March 18, 2005 - Van, TX - 2 (Mexico)

The women went to a flea market near where we were staying in Mexico, and some of us guys went to town.  The Rockodile looked like a happening place.  Only trouble was, it had already happened, or was about to happen, and we couldn't figure out which.  The odd rig in the back of that truck caught our eye.  Seems that when the tide goes out, it goes waaay out.  And they use trucks to drag their pangas down to the water.  Hummmmm.  Gotta see that.  So we made a deal with Daniel for some morning at 7:30 to drag one of his boats down there to the water and we'd go fishing.  The El Dorado Ranch had a deal for $50 each for a 1/2 day trip, Daniel wanted $35.  I tried to get him to take $25, but he was firm on his price.

Kids.  No matter what the nationality, they don't know when the water's too cold to go swimming.  And I'd like to try fishing off those rocks over there.  But all my gear is back home, so we'll continue to walk the town.

These guys had just come back in from shrimp fishing.  $7 for a kilo seemed too high for me, so I took a pass, as did Bill, who's down there looking at them.  The pelicans would steal them blind if they didn't keep them away.  I was up on a walkway that leads to a hotel, and that's the main street of San Felipe.

Just a few more shots of "downtown".  The young lady with the beads was singing to herself as she re-arranged her wares.  I was totally unsuccessful at getting her to look up at me for a picture.  She was too busy taking care of her business.

We'd seen these fences made from dead ocotillo branches before.  Even in Arizona.  But we'd never seen any that were in bloom before!  When an ocotillo is dormant, it looks dead to us, and apparently to the locals as well, because it's obvious that this fence isn't all dead!

We were driving around Pete's Place.  An RV park with some homes in it, and this combination RV/home caught my eye.  Pretty neat brick work, eh?  And the typical flat roof with a killer view of the sea.

We'd caught up with the women, and gone looking at RV parks to see if we wanted to stay someplace after we were done at El Dorado Ranch, or maybe sometime in the future.  I guess "No Tirar Basura" means "Don't throw trash", eh?  And Carol and Thea went directly to the beach to look for shells, and Barb was hot on their heels.  The guys and I went off to see how much these places rented for, etc.

Tracks in the sand.....and while it looked like a Glacous Gull, it wasn't.  Not sure just who it was.  Most the sites in the park had little casitas with flat roofs.  One couple we got to chatting with are avid shell collectors, and had a whole lot of sand dollars up on the roof/deck.

We'd been told that this is the only place that sand dollars grow like this.  May or may not be true, but it's the only place we've seen them.  Pretty good view of the sea from here, too.

The spaces right on the beach didn't have the casitas, but did have shelter from the sun anyway.  Nice that while they're on the beach, they don't block the view of the people back from the beach.  The wire thing these shells are drying on is a fish trap.

While a nice place, it's probably not going to work for us.  The shelters prevent the satellite dishes from going up, and I would have a hard time living with that little problem!  $90 per week isn't too bad from a stateside perspective, but it sounded a little high to me for Mexican standards.  Particularly with sites this close to each other.  But the people staying here liked it a lot, and came down every year.

There was a flea market, but it turned out to be pretty small, and besides, it closed at noon so most the vendors were gone by the time the girls got there.  They started at 7:30 AM.  Oh, well.

Thea had a shell, but it was occupied.  And she was having trouble getting the little hermit crab out of there, too.  Then the crowd, minus me, went downtown for the Mardi Gras parade.  And Arlene and Bill O'Neil and Carol Nelson were doing some shopping before it got started.  I stayed home and rested up a bit.  The stress of borders, military check points, and malfunctioning motorhomes had finally caught up with me.

The vendors were out in force, and the kids were cute as ever.  We'd heard and saw for ourselves that the children down here are always clean, not to mention adorable. 

Hard to say if Barb was more interested in the spectators or the parade itself.  These three boys were obviously buddies, or worked at the same place, as they had matching shirts in 3 different styles.

Churros are a cinnamon/sugar coated pastry that is really good.  We have them once in a while with our Mexican dinners here at the Sky Ranch.  The little girl in the pink jacket is enjoying one of them in the picture above.

The little airplanes were made from aluminum cans, and kids are kids everywhere.

Cleanliness of the people in spite of the obvious (to us) poverty was good to see (Barb got permission to take this family picture).  And more toys for sale.

Bill O'Neil and Bill Nelson standing, Jerry Lilja standing up there with Carol Nelson.  And yes, the Mexican beer is big into advertising not unlike our domestic beer companies.

And what's a parade without bands, pretty girls and dancing kids?

Our El Dorado Ranch had a float with an Asian influence and, of course, the Red Hat Society was there in all its glory.

The wheel by the little girl was on the float that looked like a huge white Hershey kiss (or maybe an igloo).  Spindly wheel for such a big float.

Have no idea what happened to Susan Lilja.  She must have stayed home like me, but I've not seen a single picture of her in here  (oh yea, I think she got sick).  But there's her husband next to Barb, and then Carol Nelson, Bill O'Neil (who was either sitting down or every body else was up on the curb because he's NOT that short) and Arlene O'Neil.