0084 17th Aug - Acapulco to Atlacholoaya

As usual, the days never turn out to be quite what you expected – Which is most of the fun of a not overly planned trip like this.  It rained again during the night, but not a big storm like the previous night, but at least it was quite cool and overcast to pack up.  Went into have a chat with Rafaela and her sister (I found out later) before I left, and gave them a little Koala, which they loved.  She is a sweetie, and I strongly recommend their camp site in Acapulco as being clean, friendly, and Rafaela being so helpful.  Acapulco Trailer Park, Playa Pie de la Cuesta, www.acapulcotrailerpark.com.mx, tel 744 4 60 00 10

My first port of call was to go shopping – And while it may sound terrible, I try to  go to Walmart of Sofiana or one of the other big supermarkets because a) the food is way better quality, b) it is not much more expensive, and c) it has covered and secure parking.  I will still buy from road side stalls and markets, but fruit is over ripe there,

so bananas go off within the day, etc.    Plus you may have to stop at 4 or 5 markets to find what you want !! Anyway, I set off to Walmart, but first had to get through Acapulco, with its congestion and major roadworks. Luckily it was Sunday morning (part of my cunning plan !) so it wasn’t too bad early on, although that cunning plan would come slightly unravelled later !!  Walmart is on the eastern side of Acapulco, and I was camped on the west side, so it was a trapse through tunnels (couta (ie toll)), and past beaches and then Tom Tom in its wisdom took me through some market on the outskirts of town and it was CHAOS !!  Probably 40 minutes just to get down one street, and it was bumper to bumper, not only in front and behind, but sideways too as everyone pushes in and changes lanes, and all the local buses (both full size and VW kombi size) add to the flavour as they belch black diesel smoke out everywhere !!  But I enjoyed it – Lots of people winding down their windows and saying Buenas Dias, and giving me the thumbs up and calling out “Australia” !!  But eventually made it to Walmart out at the airport OK, and did my shop.  Credit card is getting harder to use – Lots of Pemex stations won’t accept it – They want cash – and I know that is going to become more common as we head south. So one is always on the look out for cambio’s beside the road to change US $ into Pesos.

Once my shop was completed, the road out was easy – Straight onto a toll road !!  I was heading north to Cuernavaca  which is just 90 kms short of Mexico city – Mainly to get into the cool of the mountains – But I am not going into Mexico City proper as everyone says it really just isn’t wOrth the hassle, not only of horrific traffic but also because the Police there target gringos, and you can expect at least 2-3 spot fines of US$3-400 each !  I just don’t have that kind of money to waste ! And if I did want to go to Mexico City, apparently the only way to do it is stay outside and then catch local buses into the city, because secure parking is very hard to find.  So we shot up the first part of the road to Chilpancingo, where not 100 yards after paying a 3^rd toll, the

toll road stopped and we were dumped into the middle of a sizable city with all the roads dug up – And – Yes, you’ve guessed it – Market Day !!!  I think it was probably an hour getting through the town !  And to add insult to injury, I went for a pee in a Pemex station (Ha Ha – like a BeePee station !!) and it cost me 4 pesos !!  And  I wasn’t even desperate – I thought she said 1 peso !!  There were all the usually waves and chats in the traffic which always makes it fun, and in one traffic jam a young kid selling things was laughing at my steering wheel but being really friendly,  so I called him over and gave him a gold kangaroo stick pin I carry a stock of, and he was SO happy – Showing it off to all his mates as I drove away, and waving after me to thank me.

Then eventually it was back on the toll road – Cuota.  The whole day cost me about 500 pesos, which is about $40, but it certainly makes it quick – Except for where they haven’t quite finished the road ! And of course we were climbing all day – When I stopped for lunch at about 2 we were at 1500 metres, and the temp had dropped to about 24 deg C – So good !!  Lots of amazing bridges over really deep ravines up in the mountains, and tunnels through mountains, and a lot of agriculture wherever possible – Mostly corn (in the cob) up here, being cultivated in little lots and clearings everywhere they can.  All in all, a very pleasant and varied day, and totally different scenery wise to anything I have seen in the past 3 weeks.

My campsite for tonight was to be outside Cuernavaca – I have picked my route for the next few days based on open-all-year-round camp sites that I have found on the internet, and for which I have an address or some kind of directions.  The one tonight is in a little village called Atlacholoaya (I won’t say that twice !), and I had Lat and Long co-ordinates for it, which is by far the best way here because street names and directions just don’t work !!  Anyway, Tom Tom was doing a really good job all day – Until suddenly, about 15 kms out, it lost the plot, and just couldn’t work out where it was – I used some very choice words to him, I can assure you ! But fortunately I have a new Garmin unit I bought for this trip which covers Costa Rica south, including S America (Yes, I know it will have limitations, but for someone who can’t even find his house in Queensland without a Sat Nav, I need all the help I can get !!)  Anyway, I got this Garmin out of its box yesterday just to get it warmed up and make sure it is working, so I had that on as well today.  It isn’t quite sure where it is because it has no Mexico maps loaded, but just as Tom Tom fell apart tonight, Senor Garmin kept saying “5 minutes to arrival”. “4 minutes to arrival” etc, and believe it or not I arrived right at the gate of the camp site which was down a little dirt alley way at the far end of this little village !!

The camp site has about 100 spots, all shady, and Umberto and his wife Esperanta speak a little English and are charming.  As usual, apart from a few permanent vans with no one in them at this time of year, the place is empty, so I picked a spot, set up, cooked my supper, washed all my veggies and fruit bought today in disinfectant, and after doing my nightly blog, turned in on a lovely cool evening !!  SO nice not to be sitting here perspiring continually !!  By the way, they also have the special sinks with a wavy bottom like an old wash board like the one I used to do my laundry in Acapulco – So I took a photo of it to show you because I think that is what we are going to be using from here on down !!   Camp site is El Paraiso de los Acampadores, www.elparaisotrailerpark.com.  GPS N 18.45.529  W 099.1#.197

Similar to the need to now disinfect and wash all fruit and veggies before eating, on a water note, it is now getting virtually impossible to find water suitable for drinking, and I am not going to use bottled water all the time – Especially for my 50 litre tank in the van.  I brought a (supposedly) super doper kills anything water filter with me from Aus, and combined with a Swiss product called Micropur Forte which I also brought from Aus (5 ml into 50 litres of water), figure that should kill most bugs.  But to ease into it, I am now also boiling my water before drinking it, so at night I boil a couple of kettles of my filtered and treated water, then when it has cooled, fill my bottles and also my thermos so I have a supply for the next day.  When Janet gets here I will have her on bottled water for a few days so she can acclimatise slowly – but I have been down here for a couple of weeks now so (fingers crossed) Montezuma should be kept away unless I do something really silly !   And cerveza seems good, and I have now switched to Chilean Merlot at about $6 per bottle, and that works quite well too !!

So, for a change, everything seems to be almost under control tonight !!  Which probably means everything will fall apart tomorrow !!

 

Pics here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0085AcapulcoToAtlacholoaya?authkey=Gv1sRgCL_g-OKXkZz7lQE#