Road to Oaxaca

The trick to parking in there is to go straight in up the driveway. After you figure out where you will park - the spots are on the right as you come in, but don't turn that way, - you will need to back around the corner into your spot along the wall, which is the only apparent place to get power. I trimmed the tree that overhangs the driveway when we were there - just pop a cheque in the mail - lol RYV

Oaxaca city is the King of double and triple parking. On some downtown streets they start by parking with half the car on the sidewalk. Then another car parks along the first one. Leaves maybe one lane for traffic. There is one maybe 2 spots for large rigs. Facing the park from the street it is to your far right at the front. This is where the large German busses park. When we first came to that park about 16 years ago there were no office buildings. It was a park like setting with huge trees and grass. Maybe 60 or more spaces. The water and electricity have always been bad. The bathrooms are a disaster. But still one of our favorite spots. Laundromat close by. Grocery stores and more within walking distance. 3 minute walk to the bus stop and only 15 minutes to El Centro!

Moisheh

Thought of RyV today as we passed thru Tzinzangzung (or ?) on our way out to Quiroga. Didn't see any suspicious characters roadside. The auto-defense fortification along the road between the carnitas king and Zingzang is gone.

We drove in to Patzcuaro on NY's eve from Puebla, taking the first Morelia turn off that goes by the airport. Followed the Patz signs right thru Morelia centro around 4pm and made almost every light. Lots of cars, but it moved right along.

First night at Villa Patz there were three rigs from Quebec and another US truck/camper besides us. Then a Mexico plated class c with three spanish speakers showed up. Then two overlanders with French plates arrived in an interesting Renault diesel 4x4 box and a Land Rover cut away, shipped from France to Buenos Aires two years ago Nov. They drove south to Tierra del Fuego and now were traveling north. Three generations aboard, grandparents thru little kids. In good spirits, seemed to still have their sanity.

Late yesterday a canadian couple drove in from Zihuatanejo along the coast thru Lazaro Cardenas and up the toll road. Didn't seem to think much of it. Guess they don't read the online warnings.

Yes, we have heard that Sunday is the day to plan on arriving. Google Earth shows the street in front in both directions. We have heard that the caretaker will put out no parking cones in the morning if you tell him ahead of when you plan to leave - so we can make the swing out of the park. But we have also heard there are very few parts of the park where a 40' fits - unless we sort of park sideways. Rumors abound about whether the place is still in business as they have built some buildings and we also hear they allow cars to park inside. But each year we do hear that it is still functioning. One of these years - hopefully soon - we are going to find a way to get there.

briansue - we were up there last Feb.from the coast with a friend who had a camper van. We hoteled it and she was at OTP. We noticed that the people parking for the office building on the corner tended to park around the ends of the median, blocking access for rigs of all sizes coming from the direction of the highway, and of course to do a retorno and be on the side of the park entrance gives you not enough room to swing either. When we returned a month later with the trailer, we did it with a Sunday arrival in mind and we had no problems. Likewise, arrival after office hours may also work. We did see police occasionally enforcing parking there, but I wouldn't count on it. RYV

briansue: 40 footer seems ok to me. A few come and go to use the parking every day and some of them are pretty big. Helen Keller full sized bus parked in an RV slot.

Question about Oaxaca Trailer Park. We roam around in a 40' motorhome and have been some tight spots. How does it look for getting a "big rig" into Oaxaca TP these days? We do know about the tight turns on the streets and have looked at the street and entrance to the TP on Google Earth. Would just like some idea of how much room there is and if it has open space - in other words trees and tree branches that make moving around more difficult. Thanks for any updates.

Had a good xmas week at the Oaxaca Trailer Park @ 150 pesos x 7 nights. Very friendly and secure place to stay and the location is great, 40 peso ($3 US) night time taxi from the Zocalo right up to our camper. A few one nighter cars and tenters came and went, but most of the time it was just us. No hot water, guy said the boiler was broken, and no wifi. Lucky for us, we've got our own wifi and hot water shower. Our big dog didn't enjoy the late night, early morning, week long celebratory explosions. But, like I told him, that's Mexico for you. Especially liked the Museo de Artes Contemporaneo and the very colorful Sunday market in Tlacolula.

Retraced our route to the well groomed Cholula/Puebla Trailer Park. Major road construction again made navigation a little difficult. Maybe that's why our Lance camper sits alone. Very clean and safe feeling park with hot water and wifi, 200 pesos a night. After a short walk to Plaza San Diego (Office Max and Colonel Cluck), you can catch a 6 peso bus to historic Cholula centro which offers a nice mix of indigenous markets and trendy shops, sidewalk cafes, rambunctious kids and hustling musicians.

After a couple more nights here we'll be heading for Patzcuaro. Planning to stay on 15d another 20 or 30 kms west of the Morelia interchange (missing the construction problems reported earlier) and drop down at Huaniqueo thru Trindaro and around the lake to Villas Patzcuaro RV Park. We spent a week there last spring and look forward to another visit.

We've seen only a few other gringo RV's (maybe five) from Melaque to Oaxaca and part way back. Ten years ago they were a common sight. Now, like buffalo, RV's in Mexico have become a curiosity.

Mex 15-D little spur to Morelia should be fine. But coming from the ocean is where the problems are. This leaves Zihuatanejo out in the cold. What a shame
Family just now told me army armored personnel carriers rolled through Las Penas with 4 military ambulances. Freakin FIGHTER JETS Cobra helicopters. There's gonna be a rumble in the jungle. The military is headed to the mountains. They're going to burn everything and arrest everone. Big meth labs are going to go boom, and opoum and marijuana fields are going to go up in flames. There's going to be a lot of ------off narcos in a few days

I think I'd bypass Patz, since the only way out, short of returning to Morelia, is by 2-lane that is pretty lonely a lot of the time. If you're in company, it's not so bad, but the traffic on the cut-off north to the toll road is almost non-existent. We've used that road numerous times in the past, but riding it in the bus back to PV, it was almost deserted. When we left Patz with our rig, we went to Morelia and did the bypass, which right now is not good either. Either way, your call. RYV