Mazatlan

Wednesday, November 14th

We are now traveling in a caravan of 3 RVs. (Mike and Mavis of BC, John & Pat of Penetanguishene ON and ourselves).  We left Tucson AZ about 8 am (temp 60F), gassed up at $3.21/gallon and drove south to the border by 9:50 am.  We had pre-purchased our vehicle temporary import permits before we left home so we only had to purchase our tourist visa cards.  This was a great move as we only spent 1 hour for the visa cards as to opposed to 2 1/2 hours the year before in line to purchase visa and vehicle permits.

We were in Totonaka RV Resort in San Carlos, Sonora, MX by 4 pm with a balmy temperature of 82F. San Carlos is near Guayamus on the Bay of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez).  We enjoyed dinner at our favorite restaurant, Charlies Rock, which has the best margaritas and seafood.  Celebrating our first day in Mexico for the season!

The only downer for Vic was the quality of the electricity.  Our surge protector kept shutting our power off as the supply was 140 volts instead of 130 volts or lower. 

Thursday November 15th

We left San Carlos at 10 am.  Our departure had been delayed as we all waited while Mike had a chip repaired in his windshield by a local service man.  (cost less than $20) We weren't driving far (only 238 miles) to stay at a Pemex gas station in Los Mochis so we were not in a rush to leave.  The gas price in Mexico right now is 10.7 pesos per litre (which is less than 1 dollar as the exchange is about 13 pesos to 1 Canadian dollar). There is no competition here -- Pemex is the only vendor of gasoline and diesel.

The temperature was 85F when we arrived in Los Mochis just before 4 pm.  The Pemex Stn number 4925 is a safe place to overnight.  It has a locked compound for truckers and RVers with a 24 hour guard.  Our only cost is a tip of $4 to the guard. There were also two other RVs from BC who spent the night there.

Friday November 16th to Sunday November 18th

We left Los Mochis about 8 am on Friday. Temp was 67F.  We passed the Tropic of Cancer about noon and were parked at San Fernado RV Park in Mazatlan by 1 pm. It was a humid 85F. (feels like 100F) We will stay here a week.  This is a 4 day holiday weekend in Mexico celebrating Revolution Day.  We will have custom windshield covers made here for our RV and John's RV but there is a delay in delivery of the material from Guadalajara due to the holiday.  Hopefully all will be done by Thursday night November 22nd.  The weekly price for our RV site is $155 USD.

This park has a nice swimming pool and hot tub.  We are on the north end of the city where there are lots of restaurants, shops, bank, etc to walk to.  Just 1 short block to the ocean.  The veggie truck comes in on Mon, Wed and Fridays. He carries fresh vegetables, fruit, eggs and shrimp. A fish vendor dropped by on Sunday to sell Durado.  Apparently a shrimp vendor comes on Thursday.  There is a Sam's Club, Walmart, Mega and Sorianna for supercentre type shopping.  And of course Vic appreciated a snack at the Dairy Queen on Saturday!

The first evening here we had dinner at the "Fat Fish" restaurant that specializes in barbequed ribs (one serving is enough for 2 meals).  Mike and Mavis left Saturday morning for Lo de Marcos, our final destination, as they wanted to participate in couples golfing on Sunday.

In the meantime John, Pat, Vic and Bev will do some sightseeing in Mazatlan. Saturday night we walked the beach and then saw fireworks from a nearby hotel.

The forecast weather for Sunday is high of 84F with feels like 99F.  Time to go cool off in the pool!