California, Ontario, Manitoba, B.C., Washington, Idaho, Quebec, Oregon. Just a few of the license plates on the vehicles at our beautiful beach front campground. RV’s of every age and size. Its a hotel/campground actually and the place is split by a little dirt road that goes through to the beach. Two hundred and fifty feet wide and about a mile long crescent shaped beach suitable for swimming, surfing, boogie boarding, sea kayaking and you name it. Dogs are supposed to be leashed but that would be the gringo dogs, I guess, because the local dogs run free.

Sayulita is a lovely little town with a huge plaza built on two levels and tree covered like the rest of town. Dirt streets for the most part and bicycles, ATV’s, horses and trucks and cars all take their time. No rush. Cool artisan shops, some very good restaurants with fresh seafood and produce priced from local to tourista. Even the very best restaurant that we had my Birthday supper at would be a great place to dine in any country. English is spoken all over but its appreciated when you converse in the native tongue.

Our only disappointment here is that we have to leave some day. We will have to drive north again and cross at Nogales for Tucson, Prescott, Las Vegas and on to Bishop. It will be another 10 days getting to Bishop and there are people and things we look forward to seeing again.

The highways will be better but busier stateside and our little Class C motorhome will get turned away at some of the “upscale” U.S. RV parks rather than being oggled as a palace on wheels as it is down here. In the states its very much about size and money for a lot of folks when it comes to RV’s. People spend a million or more on some of these motorhomes and then drive them down here to Mexico. When you encounter one of these forty plus foot land yachts after being in Mexico for some months a lot of thoughts run through your noggin.

My first thought is why would you want to drive that fiberglass whale on these narrow streets and highways. The rule of thumb for any RV in Mexico is keep it to a reasonable size. One veteran RV traveler told me, “don’t get anything bigger than a Coke truck. The Coke truck gets everywhere and so will you.”

The other thought that occurs is that many of these monster RV’s have more value than most of the buildings and houses in the entire village that they are passing through.

Don’t flaunt wealth. Most people in Mexico are law abiding, friendly, courteous and tolerant of touristas and our lack of ability or even attempts to speak their language in their country. If you have to drive an ostentatious example of your success at least have the good sense to be friendly and what ever your opinions may be of Mexico’s short comings, S.T.F.U. You are a guest in Mexico.

My last thought on these huge RVs concerns the fact that you get stopped and searched frequently here in Mexico. We have been stopped and searched at least fifteen times by the military, customs, federal police and some others whose uniforms I did not recognize but whose automatic weapons were sufficient credentials for me. I would say that we have been waved through more stops and check points than we have been detained.

In all cases the persons stopping us, questioning, searching and in two instances confiscating food items have been friendly, courteous and not overly intrusive. We have only been asked for a “propina”one time and Paula’s simple no was greeted with a smile and advice not to pick up hitchhikers. Good advice that we didn’t follow. I picked up two women one time and a Mom and her two kids another. A low risk kindness.

I would love to know what happens when the very rich looking RV’s get stopped. Theoretically we should all be treated equally but human nature is such that we can all understand if not condone the occasional acts of a Robin Hood or Zorro.

No sense making yourself a victim. Get a Coke truck.