Spring Break, 2007, in Puerto Penasco, beach party, and more...

I actually attended college, back in the early 1970's in Fresno, California, about 400 miles north of the Mexican border. Yes, even in 1972, we had Spring Break, but we would attend many impromptu parties held at Roeding Park, the premier park that the City of Fresno had to offer all those many years ago, and we never even thought of taking the long drive to San Ysidro, and crossing the border into Mexico at Tijuana to party. Oh, times have changed...

Left: Looking north on busy Calle 13, a.k.a., Miguel Higalgo, near the corner of Pasaeo Las Glorias. Right: A Spring Break couple, in typical beach attire, cross my path on Calle 13.

I didn't plan to attend Spring Break in the beautiful town of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico, but it just happened, as I was able to take a road trip, due to a very creative manipulation of vacation time that my work owed me. So when I found myself in Puerto Peñasco, a town of around 40,000 full-time residents, I found myself inundated in a crowd of approximately 60,000+ students from Arizona, California and New Mexico who pour into town to celebrate Spring Break, enjoy the wonderful weather, the placid beaches, and to party, in general. Puerto Peñasco hosts a huge party for Spring Break, and it seems to get bigger each year, and golly gee, I was part of it during my March 12, 2007 visit to beautiful Puerto Peñasco.

Photos: A.T.V. vehicles are popular to rent during Spring Break, in beautiful Puerto Peñasco. The right photo shows a typical A.T.V. rental located along dusty Calle 12, near busy Calle Miguel Hidalgo.

Left: Puerto Peñasco featues many beautiful sandy beaches which draw the Spring Break crowd. Right: Watersports abound at Puerto Peñasco, located on the Sea of Cortéz.

I've read that during Spring Break, a whole cottage industry of fake travel agents, hoteliers and transportation specialists spring into to action to accommodate the thousands, yes literally thousands, of Spring Break enthusiasts who flock south of the border to enjoy Spring Break in beautiful Puerto Peñasco. Since I don't subscribe to the "party crowd," I didn't experience any problems, nor did I have any problems booking a motel for the night, despite the fact that I didn't have any advance reservations. I booked a pleasant room at Motel Playa Azul, located only a couple of blocks from the beach, on busy Calle 13, a.k.a., Calle Miguel Hidalgo, for MEX $600.00 a night, which is very high by Mexican standards, but translates to about $55.00 U.S. dollars a night, which is very reasonable, by U.S. standards.

Left: There are many free places where you can launch your boat at Puerto Peñasco. Right: A Spring Break couple enjoys the good life at Puerto Peñasco. Note that they are carrying piña coladas, supposedly illegal on the streets of Puerto Peñasco. Despite the fact that cocktails are illegal, note that they are served in whole pineapples, which makes an awesome piña colada!

Left: Spring Breaker's, 2007, along Calle Miguel Hidalgo. Right: More college-types stop to order tacos a one of the many taco stands that line Calle Hidalgo, in Puerto Peñasco.

If you're driving into Puerto Peñasco, you want to keep in mind that you'll need Mexican Car insurance, which can be purchased in advance over the internet. Mexican law says that only companies licensed in Mexico can provide "civil liability" coverage for vehicles, so your existing US auto insurance will not suffice. You must get a temporary policy issued from a company licensed to issue Mexican car insurance. Sorry, but that's the way it is...

Left: The party boat, "Fiesta Cruises," leaves the port of Puerto Peñasco, with a full load of happy party types. Right: Puerto Peñasco offers free, yet rugged, launching of your boat, into the Sea of Cortéz.

Before my visit to Puerto Peñasco, I had heard that the police had made a new effort to enforce a no-drinking-in-public law and were making a special effort to curb drinking and driving. Mexican society is far less tolerant than U.S. society of public drunkenness, and I have seen drunks rounded up and sent to jail during my many visits to Tijuana, Ensenada and Mexicali. Yet, during my Spring Break visit to Puerto Peñasco, I saw groups of Spring Breaker's carrying open containers, and even one incident of a pick-up load of Spring Breaker's, driving busy Calle 13, and enjoying beers on-the-go. My internet research told me that the police were taking public drinking very seriously and were enforcing on-the-spot fines and enforcement for public consumption of alcohol, throughout the Spring Break. Needless to say, I was very surprised...

Photo: Check out this pick-up truck load of happy campers, sporting open cantainer of beer, which is very much frowned upon in Mexican society, and features a publicized crackdown by the authorities in Purerto Peñasco. I was shocked to see this behavior happen, as I thought this behavor was only tolerated in Las Vegas.

Left: The sun sets at beautiful Purerto Peñasco, over the Sea of Cortéz, to the south.

Well, if you're a party animal, or a devoted Spring Break person, you'll find the center of the action in Puerto Peñasco is at the corner of Calle 13, a.k.a. Calle Miguel Hidalgo and Pasaeo La Glorias, which is near the pricey beach rental condos, but near to the hottest bars, honky-tonks, restaurants, and night clubs in town. You can walk to the beach, or you can walk to your favorite water hole, and you'll have lots of company during the Spring Break party week. Me, as a Spring Break veteran, all I did is just take a few photos, and went back to my motel room and enjoyed a good night's sleep, while the rest of the world partied until dawn..

Web page design has been created by Eric's Enterprises, Etc., website design, and more...