Holy Week -- Holy Cow!!!!!

Wow! This town has exploded! They began arriving Wednesday. By Good Friday it looked like a whole country of Nomads moved in overnight. Tents of all manner have been pitched on the beaches; vendors have moved in with their food and souvenir and craft stands. Every small and large condo and apartment has been rented.

Here are just a few scenes.

There are bands on the corner of every fourth block or so playing happy Mexican music, and everyone is having a great time. It is Holy Week in Mexico when families from cities near and far flock to the beaches to celebrate. It looks like Spring Break…but that’s next week.
Police and medical units came from Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora about 60 miles east, and it all seems to be well organized. The main street coming into town has been made one-way. Traffic leaving town has been routed over a dirt road through the desert that runs parallel to the main road. Fine for cars and pickups, but a bit of a challenge for RVs.

New Kino, a small town on the Sea of Cortez, has one main street running through it, Avenue Del Mar Cortez. In fact, it’s the only street. The town is primarily a snowbird destination—lots of rental condos, small motels and RV parks. There is little permanent population and almost no traffic. As Larry always says, “After 6:00 p.m.you could roll a bowling ball down main street and not hit a thing.”
We moved into town Tuesday and are “hiding out” at Kino Bay RV Park until the revelers leave. In the meantime, we had our car washed and waxed and our motor home washed before leaving for the U.S.—all for $35 with a $5. tip -- a great buy.


Saturday morning we ventured into town on our bikes. There was a lot of traffic, but the police told us to ride in the parking lane so felt quite safe. We stopped at the beer deposito. While Larry was making the purchase, this reveler beckoned me across the street to take his picture. He was very proud of his big bottle of Tecate.

The Birthday Bash

We met Karen and Jim at Western Horizon's resort in St. David, Arizona in 2004. They are from Walla Walla, Washington. When we met them, they weren't sure traveling to Mexico was such a good idea. But we assured them it would be just fine. So, we traveled to Kino together. They have been there every winter since, and even volunteer at the campground. Karen works in the office and teaches crafts; Jim runs the honey wagon and takes members on fishing trips.

Karen and Larry share the same birth date, March 15, and we are almost always at Kino when that date rolls around and naturally we always have a party. (As if we needed a reason.) This year the bash was at Pancho’s new restaurant. Well, actually this is his second year in the restaurant business.

We met Pancho four years ago and have since become good friends with him and his family. Pancho is first and foremost an artist who does beautiful ironwood carvings. He has five daughters, ranging in ages from about 18 to 3 yrs. including two 14-year-old twins. Last year his oldest daughter suggested he open a restaurant. He did, and they serve some of the best Mexican food in Old Kino at the most reasonable prices. They open at 5 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. The gringos come to eat early; the Mexicans later.

Anyhow, back to the birthday bash….. At 4:30 (he opened early for us) we started gathering at Pancho’s. There must have been at least 30 people there, just about everyone who is still at the Western Horizons park. Panchos is a small restaurant and they don’t normally handle large groups, but Pancho, his wife and daughters had everything organized and the food was served promptly.

After our meal, Pancho brought out two large birthday cakes. His family sang the Mexican happy birthday; then also sang it in English. Then, Pancho said according to Mexican custom the birthday person(s) takes a bite out of his or her cake before cutting it. Well, when in Mexico…….









The food was wonderful and we all had a great time. As we drove back home after the party, we captured this gorgeous sunset on the beach in New Kino.

The Desert Blooms

When you think of the desert does it conjure up images of a vast expanse of shifting sand dunes, devoid of vegetation or animal life? Well, such areas do exist in the Sonoran desert, but the Central Gulf Coast of Sonora, Mexico where the desert meets the Sea of Cortez, and where we spent the past six weeks does not fit that image. Here the landscape is dominated by huge saguaro cactus and other succulents, small trees, shrubs, including the Palo Verde Tree, Ironwood Tree, Limberbush, Creosote bush, Elephant Tree, and others that I can’t identify by name.






























The climate is arid, summers are very hot and winters mild. Average rainfall is less than five inches and occurs mostly in summer. Spring arrives about the second week of March, heralded by the greening of shrubs and trees, budding cactus and many flowering shrubs and it really
begins to look lush. Small critters begin to emerge from their winter
burrows. Yes, there are snakes too, sidewinders and some harmless types, but we campers leave before they emerge, and let them have the place to themselves.

An Update on Gato

When we left Mazatlan, our neighbors, Don and Eunice, agreed to adopt Gato for their remaining stay in Mazatlan. When they left, Frank and Sandy temporarily adopted Gato and he seems to have no problem moving from home to home.
















Frank and Sandy gave him a new condo, a Dos Equis box, which he seems to be quite comfortable resting and sleeping in.

A couple days ago, we received an email from Frank, telling us that he had Gato neutered and got his innoculations so he can legally immigrate to the U.S. and become a citizen. It seems that Connie, Manny, and Ramona their pup, are taking him to Oregon where one of their friends has agreed to adopt Gato permanently. Lucky cat!!!! I hope he doesn't have any trouble with the language.

Connie and Manny, along with Pat and Ray, will be stopping in Kino Bay for a few days on their way out of Mexico, so we are looking forward to being reunited with them and Gato for a few days. Everyone has tried to talk us into taking Gato with us, but as much as we like him and as cute as he is, we have decided to remain petless for the time being.