The Journey to Casa Madera - Ok, We're Here, Now what do we do?

December 13, 2010 - Heather and her mother Barbara, who is visiting from Wetaskiwin, just went into town to see Berta, our seamstress who will be making some curtains for us.   After that they will be off to the printer to agree or disagree with the new business card design, hit Colchorama to buy a new mattress, and stop at the store to pick up a few necessities.

[caption id="attachment_214" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Malecon bridge over the Rio Cuale"][/caption]

Everyday life here in Vallarta.  Not much different from Canada, NOW!  When I think back to that first day after we arrived and realized we had absolutely no idea what to do about anything I marvel at how far we have come in such a short time....

November 17, 2008 - First morning in our new home.  We had hit the grocery store the night before to get a few groceries so we would have the some of the important things in life like food and of course, coffee!  So we made some coffee and Heather set about trying to make breakfast.

The condo we owned was not the largest, about 450 square feet, but it was purchased with retirement vacations in mind and was mainly an investment.  When we bought it we had no idea we would be living in it full-time 2 years later.  So of the 450 square feet, about 10 of it was the kitchen.

[caption id="attachment_208" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Kitchen"][/caption]

There was no stove, only a hot plate so Heather plugged it in and started trying to fry some eggs.  She put the pan on the burner and cracked the first egg.  She then felt her right hand go numb.  Figuring that she had hit it on the side of the counter she cracked another egg and then as she her hands got close to the frying pan both arms went numb.  It was then that we realized that there was something seriously wrong with this appliance so she got a plastic spatula and removed the plug from the wall.  I carried the offending item outside to the garbage.

Well ok, what do we do now?  We had brought a new hot plate with us from Canada so it was unpacked and put into use.  Well we at least tried to put it to use.  It was a three prong plug.  There were no three prong outlets in the entire condo.  They were all two.  Apparently grounding was not big in Mexico in the eighties when the condo was built so we were going to require an adapter to plug the hot plate in.  Microwaved eggs it was and they were delightful.  Well not really but hey when you are hungry you make do.

[caption id="attachment_209" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Beach by our condo"][/caption]

After breakfast we thought we should head out and see our property manager who had been taking care of the condo for us.  His office was on the other side of old town.  It was a nice day, the sun was shining so we decided to walk.  We were noticing that a lot of the small family run stores that we passed were closed.  It was then we found out that it was a holiday celebrating the Mexican Revolution.  Well we were three-quarters of the way to his office so we kept going only to find it locked up tight.

[caption id="attachment_210" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Street in Old Town on the way to Ted's office"][/caption]

That took us 2 hours and we were soaking wet and wilted from the heat.  Just not used to it.  So down the hill from his office to a sandwich shop for something cold to drink and a snack.   We hopped on a bus from there and hit Wal-Mart to pick up some converter plugs so we could plug in the hot plate and few other things that we needed.

The next day we returned to the property managers office, however this time we went by bus, so we smelled a lot better!  Not in today.  Oh well at least we could get an appointment.

As we were standing outside of his office enjoying the view of the Bay of Banderas below us I noticed that across the street was the realty company that our favourite rental agent had gone to work for so we thought we would drop by and see if he was in.  Nope, out.  Well, 2 for 2.  Well what shall we do now?

[caption id="attachment_211" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="One of the many beautiful views in the Bay"][/caption]

We were standing the company's parking lot deciding that, when a car backed in and two people got out.  I recognized one, William Michael, who had shown us the condo next door to ours when he had it listed for sale.  He had been sending me email since then which always had his picture attached.  As I asked if it was him, the other man said I know that voice, that's Kevin.  I had spoken to Robert about 5 times the last time we were in town about rentals and I was kind of surprised, I never thought of my voice as distinct.

Either way it was nice to see faces we knew and to finally make a connection with someone.  We made dinner plans for the following week and let them get back to work.  Since that time they have become some of our very dear and close friends.  And they still handle real estate and rentals for us through Vallarta Escapes.

[caption id="attachment_212" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fishermen pulling their nets at dawn"][/caption]

Later that night we were sitting in our living room watching the movie SWAT on TV in spanish.   It was warm in the condo, 24 degrees, and no breeze so we were both sitting there waiting for the oscillating fan to blow our way.  Our condo had absolutely no flow through ventilation so a fan or air conditioning was in order.  We could not use the living room a/c unit as we used it on Sunday night and after 20 minutes water started pouring out of the unit.  That was a little frustrating so it was at this moment unusable and one of the items on our list of things to talk to the Property Manager about.

We had hired the Property Manager very quickly after buying the condo as we needed someone to pay the bills and look after the rentals.  We had already decided that we would relieve ourselves of him at the end of the year but there were a few things we needed done first.  The air conditioner needed repair, we needed a new toilet as the old one just was not working properly and we needed internet.

He is a nice man and was good at his job, bills were paid and things were looked after.  He was hard to get to see sometimes when we were in town but we always did get to see him.  He loved to talk and we got a lot out of those talks.  We listened and realized that it may take persistence but we could do a lot things our selves it would just take time.  We look back on those times fondly because without him we would not be where we are today.  He introduced us to Robert, the best rental agent in the bay (and the only one who could rent our condo) and Lupe, the fastest and best damn housekeeper we have ever seen.

We met with him the next day at the appointed hour, 10:00 Am for our usual 3 hour appointment.  We discussed the state of the economy, what it is doing to business in Mexico, what is happening with our condo, what needs to be repaired and what needs to be paid.

He asked if we had gone to immigration here in town to register and let them know we were here.  We had not but we said we would.   We left his office at 12:30 and headed for our favourite beach restaurant, The Lazy Lizard.

[caption id="attachment_213" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Los Muertos Beach, PV  "][/caption]

We got there and it was closed and the space was for rent.  For rent?  Many times we had sat under their palapa's and talked about how we would run the place as it was rarely busy which always seemed odd to us as it had the cheapest drinks on the beach, reasonable food and fun waiters.  Maybe we want to open a bar instead?  This was something that was going require some thought.  We wandered on down the beach in search of a cheap bucket of Corona to enjoy our afternoon with thoughts of bar ownership in our heads......

[caption id="attachment_215" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Maybe......."][/caption]

Next up....the visit to immigration....ugh

The Journey to Casa Madera - Puerto Vallarta, our new Home!

December 7, 2010 - A month ago we sent our dog, Alexa, to training school.  She was good dog but we had bad dog owner habits that had made her a leader in the household instead of the 4th in line behind Heather, myself and Zorro the cat.  This needed to be corrected so she got a month's vacation with Carlos at Dog Tag training.

[caption id="attachment_187" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Alexa and Zorro"][/caption]

The final stage of this training is training us on what to do and how to handle her.  This entails us going into Vallarta everyday this week for that training.  That can be a challenge at this point in time to say the least as on August 31, 2010 heavy rains washed out one of the bridges over the Rio Ameca which divides the two states, Nayarit and Jalisco.

[caption id="attachment_188" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="What was remaining of the Northbound section of the bridge"][/caption]

This has caused quite the traffic mess as people work of both sides of the river and go back a forth a lot.  This is also the highway that goes to Tepic.  Needless to say there have been days when we sit in a traffic line up for an hour just to cross the river and because of this we only went into Puerto Vallarta when we had to.  This all changes tomorrow at 11:00 AM as they have finished rebuilding the bridge and traffic will once again flow smoothly between the two populated areas.

Fifteen weeks from the date the bridge went into the river, it has been replaced.  They worked 24 hours a day to get it done.  It is truly an amazing accomplishment.  But I digress....

One of the main things we like to do when we are on the other side of the river is find a fruit truck.  The fruit is farm fresh and much, much less expensive that at the grocery store.  Today we drove into Ixtapa when we were done with our training and found a truck selling Papayas, Pineapples, Watermelons, Mandarin Oranges, Apples and Cucumbers.  As we were picking our fruit I was reminded of the first time we bought fruit on the side of the road on our way into Puerto Vallarta....

November 16, 2008 - We were up early at the City Express Hotel in Mazatlan.  Breakfast was included in our room so we loaded up the car and headed to the lobby to chow down.  The hotel was new and they were still working the kinks out so we had to wait a bit for them to get everything out but the coffee was ready so we were able to enjoy a cup.

All fed and watered we were in the car trying to find our way out of Mazatlan.  The GPS worked wonders and that was a good thing because while I am not normally directionally challenged I certainly was in Mazatlan.  I would have gone in totally the wrong direction!  However the GPS rescued us and we made the right turn and ended up on the road out-of-town.

It was a beautiful morning.  The sun was out and it was 24 degrees at 7:30.  This was the nicest morning we had on the entire trip down.  It was a perfect start to the day we arrived at our new home.

[caption id="attachment_189" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lagoons south of Mazatlan"][/caption]

We had been on the road for only a few minutes when we hit the toll booth.  Now all of the toll roads we had been on so far were smooth, 2 lanes and nice to drive on.  Today....it was a toll road but is was a 2 lane toll road, one lane in each direction!  Speed limit 110.  Straight as an arrow.  Oh and no shoulder.  Sigh...

[caption id="attachment_190" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="In Mexico they build the bridge before they need it!"][/caption]

It did eventually change back to a 4 lane but that did not last long, only about 50 kilometers and then it was back to the 2 lane.  A 2 lane that began to climb about an hour out of Tepic, Nayarit.  It did not finish climbing until we got to Tepic.  The other problem with this toll road was that it was no longer straight.  It turned here, it turned there.  It was like a road race set except you don't find buses in a road race set going 110 on a twisty turny road.

It turned out the road was still under construction so being as it was two years ago maybe some of the curves have been ironed out or at least maybe it has been twinned.

We were quite happy when we got to Tepic as it was the final major center on our journey.  161 kilometers to go.  That won't take long.  It was about 11:30.  The GPS was telling us that our arrival time in PV would be 4:00 pm.  What the heck?  It was 161 kms.  No way.  Even allowing for the time change from Mountain to Central, that is still 3 and a half hours.  It must have miscalculated.

[caption id="attachment_191" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Woo Hoo!"][/caption]

So we left Tepic knowing that we will be in Vallarta soon.  Certainly well before 3:00 pm.  It was then the highway got narrower and hard to believe, twistier!  The speed limit was 60 kph and I could not get to it.  It made the Trans Canada Highway outside of Golden, BC look like it was straight as an arrow.  To top it all off most of these corners were on cliffs where Heather was looking straight down.

Did I mention the buses who were riding my bumper.  Cars were passing on the 75 feet of straight highway between corners.  Needless to say we started to drive even slower as we had not driven this far to go over the side of the cliff.  Luckily there are little pull outs on the side of the road here and there where you could escape to let people by.

[caption id="attachment_192" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dangerous curve, no FREAKING kidding!"][/caption]

While the driving was hairy, the scenery was spectacular.  We thought it might be similar to the Alps with the lush farming fields in the distance and views that went forever.  It was beautiful.  However, I was ever so happy when we came off the hills down into the town of Compestela and the road flattened out.

[caption id="attachment_193" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Spectacular views"][/caption]

We stopped at an Oxxo store and picked up some drinks and junk food for the rest of the drive.  Evidently the GPS was going to be right and we would have another 2 hours on the road.  It took us an hour to go 31 kilometers.  We still had 130 to go.

The drive did not get any less pretty.  Rainy season had just ended a few weeks previous and the jungle was lush and spectacular.  There was a canopy of trees and vines over the road.  Really cool.

As we moved towards Puerto Vallarta we started to see fruit stands on the side of the road.  After passing about 30 of them we finally stopped at one.  The woman and her daughter who ran it were all over us letting try this fruit and that fruit, many we had never seen before.  Some was ok, some would be an acquired taste.  But one thing that was purchased was a Pineapple.  10 pesos for about 2 kilo pineapple.  She had given us a taste of one they had cut, oh so sweet and juicy.  I had never tasted one so good so it was a no brainer, a pineapple for a buck.  We had to buy it.  Hopefully it will be as good as the one she gave us.

It was about an hour later when we saw the sign for Sayulita, Nayarit.  Something familiar, finally.  We had visited Sayulita in 2006 when we were in PV with my kids.  A beautiful little beach town.  With nice gentle surfing waves it is a very popular place and gave us a very California in the sixties kind of feeling.  A nice place to spend a Sunday.

The final push, 30 kilometers left.  Over a mountain.  Lots of traffic but it was slower as the climb made it difficult for trucks and buses to move fast.  The next thing we knew we were thrust out of the jungle onto the four lane highway by La Cruz de Huanacaxtle.  We had made it.  4 lanes all the way now.  What a relief.  20 days after we had left Edmonton we had finally reached our destination!

[caption id="attachment_194" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Ahhh"][/caption]

We drove through town finally starting to relax until we pulled into the area where our condo was located, Plaza las Glorias.  Now the fun part, finding a place to park.  Our condo was in a retail, office complex that was surrounded by 3 hotels.  It was a busy area so parking could be a premium and it was this day.  We finally found a spot in the middle of the street and started the unloading process.

[caption id="attachment_195" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Almost there!"][/caption]

We were getting the second load out of the car when a time share sales rep named Juan approached us and asked if we wanted some help.  He was probably looking for someone to sign up for a presentation but it was a hike to the condo from where we were parked so we said sure.  His help probably saved Heather and I three extra trips.  We said thanks and offered to buy him a beer later but we never saw him again. (and we did look)

[caption id="attachment_196" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Almost full"][/caption]

We stood in our kitchen (20 square feet of kitchen) and surveyed the living room.  It was packed with stuff.  Well what should we do, unpack?  Nope, off to Casa Blakes Sports Bar to say hi and have a well-earned cerveza!

[caption id="attachment_197" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Time for a well earned Corona!"][/caption]

The Journey to Casa Madera - Hey, Who washed my car?

December 1, 2010 - We had guests last Friday night, Ray & Jan from Sherwood Park, Alberta.  They are friends of friends of ours.  They were staying the night on their way to Barra de Navidad for a week with their friends who were due to arrive on Saturday.

[caption id="attachment_175" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lagoon Beach at Barra de Navidad"][/caption]

 

We have been using our Jeep for many things like picking up cement, sand and other building materials while we renovate our house.  Generally this occurs about 5 minutes after I have had the car washed, much like the one cloud in the sky that immediately rains on the car when you are not looking.

[caption id="attachment_176" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Shops in Barra de Navidad"][/caption]

 

The problem with transporting these items in the back of the Jeep is that sand bags leak so sand gets all over the back of the car.  We were picking Ray & Jan up at the airport, so a complete wash of the car inside and out was required. So off to the Eco Car Wash I go.  For $75 pesos they do the complete wash, vacuum and dry.  As they do a very thorough job it takes them about 45 minutes so I normally take my book and retire to the tables with the umbrellas and have a cerveza.

[caption id="attachment_177" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sunset from the Condo in Barra where our friends spend their vacation at Playa Grande"][/caption]

 

This day I was having a difficult time getting into my book and was distracted.  I was remembering my first Mexican Car Wash in Ciudad Obregon a couple of years previous.

November 15, 2008 - 7:14 am  16 degrees Celsius warming up! - We had a relaxing evening in a nice hotel with comfy beds.  We slept well but we are both early risers and were awake at 6:00.  We strolled out of the room and started packing the car for the day's drive to Mazatlan, Sinaloa.

As I was standing by the car making space for Heather's Mac I noticed that my windshield wipers were folded out.  Hmm that's odd I thought.  It was then I noticed that I was standing in water.  That was even odder as it did not rain during the night, there were no sprinklers on and there was no other evidence of water on the ground except by our car.  What the heck?

It was then I noticed a small Mexican man coming towards me with a bucket.  It appears he was in the middle of washing our car and went to get more water.  He was talking to me in Spanish so I was lost after he said Buenos Dias.  However I soon realized he was bound and determined to finish the job he started but could not get to the roof so he had gone to get another bucket to stand on.  He proceeded to finish the wash.

I was lost.  What the hell do I do?  Do you pay him? Is he paid by the Hotel?  Do you tip him?  What?  I noticed at that time that quite a few cars in the parking lot had their wipers up and realized that it was the sign to wash the car.  So either someone had done it for us or he saw the Alberta license plates and did it himself.

He did a great job.  The outside of the car was spotless.  He rinsed, washed with soap, rinsed and hand dried.  Neither Heather or I knew what to do so I handed him $20 pesos as I tip.  He smiled and said gracias so we figured it must have been ok.  I have been to a few car washes in Edmonton who could learn a lot from this old Mexican on how to actually wash a car.

We checked out of the hotel and decided to forego the hotel breakfast and hit either McDonald's or Carls Jr. on our way out-of-town.  This was a tactical error.  It was Saturday and we were used to places like this being open at 6:00 or at least 7:00 am.  Not so in Ciudad Obregon.  The signs said they would open at 9:00.  Now what do we do?  Luckily we had a cookie left over from the day before so we decided to just grab a cup of coffee somewhere and hit the highway and catch some chow in Navojoa, Sonora.

Out of the city we came up to the toll booth.  We had decided to stick to the toll roads or Autopistas as they call them here.  They are straight, in great condition and generally divided with two lanes.  And did I mention straight.  There are a few sections that make the QE2 between Edmonton and Calgary look too twisty.

We got to Navojoa and found nothing that was close to what we wanted for breakfast but we did find a Soriana.  Soriana is your standard supermarket like Safeway.  We wandered in and looked around.  We picked up some Yogurt drinks, some mandarin oranges and starting looking for something that would fill the gaps.

They had a large hot food section at the back of the store but we had never bought anything like that before in Mexico so we really did not know what to do.  It was 9:00 am so the store was still deserted.  We were hoping we could just hang back and watch to see what the other shoppers did but there were none!  We finally just got over it and went up to the counter.  We still could not figure out what to do but a woman came over and realized that she was dealing with two twits from Canada and served us.

Apparently you ask for a container, grab the tongs, take out what you want and hand it to her for labelling.  Well now we know!  We purchased 4 pieces of Fried Chicken.  Yep, Fried Chicken.  We did not recognize anything else in the case so we went with what we knew!

Off to the checkout we went.  46 pesos later we grabbed our chicken, yogurt drinks and mandarins and headed out to the car where under the watchful and curious eye of the security guard we ate breakfast.  Now I realize we were hungry but that Fried Chicken was phenomenal.  The chicken had flavour, it was delightful. The security guard looked relieved when we started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

Back on the highway.  Another toll road.  Nice.  Speed limit 110.  Locked the cruise in at 110, lord knows we don't want to be stopped.  We were the only car going 110.  The average speed was running between 130 and 140, even the buses!  Worse the buses would drive down the center of the road, only moving over to pass another vehicle.  It was a little nerve-racking but I had driven the old 79 Dodge Motorhome on the QE2 I was kind of used to being passed.

[caption id="attachment_178" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Note the total lack of anything that might resemble a shoulder!"][/caption]

 

As we moved through Sonora into Sinaloa the terrain began to change.  Sonora was high desert for the most part but we never really noticed the downhill as we started to level out from ranch style land to farm land.

[caption id="attachment_179" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Corn processor"][/caption]

 

Sinaloa is a farming state.  There were greenhouses everywhere made of plastic.  Tomato's are their major crop, so much so that they have a tomato in the middle of their license plate.  It appears that most are grown hydroponically hence the green houses but there are also many areas where the plants were in the ground.

One thing that startled us was the fact that people just came out of nowhere.  We were clipping along at 110 kph and all of a sudden a man would appear out of the grass in the ditch.  Never locked up the brakes but it certainly gives the heart a stop!

Aside from the odd person wandering out of the ditch it was an uneventful day and we rolled into Mazatlan at 4:00 pm.  Found a City Express hotel with a nice room with a pool and breakfast for $67.00 Can.  It was 4 months old and very close to the tourist zone in Mazatlan so we cleaned up and headed out to see the town.

[caption id="attachment_180" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mazatlan!"][/caption]

 

We were not ready for dinner yet and just wandered.   After wandering for a couple of hours and looking at hundreds of menus we decided to go eat at the next restaurant we stopped at.  The menu looked good and it was coming off of a wood grill.

We sat down and I ordered a beer.  "We are not licensed so we do not serve it" I was told.  "You can go to the store and buy some if you like and bring it in".  Say what?  I bring my own???  That was new one to me.  I could not shake that Canadian feeling that there was just something wrong with that so I ordered a Coke.  Ahh, Coke in an ice-cold glass bottle.  I had forgotten about that.  There is no better Coke than one that comes out of an ice-cold glass bottle so I did not miss the beer!

It was then we spied another group of tourists in the place who were uncorking the bottle of wine they brought.  They obviously knew the drill and had been here before so the food must be good.

And it was.  Oh it was tasty.  It was the best dinner we had on our travels over the previous 3 weeks.  Nothing even came close.  It was pretty amazing for a restaurant that only had walls around the kitchen and whose roof was vinyl Coca Cola awning.

We retired back to the hotel looking forward to the last day of our journey to Puerto Vallarta and the day our lives would totally change.

The Journey to Casa Madera - The Big Scary Border

November 28, 2010 - We are downstairs sitting by the pool. It is a sunny, beautiful day.  Temperature is heading for its usual 28 degrees.  Just another spectacular Vallarta day.

Today is a special day.  Nobody is working on the house.  We have it to ourselves.  The only sound we hear is the pool fountain and Aretha Franklin.  It is divine.  We love the men working on the house, they are great guys but we have two weeks left before they will be done.

[caption id="attachment_159" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Alfonso Jr., Marco, Alfonso, Roberto, Me"][/caption]

It is nice to be alone.  However, it is also Grey Cup Sunday.

 

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

The one day of the year that most Canadians gather around tv's with their friends to watch the biggest Canadian Football game of the year.  When I was growing up it was known as the Grand National Drunk.  It may not get called that anymore, but it certainly still is.  It will especially be that in our hometown, Edmonton as it is being held there in -7 degree temperatures.  They have been partying for 3 days.  It looks like it should be a great game.  A pity that my Eskimos will not be there but being westerners we still cheer for the western team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Walk into virtually any bar in Canada and you will find someone wearing their green and white jersey.  Once a Rider fan, always a Rider fan.  The people from Saskatchewan may relocate across the great land but the green jerseys follow them everywhere.  Even to Puerto Vallarta.

Today we will become part of the Rider Nation (man that hurts).  We are venturing into town to Casa Blakes Sports Bar.  It will be full of Rider fans and we will be sitting with 2 of them.  Dale & Annette.  They live in Victoria, BC but Dale was a transplanted Newfie in Regina.  Who else would he cheer for?

We met them last year at the same bar for the same game between the same teams.  The bar is busy and you need reservations for Grey Cup.  Sue Blake  puts people together to fill all the tables.  She put us with Dale & Annette.  It was a riot.

Today we will be immigrants in the Rider Nation.  It is a daunting experience.  We felt their pain last year when they could not count to 13.  We will feel their pain this  year should they not come out victorious  but at the end, we will still be immigrants in a scary land.  Riderville.  Much like we were two years ago crossing the border into this great misunderstood land of Mexico....

November 14, 2008 - 6:48 am.  We were up and ready to go because the walls in the hotel were thin.  People had been moving about since 4:00 am.  So in our bleary eyed state we started the car and pointed it in the direction of the border.  D-Day was here.  Were we going to actually do it?  We were excited but we were also scared spit less.

[caption id="attachment_158" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Big Scary Border"][/caption]

 

We had never crossed the border in a vehicle before, we had always arrived by plane.  Would we get through without an inspection from a corrupt border guard who was looking for money.  We did not know whether the stories were true about the customs agents in Mexico but we had everything we owned in that car and did not want to lose it.

We drove past the American checkpoint and crossed into Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.  There were no barricades.  You just drove through.  Hmm, that was odd.  We saw the immigration building and pulled in beside it.  We had arranged our immigration papers with the Mexican Consulate in Calgary and they had advised us that this white and red piece of paper had to be turned in at the border.

It was 7:00 am.  We walked in and located the one person who was working and handed her our documentation.  She looked at it and took it back to her desk.  She drank some coffee and slowly moved to the copier.  Photocopied the FM-3's (our immigration documents) and our passports (the first time out of about 400 that they were going to be photocopied in the next two years).  She took the pieces of paper, stamped the documents and sent us on our way.  Was it that easy?  Wow.  Didn't expect that.    However we still had to go through the customs checkpoint 12 miles down the road.  We still had that to look forward to.

We drove on right into the center of town.

[caption id="attachment_160" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Nogales. Sonora"][/caption]

It really is like driving into a foreign land.  It was so different.  Vendors in the middle of the road selling newspapers, food stands everywhere and lots of different things to catch your attention.

 

We found our way out-of-town still feeling like frightened rabbits.  There was nobody else on the road and we started to relax a bit.  The signs were all in Spanish but the gps had our backs.  It knew where we needed to go and lead us on towards the car importation station.

To bring a vehicle into Mexico it has to be imported.  You need a sticker.  To get that sticker you have to provide copies of your registration, your insurance, your passports (one more time) and a credit card guarantee that you will not leave the car in the country.  They charge you $30.00 US for this sticker.

We arrived at this station just before it opened are were not the first people there.  We were however the only people in shorts.  Did I say how freaking cold it was!  It was 7 degrees, not what we expected.  We waited in line and after an hour we finally got everything taken care of.  They gave us our sticker and some paper documents that we were to not to lose and return when the car left the country.  There was also some paper work that would be taken at a checkpoint farther down the road.

We left the station and there it was.  Customs.  Here we go.  For those of you who have never travelled to Mexico, they have a random inspection system that does not involve questions.  After you say whether or not you have something to declare you push a button.  Red they search your car and your bags possibly keeping whatever they find, green you drive happily down the road.

It was time, I pushed the button and GREEN LIGHT!!!!  The gate goes up and needless to say we were out of there as fast as we could go without attracting suspicion.  Not that we had anything illicit or illegal but we wanted the hell out of there while we still had all of our stuff.

The GPS said we had 24 hours to Puerto Vallarta so we knew we had 3 days of driving ahead of us.  It was 8:30.  Our destination for the day was Ciudad Obregon.  Did not know anything about it but knew it was approximately as far as we wanted to travel that day.

[caption id="attachment_162" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Wide open Mexican Landscape"][/caption]

 

We spent some time getting used to Mexican traffic and drivers not that there were a ton on the road, most were Americans and Canadians heading down for the winter.  We  tried to decipher road signs.  That was entertaining as what little spanish we knew did not include translating the verb usage on road signs.  Needless to say we just played it by ear but most of the time we had no idea what they meant.

[caption id="attachment_161" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Signs warning of a toll booth"][/caption]

 

9:30 - We needed a driver change and needed a bathroom.  Stopped at Pemex station which had a corner store attached to it and bought some water and some galletas (cookies) that we had no idea what they were about but the girl behind the counter told us they were good.  She was not wrong, they were delightful.  Nice soft cookies filled with cajeta (goats milk caramel) that were really tasty and to this day if we see them on the street we buy them.

A half an hour later we approached a military checkpoint.  Lots of men and lots of guns.  A little unnerving.  They wanted to see the vehicle paperwork.  We handed the soldier the form we got from the import people and he took a portion and waved us on our way.  Pheeww.  You just didn't know what to expect.

We drove on to Hermosillo.  A big city.  We were in one lane and the GPS was telling us to turn left.     However, I had forgotten one thing about the roads in Mexico.  In a lot of Mexican cities they have a lateral road that is to access the businesses on the side.  It is generally also used for left turns.  We were a little stressed over this and could not turn left there so we went straight.

[caption id="attachment_163" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I should have turned left here"][/caption]

 

That actually worked out for the best because we were hungry and there, lo and behold, was a Subway!  A quick lunch and back on the road.

It was a nice drive to Ciudad Obregon.  The scenery was nice, we were more relaxed and beginning to enjoy our adventure.

[caption id="attachment_164" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Trucks waiting in line at a cargo inspection station"][/caption]

 

We got into town about 3:00 and looked a hotel.  We found Hotel Valle Grand.  It was $87.00 for the night.  The parking lot was secure with a guard.  We felt safe.  We unpacked the car and went out for a walk to look around.  It was hot and sunny.  We found a little sidewalk cafe ordered a couple of Corona's and some chips and salsa and enjoyed the afternoon.

We sauntered back to the hotel and relaxed for the evening to ready ourselves for the big drive to Mazatlan in the morning.  We slept well that night.  We were comfortable, we were in a safe place, we were happy and we knew that things were going to turn out just fine.

The Journey to Casa Madera - The Run to the Border

November 23, 2010 - I was sitting in the traffic line up waiting to cross the last remaining bridge over Rio Ameca with 300 of my closest friends to come home after buying a fridge and stove for one of our rooms.  Now there is not much you can do when you are sitting in traffic but sit there and think.  I was thinking about how nice it is that the government is running the reconstruction of the washed out side 24 hours a day.

[caption id="attachment_136" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="7 inches of rain in one day throughout the basin took this bridge out"][/caption]

Because of those efforts the bridge should be open early in new year instead of April which was the original estimate.  This wash out has made a quick 15 minute jaunt to Home Depot a 2 hour ordeal.  We only go when we absolutely have to.  It reminded me of the daunting task of leaving Anaheim, California on our way to Tucson, Arizona at rush hour....

November 12, 2008 - Our original plan when leaving Anaheim was to spend the day and night in San Diego.  We wanted to see the San Diego Zoo.  I had seen it before but it is always nice to go to a world-class facility.  Unfortunately we had been on the road for over 2 weeks and were getting tired of hotels, shuttling in all our of possessions into the room every night, and substandard food.  That day we decided the heck with it we will skip the zoo and head for Tucson.

[caption id="attachment_138" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Freeway to San Diego not far from the border"][/caption]

We had long ago decided that we would cross the US Mexico border at Nogales, Arizona as it provided better access to the toll highways in Mexico.  The toll highways would be faster, safer and it was a more direct route to Puerto Vallarta.

We set out  from Anaheim after the worst free hotel hot breakfast that was served to us on the trip.  While it is nice that they do that, this hotel should have stuck with bagels and cream cheese!  We had done some internet research the night before looking for a place that would sell a gps map for Mexico somewhere on our route and there was a store that listed Garmin maps in its advertisement in San Diego.  The best part was that it was just off the highway so that was our first destination for the day.

The traffic on the freeway to San Diego was absolutely brutal.  All 5 lanes were full and traffic was moving at least 15 MPH over the posted speed limit of 75.  While that's fine in some situations, when its bumper to bumper it is a little hard on the nerves.    We made it to San Diego without incident and the steering wheel recovered from the nail marks in time.  It was time to find the Map store.

A turn here, a turn there, another turn here.  Well it should be here somewhere???  Finally located the address.  Out of business.  Damn.  However, we are not really surprised as the location sucked.  Oh well maybe in Yuma or Tucson.

Off we went on Interstate 8.  While we wanted to go to Tucson it was 410 miles and it was already noon.  We were realizing that we may have to stop somewhere else.  We would play it by ear which is the way we like to travel anyhow because it gives us the opportunity to stop and see things that might be worthwhile.   We were about to cross the Mojave Desert so we were not sure if we would see anything or not but we would make time for it if there was.

[caption id="attachment_139" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Climbed all the way from San Diego to 4000 feet"][/caption]

The drive was nice, especially after the hectic drive from Anaheim to San Diego.  Traffic was light and the highway was great.  It was a good thing as this was a spectacular drive.  Who would have ever thought that there would be so much scenery to enjoy crossing a desert. This is a high elevation desert so there were lots of mountains, big rock faces and Serrano Cacti by the thousands.  They were unbelievable. 

[caption id="attachment_141" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Serrano Cactus as far as the eye can see"][/caption]

We arrived at Yuma at 4:00 pm as the time zone had changed and decided that we would stay there the night.  After touring a few hotels and deciding that Yuma and Santa Barbara should start a most expensive lodging club we finally found one that was ok and close to our budget.  This took almost an hour and a half.  Yuma is a very oddly laid out town and it was difficult finding the hotel zones.

We unloaded the car and went outside to enjoy an absolutely beautiful desert sunset.  The one thing about touring looking for a hotel was we also saw a great many restaurants.  We decided on BBQ.  It was good but not exceptionally good.  We realized that this was a chain so it was cookie cutter formula food.  We have since been to Texas and found out what proper BBQ should be, but that is a story for another day.

[caption id="attachment_144" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sand around Yuma, just need a buggy"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_145" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Snowbirds were already there"][/caption]

We spent the evening planning our route in Mexico using the paper map we bought earlier in Windsor, California.  It was important that we planned it out as we had no intentions of driving at night and wanted to make sure that we knew which towns or cities we had to stop in.  We knew that when we crossed the border that we would take 3 days to do the remaining miles.

We were up in the morning and off to Tucson as we had located a store there that did sell the Garmin map for Mexico and they had it in stock.  241 miles of desert, mountains, more desert and Serrano Cactus.

[caption id="attachment_146" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The black line in the distance is George Bush's wall"][/caption]

We found the store, bought our map, grabbed some lunch and headed for Nogales, Arizona.  The border town.  We thought it would be better to stay the night on the American side then try to find a hotel on the Mexican side.  That way we could get up early and hit the border before it got busy.

It was an hour to Nogales.  Driving into town was different.  This was a border town, no doubt about it.  Very rough-looking.  They had three hotels.  A Super 8 built in probably 1960, a Best Western that did not look like it was in the best area of town and a Holiday Inn that had just opened.  We tried the Holiday Inn.  No go, fully booked.  Super 8 it was.

It was early in the mid afternoon so it gave us some time to do some laundry.  Heather was doing that while I was downstairs checking email in the lobby.  I was on my way up the stairs when I heard this blood curdling scream (one that I was going to get very familiar with over the next few months) coming from our room.  I dashed up stairs trying not to drop my computer and there sitting on top of our freshly washed clothes was the biggest freaking bug I had ever seen.  Really this thing could have carried away small children.

We brought it to the attention of the desk clerk who calmly came up and killed it.  We know it came out of the dryer and was not in the room because the hotel was spotless.  It was at that point we went to Safeway and bought a bottle of wine as we had the sneaking suspicion neither one of us would sleep all that well tonight.

It was during that drive around town that we saw that the town was not really that bad, it is just old.  We hit the mall, did a little shopping and asked people for suggestions for dinner.  We were directed to a little mexican place downtown.  We were not disappointed.  The food was delightful, the people were friendly and we left well fed and watered.

We retired back to the room both with apprehension as the big event was here.  We were about to cross the border.  The scary border that we had heard so many bad things about.  What will happen?  What about all the goods we are carrying and dealing with customs?  We just could not turn back now.  It had to happen.  So we climbed into the bed whose mattress was probably not manufactured in this decade and drifted off with visions of the new adventure starting in about 8 short hours.

The Journey to Casa Madera - Los Angeles

November 15, 2010 - Tonight I gave Alfonso a ride home as he lent his bicycle to Marco whose bike had broken and lived farther away.  We were told last week by our insurance agent that Mexicans are not allowed to be on foot in our neighbourhood after 6:00 pm unless they live in the neighbourhood.   Otherwise they run the risk of being picked up by one of the many police patrols that run through the area.  I am pretty sure that is not a ride any of them wanted to take so I loaded him into the jeep and ran him over to Jarretaderas which by car is only 5 minutes away.

The man loves to talk and he loves to talk about music (no wonder I like him).  And he really likes to talk about english music.  It was very strange his first day here when he turned his ghetto blaster up to about 9 (so he could hear it over the smashing concrete) and into our home flowed Can't buy me love by the Beatles.  This was followed up with many other Beatles classics.  Throughout the day we were treated to Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Eagles, The Bee Gees and finally the one english music radio station in town.  CKUA stayed silent in the house that day.  Mainly because there was not a snowball's chance in Puerto Vallarta that we could hear it!

But I digress, all the way to his casa he talked.  Trying to find the right english word for this and that.  Asking me for the proper word in english for this spanish word.  Now this would be just fine and dandy if my spanish vocabulary was more than about 200 words!  I fear that he is going pick up the wrong english from someone who had no idea what he was asking me in the first place.  It was quite the enjoyable ride.  Reminded me of many of the rides we were on in Disneyland....

November 10, 2008 - when we checked out of the hotel in Santa Barbara (who knew it was an elitist playground? apparently everybody but Heather and I) after we coughed up the ridiculous amount of money they wanted for a very average hotel room we asked the desk clerk about the Monarch Butterflies.  We had been reading that there is a park where the butterflies rested in Santa Barbara on their migration to Michoacan, Mexico for the winter.  The desk clerk told we where the park was and said it was very close.  He gave us directions and we set out to find it.  After driving in circles for what seemed like hours but probably was only 45 minutes, we said the heck with it and headed for the freeway to LA.

[caption id="attachment_117" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Freeway to LA"][/caption]

Our plans were to hit a few high spots in Los Angeles on the way through and spend the night in Anaheim so we could hit Disneyland the next day.  We figured that we were there so we should make a stop at the Happiest Place on Earth.

[caption id="attachment_118" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="One just never tires of seeing that"][/caption]

First stop, Beverly Hills. What can you say about Beverly Hills that has not already been said.  Rodeo Drive

[caption id="attachment_120" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I would like to actually see this at night!"][/caption]

is kind of cool and they have chandeliers for street lamps.  Had no plans to actually shop on Rodeo Drive or shop period as we could barely fit a bag of chips in the car as it was so we just drove the street.

On to Hollywood and Hollywood Boulevard.  Checked out Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the walk of fame and moved on to the La Brea Tar Pits.  Those were interesting and worth checking out if you are stuck for something to do in LA.

[caption id="attachment_121" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The largest lagoon at the Tar Pits"][/caption]

Over the years we have heard so much about Venice Beach so we decided it was a nice day we should check it out.  We were 2 of maybe 6 people on the beach.

[caption id="attachment_122" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This would be something to see in the summer"][/caption]

Not much going on but what a beach, goes forever.  The water however is not the warmest in November.

[caption id="attachment_123" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Venice Canals"][/caption]

The day had been full so we thought we should mosey on to Anaheim before the traffic really built up on the freeways.  I have driven the freeways before with a map and made out ok but man the GPS makes things so much easier.  The little voice tells you a couple of kilometers ahead that you will be exiting right instead of the passenger (does not matter whether it is Heather or me who is the passenger) saying I think that was our exit we just blew by.

[caption id="attachment_124" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Thank god for Garmin!"][/caption]

It was a nice comfortable drive to Anaheim, found a reasonable hotel (100 bucks cheaper than the night before in SB) and relaxed for a bit before heading out and finding some dinner.

The next day we awoke to an absolutely perfect Southern California day.  Sun was shining, temperatures were warm but not too hot, all in all a great day to visit Disneyland.  We did every possible thing we could do there.  Watched the parades, listened to the Barbershop Quartet, watched some of the shows.  It was great.  We especially enjoyed the evening show, Fantasmic.  You had to be in place early but it was worth it!

It had been a long day and we had a lot of miles to cover in the morning so we said our goodbyes to Mickey and started the walk to the hotel.  It was a beautiful night and enjoyable to be walking without a coat in November.  We were hoping we would never need a coat in November again....boy were we wrong!