A walk to town and a group barbeque

We walked out of the park and towards town.  You must walk along a 4-lane highway with limited sidewalks. Luckily it is a short walk maybe 10 minutes and you are on the main street of La Penita.  At first glance all you see are people and taxis.  This is a bustling town of 10,000 and, as far as I know, this is it for shopping unless you go the 69 kilometers into Puerto Vallerta.

First we went into the ATM, isn't funny how you always seem to need money! Then we wandered down the main street checking out a few of the stores.  There is a much larger supply of fruit and vegetables here.  You also see a lot more gringos here.  Everywhere else that we have been in Mexico when a gringo spots another gringo you at least exchange a smile and a hello, but in La Penita you just walk by each other.  I suppose it has to do with the number of fly-in tourists that come to this area.

We found the centro and church in town.  Can't say they were very remarkable but here are the pics..

We wandered to the beach in town and all we could see was this

all of the pelicans in town were sitting along the beach, and then I realized I had just walked under this..

Frigates, beautiful in flight but ugly when sitting on wires over your head...

Friday night was the final barbeque of the season. Hamburgers on the palapa.  There were 16 people in total the oldest was the park managers father at 89 and the youngest her granddaughter at 7 months.

We were very happy to be included.  Sorry I didn't bring my camera.

La Penita de Jaltemba

On Tuesday we said a sad farewell to Punta Perula.  We will go back there! It is my new favorite place to be in Mexico.

We headed north along the coast highway Mex200 towards Puerto Vallerta, we seemed to leave the dry desert country behind.  Now there were fields of trees

these are mango trees in full bloom

I really must remember to pull out my camera more...

The roads were quiet, not alot of traffic in either direction.  Until we reached Puerto Vallerta.  You forget what a big city is like when you spend a couple of weeks in a town of 500 people.

Holland Cruise Lines "Zaandam"

We pulled into La Penita RV Park around 2 or 3 (the time changes just north of Puerto Vallerta, we are not sure what time it was)

Travelling this time of year gives you the opportunity to park in the best sites!

Here is the view

This RV Park is on a hill above the beach with a large sloping route down to the shore.  It has a much steeper drop off here so it is mainly surfers that play here.

We plan on staying a week here and then head up to Mazatlan for a couple of weeks and then slowly wind down the Mexican part of our adventure.  We hope to cross the border into Arizona around the 20th of May and spend the next month checking out sights as we head to Manitoba.

Maybe we will see you along the way!

Punta Perula - Two weeks in Paradise

We spent 2 weeks at the Punta Perula RV Park, it was the most beautiful beach and we loved it here, there was only one little problem...the caretaker here an 86 year old Mexican man  decided to lend out the internet once all of the "snowbirds" had left.  Oh well, we walked into town to the "ciber cafe" everyday and got an extremely weak signal.  Hey this is Mexico!

Here is a recap of our time.  (with Pictures)

When we pulled in on the Tuesday before Easter there were a couple of sites filled by tenters

Of course, they were the first in the park so they had the best spots right along the edge facing the beach.  

the beach 

Al getting Sunny all set up!

the beach was fairly quiet..

Tuesday to Thursday the families heading to the beach for Easter (Semana Santa) kept rolling in to the park.  It was amazing to see.  Some had all of their possessions, others barely had a tent!

They even brought a mattress and frame!

the park is all filled up!

the beach on Saturday!

It was crowded and noisy but it was fun!  There were no fights, no yelling just some loud music and people enjoying life!

By Sunday afternoon the park had emptied out and we moved to the best spot in the park!

And we stayed here for another week, enjoying the quiet, the waves, the water, and the sun...

Here are pictures of a couple of the interesting units that pulled in and out of the park during our stay..

Here is a fifth wheel for you Doug!

This housed a german couple who have been travelling for 2 1/2 years..they were headed to South America!

Now on to La Penita de Jaltemba, which is just north of Puerto Vallerta...

Punta Perula

We've been sitting here staring out at the ocean for over a week now.  Are we bored?  Hell no! This is exactly why we bought our motorhome.

The life here is very close to perfect!

Yes, internet would be great, but you can survive without it.  We have just gotten so dependant on it.

Our routine is simple.  We get up around 8:30, grab a drink, coffee for Al, ice tea for me, and go sit outside on the patio and watch the fishermen, the pelicans and any energetic beach walkers.

When the grumbling of our stomaches interfere with the peacefullness of the scenery, one of us makes some breakfast.  Toast and jam, bacon and eggs or even waffles or french toast.. breakfast is an important meal!

Around 11 we shower and take the stroll into town for the days supplies and of course the internet!

We are about 5 blocks from the square and the stores.  There are a few of the typical beach stores, selling floating devices,  tubes, and boards along with beach mats, towels, hats, bathing suits and of course t-shirts.  Mixed in along the main road are little restaurants selling barbeque chicken, tacos and fresh juice drinks. There is one hardware store, one pharmacy, one cell phone store, one hairdresser and about 6 small grocery stores. There is one carnecia or meat store but we haven't seen any meat in it yet.  Meat is the one item in town (beside internet sticks) that is hard to find. You can buy fish, red snapper, tuna, shrimp, lobster, octopus,  crab even oysters, but chicken, beef or pork are hard to come by.

Now for Al this is no problem, but those that know me realize that this is a major problem.  Oh and did I mention that the vegetables here are only the very basics.

We have been having some creative meals...

Last nights dinner, was really good!  And , believe it or not, I made it.  The cooking and BAKING bug has bitten me.  I have been spending lots of quality time with 'the joy of cooking' cookbook.

Last nights meal was thick slices of ham (thank god the grocery stores carry ham, bacon and weiners) cooked in a pan on the barbeque with rice, canned mushrooms, carrots,  celery, green pepper, onion and chicken stock.

And dessert was....banana pudding made from scratch!

So far on this Mexican Adventure, I have baked baking powder biscuits (ok these were not the best), banana bread, lemon loaf, chocolate yogurt cake and now pudding.  This doesn't sound that adventurous to some of you BUT this is using a small (think tiny) gas oven, even smaller kitchen sinks and very little elbow room oh yes and only the very basics of utensils.

So, yes I think I deserve a pat on the back..

Back to our daily routine...

We have discovered 2 places that we can get wifi from.  The ciber cafe, this is where all the kids hang out, doing their homework, accessing social media and emails or playing a violent gun battle game similar to Call of Duty.  Thanks Corry without you in my life I wouldn't of had that snippet of knowledge.  This is one cramped store and  if it is too full the internet is soooooo slow.  30 minutes of internet costs about 9 pesos or approx 70 cents.

The other place is the juice/ice cream parlour.  We found out about this place from a transplanted U.S. citizen named Lola, she is definitely a 60's era hippie who found a better lifestyle.  Mel and Dave, we immediately thought of your mom!  The internet here is more expensive, flat rate of 20 pesos but it is quicker! 

By this time we are usually hot and dusty, so we head back to the RV park, stopping to pick up beer if we need it.  Beer here is cheap!  We pick up 24 bottles of cold Estrella beer for 210 pesos.  That is less then a $1 per bottle.

The afternoon is for playing in the ocean, more sitting staring at the ocean and the boats on it, having a nap if needed and anything else that involves little energy. 

Dinner time is usually arround 7 p.m. and then some nights we play cards or a board game,  we climb into bed and watch a movie and then fall asleep listening to the waves.

And then repeat...

Sorry it is just too slow to post pictures of this beautiful place..if we ever get good internet again I will post some, I promise...