San Carlos to Ajijic

Monday December 7, 2009
Trip mileage: 5700 km
Total gas for trip: $235 US
Tolls on Mexican highways: $100 US
Our trip from San Carlos took us through Mazatlan arriving in Ajijic on Friday night. It was two long days of driving on the Cuota (Mexican toll highway), almost a $100 for the tolls, but we arrived safely, tired but glad to be finished driving for now. We spent one night in Mazatlan (all we could take because of the noise and hustlers). Lots of Canadians there with their RV's or staying in the beach hotels. We didn't even get over to the beach, but I don't think we missed anything.
From Mazatlan we drove about 8 hours to Ajijic, most of the area was agricultural, but then just outside of Tepic we started heading up into the mountains to end up at 5000 feet in Ajijic. We tried avoiding traffic in Guadalajara by taking an outside route, but ended up snarled in a traffic jam for over an hour from a bad accident (which doesn't surprise me by the way they were driving!). I was driving, can you believe it? Pretty scary, both for me and Jerry.

Lake Chapala just before an afternoon rain.

Yesterday we toured a few houses that were for rent and then settled on one this morning. Right now we are unpacking and I have a maid cleaning the kitchen and floors for me. I might be crazy, but I am going to be painting the living room! Right now it is a really "Mexican" yellow and I am thinking I will paint it a soft grey to match the marble tile on the floor. That will keep me busy for a couple days.
We have a beautiful garden with three different types of orange trees, two papaya tree and an avocado tree! I'll post some pictures tomorrow.