Drove down to Mexico, turns out there are very few laws here! We slept on the beach with a fire and a bottle of cuervo! The food was spectacular. The drive down was quite desolate!

Who enjoys sleeping in car seats? I'd rather sleep on concrete! We woke up a little sore and brushed the sand off of everything we threw inside during the storm. Off we go again to find Juan’s uncle's house; it was not easy ... no street signs and even the locals had no idea of street names.  Juan recognizes neighbors of his uncle, and voila, we found the house. We showered between concrete walls and prepared the Jeep to for the afternoon. Leah loves the freedom of this fishermen’s village and decides to walk barefoot on the sandy streets. Soft sand between the toes, ah like heaven. The shrimp season weather was warm and perfect, who can ask for more … speaking of shrimp, we were staaarving! Strolling through the quaint village we see many home businesses such as restaurants, general shops, and fisheries. We decided to get some tacos. The nice lady that served us from her mini kitchen was a chatterbox; she talked about her kids, travel, and showed us her whole family album - we had so much to talk about! She must have not seen a visitor for months - she was so happy to tell Juan (Leah’s Spanish is well , not that great) her family story and upbringing. We felt bad leaving her but we had to move on before our day flew by; we are heading for the dunes. Lucky for us there was just a few visitors and it was so peaceful as we drove in the jeep north right by the gentle waves. That is it , we find a spot and bring our XX beer and of course , Juan takes a nap (its his favorite thing to do, anywhere) and Leah couldn’t help it and fell asleep from the warm sun caressing her face. After beaching for a while later, time to head back for some seafood in town. A nice neighbor gave us a full bag of large fresh shrimp and bought from another family 2 fish for 10 pesos (1$) and went back the uncle house to get our  camping gear heading back to grill our seafood and camp on the beach again.  

The sonoran sun condos are so beautiful. they are set on the beach and every room has an ocean view. you can get a condo with 1,2,3, or 4 bed rooms. all the condos have everything that you would have at home. they have a full kitchen, a big bathroom, closets, an amazing patio w/ a breath taking views, and a huge living space. they have a beautiful swimming pool with a swim up bar that have great shrimp tacos and amazing margaritas! i guess since you are in the place that invented margaritas it is to be expected. we ate breakfast at the restaurant on site and it was amazing. we also used the bbq, jacuzzi, bar (a lot), and grocery store and everything was very nice. The sonoran sun condos are not to far away from puerto penasco. we took a cab from town to the condos one night and it only cost us 5 bucks and about 10 min. this place is very nice and not to pricey at all. i will defiantly go back!

ok, sleeping in a tent on the beach sounds great and all but give it a few drunken nights and hot mornings and that will end quick. i don't think that it would have been so bad if i wouldn't have been so hung over every morning. i know that this is obviously my fault but come on...we are in Mexico, the alcohol is to cheap not to drink in excess.

we came to the decision, after hard consideration, to find somewhere with a bed and shower. we had some friends staying at a resort down the street called the sonoran sun. we didn't really think that we would want to spend that kinda of money but we though that we should just check it out. well like most everything else it was surprisingly cheap. we split a 2 bedroom condo with an ocean view with 2 other people and it only cost us 180 dollars for 2 nights. it was the best feeling after 3 nights not having a good shower to take a real shower. this place is seriously nice,  probably one of the nicest places i have ever stayed. it is just like having a condo on the beach. everything you want is at you fingertips. i don't know if it is because i had just spent the last few days living out of a tent but this place is was beautiful! after we cleaned up and relaxed a bit we headed out into town

 i had been seeing these contraptions flying around the beach for the last few days. it is like a hand glider with a seat and an engine attached. these guys are a bit nuts... they take this thing straight up in the air and then cut the engine and let it fall until the wheels hit the water. i didn't know about anyone else but i had to try it. so we follow one of these gliders until we see where they are landing. we find our way to this dirt field and there sits a guy in a lawn chair drinking a beer. i walk up to him with a bit of hesitation and ask how much. he replied 40 bucks for 30 min... well ok then. so i climb into this man made motorized hand glider and we are off. we took off on a road with cars driving in front and behind us. it was a bit bumpie at first but it eventually got very smooth and it was an amazing view. we flew up and down the coast, flying with birds and diving into the water. it was so amazing, the best 40 bucks i spent in a long time!

after we were done there we went down to were they rented jet ski's. we had got a free hour of jet ski riding while we where in town by listing to a presentation on a time share. it was kinda hard to find where they rented them from because we couldn't go to just anyone. we had to find the specific company that we had the voucher for. we eventually found them and used our free hour on the jet ski. It was really fun. We made asses out of ourselves by nathan showing off for big boat and us ending up getting thrown off in the water. The entire boat clapped, I was laughing so hard I had a hard time getting back up on the jet ski.

By this time is was already about 4ish, so we made it back to the resort to hang in the room and at the pool for the rest of the day. Today was an amazing day!

the day started off ok. it was hot in the tent once the sun came up and i was a little hung over. it was nice waking up to the sound of the ocean though. we really didn't do much, just hang out on the beach most of day. it was a really good and relaxing day! i didn't realize how strong the sun is, coming from az i am use to the sun being strong. i didn't think that it would make that much of a difference only 120 miles or so south... however it did!!  around 3ish we called it quits and went looking for food and shade. we ended up at a place in town called tequila jacks. it was really good food! we had a pretty big party but it was still cheap.

 the town is a lot like what I had pictured a Mexican town to be. it is a bit run down, it looks like they start things and then stop and never get back to finish. i was a little nervous at first because the federalis carry very big guns around with them all the time, but i got use to it eventually. the town has a lot of little shops along the streets selling almost anything you can want. the people here work very hard and they have a lot of talent. i watched a lady braid a girls entire head of hair in under 5 min. they also walk up and down the beach, fully dressed, carrying a ridiculous amount of stuff. it is amazing how much dedication they have! we found a street that is a sea food market. they have the best shrimp tacos i have ever had and they cook them in little huts right on the street. the fish are so fresh you can watch them fishing behind the shops and then cook them right on the street. they are a bit pushy but you can always just walk away. i have always heard not to drink the water and to stay away from anything that has been around water at all but i didn't listen and nothing bad happend. i don't know if that is an old wise tale or what but i didn't have any problems with ice tea or ice in general at all. i never drank just water becasue i always had water bottles so maybe that is what will make you sick. i am really not sure.

we ended the night off with a bang. literally... since fireworks are legal down here we didn't hesitate in buying some and setting them off on the beach. it was a lot of fun and kinda challenging because you never know how fast the fuse is going to burn. it adds an entire new element to setting off fireworks. no one got hurt and we all got a good show.

today is our last day in mexico and i am a little sad. i wish we could just pack up and keep heading south. i am not looking foward to going home and back to the same old monotony. but for now that is what we have to do. so we slept in again, i found myself laying in bed putting off the inevitable. however i did eventually have to get up and pack for the ride home. check out was at one and we pushed it as long as possible. after check out we were not quite ready to go so we decided to go to what had now become our favorite restaraunt for a final shrimp taco. like normal it was amazing but it ended to soon. we stayed around for a while to take a few pics of the ocean before heading back to the desert.

this was an amazing trip and i can not wait to come back!

 too often on vacations we don't give ourself any time to relax. so that is what we set out to do today. we slept in until around 10 and made our way down to breakfast. we had these amazing omelette's and mimosas that where made in front of us by chefs . we made our way out to the pool a little while later and spent most of the day down there. we met a couple down at the pool whom we hit it off with very quickly. they are from just down the street from where we live, small world! we ended up getting together with them for dinner in town and partying with them at the hotel all night. we had a blast!

today was like the last few days, spent mostly on the beach. we had planned on staying out of the sun but that is hard when you are living on the beach. so we kept the sun block on and relaxed on the beach.

yesterday we bought tickets for a booze cruise while we where in town. a booze cruise is a 3 story boat that sets off around 5ish and takes you and 200 or so of you best friends into the middle of the ocean. they provide all the alchole you can drink and let you jump off and slide down the side of the boat in the middle of the ocean. it is like a crazy club but on a boat and all the alchole is free. the consept blew my mind! i don't know how no one dies on these things but we made it the entire 3 hours with out any casualties.

on the booze cruise we met some really cool people. we ended up hanging out at a bar in town with them all night.

once we found the camp ground that our friends where camping at we set up camp and threw out some towels to soake up the sun. the water is clean and clear, and the sand is soft. i still can't believe that i have lived in Arizona for so long and never been down here. we where camping right on the beach with the waves right out side our tent. i am still in shock at how beautiful it is. day one ended with a few beers around the camp fire with a few good friends.

It was pitch black. Nothing but road and a distant moonlight gleam upon the coast. I turned off my headlights just to see how dark it was. Holy crap, we’re driving 80mph in total darkness - better turn them on!! Soon enough, we noticed a few houses on the roadside and a light glow in the sky a few miles away. We are now in El Golfo.

This was the end of the road as pavement becomes sand. We must now find my uncle’s summer home. I thought this would be easy, but there are no street lights. Forget streetlights, there are no street signs, no street names, nothing - just little houses, sand roads, and darkness. It was impossible to find his house at night, so we said screw it - let’s camp out on the beach. I remembered about the tides in El Golfo. The tides change so drastically here, so it’s not a good idea to camp to close to the waves. We found a good spot on a sand dune with a killer view of ocean under the moon.

It was in my nose, eyes, and ears - sand was everywhere. The mesh roof was not stopping the sand from coming in, but we settled by putting our blanket over our heads. It then started to rain (as if the wind and sand wasn't enough). We jumped out of the tent and crumbled it into a giant ball to keep the inside from getting wet. We were trying to put it inside the Jeep, but I couldn’t find the key! I thought I dropped it in the sand, so here we were digging into the sand looking everywhere in the windy, sandy, dark and rainy night. I finally found my key deep in my pocket (sigh..), and we put everything in the Jeep. We had no choice but to sleep in the driver and passenger seat.

It’s Dark. We’re driving on the only road leading to El Gulfo De Santa Clara. Two very narrow lanes, one in each direction. Juanes keeping us company. Bringing back memories to Juan, but all too new to Leah, creating new memories together. Stories of previous good and bad experiences in Mexico and wondering how it will turn out to be this time. Will we be safe? Sandstorms? We are on our own …

Old pickup trucks driving by us as we switch off our high beams. Passing by small villages, corn, and Agave farms. It felt like hours of driving until we saw the ocean’s moonlight shimmer and bending of waves.

Yeah!  SO I went with a friend to Rocky Point.  That was awesome!  We got down to Ajo and got insurance then we passed through an Alcohol checkpoint.  That was quick and easy.  Then we went about a 100 yards to the nearest party store and bought alcohol.  Then we stopped at a taco stand just on the other side of the border and had "beef" tacos.  Looks like beef and tastes like chicken, it was dog.  We ate dog tacos.  (haha!) Then we got to Rocky Point aka: puerto penasco and went to the bar aka: Manny's immediately when the Suns and mav's game was about over.  That was sour when the Suns lost.  Then we went to the store and bought more alcohol and went to another store and bought fireworks.  That was cool so then we went down to the house, thats right we stayed in a cool brick house in R.P. and we were livin' it up!  but before we got to the house we decided to go fire off some works in the desert.  This Excursion pulls up next to us and people got out and started firing off their works!  So there was a mom and her two kids a girl and a guy Tati and Mike and Tati's friend Courtney.  So me and Luke meet these girls and go back to the house and we unpack.  Then we went down to the beach and went swimming in the Gulf of California with these girls and toward the end I picked up Courtney and carried her out of the surf.  Then they went home and got an ATV and drove it over to the place and we sat on the porch and drank Taquila and talked.  Luke made out with one girl and I acted like a complete nerd and missed all my chances with this other girl.  So the weekend is not over!!!

We then woke up the next morning and went down to the beach and swam in water that was clean and salty aka: Gulf of California and it was like swimming in bath water!  Then we went and hung out at the FIsh market and I bought a hat.  That was cool.  We then ate at a resturant that was on the edge of the water. 

Then on Sunday we hung out at the beach again which is awesome!  We got a banana boat ride which is this huge raft that looks like a banana and is towed by a boat with a motor.  So we all get going and I fell off about 10 seconds into the ride then we all fell off and my friend had a huge cut above her eye and had to go to the doctor and get stitches! Those things can be dangerous...Then we walked up and down the beach with these girls and then we go to Mannys that night for the basket ball game which blew because we lost, again and I hate it when my home team looses!  We went out on the town after that and went to the bar, this time we had a DD and that was cool.  Then we were going to the Pink Cadillac and Mannys and some other bars.  Then we woke up the next morning and went to the beach again!  Then sun was out every day and the weather is perfect, some nights it was windy and some nights it was not.  Then on the way out of Mexico we stopped in a resturant and had fish and shrimp tacos, because you can't fake the meat, say its beef and serve dog as food.  Anybody for tacos del gatos?  those are cat.  (haha!)  So the fish tacos were really tasty and I would go and do it again so many times!  We made it back in time for the sun to just go down, this was a memorable adventure.

The atmosphere quickly transformed - so noticeable, the culture and simplicity painted all over each structure.
We got lost, but found ourselves again and managed to find the main road leading to the Sea of Cortez. You can smell the Mexican influence in the air, the little shops, taco stands, burning crops, and old cars running on its last tread. It turned dark and we held our breath, leaving the US behind and into the Mexican desert.

and I  barely hear the driver announce the stop.

I have done other long distance, days long bus trips before, and I recogize the symptoms.

It will be two long days to Mexico City.