We have decided to spend Christmas in Mazatlan

Sunday Dec. 13, 2009

It is about 1:30 in the afternoon and 30C with a gentle breeze. Absolutely lovely. We went for a swim this morning and although it was a bit hard to get in (good sized waves) the water was warm and it's great to be back in the ocean. We spent some time on the beach and then back home for lunch. We have decided that we have had enough driving for awhile and will spend a month here in Mazatlan. There is lots to see and do if we can muster up the energy and the air and water are both warm. Since we have never even been to Mazatlan on vacation it is all new to us. The Las Jaibas park is quiet and the people are really nice. It is not near any noisy bars and it is really close to the beach and the bus stops right out front. The buses run every 8-10 minutes unit about 8:30pm and after that a taxi is cheap and since we are not very social it probably doesn't matter about late transportation. We rarely eat out except for lunch and right now just need to chill out. There is a Tecate beer store next door (not our favorite beer) but they also have Sol and it is quite nice. Adrian & Sandi dropped by last night for a visit to tell us how their trip from San Carlos to Mazatlan went and it was not so good. They do not have Church's book (they know they have to get it!) and it would seem without that book it is difficult to navigate. They left San Carlos and entered Los Mochis where we stopped overnight at about 2pm and Adrian decided to push on. Not a good idea because it was getting dark when they got to Culiacan and they missed the toll road and ended up on the libre. They spent the night in Culican at a Pemex truck stop. The libre road is okay except that's not where they wanted to be and it takes way longer, has way more trucks on it and it's only two lanes and not four. They then missed the sign for Mazatlan Playas (it's really hard to see) and ended up lost in downtown Mazatlan with the RV . When they finally got to Punta Cerritos which is the first RV park at the top of the beach road that they missed coming in they discovered a chair had tipped and cracked their back window. So although we are glad it wasn't us it could happen to anyone as the signs are in Spanish and many of them are very hard to see. We loaned them our On the Road again papers overnight and they copied them to help out with their next leg of the journey. They just laughed this morning when we said we were going to stay a month here and told us we were just chickens to drive the road. Too true, at least right now! We have promised to meet them in Rincon in January and they will email back to tell us how their trip went. They will go south on the toll road to Tepic and then south on 200. We may take a day trip to Rincon de Guayabitos and stay the night and come back to check it all out. Frank who we met at the Pemex has a good map and some suggestions of alternate routes. Of concern is that some of the quieter roads are narrow and the trees are not trimmed back making RV damage a possibility. Adrian & Sandi are great people and we are seeing how quickly you can make friends with people who are doing what you are. They have bounced back and are ready to push on and we give them credit for that. Everyone has something to share to help you out and it is much appreciated. So all is well at this point and tomorrow we must venture out in the truck to find groceries. For the most part I think we will take the bus to sight see and drive for trips out of town and to get groceries. All this RV travel is a huge learning curve but today it all seems worthwhile!