On the beach

Friday December 21...10:30pm

We ended up having to pay $8 to stay over last night...definitely not worth it, but we had already stayed, so would have had a hard time arguing this morning. Paid it...and we're on our way.

We had been told that the town of Mulege was difficult to drive through if you're in a bigger vehicle, so as we entered town we were looking for somewhere close to the main road where we could park and walk to the town centre. We had pretty much driven past the town when Steve pulled onto a side road and below a bridge. This turned out to be a perfect spot to park for a couple of hours while we stocked up on supplies to get us through Christmas. As we explored town, we came across a guy from the Yukon who was staying at a beach area close to town. We had been looking for free camping, but apparently that's not to be had much anymore, and this guy says they have a nice little community of about 10 or 12 RV'ers a few miles south of town. He says they are planning a little Christmas dinner celebration on the beach and we're welcome to join them for as long as we like. We also get some laundry done while in town.

Taking time to try out the fish and shrimp tacos

As we're exploring, we meet a displaced American who's been living in Mulege for 20 years or so. He's busy helping to set up a children's Christmas party near the town square, where they have gifts for the local kids and a Santa Claus and a pinata and everything. He also points us to the cheapest and best store for food and supplies. It turns out that this guy is originally from Syracuse, New York, so we talk a bit about that area beacuse our son Alex is going to school near there.

Kids lined up to see Santa in Mulege

Every kid gets a cupcake

We stop to fill up the gas tank, and Steve is approached by a guy selling fresh scallops. We spend $10 on a big bag of them, and figure that would do for dinner tonight.

After stocking up, we drive down the beautiful coast. Steve and Glen have directions to the bay the guy from the Yukon told us about, and they're leading. We turn off the highway onto a rough dirt road and there's not much around, but as we turn towards the beach, we see a few motorhomes and 5th wheel trailers pulled up right on the beach, and every one of them has it's own little palm leaf hut called a "palapa". These places rent for $6 a day. We're quickly introduced to some of the regulars here. They are mostly Canadians from BC and Alberta. It's a beautiful little spot, and we think this is where we're going to stay for a week or so. One of the neighbours has already said he's going to supply us with fish for our dinner tomorrow night.

Speaking of dinner, as we were discussing fresh fish, our neighbour tells us that sometimes the locals will try and sell scallops to the tourists, but they'll pass off squid as scallops. So now we're thinking, "was that scallops we bought earlier, or was it squid that was cut up to look like scallops?". We had them all set in butter and garlic sauce to barbeque, but ran out of propane for the BBQ, and ended up cooking them in the oven. They turned out kind of rubbery, and not the best. But now we don't know if that was because we didn't cook them properly, or because they weren't really scallops to begin with!

Total Nights Sleeping in the RV... 69...

December Fuel $ 878.32

December Grocery $ 350.44

December Overnight Costs $ 66.00