We Are Learning Some Mexican Ways

Being the last day before the weekend, we took off for exploring a part of the area. Key was doing it early and before the heat of the day would settle in.

On the map I found a possible place for dumping waste water - a campground in connection with the Hotel Playa De Cortes. 

After entering Hwy 124 we took the first turn-off to the right - which was a good, but narrow road. It led along a nature preserve and we saw the "Delphinario" complex. 

View across the nature preserve with Cerro Tetakawi in the background

Then we got through some pretty upscale neighbourhood some of the part of a gated community - clearly folks with a fat bank account.

The Hotel Playa De Cortez is located at the end of a bigger main road with a huge wall forcing you to stop. Half of the Spanish-style opening was closed off with a gate, but the left side was open. An empty chair placed on the side signaled that a guard should be sitting there, but at this time there was nobody. We drove into the yard and saw something what looked like an RV-Park, but entirely empty and overgrown with weeds. In the background on top of a mountain a building resembling a castle, made of concrete. From a video I have seen, I know that this monstrous building was the former headquarter of a local cartel boss. I briefly checked out a faucet but there was no water. A single very old 5th-wheel, grown in with weeds was parked in one of the sites. And not a single human soul around. I got a eerie feeling and we got out of there. 

Googling the hotel, I found out that it is still open for business, except for the campground. It was built in 1935/36 and was famous for its features and elegance. Booking.com offers overnight stay for $77/night.

Ok, it wasn't the place we had hoped for so we went into Guyamas and to Walmart. The Walmart is absolutely comparable to any Walmart in the US. We got ourselves some swim shoes which hopefully would protect us a bit against the stings of the baby stingrays, we had been warned about.

While I went into Walmart first, Bea and Dixie stayed in the car, AC on full blast. Then we switched. Now, I certainly made a mistake by going into the self-checkout. My Spanish needs a lot of upgrades if I want to understand the messages this machine shows. Trying and failing I needed the help of a Walmart associate several times. Next time, I will seek out a human cashier for sure.

Next Bea wanted to find a coin laundromat. There are only a few, if any, in Mexico. Laundromats in Mexico are full service where one drops off the laundry, then comes back (after shopping for hours) to pick up your stuff. Some of these facilities are clean others are filthy. We found a real clean one close to downtown San Carlos with an English speaking lady behind the counter.

Getting back to camp, it was the usual heat, and I went for cool-off into the ocean.

Not Much Cooler Yet

While we were traveling south we froze. Except for the last 4 days when reaching New Mexico,we had been longing for warm weather. Now our glances on the weather forecast are hopeful for some cooler weather. Today's 34C ((93.2F) are still not giving us much relief.

As a precautionary measure Dixie got an old T-shirt of mine which was doused in water. 

Then she found her "hole" where she lay the entire morning. Bea even set up a sun umbrella for her to get some shade.

In the afternoon we got more shade on the other side and we hung out there the rest of the time.

Late afternoon our camper neighbour came over letting us know that a group of volunteers were releasing sea turtle babies into the sea. So we went over to observe.

And wasn't that quite the event happening here? The little ones, about 150, were let go in the surf zone and while most of them went straight for the water, others needed some help to waddle into the right direction. Spectators like us had arrived to follow the release. 

Providing some directional help

A Sizzling Hot Day

 We were prepared for day temps in the 80s, but what we got today was 96F, and the first indication (besides of the forecast) was that we woke up to almost 72F (22C) at 6:30am. I had planned to make a quick run to San Carlos for drinking water and a few more groceries. So I wanted to go as early as possible but had to wait until 8am for the businesses to open. By that time, the heat had become a tad uncomfortable, especially when having to run errands.

In order to find the places I wanted to go to, I used Google maps. But because the Tetakawi BLVD consists of a main center run with two lanes each way and a business spur on either side of the middle the Google advice was at times confusing. This will all be part of the initial learning curve and thus not any further issue in the future.

Returning to camp, it was time to creep up in the shade, but first I hopped into the ocean for a swim. Now it fits here to talk about a certain "danger" lurking in the water. Nope, not sharks, but baby stingrays. They are hiding under the soft sand and prefer, just as us, the warm water. It is advisable not to step on these creatures as they can hurt you with their poisonous barbed tail. (looks alot like a scorpion) If hit by a stingray one needs to get the foot into hot water to avert most of the pain and the poison to travel up the leg. Pain meds are helping! a bloody wound would occur needing treatment. Luckily, the big grownup Mom and Pop stingrays live farther out in the ocean, but they can actually kill a human.

Walking into the water one should shuffle the feet across the sand, which will scare those creatures away. It also helps to wear shoes made of special stingray-resistant material. We will be looking for them in town.

So let's move to the sizzling weather today. A breeze sprang up and made our lives a little better, but dogs have no benefit of it, as they can only get rid of body heat through their tongue and their feet. They don't feel any cooling in wind. So this afternoon Dixie started serious signs of overheating. So we put her into our car after starting engine and AC. After a while she slept on the floor. And now, after dark, she is back in the bus sleeping away - exhausted after this day.

So yes, even a paradise has its problems.

For days we have preferred to eat cold meals, not only to avoid feeling even hotter, but also to avoid heating up the bus. If any cooking is necessary, we do it in the morning.

Another hot day will come up tomorrow. Let's see......

The First Swim And A Lazy Day To Follow

As time goes by we are falling completely in love with this place, The weather, the scenery, the gorgeous white beach, it is all worth it. Now, tomorrow we are gonna have a very hot day at 36C (96.8) and we need some drinking water, so I will go to town for that and a few other errands, and I will go alone and early on as these temperatures are too high to leave Dixie in the car, even it is for 5 minutes only.

Dixie prefers to relax in her favorite home-made spot rather than go shopping

Speaking of Dixie, she is the perfect guard dog. This afternoon a car with no license plate came by with an older driver who wanted to sell shrimps and tamales. Dixie started barking forcefully We politely declined his offer, but he didn't speak any English so we tried with Google translate. When we held up the phone so he could speak into it, he turned around and left. Probably thought we would record him.

And because this was another super nice day, I finally opted to get into the water. Aaaah, what a heavenly experience for a guy who hasn't been in ocean water for decades. Yes, we live on the ocean back home, but unfortunately, the water is too cold. 28ft of tidewater exchange every day keeps the temperature way down. Here, the water temperature was around 26C or 79.5F. So I say this is a whole different ball game.

The rest of the day was passed lazily and resting.