A little bit of this, a little bit of that…

 It’s been a different snowbird year in terms of blogging.  I just don’t really have much to write about. There are a few other blogs I read who post daily, I admire their commitment.  Our days are pretty low key here, so a daily blog would get boring pretty fast.  After all, this isn’t a “vacation”, we are living down here.  So like when we’re home in the summer months, we have the same “chores” like cleaning, cooking, laundry and of course taking care of/entertaining our pets.  There isn’t too much excitement, lol!  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. We like low-key.  We’ve had many years of adventure leading up to now.  

This year I’ve found myself more interested in cooking and baking.  I even bought a Ninja Foodie dual drawer air fryer off Amazon Mexico.  Amazon MX is great for all kinds of things, though electronics tend to be a little pricier than at home.  I was happy to find a pretty good deal on one that was already in MX (so no international shipping/duties charges). I contemplated waiting until we got home then thought the hell with that, for the sake of an extra $50 I’d have four months of use down here.  Well worth the little bit of extra money.    I’ve had fun making different meals.  Our convection microwave oven is great for baking bread and cakes, but sucks at baking chicken or french fries.  It just can not get hot enough.  Now that we have the air fryer I can make many more things which is fantastic and has me excited about trying new recipes.  

The boys inspecting my equipment as I get ready to make bread 💕 

Yummm 🤤 
This year I feel I’ve “mastered” my bread making skills
On average I make two loaves every couple weeks

Stuffed Zucchini boats

Twice baked potatoes - soooo good! 🤤 

What to do when you are craving Greek pita’s but can’t find them anywhere?
Google a recipe and give it a try 
Looking forward to making chicken souvlaki and homemade tzatziki tonight!

Now that we’ve entered February the weather is warming up a bit.  We’ve seen some 27-28 degree days here and there mixed in with 23-24 days.  Evenings can still get chilly with lows down to 8 but on a cloudy night, the lows can stay quite warm at 16-18.  I’m curious to see how quickly the temps start warming up as we get further into our 6 month stay.  It continues to be quite windy here, usually picking up in the afternoon.  We typically bring our electric awning on the RV in by noon or so just to prevent it from bouncing around and getting damaged.  

Recently we purchased a Gazelle collapsable screen tent.  We’ve haven’t had a need for one until this year.  Although not “bad” there are little mosquitos that buzz around on hot days, and they ALWAYS find me!  The real nuisance however are the numerous little flies.  It makes sitting outside frustrating.  Thankfully they don’t bite, they’re just very annoying.  At first I thought we’d just put it on our list of items to purchase once we got home.  Then, like the air fryer, decided to just buy it now so we can use it for the rest of our trip.  After all, we’re only at the 1/2 way point.    Hopefully it holds up well in the afternoon wind.  

Purchasing it also gave us a reason to clean up the clutter of our outside space.  We took down the shade curtains that were attached to the awning.  We were really only able to keep one of them on for any length of time anyway because it was an easy zip off style.  When the wind picks up in the afternoons we pull the awning in and before doing that we always had to remove the hanging shade cloths.  They were often strewn about on the ground making the site look messy whenever the awning was in.  It looks so much cleaner now with them put away.

One thing I’ve known for awhile and confirmed this year…I prefer cooking inside.  We have a Blackstone grill and a small BBQ we set up outside.  Well, we’ve been here almost 4 months and I haven’t started up the Blackstone once and I’ve only BBQ’d maybe three times.  Yes, I prefer hamburgers and steak on the BBQ, but I’ve found the air fryer or a pan does a pretty good job too.  So, while getting the site ready for the gazebo I packed up the Blackstone.  I left the BBQ outside for now.  We also took apart some of the cat tent/tunnel system.  The boys don’t use it now that they get twice daily walks.  Rather than put the whole thing away I left some of it thinking we may try putting them in it when we’re sitting out in the gazebo.  So long as HeyZeus doesn’t start howling at us when we put him in there that is!  We’ll see.  

Something new I’ve started is audiobooks.  I find my eyes are tired at the end of the day and although I’d like to read a book, I can’t make myself pick one up.  Then I remembered Audible through Amazon.  A few years back I had a subscription and with the one free book credit you get each month I’d get a volume of the Pimsler Spanish lessons.  I LOVED that and really felt like it up-ed my Spanish to a different level.  So, I signed up again but this time with the intention to listen to some books.  First thing I noticed was that no matter the book, I have to like the readers voice/accent. So before selecting a book I always click on the “sample” to listen to the reader’s voice.  So far I’ve only started one book and it’s been great!  It’s like a sleeping pill for me, haha!  I listen and within 1/2 hour or so I find myself drifting.  Dan has even had to tap me to let me know I’ve crashed and need to turn it off and take my headphones off…and hit “rewind”! I’m just about done this first book so will soon be on the hunt for a new one.  

Speaking of tired eyes, I booked myself an appointment with an Opthalmologist in the nearby town of Guaymas.  It has been a few years since I’ve been to the eye doctor.  The doctor I found here had good reviews and he also speaks English.  For a mere $600 pesos ($47 Cdn) I got an appointment the day after the day I called.  To see a specialist!  The very next day!  Craziness.  The doctor was friendly but the experience left much to be desired.  I arrived about 10 minutes early for my 12:00 appointment (yes they book over the lunch hour here - in Mexico they have their lunch breaks between 2 pm and 4 pm).  The waiting room was completely packed!  While Dan waited for me outside, I sat and waited for TWO HOURS before I got in to see him.  Insane!  Then, after all that their onsite optical store was closed for lunch so I couldn’t order glasses.  I had even picked out a frame and everything - after all I had lots of time to browse!  So when I paid the bill I asked for a copy of my script.  She went to the doc and he wrote down only two numbers OD and OS (right and left eye).  There were no other numbers…and I’m used to seeing usually three numbers per eye.  Hmm….when I got home I looked up what the numbers mean on the script.  The additional numbers of Sphere and Cylinder are to correct astigmatism.  Although I’ve always had a correction for a slight astigmatism in both eyes, this doctor hadn’t written any numbers down to correct that.  That seemed very odd to me, astigmatisms don’t just go away.  Not feeling too confident with the script now, I decided I’ll wait until I go home to book another eye appt.  No way I’m booking another appt with him and waiting that long again.  Disappointing, but at least it didn’t cost much.

Nice clinic front
Many different specialists in this building - listed on the sign to the right of the entrance

Packed waiting room - ALL for the eye doctor
There is another full waiting section as big as this around the corner 😳 

One of three small exam rooms

We enjoy fishing in our inflatable boat.  We’re getting out on the water on average about once per week.  We can’t get out more than that primarily because of the wind, but we have found we also need a day or two “recovery” after an outing.  Our bodies don’t bounce back as quickly as they used to.  Fishing has been pretty crappy though.  Primarily because we don’t go out when the bite is on in the early morning.  I’m primarily to blame for that.  I typically don’t sleep too well, I’m up numerous times in the night, which means I like to sleep in later.  That said, we still really enjoy our time out on the water, to catch a fish is really just a bonus 😉 

Dan has pretty easily adjusted to my “retired” schedule.  I’m typically up by 9 a.m. and that is followed by morning coffee then walking the cats around the yard, usually before we’ll even have something for breakfast.  I made a video of my morning walk/meditation with HeyZeus and Gizmo.  It also includes a brief clip of Heffay’s daily routine running like a fool with his squeeky ball.  These guys sure fill my heart and make me smile 🥰.  A warning, it is quite a long video at 30 minutes and you’ll want your sound on.  Even at 30 minutes, it’s only about 1/2 the time of our actual morning walks!

Morning routine in Mexico with the boys

We really enjoy our new boat this year.  It is SO much lighter and easier to load/unload than the Hobie Tandem Island Kayak we hauled down here the last couple of years.  The irony is that the Tandem Island, with its sail would have been great on the windy water down here.  But, it was simply too heavy for us to manoeuvre in and out of the water.

Sea Eagle Fish Skiff
Our new inflatable boat this year
Perfect to pack up into the RV
We’ve added a small four stroke motor to the back

Even though fishing has been crappy, we have managed to catch a few fish in our outings.  We enjoy  catching and releasing them.  We’re not big fish eaters so we choose to release them to catch another day 😉.  

The waters here are so beautiful. I was surprised to see so many turqouise water beaches along the coastline.  There is one beach named Playa Aquarium…I hope to be able to swim/snorkel in it before we go.  First we need to wait for the water and temperatures to warm up a bit.  I took a few photos of the water and that beach the last time we were out.  Just beautiful!

Looking south from the Playa Aquarium beach

Looking at the Playa Aquarium beach 
I don’t see any roads to this beach either, so it may be water access only

Looking East of the Playa Aquarium beach 
Beautiful turquoise waters

I put together a video by linking a number of small video clips I took coming into one of the two marina’s here in San Carlos.   It gives you an idea of the landscape from the water as well as the houses perched along some of the cliffs and of course the marina and boat launch.  You can find it on YouTube below.

Fun on the water in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

Surprisingly this blog turned out to be much longer than I expected when I first sat down to write it.  I initially didn’t think there was much to write about, then I guess my fingers got going ha ha!  I’ll end it here with a few more pictures taken out on the boat.  Remember, to see any picture larger, just click on it  

Always lots of huge pelicans hanging around the boats and in the water

So much texture in all the cliffs and rock structures

Beautiful cactus “littering” the cliff side
And a “few” pelicans 😊 
Really hard to capture all the texture and beauty in the photos

Farther off shore looking for the big fish! 🐟 🎣 

Cerro Tetakawi silhouetted 

Until next time / Hasta la proxima vez!

I couldn’t resist including this pic of the boys 💕 

San Carlos review - the half way point

It’s been roughly three months now that we’ve been here in San Carlos.  I haven’t been in a blogging mood I guess, but figured it’s a good time now at the half way point to do a review of our time so far. As with anything, there are pros and cons to a place.  A big pro here is definitely the grounds we are parked on.  This property is truly beautiful and is a haven for our animals.  All the boys love walking and playing in the property (as outlined in my last post).  Our days consist of twice daily walks for HeyZeus and Gizmo in the fenced yard while Heffay gets a short hike outside the property in addition to chasing his squeeky ball a couple times a day.  It makes us smile to see them all so happy. What can I say, we find joy in the simple things in life 😊 

We also really appreciate the friendly owners of this property and the little things they include as part of the rent like garafons (5 gallon water jugs) and a Firestick with everything you’d ever want or need to watch accessible on it.  The laundry room has a great large capacity washer and dryer and the water and power are great as is the price! Even the internet speed isn’t too bad.  We opted to buy a Starlink system this year though, so that’s what we’re using now and couldn’t be happier.

The property from the far corner
Heffay and I play ball in front of the garage every evening
He prefers running on the concrete to running on the gravel
You can see our truck and RV in the far back left of the photo

A few negatives of this spot are location related.  The neighbourhood we’re in called “Ranchitos Campestre” is in a more “rural” area of San Carlos.  It’s a mix of vacant lots and properties all located on unpaved dirt roads.  We’ve come to learn that living in this more rural setting has a few negatives.  Suprisingly, noise is one of them.  Don’t get me wrong, at times it can be extremely peaceful and then there are times where it can be a cacophony of sounds.  Not so much from vehicles, although there can be the odd loud truck, motorcycle or ATV.  The most stressful kind of sound for me is barking dogs.  And, I don’t mean just A dog….I mean a non stop cacophony of dogs of all kinds big and small, deep barks and yippy barks, barking throughout the neighbourhood.   Sometimes you can hear it progress from blocks away.  Two dogs start then two more chime in, then four more…you get the picture.  It’s crazy loud and at times actually hurts my ears.   Being quiet people, it can fry our nerves very quickly, particularly when some of them bark non-stop through the night.  I used to have to have a fan on at night, but now if it’s a quiet night with no dogs barking I actually prefer the silence.  My ears have become so sensitive, it’s nuts!

Looking down across the Ranchitos from atop a nearby hill Heffay and I hike
The pinkish colour home and garage at approximately centre screen is the property we’re staying on

The barking dogs got bad enough that I finally bit the bullet and ordered myself some noise cancelling headphones.  It was either that or pack up and move somewhere else.  Dan has had some noise cancelling headphones for a few years.  He bought them specifically for Mexico, knowing it can be loud.  I never got some because I don’t really like having the headband on my head.  Well, the time came for me to get my own pair. I’m SO glad I did, they work wonderfully and help to reduce my temptations to scream 🙀.  What ever did we do before Amazon?  They deliver anything you could ever want! 

Noise cancelling headphones to the rescue!

We’ve come to discover that noise is just a reality of living in most parts of Mexico.  Our experience here in San Carlos has been the loudest.  Locals say that you get used to the dog barking.  After three months, we haven’t gotten used to it yet and I don’t think we ever would.  Now I don’t have to try to get used to it, I just put on my headphones.  

Another noise surprise, even though we are quite a few blocks from the loud disco bars San Carlos is infamous for….we can still hear the thump thump thump of the music in the distance to all hours of the night every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  It is most definitely more tolerable than the dog barking, but did surprise us that we could still hear it so far away.  Maybe it echos off the hills?  Thankfully, the noise cancelling headphones drown that out as well.  Oh, and I learned that if the noise of barking dogs or the repetitive thumping of music in the distance gets on my nerves enough I can even SLEEP with them on 😊 Hands down the best purchase I’ve made lately!  Well worth the investment.

When it comes to noise there is one more thing….as anyone knows, Mexicans love their fireworks.  Thankfully, all our furry beasts are fine with fireworks.   I feel for our RV neighbours though, they have a couple Mexican rescue dogs and one of them is just petrified of the bangs and pops.  During high firework time at Christmas, she would go hide under their bed as soon as it started to get dark and would not even go out to pee.  It was bad enough that it had them reconsidering their plans to stay in Mexico longer.  Poor pup and parents 😢 

Fireworks going off over the annual Boat Christmas light parade 
San Carlos waterfront, December 2023
*Photo courtesy of San Carlos FB group

Live and learn, at least now we know that if we were to ever consider buying a place here or anywhere in Mexico, we would need to scope out the noise situation.  All I can say is thank god the next door neighbours left soon after we got here.  Our RV backs up to their property and they had two dogs that joined in on the barking.  With every movement we made they’d run out and bark.  They in turn would get the owners of this property’s three dogs barking 🙀 No doubt, if they hadn’t left for the winter, we likely would not have been able to stay here.  

Speaking of buying a place, we’ve browsed online real estate in San Carlos for many years.  Mostly out of curiosity as it is a town that has in the past had a lot of options to buy a lot’s set up for RV’s. In fact, this year there was one such lot for sale that we took a look at in early November.  It was just two blocks from where we are staying now.  It’s exactly the kind of thing we’d be looking for if we were to buy.  The 1/4 acre property had two “ramada’s” on it (covered RV parking) - as well as a small casita with a bathroom, washer/dryer and small bedroom/studio.  After three months living in this section of San Carlos, we know we wouldn’t want to buy in this neighbourhood  because of the dogs.  We’d need to be either more remote, or the exact opposite….like in a gated residential condo development (assuming they don’t allow that kind of noise).  But we have no plans like that in our immediate future, maybe one day down the road.

A property we looked at that would be our ideal setup for an RV

Another experience has been the cold overnight temperatures.  We knew San Carlos got cooler in the winter months, specifically December and January but the “average winter lows”  you find online have been a bit off from what we’ve been experiencing.  From about end Dec to now, mid-Jan, it’s been getting quite cold at night, down to 4-5 degrees celsius (40 ºF).  

San Carlos vs Home waking temperatures - very similary (until a winter storm hit’s home)
Of course, the daytime highs are quite different 

All in all, it’s not a problem, we don’t tend to sit outside at night anyway and I can’t say I mind the cooler evenings.  It’s great for walking Heffay as the sun is setting.  He also hasn’t had any heat rashes this year which has been wonderful!  We still don’t know where the vet is in town, and we’re very happy to say that 😊 

During the day we still have the A/C running and at night our heat pump works great to keep us warm.  One downfall of the cold evenings is the occasional night when super stinky smoke from nearby wood burning fireplaces hangs in the air.  At times, depending on wind direction it has seeped into the RV.  Some evenings have been horrible, it is so thick that it sticks to your skin and hair.  I don’t know what kind of wood they’re burning but it is bad!  An RV isn’t air tight like a home can be, so if the smoke is heavy and the wind is blowing we just can’t keep it out.  Thankfully, that’s only happened a handful of times.  Overnight lows are starting to get a bit better as we approach February so hopefully we won’t have too many more nights experiencing that. 

Meanwhile back at home…

Daytime highs are still quite nice, averaging 18-21 ºC over December and January so far.  It’s a nice dry heat and low humidity, actually low enough that we’ve been turning our humidifier on overnight so that it doesn’t get too dry.  I’m really enjoying this climate, it’s great to be able to go outside and not start sweating instantly like we’ve experienced further south.  The past few weeks the daytime temperatures are not quite warm enough to go for a swim in the athletic club’s outdoor “semi-heated” pool.  And definitely not warm enough to swim or snorkel in the ocean, at least not without a light wetsuit on.  We bought a two month pass for 20 visits to the Athletic club to use the pool with the intention to go at least once a week.  I think it’s been a good month now that we haven’t been at all.  Temperatures are already starting to warm up a bit though as we approach February.  We should be able to get back to the pool soon. 

These are the posted monthly average high/low temps for San Carlos
So far, the average lows for December and Jan have been off a bit
Average daytime highs have also been a bit lower than “average”
Each year can be different though,
regulars we met here say last winter was freezing compared to this year

Another discovery has been the wind and boating conditions.  It is quite windy here.  On average we are getting out on the water once per week.  Our boat is awesome, but it is small and we only go out if the wind is under 10 knots.  Of course, it is calm in the mornings but as mentioned above, right now the mornings are a tad too chilly to be heading out on the water. And, to be honest that’s not why we don’t head out earlier.  We just plain aren’t early risers.  We prefer to get up around 8 or 9 then lounge around and enjoy a couple coffees before we start moving.  And when we do start moving, it’s to give all the boys their morning walks first and foremost before we start doing anything ourselves 😉

Our inflatable boat
The FishSkiff made by Sea Eagle

We have only used our Scooters and e-Bikes a few times so far.  It’s partially because we have about six blocks of rough dirt roads before we get onto pavement.  That can be a bit jarring on the body.  We’ll use them more in future years, especially if we spend a winter in Mazatlán.  It has great bike and walking paths right outside the RV park we’ve stayed at briefly before.  We want to spend a winter there, maybe next year.

We’ve actually had a few discussions about whether we should pack up and spend the last half of our trip in Mazatlán.  That was before I got my headphones though.  Some of the considerations for moving also included the temperature and size of the city.  It’s slightly warmer there and a much larger city with lots of things to see and do. In contrast to here, their lows have been only 12-16 ºC which is considerably warmer.  Daytime highs are also a bit nicer ranging between 23-25 ºC so we should be able to use the pool at the RV park the whole winter as well as explore the city more on our scooters.  That said, the thought of packing up, disrupting the animals and driving two more days south on those crappy toll roads….meh, we just don’t have it in us. It’s funny because we have this conversation every year…I remember in Lo de Marcos both years we talked about leaving mid way but then changed our minds.  We’ll hang tight and see the entire winter through here in San Carlos.  It shouldn’t be much longer before the temperatures start to warm up again.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it just went from this to hot as heck given we’re in a desert climate.  At least now with my noise cancelling headphones, at the first sign of stress from dog barking I can just pop them on and turn on my music to drown it out while I watch our furry beasts frolic on the property.  In all honesty, that’s really my only significant “complaint”.  It’s hard to complain when we’re in the sunshine everyday, particularly as winter storms blow over the island and the rest of Canada and even parts of the southern US are in a deep freeze.  No thank you!

Overall, I’m really enjoying our winter here in San Carlos.  It has many positives including:  

• Proximity to the US border which means less distance driving on bad toll roads which equals less money for tolls and fuel
• Friendly town with lots of Expats and most locals who speak some English
• Great property we’re on, friendly fellow snowbird neighbours and owners and a great price
• Lots of shopping options for food locally and within a short drive to Guaymas (20 min away). Plus an excellent service from a local man who picks up anything you want from Costco on a weekly basis and only asks for a tip.  This is great for our staples like dog food, cat litter, bagels etc and saves us a 3 hr return drive.
• Good restaurants with lots of variety - although admittedly we don’t go out to eat very often.  It is as expensive to go out to eat here as it is back home thanks to our weak dollar.   Mexico isn’t “cheap” anymore
• The marina has a great boat ramp allowing us to launch and recover the boat with minimal effort
• The climate is great - not too hot and not too cold (accept overnight in Dec/Jan 😉).  The perfect temperature to do things without getting exhausted from the heat/humidity
• No need for a Temporary Import Permit = one less expense and less time at the Banjercito upon arriving in Mexico

As the remaining months go on, I’ll see if there are any updates needed to this half point review.  Until then, a few pics of the furry beasts who rule us 💕 and of us taking in the beautiful scenery.

Heffay asking for a walk…”c’mon mom, let’s go”

Gizmo is such a happy boy, running around the property chirping while chasing birds and bugs,
never straying too far from HeyZeus and I (unless it’s dusk…then he runs away from me as his hunting instincts kick in - l’il bugger!)

View looking out to the ocean with Cerro Tetakawi in the background
Taken from the Miramar lookout point

Life is Good!
Until Next Time
Hasta la proxima vez!