0077 Aug 9th - Mazatlan to Puerto Vallarta

As previously mentioned, many of the RV parks are virtually empty due to this being the low season weather wise, but this campsite was the liveliest yet.  Also a lot of the motorhomes and 5^th Wheels are permanently here, and are bricked in with thatched roofs for shade, and decks and bbq areas etc.  People bring them down and then leave them here permanently, along with their boats and ject skis and even cars, and then just fly down from Canada and the US for their holidays.  You can see in the pics how they set them up permanently.   

Was hot in the morning when packing up, but I am slowly working out the best orientation to park the car down here ! (Its different from Alaska where you need all the sun you can get !!)  Here, if you park with the setting sun directly on the rear of the car, the morning sun will be in the front of the car, and with a reflective front windscreen thingy in place keeping the sun out, you are in the shade under the rear awning to have breakfast etc.  Only exception is if it windy, in which case it is best to have the nose of the car into the wind so you can survive better at the rear under the awning.  So now you know my parking theories – Small things make a big difference !

Anyway, set off through Mazatlan to find the road south to Tepic. First stop was for some Pemex diesel, and where I pulled up there were lots of trucks in the diesel section. (nothing to do with the new found weight of my vehicle, I am sure !!).   The petrol attendant (all full service here !) suddenly starts jabbering on about, from what I can tell, moving my car to another pump.  But as he still has the nozzle in my tank (albeit not yet pumping anything), I don’t quite understand.  Suddenly another man comes over to tell me he likes my Troopie, in English !!.  So of course I get him to translate what the Pemex man is saying, and it something along the lines of “If you move you car over to the other pump, he can give you the fuel at a cheaper rate”.  So I get the man to remove his nozzle from Troopie, move across to the other pump and they fill up my tank – From the same nozzle as this big semi trailer was using !!!    Now I am not sure, but I think the truckie was kindly offering to fill my tank up at his cheaper bulk rate – Anyway, I paid about 15 cents a litre less than I normally do !! I paid my cash to the truck driver, he patted me on the back and smiled de nada, and, once I realised I hadn’t been “had”,  off I went !!  Everyone is proving so friendly on the roads.   

There are 2 highway 15’s heading SE down the coast – 15, and 15D.  15 is Libre, or free, while 15D is the Cuota or toll road.  I stayed on the Libre road yesterday and since I wasn’t in a hurry, found it quite pleasant, passing slowly through the villages along the way (slowly because of topes !), and being much more in touch than being on the new straight toll road that misses everything.  Yesterday, despite being on the Libre road, there were a couple of 20 peso ($1.75) tolls, which I couldn’t work out.  But today, for some reason, the signs for the Libre 15 disappeared, and there I was, entering the cuota !  Oh well, let’s see what its like.

Answer, not much better, with just as many potholes and roadworks – So I got off when I saw a Libre sign and got back on regular 15.  All the countryside is very lush and green and tropical – I try to take pics every so often as I drive in order to try and portray to you (dear reader) an image of what I am passing though, painting a picture as it were so that you can better imagine my journey.  (Whether it works or not is a separate issue !!).  We came into one little town and the whole road was closed for repairs, so we were sent off through the dirt side roads – And before you knew it, we were back in a toll booth !!  The crafty buggers forget to put the Libre signs out, so you end up paying the tolls anyway !!

Eventually we came into Tepic, and I planned to turn off here.  Coming into town there was a pick up beside me through several sets of traffic lights, with mum and dad in the front, and a couple of 8 or 9 year old kids in the back in the tray, with grandma. They were all waving and smiling and being friendly, and laughing at my “lack” of a steering wheel, so when we stopped at about the 4^th traffic light I wound down my passenger window (getting quite good at that now !!) and unclipped a couple of the little koalas I keep clipped on the sun visor (for ease of access in situations like this), and tossed them across into the back of their pick up just as the lights changed .  Trouble was, one fell short and hit the side of their truck and fell on the ground !!  Oh no – But no problem, we stopped all the traffic for a moment while the daughter jumped down and retrieved it, and off we went.  Not only were the kids and grandma delighted with their unexpected gift, but for the next few sets of lights, all the other cars that had seen what had happened were smiling at me and waving too, saying “No problem, de nada”.  

I then got off onto highway 200 to Puerta Vallarta, and this was a much smaller road.  We spent half an hour weaving through the back streets of Tepic, while the sky ahead got blacker and blacker, eventually delivering a massive downpour as we headed up into the mountains. This whole road is very narrow and windy, and gets as high as 3000 metres at the top, and there was a LOT of traffic on it – Saturday afternoon ?    Fascinating road though, as long as you keep a close eye on all the other drivers who go not 1 kmh slower when it is raining hard, and continue to overtake the second you leave a car’s length plus one inch in front of you !!!   As always by the end of  days driving here, I really was exhausted from concentrating by the time I reached Puerto Vallarta.

My book had a couple of RV parks listed, but as usual, they were impossible to find, so after driving right through the middle of Vallarta, it was about 7 pm and getting dark, and I did NOT want to be looking for a camp spot in the dark again !!  And the sky was turning black again.  So I ducked into a Pemex station and asked a couple of people without luck, until someone pointed to a guy filling up his car who had a “tour guide” shirt on – And he spoke English !!   Only place he knew of was back down the road about 3 mile, behind Walmart – Which I had seen, so I knew where it was.  So off I toddled, turned up beside Walmart, and sure enough, about 500 metres up the road – RV Park !!  As usual, almost deserted – Just a few parked and mothballed trailers.  But a lovely camp site.  Great showers and toilets, and when I parked my car, the little man even came over and swept the leaves off the little brick siding !!   

Only drawback was that there was some kind of political rally (??) in the other side of the park, and they had all sorts of music and singing going on.  No problem – After supper I was so tired I went right to sleep despite the noise.

At 3.45 am I woke up to most almighty noise of drumming. The musicians had moved on to the big drums plus bongos, and they were so loud they even woke me up !!  And once I was awake, they were LOUD !!!   I put earplugs in, but even they couldn’t keep the noise out – But suddenly, at about 4 am, they stopped !!     So I was back to sleep in a twinkling, and had a thoroughly rest full night – Which I really needed.   Might have a lazy day tomorrow, do some shopping for supplies, and have a second night here – As long as there is no band again !!  Will decide in the morning,

Pics Here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0078MazatlanToPuertoVallarta?authkey=Gv1sRgCLLcg6u1sJWm7wE#