Today we are off to Teacapan

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92 miles each way.  I see from my old blog postings that we went to Teacapan last March on St. Patrick’s day.  I had a look at that posting and thought I could have just reposted and saved myself a lot of work!

We have an old derelict boat stored on our slide side and there are a couple of iguanas living under it.  Against my usual policy of not feeding wildlife I have put out a few vegetable and fruit scraps for them.  No bread….it attracts mice and we’ve already had trouble with that.

Eric spent a couple of days cleaning up Big Red as it was filthy and the chrome was a mess.   Looks way better now.

We stopped for fuel at the Pemex on the way out of town and this small cart rolled into the parking lot.  It attracted customers right away.  Eric says he sees it all over this end of town when he’s out on his bicycle and it always does a good business. 

On the road out of town and there isn’t anyone behind us.  Frank and Sandi didn’t come today as Sandi is on the disabled list with an ankle and pulled muscle injury.  Maybe next time.

We’ve just come off the Mazatlan cuota bypass and are heading into Villa Union so we can go south on the free road. 

Lots of watermelons in Mexico….this guy has a cart full.

Heading south on the free road.

Rolling through El Rosario.

Over the bridge and out of town heading south.

Here we are coming into Esquinapa  and the street coming north is still all dug up.  We’ll have to find an alternate route when we return as we don’t want another fiasco like the one last time when we came back through from Tecuala.

Detour signs everywhere.

Luckily there isn’t much traffic today.

Turn right for Teacapan.

The wide open estuaries of Teacapan.

Beautiful.

This is the area where they bag up the salt.  Not sure what it would be used for.

They’ve been doing some repaving but….it can’t last!

The bridge that was under construction last year is finished.  The pangas are pulled up on the shore and it looks like a nice place to live.

Huge metal transmission poles are being erected here.  Wonder what they need that much power for.  Teacapan has been slated for huge eco-tourism development over the last few years but not much has happened so far. 

There’s that lovely road we remember!

The whole area from Esquinapa to Teacapan is agricultural.  Hence the tractors that are always on the road.

Tomatoes, chilis, watermelons….it’s all grown here.

Off to work!

Every village or ejido has a beautiful gate.

Crops being harvested and crops just getting started.

The old ways are the least invasive to keep the weeds down.  Get behind your horse and….plow.

Getting close to Teacapan and the road isn’t bad here.

Here we are.

Every time we come to Teacapan we head down the road to go the to the malecon which is on our right.

Nice paved street here.

As usual we missed the nice paved street to the malecon and ended up on this one instead.  In our defense there isn’t a sign that says malecon.

This guy was mending his net.

A new residence being built.

This place is for sale….looks nice.

We did get to the malecon but Big Red is too hard for Eric to muscle around so we didn’t stop.

Heading back to the main street for lunch.

We’ll eat here at Otto’s Japonesa restaurant.  It’s really nice to eat something a little different. 

Big Red is parked on the pavement at the Pemex across the street.

That’s Otto and Juanie’s  daughter Yuki all dressed up just like her Mom.  She is nine now and when we first came here in 2010 she was just a baby.   My how time flies! 

The music was a little loud so Eric tried to turn it down but instead he turned if off!  Yuki explained where he could adjust the sound.

Yuki had brought us condiments and beer and then asked if we needed a vaso or glass.  We said “ si, y limas…por fabor.”  First she brought the ice cold glasses and then the limes.  Every time we said gracias she said de nada….just so sweet!

Just as we were relaxing in this very lovely zenish place a whole horde of gringos showed up.   Rats!

First we has eggrolls and then the food arrived.  Fried rice and tempura vegetables and shrimp.  Good but Eric would have preferred what he had last time….fried rice, sweet and sour pork and chop suey style vegetables.  Next time!

I seem to have eaten most of mine already!  Soup and a cracker for dinner tonight.

The talk at one of the tables beside us was very loud and it wasn’t hard to hear where they were from (B.C. Okanagan and Alberta) or what they had been doing.  A lot of….I did this and I did that…which was a monologue more than a conversation. 

After we’d paid we asked Juanie if Otto was around and she said yes.  As we were mounting up he crossed the street to say Hi.  We asked about business and he said it was okay but that he was still working for his friend.  He has trips to Chili, Peru and Ecuador planned after Semana Santa on seafood buying trips.  We told him we like to come to Teacapan every winter just to see him and have lunch at this restaurant.  He was pleased!  Eric also told him how sweet his daughter was and what a good job she was doing waitressing.  Otto said they couldn’t afford extra staff so he asked Yuki to help out.  He went back to relay our compliments and then I walked over with an extra 50 peso tip just for her.

Otto and Yuki.

Here you can see the huge piles of wood that are used to heat the fires to dry the chilis. 

I think the watermelons at the edge of the road are an indication of what they have stored inside!

Hard to see but that wagon behind the tractor is full of watermelons.

The horse is still plowing!

That pile of sticks may also be for stakes in the fields….they need a lot of them.

Eric thought that this was a flock of black brants.  It is so easy to see things when you are on the bike.  Everything is close and you can smell it as well….sometimes a good thing and sometimes not!

The chilis are drying and you can see the huge pile of sticks on the right at the back.

See the bags of chilis right next to the drying trough.

Sheep grazing under the big tree.

If you need a cold drink while you wait for the bus you can get one here.

Lots of birds at the edge of the water as we ride along.

Remember that bus stop back there….well here comes the bus!  As soon as we could pull over and get out of the way…we did.  It’s never good to have a bus right behind you as they are always in a hurry. 

We managed to find our way back through Escuinapa without getting caught in the construction detours and we were out of town. No pictures as I was keeping my eyes open as it’s easy to go the wrong way on a one way street.  

Just north of Esquinapa there are huge chicken barns…one of those smells that you get on the bike that makes you want to hold your breath!

Back to Villa Union and then onto the Mazatlan bypass and home.

Turn right for the Playas. 

We were home by 3:30 and we both needed a good drink of water.  It was hot today but it’s always cooler by the beach where we are. 

A good day.