Travel Log 10: February 28, 2009 - Life in Lo de Marcos

 After this kafuffle, we decided to abandon our plans to go further south, and rather travel north back to the Puerto Vallarta area. We thought this run would be a good test attempt with the new hitch and land us in a large center where, if there is a problem, there are many resources and services to help us out.

 

On February 11 we left Punta Perula and travelled north to PV. We counted that, with our original journey south from PV, the back tracking to find the stabilizer bar, the travel to PV in the truck alone to pick up the part and then “home” again, this would be the SIXTH time we travelled this 3 hour patch of road. We decided it was starting to feel like travelling the Hope-Princeton highway from Penticton to the coast…we know every curve and pothole!

 

We landed just 60 kms north of PV in the town of Lo de Marcos. This is the fateful town in which we punched holes in the side of our trailer several weeks ago. We came back to this town now because we were able to secure a site in a lovely and very popular RV Resort here. We had hoped to get a spot on the way south, but it is in great demand and getting in mid-season is nearly impossible. Anyway, they had an opening because someone had to leave for home earlier than expected and here we are for one month. 

 

The tour book agrees that this is likely the very best RV resort available in Mexico. We would go on to say that it is better than anything we have experienced, so far, in the US or Canada! The grounds are lovely, with a grass boulevard down the middle of the resort which includes a fountain and iron benches. The RV sites themselves are wide and extremely spacious with a very generously-sized paved patio. Between our site and our neighbour, we have a 5-foot-high bank of 11 hibiscus bushes which have not stopped blooming since we’ve been here.

 

There is a Hotel Bungalow attached to the property with a quaint courtyard. Amenities include two pools, a small soccer field, basketball court, beach volleyball court, restaurant, and even a palapa housing several hammocks for reading a book in the shade. A two story palapa on the beach edge of the park is for gatherings, meetings and morning exercise classes. The spiral stairway from the main floor to the upper floor of the palapa reveals a huge patio and a nice view of the beach.

 

This resort has 75 site and is known for being packed with Canadians, mostly Quebec and B.C. The big joke is that you can be chatting with someone and find out that your neighbour in the resort here knows your neighbour at home. We have met people from Kelowna, OK Falls, Surrey and Kamloops.

 

I was chatting with Cathy and Louis who live in Kamloops and mentioned that my sister lives there also. I said that I was sure they wouldn’t know my sister but likely “know of” her as she had quadruplets and was in the local news a fair bit. Cathy said “oh yes, they swim in my pool in the summer!” Turns out that Cathy and Louis are neighbours with a friend of my sister. We are certainly all connected, aren’t we?!

 

Our stay here in Lo de Marcos overlapped with friends of ours from earlier travels, Dan and Sandy (remember the “Pelican Whisperer”?). We had a few days with them before they continued on with their travels. The day they left, our Vernon friends, Rod and Jean arrived in town at another RV park and spent a week. We, and Rod and Jean enjoy the beach scene very much, especially boogie boarding. The ocean in front of our resort is a bit rough and waves are very big, but we found a private little beach just a short drive away with lovely white sand and perfect boogie board waves. There is a palapa restaurant on this beach which served us fish tacos, which sound bad, but are actually really, really good.

 

Once outside of the resort, the town of Lo de Marcos is actually not that charming. It is dirty, dusty and smelly, just like most of the small towns we have visited. On one of our little walks through town we did find a bakery (panaderia – pah-nah-de-reeah) in which the owner bakes her bread and sweets in an adobe clay oven, somewhat like a pizza oven. There is quite a variety of Mexican pastries to choose from; however, after sampling many of them over the past months, Adrian has concluded that it’s all the same dough, just in different shapes.

 

In the resort, a fruit and veggie truck comes through a few times per week. It is so convenient as he has most green grocery items we need, including fresh eggs. Sometimes he has shrimp or other little treats made by his wife, like stuffed peppers. Yesterday I bought a dozen eggs, 4 big avocados, 6 plums, a small watermelon and 4 limes for 8 dollars.  Not bad.   The quality is usually pretty good, although he does try to peddle the sorriest looking lettuce you ever did see. A bakery truck comes through periodically as well, and it is here that we have found, for the second time only in Mexico, true…real…bonafide whole wheat bread. The supermarkets carry “Integral” (their version of wholewheat), but it is actually white bread with, I’m sure, a few flecks of dirt from the bakery countertop.

 

 Laundry is always a challenge. In Mexico with its incredibly expensive electricity, one may find washing machines in the resorts, but no dryer. In this resort, we have the luxury of four washing machines and one dryer, as well as acres of clothes line. Since being in Mexico, however, I have acquired the habit of taking our laundry to the “Lavanderia”, the town laundress.  In the towns we visit, there is no such thing as a do-it-yourself Laundromat and more often than not, the RV parks do not have laundry facilities at all, so the Lavanderia has been a necessity. They are everywhere and we have had good luck so far. Even in the most remote areas, there will be nothing along the road, and all of a sudden there is a little cement building, with a garage door opening, revealing a row of washers and dryers and heaps of folded clothes.

 

Adrian was very comfortable with this idea, as even in Canada (before we were married, of course) he had the “bachelor” service at the Laundromat which did his laundry for him. I, however, had huge control issues around letting someone else wash our “underoos”. However, I have overcome my issues and become pleasantly accustomed to this luxury. That is, however, until we dropped our laundry last week and went to pick it up at the appointed time only to receive half of our laundry back. When we drop laundry, I have a typed master checklist which I use so that I know for myself how many of what is at the laundry and the total number of pieces. This proved very helpful in this situation as I knew exactly the items which were missing.

 

I wouldn’t have been so upset – I mean really, so I have to go and buy new clothes! – except our beautiful bamboo cotton bed linens were in the load that was lost. I was heartbroken.

 

My Spanish is weak, particularly in sentence composition. As a result I just string together all the words I know which might apply and hope they can get the gist. Through chicken-peck Spanish on my part (donde esta mi uno packete ropa todo blanco? – where is my one packet of clothes which are all white?)  and chicken-peck English on her part (spanish-spanish…give to Americana…spanish-spanish…I look…spanish-spanish…return manyana??), I gathered from the laundress that she gave it to someone else in error. I went back day after day and on day three, the laundry had been returned. My world made sense again!

 

There is a speed-control method used on the roads in Mexico called “topes” (toe-pays) and “vibradores”. Topes are monster speed bumps which are placed at the entry and exits to small towns along the highway. These speed bumps are not like the ones in front of Wal Mart back home. These are serious cottage-rockers. One must slow down and literally creep over them. Sometimes they are painted yellow as a warning, sometimes there are signs warning, and sometimes they are just lying in wait.  Adrian does a great job constantly scanning the road for these bumps. Once, however, he had the nerve to actually glance up to take in the scenery and we hit one at full speed…we will not forget this. Clyde was like a bucking bronco with our heads bashing back and forth against the headrests, and the trailer like a long dinosaur tail flicking around behind us. Topes also add significant travel time as the number of topes is prolific through these roadways. The placement of topes is not governed or monitored by anyone. If you feel the traffic in front of your home is passing too quickly, or if you want to set up a fruit stand in front of your house and ensure all passers-by see your wares, you can make your own tope…just add some tar or cement, shape it into jaw-cracking mound…and you’re done! 

 

Vibradores are slightly different. Vibradores (vib-ra-door-ays) are a serious of small bumps or depressions that warn of dangerous corners or intersections. Hit at full speed, the effect is like driving across an old washboard. Those of you who have driven on prairie dirt roads will know what I mean!

 

Eating out thus far in our travels has been an exercise with varying shades of success. Some restaurants have been pretty good, others dismal, and it doesn’t seem to matter whether the place is expensive or cheap.  We have had one extremely memorable meal and it was, of all things, Chinese! There is an American man and his oriental wife running a small Chinese restaurant just down the street from the resort. We rate it the best Chinese ever.  One thing common to all dining is the fact that the staff will NEVER bring you the bill until you ask. In Mexican culture it is extremely rude to ask if you want the bill. When one takes a restaurant table in Mexico, no matter the time of day, it is your table until the close of business. We chuckle at this when we think of all the times in Canada when we have dined out and during the meal, the waitress comes along and says “I need to have you settle your bill because I’m going off shift”. They actually just want their tip. This would never happen here. 

 

Since being in Lo de Marcos, we have acquired new roommates…ANTS. Thus far in our travels, we have avoided having ants invade the trailer, while other RVers have had problems. We keep all cupboards clear of crumbs, the pantry items are in either Tupperware or Ziploc bags. We have also sprinkled Ajax around the wheels, jacks and hoses that touch the ground around the trailer which could possibly be used as an “ant highway” into our rig. Well, all these measures have failed here. We have itty-bitty ants, which we are sure are so small they are coming in through the window screens. Then we have slightly larger ants with tentacles on their heads who are hanging out in the kitchen. 

 

I’ve had the kitchen torn apart twice. Everything pulled from all cupboards, washed, checked, etc. My dramatic nature would like to say that we are being “swarmed”, but this is not quite true. We have maybe 20 – 30 ants per day trucking around. I really lose my cool when I see even one.  We tried all proactive methods which are not working, so we have resorted to Raid and some tragic-smelling ant powder from the local Veterinarian (who…as it happens, also owns the meat butcher shop next door to the Vet clinic…hmmmmm).

 

When we were purchasing the tragic-smelling ant powder from the vet, we were trying to ask if it was safe for dogs – that it wouldn’t harm a dog (es no mal para paro?). The vet said “oh si, si. Paro no come, es no mal (if dog no eat, is no harm”!)

 

So here we are, Mr. and Mrs. Natural Remedy/No-Chemical living in a cloud of Raid spray and ant powder. We call it the “Anti-Ant” program. Oh look, there’s one crawling on my laptop right now! Ick!

 

An update on Bailey. We have to say that Mexico has been great for Bailey. She has had a real change in her temperament. For one she absolutely LOVES the beach and the warmth. She figured out in short order that: the water in the ocean is not for drinking; that rolling endlessly in the sand is a great back-scratcher; and having a bath outside in a warm climate is actually kind of fun! As most of you know, she had difficulty being socialized with other dogs as a result of the coyote attacks she sustained in the past. Since being in Mexico, she has a whole new attitude – she is calm and friendly to other resort dogs and has made lots of friends. She stays close to home, even when not on a leash outside, and her favourite thing to do is to flop down in the sun, and when hot, get up and flop down in the shade. We can actually see her smiling!

 

We will be in Lo de Marcos until March 13. Where we will go at that point we are not sure, but will keep you all posted.