trailer life

When we arrived in Martin Verdugo's Beach Resort, we were greeted by neighbours and friends who helped us get parked and gave tips on campground rules and amenities. We immediately got to work setting up camp. We were lucky to get a spot and there is a hierarchy based on seniority. Our spot, #15, is long and deep with lots of room for parking the truck out front and storing the bikes and other gear at the back. We can have this same spot reserved for next year or chose another.

There is every kind of set-up imaginable from a protected tenting area to full-size bus-type RVs. Some rent spots to park their fishing pangas or extra vehicles such as ATVs or cratered-out Jeeps. Everyone sets up a personal style of outdoor seating with shade and as is the custom, we bought a palapa-style tent at a box store called City Club in La Paz for beside our awning. Outside, we laid tarps and a camping carpet on the sandy ground and put up a sunshade/windscreen perimeter with dog gates. Michael pre-made the sections and numbered them for on-site assembly. We also set up folding chairs & tables, storage in bins and a pup tent and an electric skillet, a coffee grinder and a toaster loaned from R&B. Some people have permanent structures made of wood and palm leaf palapa roofs or concrete walls and floors. Sand gets on everything, so the broom is kept handy. Next it was the rack and line to hang our windsurfing gear on and the bird feeders.

There are hot showers and coin laundry, a fish cleaning station where you can also wash a vehicle.  You can make improvements to your site as long as you take care not to drill into the sewer or electric as some have done in the past. I planted some yellow alyssum by our entrance belneath a palm tree and it has sprouted. I water it with my lettuce rinsing water. I wash the greens with 3 rinses of water. I thought I might have had a caught bug earlier in our trip, but it turned out that papaya doesn't agree with me.

It rarely rains here, but if it does, we might need to lift up our tarps as the water drains away. Several nights were humid, though, with dew dripping off the underside of our awning. We have a charcoal filter on our water line and are drinking the water. Some people prefer to buy bottled water, but many do drink the water without filtering. 

Vida is very happy to be able to sit outside again and we have managed to teach her not to bark at Juan. Juan is one of two men who work 6 days/week on keeping the place tidy and maintained. Juan begin raking the entire non-paved areas of the campground at dawn and is hired to sweep and rake individuals campsites by some. The campground owner, Martin Verdugo and his family, live on site and Martin keeps a sharp eye out on the goings on and larger maintenance of water and sewage, etc.

Antonia from San Bartolo walks through and calls out "tamales" or "emapanadas" 3 days/week at 8 a.m., Oscar the vegetable vendor sells organic produce down the block 2 days/week and Jose Luis stops at the campground office and sets up a wide array of fruit, vegetables, buns and tortillas on Friday. There are shrimp, orange and other vendors located up the street near the grocery store. It's not fishing season yet, so there is little in the way of local fish available. An American opened a small store called Charlie's Chocolates on the way to the grocery store and it has become very popular for it's very sweet, chocolaty treats.

We seldom need to start the truck. Everything is within walking or biking distance and our good friends are just across the way.

The town and campground was busy and noisy over the holidays with families young and old arriving to celebrate. With the exodus of short-term vacationers, it's relatively cooler and much windier now, which makes for tired sailors at the end of the day.