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San Carlos in the time of Corona

San Carlos in the time of Corona

March 15th: My daughter is in town for spring break from Tucson. I take her and my wife to breakfast at Rosa’s Cantina. The place is totally packed with a waiting line at the cash register. No one has a mask on. Pretty much all the clients were Mexican. An American women opened the door to enter, took one look at the crowd and decided it was way to busy to enter. It wasn’t the wait to get her food that made her leave. It was the crowed interior of Rosa’s that freaked that woman out. After seeing that gal leave I thought to myself, that eating in this restaurant was probably a bad call, but at that time I believe there were still no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Sonora. We kind of rolled the dice today. It will be the last time we do something like that again for sure.

March 21st     Around the end of February, before Corona completely took over the news cycle, I happened to be passing by the Santo Valle Oxxo at the Marina San Carlos Glorieta, east bound. There was a coyote just standing in the Glorieta, just watching the passer by’s. It seemed like the coyote wanted to cross the street but couldn’t make up his or her mind. Half a dozen people over the course of 30 minutes, including a couple of local cops hung out to watch the Coyote with me. I was reminded of that moment just now when I heard half a dozen or so coyotes howling to the lack of moon light just a few moments ago on a sleepy Wednesday night in San Carlos in the time of Corona. The coyotes were around the water pond just inside the Country Club and there was not another soul on the street. They must have howled for at least a minute. 45 seconds into it I thought I should record the coyote pachanga but by the time I got to the phone it was over as quickly as it started. Is it a good time to be a coyote in San Carlos? The Coyotes must be happy that they have the whole night to roam the streets of San Carlos, free of people and virtually no traffic.

 

These times remind very much of how San Carlos was when I first moved here in 1990. Tranquilo, muy muy tranquilo! September and February were just like now, ghost town.

 

March 24th: San Carlos may be ghost town like now but the majority of businesses are open for business. Last Tuesday it was easier to make a note of which businesses were closed. Iguanas, Hair of the Dog, Hammerheads, Captains Club, Tequilas and Chihuahuas were all closed. The Malecon was open for business, Los Arbolitos, La Tratorria, and Charly’s Rock were open. Turquoise at the Hacienda Teta Kawi was the only restaurant closed. Even the guy who sells elotes next to the circle K next to the Santa Rosa was open for business. Jax Snax was doing booming business when I rode by on my bike. Plenty of people inside.

 

I have had to go to Guaymas just about every day this week. I took these pictures around the Mercado Municipal. No Traffic no people. Easy to drive around town. You can make a left turn on to Serdan from any side street without waiting of traffic.

No traffic in Guaymas
Mercado Municipal Closed

April 2nd: Spoke with Alex from the very popular restaurant Colibri. His plan is to stay open until Wednesday the 8th of April and then shut down for Easter but still do take out.  

 

April 3rd: Alex at Colibri is shutting down, he can’t make it until the 8th of April. This evening there was a rumor that the governor was going to restrict the sale of gas stations. Piccolos has a new owner and was open for business with sit inside customers, Los Arbolitos and La Trattoria were also open.

Piccolo New Owners Open for business

 

Los Arbolitos and Trattoria Still Open

April 4th: Gas Station closure rumor causes long lines on Saturday as residents rush to get gas before closure. Of course there has been no closure of gas stations. Lot’s of mis-information out there.

Rumor causes rush on gas station in San Carlos

To get away from it all my son and I decided to go hiking at Pico Alto, the highest peak in the area just north of La Manga, the ranch La Huerta is at the base of the peak. No Corona Virus was in site what so ever!!!

April 6th : I finally Speak with Enrique our Comisario. Here is what he said.

The check point entering San Carlos is starting as early as today but no later than Wednesday and will be manned by the State Police. No one who is not a resident of San Carlos will be allowed into San Carlos when this check point is in place. If you can’t prove you have residency in San Carlos you will not be allowed to enter. The check point will last through next week.

 

No Curfew yet: For those of us who live here in San Carlos as of today there is no official curfew in place but Police might stop you after 8 p.m. and ask you what you are doing driving around San Carlos and ask you to go home.

 

What about the beaches: I have had several reports of police telling people to get off the beach. One friend of mine and her boy friend were by Bahia Delfin just last week, They were told they had to leave the beach even though they were by themselves. The police even took their picture and left and told them by the time they get back patrolling other parts of San Carlos they should be gone.

 

Enrique has said that Sonora is at a level two alert. Which means that no one is being fined yet for violating any guide lines that the state has put out. So that for the moment the police technically are inviting people to get off the streets and beaches.I asked Enrique specifically if two people could walk their dog on the beach. He told me that yes technically the police should not be telling you that you have to leave the beach.

Legally the police can not tell you to leave the beach at this moment.

They can ask you to leave but they can not demand that you leave. But police have done just that. They are telling people to leave the beach and they will continue to order you off the beach even if you are just a couple of people walking your dog.

Now the realities of all this. San Carlos has very limited resources and it will be very hard indeed for the police to be able to enforce any or all of this.

Enrique thinks the state and the hospitals are not telling the truth about how many people have died from Covid-19. He says that several deaths in the state have been listed as simple pneumonia but Enrique believes that these deaths were really from Covid-19

I asked Enrique if he thought people in here were taking this seriously enough and he said, “That is the problem here, not many people believe in this thing, they think nothing is going to happen to me.” 

Enrique thinks there are perhaps 5 or 6 respirators in all of Guaymas.

April 7th: I just got a text from Enrique, all restaurants starting today are mandated to only serve take out food. Last night I saw that Jax Snax had switched to take out only. My neighbor Cheque’s Hot Dog’s hasn’t got the memo yet. I am about to tell him.

San Francisco Beach

I walked San Francisco beach this afternoon, from 5:30 to 7, from in front of La Conquista to half way to Delfin and then back, counted dolphins and walked dogs, there were a total of 10 people on the beach the whole time, two guys fishing, two girls visiting from Guadalarja who flew in yesterday to Hermosillo, three guys jogging, one gal walking three dogs and myself and a friend. It was really wonderful actually.

I counted more dolphins than people, the dolphins were not practicing social distancing in the least!

April 9th:  San Carlos Comisario Enrique Gamez sends me a text at 9:24 a.m. The police are going to start restricting beach access and all restaurants are now take out only. Cheques Hot Dog’s has been seating people through the whole Covid nightmare but today he was finally told by the police it was take out only. Luis Nar Tacos has also been serving people but the state has finally served formal notice to everyone. Ezequiel from Checque’s tells me that it is a 13,000 pesos fine if he allows anyone to sit down and eat a hot dog.

April 10th: Friday in Semana Santa and there is literally not a soul at La Manga 2. I go out to teach a friend some kite boarding. After the lesson I get back to my shop and find that I have left my kite board at the beach. It has been around an hour since I forgot the board. I drive back to the beach and there is still no soul in site and my board is right were I left it. Social media posts are all over the internet saying that come Monday the whole state of Sonora is going to go on lock down. There will be only 6 reasons why anyone should be out of their house. Going to grocery store, going to a pharmacy, helping an elderly person, commuting to and from a work place that has been deemed essential or going to the hospital. Only one person per car.

 

April 11th:

Am teaching kite boarding lesson at La Manga 2 today…..

 

Beaches are still dead, back at La Manga Dos there are many houses occupied but few people on the beach. Algodones beach is also virtually empty. There are exactly 4 kite boarders in the water. On a normal Semana Santa there would be 20 or more kites in the air. Road Block into town is jammed today, many many cars trying to get in. I have no idea how many were turned away. These images were taken from Twitter.

 

The beach at the Caracol is also vacant of activity…..

 

Below images from 2014 Semana Santa

April 12: A normal Easter Sunday in San Carlos would look something like these pictures in the Gallery above. By my shop next to the Rescate the odor of urine mixed with stale beer and garbage from the night before would linger in the air. City employees would be hustling to clean up the desmadre from the night before. But not this Ester.

This Easter Sunday is different, like no other I have seen in 30 years of Easter Sunday’s. I go to the Marina San Carlos around 7 a.m. to check on boats. The parking lot is totally empty. Bait fish swirl inside the Marina San Carlos docks. Sardines or anchovies are being devoured by yellow-tail.

It is a site that is not seen very often these days. Latter in the day a friend on twitter posts a picture of a lone deer walking on the banks of the Estero del Soldado. Another friend tells me there is a Twitter post of a black panther walking around the Country Club.….Nature seems to be returning to San Carlos with the lack of human traffic. Reminds me of Chernobyl after the disaster. The animals from the forest came back to the empty streets. Seems like we have the same thing happening here In San Carlos.  

A dear @ El Estero del Soldado

I take a bike ride to the road block in the afternoon by the defilinario turn off. My son and are ride around the north end of the estuary and come out by the small bridge just north of the estero. We both stop to take a quick leak. We are a good 15 feet below the road and virtually impossible to see by anyone in a vehicle. There just happens to be a state police officer walking down the side walk and he looks down and immediately orders my son and myself to come up to the road. His tone of voice is tough, like he plans on arresting us or something. I tell him why does he want us to come up to the road and he orders my once again….I ask him why and the cycle repeats a few more times before he tells my that we are violating the law by urinating in public. So now I have him. I politely explain to him that we are actually urinating in the desert. And if he thinks he is going to give me a ticket he is dreaming. I explain to him that I am a local business man who has lived her for 30 years and we have every right to be where were are and I am not coming up to the road. Not only am I not coming up to the road I tell him to call his comandante on the radio because I am done talking to him and I need to speak with somebody in charge.

                           April 12th road block

The Comandante shows up and eventually backs off and everybody is happy and my son and I are back on the road riding. Since the full lock down doesn’t go into effect until tomorrow there is very little doubt in my mind that the young cop was trying to rattle us because he thought we were tourists and I honestly believe they are going to try to extort us out of some money. They had to let us go because we were doing nothing wrong but I ask them what about tomorrow. They say they will start enforcing the new lock down guidelines tomorrow and the fines are between 8,000 and 13,000 pesos if you are caught violating them.

April 13:  I go bike riding early with Aquaponics James, we bike the hill in front of La Bartina to find the dolphins. Then we ride down to the beach to Bahia Delfine so I can get some ID shots. The Dolphins don’t care about Corona Virus and one dolphin literally was jumping for joy at the fact that there were no tourist boats harassing them and driving right over them. It was really a wonderful morning.

The new lock down guidelines for San Carlos are supposed to be in effect now. Only one person in a car. Can only travel to and from work, grocery store or pharmacy. I observe many many vehicles not abiding by the guidelines. No more construction workers are supposed to be in San Carlos. I observe many many vehicles with construction workers coming into town. The road block is clearly not stopping any of those workers most likely because they are getting here before the road block is set up or they are just allowing workers in.

During my bike ride to the beach to get dolphin ID shots it is clear that the government will be completely incapable of enforcing the guidelines. All construction is supposed to be on hold. I gave Enrique Gamez our comisario a heads up on a construction site and it was shut down pretty quickly but it is obvious to me that other sites are still on line.

 

Honeymoon Island/ Isla Raza

April 14th: I have been observing traffic down the main road this morning. Again it is clear that, as far as San Carlos is concerned, Guaymas will not strictly enforce the new lock down guidelines that have been posted all over social media. Not even close. From the bloggers and journalist’s I follow on Twitter it is much the same in Guaymas.

Topes Galore

Topes Galore

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Fear, loathing, garbage, asshole gringos, shitty restaurateur’s & corrupt comandantes in “El Pueblo Chico Infierno Grande de San Carlos.”

Fear, loathing, garbage, asshole gringos, shitty restaurateur’s & corrupt comandantes in “El Pueblo Chico Infierno Grande de San Carlos.”

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