Sunday, March 29, 2009

South of the Border

For spring break we were invited by our good friends, the Davis', to go with them to spend some time at their home in Mexico. We had gone with them a couple years ago and enjoyed the experience, especially our kids. However, we were only able to spend a little over a day at that time so we were looking forward to this trip since we would be spending about 4 days. The Davis' also invited another family in our ward, the Klepingers, so we had over 20 people in our whole group.

We left after work on Tuesday and drove straight to their home in a town called Puerto Lobos with a couple stops to get gas and treats. The trip is not too bad but the last hour or so is on a dirt road with absolutely no lights anywhere. It is very dusty and can be hilly in some parts. In this case, the road had been graded pretty well but the last 10 minutes were pretty rough. Everyone had been sleeping but the rough road cured that problem. So we arrived at 2 in the morning and everyone was wide awake! It didn't take long to unload the vehicles and get everyone back to bed. Here's a picture of the back of the Davis' home looking from the beach.


We spent the next 3 1/2 days enjoying the wonderful outdoors and all that Mexico has to offer. Puerto Lobos is located on the Gulf of California about 70 miles south of the popular resort destination of Rocky Point. The town has no electricity, no running water, and no phone service. Most of the residents of the town are fishermen and they are very poor. Below are some pictures of the local homes.


We enjoyed riding quads...

playing in the ocean and with the ocean critters...

fishing...

playing in the dunes at the beach...

eating...


and enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery that is Mexico!
(Chase took these pictures--aren't they amazingly beautiful!)














We had a fabulous time and it was over way too soon. On Saturday, we cleaned up the house, put all the toys away and headed for home. We stopped in Caborca (a small town right after getting off the dirt road). While there, Mason discovered a screw in one of his tires. So he went to a local tire repair store and had it fixed. This took close to an hour because they didn't fix it correctly the first time. We headed out, thankful that this problem was discovered while in town, and got down the road a few miles when one of the tires on the trailer Mason was towing blew out. He quickly removed the wheel, unhitched the trailer, and headed back to Caborca to replace the tire. Soon we were headed out again. We were only a few miles from the border and the tire that Mason had repaired on his vehicle blew out. He put the spare on and once again we were back on the road with no further problems. What an adventure!!
We had to make mention of this contraption. One of the residents in Puerto Lobos, Arturo, is the local fix-it guy in the town. He is very smart and can fix most things even though he has access to very few supplies. There is no boat dock so the only way to put boats in the water is to back your vehicle in the salt water. Arturo designed and built this vehicle so he can put boats in the water but keep himself and the engine dry. He charges $20 to put your boat in and out of the water. I guess necessity is the mother of invention.

5 comments:

Bonnie said...

It looks beautiful and warm down there. I especially love your photos of the sunsets and the sandy beach. Since the town has no electricity and running water, does the Davis home have either one or both of them?

Rinez said...

Beautiful photos! So sad to see the poverty. Camille, your hair looks so long. Very pretty!

laurie said...

Sounds like fun, I'm too scared to go to Mexico. What a great spring break for you kids!

MegiJones said...

Looks like so much fun and Mille I am loving your hair!! I'm glad you are growing it out! :)

JECKBECK (Erin) said...

Looks like you had so much fun! I am jealous.