Well we had another “adventure” with Mohita today. It seems when things look the bleakest that something wonderful is about to happen. This morning we left Mazatlan heading south to Tepic feeling fine. We'd changed the oil, gassed her up and felt ready to go. It's about 300 km to Tepic and up into the mountains. About halfway there Mohita started making a kind of rattling noise. At first we thought it was perhaps pinging and knocking from low octane gas but it continued to get worse as we drove. Then Mohita started to overheat—something she's never done before. About 30 km outside of Tepic we pulled over and found that our coolant was boiling! We decided to wait for a while for the engine to cool down and then we discovered that we also had a flat tire. It was the same tire we had repaired in Navojoa and this time it was really flat. So—there we were stuck on the side of the road again.
What to do? Well, in Mexico you can sometimes just wait and help will arrive and that is what happened today. In about 15 minutes a pickup truck pulled up with "Angeles Verdes" written on the side, driven by a man in a uniform. We were rescued by “Los Angeles Verdes” and a lovely man named Miguel. On the toll roads in Mexico and on some of the other roads traveled by tourists, the Mexican government provides emergency road assistance. Trucks patrol up and down the highways carrying gas, water, basic tools to assist travelers in trouble.
Miguel helped us cool down the engine and change the tire and diagnosed a possible need for a new head gasket. After a lunch of sandwiches and orange juice provided by Joanna, he followed us into Tepic to make sure that we would make it. Then he led us to the one and only RV park in town. We found the address in our “Mexican Camping” book but it didn't sound too great; we weren't even sure it would be open. After following Miguel through some very dingy streets we came out on another highway and entered a gate that looked like it was going into a construction site. But in behind the gate is a pearl of an RV park. There are about a dozen spots situated around a big green grassy field with hookups and clean bathrooms with hot water showers, and the icing on the cake—free wifi. We're close to mechanics, stores and even a Pemex gas station. So the horrible afternoon turned into another amazing experience of the kindness of people in this country.
Miguel even offered to see if he could get a mechanic to come here to the RV park to do the work. He'll be coming by tomorrow at nine in the morning to let us know. Talk about going over and above what's required! Miguel is a very sweet man who is studying English and planning to study law.
This evening we are preparing to fumigate Mohita. It seems that in spite of the veterinary preventives, we have ourselves an infestation of fleas. Maggie is suffering greatly and pulls out great chunks of fur trying to scratch her allergic spots. This afternoon Joanna found a live flea on her leg as well, so we are pulling out the big guns and using Mexican insecticide. We'll do that tomorrow morning and then head out for a long, long walk.
With luck we'll be able to get Mohita fixed up enough to make it to Zacatecas by Friday. The alternative (limping back to Mazatlan and north again) is unthinkable at this point. This photo is taken through our rear window and it shows a huge banana blossom hanging down. We're shaded by banana and fig trees here and it should work well to stay for a day or two and fix what ails us.
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