We had some errands to run in Guadalajara; getting cash, filling the diesel, etc, and then started working our way towards Guanajuato. We routed the GPS down the libre (free) route rather than traveling on the toll roads and the route was supposed to take about 4.5 hours for 186 miles. Well, after driving for 5 hours I decided to stop at a camp along the way in Lago de Moreno. The traffic getting out of Guadalajara was fun to say the least, and then along the route we hit a bunch of walkers and bikers, and the 4 lane highway slows to a crawl. We thought it might be migrants, but those trains have seemed to have slowed this past year. Kathy got on Google and found out it is an annual religious pilgramage.
The pilgrimage to San Juan de los Lagos occurs in the weeks before Feburary 2, which people begin to walk or ride towards. The holiday is Candelaria, which is when Jesus was presented to the temple by Mary and Joseph. In Mexico it is the holiday when all Jesus infants and Christmas decorations are taken down and officially ends the Christmas season. Kathy and I were wondering why the decorations here were up throughout the month of January (definitely not HOA approved, LOL).
Well it turns out the town of San Juan de la Lago will see about 2 million pilgrims in the small town. Along the route we were driving from there to Leon, we saw tons of water points, tent cities, roadside food tables, supply trucks, and vendor stands. It was quite a site to see. Here is a link to a better description, instead of me regurgitating it. Anyway, but the time we were supposed to get to Guanajuato, it would have been way past dark, so we routed to a campground in Lago del Moreno called Kikapu.
Parque Aquatico Kikapu is a waterpark in the warmer seasons. It is really quite impressive to see with multiple pools, play areas, picnic areas, beaches, an event center, cabanas, and even a lake that is stocked for fishing. The campground is not too impressive, but it had power (supposedly), water and a black-water dump. There was another camper in the grounds, but they stayed inside so we did not get to chat with them. Maggie and Zuzu loved the grounds as they got to run through the grass throughout the park. The only issue we found was the skunk that was wandering around the truck after dark.
The next day we got all packed up and attempted to empty the black and grey tanks. Unfortunately the drain was plugged and I had to move the drain hose to another location, which of course caused a little bit of a stinky mess. This is the second time we have experienced this in Mexico and it took a bit to get the tanks cleaned out, but we did it. We have a couple of stops along the route today before getting to Guanajuato, and we were off by 11am. Not too many photos today.
We arrived at the second largest city in Mexico, with around 5 million people, in the early afternoon. It was a nice drive from Tequila and we knew we were in a bigger city by the amount of traffic. We managed to work our way into the central area where we were looking to park in a pay parking lot for the night. When we arrived at the suggested location, the attendant said it was full and we could not park there. We looked for some other suggestions on iOverlander, and after almost taking out a power line, we found a nice spot on one of the side streets that looked to be a good place. It was next to a culinary school and amongst a bunch of early to mid 20th century mansions. Two blocks west of us is a very busy avenue with tons of restaurants, bars, and little vendors in the walkway in the median.
To be sure we were legal to park here I looked up the local parking signs and found an app that they use here to pay for parking. I downloaded it, logged in, and paid for 18 hours of parking, which got us to about noon the following day. The cost was $305 pesos. We ended up staying two nights at this spot and I paid for a day and then for another night. The total cost was about $35 USD. The first morning we found a parking guy going around and scanning license plates, so I am glad I paid for the spot.
We got lucky with this spot, apparently, as it is in a great neighborhood called Americana, which was developed as the first subdivision outside of Guadalajara in the early 1900’s. It was designed for the affluent, and the mansions around here are pretty neat looking, especially when lit up at night. The street adjacent to our parking spot is divided with a median and both sides have wide sidewalks and beautiful shade trees. The street comes alive in the evenings with the lights and the numerous cafes that are intermingled with the houses. For some reason I did not take any photos of this, which surprised me. Oh well.
Kathy and I decided after walking the dogs the next morning to have brunch at one of the local cafes and we picked this really cool place called Membrillo Cocina. They had an extensive menu from pizzas to steaks to omelets. I ordered an omelet with chicken, spinach, cheese, and some sort of sauce. It ended up being truly amazing. Kathy’s pizza took a while to get there, and was a bit doughy, but we reheated it for dinner and it was much better then.
We walked the pups again, and then headed the 1.5 miles into the center of town to visit the grand cathedral. Along the way we walked through what is the university of Guadalajara, a collection of buildings inter strewn in the busy city. The Library is a huge stone building that is dwarfed by the high rises around it. We also passed a very large church and took a look inside. Apparently there are over 500 churches in this city.
Parroquia El Expiatorio Eucarístico
We climbed up on the fountain steps and got a great picture of the cathedral. The church, called Parroquia El Expiatorio Eucarístico, was begin in 1897 and took about 75 years to complete. They have 125th year clebration plaques in the courtyard with photos of the long build process. It was very gothic looking with open stone structures just as they would have done them in the 17th century.
Inside Parroquia El Expiatorio Eucarístico.
We continued through the streets and eventually made it to the Cathedral in the center of Guadalajara. The buildings around this square are beautiful as is the cathedral. THe original site was built in 1517, and over the years with fires and earthquakes, the present cathedral results. It is a minor basilica in the Catholic church and the seat of the archbishop of Guadalajara. We toured the inside of the church, which is beautiful.
Inside the Guadalajara Cathedral.
We spent the next several hours walking through the streets and markets and enjoying the amazing weather. We ended up poking our heads and touring 5 churches in the area we walked. The pups were glad when we arrived back and we took them for another walk around the Americano neighborhood. We made some margaritas (after it took me an hour to find the orange liqour) and talked to some friends on the phone before making pizza and retiring for the evening.
I have to find a water point tomorrow and a place to stay in our next stop, Guanajuato. It is supposed to be 4-5 hours drive, so it may take us a couple of days to get there.
We left Tepic and headed down the Libre (free) highway towards Tequila. We had checked with a local distillery about camping there. The distillery is listed on iOverlander and Jose charges $400 pesos per person on the first night, which includes a tour of the fields, the distillery, and a tasting. Each additional night is $150 pesos per person, and we ended up staying 3 nights at this lovely place.
His agave farm and distillery is 4 generations old and they have been producing tequila for 110 years. They are an organic farm and use animals to graze the fields to keep the grass and weeks down around the agave plants. Kathy, of course, loved the horse that was “working” in the field.
Jose explained the tequila processing. It takes 9 years to grow a blue agave plant to the ideal ripeness. As they grow, they produce offspring via the root system and when those are 2 years old, they are extracted and moved to one of his rotating fields. He rotates crops as well and after harvesting, the soil is churned and corn is planted the first year, then beans the second year before a new crop of agave is planted. So one crop of agave is 11-12 years in the making. Jose has 600 acres of agave fields. He showed us a recently harvested portion, of which 80-100 agave pineapples were harvested for the 8000kg needed for the steam chamber. He said it takes a good harvester about 60 seconds to cut and harvest an agave. He showed us one example with the middle portion gone (eaten by his horse, as they like the sweet centers as well).
The harvested pineapples are transported to the distillery where they are split in half and stacked in a large industrial steam chamber. The chamber is sealed and the steam generator is turned on and steam is blown through the chamber over a 24 hour period to cure the pineapples which cooks the starches and transforms them to the sugars of which the agave nectar is extracted. Following the cook, the chamber is cooled and after 24 additional hours, the liquid in the chamber is collected in a vat. Jose let some of the juice out so we could smell the sweet smell. It is collected in a vat and them pumped to a holding chamber.
The steam chamber is opened and the cooked pineapples are removed for further processing. They are put into a shredder that rotates 6000rpm and pulverizes the solids into smaller fibers. There are juices from this process as well and they are collected and put into the vat. The pulverized pulp is then added to a conveyor, rinsed with water to extract more of the sugars, and then run through a press where the pulp is squeezed and all the liquids are collected.
Finally, the liquid is mixed with special yeasts and added to three large vats where they are set up to ferment for several weeks. Some of the processors heat their vats and add additional sugar, which speeds up the fermentation to under a day. Jose uses a more traditional method. Once the vats are “cooked”, they liquid is drained off, put in a holding chamber, and then distilled over several days a total of two times in order to produce tequila. Jose makes pure tequila, using only agave nectar with no added sugars. You can drink the doubly distilled product right from the still (and he will provide samples if we were there during this process). This process is Blanco tequila. There are four other types based on aging.
Jose explained the Reposido he makes as being aged for 6 months in Canadian oak barrels, which by the way have a 15 year life span. Anejo is aged 18 months in French barrels, Extra Anejo is aged 3 years, and Extra Anejo is aged 7 years. He has some Grand Reserve that is aged 10 years. We got to sample them all. Reposido and Anejo are much smoother than the blanco, but by the time we got to the Grand Reserve, we could taste the barrels and the aging process with very complex flavors. Jose explained that the barrels must be returned to the factory, taken apart, reprocessed, and then certified after each batch. We had a really nice time with Jose at his distillery.
And we met some really cool fellow travelers. The first guy was Ian, who is from Toronto and was stuck at the camp for a couple of weeks while he was waiting on a fuel tank repair (the second one). His pup, Mia, is a cool camp buddy and even rides on the back of his motorcycle with googles when they are out and about exploring. We had three great nights exchanging stories and drinking good tequila around Ian’s propane camp fire.
Nice pool that we could use at the campground.
We also met Guy and Efran, a couple who bought a truck and truck camper in Oregon to do this trip (wanderingripples2025 on Istagram). They are from Israel and will be traveling probably through September 2026 when they may take a break to get back so they can vote in the upcoming elections. They came down Baja California much the same as we did and have throughly enjoyed their camper. (Its a big one).
The grounds were fantastic at Jose’s place and I was able to take some time on the two afternoons to get my computer set up and the first part of an app I am building to function properly. So far it is working great on my iPhone, a iPhone simulator, and an Android simulator. I am trying to learn the fluterflow process as well as all of the plugins associated. Fortunately I have enlisted an AI tool to assist and it helps me when I get stuck. More on that later. Kathy and I took a walk into town to get some celery (apio), carrots (zanahorias), and cucumber (pepino). The little stores did not appear to have celery and carrots, but when we asked, she went to the back and produced two stalks of celery and two carrots. All for 15 pesos.
We settled our bill with Jose, three nights camping, Tequila tour, two wash loads, and one bottle of Blanco for $2100 pesos ($120). Not bad. We headed into to the main town to get a sticker and see some sights. it took a bit to find a sticker, and in the process we saw some local pole dancers, several tequila tour vehicles, some churches, and a beautiful plaza area in the center of town. Mexico is a really neat country to tour. Its beautiful, the people are kind and generous, and we enjoy the challenges of adapting into new places.
Here is a video of the pole dancers, and here is a link to our photo album. We are headed to Guadalajara for a few days.
We drove the short distance to the town of Tepic in the state of Nayarit. Saw this cool sign right after we got back on the main road.
It was only 40 miles, but the road out of the mountain wound through avocado orchards and a town called El Ahuacate (the avocado). It was steep enough to burn in my new brake pads on the way down.
We first stopped in a large city park called Parque la Loma which had a statue monument to the water sister. It was not flowing, but was pretty cool none the less. The pups really enjoyed the walk around the huge park.
As we entered the town we passed a Dairy Queen and it took me about 15 minutes to navigate the streets to get back to the location so Kathy could get a box of Dilly Bars to put in the freezer. Tight, one-way streets with no easy pattern to discern. We then headed in to a grocery store to get our fridge and pantry stocked up again. We have not been good at planning a menu and too much of what we bought spoiled in the fridge. Veggies here don’t have a long shelf life, so we planned for three days of food.
iOverlander noted only one campground in the city, so we decided to head there since it was rated pretty well and the wild camp/street camping spots were further out. It took a bit to get there, but we found it and it was only $400 per night with full hookups, showers, and toilets. We are surprised we are the only ones here. The place was really nice and had eight spots in a grassy field lined with huge trees. Trees are terrible for Starlink, but their WiFi was fast enough to connect and update pages.
We decided to walk into town to try and find some green chilis so we could make enchiladas. On the way out we got another dose of Mexican hospitality and some lessons in Spanish. We saw some fruit on the ground from a local tree and a couple explained it to be Nanche, a small yellow fruit that is popular here and that they make frescas, candy and desserts out of them (and of course, can also be fermented into a liquor). Right across from that tree we saw starfruit on another tree. The gentleman explained that we should wait to pick those when the fruit is yellow, and then proceeded to pick a yellow one for us.
We asked the couple where to get chili verde in the area and they sent us to a local shop. Green chilis, the hatch type, are hard to find down here in Mexico, surprisingly. There are lots of green chilis but not the ones we are looking for. And as I have said, we cannot find cans of them in the stores (only jalapeños and sometimes serranos). The closest we can find are pablano peppers. We walked a couple of blocks to the street and ended up finding the shop, which had pablanos, but not hatch chilis. Further down the street we found a grocery store, but it did not have veggies, so we asked where a vegetable place was. They had tons of peppers, but no hatch type. So we bought several types and figured we’d try them and see which would work the best.
When we got back, the couple asked if we found what we wanted, and we told them we got some to try, but no the hatch variety was not there. About 30 minutes later, as we were oven roasting the ones we bought, he came back with two verde chili types, that look like serrano and jalapeño, which are both too hot for Kathy. The best part of the trip was that Kathy said along the way “this is fun” as we were trying to find the foods we wanted in the various shops.
Well, we realized we forgot to get corn tortillas so we instead hit up one of the little restaurants outside of the campground. We landed at the Mariscos (seafood) one and tried to order again. We learned tostaditios are little round tortilla chips, but still managed to order shrimp ceviche.
First attempt at ordering cooked shrimp. It was delicious though.
We asked if we could get an order with the shrimp cooked, and this time it came out with ceviche on a tostada. I had ordered the breaded fish again, so Kathy munched on that as well as some of the ceviche.
Kathy making the best of her second order, which was also not cooked.
We did have a great conversation with the owner of the restaurant, who was concerned we did not like his food. We told him we were terrible at Spanish and this food is different than what we are used to and are learning about it and enjoying it. It is really delicious, and is insanely healthy with raw shrimp “cooked” in lemon and lime juice and then mixed with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, cilantro, and chili sauces. My breaded fish is not as good for me, but I think this one was baked, not fried.
Breaded fish filet was cooked, however you can order pescado ceviche if you’d like (Mexican sushi).
Anyway, we are have a great time learning and this area is green and tropical. Not many pictures today, just fun.
So after our morning walk, I had mapped out how to get to the forest camp. The first two routes were back up and over to the toll roads and then back down. I figured we could do the secondary roads so I excluded paid routes from the map. It said it would take us 90 minutes. HA.
We worked our way through the mangroves, which are really cool to drive through and had missed those on the the night drive into San Blas. The route ran us along the coast through storm damaged homes and businesses, some of which had been repaired, some were in the process of repair, but many had Su Vende signs on them and were for sale. The road turned inland a bit and routed us to what looked like a one-way road with a No big trucks sign. I’m not that big (I said to myself). And we worked our way down a small path on the edge of the ocean that opened to a small town called Aticama where we drove past tons of seaside restaurants and decided to stop for lunch.
Tostadas de camarone
First, we need to learn more Spanish. These restaurants are not on the tourist route and there were no English menus, nor servers that knew English. Our first real test and we both failed. So we tried to google things, but it was not working well. We ended up ordering a shrimp (camarones) tostada and tried to tell the lady we did not want it spicy. Spicy is Picante while Hot is Caliente. We said “no caliente, per favor”, and were surprised when we got ceviche de camarone, but knew our mistake. It was delicious, but was a bit much on the raw side for Kathy, although she did eat quite a bit. I managed to figure out breaded (epanizado) for the fish, and both of us enjoyed that dish.
Oysters ready for sale.
We took a bit of a walk through town and noticed every place was hacking at oysters to prepare them for an incoming crowd. We found the local town sign and took a picture, and of course a friendly bottle of tequila reached out and asked Kathy for a selfie. There wern’t any souvenir shops, only bars, juice stands and restaurants. We headed back to the truck to get on our way to the forest campground. Soon we turned on a road that headed upwards and was paved but after passing through a little town, it turned to dirt. At first it started out pretty nice, but it took us several hours to wind our way up and over the ridges. The road is apparently a link between three small towns and connects the banana, coffee, mango, and other crop fields. I had to engage 4 high at some of the steeper sections. There were some great views, and some tight corners.
a view of one of the mountain peaks the road twisted around.
The road turned to cobblestone, not the cool brick types, but actual stones at this little town called El Cuarenteño. There is only a couple of roads in this town and they are steep no matter which way you go. The people seemed friendly as we drove by and waved. I am sure they don’t see a lot of truck campers through their town. We continued upward, passed many more vehicles that were bringing supplied to the town, and then got close to the forest camp. I found a road that was pretty wide, well traveled, and went down to the left. I pulled off and walked the road to an dirt quarry. It looked like a good place to camp, so I got the truck and family down there.
We spent two nights at this lovely spot. It was away from the road, flat, in a nice open space for the solar to charge and the internet to connect, and it was quiet; so quiet that you could hear nothing after dark except the crickets and birds chirping in the forest. We are about 5000 foot elevation so it is so much cooler up here. The nights got down to 45F or so and the days didn’t get much above 70F. We did a little hiking in the area and found the actual forest campground. It is on the ridge above us, has about 4 sites, and has a building with two drop toilets. I think the camp is part of or related to Rancho la Noria, which has a restaurant and a race park for rails. We will travel through that on our way out toward a town called Tepic. It looks like a neat little city to visit and is supposedly safe for travelers. We will see about staying the night there before heading towards Guadalajara and on to Guanajuato.
We left Mazatlan and headed to another beach community that apparently has great waves. Before leaving the big city, we stopped for water at a local purification site listed on iOverlander. As we drove up and asked if they could fill our tank, the said they did not have a hose to fill it. I went back to the truck to find another place, but the owner pulled out a garden hose and tried to affix it to the fill line. I said I had a hose if he wanted to use it, and they proceeded to take the filler valve off of the line so we could hook up. Wow, so nice. It cost $60 pesos to fill us up, which I think was about 100L. I left them a tip for going out of their way. Such nice people.
Then I tried to get some more pesos at the Banamex but for some reason it was rejecting my account. So instead we filled up with diesel at the next Pemex station and then headed to the Autopista to get further south into Mexico. This was our first real toll road, and HOLY COWS, Mexico charges a bunch for their roads (which are not as smooth as we’d expect). I think on this stretch before we got off, we paid $870 pesos to drive about 120 miles ($50). Plus, on a highway here there are three lanes; one that straddles the white line with one wheel on the shoulder, the same on the other lane, and then the suicide passing lane that straddles the middle line (which does not matter if it is dashed or solid, apparently).
It looks like two lanes, but there are really three.
We were running out of sunlight [since getting laundry done at the last campground took us until 12:30 to finish, and then all of the chores before leaving Mazatlan. I think we got out about 2PM, which should have put us in San Blas at about 5:30 PM, just before sunset] as we exited to a secondary road. There was a pin for industrial camping at the exit, but there were tons of cars, activity, and little place to park so we pushed onward. By that time the GPS had us arriving at 6:15, about 30 minutes past sundown, the second time driving after dark.
The road was curvy and descended down to the coast. San Blas looked like a really neat town as we drove in to find the campground. But when we got there, the campground was closed and had a for sale sign on it, so we went forward to a city parking lot that others said was free and quiet. It looked pretty good, so we backed in to a spot and let the pups out before taking them on a walk. I found the Banjercito (military bank/ATM) to get some money; which by the way is the best deal for withdrawls since they only charge $18 pesos and just then regular exchange rate.
Back at the truck, we settled in, took the pups for a walk and had a snack for dinner as we had been on the road for about 7 hours at that point. We had just sat down to watch a bit of a show and some local showed up around 8, opened the back of their ford SUV and started blasting music into a bank of speakers they had in the cargo area. We quickly shut the door. They stayed about 10 minutes and then headed off. But that did not last long as we had settled into bed around 10pm and they showed up 30 minutes later, this time right across from us at the front of Howie, louder than before as it was rattling the camper. We tried to ignore it but neither of us could sleep, so I got dressed, went out to the truck and moved us down to the other end of the parking lot. They left about 11PM, but where we were there was no place close for them to relocate to. In the morning I got up and moved us back to the original spot, which was easier for the pups to get in and out.
We made some breakfast and then took the pups for a walk along the beach. This beach had super fine sand, which the pups enjoyed. It was hot and muggy here and I was reading about the issue with sand flies (no-see-ums) that are in this area. I decided this was not the place to stay, as there was not a good place to camp and it was just hot and muggy. So Kathy and I packed up the beast and headed into the main part of San Blas to look around at the old town. It was not a quaint as we had seen the previous night, and only walked a few blocks before heading up to the cooler mountains.
Kathy checked with some old acquaintances who lived in Mazatlan to get a few places to visit. The first recommendation was a breakfast place called Pancho’s up north on the Malecon. We navigated the traffic and streets and found a place to park a block from the beach, restaurants, and shops. I took the pups for a long walk, something they were looking forward to since getting on the ferry the day before. They were so happy to be out and walking for 45 minutes or so. Kathy and I then took to the streets to check on some shops, the beach, and then on to Pancho’s.
It is not really hotter here, but with the sun and the higher humidity it feels hotter, so after a 90 minutes of walking and browsing, we were back at Pancho’s for breakfast. It was definitely a good recommendation as the coffee was great, the atmosphere right on the beach was delightful, and the food was tasty and not overly priced. The whole meal was $430 pesos ($25). We have been eating out a lot lately and that has had a bit of a hit on our budget, so we will be stepping back on this to get back on track.
The decorated stairwell to the upper floor of Pancho’s restaurant.
We decided to visit the old town of Mazatlan, down near the port as it was a recommended highlight. I looked on iOverlander for some street camping spots and checked out a few, but most were too narrow for Howie so we moved on to an area next to some construction and a wider street that was pretty level. We parked and took the pups for a walk in the old town area, first heading to the beach off the Malecon to do some beach combing and wading in the surf (Maggie is a beach bum, Zuzu prefers the sidewalks).
The cobblestone streets, colorful buildings, concrete and stucco architecture is so beautiful. There are several parks with restaurants and outdoor dining along the street and the vibe there is relaxing and peaceful. We took the pups back to the truck and then Kathy and I went back for some more exploring. We wandered for a couple of hours, taking in the sights and sounds of the beautiful place.
When we got back to the truck, we met a local guy named Luis, who recommended a better place to park for the night. He walked me a couple of blocks over to the park, which was really nice in a quiet neighborhood, but had a bit of a sewer smell. I told him that might not work, and he said where we were was fine, but the traffic and pedestrians on a Saturday and Sunday would be pretty heavy. We decided to chance it.
Luis was really helpful as he touted his neighborhood, the local shops, the convenience and grocery stores, and some of the sights. I offered him a beer and we sat on the curb and he taught me a bit of Spanish. 10 beers later, I was out of beers, and we headed around the corner to the Oxxo to get restocked. He helped me “get a good deal” and then we carried it back to the truck and had a few more. Overall it was a couple of hours of BSing and after hinting of a tip several times, I gave him a couple hundred pesos. Kathy came out of the camper after the ciesta and had some questions of pharmacies, and Luis, of course, knew the exact pharmacy to take us to. We walked there and they had the “natural” pills for the two things Kathy was asking for, and we paid about $15 for several month’s supply. Then back to the truck where we bid Luis a good evening.
The Central part of Mazatlan at night is breathtaking.
Kathy and I freshened up and then decided we wanted Italian for dinner as we had passed several of these places while wandering. We found a place called La Venzia that had good ratings, and as we approached, also had live music for the Saturday evening. We got a table just around the corner and ordered a pizza and a Caprese salad. And we were not disappointed. This was probably the best pizza we have had. The crust was crispy on the bottom, but not greasy like pan crusts, plus the mushrooms and other toppings were cooked perfectly. Yum. Or we may have been just hungry. LOL.
We wandered the city at night for an hour or so after dinner and then returned to the truck to walk the pups and get some sleep. It was about 10 and things had picked up in the area. Luis was not wrong on the traffic, loud motorcycles and cars, music, and pedestrians, but about 12:30 is calmed down and got quiet. We woke around 4am to police lights outside and I figured out it was just a road block. All of the other cars on the street had left and we were alone with our police guards.
It turned out the roadblock was due to an event on the 18th, a 5K fun run along the malecon that included multicolored food dyes thrown over the runners. I took a walk with my coffee and watched the runners and skaters as well as the waves along the sea wall. It started to get a bit hot and after walking the pups up the hill and back, we decided to get some pastries at one of the bakeries and then find a new place to spend the night. We have been nursing the batteries since the ferry ride and needed to find a place with power so we could get them properly charged. Solar with a cloudy sky, parking between buildings, and even idleing the truck for 90 minutes only got us back to 35% (we were down to 12% and the system was dinging warnings at us for low battery voltage).
There are no camping or RV lots in south, east, or central Mazatlan. Several are listed in the northern suburbs, so we headed north of the marina to a little place that was listed on iOverlander. The park is really nice, but suprisingly vacant. It was 600 pesos for the night, and had a dump and electricity, some shade, and a nice cement pad to put the chairs out. It is only a block from the beach, and the pups and I made it down there last night after dark. Looking forward to the morning walk to explore it a bit more. There was also an iguana walking by the swimming pool as we drove in to the camp.
There are these interesting birds here that are extremely loud. Sounds like something is screaming/screeching. They are called chachalacas (means chatterbox) and can get quite close.
I wish we were 100% off-grid, but there is always the little bits of things we need; water, black/grey water dump, power to recharge the batteries if our driving is not long enough. So every 10 days or so we need to plug in. We are still deciding if we want to leave Mazatlan today or wait another day. And I am now caught up on my blogging after several weeks of being behind.
We left Basecamp in Todos Santos and headed the hour drive into La Paz. The goal was to get to La Paz, being a Friday, and see about getting the Temporary Import Permit for the Ram 3500. The goal for the day was to get the TIP. There are two ferries going to Mazatlan and the TMC ferry is preferred by overlanders and campers since they let you sleep in your camper instead of purchasing a cabin. We have the pups and did not want to leave them in the camper for the 19 hour float. The TMC ferry leaves La Paz on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so we planned to hang out in La Paz for the weekend, or maybe hit one of the hot springs.
I needed to get a few things done before heading to the port. We missed the La Paz photo on the way in the last time so we headed out there to get that. Then I needed some cash, so we headed to the ATM at Walmart to get those thousands of pesos. We ran in to Marcus and Jasmine in Walmart for the 4th time since we met them in Ensenada. They were catching the Friday ferry and had to be there at 2PM. It was 12:30 already. We needed copies of the insurance and my visa (FMM) for the TIP, so we tried a couple of places and ended up at OfficeMax. I managed to get a couple of pictures printed for Kathy as well. (She’s made a neat little wall of photos and collections up in our bed area.)
We were all stocked up and headed to the port… and then a speed bump. Really, a speed bump in front of a store in the parking lot that I did not see. I did see the first one, but the second was 5 feet further and I hit it too hard and Howie jumped up in the back of the truck. I noticed the eye bold was bent, so I had to undo that whole thing and use one of my last two spares. 30 minutes later it was repaired and we were off to the port.
Some background information on this: I have been stressed for almost a year about this TIP process because there are stories that Mexico will not give you a permit if your vehicle is over 7700 GVR base weight. Some groups on Facebook have members say they have been turned away while others have said it was not a problem. I had tried to get a TIP at Sonoyta when we crossed, but their computers were down, and the guy said just get it in La Paz or any of the Banjercitos. I had thought of selling the truck and getting a 2500, but I would only have to beef it up to a 3500 status to get Howie stable. Plus tons of people are doing this in 4500’s and 5500’s. To compound the issue, Arizona registers 3500’s as commercial vehicles, even though they are not. I tried having that changed, but the DMV person in Coolidge was adamant it could not be changed.
Well all that worrying, research, and stress turned out to be wasted energy, as worry usually is. We got up to the counter, presented our papers, and after 10 minutes we were given a packet for the Aduano (customs) to stamp. She said it was “muy facil”, so we headed on over there. The gentleman looked at the VIN, the paperwork, and 5 minutes later came back with a stamped form. She was right, and we hit the easy button on that process. We headed back to the banjercito and she charged us $400 deposit and $56 for the permit and we received our TIP. The whole process took about an hour.
Just as a joke, I told Kathy we should check the TMC office to see if we can get on the ferry today as it was still loading at 3:30PM. So we asked, and they said “Yes!” and called ahead for us. We had to get through a customs inspection, be weighed, and then purchase the tickets. Customs was easy… they looked through the camper, asked me a bunch of questions about drugs, money, and weapons, and then passed us through. We were 5800kg, by the way (12,700 lbs). The tickets for us and the truck were $650 (there goes the budget) and we were off to wait with the other overlanders. Marcus and Jasmine were there (#5 meeting).
We got on the boat around 5:30 and set sail about an hour later. The tickets included Dinner and Breakfast so we were directed to get dinner. Rice, beans, and a meat chili mixture and we purchase our drinks. Not the normal cruise line buffet, LOL. It was LOUD in the vehicle bay since we were right next to the ventilation fans for the ship (you can see it in the above photo beneath the smoking lettering). DEAFENING sound. We tried watching a movie but it was too loud so we put in our noise canceling headphones and tried to sleep.
Walking to dinner after parking Howie behind two Germans, an Oregonian, and a French family.
The night was fairly uneventful, but was loud. We got a decent amount of sleep. The ferry was supposed to be 19 hours, however we were in Mazatlan port by 8:30, so it took only 14 hours. We were glad to get off and were happy to be in Mazatlan. We missed this port a few years back when we were on a cruise due to some airplane crashing in the harbor, and it feels really strange to have driven here. But here we are, several days earlier than expected on Mainland Mexico.
Breakfast on the ferry. Ham and scrambled eggs and chorizo and potatoes with tortillas. We missed the beans as they were already out.
We made the drive from Cabo to Todos in about 90 minutes. The road was bizzare for what we have experienced in Mexico. It was a double land divided highway, with a full shoulder. Very modern. I guess it is because the routes from Cabo to Todos Santos to La Paz are heavily traveled and get the best funding. It’s nice to only have to dodge a few potholes here and there.
We rolled into Todos Santos, a dusty little town near the beaches. It is an oasis town settled in the 1700’s and has been more recently transitioned into an arts town. More history here. We quickly found the Hotel California, famous for inspiring the Eagles song of the same name. We found a place to park and I took the pups for a quick walk to stretch their legs and relieve their bladders. Then we set them off in the camper to sleep the day away, as they usually do so we could explore.
The famous Hotel California. We didn’t check in!
There are blocks and blocks of shops and art galleries and restaurants along the two main streets in town. We walked for 90 minutes or so and checked out the local inventory of tourist finds. We got our sticker for Howie. We stopped for a few beverages and then headed back to the truck. I had checked iOverlander and there were not too many places near the beach to camp. One place it was noted that the local property owner had tried to block the beach access, but was challenged and his gate was removed, so instead some campers have noted him on a bull-horn about 8PM saying “Gringos get off our beach” until people leave. Instead we headed a bit further north to some beaches that were supposed to be open.
It turned out that most of them had no-camping signs on them, so we opted for a cool little campground called Basecamp, managed by a young couple with their 3 year old daughter. It was only $400 Pesos for the night and we got a cool little spot that Howie barely fit in, but had a really nice area under the adjacent tree where we could hang out, read, or nap. The campground was “Dry camping” but it did have showers and flush toilets, which works great on any day for this kind of traveling. They also had a little store made from two containers welded together, and a viewing deck on top to watch the ocean and the sunsets.
Howie tucked away in the desert campground.
The campground was about 1/2 mile from the beach access, so we took the pups down there to run in the sand and play. There were tons of surfers out there and that was interesting to watch. The sound of the waves crashing was really loud on this beach and we could hear it all the way back at camp. We got our feet a bit wet, but did not go swimming here. It was hot with the sun at mid day and the pups needed water. Back at camp we decided on another night stay, paid our bill, and relaxed for the afternoon. I got some of these posts done and did a bit of research on the ferry in La Paz.
Well, I got a bit restless later in the afternoon and took a walk north of the campground. about 1/4 mile up there were really nice stables called Villa Santa Cruz, and next to it was a high-end restaurant called The Green Room. Another resort called Caracara was there, and they had a really nice outdoor bar area. I headed back to camp to pick up my wife for a date night. The drinks were delicious and we met and talked with a younger couple from Pittsburg that was here on holiday. After dark we wandered around the resort and marveled at the beautiful buildings and grounds. We walked to the beach and watched the stars from a two-story palapa with cushioned seating.
The Serenity Pool at Caracara resort.
We both slept really well at Basecamp as it was quiet and we were still a bit tired from the “vacation” we took in San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. Great times. Now on to La Paz to get the TIP and get the truck on the ferry to Mazatlan.
It was flight day for Donna and Tim and we were sad to see them go. I almost made them late to the plane because I forgot my wallet and had to go back, then made a wrong turn… Oh well. They made it in the nick of time and it looked like they had their choice of seats as well. We had a great time visiting with them and feel so blessed they came down to share some time with us. Memories we will cherish forever.
Tim and Donna sent us a text that they had gotten on their plane on time… Whew!
We got back to the AirBnB and rested for a bit. I had talked to Koby about a mechanic to help with the brakes, but decided to take a look and see if I could get them done myself. I have changed dozens of brakes in my life, and maybe these were easy. It turns out, they were probably the easiest out of all of my vehicles. Loosen one bolt at the top, remove the lower bolt and swing the caliper upward. I had to go to Home Depot to get some C-Clamps so I could compress the dual pistons, but other than that, remove/replace the clips and slide in the new pads. Bolts tightened and brakes tested. Worked like a charm and took about an hour, not counting the Home Depot run in the rental car.
It was kind of fun zipping around Cabo in this little VW. A bit more nimble than the beast.
We had a quiet night, took the pups for a walk, made an easy dinner, washed the remaining clothes, and packed the camper up as much as we could. The next day we got Howie all packed and ready and then headed in to downtown Cabo to return the rental. Return took 45 minutes, about the same time as checkout, but was simple and completed. We stopped at KFC for lunch and checked out a Woolworth department store (don’t have those anymore in the USA, at least not in the west). And we were off again traveling, this time to Todos Santos to check out the Artsy town everyone raves about.
