Mexico: Day 6-7

There was a storm Sunday night, which raised the humidity and made sleeping extra rough. Matthew was wide awake by 5 am and getting restless, so he woke Hyrum, who was also having a hard time sleeping, and they went out fishing. Hyrum had gone out with Dad on Friday, but they were so far out that he had to spend most of his energy staying afloat and wasn't really doing much fishing. Matthew really wanted him to have a good experience before we left, so that was his focus yesterday morning. Hyrum was able to cast, hook, and reel in a fish, though in the end it got away. He was really pleased with himself though, and came away with positive feelings so we're calling it a win. I was able to get mostly packed up while they were gone. When they, along with Robbie, Jeb, and Cora, returned, we headed out to an estuary to do some crabbing.

Abraham loved crabbing! We used the carcasses from some of the fish caught earlier and pulled in seven crabs. Robbie said that it wasn't great crabbing and explained that sometimes one can catch 20 or 30 in a single spot. Regardless, we were thrilled with our first experience. 

We stayed at the estuary as long as we could, then returned to the house to quickly shower and finish packing up. We returned to the same shops for tacos and ice cream, popped by a dulceria for a giant bag of Mexican candy, then made one last stop at the tortillaria on our way out of town. Mercy was asleep before we hit the city's edge.

The drive out to Sonoyta felt significantly shorter than the drive in, and it took less than 30 minutes to get across the boarder. We bought some delicious mangoes from a street vendor as we waited in the customs line and the boarder agent barely looked at our passports before waving us through. The rest of the drive through Arizona seemed to take forever. We made a couple pit stops on the way to Robbie's house and ate pizza in the car for dinner. We got into Duncan around 9:30 pm and were all in bed within twenty minutes of our arrival. About half an hour later, Mercy lost her other front tooth.

 We were on the road again around 7:30 this morning and had an uneventful drive home. The boys played on their game pad and tablet, and Mercy was in and out of sleep the whole day.

We got home at 2:30 and instead of rushing to unpack, we steamed our crabs, cooked up some Mexican quesadillas and wished we were back on the beach.

***
 None of the things that were worrying us about Mexico ended up being issues at all. We never felt unsafe, had zero problems with money or language or food, and boarder crossings were easy peasy. The mosquitoes just outside our house were extremely annoying, and the lack of air conditioning and hot water in our house was mildly inconvenient, but otherwise Puerto Penasco was an absolutely lovely place to visit. The kids noted and were impressed by the lack of beggars. There were plenty of people hoping to get money from us, but they were all trying to sell something or at least wash our windows. Other than a couple elderly folks in wheelchairs right at the boarder, we didn't see a single person trying to get something for nothing. The food was great, the people were kind, and the weather was absolutely ideal. It was the first time I truly felt like I vacationed, and we all look forward to returning.

Things we'd like to remember for next time:

water shoes

boogie boards

fewer real clothes and more beach clothes

snorkeling gear

a nice big shade

having the board games and some movies to watch was nice

longer lasting sunscreen
separate sandals that don't get worn at the beach