Mazatlan

We arrived to Mazatlan Friday, Dec. 19 and quickly found ourselves caught up in the bustle of the city with a shopping list in one hand, guide book in the other and our Garmin Nuvi nagivator on the dashboard.

downtown traffic

At the top of our list was getting a cell phone. We'd been told by several people that TelCel, the largest cell phone company in Mexico had great service and an affordable plan where we could call the US for about $1 per 15 minutes. We bought the phone Saturday and spent much of our time trying to figure out how the darn thing worked. The phone itself, a Nokia, is just like any cell phone purchased in the US. But the service works differently here. The phone is purchased and "units" are prepaid. We were able to make a call immediately but were disconnected after about 5 minutes, after which when we dialed we only got a recorded message, in Spanish of course, that we couldn't exactly figure out. There is no "Press 1 for English, press 2 for Spanish" here! haha! We asked around and learned the phone needed to be "activated". Why didn't they do this when we purchased it? Why didn't the English speaking clerk inform us of this additional step? This step requires submitting an address, supposedly for security reasons so it can be confirmed that it really is YOUR phone. So Monday when we returned to the store to complete this part of the process, we dealt with a young woman who spoke perfect, almost accent-free English. We gave her the address of the RV park and filled out the necessary paperwork. She explained we'd need to wait 24 hours for the activation to be complete but around 7 pm, there was a message on the phone and it worked! We assumed all was resolved. Not! We soon discovered each call was deducting much more than $1/15 minutes. We returned to the store Tuesday and talked with the original clerk. She confirmed that our "application for activation" was on file but had not been completed because they have been selling so many phones with their Christmas promotions, it would take 72 hours to be activated! But we planned to leave Mazatlan before the 72 hours would be up! Even though the phones do "roam" here, it is very costly. When we reach our next destination we will need to go to a TelCel store in that area, purchase a new "chip" for that local region and go through the activation process again. Fortunately we will be at our next destination for one month. So, we should have cell service by the middle of next week. While it's a hassle, and it's frustrating, this is part of the adventure, right?

Mazatlan has grown considerably since we were here in 2000. In addition to the residential suburbs, the city consists of two main areas:

To the south is "old town" where the cathredral, the public market, museums, etc are located. It's a wonderful place to explore but the traffic is very congested and parking ranges from very difficult to non-existent, for big vehicles but especially to unload the scooter to get out and explore as pedestrians. As we drove around we noticed many of the old downtown neighborhoods are being restored by well-to-do Mexicans and immigrants. It reminded us of the many urban areas in the US that are experiencing similar renewal. Many of these buildings are more than 100 years old, some are hundreds of years old, dating back to when the Spainards were establishing their reign here. We vowed to return to the downtown area another day to do some exploring.

To the north is "The Golden Zone" where most of the tourist attractions, hotels, and restaurants are located. Five-star waterfront hotels line beautiful beaches that look out to the two uninhabited islands about 1/2 mile off shore. Dwarfed by the hotels are small shops selling T-shirts and beach bags, sea shells and ceramics to tourists who haven't yet learned that the same trinkets can be found at the downtown public market for half the price. We visited the Playa Mazatlan hotel twice to enjoy their beachfront terrace restaurant. The thing that amazed us everytime we visited this tourist area was the ABSENCE OF TOURISTS!!! The restaurants which would usually be packed, especially on a holiday week, only had 4 or 5 occupied tables. The evening news, which John had been watching to help him learn more Spanish, had reports about it, blaming the US "crisis económico" for the lack of tourists. The news even showed an RV park with empty spaces, a rarity this time of year!

The marinas where we stayed in 2000 are a couple miles further north of The Golden Zone. The El Cid Marina and Resort, where we stayed when we first crossed the Sea of Cortez, is as beautiful as we remember it. For old times sake, we returned for a pool-side snack. At that time, the "other" marina, Marina Mazatlan, was considered the low-rent location to stay. We stayed there on our north-bound visit in spring of 2000. Both marinas seemed "far" from town in those days. The dirt lots surrounding this circular-shaped marina provided parking for boaters and taxi cabs and displayed billboards promising future development. It has arrived. Boat masts are hardly visible amongst towering condo complexes and upscale custom homes. The marina has been restructured with new docks and a harbormaster office relocated in a new waterside office next to the Calypso Bar and Cafe. Further north of the marina district, the road parallels the beach and is now referred to as "The New Mazatlan". The Golden Zone is quickly becoming to Mazatlan what the original strip now is to Las Vegas. The RV park where we were staying is at the far north end of this new area.

As we'd hoped, RVers here are almost as friendly as boaters so we soon met our neighbors. Eve (pronounced Evee) invited me to a "girls night out" with several other women here at the park. Many of them spend entire winters there and have formed a close-knit group. I was thrilled to be so quickly included. What an evening we had! There were 10 of us at final count who caught the 6 peso (about 50 cents) bus down to The Golden Zone. "Heather's Place", a restaurant owned by a Canadian woman, was our destination. Diners that evening had the choice of a turkey dinner buffet or Mexican buffet. The evening served up entertainment in the form of the best Elvis Presley imitator I've seen. There were moments I felt I really was sitting at a small Vegas show.But the evenings real entertainment came from one of the women in our group. She enticed almost our entire group to dance while she interacted with others from nearby tables--and even with Elvis when she provacatively removed what Elvis and the crowd would soon learn was a pair of Santa boxer shorts! Until that moment I, and a few of my new friends, were wondering if Elvis was lip-syncing the songs, but when he lost his composure, laughing at her "striptease" performance, it was then I began to truely admire the entertainer's voice. At evening's end we all piled into the back of an open-bed pickup truck taxi (a tarp canopy covers the bed, with two hard bench seats lining the edges) and sang along with the Jimmy Bufffet tunes blaring on the boombox stereo. We all laughed and enjoyed the antics of the evening so much that by the time I got back to the trailer my face ached from the smiles.

John explained our opinion of Mazatlan in an email to his mom :

"Neither one of us has ever cared very much for Mazatlan, so we'll be glad to be on our way. It's just a huge city, and very congested. I'm constantly doing 3-point turns in the truck, and at the Banamex (bank) I almost got it completely wedged in their little parking lot. I think I actually moved their building a little getting out! Yesterday we went to the "Mega" for some food. It's like a Fred Meyer, (which is a nice grocery store chain in the northwest) but nicer. It has an inclined moving sidewalk (ramp) to get into the store, which is on the second story. Their shopping carts have a magnetic locking device that keeps them from rolling by locking their brakes. Pretty cool. We prefer shopping there even though it is next to a Sam's Club. (and by the way, an Office Depot and a Home Depot too)"

Most of our week in Mazatlan was spent trying to get the cell phone figured out, checking out the new marina and seeing if our sailboat was still there,and taking Gracie on lots of walks at the beach. Because of the holiday congestion we decided not to visit downtown on Christmas Day. We just are not "city folk" so spent most of our leisure time at the quiet beach near the RV park. Gracie is becoming quite the beach dog!!

Our last day in Mazatlan was Christmas Day and we were invited to a potluck at our neighbors. It was very fun! There were 9 couples and one widow. 2 couples and our single friend were all from the US, the others were all Canadians, one couple from Quebec so they spoke both English and French. This made for interesting conversation. Toward the end of the evening, conversation turned to politics, mostly Canadian politics. There is a long running tension between Quebecians and the rest. It's very interesting but also kind of sad that fellow countrymen have so much angst against one another. Comparing their conversations to what we hear at home, from both friends and the media, it is comforting to know that politicians and politics are the same everywhere. Who was it that said: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely!" Truer words were never spoken!

Click here to view more pictures of our visit to Mazatlan:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dealegria1961/Mazatlan#

A birds eye view of our progress so far

The push-pins on this first image show our stopping points so far: San Carlos, 5 hours south of the US border; then Los Mochis, Celestino, the Cerritos campground (about 10 miles north of downtown Mazatlan, and the last pin marks Mazatlan.

This image is a little closer to Celestino.

This image is even closer...you can see the little town of Celestino Gasca, and the long narrow properties that run along the beach. The pin marks the campground, Villa Celeste, where we spent a very relaxing week.

A side trip to Cosalá

The charming town of Cosalá

Nestled in the Sierra Madre is this small town of Cosalá. It's about the size of Sisters, with an equal but different sense of charm. We'd heard a lot about it, and we weren't disappointed. We drove about 1.5 hours northeast on a secondary highway through an area that is a popular destination for fishing and bird hunting. There are several sport lodges with guided trips. There is also an area near the river where you can ride mulitple zip-lines and repell from the trees. There are platforms built in the trees to facilitate these activities.

There is one road into town and it leads directly into the town's center plaza. It goes around the plaza with side streets diverting off from there. The streets are narrow, paved with cobblestones or bricks. All the buildings are painted in soft yet brighter-than-pastel colors. The streets are the width of one-lane but serve for two-way traffic. Cars wait in groups of 3 or 4 to allow traffic to come from the opposing direction and then they go while another group waits at the other end. Where the streets are a little wider, vehicles parallel park, adding to the congestion but there is no choice. We didn't see one parking lot. There are no traffic lights and only a few stop signs. It is congested but it seems to work fine. This picture is one of the side streets during a moment of no traffic. We were lucky to find a parking spot one block from the plaza.

The plaza is the hub of all vehicle and pedestrian activity. This wide sidewalk surrounds the plaza and there are mulitple food stands. Most were serving the soup style cocktail that we had the other day and John didn't care to have it again. We couldn't find a restaurant without multiple entry stairs so we stopped at a small store and bought snacks for the ride home. We'd love to visit Cosala again with the scooter. We think we'd have better luck finding a restaurant w/o stairs if we got a little further away from the center plaza. It's not a very wheelchair-friendly town, as you can see the height of the curbs, (you will see higher curbs in the pictures at the link below) and we didn't have the scooter with us for this trip.

I love old churches so John waited in the plaza to people watch while I went to investigate.

When we were just a short distance out of town on the way home we passed a bus stop with about 10 people waiting. One older man was waving for us to stop. We stopped intending to offer a ride and ask where he needed to go but before we could say anything he was already climbing into the truck bed! A woman about his age was thanking us and when I asked her "A donde va?" (to where does he need to go?) I could only understand a little but figured out he needed to go to one of the villages we'd passed on our way up the mountain.

On our way we'd passed a roadside shrine built high on a hillside and I was hoping we'd be able to stop on our way home. I wasn't sure we should with our passenger, or even if there was a place to stop along the road. But as we approached the spot, there was a small spot to pullover. I asked the man to wait (really, what option did he have?). He said OK, no problem.

The shrine was located on a sharp corner, at the top of a steep hill. 192 concrete stairs led up the steep hillside. Someone went to a lot of trouble to build it! Every road and highway is dotted with similar shrines. When I returned to the truck I told the man to bang on the truck when we needed to stop and we were soon on our way. As we approached the bigger of the villages we'd passed through the man patted the side of the truck and hollered "Alto, Alto" (stop, stop). We did and we watched as he headed down one of the dirt side streets with his grocery sack.

Once we got out of the windy part of the road we decided to stop so Gracie could have a potty break. The brush was so tall all along the route we hadn't seen any livestock but when we turned of the engine and opened the truck doors, the air was filled with the sounds of cow bells. We only saw one cow in a small clearing I could hear someone banging sticks together, probably to herd them along, but the sound of all those bells was absolutely musical.

We decided to eat dinner at a restaurant in the small town of Dimas, south of the RV park. It's right off the main toll road but we weren't sure exactly where the turn off was but everyone had said "You can't miss it!". Well, we did. We'd gone about 30 minutes before we decided we really had missed it. There aren't very many places to turn around because the main highway has a solid concrete barrier the entire distance. There are few over passes, and even further "retornos", which are places to make a u-turn. Highway exits are very different here. Most overpasses/exits are unpaved and consist of one road for traffic exiting and entering the highway. We finally came to an overpass but upon our approach we noticed this exit was very narrow, the width of the truck, with a canopy of vines and bushes over it. We weren't really sure it was an exit as we couldn't see through the brush to see where it went. But not wanting to stay on the highway we decided to try it. We drove about 150 feet and it sharply curved back toward the highway and went up and over the highway down to an equally canopied dirt lane. This is the first one we'd been on where the road over the highway was dirt. Usually just the "exit ramp" is dirt. But we were heading back in the right direction and found the restaurant and had a great meal. Two shrimp dinners, 2 beers and a coke for $18.50, including tip. We had a great day but were glad to get back to the RV, even though it was after dark. We don't like to drive at night because of livestock and pedestrians along the highway but it was only a few miles so we did ok.

Here's the link to more pictures of Cosala.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dealegria1961/Cosala#

I was responding to a friend's email this morning and John suggested I enclose part of my reply to her. I think it's self-explanitory so here goes:

She had commented about my describing things as being so nice and in the interest of full disclosure I wrote this:

First, about how "clean" it is. There is a litter problem in Mexico--lots of trash along the highways and roads...reminds John of how the US used to be. In the next blog entry I mention this in the picture captions on the link. We remember as a young kids throwing things out the window w/o thinking twice about it. Remember the big campaign in the 70s--the TV commercials with the American Indian with the tear rolling down his cheek??? It was all about not being a "litter bug". They have similar signs here, especially in the towns, so there is an effort to change that habit here, but the litter still exists. In the little villages most of the streets are dirt. People have dirt yards, etc. In that way, it is very "dirty" but the thing we think is so nice is that the dirt is raked and swept almost every day. When we walk into or drive through the little villages, especially in the morning, that's what people are doing. It is tidy. These small villages are obviously poor. For example, in the little village near us now, most of the men are fishermen or work in the nearby shrimp processing plant. Few people have cars. People walk or ride buses everywhere. Prosperity depends on how much industry is nearby--whether it is agriculture or the port or something like that. In the towns of about 10,000 population, many people seem to make money in services--car repair 'shop' in their driveway, a bakery run from the family kitchen, etc. We've heard it said many times that "the Mexican people know how to keep things running" as opposed to our throw away culture. There are mulitple welding shops, machine repair, used tire stores, small hardware stores that sell very basic supplies, etc. But poverty does not necessarily mean crime. The people in the small villages seem to lead simple yet happy lives, maybe like in the US in the Appalacian mountains or somewhere like that. I'm not sure if that is accurate. Also, so many people are poor that everyone is in the same boat. But from our year here in 2000 and now, in my heart of hearts I think the Mexican culture's kindness and generosity can be credited to the strong religious presense in the community, and in the strong family unit here. Crime, especially violent crime, is rooted in immorality, not poverty. I will try to take more pictures of the little houses, little restaurants, etc but sometimes I feel like I'm invading their privacy when I take pics. I don't want to seem to be gaulking. As to the dogs...no problem coming across the border. We weren't even asked if we had pets, or for papers, etc. Walking around has not been a problem. The first day we walked in the village here we did not take Gracie because we wanted to check it out. While we were sitting at that little restaurant eating there was a dog from across the street that came after a dog who was crossing over into its territory. The 'attacking' dog was well groomed, well fed, had a collar on, but the other dog was obviously a street dog. The 'attacking' dog growled and tackled the other dog and sat on it for a few seconds. The lesser dog squealed. We thought we were going to really see a fight. But no, the dogs quickly separated and the lesser dog walked back to where it came from. A couple days later we walked into town with Gracie being watchful for that dog. We did see it on our way back in the same spot. The dog didn't even seem to notice Gracie but we had her ride on the scooter with John just in case. When we were close it was laying down completely ignoring us and gracie. The street dogs seem fine and non-threatening. The dogs that seem to belong to a house--they are hanging around in the yard, etc.--do come out and bark but no signs of aggression. It's more like they are just letting the owners know someone is around and letting the new dog - Gracie - know that it is their territory. We are cautious but not afraid. All dogs here are very submissive to humans so I think, hope, if we just yelled at them and schooed them away they would retreat. I'll for sure let you know of any 'bad' experiences we may have. so far, so good.

Los Mochis to Celestino Gasca

We were quite impressed with the agricultural region south of Los Mochis. The farm fields seemed to be endless with corn, lettuce, broccoli, peppers, and huge silos. This valley region is between the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range and the ocean. It's beauty and serenity reminded me of growing up in the Santa Maria, CA valley. When I was a kid mostly vegetables were grown there but has since become a wine vineyard region. This region, the state of Sinaloa, produces 80% of the mangos in Mexico. The road conditions seem to be improving as we head south--wider shoulders and smoother pavement. It was a beautiful and relaxing 5 hour drive. At one of the toll booths, where there are always taco stands and small mini-marts (similar to Circle-K or 7-11 but here they're called OXXO) we stopped for lunch. Our first true gastrointestinal adventure! We ordered 2 carne asada tacos and a coke for 28 pesos, or about $2.25. The tacos came complete with lettuce, and on the side were radishes, cucumbers, green onions, and two types of sauces. There is no refrigeration at these little stands, and the morning ice had long melted when I reached into the chest cooler for a still-cold bottle of coke. The vegetables and condiments were kept covered with small towels to keep flies and insects away. I grimaced a bit but you know, when in Rome...The food was delicious and we were soon on our way again.

One of the most interesting agricultural sights were they HUGE tents that covered large parcels-5-10 acres-of land. The picture shows the color and shape but doesn't begin to show its enormity. We've learned they grow all sorts of peppers in these tents as winter nights are too cold and damage the crops. John noticed many of the fields held new crops, amazing considering it is December. The region is criss-crossed with aquaducts. Most workers we saw in the fields seemed to be doing irrigation-related chores. Only a few fields were at harvest. In our twisted sense of humor we joked about how funny it would be to see gringos out in the fields, doing work that the "Mexicans just won't do."

We arrived to our campground near the small village of Celestino Gasca about 1:30. Campers gather every evening under this palapa patio to watch the sunset. Below are a couple pics I took that first evening.

The campground is located 1.2 km (kilometers) down a dirt road outside the small village of Celestino Gasca. (1 mile = 1.6 km) We walked there for lunch our first day. Along the way we saw the sign warning against violence to women, and next to it an anti abortion sign. The circus is in town too. You will notice in the satallite picture that only the main road in from the highway is paved. The small school is located on the main road.

We'd been told there were three restaurants in town. In these villages, "restaurant" is actually a home where food is prepared in the family's kitchen and served on a palapa-covered patio. There are usually 3 or 4 plastic tables with chairs. Here, mostly seafood is served. We decided to walk around a bit and check out our options before choosing our lunch destination. Though we always carry a bottle of water with us we like to contribute to the local economy by buying snacks and bottled drinks from small stores, also located in street-side houses. I stopped at one to get a bottle of OJ and asked the young teen clerk where was the best restaurant in town. He said, but mostly it was his hand directions that I understood, to go down the street one block and over another block. So, we did. But we found nothing that resembled a restaurant. There was a man and woman watching us, so I went over to them and asked if there was a restaurant on that block. He asked me what kind of food we were looking for. I said it didn't matter, just something good. When we said "camerones" (shrimp) he motioned for us to follow him. So, we did. He took us back in the direction we'd come from on the main road through town, (passing the boys who'd sent us in his direction) but continued another block to one of the restaurants we'd passed. He said they were the best for shrimp. It was about 11am but none of the tables were set up and we weren't sure it was open. He went into the house (everyone's doors are always open) and we heard him speaking with two women. A young girl soon appeared with our new friend and asked what we would like to eat. Between the four of us with a mutual language barrier we weren't quite sure what she was offering but we ended up ordering what sounded like shrimp cocktail, and two cokes. She returned inside and we could hear several female voices. Our friend retrieved the cokes for us and we asked if someone in his family owned the restaurant. He said his brother does. He was being so kind and helpful John told him to get a coke for himself and we would pay for it. He stayed with us till our food was delivered and he seemed pleased once we tasted and said it was delicious. In our time with him we asked what basic questions we could:

How many people live in Celestino Gasca? 300

What does he do for work? Fisherman

Has he lived there all his life? Yes

I don't know why we didn't ask his name! We won't make that mistake again.

We asked about the circus and if there would be clowns. He said yes, that it is very amusing. These experiences and interactions could be described as "small town hospitality" but there is something more to it. There is a gentleness, warmth and kindness we find here that I hope many of our friends will experience sometime.

After lunch we walked back to the RV park. We did not take Gracie with us to the village so we retrieved her and walked about a mile down the other direction from the RV park to see a brand new RV park that some neighbors here told us about. We walked about 5 miles that day.

Below are links to a couple of web albums to see pictures of this area. I've added captions so if you view them with a slide show, make sure to adjust the slideshow timing to 6 or 7 to allow enough time to read.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dealegria1961/GoingToCelestinoGasca?authkey=dXWF9zYSS-U#

http://picasaweb.google.com/dealegria1961/MiscPicturesWhileStayingAtCelestinoGasca#

http://picasaweb.google.com/dealegria1961/VillaCelesteCampground#

Exploring the Los Mochis area

We had a full day in Los Mochis to explore the town and surrounding area and being true "gringos" our first stop was WalMart! I can hear some of you groaning but I won't name names... WalMart was playing American Christmas carols in English and we heard a few locals singing along as they shopped. We were hoping to find items such as beach chairs, a wireless FM transmitter for our MP3 player so we could listen in the truck, John's medicine, cat litter, and a deck of cards. No beach chairs, found a cassette tape transmitter (only had wireless FM transmitters for Ipods), got John's meds, no cat litter or deck of cards. I'm getting a little worried about the cat litter. While there are plenty of street animals-dogs and cats, there are few domesticated animals. WalMart only had one short isle and limited selection of dog food or supplies. The city of Los Mochis, pop. 175,000, seemed fairly prosperous but we didn't find any area that interested us enough to walk around. We instead drove out to the nearest port town of Topolobampo. We noticed anti-drug signs, a few around town and more the highway out to the port, discouraging both use of drugs and drugs as a way to improve one's life. Maybe the port adds a dimension of drug trafficing here.The town is very small, a couple thousand at the most and appeared very poor. We don't know why but while most villages appear poor, some are very clean and have an orderly, even inviting feel. Topolobampo did not. We took these pictures at the waterfront. All the fishing and shrimping boats were tied along the L-shaped sea wall. There was a bustle of activity. There was a small area about 1/4 mile from here where about 10 private boats were docked. The area was secured by locked gates at each road so we were unable to get close enough for pictures. We'd heard there were seafood restaurants near Topolobampo but didn't find them. When we returned to the campground later we learned from Felipe that the restaurants are out on a pennisula, accessed from a road we'd seen but I had felt too uneasy to venture onto as it seemed to lead to an isolated area. We told Felipe that when we return in April we'll take him with us. Hopefully our Spanish will be better by then so we can have more conversation.

Los Mochis is a necessary stopping point and maybe we'll find its real virtues when we return on our way north. We felt a little anxious there. The barren campground, the anti-drug signs, the size of the town with increased traffic and congestion all added to our anxiety. We were glad to be headed south to Celestino Gasca, an area 45 minutes north of Mazatlan.

Los Mochis campground

As some of you have reported, we've had some challenges with getting pictures to post successfully at the blog. So, for this chapter I'm trying something new. There will be link at the end of the story to related pictures, posted in a "web album" on the Picasa site. We can share more pics, as there is a limit here on the blog, and you can also view them in a full-screen slideshow if you want.

We had a good stay in San Carlos. We spent Monday at one of the deserted beaches shown in a previous entry. It was our first try at using John's scooter at the beach. It was great, as long as we avoided the deep, soft sand. We've concluded San Carlos is a good place to "decompress" after crossing the border. English is commonly spoken, there isn't much traffic or crowds, and the campground is nice. There are a lot of people who stay there for the winter but after 4 full days, we were ready to move on.

Our drive from San Carlos to Los Mochis slower than expected, taking about 6 hours instead of the expected four. We went through many small 'villages' (poblados) where traffic slows due to vehicle and pedestrian congestion and topes, which are Mexican speed bumps. These speed bumps are VERY common and tall. John usually slows to about 5 mph to go over one. But there is never just one...they are usually in sets, sometimes as many as 10 to get vehicle traffic to slow down. But the scenery was interesting especially as we entered into the state of Sinaloa and neared Los Mochis as the area is the start of a very large agricultural region. It reminded us of California's San Juaquin Valley.

Luckily I had chatted with another RVer in San Carlos who had previously visited the Los Mochis campground and he gave me good advice. Mexican towns have what are called "lateral" roads along most major city streets. The lateral is as it sounds, a lane or two that runs parallel to the main street, divided from the main lanes by a small curb or barrier. A driver enters the lateral before reaching his destination so as not to slow traffic in the main road. It's also very good to be in the lateral when you're looking for something. The campground is only about 1 mile off the highway and he had explained that when we took the exit we would need to get into the lateral ASAP as the campground came up very fast and it would be a little challenging to turn around if we missed it. Upon our approach we discovered the first entry to the lateral is also the location a popular bus stop. But we successfully got around the congestion and arrived. We knew from our guide book that the campground would be a little "rough" as far as facilities, and it was. While it has full hookups we only used the electricity as we'd emptied our holding tanks and filled up the fresh water in San Carlos. To our surprise John was able to find a Wi-Fi signal from what we assumed was a nearby business. Before the trip John purchased a signal amplifier antenna and we've been very pleased with how it improves reception of nearby signals but also picks up signals we'd never find without it.

OK, let's look at a few pictures of the Los Mochis campground and see how this new method works!

http://picasaweb.google.com/dealegria1961/LosMochisCampground?authkey=7kQ9MGfO83Y#

Restaurant in San Carlos

John sitting at the dining bar.
View from the dining bar, looking toward the city of Guaymas.
Picture of the restaurant area, taken from the bar area.
The restaurant is at the end of this little beach, perched on the rock.

campground setting, too

One couple here is traveling in their camper van.

Life is good in the shade of palm trees.

There is a cement patio at each site. The scooter ramps came in handy!

Walking into town....

Having the scooter with us on this trip makes all the difference! The RV park is about 2.5 miles from central San Carlos but with the scooter for John, walking into town is no hay problema! We stopped at a beach restaurant, near an older condo complex that seemed fairly unkept. The pool was empty and in need of repair. But the beach was nice, the food was good, and the drinks were cold. Days are in the high 70s-low 80s and we're working hard at getting used to those temps!

Sights along the way...

So on our walk to town we saw this apartment with a lift mounted to the wall so we decided to investigate. The guy saw us taking pictures and must have thought we were taking pictures of him. He was very excited and friendly, and decided to wave for the picture. We ended up talking to his wife who explained they use the lift to bring their groceries up in a box from the carport. It saves them carrying the bags up the stairs. We told them we thought maybe it was to lift a person but she said it doesn't have a big enough motor for that. We've noticed there are alot more handicap parking spots and wheelchair ramps into many establishments.

OK Robert, this one is for you! Obviously the owner of this boat--"Gettin' Bent"--is a diver!

How 'bout a drive-thru beer store? Modelo is a Mexican beer, the store is Modelorama!

Satallite picture of San Carlos

OK, we're trying a new method to blog our pictures. John has been using Google earth to "look around" and we found we can take these snapshots and then include them here. The pics in the previous blogs about the marinas can be explained here. The marina where we stayed before is that narrow inlet at the bottom of the sweeping bay on the left of the pic. The central San Carlos harbor/marina in that large natural enclosed bay in the center.

Our access to technology continues to amaze us!

Getting our bearings....

Friday started slow but we did make it out to explore around and have our first meal out. Gracie and I enjoyed a morning walk on this beach across from the campground where there are new condos. This picture looks the opposite direction from the condo buildings below. The building sitting on the rock on the right, at the end of the wall, is the restuarant where we ate later in the day. There are some pics of it later. One condo building under construction

the other is finished.

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There is a large marina in central San Carlos but we drove out to "Marina Real", about 3 miles out from San Carlos, where we were on our boat in 2000. The roads in this area on which the houses in the foreground are now located were under constuction when we were here back then. There are now many very nice waterfront homes. We took this panoramic picture of the marina area to try to capture that area. There is a multi-story condo building under construction on this large bay. It is the white square shaped object in the distance, breaking the tree line around the bay, you can slightly see it in the distance. It's an area where gringos and well-to-do Mexicans own, mostly, vacation homes. The only homes there when we were there before were those on the little spit of land in the center of the pic. The beach here, Playa Esmerelda, is a beautiful small inlet to the south of Marina Real. Friday was a little cloudy, Saturday was clear and warmer. We're planning to spend the day there Sunday if the weather is at least as warm.

Sisters to the border to San Carlos

After being gone from home for 17 days, we're finally in Mexico. We had a great visit with family and friends on our way south and crossed the border today. We spent our last two nights in Amado, AZ. at a campground named "Mountain View RV Park", which seemed fitting as we live on Mountain View Road at home.

When we arrived Tuesday at the campground in Amado I'd asked if there was anyone at the park who would be crossing to Mexico today. We were interested in crossing with a "buddy". There was a knock on our trailer door last night. A guy had arrived from the Seattle area, asked the same question and the management directed him to us. We quickly discovered we had a lot in common with Dan. He is heading to Puerto Vallarta to work for six months, and maybe longer, as a boat broker. That's Dan's truck/camper behind us. We only traveled together as far as San Carlos as he wants to arrive in PV by Saturday. We bid him Adios, agreeing to meet up in January when we are in that area.

We admit it...We were a little anxious about the crossing but once we were across and through the main entry point about 14 miles south of the border, we wondered why. A nice bureaucrat "Luis" helped us process our tourist visas, temporary import permit for the truck, and, though we didn't specifically request it, our 10-year import permit for the trailer! Now we have to come back, right?

Mexico's Highway 15 is a fine road with 3" shoulders (yikes!!) and occasional widespots. The topography in this region is, obviously, a continuation of southern Arizona. We passed a very large vineyard area and many cattle ranches. We are pleased to be back in San Carlos, where we spent the month of September 2000. We are staying at a very nice campground owned by Joseph, a 30-something Mexican who speaks accent-free perfect English, who we've heard is an internet aficionado, and to whom we thank for the great Wi-Fi connection! We'll explore around tomorrow and post some pics.

Welcome to our blog. Follow our travels as we take the RV to Mexico's mainland this fall and winter. We'll include some pics as we get ready to leave too.