This trip really began
in January. We were to meet up with some friends in Puerto Vallarte and then on
to the Yucatan for a 1 month vacation but that never happened. A short
explanation is that in trouble shooting my starter problem I managed to reverse
the battery and blew up all of my Avionics. (no protection on my master &
avionics relay) I thought this would never happen to me. Here are some of my e-mails of
that trip and the short 2 week trip in March after I repaired & had repaired
all.
1/3/12
Good flight to Loreto
about 4+ Hours. Clearing through here took about 1.5 hrs. after getting fuel my
engine would not start dead batt. I bought a motorcycle batt here in loreto hope
it fits. I will try to fit it in tomorrow. If the batt fits we will be on our
way to Puerto Vallarta.
1/4/12
Good Morning
When I started
the airplane in Oxnard it was hard to start there also. So I am pretty sure that
it is the batt. I have had a battery similar to this one in the plane before so
it will work. We might be a little late getting over to PV but well see. I am at
the Osais hotel sitting outside now weather is beautiful people are friendly
just waiting for joan to show up for breakfast.
Don
So here we are in
Beautiful Downtown Calexico. We had problems with the airplane - battery,
starter motor, and radios that I know about. I need to be in my hanger with all
the tools available to use. Joan and I thought it would be much better to get
everything fixed at home where it would be easy to do although Loreto was as
good a spot as any to break down. No one said anything about me working on my
airplane when I wasn't able to start the airplane and leave as scheduled. After
changing my flight plan from Puerto Vallarta to Calexico and having to hand prop
my airplane, we were able to leave without any problems.Joan and I are still
having a good time and still consider ourselves on vacation. We had a very good
dinner at Applebees + Happy hour. I don't know what we are going to do after the
plane gets the needed repairs, but perhaps try for our Mexico vacation again.
Don & Joan
2 & 1/2 months later
3/3/12
We departed Oxnard
about 9:00am to make our border crossing time of 10:30am. We came close to that
but updated our crossing with San Diego radio. We flew direct to Guaymas to
check into Mexico, fuel, and then on to Serenidad Hotel in Mulege for the
Saturday night pig roast.
San Miguel de Allende Below
3/4/12
We're in San
Miguel de Allende tonight. After a lazy breakfast we started our long flight to
San Miguel thinking it was going to be about 4 hrs, but it was 5 hrs due to
headwinds. We departed at 10:30, and arrived at 4:30 pm as we lost an hour due
to another time zone change. We are really low on fuel ( no fuel here) but
Queretaro is only 15 minutes away. The army soldiers met us with machine guns,
and a drug dog that sniffed all our bags. Standard practice in places, but once
you get used to that they are usually great guys and they helped us carry our
bags and called a taxi for us. After finding Hacieda de Las Flores. which is close
to the center of town (with internet), we checked in and walked a few blocks to
eat (what else) Mexician food. We walked around the central park plaza, and
listened to the young band perform for a few minutes, but it was too loud for us
so back to the hotel to write this. We are thinking we might stay here for
3 or 4 days. The elevation here is about 7000 feet so it is cool in the
evenings. We'll look around tomorrow and see the sights. While we were here I
think the 2nd day we took the trolley guided tour around town to get the layout
and it was great.
3/9/12
Hello from San Miguel
Joan and I are
leaving this morning for Queretaro about 48 miles north of here. We have had a
very good time here in San Miguel. We have talked with many Americans and
Canadians here, snow birds, for the winter. There are over 20,000 US & Canadians
living here year round. Joan just loves it here and wants to come back and spend
a longer amount of time. We discovered the Library in the town center that
offers all kinds of talks, events & daytrips to places of interest. Last night
we took in a home and garden tour from 6 pm to about 8:30 pm. We got to see the
fantastic mask collection in the second home which has the owners' mask museum
attached. The first home had a wonderful collection of Mexican art on display in
every room, and wonderful plants in their central courtyard. The hotel where we
stayed has many pleasant snow birds in residence for 2 months who were a blast
to talk & share news with at breakfast every morning. Some attended a local
bridge tournament, and one man worked on his sculptures at a studio everyday.
The Queretaro jet
airport is huge and flying in was easy compared to getting fuel and getting
checked in because the officials had to figure out what procedure to use with
us. It's been a fine time here in Queretaro. After a long taxi ride with fee set
by the airport, we are staying in the old historic section of this colonial
town. We have put a lot of miles on foot looking at the old buildings,
cathedrals, fountains, plazas, and the art museum. The narrow streets are all of
stone. We took an historical tour of the city in a trolley this morning. The
tour was in Spanish (no English tours) with a cute young woman guide who spoke
very fast. I have to admit I couldn't get much of it but Joan could understand
some of it. We have had fun exploring and eating out at all types of interesting
places. Tomorrow we are planning to fly to Zihuatenejo to stay on the beach for a
few days before heading for home. So far it has been fun, but stressful visiting
and exploring new towns. We sometimes have to remind each other to be flexible.
3/11/12
Hello from Zihuatenejo,
which seems more like a vacation place to Don. The weather is hot and humid yet
there is a nice breeze by the ocean. It is tropical with coconut palms, tall
mango trees, tropical plants and lots of butterflies and birds. We are staying
at a place we found on the Internet for less than $50 per day US. It is called
Hotel J B. There is no or very little English spoken here but between both of us
we can communicate and understand. After landing here and getting a taxi and
checking into the hotel, we ate fish tacos at a restaurant next door. We then
rode the bus into town and got some snacks and beer and caught the bus back
before it ceases at 6:30 pm.
3/12/12
We met Selso who works
here on Sunday and he asked us if we wanted to go shop for fish we
could cook in the outdoor kitchen here. So at 8:00 am this morning he collected
us to take us to town to buy the fish and all the trimmings for what we thought
was for dinner. It was fun shopping for just the right whole fish and salsa
ingredients. I bought beer and he wanted to have one, and I never saw a guy
drink a beer so fast in my life right there in the little market. We got back to
the hotel around 10:00 am and he started preparing brunch right away while
drinking my beer. It was fun and he had us chopping onions, garlic, tomatoes,
and avocados, and he crushed the garlic to coat the fish with and fried the fish
in garlic laced oil and cooked up a fabulous brunch including the best hot
guacamole the way Don likes it (very hot), tortillas, and pico de gallo. It was
wonderful and Joan liked it also. After brunch I tried to give Selso some money
for spending so much time and for fixing brunch for us but he wouldn't take it.
He gave us his card with telephone # and said, Adios amigos.
We've had a restful
day and walked down to the Playa del Ropa and watched people glide in the sky on
parachutes towed by boats. We walked by Sotaventu on the beach side but it is
under construction to be converted into condos that start at $199 K U.S. We also
walked to a little market next to the Casa Blanca where we stayed about 4 years
ago. This is a very restful place after the busy cities we just left. Joan and I
are really getting into the vacation mode and enjoying ourselves.
3/14/12
We are still here in
Zihuat and liking it more and more. Today I went fishing and Joan went shopping.
I had to get up early and take a taxi to the dock at the marina and arrive
before 7am. Capitan Bernardo was there waiting for me. I grabbed a cup of coffee
and a roll from the lady selling such things. We were off by 630 am. As we left
the harbor into the open sea the sun was just breaking the horizon. We had lines
in the water right away and it wasn't long before we had hook ups. We were
catching what I thought was Bonito but Bernardo and his deck hand called them
'black tuna' - I got a laugh out of that. After the first couple of hook ups
there were long periods with nothing at all (boring). All In all, it was fun and
I caught 7 black tuna and that was it. The only other thing was that going out
of the harbor the capitan ran over a buoy and it got all tangled up in his prop.
We spent about 15 minutes getting it out. Meanwhile I was eating breakfast (a
banana with a roll) and when the capitan saw me eating the banana he jumped all
over me for bringing bananas aboard his boat. Seems like bananas are bad luck on
boats and it seems like it was my fault that the capitan ran over the buoy (go
figure ). I didn't want any of the fish and gave it all away to the capitan &
his deck hand. i met Joan back at the hotel and after relaxing and taking a
swim we got cleaned up and went to town for dinner. Joan had lobster and I had
shrimp - delicious. This is our last night in town and we wanted to do it up
big. Our plans for tomorrow are to fly to Loreto, stay overnight, and then head
home to try to beat the rain that is predicted. We will see how that works out?
3/16/12
Joan and I made it home
safe with no problems at all. It was 3 hours from Loreto to Calexico with a nice
lunch at Rosa's. And another 1.5 hours from Calexico to Home base KOXR Oxnard.
We came home a day early to beat the rainstorm that is predicted to start
Saturday. We arrived home about 10 to 4:00 pm. I had to do an IFR approach
through a layer of clouds, and, although rusty, I managed to do it just fine.
Joan and I still love Mexico and the people but to tell the truth it is no
bargain any more with avgas reaching more than $ 6.00 a gallon. Their economy is
hurting with tourism down. We hope things change and get better soon for both
the Mexican and the U.S. economy. We met and talked with many Canadians and US
citizens on vacation, but most of the hotels and restaurants were nearly empty
and there were not as many private pilots at the airports where we landed as
we've seen in the past. We don't have another trip planned but will probably
return to Mexico next year.
