San Felipe - a couple weeks on the beach

To avoid the madness and congestion of Mexicali for the past few years we’ve been crossing the border in the little pueblo of Tecate.

I’d not recommend this route for larger rigs, but it’s just fine for us.

From Tecate we drove the rural free road (Mexico  2) to La Rumarosa.  It’s always interesting what traffic we see along this route.

We could have picked up the federal toll road (Mexico 2D) in Tecate, it is a much faster route, but not as scenic.  We do have to pick up Mexico 2D in La Rumarosa.  From La Rumarosa there is a nearly 3000 meter elevation drop in the 30 km to La Cuesta.  There are rest areas along the way to enjoy the view.

The view from the top of the little lookout gives an idea of the workout the brakes will get on the way down ... and the transmission on the way back up!

At each of the rest stops are baskets for graffiti.  The spray can artists are encouraged to decorate rocks and leave them for others to enjoy.  It seems to be working as there is a minimal of graffiti elsewhere. 

As is our custom we stopped for lunch and fuel at La Cuesta, before continuing on to San Felipe.  It has clean restrooms, fuel and a beautiful modern restaurant.

Fran’s brother, Bobby, is in town at his wife’s house, Aleida enjoys her house in town a few months out of the year and helps take care of her mother.  We stopped to pick him up, only to discover he fell a few days earlier and broke his clavicle in 2 places.

He’s in good spirits and is anxious to join us at the Beach House to see if the sand berm we put up in November is holding.  I too would rather be sitting in a beach chair, than cooped up in town.

Good news that the berm and sandbags have held!  

Although we have been through a few high tides, we have not yet weathered it through the storm season.

We take advantage of the opportunity to add to the berm, when the front loader was moving sand on another section of the beach.

For Aleida’s birthday, she decided to host her own party at the Beach House. 
Preparations take one day, Fran does the cleaning, I do windows and Aleida cooks.  Lucky Bobby gets to watch and read his book.

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The party starts at lunchtime and lasts another TWO days!  Lots of Karaoke, music, dancing, food and beer.  These folks know how to party!

I think only Bobby appreciated Paradise by the Dashboard Lights as Fran and I tried our hand at the duet.  I did better at Rave On ...

Despite the singing and dancing going on below, I headed out on the roof to my customary spot to call it a night.

The morning dawns over the Sea of Cortez.

And the sunset over the Back Bay, easy to see why I usually sleep on the roof.

We buttoned the Beach House up for the summer, or until travel returns to more normal.  The work on the Puertocitos Road, I mentioned in my last post HERE,  is mostly completed.  Even the Oh Shit Dip has been repaved.  It still deserves lots of respect.

We only stopped in town to see if Popeye’s had shrimp – nope.  We did pick up some fresh tortillas and a bottle of Monte Xanic, my favorite Mexican wine.

After dropping Bobby back a Aleida’s house we retraced our route back to Tecate.  After being off-the-grid for over a week, (no electricity, no TV, no radio, no cell) we were totally surprised by the nearly 3 hour wait to return to the US.

That's Trump's new wall on the right, with the old border fence at the top of the hill.  

The Border Guard only wanted to know what cleaning and paper products we were bringing back.  I replied “None, just a bottle of wine and a couple packets of tortillas”.

This is the first we heard that America’s panic buying had spread to Mexico.

In hindsight we could have purchased anything we’d need for the next couple months in San Felipe, and wait for the border to close before returning.   So far all returning US and Canadian citizens are allowed to cross the border on their way home.