Restaurants

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Getting a Lay of the Land

Dale came over this morning as I was starting on the apartment pics post, so I closed up and followed her out to breakfast on the beach. The only option on the breakfast menu was eggs, so I ordered chicken tacos off the lunch menu! This was my first real breakfast in Mexico! 😀 Dale insisted on treating me and I provided the tip. We got out of there for something like 140 pesos total!

She then took me for a walk through the main part of the village. Yes, I will have pictures at some point. 🙂 My camera ran out of juice this morning, sorry!

We made our way to the grocery store, further away than I expected (it’s not far, the village is bigger than I expected). The store, called The City Deli, NOT the mercado, is small, but has the essentials except for meat (as far as I could tell) and is no worse than some of the small grocery stores I’ve shopped at in Canada. I asked for “las cosas para hacer el fuego” (the things to make fire) and was offered matches and a lighter. See, no language barrier! 😀

I got whatever looked good for food to get me through a few days (more details below the pic), as well as a broom for inside, and a pair of heavy duty flip flops for beach walking. I was disappointed by the avocados, though, and didn’t buy any.

Grand total for all this?

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Let’s add it all up, shall we?

flip flops (EXACTLY what I was hoping to find)
broom
matches
red onion
2 small tomatoes
2 small orangey things (clementines?)
1 banana
1 apple
1 block of Oaxaca cheese (apparently tastes like Monterrey Jack, but has the texture of mozzarella)
1 container of strawberry yogurt
1 package of corn tortillas
1 bottle of electrolyte juice Dale highly recommended (not my usual thing, but if I’m not going to have much appetite, a good thing to have on hand)
2 small packages of macaroni
1 package of crackers

Total amount paid: 218 pesos (18.26 CAD/16.11USD)! That includes the shoes and broom! There are no prices marked anywhere in the store and I won’t worry about prices from now on. I was sure I was going to have to ask Dale to spot me some money since I only brought 300 pesos with me. Hah! I think I might be able to afford living here as long as I don’t get into the habit of eating out a lot!

The village is small, with a paved main road and some services, including a police station and a basketball court for the kids. There are a lot of restaurants on the beach, too. Not much was open today in the village proper, but it’s a holiday so there might be more going on Monday. Really, this is way more than I’m used to at Haven and I doubt I’ll get bored, especially once the internet is reliable! Plus, Mazatlan is just minutes away on the ferry! It’s probably a 10-minute walk to the grocery store, so 15 minutes to the village ferry. This is another ferry that goes to a different part of the city. Dale is going to show me the ropes!

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San Carlos to Guamúchil

I left San Carlos earlier than planned this morning because I had to go back to the TelCel office and had no idea how long that would take. I actually have no idea what time it was when I pulled out of Guaymas, fuming at TelCel, but excited about the day ahead.

I got clear of the city and pulled into a Pemex with an Oxxo attached. I got 500 pesos of fuel (I love saying 500 in Spanish — quinientos, not cinco cientos!) and then went in to get my second coffee of the day, feeling like I was embarking on a proper road trip!

When I got back out, there was five guys doing a really nice job polishing all the windows of my truck! One thing I’ve decided is that I hate fueling and I am going to tip the guy who does my fill even if he doesn’t do anything else. I also like having shiny windows and have decided that that’s worth a few pesos. So I gave each of the guys one peso for their hard work and enjoyed my spotless windshield for five minutes until a GIANT bug splattered across it. No problem, a called a window washer over at the next populated area. Am I getting the hang of this or what?! 😀

The first milestone of the day was leaving the ‘free zone’, where I now needed my temporary import permit! Real Mexico at last!

Early in the day, I got to a mess of construction and a worker stopped me and said something very fast. All I understood was a word that sounded like the French contre-sens, which told me that I would have to drive against the traffic. I was going to ask him to repeat himself and then thought, ‘No. Tell him what you understand and try to get a si or no answer.’ So I said “If I understand correctly, you want me to go left and then drive against the traffic?’ Yes! It was a long detour with no cones or markers and the people in the other direction didn’t really care that I was going the opposite way and were quite content to nearly mow me down. That was the start of my ‘OMG, so glad I’m not doing this in an RV!’ attitude. 🙂

After that, the drive was very steady compared to that in San Carlos and I got into a driving groove. It was hot, which kills my appetite, so I wound up not stopping at any one of the myriad of taco stands I passed.

All the bridges in Mexico, even little insignificant ones, have name, so when I passed the ‘puente sin nombre’, I got ‘I drove through Mexico on a bridge with no name’ stuck in my head for the rest of the day. 😀

The first city I crossed was Ciudad Obregon and I was really glad I wasn’t doing that in an RV! But then things got really interesting in Navojoa where I followed the Los Mochis sign to the libre, which was like an average road in Quebec, one pothole after another. I realised very quickly that I was off main MX 15 and turned back around to take the road through Navojoa, which was smooth going.

I really liked the look of Navojoa; it was exceptionally clean, with well maintained buildings. I thought of stopping at the Soriana at the south end of town for snacks, but was well stocked with coffee and granola bars and really didn’t need anything else.

The next big milestone was crossing into the state of Sinaloa!

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I have now been to four of the 31 (plus MX City) Mexican states! Baja California, Tamaulipas, Sonora, and Sinaloa!

The roads in Sinaloa are MUCH better than in Sonora, comparable to the drive from Quebec into Ontario on highway 417.

My destination was a Pemex station in Los Mochis, where I arrived around 3:00, WAY too early to stop and truck camp! The bed of the truck is full and it was hot and sticky anyway, so a motel was in order. I decided to keep going and check out each motel I’d pass, giving myself a deadline of 4:30 to find something decent, regardless of the price.

Shortly thereafter, I saw the first sign for Mazatlan! Home stretch!

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I stopped at one point to get more fuel and my bladder decided that it had had enough holding all the coffee, thank you very much, and if there’s no baño here, you can go behind a bush! Thankfully, there WAS a baño and it was impeccably clean. There was no toilet paper or soap, but no problem, I had wet wipes in my purse. Ladies, carry wet wipes!

After four 65-peso fares and one at 20 pesos, I was DONE with cuotas (toll roads) and when 4:00 came along with no suitable motels behind me, it was time to get onto a libre (free) road, where I was more likely to find services (I’d done my research!). I stopped at two cheap but terrifyingly dingy motels and arrived around 4:30 at a motel in Guamúchil that looked decent.

They wanted 600 pesos, 200 pesos more than I was hoping to pay tonight, but it gets dark VERY early here and it was time to stop. Not negotiable! I asked if 600 pesos was their best price and the guy looked at me, quirked a smile, and said that he could do 550 pesos since I asked so nicely in Spanish. Done!

The room is okay, not as nice as what I have gotten for less in the US, but decent and I LOVE the balcony over the pool, where I am writing this post.

Sorry, should have taken this one in daylight!

Sorry, should have taken this one in daylight!

I sat with the AC on for five minutes and that revved up my hunger, so I went down to the restaurant. I got out of there for 100 pesos, including a good tip, and had a cold lemonade and a huge plate of enchiladas with rice and beans, plus chips and salsa! THAT cheered me up immensely!

The rice and beans were soooo yummy it was all I could do not to lick the plate! The enchiladas were filled with chicken and had a spicy red sauce, the first truly spicy food I’ve encountered since arriving. It was just at my limit of tolerance and very tasty. I just cooled my tongue off with a bit of rice or beans when I couldn’t stand the heat any more.

I was surprised that such a meal is real Mexican food, not Tex-Mex, although they didn’t drown it in cheese and sour cream the way the meal would have been north of the border. Plus, it’s corn tortillas here, not wheat.

I was amused when the server brought a pole with a hook on it for my purse (bolsa)!

It was getting cool when I got out of the restaurant, so I wrestled my suitcase out of the truck to find my bathing suit and ran up to my room to change. I headed back down and swam for a half hour until it got chilly, a really nice end to the day.

I didn’t stop as much as I should have today but that was typical for me on a day with easy roads, nothing to do with a fear of stopping or anything like that.

Going off script today says a lot about how I feel about being here in Mexico — safe. I have standard driving rules (like giving myself a deadline for stopping) and obeyed them. I now have an hour less to do tomorrow, although the libre might eat up that additional time as it will be slower going than would have been the cuota. I’m going to try to be out of here by 7:00 as Contessa agrees with my expected travel time of seven hours to Isla.

Now, I’m off to try my landlady again…

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Fun At the Beach

I asked the desk clerk at the motel if he could recommend a beach. He said that for a first time person who doesn’t know the lay of the land, my best bet was Playa Algodones (Cotton Beach) by the Soggy Peso (lol) bar. Just follow the main road for ages until I see the signs for the Soggy Peso on my left.

Following the main road was fine until I didn’t realise that I needed to take the curve to the right and ended up in a hotel parking lot. I turned around and found myself going the wrong way down the road. No one honked. Everyone just stopped patiently while a nice man got me turned around and, I think, assured me that I’m not an idiot, everyone new to the area does this, and there needs to be better signage!

Back on the main road, I drove for a long time following the shoreline, the water getting bluer and bluer by the kilometre. I finally saw a sign that said Playa Algodones that way, down a dirt road, so I figured the Soggy Peso would be close by. I was right. I just had to go up the road a bit until I could do a U-turn.

There was a gatehouse at the entrance to the road to the bar, but the windows were shut and the gate arm was up. I drove a short distance down a very rutty dirt road, following the one or two signs indicating that the Soggy Peso was thataway and finally made my way there! I parked in front, changed into my flip flops, and went to investigate the beach.

It was beautiful, lovely sand with seashells ending in bright blue water, and almost deserted! I was hungry and went up to the Soggy Peso to ask if they were open. Yup. I ordered a piña colada, but they were out of pineapple, so I went with a margarita. I took one sip and almost fell over in my chair, it was that potent! The food menu was tiny. I wanted something more substantial than chips and salsa, so I ordered their shrimp quesadilla.

The two servers chatted with me while I was there and that was a real test of my language skills! Personal conversation is so much harder than business transactions, which can be fairly scripted in advance. I muddled through and got a few corrections, which I did not mind in the least! One of the boys said that he has Canadian friends who refuse to learn a word of Spanish, so he was surprised that I voluntarily studied the language.

The quesadilla was absolutely wonderful! It was full of cheese and plump shrimp and mild peppers, with plenty of guacamole and a very mildly hot red sauce to spread over it. I got the giggles about halfway through the meal, my sign that I was imbibing a particularly potent drink and shouldn’t plan to drive for a while! One of the boys even joked about how much tequila they put in their margaritas. *hiccup*

When I was done, I said that I would head down to the beach and use one of their chairs and umbrellas to sit for a bit, then go swim. One of the boys said something and I only caught ‘peligroso’ and ‘guerra.’ From the context, I extrapolated that he was warning me about man o’ war jelly fish. I just did some research and it looks like I was right!

The water was cool and there was a nasty wind blowing, so I didn’t play in the water long. But I definitely did enough strokes and got my head wet to say that I have finally had a proper swim in the Pacific Ocean!

I wish I had know that there would be these lovely lounge chairs and umbrellas as I would have brought a book or magazine. I still managed to wile away a couple of hours lying and walking in the sun.

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Another Lunch Overlooking the Sea of Cortes

When I returned to the motel, I discovered the maid had done up my room. I had forgotten to ask for no service, as I always do because I have expensive computer equipment and don’t want the maids to see it. I wasn’t especially concerned here, though, since I hadn’t unpacked everything I unpack when I’m working. I was just mortified that I didn’t have a tip ready for the maid. Thankfully, she was just two doors down, so after a quick Google search (yay for my own super fast connection!) to find out how much I should give her, I caught her attention, thanked her for the service, and gave her a 10 peso coin. She was surprised and the thank you I got made me feel a lot better about my gaffe.

Then, I went back to Los Arbolitos, where I had the taco last night. This time, I climbed the stairs to the deck. The view wasn’t as good as at Charly’s Rock, but I could at least see the ocean!

I asked for a Pacifico beer and they didn’t have any so I said ‘alguno lager’ (which I’m hoping means any lager) instead of listening to a long spiel about their beer offerings. The server seemed confident in his understanding of my request and returned with a Dos Equis, which was perfect! He asked if I wanted a glass and I said yes, so he returned with a frosty mug, as well as salsa, chips, and lime. I squeezed a quarter of lime into my beer and settled in to peruse the menu… and eat chips. Today I got the weird salsa from last night that I can’t even describe other than it being pretty tasty, plus your more standard pico de gallo, which I preferred. Cilantro is definitely growing on me, yay!

I was amused that the menu was partially translated into English and am pretty sure that the untranslated stuff is food the gringo population doesn’t tend to order. I’d done a lot of walking around today on just a granola bar and found myself, to my surprise, drawn to the pasta section. My eyes rested on pesto fettuccine with shrimp and octopus and my decision was made.

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The meal was really delicious! It had tons of octopus and shrimp as well as diced bell peppers, spinach, and Parmesan cheese. I couldn’t believe that the dish also came with garlic bread. They sure eat carb heavy here!

I asked for the bill and the server was surprised, asking if I was sure I didn’t want dessert. Nope! I might go back to Thrifty’s for an ice cream later, though. 🙂

The server was working another table with, I’m afraid, ugly Americans. They refused to speak any Spanish at all, even just to say thank you, and actually berated the waiter for greeting them in Spanish, saying, “This is a tourist area. You should speak English to us.” So sad. 🙁

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My First Mexican Taco!

My stay gave me a free margarita at the bar/restaurant next door with the purchase of food. I wasn’t super hungry since I had a late lunch, but I was peckish enough to order an appetizer so off I went. I was asked a question about the margarita and it took me a second to figure out that the server wanted to know if I wanted it on the rocks or slushy (frappé). I replied the latter and the resulting drink was what I expected. Not a big one, but plenty.

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I decided to order a single taco for dinner and requested ‘pulpo con queso.’ The server did a double take and repeated my order to make sure he had understood me correctly. I nodded and repeated my order. I’m guessing not many gringos order octopus around here?!

The taco was wonderful, full of melty cheese and sweet tender bites of octopus! I’m sure the locals add hot sauce, but I didn’t need it. Someone ran to my table to give me chips, salsa, and lime as I was taking my first bite, so I did squeeze a quarter of a lime over the taco to give it an extra burst of freshness. I am tempted to have a couple more for lunch tomorrow, it was that yummy!

in Japanese, this would be a tako taco! :)

in Japanese, this would be a tako taco! 🙂

I can’t wait to try out the taco carts the locals eat at. Wonder if I’ll do like Croft’s wife, Norma, and find myself munching on goat… 😀