Still in Tepic

Yesterday morning Miguel drove in with the mechanic, who quickly confirmed the need for a new head gasket and assured us that the work couldn't be done here in the trailer park.  So Harry and the mechanic headed off to the garage  leaving me in a deck chair with the dogs (in an x-pen), the mattresses from Mohita (which had been sprayed with flea product), some dirty laundry, a bottle of water, a can of juice and one leash, a novel, and my trusty computer.  Five hours later Harry returned with the news that the work couldn't be done by the end of the day. Replacing a head gasket (and a radiator as well) is a big, big job, and at this point I can only hope that they can manage to put it all back together so that the vehicle will be driveable.  As to how long that will take, who can say?

We were lucky enough to find that the owner of this place has an empty studio apartment that he kindly offered to us for the night. It has no furniture but fortunately we had the cushions, the deck chairs and the (by now clean) laundry with which to create our little nest.  We were even able to watch “Grey's Anatomy” on the computer, and with a bottle of wine we had all the comforts of home.

Tepic is really quite a pretty little city at an altitude of about 3,000 feet.  It's cool at night and hot in the daytime, and it has lovely clear air.  Harry saw some sweet little houses on his way back from the mechanic's yesterday.  So if it came down to it, I guess we could just stay here and become expats in Mexico.  Even the little place we're staying in now is pretty nice, with Mexican yellow walls, a functioning bathroom, a kitchen (needing only a stove) and a cool laundry area at the back.  After living in less than 90 square feet in Mohita, this feels like a mansion. 

Today we discovered that Maggie's chewing and scratching has created a couple of suppurating sores on her back.  The pills that the vet gave her in Mazatlan haven't worked that well.  Poor little thing, she's really miserable, but at least she is able to rest in the coolness of this room today.  Once we get Mohita back we'll be searching for a veterinarian here and also a place to buy a couple of new tires before we get going again.   

Our southward motion keeps getting stalled time after time—so we've decided to listen to the messages and head back north. Depending on how “fixed” Mohita is, we will decide whether to head north via Zacatecas and Chihuahua into New Mexico or to retrace our steps through Mazatlan and Guaymas.  We're still hoping to make it to Zacatecas (even though our friend Armando won't be able to make our rendezvous) as it would be nice to see a different part of Mexico on the way back.  Harry has gone over to the garage this afternoon to see how the work is going.  We'll keep you posted.