The Mexicans are coming!

If you're a snowbird or ex pat living in an RV park or a condo, you can pretty much go about your day without interacting with a Mexican unless it's the clerk at the Super T where you buy your El Presidente brandy or the women who work at the park scooping up mostly gringo dog poop. If you're a snowbird or ex pat more than likely you don't eat at the taco stands or fish stalls. You go to Club Deportivo for pig roasts or you go to the Marlin for the Friday night special - stuffed crab or sauteed pork chops. You go en masse, reserving tables for twenty or more. Rarely an odd number as it's mostly couples. Jorge's does a Mexican food special on Tuesdays which includes a margarita chica so you'll probably go there. The only Mexicans at Jorge's on Mexican food night will be Jorge, his wife and staff. Same is true at the Club and the Marlin. The poor people in this village do not eat out unless it's at a carne asada or fish taco stand.

But bring on the beginning of spring when it is blazing hot in Hermosillo and this little town gets invaded by Mexican tourists. It's the best time to be here.

I can go to the estuary on a Saturday and be the only person there. But this past Saturday the place was packed with tourists from Hermosillo. The atmosphere was festive. The guy who plays music around town - not Xavier with the crappy voice but the other guy - showed up with his guitar but no one likes him much because he charges too much for a song (50 pesos) and he's got a bad attitude. Still, any man with a guitar adds to the party-like atmosphere.

Yesterday we walked to the beach with the I-don't-know-how-many palapas. Fifty? Nearly every palapa sheltered a picnicking family. The beach was lined with kids digging in the sand and building castles. The ninos were even in the water which is muy frio, the sea not warming up until at least May.

What I was hoping for most happened: the mariachis from Hermosillo showed up!

Then a school of sardines must've been traveling along the shore because pelicans suddenly began falling from the sky.

This is when I enjoy Kino the most. Yes, I love the quiet fishing village atmosphere but I look forward to the return of the Mexicans. I can hardly wait for Semana Santa!