Call and Response

Some of the most magnificent, wild looking palms I’ve seen since we’ve been in Mexico have been in this little RV park in Tepic. (photo by author)

On our way to our “final” destination at Roca Azul on Lake Chapala, we needed to spend one night at Los Pinos Trailer Park, a very small RV park in the middle of busy Tepic, Nayarit, five and a half hours from Villa Celeste.

Tepic, the largest city and capital of Nayarit, is a typical raucous, cacophonous Mexican city with a population of about 400,000 and a “reputation” I’ve been told for being one of “the most dangerous” cities in Mexico.  Reputation?  Since I’ve been in Mexico, easily 90 percent of everyone I’ve told (except Mexicans) that we were going to Tepic claimed it was “the most dangerous” city.  Don’t go to Tepic, they tell me.  It’s too dangerous.

Whether or not any Mexican city has this kind of “reputation,” it’s just common sense to exercise caution in whatever city you’re travelling through, whether north or south of la frontera.  No city, in Mexico or Gringolandia, is free from violence.

Even Portland in our home state of Oregon, which has long had a “reputation” for being one of the most  peaceful, safe cities in the country, in fact has a long history of racial violence.  In fact, Portland has recently experienced some of the worst racial violence in the country.  See “Portland Protest Points to a Deeper Divide Over the City’s Identity.”  But like it or not, and in spite of facts, logic, and reason, people north of the border tend to be biased against and fearful of people south of the border.

Sometimes, if you’re ever going to experience anything of value, I’ve learned you just have to take risks and overcome fears.

So in spite of not knowing anything really about Tepic and without really knowing anything about what the campground was going to be like, Jackie and I were pleasantly surprised to discover that Los Pinos is really a magnificent little oasis in the middle of the city.

The campground itself is located in back of a small, commercial shopping mall packed with little shops and small cafes.  From the street,  it’s impossible to tell that in back of theses shops and cafes, a campground even exists anywhere near this location.  But I had done my homework ahead of time on Google Maps and ioverlander and knew, somewhat, what the area looked like.

Getting to Los Pinos is tricky because even with accurate GPS coordinates, I was getting contradictory routes from two different devices, one of which was the Google Maps app.  I took the route that made most sense to me, even though it required making a tricky U-turn maneuver that in Mexico are called retornos.  Because many of Mexico’s inner city streets are divided by “island” type dividers, the only way to make a left turn without a turn signal is by using retornos which allow you to make legal U-turns.

Once in Tepic, it was necessary to make a left turn on to a Calle Brasil, which was on the other side of the “island” divider.  This required finding the closest next retorno, making the U-turn, then doubling back until I found the street where I needed to make the right turn.

Photo shows round, steel ball street dividers, going the length of the street, and a series of similar steel ball topes. (image from Google Maps)

But then this particular street had something I had never encountered before:  a two-way street divided by these round, 4 inch high, metal balls and topes. These metal ball dividers ran the length of Calle Brasil, and if there were any cars parked in such a way that you had to go around them, you had to drive over these terrible metal balls which rattled the hell out of the truck camper and made this horrific noise.  The topes were of this same type.  Such is Mexico.

Approaching driveway entrance to the small shopping center. (image from Google Maps)

Once we turned into the mini shopping center, we saw the square passageway that leads through shops on both sides.  As we first entered this magic passageway, we knew to use caution because the maximum height allowable to safely pass underneath was 13.5 feet.  We easily made it through to the other side with room to spare.

Tunnel-like entrance to Los Pinos RV Park. Just through the entrance, you can see the park just on the other side. (image from ioverlander.com)

Once on the other side, we were rewarded with the sight of tropical plants, giant palms, numerous flowering trees, and a variety of very large cacti, including giant nopal all over the campground.  Wandered around and explored the city’s tiendas, coffee shops, and small street side restaurants.  Had plenty of opportunities to practicar mi español.  Mexican people are very friendly and tolerant of Gringo ways, especially if you try to speak their language.

Met the owners, Fidel (“¡No Castro, señor, sólo Fidel!”) and his wife Charlote who went out of their way to ensure that we were able to get a good WiFi signal.  He climbed up a ladder to get on the roof of his office where the transponder was located and checked connections and repositioned it in our directions.  Later on he came by and gave us a bunch of limonellas (sweet limes) from his tree.

More photographs of the park:

There was no one here when we arrived. All of the sites had concrete pads for patios with gravel parking. Each site was beautifully landscaped with shade trees, exotic flowers (foreground), and giant nopal cacti. (photo by author)

Backed in to a perfect site. More of the exotic, blooming flowers in the foreground. The trees were also some kind of blooming tree that we were unable to identify. The park was so peaceful we could barely the noisy city outside. We could have easily spent more than one night here. (photo by author)

Another shot of the camper from the rear of the campground. (photo by author)

Despite the negative comments I have heard about Tepic and this campground, the truth is this is a safe and beautifully landscaped campground in city of friendly, helpful, and kind people.