Blue Roads Journal: Puerto Penasco, Mexico

We decided to get an early start on our trip down to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) Mexico. We purchased Mexican insurance yesterday and it was a pretty straight forward experience. We chose an agency from about 10 different vendors here in Ajo. We chose a place where we could sit down, discuss the options, and coverages with a real insurance writer- not a convenience store clerk. Many of you probably already know that US insurance does not cover you in Mexico, and coverage is required by law for all out-of-country vehicles.

One of the things to consider is that in Mexico all parties to a collision are considered guilty until proven innocent, and you can, and will, be detained until things get sorted out. If you don't speak the language it can get a little one-sided, so the insurance usually includes legal assistance for these eventualities.

So here we were at 7:30 AM, with the sun just peeking over the rim of the mountains, picking up our neighbor, Barb, and heading south for the border.

The border is 39 miles from Ajo. The crossing was a piece of cake this morning, the US side wanted to know if we had any weapons, and the Mexican side gave us the green light without so much as a look.

Sonoyta is the Mexican border town opposite Lukeville, and it seems to be nice enough, but is not our destination for this trip, so we drift on through on Mexico route 8 towards the beach.

The highway is well paved, the striping is bright, the shoulders are wide, and the scenery is -well, Sonoran desert.

The trip from Sonoyta is 98 kilometers, about 1 hour and 15 minutes to Puerto Penasco.

We are passing through the Pinacate Reserve (de la Biosphera El Pinacate) The Reserve is 600 square miles of nearly untouched archelogical and geologic area, significant because of it's nearly 400 million years of volcanic activity. US Astronauts used this area to train for moon walks, because of the high similarity to the craters on the moon.

Our first stop in PP was the waterfront in old town. The park-like area here is called the Malecon- Spanish for a broad esplanade and seawall. The columns shown below each have the name of a State Governor stenciled in metal below them. Included with the Mexican Governors were the Governors of the 4 border states of the US- AZ, NM, CA, and TX. The Columns were erected for the 2007 Western Governors Conference.

We noticed this grand bronze statue of a mariner riding a huge shrimp, an homage to all the shrimp fishermen who have lost their lives in the surrounding seas.

We played tourist driving the streets and taking in the sites

If there's something you can't find in this shop-I don't know what it would be. It might take all day just to see some of it.

No trip is complete without some authentic Mexican cuisine. Barb treated Joan and me to lunch at Flavio's on the waterfront. They tell you the shrimp you eat today slept in the ocean last night- and that very well may be true!