I’ve been in Puerta Penasco for over 2 weeks .  It’s time for me to discover this town – figure out on my own how to get around and how to direct our guests in the AirBnb properties.

I’ve gone on several walks in a variety of directions (don’t ask how far I get) but I now have a much better sense of where I am and where many of the main streets are.  I started driving this past weekend.  In Mexico you can purchase a car insurance on your driver’s licence for $90 USD that gives you liability insurance on any vehicle that you drive.

This isn’t my first rodeo.  I’ve worked and lived in Greece and Israel/Palestine. I’ve had to learn my way around Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the West Bank.  Also in Greece in Athens, Pireaus, Aghios Nickolas and other places on the island of Crete.  I often travel on my own with poor language skills.  It’s an adventure that I truly love.

So now here I am in Mexico – in this small town of Puerta Penasco with a population of just over 60,000. Puerto Peñasco, also known as Rocky Point, is a Mexican fishing and resort city on the Sea of Cortez. It’s known for the dune-backed Sandy Beach and Bahía la Choya’s tidal pools.  Neither of which I have seen yet.  I am looking forward to whale and dolphin watching.

For the past week, I’ve walked to the beach about a kilometre from the house and from there a little to the left and the right along the sand. The rest of the time I have been in a vehicle with someone else driving and it’s really hard for me to get a sense of where we’re going.  I have to go on my own and get lost a few times. I don’t have data on my mobile phone so I need to get directions for where I am going before I leave the house.  I now have a little tourist map in my bag. 

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How do you discover a new environment?