{"id":140,"date":"2013-06-26T15:45:23","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T15:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/donniemeals.net\/?p=140"},"modified":"2018-12-12T15:48:30","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T15:48:30","slug":"we-bought-a-van-whats-next-pot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/2013\/06\/26\/we-bought-a-van-whats-next-pot\/","title":{"rendered":"We Bought a Van. What’s Next? Pot?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>11 Minute, 15 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

Sharon & I planned this rather odd, extended trip to Mexico.  It started with a purchase of a 1991 VW Vanagon a few months back.  It’s cherry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We took off for the border the afternoon of June 14th and arrived in Matamoros, MX that evening.  The border is still a dead zone once the sun goes down, thanks to cartels and a generous amount of bad, mostly hyped press.  We found our predictable first meal of tampequeno then settled in for the night at a \u201cNo-tell\u201d hotel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15\/6 \u2013 We prepped some tacos with the leftovers from last night, wrapped \u2019em in foil and popped them atop the VW motor.  110 kilometer at 90 kph and \u201cta da\u201d, you got a tasty mid-morning snack which makes you forget that you\u2019re in the middle of a dry, arid, just north of the Tropic o\u2019 Cancer sweat box. We made it to Tampico by early afternoon, headed to the beach and spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the surf.  The water inTampico, away from their main port, is super clear and pretty fun with a little tequila.  No, really, just a bit. With the hot Tampico sun setting quickly, we headed to \u201cNo-tell\u201d #2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16\/6 \u2013 Normally we get pretty\nconfused getting out of the south side of Tampico but today we exited like\npros.  I guess after 15 + years of this we\u2019re starting to get this\ndown.  In no time Sharon was commandeering the VW down the Emerald Coast\nwith Veracruz in her sights.  30 \u2013 40 kilometers of beach side speed\nbumps.  Somewhere along this part we passed near the town of Chachalaca,\n(Cha \u2013 cha \u2013 la\u2019 \u2013 kah).  Have an adult beverage or two and it\u2019s quite fun\nto say over and over.  So fun that we named our VW Vanagon\n\u201cChachalaca\u201d,  \u201cCha \u2013 cha\u201d for short.  Chacha got us handily into old\nVeracruz.  We left her somewhere on the streets and we proceeded to check\nout the old port, which is pretty hopping at sunset.  We had a decent\ndinner \u201cal fresco\u201d in the old square, walked out to the pier again then checked\nin to \u201cNo-tell\u201d #3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17\/6 \u2013 Amazing!  Again we exited the city in flawless fashion. \nWe didn\u2019t want to jinx ourselves but we felt down-right blessed  with the\ngood fortune of natural GPS.  South of Veracruz is fertile, yummy green\nhills that the jungle has claimed.  The further south you go, the moist\njungle also claims more and more of the road.  We made it to the southern\nmost part of the Gulf of Mexico and pulled into Tuxla to restock on much needed\nPesos.  After a bit of shenanigans on the streets of Tuxla, we headed down\nthe road to Catemaco.  We gave the \u201cNo-tells\u201d a break and stayed at a\nB&B I found a couple of years ago when I visited \u201csolo\u201d for Dia de los\nMuertos.  After settling in we grabbed a couple of towels and went to find\nPlaya Escondido (Hidden Beach). Man, Escondido is an understatement. More like\nPlaya with a Harry Potter cloak of dissapear-o.  Chacha handled the rutted\n\u201ctrail\u201d like an old burro; slow and undoubting.  Eventually the playa\npresented itself and the journey was well worth the search.  Sharon &\nI and a sliver of volcanic sand beach nestled in between mountains.  No\none else.  Yeah, buddy!  (The following has been edited by\nsensors).  We swam.
\nChacha got us back to Catemaco by sundown.  We found a street side\nkitchen, ordered a couple of plates of Al Pastor Alambre and ended up \u201cHigh\n5-ing\u201d the chef. We were mutually impressed.  Sleep was a short walk away.\nAt least we thought.  A long, sweaty, itchy, un-air conditioned night was\nwhat we were presented with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18\/6 \u2013 It was quite easy to get up early. Forget the second B in\nB&B.  Chacha took us on our journey that started heading Northward up\nthe other side of the gulf.  The land is swampy on both sides of the\nroad.  Not icky swampy but \u201cGee, that\u2019s pretty out there, please keep your\neyes on the road\u201d swampy.   Today the road ended in Ciudad del\nCarmen.  As best we could tell, except for fishing, this was a business\ncommunity.  It was a busy island town but\u2026 not exactly our cup o\u2019\ntea.  We settled on eating at a Chili\u2019s.  Yeah, a \u201cI want my\nbaby-back, baby-back, baby-back\u201d Chili\u2019s.  Bad idea.  The corporate branding\nof Chili\u2019s didn\u2019t apply south of the border.  They couldn\u2019t even get chips\nand queso right.  Really???  Out the door and on to \u201cNo-tell\u201d #4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19\/6 \u2013 Daybreak.  Headed north.  We stopped in\nCampeche.  Pretty cool, uber-historic town.  My buddy Ted Barsalou,\n(Alamo Music, downtown \u2013 see him for all your musical needs \u2013 shameless\npromotion) turned me on to a buddy of his that lived in Campeche.  We\ntried to meet, drink a beer or two and tell lies but\u2026 it just didn\u2019t work\nout.  Maybe next time?  Still, we walked around old Campeche and\ndecided we needed to come back.  Not today, but soon.  We scooted out\nof town and made it to Merida.  We love this city.  Merida has a\nscrumptious restaurant that we have eaten at numerous times on numerous\ntrips.  We parked near it and went searching for it based upon vague,\ntequila fueled memories.  Nothing\u2026  We hailed a cab and described the\nplace.  He pulled over a few times and relayed our description to vendors\non the street.  \u201cIt\u2019s\u2026 right over\u2026 maybe\u2026\u201d  You get the idea. \nFinally one lady knew exactly where this wonderful, now closed, restaurant used\nto be.  We had indeed walked right past it in the first place.  A sad\ndark cloud appeared over Sharon & Donnie as they slumped and dragged their\ndusty feet back towards Chacha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We made it to the East side of Merida with the intention of\nmaking it to Puerto Morelos the next day, a full two days early.  After a\nbit of \u201ccreative\u201d driving, we stopped in to a street side, open air\nrestaurant.  The owner, also a VW bus owner, ogled Chacha with great\ndesire.  We figured there was a mutual, unmentioned bond and proceeded to\nget the attention reserved for patrons that are usually the only ones in the\nestablishment.  Overlooking the fact that we WERE the only customers they\nhad, it still seemed sort of special.  I think I saw a tear in the owners\neye as we drove off.  He gently patted his own VW as he looked down and\nshook his head.  His bus had seen better days.
\nEnter \u201cNo-tell\u201d #5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20\/6 \u2013 I powered up my cell phone this morning.  International\ndata and roaming charges are a killer but today I needed to get word to Paul\nand Joan, owners of Villa Encantamar, the house we will be renting for 5\nweeks.  I sent them an email to ask if they minded if we showed up at\nthere home in Puerto Morelos two days early, then just as quickly power the\nphone back down.  I would have done this from one of the other places we\nhad stayed but the \u201cFree WiFi\u201d signs must of had some other meaning that I lost\nin translation.
\nWe headed to the quaint city of Villadolid by way of Chicken Pizza, er\u2026Chichen\nItza.  Chichen Itza is of unquestionable archeological importance. \nNow that I\u2019ve stated that,  I never have to go back again.  Always\nwanted to go but if you\u2019re going to rope off all the cool stuff and not allow you\nto \u201cwalk where the Mayans did\u201d then I could have just bought the book and\nlooked at the pictures.  I knew this before we went but it somehow still\npissed me off.  We left before the parade of tourist busses showed\nup.  On to Villadolid.  Yummy Mayan restaurant and slow Mexico\ncharm.  I powered up the iPhone and got clearance from Paul and Joan to\nget to the house early.  Cool!  And no extra charge!  However,\nthis joy came with an unforeseen price.  Just wait, it\u2019s coming.
\nWe took the \u201cfree\u201d road to Puerto Morelos.  A free road turns any one hour\ndrive into a four hour side-show.  10 speed bumps for every village; and\nthere were plenty of villages.
\nWe arrived here at the house at about 4pm.
\nVilla Encantamar\u2019s back yard is literally the Caribbean.  The waves are a\nconstant soundtrack.  There\u2019s a fresh-ish water pool in the front\nsurrounded by a cement privacy wall.  It\u2019s a 2 story house, also cement,\nwith room-top access.  We were here two years ago but soon we found a few\ndiscrepancies that were not a part of our previous visit.  Little things\u2026\nlike no phone, which meant no internet, a broken AC unit in the upstairs\nbedroom, a forest green pool, a refrigerator of  \u201cstuff\u201d that used to be\nfood and Bruno the attentive care taker was nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nope, not gonna freak out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21\/6 \u2013 I iPhone texted Paul about the phone and internet last\nnight and was greeted this morning by the local phone\/internet guys.  The\nsituation was corrected in an hour.  Meanwhile, we carried out the\ncontents of the fridge. The AC repair guy showed later and within an hour\u2026 it\nbroke again.  All the while; no sign of Bruno.  We hid the rest of\nthe day in our bedroom, the one with the working AC.  It\u2019s pretty hot down\nhere this time of year so we entered an extended siesta till night fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

22\/6 \u2013  We got ready to go to the airport to pick up our\nfirst guests, my daughter Lauren and her hubby Josh.  Upon leaving all the\npower went out;  Not just here but evidently the whole town. \nLovely.  At the Cancun airport we waited with anticipation to greet Lauren\nand Josh.  And we waited.  And waited.  Turned on the iPhone and\ntexted as to their whereabouts.  I picked the wrong one of three terminals\nto wait at.  Gee, sorry about that, kids.  All that aside, we took\nthem for the experience of Mexico grocery shopping.  Once home, our power\nwas back on.  Just for kicks I tried to revive the AC unit upstairs and\nfor some reason it worked!  I guess it needed the jolt of power loss to\ncoerce it into functioning.  I set the temperature and hid the remote so\nas to not tempt fate.  Oceanside cocktails were in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

23\/6 \u2013 We packed up and headed to Yal Ku for a day of sun and\nsnorkeling.  Yal Ku is a gorgeous, hidden  bay in Akumal where the\nfresh water springs mix with the ocean salt water.  Clear, clean water\nwith plenty of fish and underwater life.  We rented a private palapa, swam\nand enjoyed a number of refreshments throughout the afternoon.  The heat\nseems to have given us a break and continued to stay tolerable for several\ndays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

24\/6 \u2013 Hmmm.  We did something.  I just don\u2019t remember\nwhat.  Whatever it was it was all at the house.  Chill day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25\/6 \u2013 We got out early today and headed for Cozumel.  That\ninvolves Chacha taking us to Playa del Carmen.  Parking and walking the\nlength of 5th avenue to the Ferry for a 45 minute ride to Cozumel, grab a cab\nand zip down the coastline to a little hang out of ours called Playa\nCorona.  Josh and Sharon snorkeled while Lauren and I got to catch up with\neach other. Several rounds of cervesas, nachos and other snackies and it was a\nnice chill out day.  We headed back to catch the ferry and eat dinner in\nPlaya del Carmen. Dining al fresco from a second story restaurant  made\nfor some great people watching; plus dinner was fabuloso.  As we continued\nto saunter 5th avenue Lauren couldn\u2019t help taking advantage of a \u201cfish\u201d\npedicure.  Sit down, stick your bare feet in a tank of minnows and, well,\nlet \u2019em feed off what your feet don\u2019t need any longer.  Sometimes it\u2019s\ngood to be a guy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

26\/6 \u2013 Bummer.  Lauren and Josh\u2019s short stay came to an end\ntoday.  It was great to spend time with them both.  We left them\ncurbside at the correct terminal and headed back to the casa to recharge. \nWe have 4 more guests coming in soon so we decided on another \u201cdo nothing\u201d day.<\/p>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
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\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
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\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Then Hippy Bus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/donniemeals.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Van.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144,"href":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions\/144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donniemeals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}