TWO HAPPY CAMPERS

La Barrita, Guerrero to Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán //

Packing up to leave this morning is bittersweet.  I’m excited to get back on the road, but I’ve enjoyed the good vibes here at Casa Rayo del Sol so much that it easily ranks in my top three favorite places to stay in mainland Mexico.  And because of the events that took place here, it has been a week that Mark and I won’t soon forget.  We say goodbye to our neighbors and hosts, and as we pull out of the driveway, I feel immense gratitude for people like Mark D. that have a way of making a place feel like home.

Our goal is to travel about a hundred miles today with planned stops at Auto Zone and a grocery store.  We’re always conservative about how much distance we try to cover on days that include errands.  Stopping always eats up more time than we think it will, especially if we can’t find what we need and end up having to make additional stops.  In Zihuatanejo, Adam has success finding fire extinguishers.  This has been a high-priority item to locate ever since his engine fire last week.  After that, we continue west along the coast to the next city, Lázaro Cárdenas.  When we cross the Atoyac river just before arriving in Lázaro, we cross the state line that takes us from Guerrero and into Michoacán.  

Lázaro Cárdenas is a small port city and upon first glance looks dusty and void of the tropical flora that has dominated most of the coastline thus far.  The lack of trees allows the sun to beat down on every surface, and we immediately feel the heat radiating from the asphalt when we walk into the grocery store.  Many pedestrians carry umbrellas to shade themselves from the hot sun.  

Twenty minutes outside of town is Playa Tortuga, a strip of beach lined with hotels, restaurants, and cabana rentals.  We slowly drive down a sandy track past each establishment and wonder whether it’s the off-season or if all of these places have been abandoned.  There is no sign of life anywhere around.  When we pull up to IKARI, the camping area that we found on the iOverlander app, the gate is locked.  Mark calls the number on the sign and fumbles his way through a conversation in Spanish with the woman on the other end.  He ends the call under the impression that she is coming to open the gate.  Thirty minutes later, and the very moment we start to drive down the beach to seek out an alternative, the woman and her husband arrive to let us in.  

At first glance, IKARI is a fine place to park for a night but nothing more.  However, that’s all we need and so I’m happy to have a place to stay.  The price is higher than usual at 400 pesos for the night ($20 US) but we’ve long since surrendered to the fact that our lack of ability to communicate thereby strips us of any negotiating power.  When the couple departs the premises, they show us how to let ourselves out when we leave.  The gate doesn’t actually lock, it’s just chain wrapped through a padlock.  

When mosquitos come out like little biting tyrants signaling curfew, we retreat to the camper.  I go to bed early feeling eager to get back on the road and onto whatever the road has in store for us next.

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