Yup - I love Mexico. I love the food. I love the water. I love the bougainvillea growing up the sides of buildings. I love relaxing on the beach with friends, making new friends. It's all good. Life just seems to slow down, take a nap and go to bed early.
Our trip down south was just lovely. We left on Friday afternoon and drove down to Green Valley, where we stayed overnight, breaking our trip into two short sections. We arrived at our condo Saturday afternoon about 1:30pm. We did our best to get checked in, but to no avail. "Sorry Señor, it's my job. No one can check in before 3:00." Ok, we'll go get groceries and come back by 3 and get settled in before we hit the beach.
2:45. "Sorry Senor, it's not 3pm yet, I can't let you in." For the love. Rule followers. Why do people follow the rules when it's seemingly unimportant, but on the major things...like say, taking a bribe....the rules are just guidelines. Oy!
We did get in, got into our swim suits, put up our sun shade tent and plopped ourselves next to the ocean. Pure, yummy, blissful. The water was like bathwater - not a squeak was heard as we dove into the ocean.
The next day I drove to the airport to pick up my friend Sandra and her kids Julia (17) and Nicolas (8) so they too could enjoy some time in the sun. Unfortunately Sandra's husband Ben had to work (airline pilot), so it wasn't quite the same, but we managed to have fun none the less. The next day we met up with another family, the Lucas', who had lived in San Carlos for a year in 2010 and we all played on the beach while the boys went deep sea fishing.
The Lucas' had made some local friends in their previous visits so it was fun to engage and participate in life with Becky (who is from Scottsdale) and her family. They live in Guaymas and have four adorable children. They came over for freshly caught fish tacos one night (thanks to the boys fishing adventure) and we enjoyed a delicious dinner by Sandra.
The next night we were invited onto Becky's boat - which was very nice and comfortable - for a sunset cruise. We toured around the area and then we went to an spot called the "Aquarium" where everyone jumped off the boat and went swimming and snorkeling. The lights on the boat were turned on and it was super fun to watch all the fish swimming around our feet, albeit a little creepy.
The following day we met up with part of the Lucas clan and Becky and checked out one of the local orphanages. It was a great spot and seemed to be a place filled with love and hope for the dozen kids they were raising. Some of the babies were so....snuggly, you just wanted to take one home. Sandra started asking questions on what the process for that is as I think she'd love another little baby. We then headed up the road to an evangelical mission that serves the poor in the area. They distribute clothes, food, hold clinics for medical and dental needs - sounds like they are meeting needs left and right. I would love to participate in a outreach they might have in the future so we'll be keeping in touch.
In the midst of our relaxation and touring, poor Vinny showed signs of duress. His check engine light came on and wouldn't go off. UGH! I just had him in to the doctor to get his well check up and now I was thinking that something major was wrong and we'd be stuck in Mexico. But - thanks to my friend Sandra - who speaks fluent Spanish - and my out going personality (I met a guy at the airport and asked him what we thought we should do) we went into Guaymas to the auto part store. We asked them to hook up their reader to Vinny and see what was wrong. Well, the prognosis was a relief. He had "bad gas". When the attendant said that to us in English - Sandra and I looked at each other and started crackin' up - the van's got a gas problem - so do the rest of the Strickler's! HA! Vinny you are officially a Strickler! It turned out once Vinny got some clean, high energy fuel in his tank his gas went away and the check engine light went off. Whew! But it did make for a good adventure and story!
The rest of the time in Mexico was spent enjoying each other, working (Balin) and generally enjoying life. The kids loved it and are clamoring to go back next year. On Saturday we left around 6am and got home by 4pm with no problems what so ever. Next year we're planning on heading down again and trust me - you'll want to come with!
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| Sandra and I having a marguerita on the beach at sunset. Seriously, can it get better than this? |
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| Well at least he's having fun and working on his tan while he's working! |
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| This is what the kids did most of the day - life jackets on and they bobbed in the ocean. |
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| Or they snorkeled and boogie boarded. |
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| Sunset over San Carlos. |
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| Sam spent hours floating around. It was fascinating down there. |
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| Or they were on the beach playing... |
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| San Carlos had an amazing rainy season and the hills showed it! It was green, green, green! |
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| Balin and Ralph Lucas on the boat. |
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| My other favorite activity - take a floatie and head out to sea! |
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| Pepe Lou on the boat with her girl friends. |
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| Sam at the captain's seat! |
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| Valentina, Laney Lucas and Perrin. |
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| Sunset cruise with the gang! |
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| The kayaks were a great hit! So nice to be able to get out and participate in the ocean! |
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| Sandra, mi Amiga! |
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| Every morning I went on a couple mile walk - it was so peaceful and calming. |
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| The only time I lost it. We went to a beach to go snorkeling and we ended up picking up 14 bags of trash! Ugh! If there was a sign on the beach that said "No Tire Basura" do you think they would follow it? |
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