LOCATION: Bahia Kino, Mexico on Sea of Cortez. In state of Sonorra. About 250 miles southwest of Nogales, Arizona.
WEATHER: Beautiful. Sunny. High inland about 90. About 82 On the coast.
We tried to get an early start, so that we would arrive before evening. Our "early" start ended up being about 10;00 AM. We crossed through the border and no officials were there, so we just drove right through. So much for the list of foods we could not take in! We had to pay a toll for the toll road, and we were off! After about 15 miles, we finally encountered an immigration office. We had to get a tourist permit for $22 each. (This trip is becoming expensive....we had to buy car and trailer Mexican insurance for $320, too.)
The countryside was pretty barren, like southern Arizona. Saguaro cacti and dusty foothills. Poor-looking villages. There were lots of greenhouses and fields covered with plastic.....growing vegetables for export.
We stopped at a little open-air restaurant and had carne asado tacos. There was a refrigerated cabinet containing lots of delicious, spicy condiments.
Back on the highway, we had to pay several tolls. By the last one, we had run out of pesos. The clerk said credit cards were ok. Ours wouldn't work. Uh-oh! After trying 3 cards, we paid in USD. It was double the price, and no change. We were on the hunt for an ATM!
We had to drive through Hermosillo, a pretty big city. Somehow, we missed the bypass and had to drive through the city. It was a bit scary. We spotted some banks with ATMs, but there was no place to park.
After Hermosillo, we turned off the highway and headed west toward the coast. We stopped in a small town that has a bank and a place to park. George went to two ATMs while I watched the car. He came back empty-handed; the debit cards did not work! Oh no! He said he couldn't read the Spanish message, so he doesn't know why they wouldn't work.
There was nothing else to do but to keep going. We arrived in Bahia Kino at about 4:00 PM. There are two towns Viejo (Old) Kino, and Nuevo (New) Kino. We decided to go to Nuevo Kino since it was getting late, and there are several RV parks here, and our guidebook said it is "where the action is". The town is very narrow with one main road hugging the coast. We found this RV park which is right across from the beach. It looked pretty good and we could see some empty spots. We got ready to pay......they don't accept credit cards. The guy was nice and said we can go to the town's one ATM tomorrow to get pesos to pay tomorrow. I hope the card works!
After we settled in, we spoke with some of our neighbors. Many keep their rigs here year-round and spend 5-6 months here.
We walked down to the beach. Jorge's Restaurant is adjacent to us. George will fit right in!
The beach was pretty empty. No high-rises. Just a few nice beach houses.
We watched the sun set. Beautiful!
DINNER: Thank goodness we had ignored the guidebook and brought some hamburger and buns with us. We grilled them and I warmed up a can of corn. We also brought some milk so we can have cereal in the morning. Other than that.....we MUST get some cash tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Hope you find a way to get pesos. Give me a call or email if you want me to wire you some funds! Nancy H.
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