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UPDATE ON LOS PERROS
Sadly, Roscoe, a veteran of four long trips to Mexico, passed away peacefully during the summer of 2006. He was nearly 13 years old and his soul has been enshrined in our fond memories of him.
We also decided to sell the Eurovan and acquire a compact, pop-up truck camper on a Dodge 2500. The front seat has two bucket seats with a center bench seat. The middle seat has enough room for one dog, but not two. They have solved this problem by often riding "double stacked," as shown in the next photo.
Below: Milo and Pancho in the old bullring in Aguascalientes, March 2007
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Travel Adventures in Mexico with Dogs Milo and Roscoe regard it as their birthright to go everywhere with us, and it was no different when heading South of the Border for a six-week, 10,000 mile winter trek in our new Eurovan pop-up camper. Milo, an enthusiastic pup, is a black Standard Poodle. Roscoe, an elderly and gentlemanly Shar Pei, had been recently blinded by an unfortunate doggie eye affliction. So our trip preparation included practice at being Roscoe's "seeing-eye person." Roscoe quickly learned "up" and "down" for stairs and steps and how to maneuver in and out of the van with ease. We also obtained, as required, a veterinary health certificate for the boys, which no one inspected. Our intended itinerary was simple: From Oregon to Arizona, then over to and down the Pacific coast, with a return up through the interior highlands. At the Nogales border, after going through a maze of paperwork, we sped down a four-lane toll road through the Sonora desert with the air-conditioning going full blast, plus a small electric fan that we rigged up in the back to keep the pooches extra comfy. My husband, Bill, was ensconced firmly at the wheel, where he happily remained the rest of the trip. San Carlos, Alamos, Central Coast Our first major stop was San Carlos on the Sea of Cortez, an area of protected glass-smooth coves and inlets, sandy beaches, and craggy mountains as a backdrop. We camped by ourselves on a public beach. No thugs or cutthroats disturbed our sleep and the white sandy beach was beautiful, but it was sadly littered with garbage, a problem we found all over Mexico. Milo felt otherwise; one of his favorite pastimes is trolling for trash. After San Carlos, we drove inland to Alamos, a charming old colonial town. Once a large, prosperous mining town, it now has much smaller population but still contains many graceful, well-preserved buildings. We ate in a stylish restaurant with a large inner courtyard that we selected because of the sign in front that said (in Spanish), "dogs prohibited that are not on leashes." We inferred that our leashed pups were welcome, and they were.
Alamos Returning to the coast, we had difficulty finding accommodations that would take dogs. We had been forewarned about the shortage of dog friendly lodging in Mexico. Sleeping in the van was all right now and then, but not as a routine. Oddly, although hotels do not allow dogs, restaurants often do, so we took to boldly sauntering in with our darlings as though their unacceptability in restaurants was something that never crossed our minds. Puerta Vallarta We proceeded south to Sayulita, where we spent part of the day on the beach and enjoyed lunch at a beachfront palapa, and then to Puerto Vallarta, with a well-deserved reputation among vacationers. We found that maneuvering the pups was not easy on the crowded sidewalks and streets, so we did not stay long. Continuing our coastal drive, we chanced on Tenacatita, an undeveloped beach bum's palapa-and-hammock paradise a few hours south of Puerto Vallarta. It has two small beachfr Tenacatita Beach
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