Feb 15
We again hurry around this morning making ready to head back to Tucson but first Gene has to get the car out of storage. Then we are on the road to home. Desert Trails RV Park looks very good to us. We are in a nice site with shade on the front window in the heat of the day and very close to the WIFI tower. You know that is very important to Sue, the internet junkie. Looks like there are lots of good activities here for the next month and several potlucks and cook-outs. We have a few things we want to do before we leave here but we might have to work them in between all the fun things the park has planned. More info about that later.

Feb. 14 Day 24
We pulled out of the El Mirador RV Park in San Carlos at 7:10. The Wagon Master, Ed, was having some kind of problem with the car he is towing so the caravan started without him but he soon caught up. It is a very cool day but no clouds like yesterday. This is the nicest and cleanest park that we stayed in on the entire trip. San Carlos has a big population of snowbirds. Someone said it was about 85%. However the Mexicans are doing the service work. Guess that is because the retired Americans don’t want to work. J Highway 15 is quite rough compare to most US highways. We are surprised we did not see any major accidents while here considering the roads and the driving habits of the Mexicans. We thank God first for our safety and then for the opportunity to see this fascinating country with its diverse culture and beauty. We traveled through dry deserts, mountains, fertile crop land and along the beautiful beaches. We rode the waves of the Sea of Cortez, enjoyed walking on the sandy beaches and seeing the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Wherever we went the Mexican people were so friendly and happy to see us. The many guides we had for side trips were very knowledgeable in sharing the history and culture of the people in their area. Many of the wait staff entertained us besides serving us. All in all it was a great adventure with Adventure Caravan’s 24 day Copper Canyon by Rail tour. Thank you, Wagon Masters, Ed and Bonnie and Tail Gunners, George and Ellen, for a great trip. At 72 miles into our return trip today the caravan pulled into a roadside rest area. Just as the Tail Gunner got off the highway he announced he had blown a tire and needed some help. Most of the guys went back to his coach. The tire is ok but the control arm for the right rear wheel is broken. The coach will no doubt need to be towed to Hermocilla which is about 20 miles away. The caravan decided to drive ahead, leaving one coach to stay with George, to a Pemex station up the road. Ed has gone on into Hermcilla to get some help. We waited for some time and decided we should just go on ahead and they could join us when arrangements were made for help. Rig # 3, Ron will lead and Rig # 12, Dave, will bring up the rear. We made it through Hermocilla with no problems and stopped at a Pemex for lunch. Since we still have a long way to go, we decided to go on ahead instead of waiting here for the others to catch up. It is pretty much a “straight shot” to the border. This afternoon it is clouding up and quite cool. We need a jacket when outside. Most of the highways we have traveled in in Mexico are 4-lane but the driving lane is very rough so we are unable to go very fast. We just passed a drug inspection point for trucks and they were lined up for a little more than a mile waiting for their rigs to be inspected. Two military men with guns were stationed along the line of trucks presumably to make sure they did not throw anything out. Finally we are at the Mexican border inspection station. This is where we have to return the vehicle permits we bought. It was a simple process and we are on the way. Not far now till we will be back in the US. The next stop is the US border, in Nogales, where we have to declare what we are bringing into the country and they will check for food items not permitted to be returned to the US. We are, however stopping at one of the last Pemex stations to fill our tanks with the less expensive and more efficient diesel fuel. While there, the Wagon Master and Ron W, the coach who had stayed with George in the broken down coach, caught up with us. We learned that they did get help for George and he should be back on the road perhaps even this afternoon. We are really questioning whether it will happen that quickly. Now we are all together again with the exception of the Tail Gunner. We drove to the border. On the Mexican side they are telling us we cannot get through because the truckers are protesting. Something about the long and timely inspection lines at the American border crossing. We have seen those long lines! There are 2 crossings at Nogales, one here on the highway and one downtown called the Central border crossing. We were told by the border officials we would need to go back down south to a connecting highway and then go either east or west to another border crossing. Five of the coaches in our caravan who need to go west anyway decided to break off from the caravan and head that way. Ed and Ron B drove to the Central crossing to see if we could cross there. Ed had to speak with the supervisors of both the Mexican and American borders. Finally they agreed to allow us to get through. We were about 3 ½ hours trying to find out if we could cross at the Central crossing in Nogales. At about 7:40 pm we started toward Central crossing. It is dark and the traffic in Nogales around the border is very heavy. Ed is trying very hard to keep our 6 rigs together so that we arrive at the border crossing in one caravan. We have to change lanes frequently, which is difficult with the heavy traffic. Ed has had a very hard and long day but he is still doing a great job. When we arrive at gate 3, the gate we were told we would need to exit through do to our width and height, we found they had changed their plan due to the size restrictions of that gate. The border patrol wants us to exit through the actual entrance which normally is going south. So they stopped traffic in both directions for our caravan. We have to swing clear over into lane 5, (we are in lane 1 going north) so that we can make a sharp left turn through a very narrow opening leading to the southbound lanes. Then we have to make a complete circle turn in order to go through that exit (which is really an entrance for southbound traffic). If that is hard for you to understand, we are almost doing a figure 8. Once we complete that incredibly unusual feat we have to swing way over to the right to avoid a low hanging sign. Now we are ready for the coach to be inspected. By then the border guards have tied up traffic for so long that they just ask us a few questions and send us on our way. Oh my, what a day. Once everyone is through and we regroup we make our way on highway 19 heading for the RV park we stayed in at the beginning of this tour. All of a sudden we hear Ed ask if this road is a little rough which it is not. He says his coach is running rough and finally decides he will pull over. Two coaches stay with him and the rest of us go on to the RV park. They soon decide it is some minor problem with the engine and continue on. We all arrive safely, get hooked up and make it through the night.

Feb. 13 Day 23
We left at 8:30 for our Nature Cruise. Gary’s wife, Donna, we are told, has much information for us. Sue began sharing with us the minute we pulled away from the doc, giving us information about how the bay was formed, about tectonic plates, magma, volcanic rock and fault lines in the area. It was more than I could understand. The Sea of Cortez is 5 million years old and yet it is the youngest of all seas. They have frequent tremors here. As she is telling all of this suddenly she sees some birds and changes her subject to birds in the area, blue heron, pelicans, blue footed buboes, frigate bird, oyster catchers and on and on. She made it all quite interesting. Some of the rocks sticking out of the water were white as snow. We learned this is bird poo and it is collected for fertilizer. We each had binoculars so that we could help spot birds, fish or mammals. We fairly quickly saw some sea lions so she began to tell about them. The mother sea lion feed her new born pup for 4 days non-stop and then the male takes over the feeding of the baby. When they are cold they lie on their back in the water and point their fins straight up in order to draw in warmth from the sun. She is able to spot sea lions by the “sticks” or fins sticking out of the water. The porpoise is very shy and will not come near people but the dolphin is very playful and loves to have fun with the boat. We did see them a couple of times and the captain was able to engage them and get them to run with the boat…first in the bow and then they went to the back of the boat and jumped the waves. It was so much fun to watch them. She and the deckhands would call them to get them started chasing and we just had a great time watching them and taking pictures. The dolphin is a small whale. The young nurse for 18 months and stay with mom for 6 to 8 years. She names them with a “tone” and calls them that way. Dolphins eat between 5 and 20% of their weight daily. They live to be 40 and can hold their breath for 15 minutes but they really don’t like to. They can swim at 25 MPH. On our way back to the dock Donna began talking about the geology in the area again. There are several cactus that grow on the rocks. It is very windy today and she wanted to take us to see the fault line but it was just too windy to get to it. It was a great cruise and very interesting. We walked around the area where the marina is and saw some interesting landscaping at a hotel there. Large bushes and trees have been trimmed to resemble animals and other figures.

In the afternoon we again walked down to the beach to enjoy the beauty there. We did find a beach there but no sea shells. In the evenng we had our Farewell to Mexico Dinner. We had a good time with our last visit with the friends we have made and learned the plans others had for the summer. Saying goodbye to our new friends was hard and we hope to meet up with them again some day.

Feb. 12 Day 22
We boarded a boat at 8:30 am for our “Scenic Sea of Cortez Bay” cruise with Gary’s Dive Shop. http://www.garysdivemexico.com/ This company is very professional and knowledgeable besides providing a fun, safe and interesting cruise. We saw beautiful views of the sea shore and the bay. We saw porpoise and interesting birds and had refreshments. It was a great 2 hours on the water with beautiful weather. The deckhands were so very friendly and joined in with our fun time. We had so much fun we decided to go on their “Nature Tour” tomorrow.

Feb. 11 Day 21
Today as we leave it is about 65 degrees already. We have about 240 miles to go to San Carlos. Both yesterday and today we are backtracking over highways we were on on the way down. We have to go through a couple of cities that caused some navigation problems on the way down. We will hope, and the Wagon Master too I imagine, that we do not have problems today. We are seeing several one man operations of brick making like we had seen on some of our side trips. It appears to be the same procedure and it is very crude and very hard work. But it is their way of life. The houses in this area are of very poor construction, small and with tar paper siding and roofs. Obviously this is a very poor area. Some are no bigger than a bedroom. When we were in the Mazatlan area we found the roadsides much cleaner. There is a law against littering (basra) but it is not always enforced. But as we travel north, especially in the poorer areas, we see more and more trash alongside the road. We just passed another shrine along side the highway built in memory of a loved one who died. It reminded me of some information we got from our tour guide. Many of the small shrines we see are placed there to remember to pray for the safety of truck drivers. The cemeteries here in Mexico are with mostly large white monuments. But some build a small house where they visit their loved ones on Nov. 2, the Day of the Dead. On this day if you normally work you are given the day off with 3 days pay. On this day they believe their most recently deceased relative come back to visit. They have a big celebration with a feast. They set a place at the table for the deceased relative and serve their favorite foods. The dessert they serve cannot be serve again for a year. When another family member dies they celebrate the most recently deceased and no longer celebrate the other. We just crossed the state line into Sonora and had to go through 2 check points, one on each side of the state line. At the first one they waved us on through. At the second one they actually came inside, looked in the frig to check if we had any fruit. We didn’t have anything left. Strange thing was the other lane of RV’s were waved on through with no checking or even asking if they had fruit. We stopped for a break and some were complaining to the Wagon Master about going to slow…yesterday there were complaints about going too fast. We are back on the road and going faster but the road now is pretty rough. Just goes to show you can’t please all the people all the time. As we started back yesterday, Gene and I talked about people getting frustrated and cranky. Seems like it is happening. Most everyone is a little edgy today. There is a virus here in Mexico called Grippy. The members of the caravan have been passing it around. It only lasts for 2 to 3 days but that can be a long time if you have to “keep going”. We are thankful that so far we have avoided it. We are now at a Military check point where they check big semi’s for drugs and illegal immigrants. The line of trucks waiting to be inspected was 1.7 miles long. We pulled over alongside the road for a quick bathroom break and Gene got out to give some toys and balls to a girl nearby. We arrived at the El Mirador RV Park in San Carlos mid afternoon. This may be the very nicest park we have been to. It should be a very nice stay for our last 3 nights of the caravan tour. We had a meeting at 4 pm with the owner of the company who will take us on a boat cruise tomorrow. Gene and I walked down to the beach. It is not a white sand beach at this location. But enjoyable views anyway.

Feb. 10 Day 20
Today is a nice sunny day, about 70 degrees as we pull out of the campground at about 7:30 am. We are now officially on our way home…heading back north. We left Robbie and Linda, one of the couples on the tour, back at the RV park as they are joining another Adventure Caravan tour to the Baja. Visiting Mexico has been a great adventure from the beautiful scenery to the Mexican people and their culture. We have learned a few words, very few but we have learned the difference in the Spanish vowel sounds. I sounds like E and E sounds like A. A sounds ah and LL sounds like YAH. It is confusing but we are catching on. It will help some while we are in areas where there are lots of Spanish speaking people. Most of Mexico is open range so we often see animals grazing on the sides of the road and in the median and have seen quite a few animal carcasses lying in the ditches. The 4 lane highways have a shoulder but the 2 lane have no shoulder and usually a drop-off. There are about a million buses (well guess that is an exaggeration) on the highways and the drivers go as fast as they can. Vehicles are allowed to stop on the shoulder. So defensive driving is very important. We are stopped at a Pemex station and there are RV’s and trucks on both sides of the highway. It just seems so dangerous at times driving here in Mexico. But Gene is a very careful and attentive driver. We have seen some beautiful flowering trees and shrubs and even some sunflowers. Mexican like bright colors and it shows in the clothes they wear, their homes and businesses and even in their landscaping. There are many toll roads in Mexico, especially the 4-lanes. Today we have gone 125 miles and already paid $41.80. We expect to pay close to $300 for the entire trip. We are now in the Culiacan area and the predominant crop here is sweet corn. It has tassels on it and it look very good. Nearly every crop in Mexico is irrigated. We have just passed a very large grove on oranges with ripe one on the trees and passed some vendors selling 25 pound bags of them. A couple of very large farm trucks parked along side the road were filled Roma tomatoes. A crop duster plane just passed over us spraying corn and now we see a field of squash with many workers out picking. We were stopped at a fruit inspection station and the Federalis took our oranges and would have taken apples but we didn’t have any. We think it is because we are traveling into another state. Aren’t we glad we didn’t have a chance to buy those oranges we saw for sale back just a ways. Our stop for tonight is somewhat unusual. We are staying in a fenced in parking area behind a Pemex station. We will be dry camping, meaning we have no electricity or water hookups. That is not a problem but some of the people are not happy. We arrived about 1 pm and there were no planned activities so we read some and fixed a nice dinner and read some more. We are not allowed by the American government to take any beef or pork, cooked or raw across the border. We can take chicken and eggs if they are cooked. So we are working towards eating what we have in our freezer.

Feb. 9 Day 19
On this beautiful sunny day we are taking a side trip to a little mountain village, La Noria, founded in 1585. It is 40 miles northeast of Mazatlan. We stopped along the way to see a country cemetery which has some rather large and very colorful shrines. We learned that on Nov. 2, a holiday in Mexico called “the day of the dead” family members come to the cemeteries to celebrate the life of their loved ones. We also learned up to 4 people can be buried in each grave, one on top of another. A burial plot like the one in the picture would cost $5000 and that does not include the shrine or decorations. As we travel down the highway the guide points out some of the agricultural farms in the area: a 37,000 acre ranch with feed lots and large Milo fields which is used to feed the cattle. We also see fields of avocados, tomatoes and mango, nut trees and date palm trees. Our next stop is to La Vinata, the only Tequila Distillery in the state of Sinaloa. We learned the process of making Tequila from the Agave plant. One of the most interesting facts to us was that the Blue Agave grows only in Mexico and no other country has the right to make Tequila They may make something similar but they cannot call it Tequila. It has been made since the 1400’s`first by the Indians in Mexico. We traveled on to La Noria and found it nestled down the mountain side in a bowl-shaped area. In this little town are several leather shops specializing in saddles which are sold all over Sinaloa. We saw one saddle being rebuilt for a customer. We watched a couple of artisans making sandals and belts. The man making the sandals has to make 15 pairs a day to keep his job and he gets paid $20 to$25 for an 8.5 hour day. Other items they make include shoes, purses, billfolds and knife and sword shields. All were for sale. From there we walked up the hill to a very small Catholic church. This church was built on the hill to cover a ceremonial Indian ground in order to stop this tradition and lead them to Christianity. The church was built in 1751 and refurbished in the 1990’s. The church has 4 services as there are very few pews and originally there were on pews and people set on the floor. We walked back down the hill to have lunch at a restaurant in the home of the cook and owner. It is in a room open to the courtyard. Very plain but comfortable. We were given a choice of chicken enchiladas with mole or green sauce and shredded beef. Both were served with beans and rice. It was definitely authentic Mexican Food.

Feb 8 Day 18
Today is a free day for us to do whatever we want. In the morning Gene washed the motor home while Sue used the internet to check and send emails to friends and family. After lunch we took a bus to the city market which is downtown. We just walked around looking at all the stuff they have for sale there including clothing, food products, meat markets, housewares, gifts, jewelry, artisan crafts, etc. Then walked around the adjacent blocks to the city market. The one things we see in Mexico at any grocery store is the way they display the meat products. There are no glass cases. The meat is just out there, hogs heads, fish heads and other yucky stuff. Don’t think we could buy meat at one of these kinds of meat markets where people can touch, drool over, sneeze on or other whatever else we can think of that is gross. Tonight is the Mexican Fiesta dinner and show so we took the bus back home mid afternoon. The bus picked us up at 5:30 to take us to the Playa Mazatlan Hotel for our evening of entertainment. This hotel has a beautiful restaurant which is open to a view of the ocean. We thought we would be seated there but instead we were taken upstairs to a large dining room and dance floor. There were many more people there than just our tour. The Mexican Dinner was served buffet style with unlimited cocktails and beer. Foods included authentic Carne Asada, which is roasted beef, smoked fish, tostados, beef flautas, pineapple tamales, stuffed enchiladas and more. This was followed by live music and dancing for everyone. Fiesta Time! Is a show-stopping performance featuring live music, dancing and variety acts from all corners of Mexico including the dramatic Fire and Machete Dances, magic shows, comedians, the classic Native Sacrificial Dance, rope twirler, folk dancing and much more. They were exciting performances. We are so very sorry that we forgot our camera so we could remember this evening in our old, old age. These pictures came from the internet. If any of you who were on the tour with us has pictures they would share with us, please let us know We would appreciate it.

February 7 Day 17
Today we travel by bus to the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains. We will stop along the way to see craftsman at work. Our first stop is to learn more about the art of making bricks. This brick maker has no car. He rides his bike to work every day and makes $15 and works 4 am to 1 pm. It is just too hot after that to continue working at this job. The finished bricks cost 10 cents each. The bricks are made of the clay soil, water and manure, or sometimes straw. He has a pit very near to where he forms the brick where he gets the soil and mixes it with the water and manure. Then he has a very long handled shovel which he uses to lift one shovelful at a time into a handmade wheel borrow. The he literally runs back up to begin shaping the bricks. He has a form that shapes 4 bricks at a time. Once he has packed the soil into the form he slips it off and begins another. The bricks are left right where he made them to dry in the sun for 2 days. Then they are moved to another location to dry for another 3 days. After that time they are stacked so that air can circulate around in several rows, about 1000 bricks. As he layers these bricks he also makes a wall around them out of old bricks. Eventually this wall completely covers the stack of new bricks. This outer wall becomes the oven which will bake the bricks. He leaves a whole at one end to place wood to heat this oven. The bricks remain in this oven with a wood fire heating it for 30 hours. Then they are allowed to cool for a few hours and are ready to sell. He is required to make 700 bricks a day and this is a one man operation. He does not own the business, only an employee. All this for $15 a day. Wow.

We drove by a chicken farm, a Mango plantation and a farm that raises frogs for the frog legs. We are stopping to watch a artisan make glazed floor tile. These tiles are made by hand and no 2 are alike. He has a heavy steel mold to make them. First he puts a little oil on the bottom of the mold, then a thin mixture of white very fine Portland cement and water. Next sprinkles on whatever color he is using. This color is in a powder form. Then he uses the eraser end of a pencil to swirl a design in this tile he is forming. He adds a layer of dry cement and another mixed with water. Now he is ready to place the top of the mold on and applies 20 tons of pressure for a very short time (while we were watching). The tile then air dries for 16 hours and then soaked in water for 24 hours. They are finished, no baking. These tiles were quite attractive.

We then stopped to see some artisans making furniture. We thought their work was somewhat crude we spent some time watching them. Also at this same stop we saw products made by other artisans: pottery, iron wood sculptures, baskets and handcrafted silver and gem jewelry. Most of which we had seen before at nearly every stop we make. As we drove on we saw several more furniture artisans and their products look very professional.

Our next stop was to the small town of Concordia, founded in 1562. This town, as all towns, has a beautiful Catholic church which was built in 1742. It is all rock and was brought in by horse and buggy. The church took 50 years to build. The French came here seeking gold and silver. They killed all the Indians living here at the time and burned their villages including the interior of this church. In the picture you can see the tower seems to be unfinished. This is a part of the church that was not finished before the fire and in fact was never finished.

We see signs of a new highway being built through this mountainous area. We are told it will cut out many of the curves and be a wider 2 lane toll road and open in 2009. Mostly to serve the tourists who come to this area, not only RV tourists but cruise ship tourists and individuals. Tourism is big-big business in Mazatlan and the state of Sinaloa. Copala, the next small town we went to, has 8 restaurants and 3 very small hotels. All to serve the tourists during the tourist season. It is a very clean town built on the side of the mountain. The children here are quite smart and have learned English from the tourists. They have an entrepanuership within the school. The boys and girls sell carvings which they have each made. Some are much more elaborate than others. We were probably offered one by 25 or more kids while we were there. We did buy one for about a dollar but how many could we need. We ate at Daniels and were served a Mexican Plate including an enchilada, taco, Chile releno, tamale, beans and rice, salad and their famous banana coconut pie with a drink famous to Mexico, hibiscus fresca. After our lunch we walked on the cobblestone streets up the hill to the church where again we find several vendors selling their wares. We have seen it all before…except for the carvings done by these local students. Some of these were quite elaborate

Tonight we gathered for a shrimp feed furnished by the tour company. The shrimp were the big ones raised here in Mazatlan and very good. Each couple brought a dish to share. We ended up with several rice dishes. I think most of us have depleted our food supply and did not have time to get anything else to share. At least that was our case. It was good food and we had a good time. One of the services the RV park provided was a laundry service. They will wash dry and fold our clothes for $5 per load. We got together 2 loads and took them to the drop-off point. They will be returned to us tomorrow.

Feb 6 Day 16
We started off our bus tour of Mazatlan with a breakfast buffet at the gorgeous Royal Villa Hotel. The entire caravan sat at one long table with a beautiful view of the Sea of Cortez. The food was really good with many different kinds of Mexican dishes. We are sure enjoying the meals we have been served while on this caravan. After our breakfast and a walk around the pool and beach area we boarded the bus for the City Tour. Chilly Willy was our tour guide. He is so knowledgeable about the Mazatlan area and gives us very interesting facts. The summer time temperatures are between 100 and 125 degrees most days with a humidity of 99%. Wow, I don’t want to be here then. The local people put lime and salt in their drinks to keep from getting dehydrated. Sort of like Gatorade in the States I guess. Mazatlan has a large shrimp industry here and boast of catching the largest shrimp in the world, 5 ½ to 8 ½ inches which today cost $25 for 2.2 pounds. The bus made a stop so that we could see the cliff divers. These divers range in age from 17 to 68. They dive from 45 feet high into the Sea of Cortez that is only 8 feet deep. We only got to see one dive. Everywhere we go there are people trying to sell the Mexican products. Some are the very same we saw back at the campground. Guess those vendors must have big families as they told us their families had made them. As we travel to our next location Chilly Willy shares some facts of the area with us: Sinaloa, the state Mazatlan is in, is the largest supplier of tomatoes to the US and Canada. Mazatlan has a Mardi Gras with dancing, music and parades. It coincides with the Mardi Gras in the states. Mazatlan has 4 to 7 cruise ships a day dock here. Today it is Holland America. Mazatlan has a college which raises and researches sea horses. We drove through the streets of downtown Mazatlan seeing the refurbished buildings in this area. and stopped at Casa Antiqua which is a mission and home for AIDS victims. These people make items which are sold in this store. The profits are for their housing and other needs they might have. From this point we began a walking tour through this area. As we walked the guide gave us very interesting information about the rebuilding of the area. We stopped at a small bakery with many of the popular pastries of Mexico. They were selling these pastries 6 for $1.00 and most of us bought something. Now we are on a walking tour of some of the area learning some of the history of the area. We were given an hour on our own to do some shopping at the Mercado, the City Market, and to visit the Catholic Cathedral. We walked through the city market and found it to be very much like a flea market only with all new merchandise. Some of the people working there were very persistent if we stopped to look. They wanted a sale so badly and would finally come down in price. All around the outside of the City Market are little stores and restaurants..We would like to shop here longer so may come back when we have a free day. Time is short and we must get on to the Cathedral. On the way we see an ice cream stand and we each bought a cone. The ice cream here in Mexico is not real good, with very little cream in it. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is located in the heart of Old Mazatlan and has high, yellow twin towers, a dramatic interior and some beautiful statues. It was built from 1875 to 1890, It was good to get back

February 5 Day 15
Today we headed for Mazatlan, MX which is a pretty big city. We will be there for 3 days as there is lots to see and do there. Mazatlan, pronounced (ma saht lan) is as far south as we go. It is sunny and in the 60’s as we pull out of the RV Park at 7:15. Along side the road is a dead and decaying horse. It is not unusual to see a dead cow or horse along side of the road. We are not sure if they starve to death or are hit by a vehicle. Mexico has all open ranges and the animals do graze next to the road. Again we are traveling through agriculture areas. One thing we continue to see is greenhouses of all kinds. Here in this area there are some very unusually shaped ones. They look like tents that are fastened together so that they cover many acres. It is a strange sight to see very large fields completely covered by greenhouses. Also we saw other areas that had nets with stakes every few feet to keep them above the ground about 4 feet We could not tell what the crop was growing under them. We are not sure if this is protection from the sun or just what the reason for them is. In the towns we pass through are many people selling all kinds of wares but in this area it is mostly fruits and vegetables. Some of these people use a bike that they have fashioned some way to carry and display their product. We did see a donkey pulling a very old and rickety wagon, probably this man’s only transportation. Oddly, the one thing in the country of Mexico you can count on to be attractive, clean and nicely landscaped is the Pemex fuel stations along the interstate. We went in one today that had fancy tile on the floors leading into it and attractive displays. It really was more like walking into a mall. We are about 65 miles from Mazatlan and the rig behind us just blew a tire. The tail gunner stayed back with him and the rest of us went on ahead. At this point we did not know what the rest of the caravan would do. We were too far away to be able to communicate with the tail gunner so we just went ahead slowing down as much as we could. We are just going on towards the RV park. Mexico has some volunteers called Green Angels who roam the interstates looking for people in distress and helping them with whatever they may need. We have been told they will stay with the rig until they have received the help they need, calling a tow truck, mechanic or whatever they need. Guess we will find out how good that works. Then a little later on Ed, the Wagon Master seemed to have some problem with his vehicle. He put another RV in the lead but it was not long till he was back in line. Now the land is becoming hilly and we are out of the rich agricultural land and getting closer to the coast again. We can see the Sea of Cortez to the west. We stopped for a quick lunch at a rest stop. Ed’s rig seems to be ok. We are only 45 minutes from Playa Escondido RV Park in Mazatlan. We are a little disappointed in this RV Park. For some reason we thought it was also going to be on the beach but it is not. Also it is not very clean and has lots of things around the camp that need repairs. The worst thing though is that we have only 15 amps of power. So we cannot even run our microwave let alone use the AC if we need it. This RV park is used mainly by Adventure Caravan and the other 2 caravan companies. Adventure has so many tours here they have staff who live here through the tour season. We met at their RV in the afternoon so they could explain the side trips we would be taking and other side trips that are available. Plus telling us about the amenities in the campground. They have several different artisans selling their wares and who claim to, along with their families, make the items. There, also, is a team of men who will wash and was our rigs and one who paints rigs and does touch-up work. There are ocean fishing trips, scuba diving and snorkeling. One trip we signed up for will take us on Friday, our free day, on a tour of some small towns in the mountains about an hours drive from Mazatlan. We are about a block from the beach so Gene and I walked over to it. This beach has no sea shells. We walked for about an hour total. They do not have a laundry here at the RV park but they do pick up clothes daily, wash, dry and bring them back folded and ready to wear. We decided we need to do that we need to do that os I got the clothes ready and took them to the pick-up point. We read in the evening as the evening. TV has not been an option as there are only Mexican stations. A lady staying in the RV park offered WIFI service but we have to be close to her RV to get reception. We will probably do that another day. Sue is missing have an internet connection so that she can IM with our daughter. We just went to bed early and read.