The San Felipe Blog

Playing volleyball across US-Mexico fence: “Mark Frauenfelder:
Joshua Bearman wrote a story for LA Weekly about a game of ‘border volleyball,’ in which players on either side of a two-story fence separating the US and Mexico hit a ball back and forth.

All this activity finally brings down the hammer of the border patrol, and a jeep shows up to separate us. The officer is friendly but firm. He’s just come on shift and has no idea we’ve been playing volleyball over the fence for the past hour.

‘Really?’

He tells us that a daredevil launched himself across the border in a cannon a while back, but that ours was, in fact, the first-ever game of international border volleyball.

‘And it worked over that tall fence?’

‘Yup,’ we say. ‘We’re up for one more round if you want to play.’

‘No, man,’ the officer says. ‘I’m on duty.’

Link

“

(Via Boing Boing.)

Now that’s a creative use of the border fence!

So the water pump went out at the house I’m staying at. Well, maybe any way. That’s probably the easiest to fix. I hope it’s not internal in the home.

Well, I’ll be sure to let you know how my first home crisis in San Felipe goes. In the States, it’s pretty clear who to call when something like this happens. Here, I call the contractor that built the house and hope he honors the warranty!

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Coinciding with the water pump, I had issues with the server and did not post this.

The resolution: Lupe, the contractor, was excellent. He came out within an hour after I called him the next day, and he determined it wasn’t the pump but the fittings connected to the pump. There was a leak causing only air to go into the pump. Fortunately, I had shut the pump off so it did not burn up.

I’ll try to get Lupe’s contact information. I recommend him if you’re looking for a contractor in San Felipe.

American Football isn’t nearly the rage in Mexico as it is in the U.S., but there are enough Americans here that you don’t have to worry about missing your big game if you’re here during the NFL season.

If you live here, you’ll want DirecTV instead of Dish Network, because currently DirecTV is the only TV provider with Sunday Ticket. But don’t despair, if you get Dish Network, choose an address in the States near your team and get local channel service. You’ll probably have all the games.

Of course, many of us enjoy the communal experience of Sunday football, and we don’t want to sit in the privacy of our homes where we can only annoy our wives or roommates with the whooping and the hollering. I’m typing this as I watch NFL Today, so I don’t have time to give directions to all of these places now, but I’ll name some names.

If you’re at El Dorado Ranch or north of town (maybe the Ejido or Playa de Oro), you should consider Pete’s Camp. They have multiple TVs and will likely be playing your game. If you show up early, you can probably claim one of the TVs for your team. The guy who runs it, Jim, is a big Raiders fan. My second favorite team is whoever is playing the Oakland Raiders, so I like to watch the Raider games at Pete’s Camp and harass Jim and his fellow Raider fans Guess where I’ll be manana la noche for Monday Night Football…

In town, you should check out the Beachcomber. They’ve got a couple big tv’s, but I’m not sure if they play multiple games for the NFL season or not.

Fandango’s will have a few games on, for sure. It’s a Chargers bar, so if you’re a deluded (:D) San Diego fan, this can be your football home while down south in Baja California.

Am I missing any spots? Please feel free to comment on the locations I mentioned or other options for football in San Felipe.

So where am I for opening day? Well, I’m watching on a projector at the hacienda. So I’ve got about 80-100″ of football goodness on the wall in the bedroom. Sweet.

Rain is a rare thing in San Felipe. I’ve heard it’s actually the second driest climate in the world and the Sahara desert gets more rain than San Felipe. That’s why the saying, “No Bad Days” is oft attached to this part of Baja.

Even with the hurricane trying to come up the gulf of California, our rainfall was less than twenty minutes. The winds did get kind of heinous, but that also was short-lived. We were still able to get our two hours of water volleyball in on Labor Day in spite of the wind and slight rainfall!

So if you plan an outdoor event, know there’s a 99.9% chance that you’re going to be okay. You might have to plan for some wind, as that does kick up fairly often, but precipitation won’t even be on your radar screen.

If you’re from a region where you’ve experienced enough rain for your lifetime, you should consider San Felipe, where there’s no bad days…

Just a quick note that if you’re in San Felipe this weekend, there’s a water volleyball tournament at the El Dorado Ranch pool (La Ventana del Mar). Sign-up is at 11:30 and the tournament starts at noon.

If you don’t have a pass to El Dorado, comment here, and I’ll see if I can get you a guest pass if you’d like to play some volleyball.

It would be easy to talk about all the great Mexican food here in San Felipe and neglect the cuisine from other parts of the world. Last night, I had Chumpo’s pizza, which is personally my favorite in San Felipe. To get to Chumpo’s, you take Chetumal (the road which the Mexican 5 turns into in San Felipe) to the stop sign one street before the Malecon (the last street which runs down the beach) and turn right. On your left you will see Chumpo’s down the street a short ways. Chumpo’s also sells Thrifty ice cream, so when you see “Thrifty” on your left, you’ve also found Chumpo’s. There’s also a Thrifty on the right-hand side of the street, but they only sell ice cream (and it’s very good ice cream!). I must admit that though I consider Chumpo’s the best pizza in San Felipe, I haven’t had pizza from all of the places here, as there are several.

If you are north of town staying in or near El Dorado Ranch and Playa de Oro, then you should definitely check out Sandrail Pizza. Sandrail’s very good pizza, and they deliver to El Dorado Ranch!

Although I haven’t personally tried Los Arcos’ Pizza, I hear it’s very good. I’ll give it a try myself, soon. Los Arcos is located right before the arches when you enter San Felipe. You can’t miss the arches, so if you get to them before seeing Los Arcos on the right, you’ve gone just a bit too far.

There are a couple of other pizza places in San Felipe, and when I try them I’ll post a review here.

The heart of San Felipe’s nightlife is the Malecon (means “street by the sea”) where you can find several bars, dance clubs, restaurants, street vendors, and public beach access.

Finding the Malecon is extremely simple. When you come in to San Felipe on the Mexican 5, you just keep going straight until it T’s. In the city of San Felipe, the Mexican 5 is called Chetumal.

One of my favorite bars is Bar Miramar, located at the end of the Malecon (it’s a one-way street). Miramar has a ping pong table, a couple of pool tables, a dance floor, and booth seating. Friday and Saturday nights are the best nights for Bar Miramar. The drink prices are average for San Felipe, which means you’ll be paying much less for a Rum and Coke than you would at most bars in the states.

If it’s dancing you want, then you should check out the Rockodile. There’s a massive sign for the Rockodile (a giant crocodile) about seven miles outside of San Felipe, so it’s the bar with the most recognition. The drinking age in Mexico is 18, and the Rockodile is the fav spot for teenagers, which means if you’re annoyed by teeny boppers, stay far away from the Rockodile! The music is extremely loud, so unless you’re there to get your groove on, there’s really no good reason to be at the Rockodile. The Rockodile is located in between Chetumal and the end of the Malecon.

On the corner of Chetumal and the Malecon sits another of my favorite nighttime hotspots, the Beachcomber. Nothing too spectacular about the Beachcomber, but it’s a great place to grab a drink and shoot some pool. On the weekends, the upstairs dance floor can get pretty packed and is a nice alternative to the Rockodile. I much prefer the Beachcomber to the Rockodile, if you can’t tell!

There’s a lot more than what I’ve listed above to check out on the Malecon, so when you’re in San Felipe, drive to the Street by the Sea and enjoy the view, the beverages, and a fish taco or three.

The first thing you should know about traveling in Mexico is that your American car insurance is not recognized by the authorities. Your U.S. carrier may or may not cover your car while in Mexico, but you at least need liability insurance from a Mexican car insurance company. The penalty for not doing so is pretty steep (a hefty fine and go directly to jail if you are in an accident without Mexican insurance).

There are several places in Calexico, CA at the border which sell the insurance you need. This is the best border crossing for most CA residents if you are traveling to San Felipe. Rather than wait until you get to the border to get your insurance, however, you can purchase a policy online in a few minutes and actually print it out.

I bought a year’s liability insurance for just under one hundred and forty dollars. If you are certain you will be driving in Mexico several times a year, this is the best and cheapest way to go. I used Adventure Mexican Insurance Services, and the purchase went very smoothly. If you do a search for Mexican car insurance, you will find several other providers. I found the prices to be extremely similar, so I went with the one that I thought had the best website and ranked the best in Google.

Don’t drive in Mexico without insurance! Chances are, you will not be in an accident during your Mexico trip. But if you are one of the unlucky ones and you don’t have insurance, you’ll go directly to jail without collecting two hundred dollars or passing go.

I fell in love with San Felipe in the spring of 2000, and I’ve returned many times since. Currently, I’m living north of town in a nice home on the El Dorado Ranch.

Living and vacationing in Mexico is a bit of an adventure every time. To make things easier, and to keep those interested in San Felipe updated on local news and events, I’ve created this blog.

I’ll be posting “how to’s” and other information to make your time, whether it be long- or short-term, in San Felipe more enjoyable.

As I discover fine eating establishments, I’ll review them and provide directions (as well as pictures when available). A lot of the stands in San Felipe have amazing food, but foreigners are afraid of getting sick if they eat the food. There are some tips and tricks for picking out which stand is okay for eating, and I’ll be sharing that information, too.

I’ll be leaving the comments open, so please feel free to add advice. Just keep your comments relevant to the post, or they may be deleted.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy San Felipe news and views!