Took a week off of work so we could do some off-the-grid exploring. First stop was a little fishing village called Bahia Asuncion on the Pacific 120 miles off of Mexico Highway 1. We did not know what to expect from the roads out there especially when it immediately turned into a short stretch of gravel. Luckily most of the remaining road was paved. Found a rugged and treacherous coastline at the end when we arrived at dusk.

See those tire tracks in front of our truck? Dan wanted to follow them to the edge of the cliff. I am all HELL NO. Giving each other the evil eye for not agreeing is a daily occurrence around here. It’s actually a bit better without the Airstream in tow but still. Drive to the edge?!?! He’s nuts, right? RIGHT!

Just take the damn photo from here, Dan. See? It’s nice (and safe).

We weren’t too sure if the cliff area was okay to camp on or not so we headed to the other side of the little fishing village of Bahia Asuncion to Campo Sirena campground.

As soon as we set up shop, the stray and not so stray dogs of town came to say hello. This is Todo. He was my favorite of the bunch.

And he provided plenty of entertainment for the kids.

As the sun was setting, we took a quick walk to the beach to check it out.

Pink skies and ponies who do tricks on command greeted us.

Ava and her current shadow, Winter.

Since there wasn’t much going on in town or any waves to surf here, we decided to pack up and explore the next town that draws us.

Not sure exactly where. Paper maps and google maps are pulled up to decide where to go as a group.

Sweet Todo. If we had room and you didn’t belong to anyone, I would have scooped you up. I’m sure grouchy old Yoda would love you.

We had the choice to take the same road back out of Bahia Asuncion or a 60 mile dirt road along the Pacific to see something new. We will always choose the latter.

After driving 60 miles of unpaved roads to Punta Abreojos from Bahia de Asuncion, we spent a night at Campo Rene.

Our shared palapa was 75 pesos each for the night that sits up against an estuary. Sunday night was a local’s playground with a dozen families eating, drinking and playing all around. By Monday morning we were left alone there all by ourselves.

At the end of the dirt road, we expected some more sand and stray pups. But what we got were acres of mangroves, a jaw dropping medley of birds, spouting dolphins and bar full of cold Pacificos.

The littles always trying to take the big kid down.

Ospreys literally everywhere. Usually with fish in their talons.

These two ended up building an enormous nest on top of the water tank.

And ravens in pairs.

It’s so weird for me to be awake before the kids. I ended up making some coffee and heading to a different spot in the estuary to do some bird watching.

Unfortunately it was high tide so the wading birds were not here but something else happened. I heard a spout of water and saw dolphins swimming in front of me. Here’s a blurry pic to prove it.

Look who thought he could sleep in and see dolphins. Haha. Nice try, Dan.

I wasn’t the only one enjoying the birding around here. Yoda, our 13 year old cat, was pried to our truck camper windows.

Here’s a shot of how we sleep. The kids sleep up on top on the queen bed, each in their own sleeping bags so no one complains that someone is touching them. Dan and I convert the 48″ dinette below for our bed.

And there’s our porta potty. It stays out in the middle of the night in case the kids need to use it. We try to use public restrooms during day if they are available. If not, it’s pee in the sand or pee inside. The tank can hold 5 gallons of waste which Dan empties into a toilet or into the ground. We don’t throw any chemicals in our toilet because sometimes it ends up in a dug out hole.

Our new camper finally feels like our home. I thought it would take longer to feel comfortable in our smaller space but it happened as soon as we crossed into Mexico. We loved our years in the Airstream but our souls were craving change. Change feels really good right now.

On the other side of the mangroves sits the mighty Pacific Ocean. Kids running from waves, Dan finally getting his surf board wet and sooo many shells.

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And a few dead stingrays too.

It didn’t take long for them to get soaking wet.

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Fianlly getting a chance to use one of the boards we’ve been lugging around.

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Thanks for reading,
Marlene

Categories: daily

7 Comments

Kerensa · April 13, 2016 at 10:32 pm

It looks lovely down there and you never seem to be short a canine companion! I’m glad you settled right into the camper. It looks like it is working out well for you. Enjoy your time on the mainland, hopefully we’ll see you again one day!

    marlene · April 14, 2016 at 7:19 am

    No shortage of pup friends for sure. Would love to cross paths again for sure 🙂

Kate Hopson · April 14, 2016 at 8:03 am

This post was so lovely. 🙂 Love the glimpse into the Mexico camping life!

karie · April 14, 2016 at 9:47 pm

The sleeping arrangement totally makes sense! I had been wondering about that. Sweet!

    marlene · April 15, 2016 at 7:52 am

    There is actually more bed space in here than we use in Airstream. Which is so funny to me.

Brian Banker · May 10, 2019 at 7:30 pm

I visited campo Rene in the 1980’s many times. 20 to 30 trips. I am glad to see that it has not changed much. What a great place. Back then the road in was not paved from Mexico 1. We left a boat with a friend in Abriojosand had many great trips. We often fed 20 to 30 locals for dinner on Saturday night. Great memories.

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