Friends,
The Swine Flu looks like it originated in southern Mexico and is spreading rapidly. So far we here in Baja have not been affected. We saw a report that there were four cases reported in Mexicali but have not heard anything further. The purported single case down here turned out to be a rumor and false. Everything is fine here but we will be taking more precautions as everyone worldwide is doing.
George and Beverly’s trip has been delayed by a week. They are scheduled to arrive next Monday.
We will have more information about it as the week progresses.
I also sent out a reference to the Fence that one of our Baja folks put together. Here is the link.
Larry and Regina
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Casa Update 28
Friends,
It is raining!!! First rain since last August!
The town is filling up with people from Mexicali. We went to a birthday party tonight at Paco and Miguel’s restaurant in the Ejido. Funny thing is that everyone here calls it "Paco and Miguel's" but the menu cover says "Miguel and Paco's". It was hard to find but what a real treat. It was again a BYOB and wine glasses were provided. I had the “Osso Bucco” and Regina had the steak special. Both were $15 and what a real treat. It sprinkled while we were in the restaurant but after we got home it started to REALLY rain. Kaaren took pictures of the birthday bash and when she sends them to me I will post them. Here are the pictures.
There are supposed to be up to 60,000+ Mexicali’s down here for Easter weekend. From the stream of cars we have seen so far, I almost believe that number. We are going to brave it tomorrow and go into town for a picture trip. We will not be parking anywhere as we have heard that there is no parking anywhere already. Going to try to go up to the lighthouse and take a picture of the beach and Malicon.
Have a nice Easter weekend and we will be posting pictures next week.
It is raining!!! First rain since last August!
The town is filling up with people from Mexicali. We went to a birthday party tonight at Paco and Miguel’s restaurant in the Ejido. Funny thing is that everyone here calls it "Paco and Miguel's" but the menu cover says "Miguel and Paco's". It was hard to find but what a real treat. It was again a BYOB and wine glasses were provided. I had the “Osso Bucco” and Regina had the steak special. Both were $15 and what a real treat. It sprinkled while we were in the restaurant but after we got home it started to REALLY rain. Kaaren took pictures of the birthday bash and when she sends them to me I will post them. Here are the pictures.
There are supposed to be up to 60,000+ Mexicali’s down here for Easter weekend. From the stream of cars we have seen so far, I almost believe that number. We are going to brave it tomorrow and go into town for a picture trip. We will not be parking anywhere as we have heard that there is no parking anywhere already. Going to try to go up to the lighthouse and take a picture of the beach and Malicon.
Have a nice Easter weekend and we will be posting pictures next week.
Well we did go into town on Sunday morning. There was indeed no parking. Actually there was massive traffic everywhere. Streets that normally would have taken a minute to drive were taking 15. Could not get to the malicon, tried three differnet ways. Everyone that had an open patch of land was either renting it out for tents or as a car park. So we just snapped a few pictures when we could. There were tents everywhere! Maybe next year we will go in and park near the arches and do a long walk. Probably faster that driving. Here are the pictures we took. Please don't ask about Flat Stanley :-)
Larry and Regina
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Casa Update 27
Hello all,
March is over and we are getting into some serious springtime weather. It has been getting into the low 80’s in the daytime and high 50’s at night. Wonderful sleeping weather!
We went to Mexicali for the truck tires. And of course, Costco did not have my size or anything even close. So we ended up at the Goodyear store and had to pay essentially retail for the four tires. We got the top of the line Wrangler All Terrain with lots of tread.
Now that the truck is off-road ready, someone had to put the new tires to the test. The San Felipe 250 Off-Road race was held here on March 14th. We met up with some friends that knew of a great place to watch. So, off we went. We drove to the northern most road on the Ranch and from there took a track that can best be described as “looks like at least two other trucks have been this way.” We headed southwest for what seemed to be 30 miles but actually was closer to 5 miles to the power lines. The race heads north along these power lines. We undershot where we were supposed to be. An official suggested that we book it up the race course to the 12.2 mile marker. We were one mile too far south. So with the Trophy Trucks about to start, we indeed booked it up the course. After that mile, I’m glad to say that my truck will not be entering this race any time soon.
When we got to the 12.2 mile checkpoint, we set up on the west side of the course. After the second truck came thru and coated us with dust and dirt, it was decided that we should relocate ourselves to the east side and upwind. You will see in the pictures when that took place. Each racer is let off the starting line in 30 second intervals. This gave us plenty of time to sneak across the course. Once we were upwind, we plopped the chairs into the truck bed and settled in for a great morning. We were situated next to a dip in the course that probably was about three feet deep. It was amazing to watch the racers try to navigate this “dip.” Most of our pictures are of someone trying to navigate thru the dip. Some of the most expensive Trophy Trucks went thru the dip in amazing form. Their rear tires just disappeared into the dip while the rest of the truck stayed level. Not so for most of the racers though. They disappeared into the dip and a few almost flipped over like taking a forward summersault. There were at least 30 classes of vehicles in the race. Some classes only had a few vehicles but there were many classes had a dozen or more. The last few classes were stock trucks and VW Beetles. I couldn’t imagine driving a stock Beetle for 250 miles flat out on paved roads let alone on this race course!
After the Beetles went by we decided to head into town to watch the Trophy Trucks at the finish line. One of the checkpoint officials suggested that we take a road back into town instead of driving back across the desert. This turned out to be a bad move as this “road” was in much worse shape than the ruts we followed out to the course. This so called “road” didn’t actually go into town but led us southwest for about five miles to a road that actually did go back into town. The road that did take us back to town is named Zoo Road. There is a very valid reason for the name. On race day the road is a real zoo (search www.youtube.com for “San Felipe 250 Zoo Road”)! It is also the road that was used to define the term washboard. It was so bumpy and “washboardy” that both of our seatbelts locked up and we were stuck to our seats for the whole trip. Did I mention the dust? We were some of the few that were heading into town. Most others were heading west to get to the other side of the race course to see the trucks head back south. I have included a map of the course so you can visualize where we were.
We got back to town and found excellent parking places at the “Arches.” Someone had just pulled out and we both shared the parking spot as they were deep enough for two vehicles. We had a short three to four block walk to the finish line. We were there only about an hour before the Trophy Trucks arrived. During that time all of the remaining Motorcycles and ATVs were finishing. Unfortunately, the only place to watch was down wind. These racers kept on the throttle until the last moment and locked up the breaks and slid thru the finish line. In our pictures you can see the mess that they made. We were whipped so we watched some of the trucks and then headed back home for a welcome long shower.
Leslie joined us for an all too short week. We did the usual things like town and the beach. She even played pickleball one morning with Regina! We did skip the usual ATV trip this time. The best activity of her trip was attending the 3rd Annual San Felipe Blues and Arts Festival. It was great! World class Blues bands and more world class art! The festival was held in San Felipe’s baseball park so there was room for all. Food was good and all festival proceeds went to “Sonshine Hacienda” a new orphanage being built in town.
We arrived at about 10:30 in the morning and stayed until about 5:30. Would have stayed longer but we had a dinner reservation at a place that we didn’t want Leslie to miss. This little place (Playa Azul) just opened a few months ago and we have been there almost a dozen times now. Breakfast is 35 Pesos, lunches go from 30-60 Pesos and the most expensive dinner entre on the menu is Blue Coast Shrimp (Camarón Costa Azul) for 110 Pesos. You get four to five huge bacon wrapped (stuffed with cheese and ham) shrimp in a white sauce with mushrooms, and mixed vegetables cooked perfectly. He does not have a liquor license yet so it is BYOB. He now provides the wine glasses though.
All of you have been inundated by the media constantly harping on the violence in Mexico. We have seen CNN repeating old news articles as if they were new news. Fox actually shot footage of Juarez and claimed it was shot in San Felipe. The drug wars are true. However, they are not affecting all of Mexico. The drug lords are killing each other and if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, you might be in danger. The rule we have here is to treat Mexicali as an American would treat Oakland. The things that you would not do in Oakland after dark, hold true for Mexicali and even more so for Tijuana. Remember, the US is the most violent nation in the world. Mexico is a meager 12th. Our friends at “The Net” in town have posted a lot of interviews on www.youtube.com. Please to a search for TheNetSanFelipe and watch them. Besides hearing how safe it is down here you can see our diverse community.
Well, that is enough for this month. We have George and Beverly from Benicia coming down for the last week in April. Update again after their visit.
Larry
March is over and we are getting into some serious springtime weather. It has been getting into the low 80’s in the daytime and high 50’s at night. Wonderful sleeping weather!
We went to Mexicali for the truck tires. And of course, Costco did not have my size or anything even close. So we ended up at the Goodyear store and had to pay essentially retail for the four tires. We got the top of the line Wrangler All Terrain with lots of tread.
Now that the truck is off-road ready, someone had to put the new tires to the test. The San Felipe 250 Off-Road race was held here on March 14th. We met up with some friends that knew of a great place to watch. So, off we went. We drove to the northern most road on the Ranch and from there took a track that can best be described as “looks like at least two other trucks have been this way.” We headed southwest for what seemed to be 30 miles but actually was closer to 5 miles to the power lines. The race heads north along these power lines. We undershot where we were supposed to be. An official suggested that we book it up the race course to the 12.2 mile marker. We were one mile too far south. So with the Trophy Trucks about to start, we indeed booked it up the course. After that mile, I’m glad to say that my truck will not be entering this race any time soon.
When we got to the 12.2 mile checkpoint, we set up on the west side of the course. After the second truck came thru and coated us with dust and dirt, it was decided that we should relocate ourselves to the east side and upwind. You will see in the pictures when that took place. Each racer is let off the starting line in 30 second intervals. This gave us plenty of time to sneak across the course. Once we were upwind, we plopped the chairs into the truck bed and settled in for a great morning. We were situated next to a dip in the course that probably was about three feet deep. It was amazing to watch the racers try to navigate this “dip.” Most of our pictures are of someone trying to navigate thru the dip. Some of the most expensive Trophy Trucks went thru the dip in amazing form. Their rear tires just disappeared into the dip while the rest of the truck stayed level. Not so for most of the racers though. They disappeared into the dip and a few almost flipped over like taking a forward summersault. There were at least 30 classes of vehicles in the race. Some classes only had a few vehicles but there were many classes had a dozen or more. The last few classes were stock trucks and VW Beetles. I couldn’t imagine driving a stock Beetle for 250 miles flat out on paved roads let alone on this race course!
After the Beetles went by we decided to head into town to watch the Trophy Trucks at the finish line. One of the checkpoint officials suggested that we take a road back into town instead of driving back across the desert. This turned out to be a bad move as this “road” was in much worse shape than the ruts we followed out to the course. This so called “road” didn’t actually go into town but led us southwest for about five miles to a road that actually did go back into town. The road that did take us back to town is named Zoo Road. There is a very valid reason for the name. On race day the road is a real zoo (search www.youtube.com for “San Felipe 250 Zoo Road”)! It is also the road that was used to define the term washboard. It was so bumpy and “washboardy” that both of our seatbelts locked up and we were stuck to our seats for the whole trip. Did I mention the dust? We were some of the few that were heading into town. Most others were heading west to get to the other side of the race course to see the trucks head back south. I have included a map of the course so you can visualize where we were.
We got back to town and found excellent parking places at the “Arches.” Someone had just pulled out and we both shared the parking spot as they were deep enough for two vehicles. We had a short three to four block walk to the finish line. We were there only about an hour before the Trophy Trucks arrived. During that time all of the remaining Motorcycles and ATVs were finishing. Unfortunately, the only place to watch was down wind. These racers kept on the throttle until the last moment and locked up the breaks and slid thru the finish line. In our pictures you can see the mess that they made. We were whipped so we watched some of the trucks and then headed back home for a welcome long shower.
Leslie joined us for an all too short week. We did the usual things like town and the beach. She even played pickleball one morning with Regina! We did skip the usual ATV trip this time. The best activity of her trip was attending the 3rd Annual San Felipe Blues and Arts Festival. It was great! World class Blues bands and more world class art! The festival was held in San Felipe’s baseball park so there was room for all. Food was good and all festival proceeds went to “Sonshine Hacienda” a new orphanage being built in town.
We arrived at about 10:30 in the morning and stayed until about 5:30. Would have stayed longer but we had a dinner reservation at a place that we didn’t want Leslie to miss. This little place (Playa Azul) just opened a few months ago and we have been there almost a dozen times now. Breakfast is 35 Pesos, lunches go from 30-60 Pesos and the most expensive dinner entre on the menu is Blue Coast Shrimp (Camarón Costa Azul) for 110 Pesos. You get four to five huge bacon wrapped (stuffed with cheese and ham) shrimp in a white sauce with mushrooms, and mixed vegetables cooked perfectly. He does not have a liquor license yet so it is BYOB. He now provides the wine glasses though.
All of you have been inundated by the media constantly harping on the violence in Mexico. We have seen CNN repeating old news articles as if they were new news. Fox actually shot footage of Juarez and claimed it was shot in San Felipe. The drug wars are true. However, they are not affecting all of Mexico. The drug lords are killing each other and if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, you might be in danger. The rule we have here is to treat Mexicali as an American would treat Oakland. The things that you would not do in Oakland after dark, hold true for Mexicali and even more so for Tijuana. Remember, the US is the most violent nation in the world. Mexico is a meager 12th. Our friends at “The Net” in town have posted a lot of interviews on www.youtube.com. Please to a search for TheNetSanFelipe and watch them. Besides hearing how safe it is down here you can see our diverse community.
Well, that is enough for this month. We have George and Beverly from Benicia coming down for the last week in April. Update again after their visit.
Larry
San Felipe 250 pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/LarEWill50/SF2502009?authkey=Gv1sRgCIbJ2f_Wt7rmywE&feat=directlink
Other pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/LarEWill50/Casa20?authkey=Gv1sRgCLnZtoj4rt_3zQE&feat=directlink
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