After 4 weeks of beach vacation, of which we enjoyed every day and surprisingly never got bored, we leave our beautiful place in Lo de Marcos and drive along the sea to Puerto Vallarta. There we go to a campground near the city center. The town has a beautiful promenade lined with palm trees and here you can also watch a show by the valadores, the flying people. Five people in colorful costumes climb a 20-40m high mast. One of them sits on the top of the mast and begins to play a flute while the other four tie a rope around themselves and drop headfirst backwards, floating towards the earth in ever-increasing circles. A spectacle that can be seen in many Mexican cities.

At over 35 degrees and 80% humidity, the temperatures are higher than the average European can bear. Showering doesn't help, because 5 minutes later you're wet again. So strolling around the city is not really a pleasure.

The next morning we aim for more moderate temperatures and drive into the mountains. MOMO has to climb from sea level up to 1900m, but thankfully we are greeted by very pleasant weather with a cool wind. We make a stop and unpack our newly acquired Starlink to watch the Champions League final. While Inter Milan go down with flying colors against Paris, we use the time to lower the sauna temperatures from 35 degrees in the cabin to a bearable 25 degrees. We spend the night on a free pitch a little off the road at 1600m. At night it even drops to 14 degrees and we have to use the blankets for the first time in a long time.

We continue on to Tequila. In the capital of the famous Mexican drink, the name says it all and one distillery follows the next. We go to a campground with tequila production and in the afternoon we plunge into the pleasure of sightseeing in the city. It's Sunday and there are tours on offer everywhere and one liquor store after another. A little off the beaten track in the side streets, there are lovely courtyards and gardens, some of which are real gems. Although it is a good 30 degrees, the humidity is pleasantly low at 30% so that the stroll through the city is quite bearable and we are only back at our place after dark.

We stay another day, lie in the shade and cool off in the pool from time to time. In the evening, we go on a tequila tour with Jose and he shows us his estate and the production process. Afterwards, of course, there is an obligatory tasting of 4 varieties, with the result that tequila will probably not become our favorite drink.

We avoid the 5 million Megacity of Guadalajara and head for Udo's farm. Udo has lived in Mexico for more than 30 years and leased the farm a few months ago and is currently establishing egg production. There are also a few pitches for motorhomes and we enjoy the peace and quiet with a view of the lake.

After a shopping stop and a stroll through the town of Chapala, we continue to Santa Elena near Antotonilco to Charly, a Swiss man who has been running a gourmet restaurant here for many years and also offers a few RV sites. We were here 9 years ago when we came through Mexico from South and Central America. The place is really nice for relaxing, having a drink in or by the pool from time to time and enjoying European cuisine again. We take the public bus to Antotonilco and take a stroll through the town. The city doesn't have much to offer, but the ride on the very outdated bus alone was worth it. We sat directly above the rear axle and, thanks to the broken or rather non-existent shock absorbers, were able to greet every pothole - and there are plenty of them - personally.

After ten relaxing days, we travel to Guanajuato. The centuries-old silver city is an urban jewel and a protected World Heritage Site.  The narrow cobbled streets take us up and down through the hilly urban landscape, which requires a certain level of fitness. The former indigenous settlement was conquered by the Spanish in 1529 and was considered Spain's treasure trove from the 16th to the 19th century, with the most productive silver mines in the world. But one man's happiness was another man's sorrow. Mestizos and indigenous people had to work in the mines under extremely harsh conditions and rarely lived past the age of 35. Some of the alleyways are so narrow that you can kiss from balcony to balcony, which is probably quite good for marketing. The Caje de Besos (kissing alley) is therefore impossible to miss. However, you have to queue before you can get there.

Not far from Guanajuato is San Miguel de Allende, once an important hub between Mexico City and the silver mines of the north. Today it is a center for art and tourism and was declared a historical monument in 1926. Due to the mild climate at 1900 meters, many Americans have chosen the city as a retirement home or winter quarters. The center is small and manageable and everything is within easy walking distance. Unfortunately, the town is now one of the most expensive in the country. We spent over a week here in 2016 and still remember where we ate delicious food and drank the best pisco sour. And indeed, the Peruvian restaurant is still there and the food is just as good as it was 9 years ago.

MOMO needs another oil change and a few small service jobs, which we have done at Euro Latino Car Racing in the industrial area of San Miguel. We can also stay there overnight on the premises and from there we can easily take the bus into the city and go for a long stroll around town. Unfortunately, the rainy season started a few weeks ago. At the beginning there were usually a few local showers at night, but now it is slowly raining several times a day and the forecast for the next two weeks is not really motivating.

Lately, we've been feeling more and more travel fatigue, partly because we've already seen a lot of things on our last trip in 2016 and lack the excitement of something new. In the end, we decide to turn off towards the USA in order to be closer to a possible shipment from Baltimore or Halifax to Europe.

800 kilometers and three days later we are in Laredo at the border to the USA. At first we had chosen a small border crossing without truck traffic. But when we got there, the clearance height was unfortunately limited to 3.50 meters. So we had to take a 150 kilometer detour and then crossed the Columbia Bridge near Laredo. To make matters worse, we somehow ended up in the truck lane and couldn't get out of there. In the end, we were escorted to the right checkpoint where we got our stamps. But all the border officials were nice, friendly and helpful. Instead of 12 noon as originally planned, it was 17:00 by the time we were in the USA. We went to the Texas Steakhouse for refreshments before heading for a nice state park on the outskirts of Laredo. As usual, everything here is “BIG”. It's 2.5 kilometers from the park entrance to the campground alone. That's enough for us today, but we can't think about sleeping until 23:00. Only then do the temperatures drop below 30 degrees. Now we've escaped the rain in Mexico and ended up in the oven instead. During the day it's 38 degrees, at night it drops to 26. As always, you'll find out what happens in the USA in the next blog.