Our Third Day in Mexico

This day would be the second longest of our drives. We expected six hours from Mazatlan to Ajijic. We wanted to get to our house early in the afternoon so left Mazatlan about 8:00 am. There was a MacDonalds right down the way from the hotel so we decided to get a good old American breakfast there. Turns out McMexico is a bit different than CA, but still good. Mazatlan was interesting to get out of. Fortunately the streets were pretty clearly marked and we didn’t get lost. However, traffic was a little bit heavier than other places. As we left the city limits, the toll road all of a sudden became a two lane highway. It was rather narrow for just a bit but then had large shoulders that trucks would use to pull over so you could pass them. This part of the toll road was very new and enjoyable to drive along. Again, there was very little traffic on the toll road, so we could keep up a reasonable pace. Perhaps not the speed we're used to on a California Interstate, but considering Federales, topes and toll booths, quite acceptable indeed.

We thought there would be good cruising between Mazatlan and Guadalajara since they are both major cities. However, as we approached a rather large town called Tepic, we were faced with a detour. Mexico has always been a reminder of how life was in the 50’s. The detour was like the detours Walt remembers in the 50’s – narrow, rough and tricky. An older gentleman stopped us just to make sure we didn't head the wrong way. So we had a few miles to cover on this detour-a challenge with our big Ford F150. Once the detour was over we came to the best road of the entire trip. This lasted all the way into Guadalajara. The road was four lanes wide with very wide shoulders and smooth. Again, very little traffic. It's the off season.

Once we got to Guadalajara, we were on the portion of the road that we drove on last March, so we were in familiar territory – it felt good. It was Saturday afternoon so traffic was heavier than the last time we saw it. The reason we were along this road in March was to check out Costco, Sam's and the large modern shopping center – not really a challenge to a Westfield Shopping Center, but nonetheless Nancy assures me that she can get MAC cosmetics there. By the way, there are Home Depots, Walmarts, Outback and Chili's in Guadalajara. No Macy's.

We finally ended up in Ajijic at 3:15. No, it didn’t take seven hours, we forgot about the time change. So we had a little more than six hour drive but then lost an hour. Since we had not stopped for lunch we decided we would stop for dinner at one of our favorite places, Tony's, and we got up to the house around 4:30. Andrew took movies as we drove the last few miles along the carretera and then up the street to our house and right up to the front door. Since this is the first house that we have ever purchased together, I carried Nancy across the threshold – that was fun.

Again, a small collection of photos. Actually the best is the six minute movie Andrew took from our arrival into Ajijic to driving right into our carport.