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 😊
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| 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!
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| 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!
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| 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 😢
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| 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.
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| 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).
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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 😉
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| 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
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| Heffay asking for a walk…”c’mon mom, let’s go” |
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| 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!) |
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| View looking out to the ocean with Cerro Tetakawi in the background Taken from the Miramar lookout point |
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| Life is Good! Until Next Time Hasta la proxima vez! |
