As we hear of rising costs at home, especially with the poor exchange rate for the Canadian dollar, we see the price of food rising here also. A few examples:
One large mango $350 pesos ($2.70 CAD)
One small head of romaine lettuce $260 pesos ($2.00 CAD)
1 kg bacon $110 pesos ($8.43 CAD)
1 litre orange juice $170 pesos ($1.30 CAD) -- the cost is the same whether we make our own freshly squeezed orange juice or buy it in a tetrapak at the grocery store
1 litre milk $150 pesos ($1.14 CAD)
These prices are up from previous years.
Two items that have remained the same:
smoked pork chops $70 pesos per kg ($5.36 CAD)$
large shrimp $180 pesos per kg ($13.79 CAD).
Re other expenditures:
Regular gas here is $13.16 pesos per litre
($1.01 CAD) compared to 93.9 cents per litre at our home in Ontario. We do not use our car very often here as we can walk most places.
The local bus to Puerto Vallarta costs $50 pesos ($3.83 CAD) for the 1 1/2 hour ride. (About 55 km drive on mountain road of single lane traffic each way)
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Saturday, January 16, 2016
A day in Puerto Vallarta
January 14th we drove into Puerto Vallarta to meet up with our friends Linda and Frank who had arrived that morning on a cruise ship. Five of us had come from Lo de Marcos to join them at the Malecon.
We ate lunch at Paradise Burgers which provided us with an excellent view of the Malecon area and the local entertainment since the restaurant is located on the second floor of a building on the waterfront.
The acrobats in the following photos climbed the pole, tied on a rope to themselves, then hung upside down and swung around the pole slowly lowering themselves to the ground with each rotation.
There was only one sand sculpture on display along the Malecon. Other years there have been many on display. The intricate detail of this Mayan calenda is kept by spraying the sculpture frequently with a fine mist of water.
A view of one of many metal sculptures along the waterfront:
A view of the waterfront as we walked south on the Malecon.
The waves were high and splashing anyone walking close to the sea wall.
We ate lunch at Paradise Burgers which provided us with an excellent view of the Malecon area and the local entertainment since the restaurant is located on the second floor of a building on the waterfront.
The acrobats in the following photos climbed the pole, tied on a rope to themselves, then hung upside down and swung around the pole slowly lowering themselves to the ground with each rotation.
There was only one sand sculpture on display along the Malecon. Other years there have been many on display. The intricate detail of this Mayan calenda is kept by spraying the sculpture frequently with a fine mist of water.
A view of one of many metal sculptures along the waterfront:
A view of the waterfront as we walked south on the Malecon.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Back to the grind...
We arrived back in de Marcos on Wednesday, after two great weeks at home with the family. The grandchildren are just so wonderful to be with and we really enjoyed every minute. The following evening, we celebrated New Years under the palapa with a pozole meal offered up by the park managers.
The park is very busy with many Mexicanos, including a motorhome and pop-up tent trailer. Those are a rarity in Mexico. The place was hopping, all the rooms were booked, and everyone having fun.
We got up this Saturday morning to a gorgeous sunrise.
The park is very busy with many Mexicanos, including a motorhome and pop-up tent trailer. Those are a rarity in Mexico. The place was hopping, all the rooms were booked, and everyone having fun.
We got up this Saturday morning to a gorgeous sunrise.
Monday, December 14, 2015
Town Activities
The town is being spruced up this year. The palm trees in the town square are decorated with strings of coloured lights.
The regional government has set up a program where a few bands travel to towns for free community entertainment. Band night is Wednesday evening in Lo de Marcos. The past Wednesday we had a 16 piece band play for 2 hours and lots of people danced to the music.
The taco stands set up around the town square on Wednesday evenings so you can enjoy an evening out of dinner and dancing very inexpensively!
Vic spent Wednesday morning setting up our Christmas decorations around our patio. A nice site to come home to after an evening out.
The regional government has set up a program where a few bands travel to towns for free community entertainment. Band night is Wednesday evening in Lo de Marcos. The past Wednesday we had a 16 piece band play for 2 hours and lots of people danced to the music.
The taco stands set up around the town square on Wednesday evenings so you can enjoy an evening out of dinner and dancing very inexpensively!
Vic spent Wednesday morning setting up our Christmas decorations around our patio. A nice site to come home to after an evening out.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
our winter home in Mexico
The morning of Thursday December 3rd we met up with our travel buddies George and Carmen to drive to Lo de Marcos, Nayarit, Mexico.
It was our first time crossing at the Anzalduas International Bridge at Mission TX. This crossing is RV friendly. No commercial traffic can cross at this bridge. The lanes are wide and straight through. The cost for us was $16.75 USD for our motorhome with tow car. It was $9 for the truck with 5th wheel trailer that our friends were driving. You drive through the "Nothing to Declare" lanes and line up for an x-ray of the RV. They take about 10 minutes to study the results of the x-ray. Then you are clear to purchase your tourist card (and vehicle permit if you didn't purchase it ahead of time over the internet).
We used toll roads where available on our route south. The route took us through Monterrey, Saltillo, Zacatecas, Aguacalientes and Guadalajara. The roads were excellent. Much better than the route down 15D on the west coast.
The tolls were $90 more on this route but it is 608 miles shorter for us to travel to Mission TX and down this route than our route previous years of driving to Tucson AZ, crossing at Nogales and driving down the west coast of Mexico. We saved $1338 CAD on fuel and camping fees by taking this route from Mission .(The price of gas at PEMEX in Mexico is 13.57pesos/litre or $1.08 CAD which is more than the price in Toronto currently)
We spent 2 nights as PEMEX stations. The first night in Concepion de Oro and the second night at Magdalena. The PEMEX station in Magdalena is new and has a large compound for RVs and truckers to overnight.
We arrived at Savage RV Park in Lo de Marcos at 10:20 am on Saturday December 5th. It is hot and humid here. Day time highs are 30C to 33C with overnight lows of 22C. The ocean is 29.2C (about 85F) so quite comfortable for swimming, floating or boogie boarding.
Saturday night is taco night in town so we headed out for an inexpensive dinner for our first night back in our winter home.
It was our first time crossing at the Anzalduas International Bridge at Mission TX. This crossing is RV friendly. No commercial traffic can cross at this bridge. The lanes are wide and straight through. The cost for us was $16.75 USD for our motorhome with tow car. It was $9 for the truck with 5th wheel trailer that our friends were driving. You drive through the "Nothing to Declare" lanes and line up for an x-ray of the RV. They take about 10 minutes to study the results of the x-ray. Then you are clear to purchase your tourist card (and vehicle permit if you didn't purchase it ahead of time over the internet).
We used toll roads where available on our route south. The route took us through Monterrey, Saltillo, Zacatecas, Aguacalientes and Guadalajara. The roads were excellent. Much better than the route down 15D on the west coast.
The tolls were $90 more on this route but it is 608 miles shorter for us to travel to Mission TX and down this route than our route previous years of driving to Tucson AZ, crossing at Nogales and driving down the west coast of Mexico. We saved $1338 CAD on fuel and camping fees by taking this route from Mission .(The price of gas at PEMEX in Mexico is 13.57pesos/litre or $1.08 CAD which is more than the price in Toronto currently)
We spent 2 nights as PEMEX stations. The first night in Concepion de Oro and the second night at Magdalena. The PEMEX station in Magdalena is new and has a large compound for RVs and truckers to overnight.
We arrived at Savage RV Park in Lo de Marcos at 10:20 am on Saturday December 5th. It is hot and humid here. Day time highs are 30C to 33C with overnight lows of 22C. The ocean is 29.2C (about 85F) so quite comfortable for swimming, floating or boogie boarding.
Saturday night is taco night in town so we headed out for an inexpensive dinner for our first night back in our winter home.
Monday, December 7, 2015
December 3rd
We are still at Lemon Tree RV Inn in Mission TX. Since we arrived here on Nov 10th, the cost of regular unleaded gas has not gone above $1.86/gallon. In fact, one lady went shopping about 30 minutes north of here on Black Friday and found that gas was only $1.68 at Murphys that day! We topped our motorhome up on Nov 30th at $1.77/gallon. Gas is certainly one item that is cheaper here than in Canada or Mexico!
Shortly after we arrived here, Vic had a toothache. Luckily we are about a half hour drive to the international bridge to Nuevo Progresso which is a popular place for dental treatment. We drove to Progresso TX, parked our car on the US side and paid 50 cents each to walk across the bridge into Mexico. Vic had researched the various dentists and booked an appointment. Once you cross the bridge there are 2 blocks containing nothing but dental clinics, pharmacies, and optometrists! Vic needed a root canal and crown. Total cost $470 USD and he was pleased with the dentist's expertise.
Lemon Tree RV Inn is located next door to an orange grove. The trees are loaded with oranges which are picked and sold in 10 lb bags for $5.
Our park has many orange and lemon trees within it so we can freely pick oranges which are sweet to eat.
One Saturday we visited the DonWes Flea Market and purchased a 10 lb bag of red grapefruit for $3. Smaller red grapefruit for juicing were 10 lbs for $2.
There are lots of little cottontail rabbits running around the park. They are most apparent when we go for a walk in the evening. We saw about a dozen last night. They are busy nibbling on the grass and allow us to come within a few feet before they hop away. There are enough around that we have to sweep the rabbit droppings off the shuffleboard court in the morning before we play!
We hear a flock of small green parrots fly over our campground almost every day. Even though they are flying high you can hear them long before they pass above us. They look similar in size to the Quaker Parrot that we used to have as a pet.
Lemon Tree RV Inn is close to the Anzalduas Park in Mission which has a large field for flying remote control model airplanes. Vic brought 4 of his airplanes with him so he has been able to go out several mornings to fly them. Unfortunately, Texas is known for being windy and he hasn't been able to go out to fly as often as he'd like.
We've been busy with social activities here, especially a wonderful American Thanksgiving dinner. The owners of the park provided 9 turkeys and 22 pies for the celebration! The residents contributed the stuffing, veggies and salads for the meal. There are only 104 people in the park at the moment. By January there will be about 300 people in residence.
Black Friday we helped put up the Christmas tree and decorate the community center for Christmas.
Nov 30th Vic took our motorhome in for an oil change. The charge was $115 at Lube Master Plus in Alamos which has tall bays for servicing motorhomes and trucks.
The weather has been cloudy and cool here for the past few days (about 16C in the daytime) so it is time to move further south. Our current plan is to cross the border into Mexico on Thursday December 3rd.
Shortly after we arrived here, Vic had a toothache. Luckily we are about a half hour drive to the international bridge to Nuevo Progresso which is a popular place for dental treatment. We drove to Progresso TX, parked our car on the US side and paid 50 cents each to walk across the bridge into Mexico. Vic had researched the various dentists and booked an appointment. Once you cross the bridge there are 2 blocks containing nothing but dental clinics, pharmacies, and optometrists! Vic needed a root canal and crown. Total cost $470 USD and he was pleased with the dentist's expertise.
Lemon Tree RV Inn is located next door to an orange grove. The trees are loaded with oranges which are picked and sold in 10 lb bags for $5.
Our park has many orange and lemon trees within it so we can freely pick oranges which are sweet to eat.
One Saturday we visited the DonWes Flea Market and purchased a 10 lb bag of red grapefruit for $3. Smaller red grapefruit for juicing were 10 lbs for $2.
There are lots of little cottontail rabbits running around the park. They are most apparent when we go for a walk in the evening. We saw about a dozen last night. They are busy nibbling on the grass and allow us to come within a few feet before they hop away. There are enough around that we have to sweep the rabbit droppings off the shuffleboard court in the morning before we play!
We hear a flock of small green parrots fly over our campground almost every day. Even though they are flying high you can hear them long before they pass above us. They look similar in size to the Quaker Parrot that we used to have as a pet.
Lemon Tree RV Inn is close to the Anzalduas Park in Mission which has a large field for flying remote control model airplanes. Vic brought 4 of his airplanes with him so he has been able to go out several mornings to fly them. Unfortunately, Texas is known for being windy and he hasn't been able to go out to fly as often as he'd like.
We've been busy with social activities here, especially a wonderful American Thanksgiving dinner. The owners of the park provided 9 turkeys and 22 pies for the celebration! The residents contributed the stuffing, veggies and salads for the meal. There are only 104 people in the park at the moment. By January there will be about 300 people in residence.
Black Friday we helped put up the Christmas tree and decorate the community center for Christmas.
Nov 30th Vic took our motorhome in for an oil change. The charge was $115 at Lube Master Plus in Alamos which has tall bays for servicing motorhomes and trucks.
The weather has been cloudy and cool here for the past few days (about 16C in the daytime) so it is time to move further south. Our current plan is to cross the border into Mexico on Thursday December 3rd.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Nov 10th arrived in Mission TX
The weather was cloudy and cool when we left the
Dallas area on Monday, November 9th at 8:45 am -- about 9C -- but by the time we reached
Fentress, TX at 2:30 pm it was a sunny 22C.
So nice to be back into a t-shirt and shorts!
We were delayed about an hour on our trip down
I-35 today first due to a long stretch of construction and then to volume of
traffic going through Austin. Believe it or not the traffic through Austin was worse than Toronto!
All along
the route there is evidence of flooding from the storm that came through on
Halloween. The rivers are still running
high and fast. A good note: we saw a flock of Sandhill Cranes flying south -- a beautiful sight!
We camped at Leisure Resort in Fentress which
is 45 miles north east of San Antonio. The interior roads of the campground were
broken in places where the floodwaters damaged the pavement and deposited it elsewhere. Their bathhouse/shower building is still not
operational since the flood.
 |
| our site at Leisure Resort |
 |
| San Marcos river running through the campground |
The campground staff told us the San Marcos River had crested at 42' on October 31st. The second highest in 100 yrs!
Leisure Resort is a lovely little campground -- very quiet and peaceful nestled in the
trees beside the San Marcos River. Visitors tube down the river in the summer time. This is
a Passport American campground so we got 50% off the regular rate.
We chose to stay in Fentress as it close to Black's Restaurant in the town of Lockhart which is known in this area for it's
Barbecue food. We ate there in the
spring and especially loved their BBQ brisket and smoked sausages so decided to repeat the experience.
On Tuesday, November 10th the temperature was 19C when we left Fentress at 9:20 am. The gas prices were even cheaper along Highway TX-80. We stopped at Karnes City to fuel up at the Chevron for $1.74/gal.
We spotted 2 unusual birds on our travels toward Mission. They are Crested Caracara and are about the size of a Falcon.
 |
| Crested Caracara |
We arrived in Mission TX around 3:30 in the afternoon to temperature of 30C. We checked out 2 campgrounds and chose Lemon Tree RV Inn. A welcoming park. The rate is $310 per month which includes WiFi at your site. Electricity is extra (as is usual) at cost of 15 cents/kwh. We will stay here until we cross the border into Mexico later in November or early Dec. We have traveled 2,072 miles since Oct 31st.
 |
| we picked a site at Lemon Tree where the tree provides shade from the afternoon sun |
Wed November 11th: We are already involved in the park activities. We attended the weekly residents meeting this morning, Bev played a couple of games of Shuffleboard while Vic was busy helping another couple set up their satellite dish. Tonight we will be attending the Veterans' Day dinner.
Thurs November 12th: We swam in the pool as the high yesterday was 33C (91F). The weather has really cooled off today in is now currently overcast and 72F (22C). Vic was just about to start washing the motorhome and a crew of young Mexicans just showed up and offered to wash the rig for $37. What a deal! There will be a good tip for a job well done.
Enjoying being Winter Texans even if only for part of the winter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)