LunaSea

Lunes, (Monday) 12 Marzo we drove north to Mazatlan and are settled back in at Mar Rosa RV Park. We love this place. We first stumbled in here in 2001. We spent a few days here again in 2009 on our east-west todo las playas (all the beaches) tour. Last year we were here for about two weeks hoping Ray’s back would recover. Mazatlan has about a dozen RV parks and like everywhere in Mexico, each park has their devotees. Martes, (Tuesday) 13 Marzo we visited Isla de la Piedra (Stone Island). We caught the bus from just south of our RV park to downtown Mazatlan. We got off and basically walked thru the downtown area across to the ferry terminal side to catch an agua (water) taxi to Stone Island. If I were not a ... read more

Miercoles, 7 Marzo, We left Zacatecas at the 8000 foot elevation and headed southwest to Guadalajara. The drive was pleasant, with the elevation going down then up again reaching nearly 7000 feet then down to comfortable 5000 feet or so. Both Ray and I had picked up a bug so the variations in elevation were hard on our ears. The roads were good and the terrain ranged from high desert with only cactus to fields of agave for the making of mezcal, plus grain and vegetable crops. We passed numerous small cattle, goat and sheep herds and a few small tidy villages with pretty zocalos. Given the size of the city, with our maps, GPS and Ray’s instincts, finding our Guadalajara campground was not too difficult. Guadalajara has a periferico (ring road) around the city. Immediately ... read more

SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE READ THIS BLOG BEFORE. IT WAS UP FOR A DAY OR TWO BEFORE I DISCOVERED SOME ERRORS IN THE PHOTO DESCRIPTIONS. Hoy, Jueves, (today, Thursday), we caught the bus to Queretaro (pronounced keh-REH-tah-roh for the day. It is nice when Ray can enjoy the scenery too. Mexican buses are clean, comfortable, efficient, cheap and have on-board bathrooms. (I can’t vouch for them.) We loved Queretaro. It is a big city with just under a million residents but all of the attractions are within walking distance of “el centro”. Although Queretaro is one the historical colonial cities, they have replaced their cobblestone sidewalks and streets with pedestrian/vehicle friendly stone slabs. Unlike many Mexican cities, the sidewalks are wide enough for two couples to meet and pass without one couple stepping off the ... read more

Thursday, 23 February, we moved north to the city and state of Guanajuato. The city of Guanajuato is considered to be the most beautiful, romantic and "one of the best preserved" of Mexico’s colonial cities. This being only our second colonial city but we wonder how any town could seem more ancient. The city sits at the bottom of scenic canyon. Many of the inner city streets are a maze of old mining tunnels. Walls resemble fortress like fortifications though we have not read that they were built for that reason. Houses hug the canyon’s different levels, with the foundations of one house sitting at the rooftop level of the one below. There are two campgrounds in the vicinity. We chose Morrill Trailer Park because of its proximity to the city – we could walk to ... read more

Ten years ago Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism embarked on a program to designate certain towns around the country as “Pueblos Magicos”. So far, fifty towns have been awarded the title due either to their natural beauty, cultural riches or historical relevance. Patzcuaro was the seventh town chosen and is the first of these towns we’ve visited this trip. Patzcuaro is a pretty town with white stucco buildings and red tile roofs. The city is a popular tourist destination but we did not find much of interest here. There was some carnival activity as lent began while we were there but it was pretty amateurish – just kids having fun. The city lacks the usual large permanent central market and has few sidewalk restaurants and independent food stands. Tuesday morning the four of us caught a boat ... read more