With one more night before our highly anticipated stay in a condo for a few days, we decided to head to a place we had seen on iOverlander called Laguna Larga. It is a small recreational lake that allows you drive to the edge of the water to camp after 5pm, thus allowing day users of the lake more places to spread out blankets, etc.,. It sounded nice and peaceful.

We arrived at the lake to see a flagmen directing traffic and hundreds and hundreds of parked cars….”WOW, that is a lot of people”. Turns out the days before and after Christmas and New Year’s are some of the busiest tourist seasons in the area. Not exactly what we were hoping for, even if we had been able to find a decent spot to park.

Once again, we turned to the iOverlander app, this time finding a Swiss run restaurant that has two or three spaces for overlanders to camp in. It was a few hours away, and we didn’t know if he would have room for us, but it sounded okay and it was only slightly out of our way, so we fired up Seymour once again.

Charly’s Restaurant RV and Bungalows (check out the pictures on his website) turned out to be the kind of place that you dream of building in a country like Mexico. Charly, who has lived in the area for about 26 years, cleared the land of rocks himself. In their place he has built an amazing life. He planted every tree, flower and bush that is on his property and created a beautiful, separate cactus garden. He built a beautiful tile lined swimming pool, his home, an open air restaurant, a few cabins….he even has pizza and bread ovens on the property. And, he had space for us.

When we arrived at the restaurant for dinner we were invited to sit with Charly and his friend/ long-term guest Edouard, an older gentleman from Switzerland who spends his winters with Charly. We enjoyed a great meal and great company. Trading a crowded lake for an intimate meal and lively conversation turned our day into one we will remember for years to come.