5C's Que Pasa

It’s difficult getting good pot, oops I mean pots here in Mazatlan.  We do manage to find new macetas every year but it is a challenge.   Last year on our way to visit friends in Teacapan we saw some.  However this year the memory of the exact location was somewhat of a problem.  So we headed towards Rosario convinced that this was the area.  Passed the town.  I said to Colin, I think it’s just down the road and so we ended up in Escuinapa.  We thoroughly toured the town looking for macetas.

No go.  So back towards Rosario and here we again checked out the town.  We must have asked about 5 people in each town where to go to buy pots and we checked out the directions as best we could understand but again no go.

Finally one fellow gave us the directions to Copala where we had shopped last year but we wanted different pots.  We were resigned to heading that way when suddenly we both shouted…”pots”!!!!!! Wrong side of the road from last year and muy muy dinero but hey it’s what we wanted. We bargained down from 300 pesos to 200 pesos based on 4 pots.  The exact location is a secret till we go back and pick up a few more.  They will look great on our beach site in Kelowna.  In all of the excitement I neglected to take photos!

Big bonus is that we found a vivero close by, between here & Villa Union.  Right now they are empty of anything but huge palms. They are expecting a shipment of plants within 2 weeks.  I asked them if they could also please bring in some macetas.  We did buy a few plants, one of which I negotiated the purchase of the maceta it was planted in.

The scruffy bottom left pot came with a tall purple plant, all for 150 pesos! The fellows thought I was poco loco to buy such a used pot but I know a pot when I see it!

Then late Sunday afternoon the plant man, Santiago, finally came.  His truck was sadly empty and I believe he went to RV2 first where they cleaned him out.  He says he will come next Sunday again and will try and bring macetas also.  Mind you he said that every week last year and never brought us any.

No not the movie but our very own experience.  This guy has been spotted going in & out of the RV parked to our right, which stays here year round.

Does he look guilty?

A week ago we were awoken by a rustling sound in the wall next to the head of Colin’s side of the bed.  Colin just thumped on the wall and the sound stopped.  It happened about three more times.  Last night was the ultimate, we were awakened by a critter five times!!!!  So today Colin took the wall apart and found 2 wiring harnesses and a small hole that goes up & then down.  Carmeh was assisting him and became quite animated and sniffed and sniffed!  So Colin cleaned the area and plugged the holes with aluminum foil.  We don’t know where he is getting in but we’ll see if this does the trick.  If not someone will have to go under the RV and start plugging all the holes!!! Sleepless in Mazatlan!

A few RV’s here at Tres Amigos have spent the night at a Pemex, a few even being the only RV there. It’s your call, but I suggest a word of caution.  This is an account of an incident that happened Nov. 13, 2010 by a Canadian. Further comments on this incident can be found at www.rv.net .

“Well I just finished my blog telling everyone how easy the border crossing at Nogales was, no problems, no sign of road blocks or anything untoward and that I had a long hard day of driving but found a Pemex No.5516 just between Los Mochis and Guasave and there was another RV parked here for the night, I went and visited with them they are from Vancouver and they were parked close to the front of the station and I thought a bit too close to noise and tight for turns so I went off in the corner and parked and just had dinner and it was dark and I heard a banging on my side door, I put the outside light on and a man was yelling in pretty good English for me to open the door and give him my money…I shouted back no go away when another man who I had not seen was at my small window by my sink the window was open and he was pointing a gun at me shouting for denero!!!! I said Ok OK and with the gun he pushed in the screen I told him my money was up front so I quickly pulled in the slide went to the drivers seat and he was there at the door with his gun pointing at me. I had for this very reason bought a dollar store wallet and had 200 pesos in it and a new visa card I had ordered with only 500 dollars credit allowance, I opened the window a crack and threw the wallet out and started up the motor home and drove into the gas station where the pumps were, the two men ran over to a black car and sped away…..I tried to call the police but could get no answer so I shall have to report it in the morning……you know from my previous posts that I praise Mexico and have never felt afraid this was a scary incident but I feel OK just want to let you all know what happened I know this will give the critics ammunition but it doesn’t
change my mind this country and the people are great…now here is a twist I woke up this morning at 5.30am and was getting ready to leave when I noticed something under my wind shield wiper….it was my WALLET everything including my credit card inside except of course the 200 pesos, so that saves me lots of problems,,,after a good sleep I have realized the mistakes I made, parked too far away from other people and the pumps, should have closed my slide and should leave the keys in the ignition…I don`t know how my wallet came back i am pretty sure the punks did not have time to ditch it so did they come back, throw it away the attendant find it I don;t know..anyway I am not tramatised I feel very lucky and happy to be on my way.
Road info
Ist day drive from Nogales to Los Mochis, 11 hours 67 dollars in tolls and no checks and no problems.
Today left at 6am and at 4pm arrived at the El Dorado in Ricon de Guayabitos another 70 dollars in tolls and no problems at all.
I know that is two long driving days and not everyones cup of tea but it suited me to get here and now can elax, the weather is hot and the ocean lovely…hope this helps Les “

Tres Amigos celebrated Brent’s 61 st birthday at sunset Nov. 11th.  We are now 16 RV’s strong.  Sorry Ken that you arrived to electrical problems.

Thanks Donna for the most delicious Sublime Chocolate Cake ever made.  Very yummy!!  It was otherwise quiet today, as the Carnival cruise ship was being towed back to San Diego rather than docking here in Mazatlan much to the dismay of the beach vendors.

…to steps to the beach and in & out of our RV.  We hired a local Mr. Fix It/Carpenter called Rene to build us some secure steps to the beach.  First he had to go and cut down a coco as he calls it, then cut it up into various size pieces of wood.

We all love our beach stairs!

Rene took the measurements for the RV stairs and built them at home.  When he brought them here they were an inch too high!!  Rather than cut them down he simply dug down in the sand an inch or so, replaced our carpet and voila the perfect set of stairs.  Good thinking!

It has been quite humid the past few days, so between the damp ground and our RV’s weight we sunk!!!!  This morning when Colin went to open the door he found we were sort of locked in.  We had sunk to below the top of the step!!  We did get out and our fix was to raise our jacks so that we are once again above the new step.  Smart like Mexican, si?