0082 15th Aug - Zihuantenejo to Acapulco

Another not very long day of driving, but as usual some interesting views and sights coming along the coast and through the many little villages on this very country highway.  It is very slow, but I am actually really enjoying going through all the little villages every few miles as I am not in a hurry.  Already getting a bit sick of all the topes though – They are just endless.  Only one I didn’t see today, and that work me up in a hurry !  The trouble is that some are sign posted ahead of time, some are not. Some are signposted right beside the tope, some are not.  Some are brightly painted so you can see them, some are just black tarmac.  And some sections are painted like topes, but are just flat bits of road, so you have already slowed down by the time you realise you don’t have to !!  And as usual the locals use them to sell drinks, nibbles, corn, or just to beg.  We got stopped at one bridge for roadworks for about 15 minutes today, and a young girl did a roaring trade of drinks in plastic bags (a la Singapore style) – She kept carrying 2 or 3 drinks, selling them, then rushing back to her little shop at the front of the traffic line and getting some more.  I was laughing and clapping my hands as she went past and she saw me an burst out laughing and called out “Bueno, Bueno” as she ran past !!  Another time an army truck with about 40 soldiers stopped in a village and the kids went beserk selling drinks to them all !

Some lovely coastline views from a couple of high spots early on – This whole pacific coast is really quite something, all the way down.  It is no wonder a lot of the youngies come over here to go surfing, like Mark and Bri who I met on the ferry from Baja. 

At the bridge road works where we had been held up earlier, it was so funny – When we eventually got moving the guy waving the flag (they don’t have Go Slow

and Stop signs here, just a flag. If they wave it it means slow down, if they hold it out stationary, it means stop), anyway, he was actually lying in a hammock, under a shade, waving the flag as required.  I burst out laughing, he saw me, and started laughing too !!  Later on in a village I came to a stop over a tope and there were a whole bunch of men sitting around talking, and one of them saw me and pointed out my car to the others.  (They get an incredible kick out of seeing my steering wheel on the right !!)  So instead of just staring back, I called out “Buenas Dias, Senors” and smiled and waved at them, and they all waved and smiled and gave me the thumbs up – They are really a very friendly bunch over here – All you have to do is smile at them and say G’Day.

As I head further south, I am noticing two things.  One, there are a LOT more old VW beetles and kombis down here than up north.  In Acapulco most of the taxis are old beetles still.  And two, there are a lot more really dangerous “things” on the road.  No just donkeys and mules and people sitting right on the edge of the road, but holes in the road, and things that could be really nasty if you didn’t see them.  The bridge where the guy was in his hammock had enormous holes on both sides, with nothing but river below – How some of the big trucks and buses miss them, goodness knows.  And then today, driving into Acapulco, I suddenly saw a big manhole missing in the middle of the road – If I had hit that with a wheel, it would have ripped the suspension clean off !! Troopie does a great job on all the rough roadworks and poor road surfaces, but she does have her limits !!  Its no wonder I am so pooped by the end of even a short day driving – You really do need to concentrate all of the time.

I decided to stop in Acapulco tonight because there was an RV Park open, and I found it !  If Mike who I met in Puerto Vallarta had not allowed me to photograph a number of the pages in his Mexican camping book, I would have been really stuck – So many of these campgrounds are just not open at this time of year.  I am right on the beach, and the only one in the grounds, apart from two vans which are permanent but the owners are not currently here.  So the surf is breaking at my back door to lull me to sleep.  I had to do my laundry by hand tonight for the first time – Washing

machines are getting harder and harder to find as I head south – And working ones even harder ! So it was out there on the ripple bottomed sink (yes really) doing my T shirts, towels, and knickers !!  After that I cooked some spag for supper – I meant to cook the meat yesterday as it must be getting close to going off after 4 days in the fridge, but because I felt obligated to eat in the restaurant at the campground yesterday (and very nice it was too – A kind of Mexican spicy tuna), tonight was the night. Now as I eat my supper with a drop of red to wash it down, people are riding horses up the beach beside me, and the sun is setting.  How good is this ?  But I know I was right in one thing I learned from my 2012 trip – Doing it on your own sucks.  You can be on the most gorgeous beach, or in the mountains, or up in Alaskan glaciers, but if you are on your own, what it the point ?  Like the rest of life, you have to share it fully to really get the most out of it.  Otherwise it is a bit like one hand clapping…………………….

 

By the way, if some of you are missing seeing photos in the body of the blog itself, I apologise, and will do it when the internet connection is fast enough that it is not a chore.  But in many instances I can only get wifi occasionally, and then it is so slow that even just to post up the photos and the written section takes maybe 4 or 5 hours.  So the last thing I feel like doing is spending another hour or two taking photos out of Picasa and inserting them in the blog - Sometimes that takes about 5 minutes waiting time for each photo !  So my apologies if it makes it less interesting but that is just the way it is...... !  When I have good wifi, and am only up loading one day's blog, it is not an issue - Like today !!!

 

Photos are here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0083ZihuaToAcapulco?authkey=Gv1sRgCIfb78bDkrb53AE#