The Road from Nayarit, through Puerto Vallarta, to Lake Chapala and a Great, Big House for 60% Less Than a Tiny Hotel Room
When doing a road trip anywhere, and especially in Mexico, the ability to improvise and adapt are traits that come in handy. Case I point: unfortunately, our much-anticipated plans to visit Puerto Vallarta fell through, so we would have to content ourselves with a “drive through.”In the lavish and lovely garden area in the front of what had been our Lo de Marcos home for eight days of various parts serenity, adventure, discovery and enjoyment in the greater Nayarit...
Even though we thoroughly enjoyed our six-plus weeks in Baja (my wife, Jet Metier, wanted to buy some land there immediately), it was time for us to move on to experience new things. The desert and relative isolation we enjoyed as newbies in Baja would have to be gently placed into the past as we ventured forward to new experiences, also in places we had never been-- the jungles and more populated areas of mainland Mexico. 
Driving… 
Driving south on Highway 1 from after it intersects Highway 5 is fairly uneventful, if by “uneventful” you mean "the hundreds of times when you’re confronted with the fact that even a slight miscalculation on your steering wheel will result in certain death." A half inch to the left, and you’ll crash head-on into a semi barreling towards you at 60 miles per hour. A half inch to the right, and you’ll go over the roughly 12-inch shoulder to plunge either into...
Most people think that the most important Spanish phrase you could learn is “Dónde está el baño?” (Where’s the bathroom?), “Cuánto cuesta este?” (How much is this?) or even, “Camarero, dos margaritas más, por favor (Bartender, two more margaritas, please). While all these are very good to know in appropriate circumstances, my view is that the most important phrase to learn while driving south from San Felipe through Baja on Highway 5 (pretty much the only road you....jpg)
Two bodies of water surround most of the peninsula of Baja California. On the eastern side is the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California), while the western side faces the more familiar Pacific Ocean. These watery expanses merge at what looks like the large, natural arch you've seen pictures of at Baja’s southern tip, Cabo San Lucas, about 750 miles roughly south of the US-Mexican border. At its widest, the peninsula measures about 85 miles from side...
Whoever chaired the city naming committee for the Calexico – Mexicali area was too clever by half. Calexico (a mash-up of “California” and “Mexico”) is on the US side, while Mexicali (a reverse mash-up) is on the Mexican side. Or is it the other way…
The Mexican border agent took a quick look at our over-sized van and motioned me to pull over to a special inspection area. Then, he asked me to open the rear doors. What he saw next was a cargo area so fully stuffed that you would have a difficult time adding a tennis ball.