RCPM Back in Town!!!!

I have not been following Roger and the gang as much this year.....but about this time I can feel a party and they have not disappointed me. Once again we get to enjoy a small show with Roger, and the guys in the best place to really see them.....MEXICO. If you got a chance to see the fun from last year on the blog you know this is always a blast. I hope that all of the gang can make it....and maybe a couple new faces (Jones you know who you are).

So pack a "tooth brush and a razor you probably will never use" and lets go!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Arizona and Puerto Penasco must be an oddity to all of those who live in the any other place....except maybe Florida. Where else can one have a Thanksgiving with 70 degrees at 10:00 in the morning and a high of 76? The above shot is of our thermometer in the house Thanksgiving day....a nice 72 degrees.

This was our first Thanksgiving at the house and it was very relaxing. It was very much a gringo dinner, with a little Cuban meat stuffing to add some flair. My dad did make up a mixture of mashed squash and potato that was great, and the turkey was good as always. Lourdes cooks the bird in one of the oven bags and it does help to keep the meat moist. It was a simple table, with a few good wines to make the day. The beach was nice and warm with the water a little too cool for my taste, but there were some out playing in the calm water that day.






Friday per the weather report was to be a great day so we planned to pack a lunch, some beer and drinks and go over to the beach by El Golfo. If you recall, Chris and I took the trek over there in the summer and my Dad had been wanting to look for shells there for some time. We know of a few beach zones along this stretch that have great shells from sand dollars, to translucent pink shells, to very large clam shells. The day was great. We aired down the tires on the truck and hit the beach. After about a hour and a half we pulled out out chairs and turned on the truck radio and enjoyed a cold beverage. I went back out to look for a few more shells and when I got back to the truck I discovered I had left the lights on and the truck battery was dead. We waited about 30 mins for another truck to come by (a couple of jeeps passed by us an hour before), and to double our chances I walked up to the main road cut to see if I could see anyone. Just when I got to where I could see the main dirt road a group of ATV's and a Ranger were approaching. They gave me a ride back, a jump for the truck, and a couple shots of tequila. Like most I meet in situations like this they were open and willing to help and relished at the chance to help and meet us.








After a few cold beers with our new friends they took off to El Golfo for other adventures we decided to take the beach farther southeast. There was another shell spot to try and it was getting to be about 3:00. I was off by the cliff bank when kids and my wife started yelling for me to come take a look in the tide pool.....the discovery was a once in a lifetime. What they had found was a live humbodlt squid about 4 feet long. We took large shells full of water and poured them on him to keep him wet (I say him, but who knows) and as we poured the water it would change and flash colors or gray and blue; just wild.











After a few minutes I decided we needed to see if we could give it a fighting chance...so I pulled it by the front wings into deeper water. It was heaver then I thought it would be with a texture like a sting ray....it was a little creepy. This was one of the coolest things we have ever seen on beach and made for a great trip.

Sea Turtles

The Sea or Cortez is a glorious place. Last year I think I noted that sea turtles had hatched on our beach (maybe I forgot to blog on this who knows). They hatched again back on Halloween week end. The attached photos are from our association web site.....what a very cool site to see, just 200 yards or so down the beach from our house....but I missed it again. Still very cool to know they are there.....

Blog, blog, blog

Blogging is an interesting, self fulfilling thing. I started this blog as I liked to read accounts of other peoples experiences of living in Mexico and I thought I could contribute. But is harder then you think to stay on task when you do not live full time in the place you write about. Many of the blogs I read talk about great, simple local events and how their lives in their new country has fulfilled their need to escape the US rat race. My blog is not like that.....I find my self writing about paint, rust, paying bills, and then the great weekends we get to decompress and enjoy the fruits of our labor. I do not know how interesting that really is? I have never added a counter to this thing so I just do not know how many visit; but for those that do...thanks and hang in there as I hope I can add some additional color, experiences, and fun.

Banks suck everywhere.....

As some know, one does not own property on the beach in Mexico if you are not from Mexico. To allow all of the foreigners to have the "rights" to the homes and land, we all enter in a "bank trust" agreement with a Mexican bank. We have "owned" the house now for two years or so, and we have had a hell of a time paying our bank trust....it is like they do not want us to pay it. I thought it was just Mexico, but this blog entry makes me think that there is more to it. They want to force us to be late....or not pay them on time....it is part of the bank's plan (banks suck all over the world I guess), to get late fee's, etc out of you. And unlike in the US where you get a reminder notice for a bill....that does not happen in Mexico. You get nothing. You have to know when it is due and go pay; that is the same for your taxes, as well as phone bill, etc. In order to get this cleared up we sent a good friend of ours to the bank in Hermosillo. Her mother lives there and went to the bank directly for us. She found the guy we had been dealing with and had to wait for him, and got it paid....this article at least proves that we are not the only ones suffering with these tactics.

http://mexicomyspace.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-to-pay-your-annual-trust


Next year we are going to have to just pay it in person. It would have been great if the bank we had the trust with had a branch in town....but noooo.

Just one of the fun experiences one gets in having a house in a foreign country.

Food

One thing we have not been as good about is trying new things. We tend to stick to the things we know and love. I love Mexican food, and for the most part find the common "stuff" in the typical Phoenix restaurant old and boring. That brings me to a recommendation; I really like this web site about Puerto Penasco. http://rptides.blogspot.com/


They talk about food as well as local stuff....a good mix. I hope they keep it up because as things start to pick up again down here they could be the "go to" site. They have a new post almost every day, and with timely information....not a sales pitch for a condo, etc. But back to food......


There are so many good Mexican dishes that I have not tried....I need to have that be a resolution to get out, eat some street vendor items and risk my colon....explore not only the beach but new flavors. Via Mexico!!!

Rust....stop the maddness

Every time we are at the house I marvel and curse at the same time how fast the salt air effects everything. From every steel or nickel screws that are now solid rust, to the oxidation on exposed aluminum parts, to our stainless steel barbecue grill......all of which show signs of what the sea air can really do. Take a look at these latest shots of our poor barbecue grill on our patio. We keep a cover on the grill, which I thought would help, but maybe it just traps the moisture? If anyone has a better solution please let me know but this thing will be a pile of rust in two more years.

Look how the rust line on the grill is at the same place that the vinyl cover stops....strange.

Just Lourdes and Vince

We have had a couple trips to the house in October; one with Parmiters and the Yarringtons and then one with just my wife and I.

Lourdes and I had not been to the house alone for over a year so we planned a trip for just she and I during her fall break from work. The weather here as been strange....one day in the 80's the next near the 100's. For the week end of our trip Phoenix was having record heat so we were looking forward to a little cooler temps at the beach, a good week end to swim in the ocean, and just some time together. We took some of the basics but not overkill as we had just been to the house the prior week end. We cooked cheese crisps with fried chicken (really good!!) and eggs and bacon each day....easy.

We got a chance to watch a couple of movies, enjoy the beach, read a book and just chill. Lourdes slept in, I got a chance to take an hour walk on the beach each day....perfect. Here are a couple shots I took that week end.

Bored?

This economy finds me bored and tired. Cold calls and writing proposals for jobs you have no clear cut idea you will get all leads one to be disenchanted and distracted. I check the weather report in Mexico every day and think how nice it would be to sleep with all of the windows open this time of year......Then I check the calender again for my next vacation. This is not me! I am a driver, a pusher, get it done kind of guy....

Dreams are what built this house, and that is what will get me through this stage. One must look to the horizon; check for squalls; read a good book.....and wait for the storm to pass?

Painting and other tales

When we had the house built one of the issues that I really should have paid a lot more attention to was the paint job on the house. Needless to say, the house is less then two years old and it could use a paint job in some places. We have come to find from a person who watched the house being built that they did not power wash the house before they painted it. That combined with poor paint quality you get a house that has peeling paint after 16 months. We know that painting the house was going to be an on going issue over time. The simple paint scheme for the house was chosen for this very reason...to make the repainting of the house as easy as possible.

We talked to Victor about a month ago and we cut a deal with him to repaint half of the house now (the south side facing the ocean as well as the west face), and then paint the other half in May or June. His plan is to power wash the house, prime the bad areas, and paint the house with a high quality paint.

We were down at the house this last week end and we needed to get the paint. At first I thought about bringing the paint from home, but we decided to get the paint down there; one to help the economy there, and two so we would have a local source for the color if we needed more paint. We chose a top of the line Sherwin Williams paint with a low gloss. The paint on the house now is almost a flat finish which I think helped contribute to the low durability. Our hope is that we can get this done now and we can buy us about three years before we need to do this again.

On another topic, with all the debate about medical expenses in the US this may be of interest. We thought we would stop by one of the larger pharmacies to see if we could fill one of the inhalers for Lourdes. Basic albuteral (sp?). They ended up being $4.00 each......a great deal. So we check on Allegra (sp?)....$22 for 10 tablets..not a good deal. We checked a couple other items and it is my opinion, like most things in life one needs to shop around, but all in all if one had to get your drugs in a pharmacy in Mexico I think it would cost you the same on average as it would in the states.....just my opinion.

As far as our stay at our house that week end.......like most weekends at the beach it did not suck. Many times the memorable things we do on a trip are common item like those of this past week end; going to the paint store and watching them mix the color not with a computer, but the old fashion way with ones eye, and experience. Going to the pharmacy. Buying great mango's (why we can not get the same quality mango's in Phoenix is just crazy)....these simple things can be fun to experience in a foreign place and one of the good reasons to have a house in Mexico; a chance to slow down; oh... and the beach is there as a great amenity.

August.....I guess we had to go.

As I had reminisced about in my last blog entry, August has traditionally been a good time for a trip. My week sucked so with a quick text and a call to Chris, we turned a happy hour on a Friday to a run down to the house for the weekend. As Chris said, "happy hour in a third world cantina sounded better then one here in Phoenix". We then called Darren. I first got his voice mail so I called his wife. She said he had had a very crappy two weeks and he needed a break..........so with his hall pass all set, we were off.

We got out of Phoenix and to the house by about 9:30-10:00. We unpacked and made a trip down to the beach in the dark. It was a very dark night that made the sky feel even closer. As Darren walked out through the tide pool he noticed that with each step there was a green glow. He called us over to confirm that what he was seeing was not alcohol induced, which it was not...at least at this stage. It was one of the coolest experiences ever on the beach. The water in this tide pool was bio-luminescent and with each step and splash it looked like green glow stick splatter. The splatter would not last but a second or two, but you could kick a portion of this tide pool water up onto the sand and it would still glow. We played like school kids in the ocean for about 45 min and until the two beers each we had in our pockets were gone.

The auto generator start worked perfect and I slept great. The next morning was nice....very quiet. As like our last trip there was no one on the beach. We had a great breakfast with eggs, hash browns and some of the great green chilies that Darren packed. We packed up the ATV and spent about 2 hours at the beach. The ocean was nice...warm, but still refreshing.

The evening was great. We hit the Boo Bar, as well as the Blue Marlin for some tacos, then a quick run out to the Reef to see the new beach bar set up. Again, no body was there except for one couple in some of the lounge furniture with techno music blaring. Not our scene. We then made our way to Capone's and had a few beers there, talking to anyone who would listen and basically having a good time. From there we tried Manny's.....same deal...dead. We were told by the bar tender at the Boo Bar earlier that evening that he had expected a good crowd later that night so we went back. There was a good crowd of ex-patriots, American locals, etc. that made for an entertaining evening of talking, and basic BS. Good times.

The drive back was good.....the border was just like town....no one in line. We made our way home with another August trip under our belt. Sounds like a tradition is taking form.

Memories?

I was thinking about Mexico today and the fun we always had in August. I had thought that I had started the blog last summer....but in fact it was just December. Funny thing the mind.....You do something for 9 months and you think you have done it forever.

Last August before school got started for the boys we ran down and enjoyed a weekend....I wish I could leave right now.

On that August trip we found some crab traps in the tide depressions in front of the house. The traps still have a few live crabs in them...good size ones as well. This was the first time the John and Shane came down to the house.

The August before the house was not done yet, but Chris and I came down and spent one afternoon just sitting in the tide pool, drinking beer, taking about old times. That afternoon, we made it about 1/2 way on the El Golfo highway. The new road was not quite done, but we thought we could make it all the way over there.....we had enough gas, but not enough beer for the trip...so we came back to town and eat tacos and enjoyed the malacon.

The August before that year, Chris, Darrin and I made the trip.....we had a great time. Town was slow as it normally is that time of year. We eat at Flavio's and drank cheap tequila...needless to say I did not have clams for some time after that trip.

It is August again.....what shall I do with my self?

Finaly Back!

I had been about 45 days since our last trip to the beach. Too long for me, but baseball and other summer things had kept us away. This time of year is for the tough....with temperatures close to 100 degrees and the humidity about double that of Phoenix only those who love this place and or who need to be in RP are there. We arrived on Thursday not knowing what day type we would have. It started with a call to our house in Phoenix @ 6:30 am (as Lourdes said, one never gets good news at 6:30 in the morning) It was Yolanda telling us that we did not have any power at the house. She said she would clean the house the best she could, but she wanted to warn us before we got to the house. With that news, we prepared to stay in a hotel if needed, but we had to go the house first and see what was really up.

Gin and tonic....and a little sun screen spell summer on the beach.

We were able to get out of the Phoenix by 3:30 or so, and arrived at the house right at 7:30pm. The house power was not on, but the batteries did have a charge. With a reset of the inverter, we were back on line. We had to clean out the refrigerator, but the generator started and we had air-conditioning. That evening was nice with a great breeze that helped keep the main room of the house cool. Due to the power usage, we typically air-condition the bedrooms, but not the main room of the house. Once we get city power (more on that later), we can then run the three ton AC unit for main area of the house.....maybe next summer. Matthew and his close friend Shane came with us, and they settled in for some PlayStation while Lourdes watched a movie and I sat on the patio enjoying the night. I slept like a log....I did not worry about the generator not running or anything.

Some high tides you feel like you are living on an island

The next morning I made a pot of coffee and really enjoyed the quiet on the patio. We still had some cloud cover and it had the morning even better. I read for about 45 min. and then did a few odd jobs around the house and then took about an hour ride on the ATV. The tide during this stay at the beach was very high; one of the highest of the year. The water was so high that the low road to the north of our house was flooded. It was fun to just ride around and check out some of the areas close to the house. There may have been 20 people total in Playa Encanto that morning....no one on the beach, and just workers doing odd repairs on people's homes. We finally got going around 12:00....Gerry came by to check on the power situation. We could not set the auto start on the generator so we drank two beers and decided we would tackle it the next morning.





The beach was good. I loaded up the ATV with all our beach gear and we spent the about three hours on the beach. Not a single person on the beach. I got a little too much sun. It was so humid you are in the water a lot, and that combined with the humidity I should have re-applied the sun block one more time. We got back to the house, took a quick shower, and made a trip to town. We stopped at the fish market for some shrimp, a quick drink at the Boo Bar, another stop for fireworks (one can not take Shane to Mexico without allowing him the ability to blow something up) and then it was back to the house. The evening had less wind then the prior night with almost no breeze until around 8:00 pm. We got hot and fired up the main room air-conditioner and watched some TV and then off to bed.

A couple of drinks at the Boo Bar never hurt anyone.

The next day, Gerry and Steve were at the house at 8:30 to work on the auto start issue. With a little investigation we found that the generator battery had so much corrosion on the terminals that the control wires that we had hooked up to the battery were corroded through. We got that all cleaned up, and with a couple of test runs we had it all set. The boys did not get up until 10:30 - 11:00 and after getting something to eat, we made our way to the beach around 1:00 for a nice day. I put my chair in the ocean and relaxed. Lourdes was hot and stayed in the house with the fan and a cool drink.


At around 6:00 that night I noticed a black mass about 300 yards off shore. I got the binoculars and confirmed what I thought...which was a dead whale. You could see a slick around the animal about 50 feet past the animal as the whale bobbed up and down in the swell. I did not want this thing coming ashore in front of the house. We went up to the guard house and let them know as well. By the look on his face he did not want it to land on our beach either (he and the other guards would have been stuck cleaning up that mess I am sure). The tide changed as the evening wore on and we lost sight of the whale as the the sun set. The next next morning we had no whale on the beach (thank god) and the animal was no where in sight.

The Heat Is On

Summer in Mexico can be a great time.....the water is warm and the beer is cold. This summer like the last few for us has been consumed by baseball, but we will get there before school starts I am sure. For our house, like all of those in Playa Encanto, we run on solar power and a generator, so the summer adds an level of stress on the overall system. One would think that summer would be the best time to generate solar power; the sun is always out and and you have have the long hot days. The reality is that the summer is the toughest time. Heat actually diminishes the rating on the solar panels so one creates less power as the temp goes up. Add to that the added load of the refrigerator, and all of the fans running, and the generator is needed. The generator on the house can run all four of the bed room air-conditioning units, but it can not run those for the remainder of the house at the same time....put power is coming to our small community. We had thought that by this summer we would have "city" power, but it is Mexico and that has been delayed. It is close to being a reality with most of the infrastructure installed. I had hoped that it could be done by labor day...but who knows. What we do know is that by this next summer season we can enjoy not having to worry about making power; Instead we can worry about being able to pay the high Mexico utility rates.

No Photos of Me

I was going through some old posts and I noticed that there is not one photo of me.....which I need to fix in the future. For now, here is one from October at the RCMP show and one from this last June......and a goooood shot of my feet. I could be in flip flops all the time if life was fair.

Sorry for no new posts

Life has been busy the past few weeks. We had a great trip back on June 5th that I have photos of El Golfo, etc....but that takes time that I just have not had. Business has picked up the past couple of weeks; which is great news. I just now need to convert the talk to real projects which I think could happen this week. Additionally as the last blog noted, we are in the summer baseball thing which takes up about 4 to 5 nights a week. Stay tuned for a good update on access to the El Gulfo Beach, and other cool stuff.

June Trip.....before the summer of All Star Baseball really begins

Jack, Linda and the girls

The end of May the first of June is one of the greatest times to be in Rocky Point. The weather is usually great with warm days and cool nights. The water in the sea is warm but still refreshing. This June was no exception...but even better then most from my memory. If you have not noticed, this June (and still today and I write this blog) has been the coolest June since like 1913, and our trip down on June 4 took full advantage of this great weather.

For this trip we had along Chris and his girls, but also Jack and Linda his parents. It was wonderful getting a chance to take them down to see the house and enjoy the beach with us. Jack and Linda were a large influence on the way I viewed Mexico and this part of the world. As I have written before, I had been to Puerto Penasco back in my ASU days, but the beach was crowded and was limited.... as back then we loved driving fast on the beach. I was longing for a more remote place to see, live and taste the real Mexico. Jack and Linda and their son Chris invited me to a place called "El Golfo" and since that first trip my world view changed. I fell in love with that place, the beach , the tide, the challenge of camping 30 miles from town, and the aura of "Mexico" that still excites me today as soon as I cross that boarder. As time moved on camping on the beach was not as "cool" as when you are in your 20's and we rediscovered Puerto Penasco.....but I still thank Jack and Linda for stoking my love of Mexico with those trips we had over the years to El Golfo.

Speaking of El Golfo, as I had written in a prior blog entry, my dad had taken the new El Golfo highway back in late April. He had noted some access points down to the beach that Chris and I had to go take a look at. The highway basically follows the ocean, and as the road makes it big turn past the estuary and heads west, you can see the old salt flat and salt mining buildings off to your left. At this point there is a dirt road that leads down to the salt flat and works its way to the beach; right to our old stomping grounds. At this location, there is a big sand dune bowl. A place that Chris knows very well as his jeep was never the same after a jump he made at this same spot. Also, this zone of the beach has great shells. We picked up a bunch of sand dollars, and pink shells. He hung out there for about an hour and then headed back. On our way back to the access road while we were on the beach we could see two ATV's stopped in front of us. As we got closer we discovered that they were four federal officers. They stopped us and looked in the truck. No big deal; in fact we were glad to see them as this area had been a spot for drug drops in the past, and I am sure they are keeping a close eye on this area of the beach due to the road access to the new highway. We plan to go back soon and stay a little longer...but not overnight like we used to do.

Great road side signs on the highway

Chris's Truck (sand sled) on the beach

View North West toward the cliffs

The next day was another great day in Mexico. Chris and I took the sea kayaks out for about an hour and enjoyed the flat water and a little work out. We hung out on the beach until 2:30 and then hit town for shrimp and drinks. Chris went over to the fish market an picked up some shrimp for our dinner that night....Lourdes and I hit the Thirsty Parrot for a mango tango and a margarita. When Chris got there with his parents we drank two more and enjoyed the great view from the deck and the new palapa shade huts they added since our last stop at this establishment. The breeze was perfect. That night we cooked up the shrimp and enjoyed the evening.

View from the Thirsty Parrot Patio....very nice.

Sunday was a blur. Chris had to get back so they packed up early. We stayed until about 2:00. I got a chance to sit on the patio in the quiet and read and just decompress. I then did a couple of preventative maintenance jobs around the house, lubricating sliding doors, spraying for bugs......the normal stuff. We had talked to the neighbor about rust proofing as we have a number of things outside that are just a year old that look like they are five years old. He said he sprays WD40 on everything, so I thought I would try that on the air conditioner cabinets, light switches, etc. I also washed down the ATV and then sprayed WD40 on the exposed parts on the bike as well. I hope that this will slow down the inevitable.


The trip back was good. We had planned for a long wait at the boarder but that did not come to pass. In years past, a RCPM week end would have equaled a hour and half wait but with the economy the way it is that has not been the case at all this season. Good for us.....bad for the business owners. All in all a great trip. Thanks again to Jack, Linda, Chris and the girls for the good time. We hope you can come back often.

Baseball, Baseball, Baseball

This has been my life for the last year, and it looks like it will be this way at least until the middle of summer....and who knows, maybe into August if the boys can live up to there potential. For those who do not know, Matthew has been playing for the local little league for about three years. The team he was on when he was 10 came in second at the state championship, and they (maybe I should say we) have been wanting to make it back ever since. Now he is 12, and for little league this is it. We have two of our leading pitchers back to make a run again. For Matt's part, he has grown into a starting pitcher himself. He does not throw as hard as some, but he has good location and a couple of off speed pitches that when he is "on" he is difficult to beat. But to get to this point has been a lot of hard work. We have played for two other teams; both travel teams to face tougher competition, playing in a number of tournaments including the Winter Nationals. All with the hope that his god given athletic ability and skill along with hard work will allow him to really contribute come this summer......which is now here.

As one travels in Mexico you will see a baseball field in almost every town....from our small town of Puerto Penasco, to Hermosillo, Guaymas, Sonoyta, etc. These appear to be minor league teams with all of the players trying to reach that same lofty goal as mine; to play in the major leagues in the USA. One of the blogs I follow writes about a day at a game in Guaymas.

http://http://brendandroygoingtomexico.blogspot.com/

I really need to check the game schedules for a game in Puerto Penasco. I think it would be good fun that would need no translation.

Swine Flu

The Swine Flu is making a real impact on my life the past few days. Believe what you want, I think that most of this is panic, but how the world reacts has implications. My wife and I had a cruise planned out of Long Beach to the Mexican Rivera for next week....now that is off as the cruise lines have canceled trips to all Mexican ports. We have been really looking forward to the trip to get away but now that is off.....but that got me thinking about Rocky Point, and other places in Mexico and the impact of all of this hype. I guess I was not the only one who had this on their mind as on the front page of the business section in the Arizona Republic today has an article about the economic impact this issue and the overall fear of violence is having on our small city; Business is off by more the 40% since the Swine Flu announcements. The piece goes on to quote one vendor who only had one sale all day as there are no "gringos" as the vendors out number the tourists 10 to 1. Very tough times.......



To get a better view of how real people in Mexico feel about the flu "pandemic" we talked a couple days ago to Yolanda. For those who know, she and her husband Victor help to take care of our house and we talk to them about twice a month. They have lived in Puerto Penasco for many years now originally from Durango, Mexico. Yolanda and Victor are scared of this flu. According to her, the locals are staying home and only going out as needed....real fear appears to be hitting this small town. If that is the case in RP, just imagine what the poor are feeling in places much closer to Mexico City. According to the news today, the small town north of Mexico City that was the start of the virus had 60% of the population sick. That kind of news appears to have spread to the entire country and is making everyone in Mexico nervous. I am not sure if other bloggers read my little blog, but I would love to know how other Mexican families are dealing with these issues.

El Golfo Road Update

I did a little digging as to the highway route and I found these two crude maps.....but they both confirm the route. Once the highway gets past the estuary, it turns and follows the ocean! Very cool. I hope to make this trip very soon. Check out the attached link.....

http://gulfofsantaclara.com/coastal-highway.php

New Places to Explore!!!

As many of you know, exploring when one is in Mexico is part of the fun. I have not done much of that lately, but my Mom and Dad were down this last week and had some time. They took the new El Golfo highway over to Santa Clara as my dad was hoping that he could turn off and run down to our old stomping ground. In my minds eye I thought the new highway would run parallel to the railroad tracks and at the old salt depot ( I think on the old map I had it was called El Tornial (spelling ???)) turn off toward the ocean and you would be there. Well....as my dad describes it, the highway turns west and the tracks are on the east of the road with the highway running very close to the ocean......and very close to the cliffs near our old camp ground. He said that at about kilometer marker 73 there were trails right down to the beach. I have not confirmed yet if one can get a vehicle down at this location, but he said that in less then one hour from the house you could be there. In fact, they made it all the way to Santa Clara in about 1 hour. He said town was odd with many tent like stores and as he described "like a mining town" feel to the place. There are a couple new hotels, but they did not stay long so they basically just drove through town.

The other thing he discovered was that East of Playa Encanto, past the houses, there is access down to the beach where one can drive an ATV on the beach for about 3 miles before you get to the sign for the Mayan Palace......that could be another cool trip. Leave it to my dad to find two new spots in one week.

I have got to go hit the El Golfo road and see that beach again before it is all gone....fenced off....or with houses, hotels and such.


Chris,
I can still see Sybil blasting down that beach......good times.

Semana Santa (Easter to all Gringos)

Being at the house over Easter has been fun the last two years. Last year we took down Matthew's friend Shane...this year it was Debbie and Darren Parmiter, Cougar and Shelbie.....and we had a great time. We were able to get out of the valley Thursday night and had an easy trip down until we got to Why....where we were pulled over for speeding. It turned out ok as the sheriff just gave us a warning, but it did delay out progress for about 20 minutes. Darren gave him the sad eyes and the "we have never driven down here before" line and he let us go.....good for Darren as paying a $120 ticket would not have been good.

I have to make a quick statement about the red cross. On the outskirts of Sonoyta, they have a Tecate tent set up, that has been there for years now and on most week ends they man this station to collect donations. Most contribute something; a dollar, pesos...whatever. Now as part of your donation, they stick a red cross sticker on your window as a sign that you are a good citizen...or at least a kind soul. I took the sticker off when we got to the house this last time right away but I forgot and today tried to remove the sticker and now I will need a razor blade.




Rough seas on Friday




Thursday night was good. We all settled in and enjoyed cocktail hour for our first night. The weather report before we left called for wind on Thursday night and Friday.....and it did not disappoint. It was windy and cool on Friday. The ocean was rough (the photo above does not do it justice), but it never got to the dark grey green color that it can in the winter. Shelbie and Darren hit the tide pools looking for sand dollars and found a few. Cougar and Shelbie had not been to the ocean before so this was a new experience and one my family hopes we can share with them many times. We got some odd jobs done around the house.

It was Friday and we needed some shrimp. We packed up the gang and had planned on going to the malecon to the fish market....planned was the operative word. The traffic was bumper to bumper. As we got over to the harbor we could see that the road had been blocked with temporary fencing and we could not drive down to the malecon. So we went over to the other fish market we knew La Chi Chi and picked up some shrimp (two kilos) as well as a fillet of what they called "manta" but what we would call sting ray just to see what it tasked like. All in all the total was $21.00. It would have been a little less if we had pesos on us, but it was still a good deal. We asked the lady at the fish market why the road was blocked and she told us it was a recreation of Christs procession with the cross. We thought that could have been an interesting thing to see and that next year we would get there much earlier.

Tough day on the beach.....everyone asleep at 10:00pm

A quick note about the water tank (I know....is that finally done?). I think that this issue will be in the past. Gerry re-piped all of the connections. Built a bracket to support the water filter, and added coupling connections to allow for the pump to be removed without having to cut the pipe. It worked well while we were there except for a little rough starting once in awhile that Gerry came back to fix on Monday.....lets keep our fingers crossed.

Back at the house we cleaned the shrimp, enjoyed the sun set and had a great shrimp dinner. We had grilled shrimp, steamed shrimp with peppers and onions, as well as shrimp quesadillas. The manta we fixed the way were told to cook it; boil it for a few minutes then grill it.....not the best but I think we just did not fix it right. If you recall, back in January we saw some fishermen landing ashore in a cove east of the house and they had a lot of sting rays in their catch. I was wondering then what it tasted like and I hope we just cooked it wrong, as the meat was tough and had almost no flavor.



Did Shelbie have a good time.......what do you think?

The wind stopped over the night and we had a great day on Saturday. I purchased an 4x4 ATV to use at the house that has big steel racks on the front and rear. The hope was that this would be the ticket to haul stuff to and from the beach; chairs, coolers, sea kayaks, etc and it worked great. We just loaded it up in the garage and drove it all down in one trip. What a back saver. The day was great on the beach.....a little cool for me, but all in all a good day with clear sky's. Matthew did not get to play in the water all that much as he thought it was a little too cold as well, but Shelbie and Cougar had a great time. I can not wait to take them down again at the end of May when the sea is like a big swimming pool.

We decided to run to town as we really did not get a chance to do some tourist shopping on Friday. It was very crowded, but fun. Mexican drum bands playing in the square and just a festive atmosphere. Lourdes had to get a Mango Tango at the Thirsty Parrot, and their patio was a great place to people watch. After we left there we did the tourist thing. Darren and I found a place that had beer on sale for 15 pesos; and with the dollar to pesos conversion @ 14 to 1, that was very cheap price for a Bud Lite....so we had two each.

Sunday was Easter and we awoke to a nice clear day. Lourdes and Debbie made an egg, sausage, bacon, cheese, etc casserole that was very good. As it was Easter, the kids all got a chocolate bunny, and my wife got me one as well...she must love me. We also had an egg hunt for the kids. Darren and I hid the 60 some plastic eggs outside around the house. Not an easy task when all you have is sand and very small bushes as your landscape. But we made it work and it was somewhat of a challenge. The kids are all getting older and who knows if we will keep doing the egg hunt....that said deep down I think even Vincent had a little fun. About 11:00 we went back down to the beach and enjoyed the middle of our day. Around 1:30 -2:00 we got back to the house, did a little packing and I took a quick nap in preparation for the drive home. We had to leave on Sunday as we had work to get back to, but the Parmiters had Monday off so they stayed over night (lucky dogs).

Vincent found the golden egg.

We were a little concerned about a big line at the border. Town was very busy and usually that translates into a long wait on a Sunday. I had read that most of the bookings for the hotels in the area were not by Americans, but from within Mexico. The crowd in town confirmed that was the case, but as we cleared the small hill by the old "Wendy's" and we could see the border we were still surprised and relived.....there was no wait at the border crossing. We breezed through; stopped for some gas in Why, and pulled into the garage in Phoenix at 9:30.

It was a great time and a big thanks to Debbie, Darren, Shelbie and Cougar for spending the weekend with us.

Thinking about getting away???

This time of the year is what started the Mexico itch for me those many years ago....a little free time, good weather, and dreams. There are many of us out there in search of those same feelings......maybe trying to find them selves in this world; or maybe "re finding" or redefining". I do not know. I have found a couple of blogs out there that are much better at writing about this then I am. Most are retired and have found a place in Mexico that reconnects them to who they were before, or to who they want to be.

One of those blogs that I have been reading is http://hammockmanpaul.blogspot.com/2008/06/living-in-mexico-every-mexicophiles.html

Here is one of the lines from this Blog; 

"Mexico is for those of us who are pioneers or adventurers or swashbucklers or whatever. If you are not, you would be better off in Hawaii or Disney world or Sun City. But if you crave new experiences, want to see what you're made of, like challenges and have an ability to stretch and give a little, then the border calls to you, "Cross me. Let the adventure begin."

I feel that way on days like this....in need of a little change in latitude, and maybe a little adventure.

Spring Break 2009

Spring in Mexico....what could be better. We could not get down for the full week so 4 days had to do. The weather cooperated and we ended up with warm nice temperatures the entire time. We also had a minimal tide change for the first few days, which with the calm weather, turned the ocean to glass.

I got some odd jobs done around the house. Back in January I had brought down a new TV unit for the living room that Carey had purchased 6 months ago. It was heavier then I had thought and Vincent and I had a time getting it up the stairs, but we worked it out. It is great having a teenage son around. I was able to get all of the furniture moved and get the TV, and most of the stereo and DVD player, etc back up and running. I had planned on re-piping the water pump (I know here we go on the water pump again) but I chose to hire Gerry to get that done along with some other maintenance on the generator and solar system.

As always we ate well and enjoyed our down time. We enjoyed the patio, a good book, naps, and great sun sets. Matthew did a little playing in the ocean on his surf board as well as the sea kayak. And we got some good games of paddle ball in (one of our favorite beach games). A pod of dolphins made an appearance and we even had one jump all of the way out of the water to give us a good show. On Friday we went into town to run a couple or errands and get some lunch. We stopped at the Thirsty Parrot and enjoyed some shrimp, a couple of drinks, and the Sun Devils Basketball game. Good win over Temple for ASU, but a bad loss to the Orangemen on Sunday.

New TV Unit....this should help keep the dust off the TV and stereo

Sea Kayak fun.

A little surf....not very good waves, but Matt got one ride in.

Paddle Ball....an underrated beach game.

With all of the bad press about Mexico the crowd felt like it was a little smaller this year. The only noticeable sign of any added US pressure was an added check stop on the US side right at Lukeville on our way down. They had two agents checking cars right before they entered Mexico (that was a first in 20 years of going down), and they asked the same questions as they always do. I guess if they can stop some of the guns and money from entering Mexico that would help. With a home in Mexico I get asked a lot about if "we feel safe" when we are there. When we were on our patio or when we were on our way to town on Saturday we felt very safe. In fact in our Mexico beach community I feel safer there then in my garage in Phoenix. There has been some good web articles on http://mynparty.blogspot.com/ site that I agree with. In one article they noted that the numbers on the violence can be deceiving as most of the issues are in other border towns.....not in our small part of the world. Puerto Penasco is not a border town. We are off the beaten track a little. There is not a major highway that links the Mexican interior through our town, and due to our vacation related economy we should be shielded from the really bad stuff. If one looks at vacation related cities all over the world, those government will do what is really necessary to protect those places as those cities are the real economic engines of the country. Cancun, Cabo, and yes Puerto Pensaco all fall into that category.

I look to Columbia as a good example. We were down there last September and were able to see first hand how a city can be changed by tourism. We stayed in Cartagena, and enjoyed the city, culture, music, and food. That is a place that I would have never gone to in the 1980's, but the new president understood the economic power that a city like that could have if it was safe. They now have many high rise condo buildings (Think Miami Beach), cruise ships are coming back, all due to increased police presence and a focus on this areas of the country. Sure, they still have drug issues, but they do not occur in Cartagena....and I would predict, they will not come to the tourist locations of Mexico......that is my soap box for the day.