Saturday, May 30, 2009

More pictures

Fisherman on lake Atitlan (Nicaragua)

Lake Atitlan. View of one of 3 volcanos.


Market day. Main road through town . They move aside as you drive through them.



Border crossing helpers. Mexico Guatemala border. Customs had a hard time figuring that my truck was a motor home and not a commercial vehicle. I'm glad that I kept the old (original) registration and compare it with the new registration.


As I drove further south the type of vehicles used for cabs changed to some colorful "vehicles". In Acapulco they had thousands of VW beetles as cabs, futher south open p/u trucks , then covered p/u trucks to the south of Mexico into Guatemela these "tricicle" vehicles.

Travel pictures


Some delicious Carnitas on the Mexican coast.












Some of the roads are so narrow, even local traffic have a mishap

Friday, May 22, 2009


Internet access has not been that reliable along the way. Maby I choose out of the way trailer parks (those that are still open). We are out of season! Tourist season stars around November 15 through the end of March/april.
Updating this blog may take a few days in between pit stops.

From Guaymas to Zihuatenejo 1323 miles. Stopped overnight at Culiacan, Mazatlan, Teacapan, Rincon de guayabitos, Boca de Iguanas (they had crocodiles in their estuary! don't know where the iganas came from unless they were food for you know who!), Rancho Buganvilias (La Placita), and tonight I'm in Zihatenejob next to a restaurant on Playa Ropas.

Fuel prices are more reasonable. Diesel is going for 7.78 pesos/litter = $2.35/gallon.

Check points along the route was curteous (don't know how to spell it.). On one stop they checked the temporary import papers with the sticker on the front window. The other time the military was curious to the "RV" conversion. The rest of the stops they just waved me through.

Thursday, May 14, 2009



From San Pedro to Redlands and El Centro easy ride.
Spent the night at a truck stop and early next morning to Nayarit. You drive through a neat park called "organ pipe cactus natonal manument" and end up at the quitest and calmest border crossing at "gringo pass" (that's not what the maps show) everyone seems to have this yellow teeshirt with the "gringo pass" logo.
This quiet US town has a motel, rv park, appartment building, several offices (all selling Mexican car insurance) a grocery store and a fuel service station.
Crossing the border was a wave of hands !.
17 miles down the road to Santa Ana (Mex hwy 2) there is the immegrations, customs and temporary car importation transacions. All a piece of cake. Everyone was extremely helpfull to the point of filling out the forms for me. Customs just waved me through !.
Drove to Magdalena for the night and ended up today in Guaymas.

The roads are US freeway quality. All the way from the border to Guaymas the roads are in terrific shape. Lots of truck trafic, a very energetic Sonoran State. All Pemex fuel stations (and only stations) are clean and the paint systems are fresh and bright. The cost of diesel is high ( a tad under $4.- per gallon).

Monday, May 11, 2009

Never thought I could afford to retire in the US (I am 62).
Having vacationed in central america these past 6 years I realized that these coutries made it possible for someone with a limited social security retirement income to afford their standard of living and more importantly their medical services.
Three years ago while visiting Costa Rica I visited a dentist, had a root canal, a crown and a cavity taken care of.
Total sum: $201.- !.


Today is monday morning on Catalina Island (California). At 10:30 am I'll take the ferry to San Pedro get in my truck and start driving to Panama (central america).

The planning and modifying my Isuzu NPR delivery truck to a motor home took a while. The planning started some years ago, the truck took 6 months.