Thursday, 3 March 2016

La Penita (Day 2)

Super nice park here at Little Rig RV. Perfect size for us and we already know we will be back....Shockingly, we were up and had coffee on by 7:30 am this morning. Not sure how that happened but miracles occur everyday, apparently.

Not a bad morning coffee spot, don't you agree?

We did have to move the van into our regular spot, maybe that had something to do with it. Timing is everything in life and we actually lucked out to be by ourselves on this side of the yard. Biggest spot on the property....for the smallest rig too!!


Old spot.....like an "overflow" spot.

Do not try driving with the roof up more than a few feet!!!

Good grief....they've left the rug behind, again!!!

Peek-a-boo view of the water......

Ahh....much, much better. Very private spot too...

 
 
After this arduous task (come on....it was AT least 20 minutes in the hot sun), we retired back to the coffee viewing spot, under the palapa. A fishing boat soon zoomed by and some of the guys jumped into the water, about chest deep and grabbed the net and came ashore. They pulled one end of the net up onto the beach. Meanwhile, the boat curved out a bit into the water and came back toward the shore a little further down the beach, thus trapping the fish....check it out. Easier to see than to explain.
 
They pulled and pulled on this net rope like a tug-o-war. All the while,
the little fishing boat was going further down the beach and then zooming
into shore, thus creating an arc of a net in the water....
 

You can see how the boat is now ashore.....


It didn't take the pelicans long to spot the action.....
 

 
You will notice some fish still caught in the nets but they later
unfold the net and get these ones out too....

They are still pulling the net in to the shore....
 
 
See all the fish that are caught?

Oh my.....we are hungry!!
 

Hundreds of pounds of fish in there....not sure what kind though.

Every once in a while, one of them would throw a mangled fish
to the pelicans.....what a show!!

Now they are pulling all the fish out of the
rest of the net.....

What a job!!
 
One gentleman told Doug that this is the most he had seen them catch in a long time. It fascinated me to watch them work as a team. They really had NO fancy equipment, just brute force to pull that net back in through the sea. Unbelievable. I was told that the government tried to stop them from fishing this way, saying it was illegal. There was quite an uproar about that. Imagine how many fish the commercial trawlers bring in and they were worried about a small, historic type of operation like this. The decision was reversed.  Smart, I would say. Hopefully, they made a good days wage for their hard work.
 
After this, we rode our bikes into town (not very far away) to the tianguis. quickly we determined that this was probably the biggest market we had ever attended. It literally went on for blocks and blocks. We did notice though that many of the same items (trinkets) that were being sold here were a higher price than down in Melaque.....
 
Lovely handmade, artisan style breads

If you can't sell your hammocks, just nap on them instead!

Cigar roller.....no thanks!


Super cute, traditional style little dresses...



Paula.....ribbons!!

Kitchen wares, my favourite.

At the grocery store I found something for Gus - SPRINKLES!!!!
By the bag!


 
 
And just like that, the sun set on another day here in La Penita. See you all tomorrow!!
 
Peace, Beglaws out!
 
Thought for the Day: Be careful when you follow the masses. Sometimes the “m” is silent.

 

Wednesday, 2 March 2016

Valle de Juarez, JAL to La Penita de Jaltemba, NAY (384 Kms)

Phew....almost caught up now!!

This drive is pretty good, well, except for the beginning and the end part, the road is good. Doug graciously volunteered to drive the first part out of the Valle de Juarez valley and up and past the edge of Guadalajara on the ring road....some whining on my part, helped with this decision. I drove the easy part, toll road, four lane divided and he did the end part, twisty through the mountains....again. It's just his lot in life I guess!

We got out of Valle de Juarez about 9:15 am after a stop at the local bank and a quick run through the little grocery store. We really love this town, a lot.


So many small towns have these lovely archways
in and, sometimes, out of town...


I know, this is how milk should be delivered!!! See the cans?
And my personal favourite, a DONKEY!!!

Know all those blackberries, raspberries, etc you see at your local
store that say "Grown in Mexico".....well, here you are!
South of Guadalajara


I believe we should do this at home. Just use a cardboard cut-out for a
traffic person....what could possibly go wrong??

Tiny drop off there....
 

Oh yeah, just enough room for the two Mazamitla buses to pass...

The town everyone likes to hate, San Luis Soyatlan, only because
the highway brings you right through the heart of town and it
is very narrow if you are driving a big rig, right Al??

No kidding, this IS the highway....

Now we are on the ring road around Guadalajara...very busy!

Always something exciting to see..... 
 

Phew.....now we are on the toll road. Say what you like,
we like the toll roads for their better quality, four lanes (generally) and
direct nature. Works for us..... 

Speaking of tolls.....

Guess what these are? Blue agave plants.
We are nearly going by the town of Tequila.

We pulled in at a viewpoint and Doug jumped out for the photo shoot...

We have done a tequila tour in 2012. Really enjoyed it....

Apparently, there clearly was no information to give us.....

Lots of climbing up and down the mountain but clear sailing.....


Blue agave plants as far as the eye can see.
Guess the world likes tequila!

...and just to prove to everyone that I do drive in Mexico.....ta da!!
That is my serious "I'm concentrating" face. 



Isn't this the greatest way home from school??
 
Just like that, 5 hours later, we are at the beach in La Penita.
 

Brian & Carole at Little Rig RV Park just managed to squeeze us in.
There are a total of 9 rigs here today. Two are leaving tomorrow and so we get move off of the driveway and into a "real" spot. Thanks for getting us in guys!
 


...and that's a wrap for today!!
 
So, here we are, all together again! We will be here for 8 days (until March 10th). Nice to have some beach time again as it is something we really like best! Hope everyone has had a great few days while we were away. Don't forget, I have done three posts tonight, so GET READING!!!!
 
Peace everyone.....
 
Thought for the Day: Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive about what could go right.