Mexico!!

After we left Kingman, we dropped off all our extra vehicles at my brother Jeff's house in Dewey and headed south. We spent a nice Sunday with our son, Chris, and his girlfriend, Sharon. Sharon cooked an amazing beef tenderloin dinner for us, and an equally fabulous breakfast, which I was unable to eat because I was sick with what turned out to be (I think) a weird migraine. After breakfast, Steve bundled me out to the Royal Palms, and I sipped chamomile tea (thoughtfully provided by Sharon) and felt sorry for myself all day while we drove to Patagonia State Park, which is near Nogales, AZ. This is a place I'd like to go back to, when we have the time and I'm feeling better. A pretty campground right on the lake. It's a prime birdwatching area, and the rangers lead birdwatching hikes around the lake all year round. There are moonlight hikes too, which sound cool, and poontoon boat tours of the lake. It would be fun to paddle our kayaks here. Maybe this winter.

This morning, after an Imitrex wiped out the last of my headache, we set out for San Carlos, Mexico. We crossed into Nogales, Mexico, without any trouble, and picked up our tourist visas. My Spanish isn't what it used to be (not that it was ever very good) and the immigration guy's
English wasn't much better than my Spanish. I tried to explain to him that even though we were only going to be in San Carlos a few days, we were coming back to Mexico in February and wanted the 6 month visa. He didn't understand, and we ended up with the (free) 7 day visa instead of the $26 six month one. Not a huge deal, but it means that we'll have to get another one when we go to San Felippe in February.

The drive to San Carlos was longer than we had expected (took 7 hours), but was also much prettier. We had expected the dry desert country of Baja; Sonora, at least the part we are in, is greener and more scenic, with rolling hills. The highway is better too.However, the few towns we did go through reminded us of how much we dislike the topes (speed bumps). San Carlos itself is a pretty little town on Bahia (bay) de San Carlos on the Sea of Cortez. You can see Guaymas, a larger town, farther down the bay. Totanaka RV park, where we are staying, is right across the street from the beach. I took the dogs for a long walk by the sea late this afternoon. The sun was setting over on side of the bay as a huge full moom was rising over the other side. It was gorgeous. Later, Steve and I walked to a restaurant and sat at a table outside, overlooking the bay. We feasted on shrimp tacos and sipped margaritas while a mariachi band serenaded us at our table. Your'e supposed to tip them if they sing to you; I wasn't sure how much to give them so I gave them a $5 bill. They were pretty impressed--passed it around, saying"Muy Bueno," so I guess I overtipped. Did I mention that the weather is warm and sunny here and people are walking around in shorts and T shirts? I'm never coming home.