Nexpa and Out 🌊🌴

We didn’t bother leaving too early as we were finding the mornings were better spent enjoying the cool of the day then driving through the hot midday and then again enjoying the later afternoons. It was a 3hr drive to our last stop, over shooting the turn off for Mexico city a little but for good reason. The last real town on the route we pulled in for supplies before finishing the last of the drive up the 200. Still hugging the coast all this way and many more scenic views and headland passes the whole way! We crosses a big river bed and turned off, straight onto the dirt track and a few kilometres through the village later we pulled up to the campsite at Nexpa. Now this place was a bit of us! The end of the road led straight into the sprawling campsite on a strip of land next to the river mouth lagoon. The guy that owned it had run a casual campsite with basic facilities for a long time, now with a couple of cabanas and a restaurant attached, and he welcomed us in to park wherever we pleased.

There were a whole bunch of overlanders parked up, some longtime in full bus conversions, some who knew the place well and came down from North America regularly and a few like us just passing through. The area was grassy and most spots had a palapa and palm trees, the lagoon lapped on the side keeping the air slightly cooler and the wildlife close. To the front was a white sand beach that had a few cabanas dotting the shore and a lovely lefthand river mouth wave right there. We were quick to choose the palapa camp closest to the beach and were eyeballed by the other campers as we navigated palm trees to back it into the perfect last beach camp. The neighbours were all keen to say hello and we made many friends in that first afternoon, offered fresh coffee and a birthday invite, we felt very welcome and chuffed to bits that we had committed to get to this place. Nexpa felt special. The camp was lush, the company too, we had a stray dog claim us as his best friends for 3 days and we surfed right in front of camp dusk and dawn. It was perfect! The temps in the afternoon were high but the sea breeze and hammocks in the shade helped. The older couple next to us were the camp coffee shop and everyone was welcomed for a chinwag with ma and pa. He was a fellow Brit and instantly enjoyed our company, conversation and British quirks.

We were sad this was the last stop on the Pacific for a while as we both agreed it was the best we had found for a long time. Such a beautiful and relaxed place it was. The surf was pretty good,

rumours were that it was excellent on its day and not overcrowded (even so the local cool kids disliked any presence in the water). The camp was lush and the river next door made the place a 360 view to die for, mountains setting the backdrop to the river, palms and camp on the waters edge and a bay swinging round until the distant headland with a perfect left, words and photos do it no justice but even so, could you imagine a better spot! The last night we had a pre-birthday party with freshly caught fish and an endless supply of homemade chips and in the morning we said our farewells to new friends and our camp dog Deisel, wanting to stay forever, which was the nicest way to leave the Pacific behind, with a great distance covered and beaches explored, from Pavones and the Panama border right up here to Barra de Nexpa, Michoacan, about 3500kms of coast!

We hit the road to Mexico City, an hour and a half back on ourselves then inland for the first time in a while. A big highway road that followed a valley and huge lake into the mountains to the town of Patzcuaro. We pulled in mid-afternoon, and much to our surprise, it was a beautiful ‘Pueblo Magico’ (magic town). An old Spanish capital of the state but also a longer standing town of

importance to the Pre-Colombian people of ancient Mexico. It had gorgeous architecture, numerous churches and plazas with the surrounding countryside dotted with ruins, temples and indigenous folk. It was hip and classy, restaurants and cafes circled the plazas and markets a plenty, so being our classiest selves, we parked up on the roadside next to a big church for the night, put on our finest garms and had an a evening in town. We got about, from bars and scenic views to markets and street food, it was nice to be in a town for a second and considering we slept on the road it was a good nights sleep with public toilets and coffee shops for the morning.

We stayed classy and took breakfast on the main plaza in a lovely café with some interesting conversation and planned out the next move. A town on the lake down the road with an interesting old pyramid, it was our first for a while and very different to others we had seen further south. It was built on a huge levelled platform with 7 rounded turrets that were the main feature and views of the lake and mountains, everything in sight a part of the old civilisation and now dotted with a few small villages and mountain people who came to town for market, but sadly less celebrated here than the indigenous tribes of the south and Guatemala. Stunning as it was

and glad for the cooler mountain weather over night, it was now heating up quickly so time to push on. Unsure where to next but enough time to push to the city if necessary. We decided to play it by ear, with a halfway stop pencilled in and enough audiobook entertainment for the day.

Moving well and sharing the drive we skipped the halfway stop and instead filled up on road snacks and pushed on to the big city. All things going well but running out of day, we hit some standstill city traffic 100km from the capital. Mexico City being one of the largest populations in the World and on a Friday afternoon we should have expected it. Over heated and over the drive we were stuck there waiting for almost 2hrs. It finally moved, we took the first exit, some dodgy dusk backroads later we rejoined the highway, skipping one section of traffic to join another, we were running out of time and patience after a long drive but finally pulled off in the town of Tepotzotlan. An old town on the very edge of the city, a ‘Pueblo Magico’ and the final destination of the trip. It was 7pm and dark when we pulled up to the gate of the RV Park and rattled the door until someone rescued us from the day and showed us in, waving us through to park anywhere we wanted in this huge concrete jungle for overland travellers, happily waving away any concerns on logistics until manana. We gratefully parked up and crashed hard that night, but we’d made it. This was the halfway mark!!

Our last day with Franky we washed him down in and out and packed him up for the next 3 months. The RV Park was a perfect place to let him rest, an hour from the city, fully secure with local mechanics and laundrettes keen to help out on our return. My Mexican cousin Eduardo planned to come out and join us for the night but the entire road network North had been closed and the only option he was given was a 6 hour journey so obviously he bailed. That left us more time to pack up Franky and we walked the picturesque town over sunset. We reminisced all evening, cheersed to the legend of a van Franky is, sad to be leaving the trip behind but so happy to have made it to Mexico City. It was a great halfway point and left us with some interesting options on our return in 3 months. In the morning we parked him up next to a couple of other resting vans, locked him up and disconnected the battery, a farewell, a little whisper of love to him and reassurance we’d be back soon, we jumped in a taxi to the airport.