Enjoying Mexico…

Surprisingly chilly here in San Felipe since I arrived on Dec. 13th. Midday is nice and warm, and mostly sunny, but the mornings and evenings when I’m out and about can be downright cold. But when I consider what my friends up in Portland are enduring right now, I’m happy to be here and not up there.

Now that I have a car, it’s fun to drive around and explore the San Felipe area. I hope these pictures will give you a sense of how the people here live and work.

This is a very sandy valley. Many of the roads are not paved. There are street lights on this dusty neighborhood street though.

Way over there is South Beach. Around 12 miles away by car. It looks like an island but it’s not. Just a few blocks away from where I’m staying, is this typical modern Mexican neighborhood. There’s probably 100 houses similar to this style near here. The neighborhood is on the backside of a giant hill I’ve taken many pictures of from Kiki’s.  Coming down off the hill heading towards the main part of town. Here in Mexico you do see lots of trash strewn alongside the roads. Wherever you are in Mexico. The main tourist centers tend to be less trashy though. The Mexican people, by and large, haven’t yet developed a sense of environmental stewardship in many areas of the country. On the other hand, there is a huge natural reserve set aside here in the Baja taking up nearly half of the entire peninsula. And it’s just one of many in Mexico.

Other side of this hill is where that neighborhood I just toured is located. Hardly anything on this side. I didn’t know it was there until I had my own car because all the roads leading to Kiki’s never give you a peek of it.

And a view of the street where several RV parks are that border the ocean, on the left. There’s also 3 large parks on the other side of the street and further along. Follow this road and soon it’s right downtown. I had been here at Kiki’s for two weeks and I was just sick of the bad WiFi. Drops out a hundred times a day or more, and then connects right back up a few seconds to minutes later. Stupidly annoying. High speed too. Runs at 13 Mbps. Kiki insists that it’s because there are too many people using it and that’s simply not true. There’s an equipment issue right in his office. Since he’s convinced himself though, there won’t be any work done on it so I’m taking off in a couple days. I know there’s better Wifi in town because I can find it in businesses with my phone or tablet all the time. I still want to stay in San Felipe for a while since I know there’s several comfortable places I can watch NFL games.

I have DirecTv satellite now, so I’m able to watch the Seahawks. They did win a Thursday night game, than 10 days later, lost a nail biter at home. But still, they are in the playoffs since they’ve won 9 games and have the best record in their division. So I’m gonna stick around and see how it, ahem, plays out for the Seahawks. Maybe the Superbowl again?

Since I intended to stay in SF, I went around to other RV parks nearby. Talked to people living there. The parks nearby all have narrow slots for RVs, with only a few spaces that I could use my slides. They’re all 30 amp and it would be nice to be able to use 50 amp, if I can find it. But they all said they had good Wifi. They always do though.

And then someone told me about an older RV park right next to the casino just a block or two from downtown. That’s intriguing to me as it’s a sleepy Mexican downtown that suits my nature. And it’s within walking distance of Fat Boys bar if I choose to watch the Super Bowl somewhere other than home. The park has been around since the 1950’s but is being refurbished, and now has 50 amp spaces. So, hell, went down to check it out.

Not bad, not bad at all. Found and reserved a space, checked the Wifi and it’s pretty good on my phone, strong signal, and the sites have enough open space next to the drivers side that I can extend my slides. And I move there the next day. It’s a little expensive, costs me $210 USD per week (but you get an 8th day free so it works out to $26.25/day if you stay all 8). Their daily rate is $30 USD, and the monthly is $450 USD. You pay in pesos, and the beach sites (most of which are 30 amp only with 50 amp coming soon) are more expensive. Like $500/month.

And here I am settled in at the Campo San Felipe. The website is rather crude and the pictures are prior to the tearout and remodeling. Because RVs are longer, wider, taller, and have slides, the old layout wasn’t working any more. There are kinks in the new RV setup but they’re working on it. They have a hotel here too. It’s the building there on the left.

The building in the background is the casino. I haven’t been there yet, but I plan too. The pool is new, just put in September of ’16. The building will be a bar & cafe facing the ocean. Has a nice deck in front, and eventually seating on top too. They haven’t finished the stairs yet. Won’t be open until March of ’17.

And now that I’m all settled, and have tested the Wifi, it’s really fast. And reliable. It gives me 2 Mbps which is fast enough for Netflix or streaming videos. And I’ve only had it drop out while watching movies a couple times. That was impossible at Kiki’s.

The weather got better the next day so I’m now enjoying lots of sunshine and fair temperatures. I walked over to the coffee shop for a mocha and a pound of coffee that next morning and bumped into a friend I made at Kiki’s earlier this year. He lives here in SF full time and found himself a covered RV parking spot 10 miles from town at South Beach. I’m going to go visit soon to check it out.

Anyway, I’m enjoying SF, like it a lot here, and I’m even considering making it my permanent Mexican destination the next several years. Do the snow bird thing. Up north for the summer, down here for the winter. We’ll see.

Until next time…thanks for reading.