We went to Mexico!

 

We heard out about a loosely organized meet-up in a campground on the shore of the Sea of Cortez near Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico. So, enticed by the sea and the sand, we made a reservation and off we went.  Despite a couple of mediocre tries, we never connected with the group, but no matter, we so enjoyed the beach and the water in February that we will be back.

This lovely beach was a great place to bury our heads in the sand while we cogitated for a little while about the state of affairs unfolding in our country.  

Besides the escape of the beach itself, we found solace in:

Sunrises

Early morning walks with the birds, the sand, and the sea

Or mid-morning or mid-afternoon or evening or anytime walks on the beach.

Or not walking at all, just sitting on the beach looking at it,

 

and listening to the sounds of the waves.

And being pampered on the beach.  This is Anna, who has given pedicures on the beaches for 18 years.   She says she wants to go live in the mountains.  

And this is Roberto, who sells $3.00 breakfast burritos of all kinds every morning. He pulls a wagon containing tackle boxes (the kind little children own). Each tackle box was lined with dishtowels keepng a particular type of burrito warm after leaving his wife's kitchen.  Despite his sour face in this picture, he was quite the friendly fellow.

We met lots of beach vendors.

We don't know these folks but they let me photograph the products of the push along cart above.

We ate lunches in the restaurant adjacent to the campground.  (This restaurant had restrooms open each day until 10 pm that we could use.  The restrooms in our campground were closed on Wednesdays!)

We visited the tourist-market street on the waterfront of Puerto Peñasco where we found Lucky's Restaurant.  Lucky's had a fantastic water view, complete with a cavorting sea lion.  Instead of taking a photo of the sea lion, I snapped this sign painted on an unlucky nose-down plane. I guess the sea lion seems more likely to be playing in the water than did an old plane crash landing on a  restaurant deck.  (Folks told us it covers up the signs of the restaurant next door.)  I do think I have to improve my photo composition decisions.

In order to get some idea of the local culture we sought lunch in the non-tourist areas.  The food was generally better.

Maybe 4 tables in a tiny store front.  No English was spoken there and the enchiladas were fantastic.

We tore ourselves away from the beach to visit the very nearby community of Cholla Bay, with its water.  Judging from the license plates, it is a little bit Arizonian expat community and a little bit of a Mexican fishing community. 

Houses with murals overlook the sea.  I would LOVE to live in this little turquoise house on the bluff.

Mr. Fish Taco's stand sports roof-top water tanks.  All the buildings have these, but these seem more Arizonian than Sonoran. We met one owner who said he gets his mail in Arizona at the border, so guessing he's on the expat side.  Seafood was mighty good, and we suspect freshly caught.  We didn't try the corn dawgs.

The beach in Cholla Bay.  There are official fish scales.

This house in Cholla Bay just has no explanation, not even that wedding cake of  tiered balconies, or especially the tiered balconies.  Loco and Tweety (who claim ownership) have been adding to it for 11 years or so, but it is way far from finished, and the neighbors tell us it has a dungeon, complete with chains, in the basement.  It also blocks their view of the water.

This was our first experience of driving our own vehicle in Mexico:   No right on red, alto means stop, and because the roads near the beach are sand-covered, ATV's pass slow American drivers on either side, regardless of where the road actually is. Traffic lights have two green lights.   

Bill learned to very, very gingerly navigate over topes (toe' payz).  These are suspension-destroying, hip-displacing, dump-the-entire-contents-of-our-cupboards-and-refrigerator-on-the-floor speed bumps.   These suckers are no joke and the first experience with one taught me to hang on and pray for Baby. 

These look innocent. Ha!

We bought the required car insurance, but did not 'temporarily import' our vehicle.  Thus we were restricted to Baja and parts of Sonora so not a lot of far -off exploring could be done. One day we did drive north inside the prescribed tourist area to explore a UNESCO World Heritage Site: El Pinacate y Gran Deserto de Altar Biosphere Reserve.  We found great displays about  El Pinacate, an inactive volcano that in geological time is not all that old in this  nifty visitor's center.   

Gran Deserto de Altar, or the Great Altar Desert, contains the largest sand dunes in North America.  We walked on the lava flows, but the sand dunes seemed to be a hike best navigated by younger folks. 

An Internet pic of El Pinacate. 

Check out the small cone in the midground, in front of the mountains.  That  shows what is perhaps the coolest part of the landscape;  it is one of probably several hundred cinder cones left over from eruptions scattered around the landscape. We also spotted remnants of lava tubes as  we walked through a lava flow.

 Here's Bill on a lava flow, on one, atop a small dune.

We left Mexico with regret and headed back to the US through Lukeville, AZ.

The Mexicans searched our van (but inexplicedly, not the garage, accessed only from the back doors).  The US side scanned our passports, had us drive through a giant X-Ray machine, and we were on our way back to Tucson. 

Approaching the Mexican/US border at Lukeville, AZ. After that no photos are allowed.   

We've never written so little about a 2 week time span, but we've never done so little either.  We heartily recommend sitting  by the water for a while. 

Woyaya