Summer is officially here, but the weather is really not too bad yet. Any time now though, the humidity will kick in and that makes all the difference. But, as I always say, just jump in one of the pools or into the ocean. Or, hang out in one of the numerous venues that keep it nice and cool if you’re not a fan of the hot summer. Plenty of people obviously don’t mind, because summertime is always busy here and there are always a ton of things going on around town, in the Malecon area, and on Sandy Beach.

June brought many fun events and a ton of people to town. Circus Mexicus was the highlight and, as always, the event sold out just about every condo on Sandy Beach. Fun was had by all once again and after so many years of the event in Rocky Point, it seems to get bigger and better every year. Roger and crew are going strong and we all look forward to his next show in town. If you have never been to Rocky Point during Circus Mexicus, add it to you list of things you have to do. You will be glad that you did.

Today marks my 13-year anniversary with the Sonoran Resorts. It's hard to believe that I have been with this company so long, but it has been a wonderful experience and I hope to stick around for a long time to come. Much has changed in those years (including me getting older), with the biggest change happening just this year – the new Sonoran Star Resort. Yesterday was also my birthday, and I got quite a nice surprise when the corporate and sales staff came to our Star sales office to congratulate me. It was so nice and it is just wonderful that everyone in this company gets along so well and supports each other. Another great surprise was a very busy day with a lot of condo sales. Really, if you would like to get in on building #1 of the Star, you should get ahold of one of our sales agents soon.

I did send out an email yesterday announcing the new Sonoran Star studio condo option and explaining some changes and upgrades to the plans. The new condo style it has proven to be very popular already. We will have a very LIMITED number so if that is something that you are interested in, I would recommend that you move on it right away. This email goes out to the same list of people that I sent the email to yesterday, but if you did not receive it for whatever reason, or if you would just like to read it again, here is a link: https://conta.cc/3PBJbvE

If you want to compare the grid of Tower #1 from my email yesterday at about 3:00 pm, to what it was when I wrapped up this newsletter at about 9:00 pm, here is the latest. Seven condos in 6 hours means that if you want one, it's time to give us a call :)

Enjoy this beautiful month, come to Rocky Point if you can, and if you need anything don't hesitate to ask. Let me put my experience and expertise to work for you, and remember, as always, I've been here full-time for over 15 years and I am more than happy to help you with whatever you need, whether Sonoran Resorts related or not.

Just give me a call or send me an email any time and I will do my very best to help you. If I can't help you myself, I'm sure that I can point you in the right direction and help find you someone who can. 

Besides the links below, you can our listings at the following:

www.sonoranresorts.mx

www.sonoranresortsresales.com

AMPI Puerto Penasco MLS

Point 2 Agent Multinational MLS

Pick up a handout at any of our Sonoran Resorts

Scottsdale Barrett Jackson Show

Various Real Estate and Trade shows in AZ, NV, and CA

NOW SELLING!

The monument to El Pescado de Puerto Peñasco will be Reinstalled in the El Puerto Neighborhood

In an interview with the newspaper La Prensa, José Luis Montijo Towers, director of Municipal Public Works, said that with their own resources in an amount that he did not detail, some modifications had to be made to the base which had already been built, at the corner of Benito Juárez Boulevard and Alcántar Street.

In addition, he said that the El Pescado monument itself was sent to a workshop for restoration and maintenance.

He confirmed that the new point where the sailfish will be relocated does not generate any conflict for the flow of cars, as well as being a more representative site for the fishermen of Puerto Peñasco compared to the previous location.

The iconic 6 by 2.5-meter sailfish sculpture was removed from its initial location on 13th street and Benito Juárez boulevard because a technical opinion revealed that it presented risks for road traffic.

This was reiterated today by the director of Municipal Public Works, Edgar Eduardo Soto Lara, who said that it was never a question of replacing the iconic 6 by 2.5-meter sailfish sculpture, but of doing what is necessary to guarantee the safety of those who pass through the area where it was initially built, and this coming change will achieve that purpose.

 The statue was removed in December 2022, in compliance with the agreement issued by the Puerto Peñasco City Council. The monument to "El pescado" was removed from its site on 13th street and Benito Juárez boulevard solely to be moved to the new location.

Initially, the plan was to replace the statue in the same location, but with a new metal structure base intended to improve visibility in the area, however, after further reivew, it was decided that it would be relocated on Benito Juárez Boulevard and Alcántar Street because it was decided that it does not represent any risk there for vehicles or pedestrians.

Four of these pallets were delivered to The Why Not Travel Store on Wednesday June 28th!!

Headed to Rocky Point soon?? Please stop by The Why Not Travel Store and help us bring this much needed food to #BarbsDogRescue.

Remember that the border hours will be extended for this holiday period and will close at 10:00 pm instead of the 8:00 pm time that was adopted during the Covid period, after which the "normal" hours of 6:00 am to midnight were not readopted.

Summer Tourism Continues to Benefit Puerto Peñasco

The beginning of the summer tourism vacation season is going very well, and expectations are that we will meet or exceed the past two years. Since each year, more and more activities are offered and our little paradise by the sea gains in popularity, we can expect businesses to do well and condos and hotels to have good occupancy, reported Manuel Palacio Jiménez, local restaurant entrepreneur.

He commented that the summer visitors generate much of the necessary influx of money into town, allowing all service providers to do well. Hotels and restaurants are usually the first ones to note the flow of tourists and then the impact passes down to employees, vendors, taxis, curio shops, employees, and others.

“I am aware that promotions are already being carried out to see the projection that they are going to do outside our country, abroad, which is the classic season of North American tourism that begins in October, and obviously during that time, the promotion effort is directed there” he expressed.

On the other hand, Manuel Palacio said that the main challenge of this port is not only to attract more tourism, but also to attract a sector of the population with greater purchasing power which will generate a greater economic benefit to local businesses and population, thus significantly improving the lives and economic situation for the residents of this beach destination.

"For this to happen we have to have a better city, a city with better roads, a better urban image, tourist-friendly routes, lots of lighting, parking areas, so that people can go for a walk at night, go out with the family," he acknowledged.

Palacio Jiménez pointed out that the summer vacation season concludes at the end of August, when children go back to school. Tradionally, much of the summer tourism comes from within Mexico, mainly from Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Sonora, Baja California, but also from the southern from United States.

Private Citizen Donates Beach Wheelchair to the City for Public Use

Everyone’s friend and Mystic Whale Tours operator, Tony Ballesteros, created and donated a special wheelchair designed for handicapped people so that they can enjoy the beach. As of last weekend, the chair was already being used and enjoyed by disabled residents and tourists.

The new device was donated to the TAU and they city by Mr. Ballesteros, who gives acknowledgement to the generous contributions from various friends and the altruism of organizers of the recent Roger Clyne Circus Mexicus Show, and to the assistance and coordination of Rocky Point 360 Owner and Reporter, Sami Keesecker.

César García González, director of the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone, and Carlos Bravo Martínez, director of the Tourist Auxiliary Unit, received this specialized wheelchair which is designed to be used on the beach sand for the comfort of people with disabilities.

García González expressed sincere gratitude to Mr. Ballesteros for this donation, which will be operated by personnel from the Tourist Auxiliary Unit and which is already available to users of the beaches of Puerto Peñasco. He stressed that this will allow people with disabilities to move safely through the sands of the beaches and thus be able to reach areas nearer the sea which were unavailable to them prior to the donation.

"With these types of actions between private society and government we continue to allow the public to enjoy more and more of the spaces of our beautiful Puerto Peñasco" he stressed.

Carlos Bravo, director of the Tourist Auxiliary Unit, remarked that this specialized wheelchair for sand already begun operations last at the South access to Playa Hermosa, between Las Gaviotas condominiums the location of the new Sonoran Star Resort.

He explained that this equipment is available only during the day and a registration form will need to be completed prior to its use. The chair is designed only for areas on the beach and in the sand and is not designed to be used in the water. After use, the chair must be returned to where it was picked up. There are TAU officers who are available for those who need extra help.

Bravo Martínez affirmed that this additional inclusive beach service in Playa Hermosa is a welcome addition to the amphibious chair that has been operating since August 2020 and that was donated by the Mar de Peñasco Rotary Club.

Puerto Penasco Fire Department Receives Needed Vehicles

Oceans, Their Protection Begins with You - CEDO Campaign Promotes Awareness and Requests Volunteers and Donations

Governors of Sonora and Arizona Agree to Strengthen Joint Tourism Promotion

The Mysterious ‘Gringo Zapatista’ Who Fought in Mexico’s Revolution

According to stories about Martson, Emiliano Zapata (center) planned to execute him, thinking he was a "gringo" (from the U.S.), but a tattoo convinced him to spare his life. (Gob MX/Edher A. Moreno)

The story of Australian Roderick James Martson (at times referred to as Marston) – the photographer who became a Zapatista – was largely unknown until the 1990s, 60 years after his death, when his great granddaughter Erin Reid discovered a box of his journals and photos taken during the Mexican Revolution in the basement of his Vancouver home.

Reid has not yet released the contents to the public but has confirmed that the journals and photographs document his time with the Zapatistas. He has been referenced in Zapata biographies simply as “El Gringo”.

Martson was an intrepid traveler and adventurer. From an early age, he began traveling the world in search of adventure and his wealthy parents indulged his wanderlust. He was also a photographer, inventor, miner, and entrepreneur. 

His travels eventually took him to Vancouver, Canada where he caught gold fever. His desire to become a prospector took him south to the United States, settling in San Antonio, Texas and acquiring two mining properties.

His scientific skill and intuitive sense of timing led him to invent a method of mining using explosive devices he invented to rip away the hard rock revealing the hidden treasure within – veins of gold to be exploited. His expertise gained him huge profits and gave him an edge over the other gambusinos (prospectors).

Eventually gold mines in the region began to dwindle, so Martson, backpack slung over one shoulder, traveled further south into Mexico to seek new adventures. 

He received permission from President Porfirio Díaz to settle in the city of Tehuacán, Puebla to carry out “scientific work” which for Martson meant mining. He immediately acquired a silver mine and once again employing his unique explosive techniques, began making large profits.

His profits were so immense that he built a large estate and hired twenty people to staff it. For the next six years he spent his time making money, designing new inventions, and indulging in his true passion: photography.

However, the Mexican Revolution of 1910 interrupted this more settled life for Martson.

In the leadup to the war, General Emiliano Zapata’s army dominated the states of Morelos and Puebla. The slogan of the Zapatistas was “Land and Freedom”. Their goal was restitution of the land to the peasants – land currently owned by wealthy landowners. As the Zapatistas advanced through the area, ranches and estates fell one by one – the land then distributed to peasants.

According to the limited accounts available, when they reached Martson’s property, he and his employees put up a fierce defense but they were no match for Zapata’s army – the estate was in ruins, most of his servants killed, and Martson taken prisoner.

The Zapatistas considered him a “gringo” (born in the United States) and Zapata ordered him to be executed by firing squad. Martson, in broken Spanish, tried to explain that he was not a gringo. The story goes that by displaying a tattoo of the British flag on one of his arms, he convinced them he wasn’t an American. According to interviews conducted with his great-granddaughter, he had obtained the tattoo while spending time with the British merchant navy during his earlier travels.

Martson, donning the Zapatista hat and carrying bandoliers on his shoulder, became part of Zapata’s army and was assigned to a battalion in Puebla. Due to his experience with explosives, Zapata put him in charge of blowing up the roads and railways being used by the federal army to fight the Zapatistas.

In 1911, Porfirio Díaz was overthrown and revolutionary leader Francisco I. Madero marched triumphantly into Mexico City to claim the presidency. Zapata – as the revolutionary leader of the south – began peace negotiations with him in the hope of sharing power in the new government. However, it quickly became apparent that Madero was not interested. Considering him a traitor to the cause, Zapata restarted the armed struggle for land – this time fighting the federal forces under President Madero.

On one occasion General Zapata himself ordered Martson to blow up a hospital where wounded federal soldiers lay dying. Martson refused, considering this a criminal act. Zapata saw his disobedience as a betrayal of the cause and ordered him to be executed, for a second time. But the Zapatistas had come to like and respect the gringo – even calling him Captain Martson – and intervened to save his life.

Martson did not blow up the hospital, but he continued to fulfill his revolutionary duties until he was eventually captured by the Madero federal army and imprisoned. Madero, who was at the time seeking the support of foreign nations – and believing Martson to be a British citizen – gave him a reprieve on one condition: exile. Once more, the tattoo had saved his life.

He made one last trip to the Zapatista camp where he had spent so much time to say his goodbyes to his comrades, who were by now his friends, and collected his most valuable possessions – his photographic equipment, his photo negatives, and his journals – and departed for the United States.

His days of wandering, however, were not yet over. He traveled around the United States trying his hand at managing land, factory management, and even at one point selling Dr. W. B. Caldwell’s Syrup Pepsin (an early U.S. patented laxative) until he migrated north to Canada – where he finally settled down in Vancouver to start a family.

It is believed that he died there in 1933, at the age of 59. All that remains are his journals and more than 500 photos of Zapata and the Zapatistas. His days of wanderlust had finally come to an end but many of the details of his adventures in Mexico remain shrouded in mystery.

Peso Closes at Strongest Level Against the US Dollar in 7 1/2 Years

Cash, Please: You Still Need Notes & Coins in Mexico

How to Dial Telephone Numbers To & From Mexico

Using Mexican & Foreign Bank Cards at ATMs in Mexico

Huevos Motuleños: Art Meets flavor in the Yucatán’s Best Breakfast

You hear the crunch of the base tortilla as soon as you cut in. Slathered in a thin layer of refried black beans, then fried once more, it’s the bedrock of one of the Yucatan’s most iconic dishes: huevos motuleños.

Named after the Yucatán city of Motul, it’s a work of art: a baroque brunch on a crispy tortilla canvas that’s a melange of reds, yellows, and oranges, dotted pink — and green for good measure — because art is play, and who doesn’t like to play with their food?

One hundred years ago, when Yucatán governor Felipe Carrillo Puerto walked into La Sin Rival eatery with artist Diego Rivera, Mexico’s education minister José Vasconcelos and writer Jaime Torres Bodet — among others — he couldn’t have known the role he’d play in changing the face of Mexican gastronomy.

As the story goes, while entertaining his guests during a trip to the Yucatán, they made a stop to eat at the famed Motul culinary institution. Carrillo asked the chef to bring out his favorites: eggs, refried beans, ham and peas.

Short on plates, the chef, Jorge Siqueff Febles, opted to pile all the ingredients onto one platter, layering them between fried tortillas and covering them in salsa. The guests loved it, and when Vasconcelos asked Carrillo — a native to Motul — what he called the dish, he told Vasconcelos: “These are the authentic huevos motuleños.”

Since then, the dish has evolved, undergoing countless iterations in the face of changing circumstances. In Carrillo’s days, Motul was a sizable mercantile hub, its proximity to the Caribbean coast facilitating trade between locals and European merchants. As a result, early versions of the recipe called for Spanish jamón serrano as opposed to the cubed ham used today; the state had no meatpacking industry at the time.

Siqueff also tinkered with the preparation of onions that went into the sauce, frying them first in olive oil brought in by foreign merchants. Occasionally, fried sweet plantains were added, which became so popular that patrons demanded it each time they ordered it — that and the lone habanero pepper that sits atop the dish.

What makes this dish so special is its balance, despite it being a plate full of contrasts. The fried tortilla — dry and crisp — sits beneath soft, creamy eggs and a runny tomato salsa, whose acid shares the spotlight with the salt of the tortilla-bean combination, the sweetness of the plantains and the savory

Those brave enough to nibble on the habanero before digging in will tell you that the eggs and refried beans are the perfect neutralizers for heat, allowing you to tiptoe to the edge of setting your mouth on fire before taking refuge in one satisfying bite after another. And if you go to the right place — a certain second-floor spot in Motul’s 20 de Noviembre market — that burnt-orange reservoir you’re left with gets sopped up with a basket of freshly baked bread.

The fact that one plate can play host to so many unique components — seemingly the end-product of a basket of mystery ingredients beyond the imagination of cooking shows like “Chopped” or “Masterchef” — is a marvel. But maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised. Often, it’s the things we least expect to work well that end up pairing perfectly. And in that way, on this plate, art mimics life.

Huevos Motuleños Recipe

When Saying Sorry in Spanish Gets Complicated