Rio Travelers: HI FROM PUERTO PENASCO MEXICO

After the Balloon Fiesta was over we headed down to Mexico for some RandR before our next assignment. On the way we passed the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert National Park and made a very interesting detour on our way. The pictures say it all.

We then made our way down to Puerto Penasco aka Rocky Point in Sonora, MX on the northern end of the Gulf of California aka Sea of Cortez. One of the lesser known vacation areas in Mexico. It is where Arizonians "go to the beach" since it is only about 200 miles from the Phoenix area. As you can see, our RV site is a hop over a 3 foot wall to the beach. There are lots of restaurants, it is cheap and you can shop from the comfort of your RV since the vendors walk along the walkway selling everything from silver jewelry to pottery and pedicures. The people are friendly and practically everyone speaks English and the $ is the currency of choice but the ATM's only disburse pesos. Away from the beach the area is depressed. Up until several years ago the area was an up and coming tourist area but due to the American economy and the media hype on the drug cartels' violence we were told tourism was 80% off. This year tourism is returning and is up. These people rely on the tourism and it is a shame that they have suffered. We have had a nice relaxing time and have not at all felt threatened. Although there a quite a few abandoned condos and other projects things are improving. We talked to one realtor in the condo next to the RV park. This is an upscale condo with only 13 units left for sale and there do not seem to be many resales in the condos but much property elseware for sale. Some signs of the comeback are the new Sam's Club and Bodaga Aurrera the Mexican Walmart subsidiary, a new 6 screen movie theater showing first run US movies with spanish subtitles, and rumors a cruise ship port is on the way. There is also a new coastal road that will reduce time for those traveling to southern California.