Tag: #Mexico

We decided on staying a couple more days here because Jamie Jo and her brother were playing at a local place and we heard he is an amazing violin player and her voice is great and powerful. We also found a groomer for Maggie and had an appointment for Friday morning. We set off and dropped her off and then headed back in to town to see if we could find a couple of things that we are getting low or out of. One is Dr Pepper Zero, and so far finding Dr Pepper at all has been difficult. The other are pods for the baño in the camper.

And we ended up finding neither, but did find the local market, which turns out to be a Walmart corner market. I also stopped by the local Autozone to see if I can get the diesel additive that has helped with the mileage and the DPF filter. And again, no. So we headed out to get the Maggers.

I had asked for her cut to be light since it is a bit colder here and they did what I asked. The cut is not as cute as she normally gets at The Animal Clipper in Mesa, but at least her hair is out of her eyes, her feet are no longer shaggy, and her butt is bald. We chuckled about her bare behind. But it works and was only $30.

We headed back in to town and stopped by a couple of interesting shops that turned out to not be so interesting. Kathy saw three little puppies in the street and we circled back to check on them. They had made it back in to some yard and were no longer in danger. They will probably end up at the rescue at some point. Headed back to the park, we passed Fat Boys and saw Bozo and a crowd so we stopped there. Kathy found a shop with a shirt she liked and we stayed at the restaurant for lunch. They have great sandwiches. Plus a dart tournament was going on and we watched and laughed and met some more expats and Canadians.

After lunch we headed back to camp, paid for a couple more nights, dumped the grey and black water tanks, and then settled in to camp. Unfortunately the wind the day before snapped a pole on our screen shelter and it is on its way out. We will drag it along for a while, but are disappointed in the Velor brand, considering the wind was only about 10-15 MPH and the tent was properly staked with ropes. Oh well.

Saturday morning I actually got a lot of things done. I managed to get a couple of posts here updated and set up a mail service for us. Did you know you can do an online notary? I did not. It cost $25, but a notary from Texas helped me and I got some forms signed and sent off for the mail collection service. We will have a mailbox in Florida for the time being, and they receive, scan, and can toss junk mail and shred items we have looked at. They also will forward any mail or package to us wherever we are (although that would be costly to another country). But at least we keep our official address in AZ, but all mail is sent to the mail service and we can manage it online there.

Saturday there was an off-road race ending in San Felipe and we met the locals at the hangout and then moved to the edge of the camp. We got to see several of the trophy trucks, bugs, and side-by-sides race to the finish. We left at sundown due to the cold and that we were supposed to see Jamie Jo play at the Italian place. Bozo drove us there, but ended up at Alfredo’s restaurant (a very nice upscale restaurant) and we had some clams and the famous Alfredo pasta… There was a saxophone player playing, but no Jamie… At 6 I asked Kathy to look up the restaurant she was supposed to play at, and we found out Bozo took us to the wrong place. We raced there and managed to see the last 90 minutes. She was great, her brother was good, and we got to dance a couple of songs. It was really nice.

After the show we ended up at Al’s again and joked around with the Bartender/owner. Pretty cool guy. He played dice with Bozo again and had Bozo pay up his tab from the other night when we drove him home. And we got a sticker from his place to put on Howie.

We are loving this place. The local transplants are amazingly friendly and welcoming and the locals are so nice. We headed down to the meeting Wednesday after putzing around the beach and walking the pups. We spent some time walking through each street to look at the cute little houses and RV conversions that make up Camp de Pesca. We met a couple of other folks at the gathering (Pam and Rob) at the meeting and leaned much more about the camp. There are a lot of full timers and part timers here that really enjoy this town and have added a bunch to the community. One group, Crystal, here dad are here to help with taking care of him after the Canadian social system failed them. Crystal’s mom is here and helps out a bit, but their story is heart felt and really makes us feel grateful.

The group at the meeting today was large, probably 8 or more, and they cannot say anything negative about the place and on many occasions, invited us to move here. The sun started to set behind the buildings, and it grew colder, and the “meeting” was adjourned. Bozo asked if we wanted to get dinner and Kathy mentioned she wanted to try some of the Pizza at Fat Boys. So off we went in his shaggin’ wagon.

We met Jamie Jo and her mom there just by chance. We were discussing a cool sign that we had seen on a house; “be aware of the energy that you bring to this house”, and Jamie Jo piped up and said “that’s my place”. And from there the night took off. Jamie Jo is a recent transplant here from Oregon, but her mom has been here for 40 years, and here parents were here before that. Jamie Jo works at a dog rescue place (Kathy was all in at this point) and told us of how the dog mission has reduced the number of dogs here by taking them to get spayed and neutered, and in many cases getting them adopted out; all the way up to Oregon. Even the dogs on the street are taken care of by this non-profit. It turned out the center has a dog-walking day on Thursdays where you can come and volunteer to walk the pups (again, Kathy was ll in). They also told us of the great music scene in San Felipe and that Jamie and her brother, a violinist, will be playing Saturday night. They convinced us to stay for the event, which also includes a Christmas Parade in the town. Her brother is a great musician and has a free school for kids here as well as up near Ensenada. Wow, this place.

The pizza was good at Fat Boys, and after we all finished chatting, Bozo took us over to Al’s bar, where they were supposed to be doing Karaoke. It turns out they were not, but we had a couple of drinks anyway. Bozo played a dice game with the bartender, where high hand picks the tequila and the low hand pays. Bozo lost I think three times. Needless to say, I drove the shaggin’ wagon and Bozo and Kathy back to the camp that night.

Thursday was a big day for Kathy, though. We packed up Howie and headed in to town to volunteer at the dog rescue. TBH, it was really fun out there and the dogs are at every stage of leash training. We all got a good work out of arms and shoulders, but the pups were really happy to get out of the kennels and walk the desert. We met a couple of other cool people that live in RV parks on the other side of the mountain. Tom and Sarah. Tom bought a place with a 5th wheel, a garage, an outdoor kitchen, and a shady area as well as a place for his travel trailer. He is from Illinois and moved here about 8 years ago. Sarah has a couple of places here; one in town and another south of town. I asked him the process of purchasing and he said it was pretty easy. You lease the spot from the camp owner, but everything above is yours.

Well, I wanted to check out the other side of the mountain; which amounts to about a 10 mile drive in to town. It’s a bit remote out there, but again, another set of communities like Club de Pesca, all with their own flavor. Unfortunately, when we got back to camp, Kathy noted the internet was not working. I knew I hit a tree but didn’t think much of it, but sure enough, the Starlink mount was broken off and the dish was no longer there.. so we mounted Howie back up and headed to the scene. Fortunately, I found it, again (as this is the second time I did this on this trip) and this time it was not broken. I will construct a mount for it soon so that will not happen again.

We managed to get groceries at the store, find a place to get Maggie her haircut, and drained the grey and black water tanks on the camper on the way back home. And we still made the meeting and met a new local, Louis, who is newer here, but loving the camp and its people. We talked a bit about healthcare and how to accomplish this while living here. Louis still has American insurance and goes back and forth to Yuma when needed. Bozo uses local folks, but is on a pension from Canada, and recommended a place for us to assist with billing.

And thinking of the things I am not getting done, I need to get on those. We still need to set up a mail box forwarding service, I still have to install the rear view camera/mirror, and I started on my app but have not made much progress on that. So I am going to post some photos here and publish this.

https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20251204-san-felipe

We rolled in to San Felipe, a beachside town on the northwestern coast of the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez). We looked on iOverlander to find some camp spots and decided on one close to the Malecón (boardwalk, sea wall, prominade) called Club de Pesca. The cost for the hookup was $45 per night by the ocean but the dry camping was $25 per night. We found a nice spot on the beach in the dry camp area and paid for 4 nights. They offered US or MEX pesos but the rate for 500 pesos was $29, so we paid US cash.

The temperature in this area varies from low 50’s to low 70’s this time of year and the beach is perfect for just hanging out. We walked down to the Malecón to do a little shopping and have some snacks. The beach is very clean and area is pretty nice; a lot nicer than the Puerto Peñaso area, and much less congested. Walking is just about a mile and very accessible. The shops are all about the same with the typical trinkets, shirts, sweaters, etc. that are found in Mexico tourist areas and the restaurants and bars are pretty large due to the massive amounts of people that converge here during the spring and summer.

We had some shrimp tacos and some beverages at a nice little place and then walked back on the opposite block. We passed several neat looking places and then cut back to the beach. When we got to our campsite, we stopped by the little bar, which is really a store, to see what was going on. We met two local transplants, Bozo and Fred, who invited us to hang out and chat. Fred has been coming here for 30 years and Bozo, 12 years, and both live here semi permanently. Both are from Canada, BC and Alberta, as are quite a lot of the folks down here. They invited us back to their daily “meeting” from 1-3:30PM. Bozo gave us a ride back to our camper and a quick tour of the campground. There are several places to purchase here and he quickly pointed them out. A lot of activity for our Monday.

On Tuesday, we enjoyed the beach, explored the campground, and just basically hung out. We did not want to intrude on the meeting, so we headed down around 2:45 to meet with the group. It turned out that the meeting had adjourned early and Bozo was driving out. He stopped and we chatted and he said he was going to a local place and asked us if we wanted to ride along. So we ended up at Fat Boys, on the corner of where everything in San Felipe happens.

Fat Boys is a local bar/pizza/hamburger joint owned by an American transplant. He is doing good business and has lots of “locals” that congregate here. Bozo seems to know everyone. We had several beers (I think 6) on top of the 3-4 consumed at the meeting and Kathy enjoyed a fresh margarita. We BS’d for a couple of hours, talked with a group that was hanging at the bar, and then Bozo was kind enough to bring us back to our camp.

What a neat little community. We feel so welcomed and at home here.