3-La Barca to Comala and Fuego volcano

12:00, 29 Nov, 15 Laguna Maria Cenrto Turistico

After leaving La Barca yesterday we drove west through the lake district, then south towards Colima. We passed through many areas growing blue agave, the main ingredient for tequila. This state, Jalisco, is the only one that can call its product by that name.

 

 Raw tequila....

 Our destination was this camping area, way off the beaten track, that by the map, appeared to be difficult to get to. We are certainly glad that we decided to navigate the narrow, sinuous but decent quality roads to this lovely spot. The main attraction was the majestic view of the Colima volcano, Fuego, an imposing feature of the last hour of our drive. The last kilometer was not so much fun: a cobble stone roadway that had not been kept up in some time and the going was slow. Thanks God for the strong axles that Casita installed on their trailers.

 

A common sight in Mexico No pooping here.....

 

We arrived at this lovely little grassy campground with power and water hookups. Surprisingly, it is accurately described in our 2009 guidebook. What the guidebook couldn’t have covered was the Christian youth group here for a weekend revival meeting. A rough translation of their denomination is ‘The Apostolic Fire of Jesus Christ”. Never heard of them but they may be associated with Catholicism. Since we arrived we have been “entertained” with the hard-sell, hand waving and high-energy bible-thumping speeches of the group’s preachers, all trumped up with a live rock band accompaniment. The antics remind me of the religious groups that swept across Mexico and Central America in recent years, converting many poor and uneducated people who, as a result, were expulsed from their mainly Catholic villages and forced to become beggars in the larger cities, something we witnessed in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, several years ago. This group seems to be targeting the youth and I must say that I do not agree with the ‘indoctrination’ or brain washing of young people in the name of some religious doctrine.

 

Settled in for a few days

The Colima volcano, fairly young in terms of geological formations, is still very active and erupts occasionally, sometimes with spectacular results. Luckily there are no population centres nearby. Two years ago one of its major events spread ash over this area covering the lake and killing most of the fish life. We found a good vantage point and saw a spectacular mini eruption yesterday afternoon. No-one else seemed to be as excited and thrilled about it so this must be a regular occurrence but we did get some great photos. This morning the truck and trailer have a slight coating of, what must be, ash from last night’s activity.

 

Spectacular sight!

This area is touted as a bird watcher’s paradise but the only extraordinary (to us) species we saw was a Vermillion fly-catcher. We also found, what appears to be, the remains of a former coffee plantation down by the lake.

 

Vermillion fly catcher

 

 

Wild coffee plants

 

This will be a nice place to wind down for a few days after our week with the VOSH group, especially after the religious group departs this afternoon.

Tomorrow we head south to the coast to end up in Punta Perula on the first of Nov and where we will base for the next month or 2. It was highly recommended by Ellen and Ian last year so it should make for a nice winter haven. This is the area that was hardest hit by the hurricane last month so there may be some damage to repair and people to help.

Note: We must have missed a grand sight during the night. There was a significant coating of volcanic dust over everything when we awoke the next morning. The ground didn’t shake but the eruption must have been another spectacular sight.

 

2-Guaymas to La Barca and VOSH clinic

20:00, 27 Nov, 2015 Kristal Hotel, La Barca, Jalisco

After a tearful goodbye to Gosling we departing Guaymas we drove south along the toll roads which promised tom be better quality and faster than the free roads. By the time we arrived here we had spent almost $150 in tolls. They aren’t kidding when they say that Mexico has the most expensive toll roads.

 

Good bye, old friend

Our first night was in a little campground in Huatabampo, a small bay just north of Topolobampo, well off the beaten track. We were the only ones in the RV park and we parked within a few yards of the beach where we could hear the waves breaking on the shore. When we arrived they were preparing for a wedding reception, our clue to park as far as we could from the restaurant/reception facility. To our surprise everything wrapped up by 21:00 and we had a quiet restful night listening to the surf.

We were off the next morning, but first, we had to get to the main highway and that was quite a ride on the worst road we have ever transited with Casita. What should have taken about 30 minutes took well over 1 ½ hours of dodging potholes and slowing to a near stop to go over topes, those mini-mountains built into the roads to slow traffic. They are certainly effective and can be found on every road other than the toll highways.

Our destination was Mazatlán, where we stayed for 2 nights at the Punta Cerritos RV park. Our plans to dine at fat Fish, our favourite rib restaurant, were dashed when we both came down with a slight case of Mexican tummy, but we did have the opportunity to visit with Lin and Debbie (Dolphin Tales), cruising friends from Victoria.

Bruha beach, "permanent" motor homes

Our next stop was at another RV site close to Tequila, Jalisco, at Delia’s Trailer Park at Ezatlan. This one had a grass covered parking area with basic services and, again, we were the only ones there besides the manager and her 4 dogs, one of which, a rescue dog, almost had Rosie for dinner had it not been for the muzzle and missing front leg. After the encounter the owner said that they knew it was a vicious dog so they actually had its front leg surgically removed but that didn’t seem to slow it down at all. One wonders……

The next morning was all on good B roads, yes, with lots of topes, all the way to the Kristal Hotel, La Barca. Our reason for being there requires some explanation.

Topes: they are not all this well signposted.

Some of our favourite cruising partners during our 8 years on Gosling were Bill and Janet on Optical Illusion. The name of their boat was significant, he was an ophthalmologist from Vancouver who participated in eye clinics missions to countries all over the world. In our time with them we were asked if we would be interested in participating. We agreed on the spot, however, Bill passed away in 2014 but this year Janet asked if we would help out at a clinic in his memory at La Barca, Mexico.

We arrived before the others and parked the truck and trailer under covered parking, settled into our room and waited for the group to arrive. The team was made up ophthalmologists and opticians from Canada, mostly from Quebec and BC, with assistance from optometry students from Chicago and Australia and a number of volunteer helpers, like us. The entire team, about 35 strong, was headed by Father Pierre, a Catholic priest from Montreal who has been active in such missions for years now.  The Canadian teams brought with them boxes of specialized equipment and a huge inventory of glasses collected by volunteer organizations across Canada who painstakingly analyse, label and sort them out. As can be expected in Mexico, the entire inventory of boxes were delayed in Customs and would not be released unless a significant duty was payed. As a result not all the boxes arrived but there was sufficient stock and equipment to carry on with the 7-day mission and over the 7 days more than 2700 patients were examined and issued with glasses. All those with significant eye problems were recorded for further treatment by the Mexican health system.

 

The student crew from the US and Austraia



Fran and I were an exception in this group, being the only ones who had travelled there by road and with a dog. Our daily routine before and after the work at the mission (07:30-18:00 on most days) was centred around Rosie. She was a real trooper staying cooped up in the trailer all day. We played fetch for an hour or so every day on our return and she slept with us in the hotel room at night. Everyone loved her, naturally.

The mission’s hosts and local assistants for the event were a great group of people. The mayor and his wife, the local Rotary club, Alicia, the coordinator for many previous missions and several prominent citizens all contributed their time and energy where they could. Several of them hosted the group at their houses for dinners and one, an owner of a major greenhouse complex for tomatoes and peppers (60 hectares), had us over for an entire afternoon of food and drink. I think he had close connections with a local tequila producer by the same name (Mendosa) cause all the tequila seen at our functions was from the same distillery. On the last night they held a going away party with folkloric dancers, a fantastic Mariachi band, presentations, gifts and lots of photographs and fond farewells. And then it was over….. When we woke up the next morning we were, once more, the only ones left. Everyone else had to leave on the bus at 3 AM, some headed to the airport, others for a few days in Puerto Vallarta.

 

Afternoon outing at the Mendosa farm

 

Modern hydroponic roma tomato greenhouse

 

Presentation of certificates

 

 

 

1-Travels in Rosita Casita - Intro

Intro: Travels in Rosita Casita

Hn vels asitaard to believe but I have been encouraged to write about our continuing travels after the sale of Gosling, our Camper and Nicholson 42 sailboat, regrettably which we parted with last week in Guaymas. I guess some people like reading my ramblings or they like the photos that I attach to them. Anyway, for those who asked for it and those who will read this out of sheer curiosity, here goes.

First a bit of history on Rosita Casita. Casita trailers are built in Rice, Texas and Rosita came off the production line in 2006. She is a 17 ft, Freedom Deluxe edition, the largest and best equipped model that Casita has produced to date. However, 17 ft is the overall, tongue to bumper length so it is still a micro habitat and Fran and I bump into each other a lot. It has most of the options available for this model, including gas stove, air conditioning, 3-way fridge and gas hot water. It was originally ordered for and owned by a resident of Arizona so it was not outfitted with the gas heater, an option which would have been nice for us but we have done well so far with an electric heater. Since then we have installed a TV (which we hardly ever use) and an awning.

Near Comala, MX

 

We purchased both the truck and trailer separately in 2012 on our way through Phoenix after leaving Gosling in El Salvador for the summer. Before leaving Guaymas we had sold our old but dependable Chrysler van to SaM and Dave (SV Islena) who we had met in San Diego while prepping Gosling in Feb 2008. Our maiden voyage with Rosita and truck was from Phoenix to Lake Tahoe, to Bodega Bay on the California coast, south through San Francisco to the wine district of Paso Robles and the Nadeau winery (no relation), up the coast of Big Sur, back through San Francisco, north through the Napa valley, north along the California coast to the Oregon border and then inland to I-5 and north to Canada. We had no mishaps on that trip, we cleared the border without any difficulty and arrived in Victoria safe and sound.

For the last 3 years Rosita has been parked in Mike and Dove’s, our son and daughter-in-law,  back yard, on Mayne Island (just north of Sidney BC), from May to November where we used her as a home base for 4 of those months while helping Mike and Dove renovate their log house. For the winter of 2013, while we were sailing in Panama and back to Mexico, we stored her at friends in Kelowna who also looked after Rosie, our Sheltie. For the last 2 winters we have towed her south to Mexico and used her as accommodations in the boatyard beside Gosling, last year as we prepped her for our season of sailing the Sea of Cortez (see blog: http://svgosling.blogspot.com) and this year while we transferred ownership to Gosling’s new owner.

In November 2014 we really got into the RV life as we drove South from Kelowna (where we left Rosie again), through Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and into Mexico. The weather had turned quite cold so we didn’t dally too much on that trip except for a few stops in Palm Springs and Sierra Vista, Arizona to visit some good friends. Driving north last spring we chose a much more spectacular route through Arizona, Nevada, Idaho (Monument Valley, Canyonlands, Arches and Dinosaur national parks and Lava Hotsprings). In northern Nevada an unexpected cold snap and snow caused us to abandon plans to drive through Grand Tetons and Yellowstone national parks. By the time we arrived back in BC, near Cranbrook, we were back in normal BC springtime weather.

On that trip, back north, we had our first mishaps with 2 blowouts on the Casita, the first in Mexico a few hours north of Guaymas and the next in southern Nevada. After we left Cranbrook just after passing the peak of one of the passes we almost lost Casita when a faulty tow hitch pin came loose and she detached from the truck. Luckily then chains held, the electric brakes locked and, apart from some frayed nerves and some damage to the lower end of the front leveling post, all was well. Needless to say, we are now using a much more secure hitch pin.

So far this year, as I write this near the Colima volcano, we have had a great trip.