Getting Around in San Carlos, Mexico

Even though we don't speak Spanish, and the price of things seems to confuse us, we're managing to get around and get things done. "How much per pound were those shrimp?" "I'm not sure, they measured them in Kilos". Kilos, pesos, Kilometers, oh my. No matter, really. The beauty and slow pace of San Carlos makes up for any uncertainty about money, distances or whatever.

At some point yesterday, the idea came up to pot luck dinner tonight with everyone bringing shrimp to grill. There's a little stand behind a local restaurant, "Tony's" that is very popular here. Tony has fresh shrimp, fish, salsa, vegetables, fruits and many other items. We headed down there this morning to get our contribution for dinner tonight.

The first stop, though, was at the "Super Mercado" to pick up a 5 gallon jug of purified water. We'll use this water for making coffee, brushing teeth, and washing dishes so we can stretch the clean water in our water tank.

Here's Jim carrying the water. There's a very beautiful little church in the background.




Every time we drive through San Carlos, I see this bar, called "Froggy's". It always makes me think of Froggi Donna, a very special woman who is a solo full timer I had the opportunity to meet in December. We stay in contact through e-mails and each other's blogs. This is for you, Donna!



This is Tony's stand. Tony is the man in the stripped shirt with the white hat.


One of Tony's helpers is setting out fruit. In the coolers on the table behind the helper there are all kinds of food being kept chilled.

Once we'd returned to the rig with our goodies, it was time for a walk to the beach. This little beach is just a short walk from the RV Park.


This is a great example of the different landscapes so common in the area. This hill would be right at home in dry Arizona, but here it is on the shore of the Sea of Cortez. See the cactus on the left?

You can tell the dogs went with us on the walk, this one is a tired puppy!



Jo and Doug are visiting by our rig, waiting for the shrimp to be grilled.

We put together a yummy dinner that included marinated, grilled shrimp, stir-fried vegetables, brown and wild rice, fruit, chips, dip, and a peach cobbler for dessert. Jo, JoAnn, and I all made our own separate recipes for marinade for the shrimp so we had a variety of tastes. Fred was not feeling well, so he didn't join us this evening. We sent a bag of grilled shrimp home with Jo in case he decides he wants some later, or tomorrow.

We go at a pretty slow pace around here. Yet, the week seems to be zooming by.

Resting and Getting Settled in San Carlos

Today was pretty much a resting and getting settled day. We slept in and took our time getting up and around. When we did get out, we drove into the little town of San Carlos, which is actually a few miles from the RV Park. We are situated about 250 miles south of the border from Nogales, Arizona. San Carlos is located on the Sea of Cortez, on the west coast of the Mexican mainland. It's a small town which is winter home to many Canadians and Americans. The landscape is very hilly and rocky. It is more like a desert than a tropical area, but it is pretty warm here. The high today was in the 70's, and it's supposed to warm up to the high 80's in the next few days. The lows at night are in the 50's. Nice.

This is the view down the street in the RV park. The first rig on the left is Jo and Fred's. On the right you can see JoAnn & Doug's truck. We're parked next to JoAnn & Doug, across from Jo and Fred.

After we explored the town a little bit, we decided to go the other direction and see if we could find a beach. A couple of miles past the RV park in the opposite direction from the town, we found a little dirt road that looked as if it might lead to the shore. Yes, it did. I got my beach fix and we had a nice walk.

Here's Jim, with one of the many area islands in the background.

We came back home and relaxed for awhile and then collaborated on a meal of grilled chicken, salad and brown rice.

Before we left the states, we were told it was important to get a surge protector for our rig, since Mexican power can be "iffy". So we spent a fair chunk of change to buy one. This one tests the power, and if it's ok, 2 minutes or so after we plug it in, we have power. It will trip the power if the voltage goes 5% below or 5% above where it's supposed to be. Everything worked fine yesterday, but today our surge protector protected us off and on all day.

Now, why would anyone say Mexican power can be "iffy"? This was actually taken at the marina, not the rv park, but you get the idea.

Later this afternoon, we found out we can cut through the field behind the RV park and walk to the marina. Here's a picture of the park from across the field.

Here's a nice view of the marina.

Around the marina are these interesting lamp posts. This one is dolphins, there are also seahorses and mermaids.

Here's an egret, looking for a snack.

I encourage my readers to follow the blogs of our traveling companions as well as ours, since we aren't together all the time, you'll get some different perspectives of this beautiful location. Check out the Wandering Wishnies for Jo and Fred and Living Our Dream for JoAnn and Doug.

Another great day in the life.

The Journey Begins

Getting underway on Sunday was definitely not a piece of cake. We thought we were in good shape as far as the motor home, but as we installed the Pressure Pro sensors, we discovered a problem. The valve extender for the left rear outside tire was not correctly installed after the tires were rotated, resulting in a flat tire. We called our emergency road service, Good Sam, and they sent someone out to help us get the valve stem extender fixed. We got the tire aired up and ready to go.

This is looking towards the Tucson Mountains from the back of our site at Diamond J RV Park in Tucson.



JoAnn and Doug had to make a last minute run to WalMart to replace their walking sticks that met an untimely end when they fell off the truck somehow. Laurie and Odel stopped by to say goodbye while JoAnn and Doug were gone, and when we relayed to them the tale of the walking sticks, Odel said there were two walking sticks lying on the ground, "just over there", indicating a site a couple down from where they'd fallen off the truck. That was two of the 4 walking sticks they have. They will try to unbend the others that were damaged in the fall off the truck. With all the little problems taken care of, at the crack of 2:00 p.m. the two rigs left Diamond J and started south on I-19.

Getting close to the exit to go to the Mariposa border crossing. This is south I-19 in Nogales, AZ.





The Wishnies met us at the Shell Station parking lot for an overnight boondocking before hitting the road at 7 a.m. Monday morning. We had a pot luck meal that included salads, burgers, veggie burgers and sausages. JoAnn provided yummy brownies. We discussed last minute details and decided that the Meachams will lead the caravan to San Carlos. We parted company to get some sleep in hopes of being fresh for the journey.


I think we were all awake quite early, I'm not sure how much I slept. It was very cold this morning, so the dog walk was not very comfortable. We pulled out of the parking lot just before 7 and crossed the border.

Here we are approaching the first toll station.



Our first stop was at the location known as Km 21, where we were to obtain our visitor and vehicle permits. We trouped in with stacks of paperwork, including our vehicle titles, registrations, permission letters from our lenders, etc. First was the personal permit. There wasn't anyone else in line, so we didn't have a wait there. The gentleman behind the counter, however, was not all that proficient in English. He also didn't seem to care whether we had any passports or other identification. In spite of that, we got the personal permits, and asked about the vehicle permits. Since we were only going to places in the state of Sonora, he said we didn't need vehicle permits. I think I asked him at least 3 times to be sure. No, he assured us we didn't need vehicle permits. Well, ok, then. We could go to the bank there and pay for our permits, or go on to San Carlos and pay there. We decided to go to the bank there. We walked the half block to the bank and waited for the 2 clerks to finish with the people they were helping, while standing there shivering in the cold. Hey, I thought we were going to be warmer in Mexico! We finally got to pay for the permits. We asked again about vehicle permits because everything we read indicated we had to have at least a "Only Sonora" permit. The people in the bank also assured us we didn't need the vehicle permits.


Jim & I walked back to the motor home while we waited for the others to finish. Jo came back and said they questioned again and they were told to get a vehicle permit. With that said, Jim & I once again gathered the stack of papers and headed back over to the bank, which also issues permits. Once again, we were told we didn't need a permit. They indicated it was because we have a motor home with a car in tow and the other couples should get a permit because they have a trailer in tow. Oh, whatever.


Finally, with two couples getting vehicle permits and one not, we headed out once again. We went through a total of 3 toll booths on the trip down. Each one cost us around $10 - $12 American dollars. We stopped once at a Pemex station which is the only "brand" of gasoline in Mexico. The stations are all numbered, and many of them have huge areas for truckers and others to park. When we stopped at the Pemex, it was just to rest and get a bite to eat. We traveled on Mexico 15, directly south of Tucson and Nogales. The journey to San Carlos was about 250 miles. The road is 4 lanes most of the way, and is generally in pretty good shape. However, the lanes are not very wide, and there are no shoulders! Not only are there no shoulders, most of the time there is a very sharp drop off. It's deceiving, because if you are just looking out at the scenery, it looks fairly flat. But the road is built several feet higher than the surrounding landscape. We saw two rollovers that had just occurred. We also saw the remains of at least two other mishaps along the road.


One of the most challenging aspects of the drive was getting through the city of Hermosillo. There is no bypass all the way around the city. We did have pretty detailed instructions from the Camping in Mexico book by Mike and Terri Church. This book gives very good directions! We only had one close call when we realized we were in the wrong lane and had to move over two lanes in pretty heavy traffic. But we got over and made it through. I wanted to take pictures while we were going through Hermosillo, but since I was the "official" navigator, Jim thought it best I just watch the road!


We stopped one more time to discuss directions to the El Mirador RV Park in San Carlos and stretch our legs. We arrived at the RV park around 4:00. Our sites are together, with the Wishnies across the road from the Meachams and Dubrouillets. Not everything went perfectly with our arrival though. Fred was not able to get his truck disconnected from the 5th wheel, and Doug is having issues with his electrical power. We are not able to get our satellite tv to work. When I put in our coordinates, I get an error message saying the coordinates are invalid. Since we don't have phone service I can't just call DirecTV so, I've sent an email to them. Jo Wishnie has set us up on her interenet, so we at least have that.

This last picture is the road leading in to San Carlos. I'm sure we will have some great pictures, this is a very pretty area!



When we got set up, we walked over to the restaurant here, El Oasis. I thought the food was fairly good. We paid for 1 week here at El Mirador and then will probably do a little traveling, possibly to Bahia Kino. We don't have any specific plans, but I'm sure we'll come up with some. First on the agenda, though, is to get rested up!

Getting Ready to Roll

Today we spent wrapping up all the little loose ends to get ready to leave tomorrow. We're not traveling far, but when we get to Nogales, we'll be boondocking for a night, at least. Jim grilled the hamburgers and veggie burgers that will be part of our contribution to the last planning get together with our traveling group before we get underway to Mexico early Monday morning.

I went over to the campground laundry room and found it was packed. That was my cue to pack up our laundry and head over Bopp Road to the nearest commercial laundromat. There were a couple of women from this campround who beat me over there after they found the same crowded conditions here. Oh well, we all got our laundry done and went on our way again.

We made our last trip to Walmart to pick up the few things we hadn't already purchased. Jim made one more trip to the storage unit to take the last of the dog food. We read that dog food could get taken on the way back into the US, so we decided not to take extra, just in case. I counted out the number of cups we anticipate using and stored the remainder.

Otherwise it's been a quiet day. The sunshine returned to help dry out the mud and muck from the rain yesterday.

From our last visit to the Saguaro National Park, I took a picture of this interesting Saguaro which has 10 arms. It may be hard to see them all, but they are there! I'll give you the hardest one to see, it's behind the bush on the lower right of the main stem. Oh, and only about two-thirds of this cactus can be seen in this picture. We were standing on a bluff on the edge of a wash, and this cactus was quite a ways down the side of the wash.


Here's a little sliver of moon we could see when the clouds parted.

The Three Amigos Saguaros.

I hope we'll have internet of some sort while we're gone. But, there is a good possibility I won't be able to post my blog every day over the next two weeks. I will be taking pictures and writing each day, but don't panic if you don't see a daily entry from me.