Hola 40… Hola Mexico!
Tucson is just over one hour away from Mexico. When we locked in our winter in Arizona, it was all but mandatory for us to make the trip south for some Mexican culture, margaritas, and beach time. There would be no better time than for us to head south to celebrate Billy’s 40th birthday with tacos, margaritas, and beautiful days on the beach! We picked Puerto Peñasco, or as the gringos like to call it, Rocky Point. This beach town sits on the northeast corner of the Sea of Cortez. It is a small town with a couple of beach resorts dotting the coastline. We have had friends go before and have heard great things about it! What better way to celebrate a new decade and really immerse ourselves in the Latin culture we have been dabbling in throughout Tucson and Southern Arizona? Adios amigos, la playa está llamando por nuestros nombres!
Mile: 83,609
Quote of Blog: “In the end, it’s not the amount of years in your life that count; its the life in your years.” - Abraham Lincoln
Song of the Blog: “DtMF” - Bad Bunny
I had just returned from a quick ski trip up to Montana to see my family, ski with friends, and do some pre-birthday celebrating with the Montana family. My birthday actually fell on a Saturday in Tucson. Amity worked, so I spent the day goofing off. I got some much-needed work finalized that was left over from my trip, then got a nice little run in before I headed to the driving range to hit some balls. Once Amity got home from work, I was able to open my gift from her, which was a new drone camera! That night, Amity took us out for dinner at El Corral. What we have learned in Tucson is that if the restaurant starts with “El” and was started before 1999, IT’S AMAZING! El Corral is a widely popular steakhouse. With classic Southwest interior and deep vaquero (Mexican cowboy) roots, it was the perfect birthday dinner spot. Their prime rib was amazing and makes me want to go back for more! We didn’t do much following dinner, as we knew we were getting up early to head to Mexico the next day. We were also a little on edge with the trip, as the recent cartel violence in central Mexico has had the media in the U.S. in a frenzy! The good thing was we had family friends who had parents in Puerto Peñasco throughout all of this, and they reassured us it was safe and far from the events that took place. They informed us that things in Puerto Peñasco were “business as usual.” With that peace of mind, and a dash of Live Rad confidence, we hopped in the car and headed south for the border. The drive to the border crossing is a beautiful desert drive. As we got closer to the border, we started passing several Border Patrol agents driving around. With the security the way it was driving in, we were actually quite surprised to see that the actual border crossing was pretty minimal. It also only took us 10 minutes to cross the border into Mexico. They did not check our IDs or passports or even ask our names. They just inspected a cooler bag in the back of the car and waved us through. And just like that, we were in Mexico! Amity made sure we drove overtly safely and followed all traffic rules to avoid any run-in with the authorities. She killed it! After we crossed the border, we had a small drive through the town of Sonora, MX, before we hit the Mexican highway and traversed the desert another 45 minutes to our rental in Puerto Peñasco, the Bella Sirena Resort. Mexico, Live Rad & Travel has arrived!
We did a little bit of exploring around the resort before we hit the beach. We had an amazing condo rented out with an overlook of the beach and sunsets. Our first observation was that the resort was EMPTY! No one was here. There were a couple of groups throughout the resort, but overall the place was pretty quiet. Bella Sirena Resort doesn’t have a bunch of restaurants and is not an all-inclusive spot, which is exactly what we wanted. We had learned from our research and guidance from friends that we had several great restaurants within walking distance of our spot. This provided us with a peaceful and quiet weekend at our rental. After getting situated, we headed down to the beach. Again, we were just about the only ones out on the beach. It was a little weird, but personally I loved it! After spending time on the Jersey Shore a few months ago, any beach where you don’t have someone within 30 feet of you is an amazing beach, and the closest people to us were at least 50 yards away on a beach that is miles long! We soaked in the sun and made the decision to walk down the beach to the Wrecked at the Reef bar for tacos and margaritas for dinner. As we walked down the beach, we came to the realization that things in Puerto Peñasco were in fact “business as usual” in the sense that businesses were open and all the locals were chill and happy to see us. It was not “business as usual” in the sense that it was completely empty! This was going to be a semi-private trip to Mexico! We got to sit wherever we wanted, wherever we went. We made sure to pick some great seats where we could get views of the water while still being able to see the sunset and not get totally cooked by the evening sun. The tacos were amazing, and the drinks hit the spot! The only thing better was the way Amity looked in the sunset! As we walked on the beach back to our rental, we stopped at another little beachside spot called Diego’s Tiki Bar. Again, only two other groups there and dozens of empty tables. We sat at the bar, and their bartender couldn’t have been happier to have someone to serve. He hooked us up with a free appetizer that was the most delicious and simple bread with marinara and parmesan cheese on top of it! 10 out of 10! We found ourselves wanting to over-tip because, one, the food and drinks were amazing, and two, we felt bad that Americans were too afraid to come down and that the place looked like a ghost town. Again, no complaints from me! What an amazing first night in Mexico!
The second morning came quickly, and we started the day off with a nice long walk on the beach before heading into Puerto Peñasco’s downtown area. Breakfast was at a spot we were suggested called Mi Hacienda. It was a classic sit-down breakfast spot with delicious food and great prices! During breakfast, Amity laughed at me because I am very confident with my Spanish, to the point where our server appeared to think that I am fluent and understand them. Really, I am just scripting from my translator app. Sometimes, confidence is all you need! Next, we wanted to check out their Malecón, or seaside boardwalk area downtown. The only other Malecón we have been to was in La Paz, and it is very hard to compare the two other than the name. Here in Puerto Peñasco, it was a bunch of open-style shops and merchant areas trying to push really mediocre Mexican trinkets and souvenirs. This is the only place where being the only people there was not a good thing. This was because we were the target for all the people there trying to sell things to us. We don’t buy a lot of stuff and felt bad we were the only ones there. It was at times a little pushy and overwhelming. We did pick up some Mexican vanilla extract. You can’t get this stuff in the States as it has too high of an alcohol level to be sold there. We did start chatting with one merchant who was selling tours and boat rides. We got sucked into booking a sunset cruise with him. We had wanted to do one in the first place but hadn’t booked anything yet, so it worked. Before leaving, we stopped at one restaurant I had on my list called The Point. This is a restaurant that is built on a pier about 30 yards off the shoreline and over the ocean water. We got some amazing seats at a table overlooking the bay and the water below. We could see multiple kinds of fish swim under us and dozens of pelicans flying around. Absolutely beautiful!
We needed to make a quick store run for some essentials (cervezas & agua) and some food for the condo so we weren’t eating out every meal. After that, it was back to the condo and back to the beach! Our rental was on a property that was beautiful and had several pools to swim in, but we could not care less about pools when we had two miles of beach all but to ourselves! We set up our towels, hit the music, and enjoyed la playa the way it is meant to be enjoyed! All in all, we did not do a lot of swimming, as there were a lot of jellyfish along the shoreline. We did make sure to get in the water and enjoy the Sea of Cortez as best and as much as we could. This area has a large sandbar you can wade out on for a long way offshore. As we relaxed on the beach, I did a little research into the company we had booked our sunset cruise with. After about five minutes of internet searching, we came to the understanding that this was NOT a good idea and that we would not be going out on the tour we had booked. There were too many red flags (like saying they had food and there being no food, extremely drunk people, and people getting extorted for parking), so we took the safe play and planned to watch the sunset on the beach again that night. We only ended up losing $20 on this, which we thought was only helpful toward the company as they got some money. Not a big loss at all! We enjoyed our afternoon beachcombing and finding all kinds of cool shells and things in the sand!
Our dinner plans for the night were to head down to the same area we ate at the night before, but to go slightly farther down the beach to a spot called Mar Blue. When we walked in, we were not sure at first if they were open or not. The whole place was empty. There was another group sitting outside on the patio, so we didn’t feel completely alone. Haha! We were seated outside in a beautiful spot with amazing views! The first thing we noticed was that we were sitting next to a table on the patio that had a placement card reading “Mr. & Mrs.” We thought, is there a wedding here tonight? Sure enough, yes! We watched a couple elope on the deck right before sunset. It was an intimate and quick ceremony. They didn’t have anyone with them outside of the photographers and their officiant. Pretty wild way to start our dinner! The food there was amazing! This spot was next door to the Wrecked at the Reef spot we went to the night before. We were amazed at what the potential was for both of these places. When it’s busy, they have to be quite the party scene and a good time at that! For this trip, it was nothing but quiet, solitude, and time with just the two of us. It was like someone knew that is the way I would prefer things! The night was a relatively early one, but we did enjoy drinks on our balcony at the hotel while listening to the waves and watching the stars.
Our plans for the last day we were there were to go golfing nearby at The Club at Islas Del Mar. After an amazing breakfast on our balcony, we got our things together and hopped into the car. The GPS directions we got on our phone started taking us along a dirt road that got more and more sketchy as we went farther down it. At one point, we decided to turn around and find another route there. There was no reason for us to be driving through the desert sand when there was a slightly longer route that was all pavement. Once we got to the course, it was great! We booked 18 holes and got some rental clubs. The course was only nine holes that we played twice, which was still fun. It gave us beautiful views of an estuary dumping into the ocean not too far away. There were fish constantly jumping out of the water while we played. The fisherman in me was easily distracted by the fish while I tried to focus on golfing. It made for some good laughs. At one hole, we were walking onto the green when I saw two coyotes on the other side of the estuary walking along the water. Amity was only able to see one of them, but we were stoked to see some wildlife outside of the jumping fish! The course was not too difficult. The hardest element was that the sides of all the fairways had a small amount of rough followed by sand. So much sand! The water was a constant element but was fairly easy to navigate around. We only lost a few balls to the water but lost several to the sand and cacti zones. Super fun way to get the day started.
Once we got back to the rental, we quickly changed into our beach gear and hit the sand! We have become professionals at beaching it! When we came out, the tide was relatively high but moving out. It was amazing how fast this process happens and all the tide pools that formed at low tide. This made for some great afternoon shell hunting and tide pool exploring. I made sure to create a massive sand message reading “Vivir Rad” for everyone in the adjacent hotel to see. Amity spent this time laughing at me for looking stupid. We spent the whole afternoon enjoying the beach and eventually bathing in the glow of the setting sun. For our last night in Puerto Peñasco, we decided to stay close again and walk on the beach over to the tiki bar we found the other night. We couldn’t stop thinking about that delicious bread they gave us. So, we got into something other than a bathing suit and made the quick beach walk over. On our way, the moon was rising in the east. It was full and MASSIVE! We did our best to take an iPhone photo of it (even though iPhone photos of the moon are terrible!) because it was like the sun was rising again! Once we got to the restaurant, we sat at the bar and started talking to the bartender. He was sad that it was slow, but it was giving him time to prepare for the spring break chaos expected the next week. We laughed and told him that we were going to tell all of the U of A students walking around our house in Tucson to come here. Then he informed us that we came on the best night, as they had some fire dancing planned. Big win for us! We were pretty sure it was booked by another group (who we ironically saw golfing earlier), but we took full advantage of the moment and loved it! Dinner at Diego’s Tiki Bar was amazing! The marinara-covered bread was once again so simple and so delicious. The rest of the food was right on par with it! We did not have a single bad meal on this entire trip! Everything was amazing! After three days of getting sunbaked, drinking margaritas and cervezas, and being nonstop go, we were zapped! We enjoyed the stars out on the balcony for a short period of time before calling it a night.
The last morning started with a short walk on the beach to say goodbye to the ocean for a while. On our walk we discovered a stranded sea slug. We learned that it was toic but still had to help it, so I used my sandals and gave it a little help back intot he arter. We will miss the ocean until the next time we see it! We only had a two-and-a-half-hour drive back to Tucson to make in the morning. We took our time leaving and stopped for breakfast in downtown Puerto Peñasco at a place called Candy Cake. This spot checked off all of the boxes! Amazing lattes, breakfast was on point, and we dabbled in one of their specialty doughnuts with a Mexican-style beignet. This was a glazed doughnut cut in half with sweet cream, jalapeño, and slices of ham inside. I wanted to eat a million of them, but in reality, they were so rich that eating more than one would put you in a sugar-induced coma! The drive through Mexico was smooth and quiet. At the border, they have people there who will wash your car windows and ask for money from Americans crossing over. After one of them washed our window, I rolled the window down, gave him some cash, and said, “Buenos noches!” Amity started laughing at me. I was confused. She said jokingly, “Good night?” I was like, shit! I thought I said good afternoon. As we crossed into the U.S. side of the border, she schooled me on “Buenos tardes.” Again, we swooped right through the border in less than five minutes. We at least had to show our passports this time. Pretty wild that you can cross over that easily in a place that they supposedly “locked down.” No complaints here, though! Just north of the border is an area called Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We had to check it out! We saw some massive organ pipe cacti growing all around the visitor center. We then did a quick drive out on one of the roads inside the park. We were greeted with a sign that warned us of human trafficking in this area and to call 911 if we saw anyone. Crazy to see, but totally understandable for this area. The drive was a beautiful desert drive in which we saw NO ONE! This has become the story of this trip—our own private vacation to Puerto Peñasco and back! The rest of the drive was easy, and uneventful other than an observatory we saw on a mountain called Kitt Peak Observatory. We have put it on our list of places to hopefully see before we leave! Now that we are back in Tucson, I have to say it was a great way to welcome in my 40s and check off another amazing zone of this beautiful world! Sometimes you have to see things to believe them, and we now know that you can easily Live Rad in Puerto Peñasco!
