I Still am the Best Fisherman in the Family.

  After joining a bunch of Fb groups about doing the Baja, I felt that I had sufficient info for the border crossing. We decided on Mexicali East and that we would go early morning. We got up at 5:30, and arrived at the border at 6:30.  Okay, I did hide all my American and Mexican money in various locations as I might have been a we bit worried about a bribe or search. Well this was all for nothing, we arrived, and there was no line up, we drove to where they pointed to park the motorhome. A guard came up, asked for our vehicle registration, Adam handed it over while I was holding the passports. He asked us to open the motorhome and then he walked in with a flashlight and looked around for 10 seconds, while the kids were seated with their blankets at the table. Then he got out and told us to go on. No checking of the passports, no looking anywhere except what you could plainly see. What if those kids weren’t mine? I have never been at a border crossing where it was that lax. Oh well, I’ll take it.  

    Over the border we drove thru Mexicali and it was a sight. My kids have not seen any third world shack housing or so much garbage lining the streets. Wyatt, during the first 10 min, was like, “I don’t know if I want to stay in Mexico Mom.” There was the smell of burning garbage, and a haze on the horizon. It definietly brought me back to the months I spent over in Asia. So many people and not enough infrastructure or laws to keep it up.  It was a nice drive from the border to San Felipe and here we were parked right on the beach with all the hook ups for $43 CAD per night. Ahhhh. I am feeling Mexico might fit our budget better.

So, as I was writing the last paraghraph, I realized I forgot to get immigration visas for us! Insert freak out here!!!!!! I was so worried about getting thru the border that I forgot about them, and I knew to get them. I even talked to Adam about it in the days leading up to us crossing. UGH! I was not sure what to do next, and I was starting to panic as Mexicali was not some place we wanted to return to in our motorhome. I decided I was going to chat with our neighbours in San Felipe as their licence plate said BC, and I thought they might have some insight on the subject, and lucky for me, oh did they ever. I was so thankful to meet the Wells family. Laura and her husband were so great. Ends up, they had a crappy crossing in Tijuana and the immigration office there was actually closed on Sunday, so they had to get their visas in Ensenada the next day.  So, after a lengthy discussion, Adam and I decided that instead of going south from San Felipe as planned, we were going to backtrack and go west to Ensenada.  We are allowed seven days where no visa is needed, but after that you are required to have it. No one checks it here, but if you were ever to get into an accident they would need it. So it’s like insurance, a money grab, unless you need it. 

San Felipe was a delight! I don’t think we could have had a better beach, better Canadian neighbours, or better weather. It cooled down at night, and was warm during the days. December in Mexico is actually their low season for tourists, and it showed. So quiet! We beach combed for sea glass and chatted with people we met along the beach, which wasn’t many.  We ventured into town for my birthday and had a lovely Mexican meal by the beach. We bartered for some merchandise and walked home. A few blocks from home, we ran into a Christmas Parade. It was awesome, full of lights, candy, energy, and Spanish Christmas music, along with a few Mariah Carey classics. Ha ha.  We were sad to leave, and the boys both asked to return here for a week on our way home. I hope we can make that happen.

Ensenada was a 4 hr drive in the motorhome. Google said 3, but we are averaging an extra hour every 3/3:30 hrs of what google says.  We decided to pick a campsite south of the city as our Canadian friends told us the ones North were nothing to write home about.  Villarino Campamento was okay, nothing like San Felipe, but it was a place to rest our heads and close to enough to where we had to be to get our visas the following morning. Here, we ventured to the beach to explore the hotsprings. That’s right. There are hotsprings beneath the sandy beach. It moves randomly, but all you need to do is walk on the beach and dig where the sand feels warm. In some areas the sand is so hot it is steaming. We enjoyed these hotsprings for a couple hours. Gibson and Wyatt would heat up in the pools and then run to the ocean.  We definitely like the surf on the Pacific side verses the Sea of Cortez side.  

We braved Ensenada’s downtown to go the Customs/ Immigration Office first thing and get our FMM tourist visas.  Oh Mexico, you run on a different schedule than we are used to. They were supposed to open at 8:00AM, but then suddenly there was a sign on the door saying they would not be opening until 9AM. We were the first people in line, but it still took them 30 min to process our visas. Being in Mexico has actually unwound me a little. Usually I try to be productive and get things accomplished, but then stress when things are taking longer than they should (in my opinion). Not here, I feel their chill vibe and I am matching it with my own unwinding. This feels good. 

After becoming legal tourists, we travelled to a little town south of San Quinton, called Ejido Nueva Odisea. Here, we stayed on the beach at a campground called El Pabellon. It was cheap and right by the ocean. Once we parked, the kids quickly got changed and were off to the beach. On the beach we saw a bunch of locals that had parked right on the beach, and they were out in the surf digging. What were they doing? They weren’t fishing.  We got out Google Translate and asked the people, not in the surf, what everyone was doing. They were digging for clams. I turned to Adam and said let's go! The kids were already in the water, so I rolled up my pants and walked into the water with a shovel. What I thought was going to be an easy, fun activity, turned into a wave drenching, hard acheiving, clam digging adventure. The local families felt bad for us and sent their kids over with clams for us as we were not having any luck. They even offered us their pitchfork that they used to dig and and locate the clams.You poke it around in the sand until you feel it hit a hard clam under the sand. We used their tools for a bit, but still had no luck. But, as you know, I am the fisherman in the family, and today I did not disappoint. I figured out how to use our shovels better on the sand and surf, and I found 3 big clams! Ya baby!!!!! So, my title is still secure. Adam found one, and so did Wyatt. Gibson had a harder time as his arms were not long enough to reach to the sand and keep his head above the water. No need to have a drowning, we decided this was not the day for Gibson to get his first clam.  People here are so incredibly friendly, but not much English, so I was doing my normal sharades and saying ‘gracias’ over and over. A local, Raul, came up to us a couple times with fresh, raw clams, one with lime and Clamato, a second with Tabasco, offering us the fruits of his labour. The kids even tried, maybe not our favorite, but still pretty darn good. By the end of the afternoon we were all drenched, and covered in sand with sore arms, but we had a bucket full of clams for dinner. Another wonderful beach experience for us.  

An update on the renters: so they gave their official notice and are going to be gone in January. This is a real bummer for us, but I understand they need to do what they must for their family. But now, how do I find renters for 4 mos? Or do I even try and Airbnb it in the slow months? Either way we have to come back and deal, so we’ve booked some flights home in January to sort this out. We talked about it and think that we will return home for good sometime in April. This way I can still plant a garden and get some stuff done at the 70’s house before returning to work.  Plus I dont know if I mentioned this, but the US travel is costing us about  11,000-12,000$ a month CAD.  It still surprises me to write that when we are not living extravagantly, but insurances, and fees like flying home and extra insurances to go to Mexico add up.  So our budget might like us coming home sooner.  When we are home we live off about 8,000$ a month for the family, with sports/activites and even some travel. Crazy the difference eh?