02.-17.12.2006: San Carlos By now the temperature had dropped a lot and it was getting too windy to enjoy the beach at Bahia Kino. So we headed south and took a short cut to avoid the city of Hermosillo. On the way south to San Carlos, we kept seeing corn husks on the side of the road as we drove along. After passing 6 or 7 we started stopping and picking them up. Unfortunately there were only 3 more but it was a free meal! We found another free beach on a beautiful bay next to a former Club Med hotel, just outside San Carlos where we stayed for 2 weeks. On the first day after we arrived, Kirsten got stung by a bee that had flown under her T shirt. Helen pulled out the sting and our neighbours had a homeopathic remedy which took away the pain very quickly and stopped Kirsten from hopping around all over the place!! We heard about a 500 mile walk from the French side of the Pyrenees to the western coast of Spain. Sharon, our neighbour, had just done it and we borrowed her book which details the route. Even Kirsten said that she was interested in doing it! We spent most of the time here going for walks along the beach and watching some incredible sunsets. We also had a visit from a small praying mantis that liked our wheel hub. It looked like a blade of grass and we would have easily missed it if it hadn't bobbed up and down in the typical praying mantis way!! Kirsten also had a disaster with her camera. She had put it on top off the fleece blanket on the bed. When it got colder she decided to use the blanket to keep warm and pulled it off the bed, forgetting that her camera was on top of it. The camera fell onto our stools and the display screen smashed!!! She was really annoyed. She's only just had the view finder fixed that broke last year!! Which is a good job because otherwise she wouldn't be able to take photos anymore! We stayed for over a week before we drove off to get supplies and find a campground for the night. Then we returned to our spot for another few nights. The next day we got fenced in! The owners were worried that Mexican squatters would use the land and had decided to fence it off. (Mexicans have squatters rights but no one else does). Unfortunately this meant that the easy route out had been blocked off and so we had to drive through a deep arroyo to get out - of course we got stuck!! But our neighbours came to the rescue and after 45 minutes of digging, using a hydraulic jack to raise Winnie and putting in wood blocks we managed to drive out. After 5 minutes of driving we were pulled over by police because there was a motorcycle off-road race. So we had to wait until we were allowed to drive off along the gravel road which was being used as part of the race route. We got back to the main highway heading south and headed for Cuidad Obregon. Last year it took us 4 hours to get around the city and avoid the toll roads. This time we almost managed to find the right way without any large detours. That is - - almost!!! There were some road works in the city and there was a detour. Unfortunately, in Mexico, there is only one sign saying detour and pointing in the direction you need to drive. After that, you are left to your own navigational instincts to get back onto the correct route - there are no more signs. This is mainly because the locals know where to go! So the rest of us have to follow our noses and hope for the best. We got lucky and somehow managed to get back on the right road. We even managed to avoid the second toll without too much of a detour and carried on into the hills to Álamos.