Bahía de Kino

 I think we’ll stay a while.

We said “una semana” when we pulled in and paid for our spot. One week. After our whirlwind last couple of days prepping to and then crossing the USA/Mexico border and then two nights of driving south and then west (it takes that long with littles) to get to Bahia de Kino, a week sounded like a good plan. Rest up, enjoy the beach and hit the road again. That was the plan. ‘We’ll keep going at a lazy pace and really enjoy ourselves and relax while still driving south and exploring the country a bit,’ we told ourselves.

Then we pulled in to the Islandia Resort… and Tim found the palm tree pictured in the camping guidebook…(he really wanted me to put that bit in)

Orrr maybe we just relax here?

The whole time?

It seems like ours isn’t the only Islandia story that began this way. There’s another family with 3 kids across the park from us. I got talking to the mom the very next day after we pulled in and she said the same thing. They thought they’d stay a week. It’s gonna be more like two or three months.

Another couple said they’ve been coming to this spot for 39 years and pay for the plot next door to keep their view! (And give visiting friends a place to park)

This place is a gem.

Right on the ocean and a block from the main two market streets of town, this place has a very laid back feel. There are palm trees and sand, shells on the beach. Fishing boats to watch and a lovely casual attitude about the place. Things that need to be are in good repair, but it’s not overly ritzy at all. A nice eclectic mix of rigs here too. No “ten years and newer only” rv rule here! There is everything from airstreams and “hippy vans,” to whitewashed permanent homes and bigger, newer fifth wheels. Some spots are occupied by temporary stays like us and others are quite established.  There are also “casitas” that can be rented and some tent spaces along the beach wall. The family who runs the place are super helpful and friendly and always working – picking up litter, tending the trees, emptying the garbage bins and creating a Japanese zen garden around our truck every few days.

The people are as varied as their rigs. There are a number of American retirees, both the travelling and established sorts. There are Mexican couples from the city who come for weekends. Then there are “the Canadians” over in “the BC corner.” There are Francophones from New Mexico, and the group we’ve dubbed “the posse” – a group of 5 retiree single friends who travelled here together and have invited us out on shell hunting adventures a few times. There was a group of young people (ha! I’m only 28 and calling them young people – so goes the married with kids life!) with Arizona plates tenting for a few nights.

Bahía de Kino itself is also really nice. There are lots of little shops and tons of restaurants and taco stands. Craft vendors and vegetable vendors often come through the park. Again, really laid back friendly vibe. It’s a fishing town and it shows in the menus of many of the restaurants. Good thing our kids like fish tacos!

Also the weather: 20-25C highs every day. Perfect, nice and Canadian hot, but not too hot. (I think one or more of the kids and/or husband would melt if it were any hotter.)

The plan was drive until we find a nice beach right? We’re in a campground on the water, in a spot the perfect distance from the water (read: we’ve got a view but enough distance to catch runaway toddlers) with perfect weather. What more could we want?

Yup, *sigh* this suits us. I think we’ll stay awhile.

Now that we’ve settled in we’ve developed a bit of a routine. If you came to visit this is where you might find us and what we might be doing…

Eating Bread!

One of the established Americans from New Mexico, “Frenchie,” bakes fresh bread every Wednesday. $20 pesos a baguette, $15 for a raisin roll. You order on Tuesday and pick up fresh! On Saturdays…he gives it away! To the locals, to his friends…and apparently we made the cut! We bought a baguette the first Wednesday we were here and received a free one the next Saturday! The following week we tried the raisin rolls and received a free Sourdough loaf this past weekend! We immediately sat down and devoured the whole thing with a few slices of cheese. 

Literally. Loaf. Gone. Five minutes.

I’m ordering sourdough this Wednesday.

Eating Tortillas!

We keep finding better and better tortillas. Our latest favourite are the tortillas de harina from the Tortilleria Carla 3 blocks away. Buy it freshly pressed by the kilo at $23 pesos a bag. I’ll leave you to figure out the Spanish ;)

Eating Cheese!

Eight years ago I fell in love…with cheese. The queso my host family served was amazing, and quite prevalent in local restaurants. I’ve been searching for it since we got here. Not knowing what it was called made it more challenging. But I did it! Queso Oaxaca! Apparently available at Costco! Paired with the tortillas, it has revolutionized taco night!

Enjoying the beach!

Because, why not! Tim has constructed a castle with the kids that is located juuuusssst below the highest high tide line. There is now an ongoing game between Tim and the ocean, Engineer and God. Tim and the kids have constructed (well, the kids de-construct) various different moats, dams, channels and bridges in defense of their fortress. We return every day to different levels of destruction, but so far it's still standing proud.

Working on our shell collection

We've got a nice pile around our palm tree and it's growing every day!

Enjoying the people!

We spent our first week or so hanging out with a retired surveyor who was truck camping in the spot behind us. He’s since returned home and we’ve made friends with many others in the camp. We’ve been on a couple adventures with different campers. To places we never would have found on our own. The fishing estuary made for good swimming and Sand dollar beach is aptly named, we found a good half dozen and apparently its off season right now.

Our kids are well admired in the camp and Sara’s made friends with the granddaughter of the owners (I think that’s the connection anyway – her mom runs the office at any rate). It’s really fun seeing her play with another girl who also tiene tres años – despite language barrier they have fun with their bikes and soccer balls.

Practicing Spanish…and French too!

Speaking of Spanish – it’s great to be here and practicing my Spanish again. Its kicked my desire to teach the children up a notch as well, and they’re both picking it up pretty readily. Sara is also pretty pumped to emulate a favourite book character and practice her French…she gets to say “MERCI BEAUCOUP!” Every Wednesday and Saturday.

Biking!

We’re becoming known for it. Jacob especially is always on his wheels. There are a couple of perfect sized hills for the kids to glide down on their run bikes and they are getting really good, really fast!

Enjoying the hammock!

I knew I brought this thing for a reason! We’ve got two strong palms in our “yard” that are just about the perfect spacing. Soooo nice to have you back old friend! Kids pile in in the afternoon, mom and dad can often be found here in the evenings.

Enjoying the stars and moon!

One thing that we began to notice more in the last couple months is the moon. It’s become a fun family thing to watch it change its phase a little more every night. Minimal light pollution means super bright stars! That is, until the moon becomes full and casts shadows. Orion is Sara’s new favourite constellation. Partly due to a book, partly due to the fact it’s the most noticeable one right now. We’re too far south to see the big dipper though – we’ll have to catch it on the way back.

Sunset chasing!

The sun sets just after dinner time every night and Tim pretty quickly got it in his head he wanted to watch it. It took a few tries but we’ve gotten a pretty good system down now where we eat dinner, drop what we’re doing and run around the corner, watch the set and head back in to finish up. Another fun family ritual. We say ‘goodnight sun, see you tomorrow!’ as it sinks into the Gulf.

Dusk walks with headlamps

And once the sun has set and dinner is eaten we often go for another walk around the campground to burn off a little more kid energy. Little bit nerve wracking in the dark though. One day the kids found our headlamps and were playing with them in the house. Bingo! We now strap one on each little head before we head out the door. They have fun chasing their “headlights” (which also slows them down) and we can see them. Perfect.

Soooo that’s what we’ll be doing for the next few weeks! That and eating out – we do that fairly often too! And why not? We can feed a family of 5 for $135 pesos.

I leave you with a few of our...

Unexptected Adventures:

1) Churros!

One yummy food I was eager to find again was churros. We made a trip into Hermosillo last week and guess what they’ve got in their food court? Churros! I ordered three after we’d finished our lunches, eager to share another food love with my family.

Oh. Right. This is Costco…These aren’t just any old churros…these are Costco sized. We got a LOT more churro than we bargained for…..we were officially full. But that’s okay, you’re not supposed to shop on an empty stomach anyway, right?

2) Ants…

Good thing they sell Raid at the grocery store. ‘Nuf said.

3) Helping hands

Nowhere else have we had so much “help” backing into our spot. There were at least three or four guys helping guide Tim while he backed up.  Not actually sure if that helped or confused him more. They even helped unhitch. It was a good thing too… we hadn’t noticed that one trailer tire had a welt. The spare is on while a cousin of one of the locals from Hermosillo is hunting for a replacement tire for us!