ATV tour in San Carlos

While we were staying in San Carlos, we went on an ATV tour using a Rhino for 3 hours one day.  We explored canyons, an old movie lot for "Catch 22" made in the 1960's, a cattle ranch, and the coastline north of El Mirador. The end of the tour involved riding up and down the sand dunes.

Here are a few photos from our expedition.

Rock formation in canyon

Tropical canyon in the desert.

 A spring appears from part way up the side of the mountain, providing a source of water for tropical plants not normally found in the desert.

When we visited the area used to film the "Catch 22" movie in 1970 nothing much was left of the set.  The remains of one building of an entire airport scene are all that is left.  We crossed the airplane landing strips that are now bits and pieces of pavement on the desert floor. The film had 17 B-25 bombers that actually flew out of this Guaymas / San Carlos location. 15 of these airplanes still remain, including one in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington. One B-25 that was in very poor condition was blown up as part of the story and eventually buried beside the runway, where it remains to this day.

V&B at Catch 22 movie lot

We drove up a hill to view the coastline.  Then drove down and stopped at the waters edge to examine the starfish clinging to the rocks and jellyfish floating near shore.

view from top of hill of coastline looking south to El Mirador

Sunflower starfish top side

Sunflower star fish under side

underside of dead jellyfish

Offshore was an island of Cardon Cactus. Everyone calls it Cactus Island...what a surprise! This type of cactus grows to be the largest in the world.  The trunk can be up to 1 meter in diameter and 19.2 meters in height (62.9 feet!). It was very unusual to see these cacti surrounded by salt water, the only vegetation on this little island.

Island of Cardon Cactus

Exploring the San Carlos area

We are staying at Totonaka RV Park in San Carlos which is a popular stopover of RVers on their way north at the end of the winter.  We met up with several couples who wintered in Lo De Marcos and are staying here on their way home to B.C.  The weather is cooler here than it was in Lo De Marcos. The daytime temperature is 27C with overnight temperature of 13C.  Quite comfortable for sleeping. 

our site at Totonaka RV Park

morning view of the hill from the kitchen window of our RV

a view of the other side of the hill from the photo above as we walk back from buying a bag of oranges

We spent the last couple of days exploring the coastline between Guayamus, Miramar, San Carlos and Mirador.  The scenery is a nice blend of Sonora Desert (like Arizona) with the turquoise waters of the Sea of Cortez.  Unfortunately the water is too cool for swimming. 

a view of San Carlos from across the bay on the road to Miramar

a view of the harbor at Mirador

View 1 from the lookout point outside of Mirador

View 2 from the look out point (the white speck in the middle is a 36' cabin cruiser)

Rock sculptures from erosion

Los Glorias – NOT

It was NOT glorious in Las Glorias

We had high expectations that Los Glorias was going to be such a nice spot to stop at for a few days. It is in a good location on our route northward that breaks up the 10 hour drive between Mazatlan and San Carlos. But it is a 45+ minute drive off the highway. But with the expansive beach and seclusion it should be worth it.
We arrived expecting to stay 3 nights and now can’t wait until morning to get out of here. The beach goes for miles, wide and nearly flat. Sand dunes back the beach and then totally flat land behind them. The wind is blowing about 30 miles an hour, constantly. The ocean is too rough for swimming and the waves aren’t large enough to boogieboard. And the dusty sand is blowing everywhere. Dust is coating the rig, not just outside, but inside. We have to close the windows facing into the wind. Thankfully the temperature didn’t get too hot.
The campground is supposed to have free WiFi. Huh! You get internet access by using a rocket stick that I had to borrow from the girl in the office. Not the fastest service either but we got to check emails and send out a note of today’s safe journey. Later it will turn out the the stick software would screw up our normal WiFi settings and will need some research on how to fix.
Then there are the other services. We have water service right to our site but there isn’t enough pressure to push the water up the hose and into the rig. There is a 15 amp outlet and a sewer dump. We don’t need the sewer yet so that is no big plus.
The campground sites are all dusty sand, without concrete pads and dirt gets tracked into the rig even when you try not to. 
There is a restaurant and we hear it has good food, but we don't eat there as we have dinner on board. (We need to consume all our meat or throw it out before we reach the border.)

Ok for all these negatives, maybe we would have a different opinion if the wind wasn’t blowing so hard. The walk on the beach would have been enjoyable, miles on end hunting for shells. We could have sat outside enjoying the gentle ocean breeze, watching the waves lap the shore. Or gone for a swim in the pool. It might have been nice. Later, we will learn that people who had stayed at another beach location south of us, would have the same windy conditions and blowing sand.
But…there is  caravan of 25 Quebecois arriving tomorrow and we don’t want to be around when they take over the park. They do like to party and talk loudly.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Guaymas / San Carlos to stay at Totonaka RV Campground, where we stayed on our first night coming south. We will spend a week there, exploring and relaxing, before heading north the final 400 km to the border in Nogales.

day exploring Mazatlan

On Monday morning (Mar 21st) we hopped in the car to drive into the "Centro" area of Mazatlan to visit the Municipal Market and dropped into the Panama Bakery to pick up a couple of treats.  Then we drove north to the Cerritos area north of Mazatlan -- a new area of condos with 3 RV parks.  It was much further north of the city than we had anticipated and made us appreciate the Zona Dorada where we were staying.

In the afternoon we walked the beach area near our RV park.  Flat -- you can wade a fair distance out.

beach at Mazatlan

We stopped to visit an artisan market on the main street on our way back to our RV park.

The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed relaxing by the pool, hopping in for a swim in the pool and relaxing in the hot tub. All part of the park's facilities.

In the evening we dined at the Panama Bakery/Restaurant near our park.

Then time to get ready to hit the road again the next day.

Time to Leave Lo De Marcos

Sunday, March 20th we started our journey northward.  We have been in Lo De Marcos since Dec 1st and it was sad to say goodbye to the friends we've made over the past few months. 

Our first stop on our way north is Mazatlan.  We took a leisurely and less mountainous route through San Blas and Villa Hildago to Hwy 15 Libre.  This saved us about $100 in toll fees and $30 in gas as opposed to the route from Compostella to Tepic and the Hwy 15 Cuota from Tepic to Mazatlan.

We arrived in Mazatlan about 3 pm.  Hot and humid 33C with mosquitoes biting us as we set up on our site at San Fernando RV Park.  Tonight we went to the Fat Fish Restaurant know for their great rib dinner at a cost of $160 pesos for 2 (about $14 Canadian).    

Tomorrow we will do some exploring around Mazatlan.

Carnaval in La Penita

March 8th we attended the final day of Carnaval festivities in La Penita.  There was a small parade on main street.  The following are a few photos from the occasion.

Trunks of palm trees painted for the "carnaval"

Mayan theme statute

Bubbles

Balloons

parade announcer

clowns and "zebra burro"

Coca Cola float

Pretty girls riding side-saddle

local fishermen's float

school queen

school band

local real estate sells more than houses!

Local Wildlife

Recently the caymen and his buddy turtles have been sunning in the ditch near the laundry area of our campground. One day we counted 6 turtles. 

the first 2 turtles emerge from the culvert

One day at Spanish class, the manager of a local campground found a young boa constrictor on the road near his house.  He brought it to show to his daughter and several of us at the park at the time.  He estimated the boa was about 4 years old.  The snake was released into the jungle nearby shortly after the photo was taken.

sample of expenses

Today I went to the local butcher.  For 72 pesos ($6.00 Canadian) I purchased 1/2 kg of  extra lean ground beef and 1/2 kg of smoked pork chops.

1 kg of tortillas costs 11 pesos (less than $1) and is way too much for 2 people to eat before going stale.  We usually buy 1/4 kg of tortillas at a time. 

Bread from the bakery is relatively expensive:  250 pesos ($2.09) for a small loaf and 400 pesos ($3.33) so I bring my own breadmaker.  $20 worth of flour lasts me the entire 5 months we are away as we eat only 1 loaf of bread per week.

There are now 4 hair salons in Lo De Marcos.  The cost of a haircut ranges in price from 30 pesos ($2.50) to 45 pesos (< $4) -- same price  for man & woman.

The dentist in town charges 300 pesos ($25) to clean one's teeth and check for cavities.

Hydro is expensive here at 3.5 pesos (almost 30 cents) per kwh.  We run our furnaces, fridge, stove and water heater on propane.  We use hydro for small appliances, microwave, TV & computer.  Our total hydro bill for our 3 months 3 weeks stay in Lo De Marcos is 900 pesos ($75). 

Our total cost of propane since we left home has been $119.

The price of gas for our vehicles has risen to 9.0 pesos (about 85 cents) per litre.



. 

Bluebutton Jellyfish

On Sunday March 13th, the afternoon was hot and sunny with no waves so we decided to go float with our pool noodles to cool off in the ocean.  As we approached the water, we were warned by other gringos not to go in as there was a large number of small blue jellyfish-like creatures in the water and we might get stung.  We noticed many of these creatures up on the beach.  They were only about an inch in size.

After doing research we found out they do not sting but can cause skin irritation.

Blue Button Jellyfish

Here's a link to more info:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080610120556AAEYho7

Visit to Chacala

Chacala is located about an hour north of Lo De Marcos.  A 9 km drive to the beach from Hwy 200 on a paved road. We decided to drive up to spend the day there since we had not visited the place since Feb 2003.  At that time the place was being rebuilt after a Hurricane Kenna had done major damage in Oct 2002.

There are many more homes in the area now and large palapas for the restaurants.  It is a lovely place to spend the day.

We highly recommend Chico's restaurant on the south end of the beach.  We enjoyed a lunch of red snapper cooked over mesquite wood fire.  Excellent!

view of the beach from the fishermen's wharf

While we were walking along a path to visit the marina, we spotted an iguana with a forked tail sunning himself on a rock!