Valle de Juarez (Days 3, 4, 5)

Sun., Feb 28:

We had opportunity to go to a really nice restaurant up in the pine forests just outside the neighbouring town of Mazamitla (about 20 kms from Valle de Juarez). Just spectacular in it's setting, service and food.....Gigi's Restaurant, very Bavarian in style. 

First though, some cows being brought down the highway in front

of the campground......

Chema's daughter, Sandra, brought one of her horses

for a little work-out and some grazing.

 

Then Christian (Chema's son) took some of the kids for a little ride.

Off to the restaurant.....

After that "lunch" we certainly did not need any dinner but Mother Nature surprized us with a beautiful show of colours with a lovely rainbow. "Somewhere over the rainbow...."

Quite a sight, with Paula & Jerry's truck and camper, don't you think? 

Euri got the latter part of the rainbow

 

Mon., Feb 29:

 

One of the caravan's that travels around Mexico arrived today at the old Hacienda Contreras location. Kevin & Ruth have been leading this particular leg of the caravan for about 3 weeks now. It was nice to see them. Again, because we are hanging out here in Valle de Juarez, we got invited to some of the festivities. Especially nice since this one was at the restaurant at the campground.....

 

Jerry & Paula whipping up some of their famous Margaritas...

 

Doug even got into the act and was helping out.....

Kevin & Ruth taking attendance (just kidding....) 

Quite a big crowd....

Party table (also known as the "problem table")

 

 

 

 

Tues., March 1:

 

First of all, it's time to wish a Happy Birthday to our terrific son-in-law, Shawn O'Connor. Shawn and Teagan live in Nelson BC. They have an amazing shop, Timber Tattoo, that keeps them very busy but on these special days, Shawn likes to head up the mountain for a little snowboarding action.

 

Hope you had a great and HAPPY BLIZZARD BIRTHDAY!!!

 

...oh, and he is handy with the axe too!!

Happy Birthday to you, Shawn!!

 

It was a low-key today. Just stayed around the camp and got laundry done. Funny, how that follows you everywhere you go, huh?! Later in the afternoon, we got a lift over to the old campground where the caravan folks were and had a little happy hour with them there. It was neat to see Barb & Sal's old stomping grounds full of activity, even for a few days.

 

 

Peace.....and peaceful looking, isn't it?

Thought for the Day: Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?.....Frida Kahlo

Melaque to Valle de Juarez (288 Kms) - Days 1 & 2

Hi....we're back!!!!

Fri., Feb 26:

We absolutely loved our time at Villa Xochipilli. Irma could not have been more accommodating and, as you also saw, the facilities are amazing. Thank you for a great time, Irma, and we will see you next year!!

Our drive from the beach to the highlands went really well. It doesn't look long on paper but it takes roughly 4.5 hours to get there.

We left Melaque at 9:30 am after breakfast and a quick gas up. The road heading down to Manzanillo is pretty good with a just one toll along the way.

....and then there were none.

See you next year!!!

One last breakfast at Rosita's Loncheria. Doug's

favourite, chilliquiles and eggs.

See you next year amiga!!!

Banana plantations everywhere.

 

About 2 hours into the drive we met Paula and Jerry at Tecoman. We actually drove right by them as they were at a Pemex. They were heading back from a different beach location further south than Melaque and were also heading to Valle de Juarez. It is always nice to have company on the road so we travelled together. Our own little convoy!!

 

Volcano in Colima......yes, it DID disappoint!!

Going through what I call "Valley of the topes", also known

as Tamazula. Cane trucks everywhere and terrible roads.

Paula counted the topes....54 of them!! Not much room for Jerry!!

I am trying to show you just a little bit of the cane on the road....everywhere! 

Maybe it has something to do with trucks that are loaded like this??

After Colima you really start to climb into the pine forest.

See how the landscape has changed....oh yeah, notice

the bag that looks like it is ABOUT to fall of this truck???

We arrived at Hacienda El Retiro in Valle de Juarez at about 3 pm so the drive was really quite easy, except for the aforementioned issue!! All set up and, as you all know by now, no internet but good bathrooms and there is a washing machine for us to use. Also, this is a little restaurant and Chema’s son, Christian, was here so we were able to order some snacks and have a few drinks. Sal & Barb joined us so it was like “old home week”! 

 

  

 

 

Inside Hacienda El Retiro.....

Sat., Feb 27:   

The days just seem to go by effortlessly here in Valle de Juarez. There is just something relaxing about the area and it really seems that we both felt that we “came home”. Nice feeling. Saturday was the town’s tianguis and we always enjoy that. Doug has waited this whole trip for carnita’s at Chema’s El Retiro Restaurant in town. They did not disappoint!  First though it was a stop at a favourite haunt, La Cocinita for breakfast.....

 

 

Greeted by a pot of simmering Café d'Olla.

(coffee with cinnamon and a touch of sugar...yum!)

 

Market time.....

 

 

Just for you and your friend!

 

...and carnitas at Chema's!!! Cooked out front of his

restaurant every Saturday!

 

 

 



Happy hour peeps: Jerry, Doug, Paula, Sal, Barb, Ulli & Heinz

Sunset from Barb & Sal's.....

 

I'll stop here and carry on with another post!!

 

Peace....

 

Thought for the Day: No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted……Aesop. 

Melaque (Day 19)

......and so it is done (for this year anyway).

Spent most of the day sorting through the mountain of "stuff" and "debris"  that collects when one is parked for 3 weeks. It isn't that bad but just requires some time spent on the task. All done.....

We rode into town today to say one last good-bye for the year to the town of Melaque. Just to be straight, we are actually staying in Obregon not Melaque but I have come to call this area Melaque which is "technically" incorrect. It would seem counter productive at this point to go back on 19 blog posts and change the name to Obregon so I won't. Much of our time was spent wandering and shopping in the proper little hamlet of Melaque and it is very hard to figure out where the dividing line is. Funny story though, remember the other night when we went to the placing of the stone at the church? Well, our friends here had said that the ceremony was at the "main square" so of course we headed up to what we thought was the "main square". Turns out that the main square that we visited at night was the main square for Melaque. The main square for Obregon was just up the street from us. We have ridden by it 100 times but there is NEVER anything happening at it so we just thought it was an "extra" square. Okay, enough with that. I don't think I have ever used the word square SO many times in one paragraph before......you get my drift. The two little towns are pretty inseparable and lovely.

This morning Mr. Handsome was getting all frisky and friendly and even ran across the campground either playing with or trying to kill another iguana...I would suggest the latter. Doug got a pretty good picture of him (minus some of his head) but then you have seen his head before so it is a bit over-rated!

I know, right....he looks a bit well fed, don't you think?

Looking out the van door....

 

One more trip into Melaque for a limonada.

I don't know what this driver was thinking. Funny thing is that there was plenty of room on the other side. This was right across the street from where we were sitting. The mirrors, by some miracle missed each other but I am not sure how the driver of the

mini van will feel when he arrives back at his vehicle.

 

Doug has a foldable basket on the rat-trap of his bike so when we go shopping,

his bike is the "trunk" when it comes to transporting groceries home. I carry some light things in my bag sometimes, but he gets the important stuff. Like for example, the booze!! Here he carried six beer, six Strongbow, two litres of wine, oh, and

one litre of milk. How did THAT get in there? 

One last shot of Irma's dogs. Brandon the Rottweiler and Vasolina

(like after the movie name "Grease"). She is a terrier type and pretty

much tells Brandon how high to jump....

 

We took the bus into Barra de Navidad with Dave and Karin tonight and went to one of their recommended restaurants, Marlena's. Super nice spot and what a great view.

 

 

We have had a great time getting to know Karin & Dave.

They are from Kamloops BC. During the summer season, they manage a

fishing lodge at Loon Lake up by Cache Creek. Thank you both for the fun and

we will look forward to seeing you up there this summer!

Check out the website for Evergreen Fishing Resort at www.evergreenfishingresort.ca 

 

Pretty nice sunset tonight.....

 

Wow, that's a wrap from OBREGON for us. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here and look forward to coming back to Irma's next year. Villa Xochipilli is just our kind of place. Those 19 days went by pretty fast, that's for sure.

 

For everyone who has sent Doug their speedy get well wishes, we are happy to report that, although, still not 100% he is definitely on the road to recovery. Still suffers from a fair amount of rib pain but it will just take time to heal. Thanks for all your kind wishes!!

 

Tomorrow, as I mentioned, we are on the way, direct to Valle de Juarez. It only takes about 4 hours to get there so it will be an easy travel day. But here's the kicker.....there is NO internet at Chema's campground where we are staying. Now for family there is, of course, phone service so we are still available (like normal) through phone calls or texting. Might be that we saunter into town with the laptops to do a catch up post, not sure. If you don't see me on here for a few days, I will catch you all up on the time there when we get to our next stop which will be La Penita. We will be at La Penita on Tuesday.......until then! 

 

Peace and hope you all have a great upcoming weekend!! 

 

Thought for the Day: It’s never too late to be who you might have been…George Eliot