Zihua Brah!

“Zihua brah!!!!” had been on the tip of our tongue since the idea of the trip was born…. “Z-z-z-zihua”, “Zi-huat”, “Zihuatanejo” wiggled it’s way into so many conversations, it was fitting to finally meet the big “Z” during our last stay on the coast and furthest point south in Guerrero.

Quite the contrast to Nexpa, Zihuatanejo was a busy hub for tourism, a beautiful city stretched across the coast and neighboring hillsides.

A major harbor, beach, surf and seafood that attracted people from everywhere.

We were lucky to snag the last spot in the part RV Park, part fancy Restaurant parking lot, called ‘El Manglar’.

At first curious why the restaurant/campsite was called ‘the mangrove or swamp’, it became evident when we spotted a 10 ft+ crocodile just steps away from our margaritas…

The staff quickly advised that all pets should remain ‘on leash’, as the cocodrilos might become hungry.

Peering over the short restaurant fence, feet away, you could see the crocodile watching, motionless, except for the eyes… Which customer would come close next?…

Besides camping with the crocs, Zihua offered great food, beach time, swimming with Mozy pie, hip hangouts like “Loot” where we’d cool off with a cocktail in the afternoon heat, and …more Italian food! Haha!

Loot:

The Italian…

Our finale in Zihua ended with a delicious meal at a little Trattoria in the jungle. Walking up, you definitely felt like you had just stumbled into the heart of Italy. Art, music, down to the napkins and chairs…Italian.

We were shortly greeted by a man, wide as he was tall, just bursting with personality. He sang through the menu and made sure we had plenty of wine to start the night.

After licking our plates clean from the homemade pastas, cannolis and tiramisu, we starting speaking with our new friend to figure out how he had ended up in Mexico.

He smiled, leaned into our table hard and began…”This is-a- very good-a-story… you know, I be in Venice in the Gondola with girlfriend, drinking the wine, having the sex, smoking the pot… falling asleep, having more of the sex again…you know… the pot.. and then-a-one-a-day we do that again, and a-end up here!!…” He started giggling, trying to twist our arm into limoncello but we had to politely decline..too full!!

(We later learned that if he didn’t like customers, he’d literally chase them out of the restaurant or deny them food like the soup nazi…) Lucky for us, we had a warm send off from the trattoria and from Zihuatanejo. 😉

An incredible adventure down the coast, it was time to head inland.

Bienvenidos a Michoacán

One rabies shot later, we were leaving Manzanillo, Colima, heading towards the Michoacán border.

Bananas galore through Colima. Lush crop fields everywhere; ‘plátanos maduros’ more than anything, piled all over the place. (That is our lasting memory of that state…A beautiful drive, but… hot and humid in ol’ Pancho).

Sticking to our chairs, becoming one with our vehicle, we crossed the border!

Squealing to a halt at the first ‘lookout point’; we peeled ourselves out (just like one of those bananas) to take in the view…

Wow Michoacán…talk about exceeding expectations. The only thing comparable would be the Big Sur coast line on tropical steroids.

Dramatic cliffs, rocks, with pristine beaches outlined in palms down below. Every shade of green making the steep mountainous terrain more impressive. How had we not heard about this before?

Winding our way through the jungle, peering out at the vistas every opportunity, we started looking for lodging.

Narrowing down the options; J picked Marüata… Bienvenidos a Michoacán! Quite an introduction to this magical place.

The long drive was well worth it. Pancho didn’t fit under the camping palapa; so we went with a cabaña…

Mozy didn’t think it was too bad either.

Despacito

There they were… a stranded, foreign couple in the middle of nowhere, trying to flag down help on a two lane highway, in what J described as a “Dr. Seuss desert forest”.

Oh shoot… did I say “they”… I meant “we“…

You almost always start evaluating yourself from an outsider’s perspective in these types of situations….. “Would I stop for me?”

Haha, not to fear! As a couple, I’m pretty sure this was our 4th time hitchhiking… Yes, we’re real experienced “hitchers” 😉

The last time? Running down the El Yunque rainforest in Colombia, with all our luggage, trying to make the bus back to Cartagena…yes, we did score a ride (sweaty and everything) barely making our autobús. Woot!

We have the different ‘waves’ down…

This one was the forceful, double handed ‘parade wave’, communicating, “Hello, we are friendly… but, Please. Stop. Now. Thanks.”

Moments later, a small cargo truck with two men pulled off to see what the commotion was… Although, relatively calm, I could not remember the word for “tow truck”…

The stage was mine… It was like an anxiety ridden game of catchphrase… motioning and blurting out phrases, “we need a big truck for the van” … “You know the larger one to take the little one”… “The vehicle to put the other vehicle “…

“Una grúa?”…. “Si, si, una grúa”… There was only room for one of us in the cargo truck… (Neither of us wanted to leave the other alone…) After going back and forth regarding our options, the men offered to drive slowly behind us until we made it back to town.

The clanging from Pancho’s underbelly was concerning; we certainly didn’t want to make it worse. Guided to a mechanic, we posted up for a few hours to see if there would be a quick fix…

It was an interesting diagnosis to say the least. The mechanic had a hose cut on both ends and was using it like a stethoscope… holding one end to his ear and moving the other end to the transmission, engine etc. announcing, “Ruida aqui?…no… Ruida aqui…no… Ruida aqui?…Si, es el motor.. Tengo quitar el motor”.

Um… What…Remove the engine?!?! J and I exchanged some ‘I don’t think so’ looks. We quickly asked the mecánico if we could make it back to Ensenada. “Si, es posible…” That was good enough for us and really the only possibility at that point.

“Muy despacito”, he cautioned. Giving understanding nods, we thanked the mechanic for his time and started back North.

Just like the song…

“Pasito a pasito, suave suavecito
Nos vamos pegando, poquito a poquito”

Nervously stepping onto the dance floor, poquito a poquito, 40 mph for over 130 miles. We just kind of held our breath, encouraging each other along in this fragile dance down the highway… While stress was in the air; I’m proud we both did great at focusing on the positive ~ PMA alllll the way. The clattering had subsided some…fingers crossed…

Gracias a dios! Hours later, driving into this familiar area was such a relief… made it back to Ensenada.

A quick stop for tacos later, we were high-fiving; it felt like victory!

Valle de Guadalupe

With storms coming in strong, we decided to give Panchito a little break, stopping in Valle de Guadalupe for a few days. Rainy afternoons + vino = enticing!

Last minute Expedia-searching we found a KILLER deal at Don Tomas Viñedo… Adorable Cabañas, right in the grape vines, for only $50/night….Yes please!

Don Tomas had a gorgeous restaurant (cool construction, open kitchen) that served up the best chilaquiles rojas I’ve ever had, accompanied with fried eggs and house made chili oils. Before we knew it, hours had past over refills of their mouth watering cinnamon coffee.

We befriended the waitress practicing our conversational Spanish and she successfully twisted our arms into generous samplings of their house wines. Pretty sure 4 or 5 came with a tasting, but as we learned more descriptive words in Spanish… “suave”, “dulce como piña”, “àcido como toronja”, “un vino complejo o alegre”…the tastings kept coming! 😉

Finally parting ways, we had an awesome time in the Valle exploring all the back roads. It must have been the rain showers; each place we enjoyed all to ourselves.

A big highlight for me was J’s surprise stop, taking me to ‘The Bodega de Queso” (Cheese Cellar). Walking in, there was sensory overload… a Disneyland of cheese that would fulfill even Ratatouille’s wildest dreams. It was a difficult selection but we did jusssssttttt fine.

Tasty adventure, sampling our way down the line up.. spicy, sweet, aged, stinky haha! We ended up selecting a few ‘favoritos’ and adding in some fresh olive tapenade and moles to-go!

Another noteworthy destination was Vena Cava. Not only were the wines delicious, the architect constructed the winery using old Ensenada fishing boats from the 60’s/70’s… very cool and unique.

We tried to eat at a new restaurant for dinner, Finca Altozano, but all we found was a couch full of perros…Bueno… ¡que lástima! …Some things will just have to wait for future vacaciones!! Dinner picnic in the room it is! 🙂

Rhythm of the Ranas

Our time at the Cañón de Guadalupe went by like a sweet song… rhythm of the ranas (frogs) every night and soft symphonies of little birds in the mornings.

This stay was all about ‘catching up on slowing down’ …

Morning swims in the springs, coffee, hiking, reading, (more soaking in the springs), ukulele-ing, relaxing and trying to absorb the beauty in every direction – mountain ranges and the grand ‘trono blanco’ (The White Throne) in one direction and the canyon desert oasis in the other.

3 days and nights of this lifestyle was like a wellness retreat in a “wings suit” … we felt so relaxed…rejuvenated… invigorated…ready to ‘carpe diem’ the hell out of this 3 month trip! Si… ¡FUERTE!

Directionally Challenged

We all have our strengths and weaknesses…Although it’s improved over the years, with life and traveling, I am OK admitting I can be ‘directionally challenged’ … 😉

Just give me a map and cross your fingers; you might find an entirely new destination… haha!

Finally heading South, everything was going smoothly… easy vehicle inspection and border crossing in Tecate…After the guards questioned the insulation hanging out of the back door, we were on our way!

Pulling off onto the marked dirt road, from my first ‘directions interpretation’, the camp was just 7 miles away.

It was a beautiful sunset as we bumped along the path, slowing down as parts of the way began to get a little … rougher.

As we neared the 7 mile mark, it was clear there were no camps in sight. Luckily there were sporadic signs encouraging us along.

Still in phone reception zone, I tried to pull up additional directions and found the following map:

Yea.. it was 7 miles before two roads rejoined together but a healthy total of 35 off road miles to camp… Saying good night to the last of the sun, we just broke the first rule of the trip… “Don’t drive at night”…

I like to think this doesn’t really count because we were just snailing along beside ranches and olive farms.

As the terrain became more … advanced… Pancho sounded like a shelf of fine china during an earthquake… a wiggling tray of teal jello… well you get the idea.

J was able to maneuver around boulders and creek crossings… a true ‘maestro de manejar’! And, Pancho, maybe he really did have four wheel drive…

Just as we feared we may have to turn around, we found the entrance…

Wooo hooo!

A couple emerged from the dark, guiding us to our site. After burning a little rubber, we were IN!

“¡Que aventura!” The stars were so bright, you didn’t even need headlamps.. Even in the dark, it was one of the most incredible campgrounds…

Our very own private hot springs, palapa hut and fire pit! Excited and tired, we went straight into the hot springs before calling it a night! … Buenas noches!!

Big Bites!!

I don’t think we bit off more than we could chew; we just took a REALLY big bite…;)

Like many things in life, Panchito projects averaged twice as long as anticipated which pushed our awaited take-off by a week or so.

Gnawing and nibbling our way through; we had an epiphany to stop the “rushed” feelings and enjoy this fine dining experience.

I mean, you need to enjoy the appetizer and entree before that dessert!!! Right?!

Once the floors were in, everything started coming together!

(Still working morning to night with: wall insulation… new siding… cabinets, kitchenette… the bed!)

Some nights were a cold beer and take-out in the van or garage 🙂 other evenings required something stronger… “where’s my whiskey!” Haha

The last few days, feelings of excitement are at an all time high. Completing the final touches; it’s sinking in that we’re having a rad start to 2019! Let the year begin!!

Expanding Horizons

There is something so rewarding about expanding your horizons and embracing the NEW.

Whether trying a new recipe, learning another language, watching video after video of how to properly install insulation and sub flooring… right or left brain…both sides have really been hitting the gym.

We’re talkin’ very mentally toned, if you know what I mean… 😉

We are definitely using our combined knowledge and expertise, but are embracing the NEW on a daily.

Exhibit A: Check out these floor s’mores! Yea!!

Our goal is to complete the flooring in the next day or two. And we think the ‘grey ash’ vinyl planks will compliment Pancho very nicely.

While making strides on the rebuild, we’ve also been acquiring living goodies for este viaje…el interior y la cocina…

Because when it comes to essentials, you can’t leave home without a zester…Right?

¡Buen provecho!

(On this topic, you have to try Picadillo with Plantains!)

Gutted

Dawn to dusk, rain or shine,

Safe to say, it’s been a grind….

Thanks to a lot of hard work and love, especially from J, Pancho has successfully been gutted and is officially rust-free! Wooot!

The floors have been treated, anxiously awaiting their new insulation and sub flooring.

J has developed a passion for auto restoration, I’ve discovered a new affinity for power tools (vroom baby)…

I think Pancho is really rubbing off on us…

We’ve come a long way and are so pumped for this next phase of customizing our dream machine… making it OURS.

¡Si se puede!