Debbie's crew in Mexico
Lisa's sister Debbie writes: Hey Fam,
We stayed with Kellen's high school friends in Phoenix for 2 days. It was great. They let us play in the pool, I saw some cool birds and we went to the children's museum there. Then we travelled 5 hrs to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) and the roads were pretty crazy, but the water was lovely. We swam around for a few hours and stayed the night in an okay hotel. We ate plenty of tastiness. Pollo asado and tree ripened tropical fruit and fresh guacamole and cactus-flavored tortillas. Lots of good stuff.
We drove past the Colorado river delta a couple days ago. The area reminds me of Utah's west desert--Sagebrush, dry mini-mountains and deer. I ran over a lizard ☹️ it was like 2 ft long. We had to stop a couple times because they were bull-dozing away the sand dunes that had blown onto the road. In a few hours the geography is saguaros, then sagebrush, then salt flats, then hard packed earth, then brush, then sand dunes, then sand stone hoo doos, then farmland and palms, then cactus again, then Mexicali city, which is like a dirtier smaller more-Chinese hotter version of Las Vegas (with better food). We had some of the tastiest Chinese food, I've ever had--even in Beijing.
Kellen got us a lovely 2 bedroom house in downtown Mexicali with good AC. Good AC matters. It's 112 f outside right now and unlike Nevada, it doesn't cool at night. It's stays in the hundreds after dark. Last night we went on a tour with a local professor doing a documentary about la Chinesca (Chinese barrio). We got a lovely view of unfinished basements, back alleys and historic buildings that are now pawn shops. It was interesting, but pretty depressing to see how the city has expanded and hasn't bothered to preserve its history. His point was to clear away some myths about the Chinese building underground networks and encourage the next generation to revive and clean up the downtown area. I can add some roach pics to my online insect collection.
This morning Kellen had the idea to drive to Calexico to get cash out and make some calls stateside. He thought the line to cross the border would take a half hour...2 hours later when we crossed, we were dying because the AC doesn't work that well when we're idling and it was 118f. So we immediately went to an amazing grocery store that had piles of fresh fruit you could point to and get a smoothie made. We got cash and then gas and then headed BACK over the border. The Mexican agents just waved us by. No passport check. That line was like 5 mins! Mexico, land of the free!
I'm waiting for Paty to finish her pedicure and Kellen is hanging with the girls at the airBNB. Tomorrow we're getting up early and going to the zoo. So in sum, weather is awful. Food is amazing. Can't wait to get back to the beach on Thursday, when we head to San Felipe. See FB for pics.
Nos vemos compas!
Los DeAlba
Ps I refuse to leave without first seeing a roadrunner. Meep meep!
We stayed with Kellen's high school friends in Phoenix for 2 days. It was great. They let us play in the pool, I saw some cool birds and we went to the children's museum there. Then we travelled 5 hrs to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) and the roads were pretty crazy, but the water was lovely. We swam around for a few hours and stayed the night in an okay hotel. We ate plenty of tastiness. Pollo asado and tree ripened tropical fruit and fresh guacamole and cactus-flavored tortillas. Lots of good stuff.
We drove past the Colorado river delta a couple days ago. The area reminds me of Utah's west desert--Sagebrush, dry mini-mountains and deer. I ran over a lizard ☹️ it was like 2 ft long. We had to stop a couple times because they were bull-dozing away the sand dunes that had blown onto the road. In a few hours the geography is saguaros, then sagebrush, then salt flats, then hard packed earth, then brush, then sand dunes, then sand stone hoo doos, then farmland and palms, then cactus again, then Mexicali city, which is like a dirtier smaller more-Chinese hotter version of Las Vegas (with better food). We had some of the tastiest Chinese food, I've ever had--even in Beijing.
Kellen got us a lovely 2 bedroom house in downtown Mexicali with good AC. Good AC matters. It's 112 f outside right now and unlike Nevada, it doesn't cool at night. It's stays in the hundreds after dark. Last night we went on a tour with a local professor doing a documentary about la Chinesca (Chinese barrio). We got a lovely view of unfinished basements, back alleys and historic buildings that are now pawn shops. It was interesting, but pretty depressing to see how the city has expanded and hasn't bothered to preserve its history. His point was to clear away some myths about the Chinese building underground networks and encourage the next generation to revive and clean up the downtown area. I can add some roach pics to my online insect collection.
This morning Kellen had the idea to drive to Calexico to get cash out and make some calls stateside. He thought the line to cross the border would take a half hour...2 hours later when we crossed, we were dying because the AC doesn't work that well when we're idling and it was 118f. So we immediately went to an amazing grocery store that had piles of fresh fruit you could point to and get a smoothie made. We got cash and then gas and then headed BACK over the border. The Mexican agents just waved us by. No passport check. That line was like 5 mins! Mexico, land of the free!
I'm waiting for Paty to finish her pedicure and Kellen is hanging with the girls at the airBNB. Tomorrow we're getting up early and going to the zoo. So in sum, weather is awful. Food is amazing. Can't wait to get back to the beach on Thursday, when we head to San Felipe. See FB for pics.
Nos vemos compas!
Los DeAlba
Ps I refuse to leave without first seeing a roadrunner. Meep meep!
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