Dia 4: Lazaro Cardenas, BC, Mexico

 It wasn't the food or water that gave me my first mild case of the shits in Mexico this morning, it was a letter from the IRS stating that we owe them $7,000.  It is always a pucker up moment when you hear from the IRS, as the tone of the letters is always very ominous.

Since it was going to take access to the internet to sort all this out, we didn't travel far today.  We likely drove only about 20 miles south, where we bought food and gas, and settled in to attempt to make sense of the IRS mess.  I believe I've figured out that we over contributed to our Health Savings Account, and that means we had $4,000 more income than we had reported in 2014.  My guess is that with penalties, interest and having to pay back a bit of Affordable Care Act money that we'll end up owing about $2,000 or less.  Still not good news, but we can write a check for $2,000.  $7,000 would cause cash flow issues until a CD matures next month.

We are camped in Lazaro Cardenas at Los Olivos RV Park (360$, power, water, hot showers and free wi-fi).  The park is situated in an olive grove and is easily the nicest park that we've camped at in a long time (including in the U.S.).  At the current exchange rate, that's about $18 per night, though at the higher rate that we paid when crossing the border is more like $20 (the Mexican Peso lost about 7.5% against the dollar in the last week).  A US park anywhere near as nice would be at least twice that much, and not be nearly as well maintained.  Of course we did have to drive a ways down a very dusty dirt road to get here, but this is quite the oasis down here, and worth the detour.

Olive trees and St. Augustine grass - very exotic by Baja standards. 

Three outhouses - one for kiddies, one for mom, one for pop.

A palapa to shade a family get together...

Volley ball court, playground.

 The bathrooms here are more like what you would find in a four star hotel (if four star hotels had shared bathrooms, and were located on dusty dirt roads).  The power is grounded and the power output is stable.  The whole place is spic and span, and landscaped far beyond anything that we have seen thus far in Mexico.  If it were summer, there is a great pool here, but it is drained right now.  360 pesos is expensive by Mexican standards, but well worth the nice upgrades!

Speaking of that long, dusty road leading to the RV park, we couldn't help but notice houses where laundry that was put out on the line to dry, while car after car kicked up dust that the wind blew right onto those clothes.  I guess the moral of that story is to wear lots of khaki/earth tones in Baja.

We had originally planned to go a bit farther south to camp, so that would we be on the beach, but with the IRS issue we decided we needed to get on top of that, which meant we needed access to wi-fi (there is no going to McDonalds or the library here in Mexico - your accommodations are your best bet for having access).

A couple of thoughts passed my mind today (after the IRS panic subsided).  First, I can't imagine how terrible an experience Mexico would be without a good guide book.  Without it, we'd be seeing nothing but dust and chaos, and would have no idea which RV parks are worth considering staying at (unless we took the time to look at them all).  Instead, we have some assurance that we'll have a decent place to stay at the end of the day, and if there is anything of likely interest in the areas we are in, the book points them out.

Second, driving on Mex 1 is very fatiguing.  That is primarily because we've been warned that if twenty people are violating a traffic law and one of them is a gringo, the odds are best that the gringo gets pulled over.  Of course hardly anyone in Mexico wants to drive the speed limit, so we often have a parade of cars piled up behind us, at which point we pull over and wait for them to pass.  So the going is slow.  The speed limit sometimes gets up to 80 km.  In towns it is 40 km, with many topes (speed bumps), stop signs and sometimes a stoplight or two.  Usually there is a transition, in-between speed limit of 60 km.  But often there is no sign showing that the speed limit has increased at the edge of town, but the locals all start driving like a bat out of hell.  Add in the dust, heat and chaos of what is going on along the sides of the road while driving through town, and you are experiencing a major sensory overload.  Don't plan on driving US freeway distances down here, unless your wallet is deep and/or you have a death wish.

When we stopped at the local Calimax for food, a local warned us that the road would get narrower as we go south.  Primarily that is because, during the rainy season, portions of the road can wash out, and it can take a while before those get repaired, primarily because the area that we are heading into is fairly remote in relation to the large population centers.  Hopefully those issues will be flagged somehow, so that we don't end up burying an axle somewhere.  Again, I'm glad we're a couple of feet narrower than most RVs.  

We bought some cheap wine at the Calimax - $4 for 4 liters, in a clear plastic jug.  We're hoping it is no worse than "2 buck Chuck" at Trader Joe's (actually $2.99 for 750 ml).  $1 a liter for wine?  Mexico isn't looking as dusty any more - either that or my vision is starting to blur...