June 1 2012 Trip Report

[El Gato]

Our two GDs and their friend drove down for a short weekend from Phoenix. No wait at the border & got the green light, a smile and a wave. It was their friend's first trip to Mexico - before she had read the media hype and stayed away.

The girls, used to California beaches where they wouldn't go in the water because it was too cold and rough, loved the warmth of our Sea of Cortez. What we considered rough water they thought pretty calm compared to California waters.

They stayed at the pool, enjoyed the Azul Bar, played on the beach, did cartwheels and somersaults on the grass, completely forgot about work for the short weekend and are already planning on coming back, hoping for a longer time next time. They still want to show their friend the old port, walk on the Malecon, lick ice cream cones and buy lots of shrimp. This time manana syndrome set in quickly.

GDs bought annual car insurance from Rosie, which gives a clue that they are planning a lot more trips to our beautiful Sea of Cortez.

 

[mondone]

anyone have a report on the border crossing back to US yesterday? Although I am returning today, I'm just curious since we seemed to have a lot of folks leave Encanto yesterday and I forgot to check the website. Also, I am returning to RP on Friday night to bring the wife home on Sunday. Yikes, thats the concert weekend..... Anyone have experience returning on the concert Sunday in the past??

 

[Encantocarlos]

We left Encanto at 1:30pm yesterday. At border before 3pm and they had 4 lanes open and was about 5 minute wait for us.

 

[cholla]

anyone have a report on the border crossing back to US yesterday? Although I am returning today, I'm just curious since we seemed to have a lot of folks leave Encanto yesterday and I forgot to check the website. Also, I am returning to RP on Friday night to bring the wife home on Sunday. Yikes, thats the concert weekend..... Anyone have experience returning on the concert Sunday in the past??

Yeah, don't do it. Wait til Monday.

 

[badfish]

Ive crossed on a Sunday after the circus mexicus show and the wait was 4 hours. If I were you I would be at the border when it opened. Monday will not be much better. Thank god we will be there til Tuesday.

 

[beachgirl]

We left the Pemex/Circle K on the outskirts of town about 11:30 Sunday (3rd). For the first time ever (fourteen years), we went through a Mexican Military check point where we had to get out of the truck while they searched it. They didn't really go through things too much....mostly just looked around. This was in Nayarit, just before the bridge. It didn't take long and we were on our way in no time. I still can't believe how young most of them look.....but they were polite and professional. When we got to the border, they had just opened the ready lane. Luckily for us, we just zipped right on up, flashed the cards, got to the booth and were barely asked any questions......got through in less than five minutes. (All the other lanes had at least five cars each in them!)
We were there for nine nights/ten days, coming down on the 25th. We expected a wait at the border and were pleasantly surprised when there was none!! In fact, the customs agent, after rolling my window down expecting the usual drill, waved us through telling me "go, go!!".......no questions at all!! Then we got the red light and were pulled over. I was expecting the worst, but they only wanted to see the dogs' paper's. He looked at them, while talking and laughing with the other agent, handed them back and thanked us....no biggie!! After that, it just got better!! The winds died down the next day and it was gorgeous pretty much all week long. The boat trip on Sunday was beyond awesome (thank you again Mark and Barb and for the use of the kayaks'!) and we had a great time seeing everyone and meeting new people throughout the week.
It was wonderful to see the town busy. The beach at PDO was pretty full Memorial weekend and when most of those people left, others moved in!! We didn't go out much, other than to buy groceries and out to eat a couple of times....it was just so nice on the beach we didn't want to move!!!!! And I could eat a gazillion of the "mango-on-a-stick"....I thought about trying to duplicate them at home, but when I looked at the size of the mango's here, I said forget it!! They're puny compared to the one's down there. I have overheard people complain about their three dollar price, but to me, it is more than worth it!!
Anyway, it was a fantastic week and we're looking forward to the next trip down in four weeks!! I'll be posting pics' soon......

 

[beachgirl]

One more thing....the exchange rate was great. I used the ATM twice, each time withdrawing 1500 pesos. The amount withdrawn from my checking account, each time, was $110.18 plus a $1.10 fee. When I used my debit card at the Pemex, I was charged $27.89 plus a .28 fee for 400 pesos worth of gas and at La Curva, a bill for 379 pesos was 26.42, plus a .26 fee. I had periodically checked the exchange rate on the web and it was getting real close to 15.........I just checked and it's down a bit, but still good overall!!

 

[mondone]

One more thing....the exchange rate was great. I used the ATM twice, each time withdrawing 1500 pesos. The amount withdrawn from my checking account, each time, was $110.18 plus a $1.10 fee. When I used my debit card at the Pemex, I was charged $27.89 plus a .28 fee for 400 pesos worth of gas and at La Curva, a bill for 379 pesos was 26.42, plus a .26 fee. I had periodically checked the exchange rate on the web and it was getting real close to 15.........I just checked and it's down a bit, but still good overall!!

That's great, I use my Capital One Visa w/ no foreign transaction fees anytime I can down there. Nothing like getting a full tank of gas @2.89/gallon. Too bad the merchants only taking cash still calculate at 12.5 to dollar, what a joke when you don't have pesos.

 

[beachgirl]

It's the easiest way to go (using pesos)....then, you don't have to worry about the exchange rate or calculations. Besides that, it is the currency of the country

 

[mondone]

Ive crossed on a Sunday after the circus mexicus show and the wait was 4 hours. If I were you I would be at the border when it opened. Monday will not be much better. Thank god we will be there til Tuesday.

Not going to go until the following weekend, thank God. Wife wants to stay now.:woo:

 

[Peñasc0]

That's great, I use my Capital One Visa w/ no foreign transaction fees anytime I can down there. Nothing like getting a full tank of gas @2.89/gallon. Too bad the merchants only taking cash still calculate at 12.5 to dollar, what a joke when you don't have pesos.

Once had a vendor say to us, "Pay me with Pesos! I don't care for your (meaning Americans) dollars! This is Mexico, We deal in Pesos! But If you insist on paying me with dollars my exchange rate is $10 pesos x dollar, because I have to do the work for you." Seemed rude, but we understood where he was coming from. I bet I would get annoyed by it too.
It's helped change our attitude about exchanging money.