Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We drove into downtown San Antonio and searched for somewhere to park. We found a car park that wanted $5 for the
day - the cheapest we had found. But when we went to pay, we found out that the price was $15 for RVs!! So Kirsten
had to go off and find someone to ask about a more reasonably priced parking area. (The car park where we were was
unmanned and you just had to put money into the slot number that corresponded to your parking spot number. The threat
of being towed away was written in very large letters!)
Kirsten returned to say that all the car parks charge about the same except for the shopping Mall - 2 hours free and
pay after that. The only problem is that the Mall car park has a height restriction! Needless to say, Winnie won't
fit! But at least there were a few parking meters nearby which we managed to find, and they only cost $1 for 2 hours.
By the time we walked to the Imax theatre, the film we wanted to see had already started and we weren't allowed in.
We would have to wait another 2 hours for the next showing!! By this time we were getting a bit fed up with San
Antonio!
We walked to the site of the Alamo battle - where Texans were fighting against the Mexicans because they wanted
Independence. All the Texans were killed, including Davy Crockett and only one slave survived to tell the tale.
After our small history lesson and a spot of lunch, we drove out of San Antonio and headed south.
On Tuesday we spent quite a lot of time trying to find out where we could get propane, as we had nearly ran out.
We didn't have enough to boil up any water for a cuppa as we were worried that our fridge would defrost. So we
ended up driving quite a way to get propane and then finally stopped for a late breakfast that was actually more
like lunch!
We continued heading south and had problems driving into a severe head wind. Poor old Winnie was going even slower
than normal! We finally got down to McAllen, which is on the border with Mexico, and then decided that we really
didn't like the place. It's a massive sprawling city and we were trying to find the tourist info office. After a
while we gave up and headed to Barnes and Noble, where we finally picked up a copy of Church and Church's Mexico
book for RVers. Don't go to Mexico without it! It's called " A Travelers Guide to Mexican camping" (no spelling
mistake - that's the way the Americans spell!) and is written specifically for RVs.
At least we finally had the guide we needed but then it took us ages trying to find a Wal-mart. McAllen really is a
nightmare to drive in. We finally gave up and parked outside a Home Depot instead!
On Wednesday, Helen got up and went shopping at Home Depot and came back with a new filter for our air con that we
need plus some strong disinfectant for our toilet tank which we really need to clean out. Then we drove to a
campground in Mission, which is about 8 miles west of McAllen but is just a continuation of urban sprawl.
After we checked in and put disinfectant into our toilet, we went off to find a garage where we could get someone to
look at our petrol tank as we kept smelling fumes. Camping World couldn´t do it - apparently, petrol tanks are not
on their list of things they can do!! So we had to find somewhere else and managed to find a small place where a very
nice young man took a look for us and then charged us $15 to tighten up the hose and connections as we had a small
leak.
We drove back to the campground and set about getting everything ready to go over the border into Mexico the next day
and getting all our washing done. We worked none stop and in between, some people came by to ask if we were
missionaries!! When Kirsten asked why they asked that, they replied "because we are!" Then they asked Kirsten if
she believed in God and she replied "We believe in us!" Helen was inside Winnie and could hardly stop herself from
laughing out loud because they didn't bother taking the matter any further and went on to our neighbours for a chat!
Finally, at 10-45 pm we were just making the bed so we could get 8 hours sleep when we noticed some mould on the
boards which we have underneath. We spent over an hour trying to get rid of it and by midnight, we had to give up and
decided that we would have to stay another night so that we could deal with the problem.
On Thursday, it rained all day so we weren't too disappointed that we had stayed for another night. We managed to
use the owners saw and his garage to cut off the parts of the boards where the mould was. Then we needed to get our
mattress out to take the cover off and wash it. Because it was raining, we couldn't just take it outside, and there
is only one way of getting the mattress in and out of Winnie. So we had to ask the owner if we could move our
mattress out into the recreation hall which was right next to where we were parked. The owner was really nice and
said there wouldn't be a problem as long as we finished by 7pm as there was a games night on.
So we got our mattress out and put it onto one of the tables that we had already wiped down. Then we put the cover
into the washing machine.
That's when all the problems started. You wouldn't believe the people at the campground. They were really insulting
us because we had our mattress in the recreation hall. One of the lasting comments was "Well Jesus Christ. Piss on
that!"
The other people in the campground were mostly retired Americans who stayed for months here every year. So they
obviously didn't like us turning up for just a few nights. And as for our mattress - well how dare we!! We tried to
explain but it didn't do any good. And, of course, it was too late for us to do anything about it - the cover was
already in the wash and we had no choice but to wait. The fact that we had asked for permission was just ignored.
Fortunately, we managed to get the cover washed and dried but we had to put our mattress back into Winnie and try and
get the cover back on inside - no easy feat. We were a bit concerned that we might get our tyres slashed or some
other damage would be done!
On Friday we got up at 7am, had a quick shower and were relieved to find that Winnie hadn't been attacked overnight!
We left at 8am and will not be returning!! We stopped off for bread and Pesos and then got to the border by 9am. We
managed to find the American side to hand in our visas from our passports and then went over the bridge to the
Mexican side.
It only took us an hour to get our tourist cards and our vehicle permit and then we had some breakfast on the car
park! We set off at 10-45 am and drove along extremely dirty, muddy roads. We had a few problems finding the correct
turn off and had to do a U turn but we finally managed to find the correct road and then drove to La Pesca which is
about 200 miles south of the border.
We pulled into a campground at 5pm which seemed to be absolutely full. It turned out that a large "caravan" was
there - 20 RVs all travelling together for 62 days and going down to Belize. We had to pay $30 for 2 nights! That's
a lot more than we had bargained with, especially as we will have to stay at campgrounds every night for security
reasons. Which means that we will have to cut back somewhere else to be able to afford it! Hopefully it gets cheaper
as we go further south.
We paid our money to Luis (14 yrs old) and managed to squeeze in next to someone else who wasn't part of a caravan.
Later on Luis asked us if we could help him wash some of the RVs tomorrow. He was going to pay us too! So we said we
would. Then he brought us some battered fresh fish which we ate with the baked potatoes that we already had in the
oven. Yummy!!
That evening, Helen spent 4 hours looking through our Mexico guide at the various options for our next destination
whilst Kirsten worked on the computer. On Saturday, it turned out that Luis only had 2 RVs to wash and so he didn't
need our help. So much for our new job!!
So we spent nearly 2 hours washing Winnie. After all the mud and dirt we drove through yesterday he was really
filthy. He was sparkling by the time we finished! In the afternoon we went for a 5 mile walk down to the village of
La Pesca and back. We're now back up to normal temperatures for the year and we were glad to be in shorts and T
shirts again!
It's good to be back in Mexico again, waving to every truck or car that passes and saying "Hola" to everybody in the
street. The Mexicans are extremely friendly and always seem to be happy.
On Sunday, the big caravan left at 10am and we moved Winnie so we could dump. We left at about noon and headed west
towards the mountains. It was only a short drive today and after avoiding a few pot holes the road got a lot better.
We got to Cuidad Victoria at 2-30pm and stocked up our fridge.
After eating donuts and cakes on the supermarket car park we drove off to find our campground for the next two nights
and arrived at 4-30pm. Helen went for a shower whilst Kirsten chatted to our neighbours for hours. After eating home
made Chinese, Helen spent a few hours on the computer trying to catch up on the website.
