Punta Perula, Jalisco

It looked like a tiny trip from Puerto Vallarta to here - we figured an hour and a half, two hours. Nope. 172 kilometers, four and a half hours. That did include a fuel stop in Puerto Vallarta and lunch (carne asada tacos) at a very pleasant little restaurant at the side of the road beyond Puerto Vallarta, which we had thought was going to go on forever. On that twisty-turny mountain road, we got behind a little red car that would not even approach the speed limit and would not pull over, despite many chances, honking of horns, and exasperated gestures from other drivers. People were angrily - and dangerously, at times - overtaking our convoy of three RVs, only to find this little red putt-putt crawling along in front of us. That was how we came to stop at the restaurant. We figured we'd give the slowpoke half an hour's lead. That worked.

As we traveled south, we were surprised to see the jungle give way to a more desert-like landscape. There are organ pipe and prickly pear cacti again, and it's much drier. That's good. Maybe my salt shaker will start working again. It's 30C outside, so dry is definitely good.

There's not much to Punta Perula, just one main street, not much more. There are five RV parks in all, I think. The most popular, which I believe is called the Red Snapper, is right on the beach. They had only one space available. That was where Wade had his heart set on staying. I think TJ and Kris may have gone to one of the other beachfront parks. We were told there was a bit of space available there. We were also told there was no wi-fi there, so we came back to the park that's a block from the beach. I just found out what this park is called! Everybody refers to it as The Dutchman, because that's who owns it. It seems it's actually called El Palmar. Robin has now ridden his bike back to see if he can find the others. He doesn't seem taken with this place, but I'm fine with it. It's quiet, the owners are very pleasant, and I'm connected. What more could I ask? - apart from the ocean, of course.

I have no idea how long we're staying here - though I'm guessing three or four days. Then we'll be heading south just a bit, I think to Melaque. Wade and Colleen have reservations there starting on Feb. 5, but I don't know that they're planning to stay here until then - they'll probably move on and boondock until their reservation comes up. At any rate, that's as far as they're going. TJ and Kris and we will keep going toward the Yucatan.

Robin just came back to tell me I'm going to love the beach here. It's hard, perfect for walking, and the water is unbelievably warm. I think this calls for a camera.