has big fancy hotels and a mall. Don’t be fooled though. On the outskirts of highway 200 it’s smelly and dirty like most cities.

We found ourselves turning onto a cobblestone road that led us to condos and clubs. We found a hotel near a marina for about $100 a night and we decided to sneak Ivy in though the entrance. It was really funny. When I pulled Ivy close to me while passing the concierge counter she barked. I started coughing like that bark just came from me. I was shocked when I was not stopped. Dorian and I were laughing in the halls while walking to our room.
That night we slept in a huge bed that seamed unfamiliar to us already since the camper is limited in space. We hade become attached to our home on wheels. We quickly left in the morning after practicing our Spanish with our waiter while eating breakfast at the hotel. It was nice not having to break down camp this morning.

Ivy came waltzing down the stairs while we were all leaving. Everyone stopped in their tracks but they didn’t seam to want to argue about it. Unfortunately one more incident happened before we were able to continue our journey. We noticed how crowded the parking lot had gotten over night while getting into the truck. The camper was now boxed in. While Dorian tried his best to maneuver the truck he accidentally hit the bushes that bordered the parking lot. The parking attendant came out. He tried to help us but with little success. It didn’t seamed to bother him that the bushes in back of us were now standing diagonally.

After a while the guy who blocked Dorian in came out and moved his car. We shouted out the window “lo siento, gracias” and smiled while we drove away. We felt bad about the bushes but we decided to just keep moving forward. There wasn’t any damage to the truck thankfully.
We stocked up on supplies at the Gigante down the road. Today was turning out to be a good day and we again continued south down highway 200.

Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz

Rising early with the sun, we set our destination to San Blas.in hope for finding some of the world class waves that are rumored to exist there. After arriving in San Blas we found the RV park I researched and we decided to move along. San Blas is known for its abundant mosquitoes, and the park had millions along with those thorns that like to attack Ivy’s fluffy coat. There were also numerous Mexican dogs roaming freely. We headed south to Santa Cruz.
Reaching Santa Cruz we drove up tiny alleys made of cobblestone in search of another RV Park. We soon found one. Pulling into the park giant trees, Hawaiian flowers and meadows of grass surrounded us. We had arrived. This place was beautiful, and the giant squirrels jumping from limb to limb agreed. We met a nice couple with a trailer who were camped next to us and proceeded to get comfortable. We stayed here for four nights.

The park had four pools and we again after the first night had the hotel/RV park to ourselves. Unfortunately Dorian while surfing out front stepped on a sea urchin and it broke off in his foot. He looked to me for help digging out the urchin spine as it was in a part of his foot that was hard to reach. I couldn’t do it. He finally got it out by digging it out himself with tweezers and a healthy beer buzz. He’s the man. In his eyes I think the worst part was not being able to surf for the following four days.

We treated ourselves to fresh margaritas at the restaurant and met the guy maintaining the property. He worked extremely hard and seamed very used to talking slow so the tourists could understand him. Although we had the place to ourselves we were told that it gets packed during our winter.

Dorian quickly grew frustrated from not surfing so after relaxing at this paradise we continued our journey. We were excited to have rested up and to start another adventure.