Crossing the Mexican Border and Puerto Penasco…

The day of our trip to Mexico finally came so our caravan of three rigs pointed south just before 9:00 am. About an hour later we reached Lukeville the US town  which was the location for our border crossing. The crossing had only a few cars ahead of us and as we approached the border an “alto” (stop) light appeared and we waited until it turned green.

We pulled up to the the guards who instructed us to allow them on board. We had gathered up our important papers and passports in case they were needed.. Upon boarding we were asked a few questions about where we were headed and what we had in our steamer trunk. Sharon opened it as requested and after a peek inside they were content enough to wave us on our way.

Immediately past the border we entered the Mexican town of Sonoyta, We were told by our friends to obey all speed limits and stop at all stop signs as there have been reports of police officers stopping tourists in this town. Ten minutes later we were out of town and in the desert heading south.

The remaining hour of travel to Puerto Penasco was uneventful (perfect) and we pulled into Playa Bonita RV Park just before noon. We stopped at the office to check in and pay (cash only). Next we made our way over to our assigned site and as I had read sites here are very tight . That is definitely true. The sites themselves are actually wider than I had expected but what makes parking difficult is how narrow the roads between rows are when extra long rigs are in sites across from each other. We were able to maneuver into ours with no issue but the other two rigs in our caravan had to return to the office to ask for other sites since they were unable to get into theirs. We think getting out of our site when we leave might actually be a bigger problem  as the park is definitely filling up.

Puerto Penasco is a small resort town about an hour south of the Arizona border with Mexico on the Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California.  The Sea of Cortez is a long extension of the Pacific Ocean bordered by the Mexican Baja California to the west and mainland Mexico to the east. It is said to have been frequented by Al Capone in the 1930s and 1940s,

I visited here before about 35 years ago and a lot has changed since I was last here. Until the 1990’s there was very little tourism as it was mostly just a fishing/shrimping village and the occasional tourists were mostly fishermen and college students taking advantage of Mexico's legal drinking age of 18. The beautiful beaches, crystal clear waters were and are still the attraction.. As a result the area was nicknamed  "Rocky Point" or "Arizona's Beach" due to its proximity to Phoenix, Tucson, and Yuma.

Then, in the early 1990’s there was a huge governmental push to develop the area for tourism. The federal government contributed several billion pesos in build the infrastructure and an airport to support this endeavor. They declared the area a "free zone" (meaning tourists did not need passports) and shortly thereafter developers invested in the area and it is now home to many tall condominiums. The area still has some rough spots in town but where we are one would think we were in Cancun or Fort Lauderdale.

Let the fun in the sun begin…

NOTE: Weak internet so pictures will mostly have to wait for a stronger signal. We are in Puerto Penasco Mexico until February 15th…