Christmas at Las Jaibas

Saturday afternoon, the children from Mazatlan Centro Salvation Army Orphanage entertained us with Christmas carols including the Spanish version of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Captain Perez and his wife of the Salvation Army have dedicated their lives to helping these children. The children have at least one parent, however their parent(s) are not able to take care of them. The Perez’ take them to school, make sure they have clothing and feed them two meals daily, thus keeping them off the streets. The children’s appearance was arranged by Gilles and Laura Hebert, a Canadian couple residing in the RV park who have wintered here for several years. The Heberts also spearheaded a drive for donations, resulting in total of $8000 Pesos (equivalent of about $800 USD) to this worthy cause. After singing for us, the children engaged in a lively piñata party.

Sunday we celebrated Christmas with a huge potluck dinner. The park owner/manager donated five turkeys that were cooked by park residents, and each family brought at least one dish to share. The food was great, and the evening was topped off with dancing under the stars to a Mexican band that, to our surprise, played and sang American songs.

Mazatlan

Wednesday, Dec 19 we left the Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Nogales, Arizona, our jumping off place to Mexico, where we had spent the night and did some last minute shopping. We headed south across the border stopping at Kilometer 21 for our visitor Visas and vehicle permits. We spent that night in Guaymas at a beachfront hotel built in 1936 with an RV park in back. The hotel is still a pretty classy place and the RV park is spacious and well-maintained. Thursday night, was a different story. The Los Mochis RV park is also old, but has seen better days. We won't be staying there again.

Friday we arrived at Las Jaibas (the Crab) RV Park in warm, sunny Mazatlan, where we will stay for the next five weeks. We made some great friends here last year, most of who were already here. The park is really full this year, due to closing of three other RV parks, the land having been sold to developers of high-rise condos and time-shares. Fortunately we had made reservations, as we took the last available spot. All told, we had a great trip down, the highways and weather were good and we didn’t get lost once.

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

December 15-16, 2008
The eclectic art community of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico is nestled in the mountains at 4200 ft. just off Interstate 25. Formerly called Hot Springs for its mineral rich hot springs, the town was renamed Truth or Consequences in 1950 after the popular 1940s radio show that was later broadcast on TV. (If you're too young to remember this, you can get the scoop here: http://www.truthorconsequencesnm.net/area_TorC_ralph_edwards.htm) The town's hot mineral springs have been used for centuries for rest, relaxation, rejuvenation and healing—both physical and spiritual.

Our friends, Woody and Genie Thomas, have been here for about a month, workkamping at the Riverbend Hot Springs Budget Resort & Spa. It is advertised as a relaxing retreat, a romantic getaway, and a unique adverture for the whole family. One of their perks is getting to “soak” as they call it, in the hot mineral pools.

Woody and Genie met us at the I-25 junction and led us to Cielo Vista RV Park. After checking in and having lunch, they gave us a tour of Riverbend Resort and the unique town of Truth or Consequences.

Sunday morning the Thomas’ took us to Elephant Butte, a few miles north of T or C, for a tour of Turtle Back Mountain. But first, we had breakfast at the Big Food Express. It took us a few minutes to absorb the décor—purple walls with with travel posters from all over the world; Oriental umbrellas hovered over small tables, and a small stage with a beaded backdrop. Contrary to its name, it is not a fast-food restaurant, although the owner (a one-man kitchen staff) quickly prepared our breakfast orders (Huevos Ranchero, Egss Benedict and steak and eggs), served them all at the same time, and they were hot and delicious. (We tried singing for our breakfast, but that didn't work.)

Back in town, we stopped at Dukatti’s Tie Dye shop and visited with the proprietor. He snapped our photo in front of his psychedelic rainbow wall, then invited us to browse in his spacious shop packed with tie-dye clothing. We felt we had passed through a time warp back to the 70s. There was rack after rack of tie-dyed clothing--canvas shoes, shirts, jackets, dresses, and even men’s Jockey shorts. It was hard to believe the amount of tie-dyed merchadise he told us he ships to numerous outlets.

In the evenings, as the temperature began its descent into the twenties, the four of us enjoyed a relaxing “soak” in one of Riverside’s hot pools overlooking the famous Rio Grande River. What a life! It was an enjoyable two days and we really hated to leave, but reservations elsewhere were calling.

On the Road Again

We're on the road again. On Thursday, Dec. 13 about 4:00 p.m. we left Dallas in our new (to us) 2001 39-ft. Tradewinds diesel motor home. After a year or more of looking at motor homes and going to RV shows, we finally found a motor home we both liked. In fact, there isn’t anything we don’t like about our Tradewinds.

Since we got a late start, we we drove only 180 miles and spent our first night in Abilene. The next night we stayed west of El Paso and Saturday morning with 630 miles behind us, we were in New Mexico headed for Truth or Consequences.