We did finally leave Yuma, crossed the border and headed east on MX2. It's a long 2 lane road that parallels the border across the top of Mexico. We went that way instead of going to Tucson and back down to Nogales because it is shorter. It's a good road, there was some construction and 2 detours but not bad. We stopped for the night, very late, outside Hermosillo at a Pemex. It was pretty warm and we didn't stop until after 2am. We put all the fans on and took all the blankets off the bed and sort of slept. At 8am, when the sun hit the roof, I got up and closed it all up, turned on the generator and the AC and went back to sleep in delicious cool until 11am. We went 388 miles the first day. The 2nd day, we stopped for awhile at our favorite WalMart in Cd Obregon and then continued until after 11pm. We spent that night next to a toll booth near the Sonora-Sinaloa state border. We only went 305 miles that day. This time we just turned the generator on and slept with the AC all night. Today we were up at 9am and on the road, we got to Mazatlan around 5:30pm and pulled into an RV park for the night, only 270 miles.
This is the Independence Day weekend in Mexico, a huge celebration that commemorates the night when Padre Hidalgo rang the church bells at midnight in Dolores Hidalgo and called the people to join him in an army to free Mexico from Spain. Part of his speech is repeated everywhere in Mexico at the same time, ending with 3 yells of ¡Viva México! and lots of fireworks. We went out to dinner and then took a cab down to the centro for the Grito and celebration. We walked around the plaza, people watched, bought a new flag to put on the window of the RV, cheered and yelled ¡Viva México with the crowd. The fireworks went off from the church yard, sailing up and over the statue of Jesus. They exploded in huge bouquets right over our heads with sparks raining down.
It was pretty warm and humid and both of us were soaked by the time we walked a ways to get a cab back to the RV park. It was fun though. We will put our new flag on the window tomorrow. We had one Mexican flag that we had on the passenger mirror today while we were driving but it got destroyed in the wind. As in the US on the 4th, this is the time that Mexicans fly their flag and most of the cars we saw on the highway had a flag blowing from the window or the antenna. We got a lot of honks and smiles for our tattered flag.
There has been a really terrible mud slide in the Lake Chapala area and we are trying to find out if the road is open to our friend's house in Ajijic. If not, we'll park in Guadalajara and just take the jeep over. I don't know many details yet, apparently a waterspout came off the lake, dumped thousands of gallons of water on the hillside and the ground gave way. Boulders and mud went through many people's houses, took cars down the mountain and covered a lot of roads. I don't know if there were injuries or deaths.
Our cell phones don't work in Mazatlán but they should work once we get to Guadalajara. We'll check our messages then.
This is the Independence Day weekend in Mexico, a huge celebration that commemorates the night when Padre Hidalgo rang the church bells at midnight in Dolores Hidalgo and called the people to join him in an army to free Mexico from Spain. Part of his speech is repeated everywhere in Mexico at the same time, ending with 3 yells of ¡Viva México! and lots of fireworks. We went out to dinner and then took a cab down to the centro for the Grito and celebration. We walked around the plaza, people watched, bought a new flag to put on the window of the RV, cheered and yelled ¡Viva México with the crowd. The fireworks went off from the church yard, sailing up and over the statue of Jesus. They exploded in huge bouquets right over our heads with sparks raining down.
It was pretty warm and humid and both of us were soaked by the time we walked a ways to get a cab back to the RV park. It was fun though. We will put our new flag on the window tomorrow. We had one Mexican flag that we had on the passenger mirror today while we were driving but it got destroyed in the wind. As in the US on the 4th, this is the time that Mexicans fly their flag and most of the cars we saw on the highway had a flag blowing from the window or the antenna. We got a lot of honks and smiles for our tattered flag.
There has been a really terrible mud slide in the Lake Chapala area and we are trying to find out if the road is open to our friend's house in Ajijic. If not, we'll park in Guadalajara and just take the jeep over. I don't know many details yet, apparently a waterspout came off the lake, dumped thousands of gallons of water on the hillside and the ground gave way. Boulders and mud went through many people's houses, took cars down the mountain and covered a lot of roads. I don't know if there were injuries or deaths.
Our cell phones don't work in Mazatlán but they should work once we get to Guadalajara. We'll check our messages then.
posted by Jonna at 12:23 AM
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