Lowes Travels

We had so much fun in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico last year that we decided to return for another ten days of frolicking on Playa Bonita’s sandy beach.  This year we were there from Feb 5th-15th with our Canadian friends Matt and Gloria, and with John and Sharon of On the Road of Retirement.  We had our own little convoy of three RV’s to cross the border together.

My previous post about last year’s visit is here, and the fun things we did with the Winnebago caravan group we were with is here.

Crossing the border was easy-peasy, with lady Border Patrol agents asking us how many cases of cerveza were we carrying.  They opened our refrigerator and found everything in order, and off we went into Mexico!

The moment we settled in at our site a group of workers approached Steve and asked if he needed any work done on Betsy, and this year we were ready.  These vendors are vetted by the park and management gets a cut for every job completed.  We had the faded “W” Winnebago stickers removed on both sides, and some touch-up work done on other areas of the coach.

We did not intend to have Betsy’s interior cleaned, but after hearing rave reviews about the work these folks do at a very reasonable price we went ahead with it.  It took six hours for two guys to give Betsy “the works”.  They did a great job from ceiling to floor, and the old girl never looked better.  Then we had her washed the day before we left so we could proudly drive her back into the U.S. looking like new!

While getting all of that work done we also kept ourselves active.  Our ritual every morning was long walks on the beach as the sun came up:

The sounds and smells of the beach were relaxing and refreshing as we imprinted our steps in the sand.

I was so happy to see some of my feathered friends that I hadn’t enjoyed for some time:

Each day after our walk, party time with friends commenced.  Our group swelled by a couple more as Bob and Deedee (they came with the Winnebago caravan again this year) also hung out with us during several of our outings.  We went into town to taste some not so authentic Mexican food with our margaritas and cervezas.  Every day was party day, just like the spring breakers except we were a bit more subdued and kept our clothes on at all times.

We also did some shopping, but unfortunately there is no room for these wonderful goodies in Betsy.  We just admired the colorful and intricate Mexican art on display:

But the vendors at the beach were luckier, for we did patronize them as much as we could:

As I mentioned in my previous post, our “Jeep friends” are very kind and cool people.  Well, here we were again, being hauled around by Bob and Deedee.  They took us along 4-wheeling on beach dunes about 65 miles south of Puerto Peñasco in a tour group with 27 other Jeeps.

Our friends all brought their pets to Mexico, and like their owners the doggies had a wonderful time whenever they were free to run and play on the beach:

Not only were the sunrises gorgeous, but the sunsets were memorable as well.  Our evening ritual was to sit and socialize at the beach with our friends while waiting for the sun to wave goodbye and dip behind the horizon once again.

Every twilight the sun left us with different hues in the sky to be marveled at, and there was never the same canvas.  Here are a few of those gorgeous moments:

And just like last year we filled our freezer to the top with the colossal sweet shrimp and seafood this place is famous for.  U.S. Customs allows 50 pounds of seafood to be brought into the states, and we would have brought that much if we could have fit it!

Like all good things, our winter break at the beach came to an end.  It was time to head back into the U.S., and after our difficult crossing from Canada last year we were extra careful to declare every agriproduct we would bring back in.  We actually wrote a list of everything in the fridge and freezer, and whether it was cooked or raw.  The Border Patrol agent appreciated it, and although he still rummaged through the freezer, our 28th border crossing was painless.  Unfortunately, John and Sharon were stopped for a long time for reasons none of us have figured out.  Maybe it was just a random thorough search, but we’ll never know.  Their story is here.

 

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