Corona introduces a new can on the beach in Xpu-Ha

Today the Corona commercial shoot moved down the beach right next to Esencia Hotel.
For the introduction of their new can design the bottle guys made special bottles with a can inside.
The story line is a bottle floats to shore and is picked up by a guy walking down the beach.
He picks it up and looks at it and wonders where it came from.



Here is the crew taking the shot. The prop man drops the bottle into the surf, for the actor to find. Here is the actual Commercial: New Can

Then they move over to the restaurant by Bonanza next to our camp for a photo shot of their new Tequila & Corona.

Then on Friday morning they moved into the little restaurant to shoot a scene from inside looking out with actors who look like they are setting up the restaurant for a Corona party. Peggy and I were in one corner near the bar and no one chased us out. So I got a few pictures while they filmed.


We fly out on a direct flight home from Cancun on Saturday morning for the holidays. We have 4 married children and 12 grandchildren and will have a big celebration. We then fly back to Xpu-Ha on New Year's Eve.

Corona arrived Tuesday for a 4 day commercial shoot.

Corona shoots all their commercials on Xpu-Ha beach. This year they are way down the end past the Esencia Hotel. Here is my Last Year’s Blog about their shoot with links to the actual commercials.

Here are the story boards and actors for this year. They are shooting 3 commercials at this location and one back at last year’s location.  Click any picture for a bigger view.

Peggy on the beach by the shoot. The actors are resting in the shade awaiting their call.

The real star is of course the beer. The bottles and the cans.

There are two guys whose job is to prepare the bottles with simulated foam on top. Simulated icy sweat on the outside of the bottles.

They are introducing a new can design this year.

Last minute makeup

Now get those extras walking down the beach.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll get some action shots.

Weather has been great this year

For the past week the weather has been dry and cool. High’s about 78^oF with lows about 58. Great sleeping.
No seaweed has been coming in to shore and the beaches seem extra wide.

I guess some of the beach goers are thinking of Christmas, see the nice little snowman.

A new sign for the restaurant next to us.

Peggy trying out the bar swings at the small bar at Bonanza next door. This is where they filmed last year’s Corona commercial.

Here is a shot of the beach just past Catalonia, the only big hotel on our beach.

Our friend Richard fly fishing, he likes to catch Bonefish.

The only place with any seaweed is the abandoned resort at the end of the beach where Peggy and I like to hang out.

Remember this graffiti from 2 years ago? It’s a little faded now. Click it for a bigger picture

Xpu-Ha nice weather, relaxing with friends

There is not much going on here and we have not traveled around in the area a lot like Gerry & Brenda. Read their BLOG and find out what there is to do in the area, they have lots of nice pictures.

The weather the first week was warm 85^oF but cloudy & windy. The kite boarders had lots of fun.

On Friday, seven of us went to Pizza Leos for his good Mexican pizza which has everything on it including spinach & jalapeno peppers.

It was Guadalupe week so all the kids kept stopping by and singing songs for some pesos.

We really only had rain on two evenings while we slept. The temperature cooled down to the mid-70’s, with lows about 67. But finally on Saturday the winds died down giving me a chance to have a 1 hr. paddle each way to the big cenote near Puerto Aventuras.

On Sunday the water was dead calm, so off I go again in my kayak.

This time to the beach next to the condos in Puerto Aventuras

From here it’s about a 100 yard walk to the pools where they do their dolphin show. I took about a one hour rest before I paddled back to Xpu-Ha.

Today there is a chance a fiberglass boat repair guy may come over to repair my RV bumper that I damaged on my way here.

Checking out all the changes at Xpu-Ha La Playa

We haven’t got our sleep cycle adjusted yet to Central Standard time. It has been a two hour change from when we left Cleveland.

Our early morning walk on the beach found the workers picking up seaweed as usual.

Of course our little rest stop under the palapas at the end of the beach is still there but we could find any good seats to rest on yet.

There was one lone Pelican.

There was a new structure at Esencia, the small boutique hotel, right on the beach.

The old water tower, bathrooms and two story beach structure that was between our camp and the beach has been leveled..

Top view from camp, bottom view from beach

Nicole & Stephan built a large palapa to cover their fifth wheel, making this the third big palapa in our camp. It’s starting to look like Paamul. Rob & Shirley’s little Sprinter RV on the right.

We heard that all summer long lots of Germans were passing through on their way to Central & South America. They have big military looking rigs and usually only stay for a short time.

A Little Fog–Wrong Turn–Bad Day

We left Catemaco early in a light rain and fog. The traffic was light. But getting on the cuota at Acayucan is a little confusing. Once before I took the wrong ramp. So this time we see the sign that says turn left for Villahermosa, so I do. But, in the fog I turned too soon. I’m driving down the out ramp not the in ramp. So I need to make a U-turn but there are 3 young Mexicans that tried to direct me.

I didn’t see the low guardrail while backing up, BANG, I hit the corner of my bumper, and the guardrail was so low that when I pulled forward it caught onto the bumper and pulled the corner of the fiberglass bumper out from the RV and also broke one tail light.  But, I finally got turned around and even with their help managed to do a minor ding on the left hand bumper.

We made it out OK and into the correct turning lane which was about 50’ further down the highway. I guess when we get to our winter destination at Xpu-Ha we will need to have some fiberglass repair work done.

The roads were a little better this year but there were three long traffic tie ups. One near Minatitlan which was just a rough section of pavement that took 20 minutes because of all the heavy truck traffic. Another long delay was just before Villahermosa. They are building a new freeway interchange. I can’t see why it was so slow, no lanes were missing. The third delay was at the toll booth just East of Villahermosa. I’ll bet we lost a total of an hour but we still made it to our planned destination by 4:45PM. It was a long tough day’s drive.

The restaurant, Campestre Rest Bar-Familiar Maya, is 52 KM past Escarcega. It is back in the trees next to a lake and if you eat there you can camp for free. The fauna are Peacocks that roam freely around the grounds. This year the place looked closed and workman were putting up Christmas lights. We were the only ones eating there this evening. They had no shrimp so we ordered a breaded filet of fish dinner. The filet covered the entire plate with barely enough room for a small salad. Peggy could only eat half, it actually was pretty good.

On Saturday we woke up to clear skies and plenty of sun. We stopped to fill our Propane tank and do some grocery shopping in Tulum. We still got to our campground by 1PM. Our camp spot between Dierck and Carol was still available, so right in we went.

We now need a good rest and will see the beach on Sunday morning.

Thanksgiving at Catemaco

View of the church from the town fishing dock.

We got here on Monday and it was very hot & sunny, with temperatures reaching into the 90’s^o F. A big cool down came in on Tuesday and it threatened to rain but turned out dry, so we walked all over town. On Wednesday it was even cooler and it lightly rained on and off most of the day so we got in a lot of reading. The Low Thursday morning was 60^o  and black clouds were around but no rain. The sun came out and it warmed to the low 70’s.

Gene’s annual potluck Thanksgiving dinner was another big success even though there were not many campers here this year.

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Friday's Driving Plans

Catemaco Veracruz–Beautiful Mountain Lake

It’s about a 5-6 hour drive from the Emerald Coast to Catemaco. The roads are improving every year but it is taking them years to build the bridges on MX180 near Veracruz.

We did some grocery shopping at the Soriana Super Market in San Andrés Tuxtla since it is easy to get in and out of their parking lot.

When you get to Catemaco, stay on MX180 don’t go into town. Right after a big Pemex you will see their sign, they are right down this side road second camp gate for RV’s.

Our little Phoenix Cruiser looks small compared the this big Class A from Mexico. We are the only two campers here and the owner. Gene Gaudi, is preparing a big Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday.

The pools are set to go for the winter guests.

They also have some nice cabins for monthly or seasonal rental.

The lake is popular for taking boat rides and seeing the monkeys on one island.

One block off the Malecon and 4 blocks from the campground, we found this little local restaurant with good food at a reasonable price. Peggy had a shrimp dinner and I had filet of fish Veracruzan style, tomatoes & onions with spices. We each had a Corona and the total price with the tip was only $15 USD.