The weather was super good today.
I walked on the beach while two workers removed the
decals on my motorhome.
People in the high- rise resorts were sitting on their balconies.
Back at the motorhome the workers marked, with tape, the
areas where they have to paint.
They also cleaned the areas. Now I have to wait until
Wednesday. Tomorrow and Tuesday It will be windy and not ideal for painting.
Edgar, the manager of the campground, and his wife and
their helpers, mostly family members, wash and wax about four motorhomes a day.
The wife also does hair cuts for men and women, and takes
in laundry. She also takes care of their three sons. They are all hard workers.
Pierre, Edgar’s nephew, takes care of the entrance gate. I see him early in the
morning and late at night.
Almost every WIN had some body work done on their cars
and motorhomes.
My neighbor was grooming her little dog. He did not like
it, but was sitting still.
In the afternoon I went back on the beach. There were not
many people on our beach.
On the public beach were families and vendors selling ice
cream and other items. Tomorrow that beach will be empty too.
A large group of WINs went late afternoon on a sunset cruise and whale watching. I have done that many times and stayed with the motorhome.
February 19, 2018.
I got up at 12:30 AM and went outside and took the four
flags down. The wind had come early and the flags made a lot of noise.
After Hugs and Mugs I walked to the Super Ley grocery
store. It is about two miles one way. While walking on one of the dirt roads a
young couple past me. The young man asked me in perfect English whether I was
lost. I told him that I was on my way to the store. He mentioned that it would
be safer to walk on the regular asphalt roads, less dogs and homeless people.
I told him that he must have lived in the US to be able
to speak like that. He grew up in a small farm community near Fresno,
California. He was, a short time ago, deported.
There are no jobs available in Puerto Penasco. Young men come around parking areas with a
bucket and a rag and try to clean cars.
His young children are citizen and stayed behind with
their grandparents. His family sends him money.
I wanted to buy only a few items in the vegetable and
fruit section. I believe I had twenty pounds in my backpack when I walked back
to the motorhome.
At 3:30 PM a group left for the Tequila Factory.
Fernando, the host, gave us a lecture about the production of this Mexican, alcoholic beverage.
Tequila is made from the heart of the agave plant.
According to Fernando, tequila from the blue agave plant is the best.
Workers cut the leaves from the plant and then get to the
heart.
The heart is then boiled under very high heat. The juice
is then fermented.
Expensive tequila is aged in oak barrels for different durations.
The price of the product is accordingly.
The fun started in the tasting room. I did not participate
in the tasting, but learned a lot.
After the tasting most members of the group went to
Luke’s for four dollar hamburgers. My passengers and I went home.
During the day there was not much wind; it picked up
again in the evening.
February 20, 2018.
Today we went to: “The Intercultural Center For the Study
Of Deserts And Oceans. (CEDO).
Our first stop was the skeleton of a whale.
We took a group picture there.
From there we went for a lecture about the Sea of Cortez.
We learned about all the living things in the water and the future of them.
Less fresh water goes into the sea. The Colorado River has several dams and no
sediment enters the sea and nutrients are lost. The trickle of fresh water which
reaches the sea, is not enough and affects the salt level.
At the Visitor Center we learned about the mission of the
center.
The center is also a botanical garden. They have
beautiful sign marking the plants. The signs are made of concrete and have
painted pictures of the plants on them.
After the CEDO visit my passengers and I went to the
Kaffee Haus restaurant and ate lunch there. Most of the group went to the two
dollar taco place.
February 21, 2018.
Last night it was very cold. It was 41 degrees F. in the
motorhome this morning.
By 9:00 AM is was warm again. It did not do much today.
The painter had told me to move the motorhome this
morning near the office. I did this at 8:00 AM. Thirty minutes later five
workers came and started setting up a paint shop and putting brown paper on the
side of the motorhome.
They started spraying a base paint on all the bare areas.
Then the painter sprayed the blue areas.
Then the red ones.
We had collected over a thousand dollars to buy food for
some of the poor people in Puerto Penasco.
Yesterday, Mark and a helper went to Super Ley and told
them that we would buy 420 bottles of cooking oil, bags of flower, rice and
beans.
The people at Super Ley told them that they would gather
all those items during the night so we would not have to take them from the
shelves in the store.
Two pick–trucks went today and picked up the food items.
At 3:00 PM we formed a loading line.
First, we got a shopping bag.
Then we went to the truck with the oil and flower.
Then we went to the truck with the rice and beans.
The next step was to tie the shopping bag and hand it to
the people on the two empty trucks.
It went pretty fast and after the work was done we gathered
for a group picture.
On my way back to the motorhome I past the sea gulls
which appear every afternoon and seem to sleep in the campground.
The motorhome was finished and I was relieved that it
looked better than when the brown paper was still on the motorhome. With the
paper on, the blue and red appeared to be real bright.
They did a real good job and the price was right. I paid
$ 800.00.
In the evening we had a camp fire with dance. The group
is getting smaller. Some people went further south, to San Carlos and some went
back to the U.S. to join the main group or do other things.
February 22, 2018.
A few members of the group took the two trucks, with the
food items, to a poor neighborhood of Puerto Penasco.
Edgar, the manager of the campground, went with them. 210
families have a little bit more to eat.
I walked to the Post Office and then to the Melecon, the
big shopping area. I believe I walked about six miles.
February 23, 2018.
I am gaining weight. It is not my fault. I blame the
Mexican men and women who come through the campground, selling fresh baked
empanadas. They are filled with apple, pineapple and other fruits and they are
delicious.
One guy comes during our 9:00 AM hugs and mugs meeting.
He waits until the meeting is over and then starts selling. They are one dollar
a pie. In the store they cost only forty cents, but they are not fresh and
still warm inside.
After the meeting, and eating my empanada, seven of us,
in three cars left for The El Pinacate Y Gran Desierto De Altar Biosphere
Reserve.
This time we did not go to the visitor center, instead
drove the fifty-mile dirt road through the biosphere.
I am glad I did not take my car. We drove over wash board
condition and some pot holes.
We stopped at eleven interpretative stations.
Crater El Elegante was our first stop with a half mile
walk.
In the biosphere are about 400 volcanic ash cones.
We stopped at El Tecolote Campground: nobody was there.
We could see the Crater Cerro Colorado in the distance.
It is not black like the other ones, it has a light color.
The crater is reddish in the inside too.
Our group minus the photographer.
NASA was training the astronauts here before going to the
moon.
It took us about three hours to do the tour.
February 24, 2018.
On my morning walk it was low tide. Our trailers and
motorhomes are far away from the water.
Our neighbor is the Mexican Navy Recreation Center. They
have outdoor and indoor facilities. Friday and Saturday nights they have entertainment
there.
When they have karaoke it sounds awful, and of course
they make noise until 2:00 AM.
After hugs and mugs a few of us went to Lucky’s Cantina
for breakfast. I went to have another Virgin Pina Colada. The breakfast is free
with a $ 5.00 drink. The breakfast alone is worth that.
In the evening some of the group went to the Oyster House
for dinner and entertainment.
February 25, 2018.
This was a super day. The weather could not have been any
better. We had scheduled a pot luck for today and we were worried that we would
have a windy day. In the morning I went to Super Ley to buy more broccoli for
my broccoli salad.
The day was perfect and there was plenty of delicious
food. The group is getting smaller every day.
I was still undecided what day I would leave. The
official day of the end of this outing is March 5th. I bought the
car and motorhome insurance until that day.
Today I decided to hang around and see how many are left
on the 4th of March. I will not head north by myself. It is safer to
drive in groups.
One of our people left last week and got a speeding
ticket in Sonoyta, the border town.
The city policemen told him the ticket was $ 120.00 and
he would take the money. Garth told him that he wanted to go to the police
station and pay there. The police man did not tell him where the police station
was. He finally found it and paid $ 35.00.
We have to b e careful in Mexico. When the sign is marked
40 K/H, that means about 26 M/H.
After the pot luck I went for a walk on the beach. It was
low tide again.
There was a loud band on the beach and Mexican people
were dancing in the sand.
In the evening we had again a camp fire.
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