Posted by whalerho | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 25-01-2009
After sadly waving good bye to our friends at Celestino, we departed for our next destination Puerto Vallarta. I have heard so much about this wonderful city and I was so excited to get to finally see it. We made very good time and stopped for lunch at a Pemex parking lot – Mexico’s government owned gasoline stations. They are all very clean and well patrolled.
We reached a town along route 200 at about 12:30 and were told by a police man we might encounter a delay ahead on route 200. He suggested we consider going BACK and taking the route to Puerto Vallarta via San Blas. This option didn’t sound so great as it was an hour and a half back to the road to San Blas. So, we trudged forward optimistically. Our Canadian friends, Helen and Roch, were following us and there was NO shoulder. Ken made his way along a sharp curve and the van tire caught and started to flip, bringing our RV over to an angle as well. He was able to right both the van and RV as we veered far into oncoming traffic. Thank GOD no vehicle was coming and he was able to get us back straight and on our way. Meanwhile, Helene and Roch saw the whole thing and were quite sure we would flip. Instead, they flipped out and then had to calm themselves down. Must have looked quite scary from behind!
We ventured forth awaiting this “delay” which we finally encountered at KM 35 -the way we measure all routes in Mexico is by kilometer markings. We saw a back up of about 20 vehicles up ahead so Ken decided to park in a large dirt pull out and Roch followed. Ken and Roch walked up to the start of the delay and were told by a police man that a tanker flipped over and the road would be closed for another 1 to 2 hours. No problem, we think, because if we left by 4:30, we would still travel the curvy road up ahead in the light of day. Well, we kept checking as MORE and MORE cars, RVs, trucks etc kept piling up on the road. At 4:30, the police man said it would be another ONE to TWO hours. Just tell us the TRUTH buddy!! We decided it was not safe to take off that night so we decided to CAMP along the side of the road in the DARK. Another RV joined us, from Austria no less! We decided to make the best of the situation and pulled our chairs out, drank beers and margaritas and watched the kids dance to the Macarana!! It was hilarious! FINALLY, at 8PM, a police man with a loud speaker drove down the hill, behind it a tow truck with the big tanker truck attached. Then the traffic started moving, everyone except for us. We weren’t about to take off for the dangerous road ahead in the pitch darkness of night. So, there we camped. Us and the two other RVs. You can imagine how LONG the night was as we heard many odd sounds all night and wondered the origin. Most of the time it was the cows nearby but you never knew!!
We woke up at 6AM (the adults really didn’t sleep) and we were greeted by a man on a horse. A shoe in for Juan Valdez and it appeared he was bringing us coffee. Not really but he sure did look like Juan!! We took off after the huge fog lifted, once again hoping to reach our next destination, Puerto Vallarta.
