Mulege

All is not lost in Mulege, here are Kita, Lorne and Dawne under a beautiful bougainvillea. It is still a very beautiful lush oasis. Many of the homes appear undamaged and many are in various stages of repair.





Thought I would enclose some not so pretty pictures of the remaining hurricane damage to Mulege.




This casita has severe damage to the roof - of course then the rain and the rising waters of the river visited as well, leaving quite the mess. They are repairing many of the casitas, however, Lorne noticed that they do not use hurricane ties that we use in our construction in Canada.





Many friends have visited this city and love it, aren't we glad we don't have property along the river....?!

January 12 Los Barriles

We arrived in Los Barriles the 12th stayed at the East Cape RV Park for the night and on to Paul and Renota’s on the 13th. They left on the 15th to drive up to the US for needed medical treatment. We hope all goes well for them.









We are very fortunate to be able to stay in their beautiful home a block from the beach. It has a beautiful garden with palms, fruit trees including avocado, mango, papaya, guava, fig, lemon, lime, pomegranate and grapefruit. The later 5 have ripe or ripening fruit! Yum! Lovely to pick a ripe grapefruit right off the tree for breakfast! We have two cats and a very cute dog to care for. There is also a pool and hot tub. It will likely be too cool for the pool but the hot tub I can handle. It also comes with a gardener twice a week and a housekeeper once a week. A tough job but you know, as they say, someone has to do it.







Yoga starts tomorrow for me, classes twice a week, just like at home! I am quading into town with the girlfriends.

Perfect Under the Palapa

January 11 Ciudad Constitution

We have had a wonderful time so far. We are currently in Ciudad Constitution, about a 4 hour drive north of La Paz. We are here for the night in a lovely RV park that has a swimming pool, fruit trees and lots of tropical plants. It’s run by a delightful Mexican couple, Patty and Jaime. We stay here when we pass through coming and going and they have become friends. Their daughter Aimie wants to attend the College of the Pacific in Metchosin. I wrote all about them in my blog last year.

There was a terrible hurricaine in Baja last summer that did a lot of damage in this city, fortunately the RV park survived well. The city has been cleaned up for the most part but you can still see the twisted remnants of metal roofs and walls around. I just can’t imagine how frightening it would be. Eight hours of howling wind in a little Mexican home with roofs flying off, windows breaking and trees falling. They were without power for several days and without water for over a week – then when water was trucked in it was very expensive to buy. The hurricane didn’t bring rain to them, only wind.

Mulege was severely damaged and many people lost their houses. They got a lot of rain causing lots of flooding. The river is much wider now… This is the third time they have been hit by a hurricane in 5 years with this year by far the worst. Dawne's friends in Mulege had lots of damage to their home. However, it is still standing, unlike a lot of others.

More South

Sun Rise at San Lucas Cove











A Posing Vulture on Top of a Palapa


Pelicans and Friends Ater a Fish Ball



January 8

Today we got to San Lucas Cove while it was still light! This is good. Dropped off our laundry and headed into camp to visit with John. As luck would have it there was a big jam planned for tonight starting at 5 and going till 9 (Baja Midnight). We rushed through dinner and headed out in the dark to search for the campground called Dos Amigos. It was too dark, we couldn’t see the road to this campground – sob – so Dawne and I gave up the search and were happy that we found our way home in the dark and played on our own.

The next afternoon we played in one of the little buildings in the campground and were soon joined by another couple who played fiddle, harmonicas, mouth harp and a bass ukulele. We played all afternoon, took a quick supper break and played again all night. This made up for missing the previous night. It is such fun to play with others! Dawne was leaving us in Mulege the following day – I will miss playing with her for sure. She has been such a fun travelling companion! She is planning on staying Mulege for a few days and then taking the ferry over to the mainland.

After one short night in Santispac we are now in Ciudad Conception. Tomorrow it will be La Paz to stock up on some food, then on to Los Barriles. We need to be there by the 14th so we are on schedule – although I don’t know where the time has gone! We were hoping for lots more opportunities for kayaking. Well, perhaps on the way back with any luck.

Sleeping with the Whales

Next stop was Guerro Negro to coordinate with son Michael by telephone so Lorne could help him while he installed the new inverter Lorne had ordered. The internet is truly a wonderful thing. He could research it, check out the specs, find out if any of the solar stores in town had one, order it, write out a simplified version for installation and then follow along while Michael was doing the work. There were detailed pictures of the inverter in the specs so he could see what it looked like to further help Michael. Very cool. All is well now. The house is once again up and running. Thank goodness for kids.

Once that the instalation of the inverter was complete we headed out to Laguna Ojo de Liebre (aka Scammon’s Lagoon) had lunch and hired a panga to take us out to view the whales. Very awesome. We had them right beside the boat surfacing and spy hopping! Very large fishies! One mother had a huge chunk taken out of its back, the panga operator said that this was the second year he had seen her there and she seems fine although the wound looks gross. She showed us her baby. If you double click on the pictures you should be able to see a larger image and then if you can zoom in you should be able to see what I mean by the huge chunk out of her back, its like a saddle. The first whale to spy hop was right beside the panga - he was huge! and none of us expected him - he just rose up and peered at us - of course my camera was not ready..... I have some great pictures of where the whales were.... I didn't want to take our new camera as it might/would get wet with all the spray from the whales. The whales are late this year and there are only about 10 in the lagoon and only 2 mothers with their babies. I think we saw them all! It was nothing like our last trip here when there were over 300 whales in the lagoon and we could see them spy hopping and breaching all over the place. We couldn’t hear them at night like we did last time either. I guess its better to go on the way back home?

None the less it has to be one of the very quietest places on earth. That night the sky was clear, the stars were brilliant, not a breath of wind and the water was completely still. It was so quiet it felt like my ears were almost ringing. Perhaps this is what is meant by "the silence was deafening".

Bahia de Los Angeles

We did spend 3 days – I think - in Bahia de Los Angeles, we camped in town at Tony’s place – he also has the motel across the street. There were no other people in this park, however it was nice to stay in town. While Dawne and I were playing, Lorne cycled out to the RV parks north of town and there were very few people camped there. As Lorne said he saw more dead dogs on Mex 1 than motor homes on this trip. Yikes!

With Dawne with us we played lots of music every day. Following a leisurely lunch under the palapa at the motel she stayed at we played the rest of the afternoon and then again in the evening. Very fun. Lorne and I had a few nice paddles in the morning and in the late afternoon. We paddled with a school of dolphins and a couple of sealions popped up to check us out too. There were no whale sharks. They arrive in the late summer and hang around the bay. They are huge. They are also very peaceful, one can swim with them – cool – maybe someday we will be here when they are. I'd like that.

One afternoon while we were playing music in the motor home Dawne’s dog Kita was waiting patiently outside. Close to dusk someone let off a few firecrackers (leftovers from New Years) Kita took off, dragging her leash along with her! We searched for her till dinner, stopped for a very quick dinner then searched again. I saw some kids and ran over to ask them if they had seen a little dog - in my very best Spanish of course. Dog in Spanish is perro. Well one of the boys earnestly said that he had indeed seen a perro and it was at the tienda (store) around the corner. (At least that’s what I thought he said). Off we went at a run as I was so concerned about finding her before she ran further. We got in the store and I saw no perro. I asked the teens in the store if they had seen a chico perro and they looked confused. The young boy told them what I was looking for and one of the teens went to the freezer and lifted the lid – well I was quite agast! To my horror I thought they had put the dog in the freezer and had visions of a poor little dead Kita to return to Dawne! The teen held up a bag of ice (hielo) and said hielo? Now to me when I say perro it does not sound at all like hielo, however when I said perro and the boy responded with hielo? I truly thought he said perro and he truly thought I said hielo. Good grief! And here I thought I was getting much better with my Spanish.

Well, just as I was returning to the beach area someone called from across the street at the motel where Dawne was staying that Kita was over there. Some one had brought her back. She is the only dog in town with a halter style leash and I guess Dawne had been seen walking her so she was returned! Excellent! What a relief! We had a good – if somewhat morbid – laugh about the hielo perro!

Driving into town we saw two cars in the ditch turned over on their very crushed roofs. There were people standing around and the police were there so no need for us to stop. As we drove along two tow trucks passed us. We were speculating how this accident happened – both cars on their roofs, and both on the same side of the road right next to each other. As chance would have it Dawne checked into the same motel as the people who were involved in the accident. One guy was driving and towing the other vehicle which was loaded with his friends' belongings and their dog (a great dane). His friends were following along with their four other dogs. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and both cars still ran! They had the cars towed to a mechanic in town who was going to bash the roofs up so they could be driven again. However, the dog was missing. They went back every day to look for it but didn’t find it. So sad. We saw them leaving to drive on to Cabo with these two cars – no windows and a very rough job on the body work! They were wearing helmets with face guards! Just like the Baja 1000!

Valley of the Ciros

The Cirro or Boojum cactus has got to be one of the strangest ones. It is indigenous to Baja. It looks like an upside down carrot covered with roots. When it rains it grows leaves on its trunk and flowers on its top. When its dry it just looks like a silver carrot. It has a very thick bark and is pretty useless, although some unique furnature is made from it. It can grow to be over 30 feet tall and it will take ovder 300 years to get that tall. So, these cirros are very old cactus,double click on the picture and you will see Dawne and I standing at the base of a very tall cirro. These are very rigid plants, like many cactus they do not move in a strong wind which I guess is how they have survived many hurricanes.

Early Start - for us

These photos are taken from Estero Beach at Ensenada. The water was a bit chilly to me for swimming, however it was the Christmas/New Years holiday and there were many Mexicans enjoying the water. The dot of light you can see in one of the sunset pictures is the light on the ship - taken with my new Olympus camera.

We were on the way to the border by 9:15 New Years Day, had our visas stamped by 10, and were on our way! We were a bit worried that there would be no official in Tecate to stamp our visas, or even the possibility that the border would be closed New Years Day – but no – it’s a very functional border now, it even has new lights.

We had an early lunch at our usual stop and thought we would be in Ensanada shortly thereafter – no such luck. Most of the remainder of the road into Ensanada was under construction – what a mess! It took us forever. Well, we arrived about 2:30, made a quick stop at Walmart and were set to go on to Estero Beach (a nice resort on the south side of Ensanada). We met an Oregon man in the parking lot at Walmart who was completely beside himself. He was lost, was waving a map around and was quite desparate for help He had no Spanish and much to his dismay no one he spoke to could speak English. He was so glad he found us! He did have some info about El Faro Beach RV park next to Estero Resort. We had already been thinking of trying this park out so we escorted him there since we knew where we were going and he definitely did not.

Ensanada is a confusing city and its easy to get lost there. This would be something I would not like to have happen if I was this guy – he had a big truck with a huge hand built container on the back and was towing a 22 foot trailer. Not exactly a city vehicle. Also, in his state of mind he really needed to find a safe spot to just relax and chill out. He admitted he was a worrier and he had all his worldly possessions with him. He was planning on moving to Mexico. Interesting since he didn’t seem to have any idea what he was doing… and he spoke no Spanish. He was a victim of the recession and his response was to take off.

Meanwhile back at home…

We received a text message from Natasha to call her about the house. The inverter wasn’t working and she was concerned. Lorne had Mike go up to trouble shoot it, he turned it off since it was not working properly at all. Lorne set about finding a replacement on the internet since its toast. Good thing for such responsible kids! Michael has been requisitioned to install a new inverter once Lorne figures out which one to buy.

Onward
Next night at El Pabilllon – a beautiful white sand beach 4 hours south of Ensenada (at mile 16.5). We went for a quick walk to see if there was any progress on the new restaurant at the campground right next door. We met Fidel who practically begged us to stay at his place. The restaurant is not open, he and his wife are living in the building. There have been very few tourists and he was feeling quite discouraged. We promised we would stay at his place on the return. He claims his water is not salty like it is at El Pabillon. I had a very salty shower this morning – I guess similar to a salt scrub - I should appreciate it – women would pay lots for this kind of shower!! Well it was hot and wet and the showers are very clean and bright and roomy. I do feel much cleaner for it.

I watched the pangas come in this morning with fresh langosta (lobster) He offered it to me for 270 pesos a kilo. When I told him it was too expensive for us he told me it would be 400 pesos in Ensenada. This may be true but still expensive for us. (about $27 per kilo) We could never have got them any fresher however! Yumm!

Off through the Vale de Cirios to lunch and a walk at the Catavina Boulder Field near Santa Inis. Then on to stay a few days at Bahia de Los Angeles. We are hoping for a campground in town as there is a protected area to launch the kayaks and a beautiful sandy beach for an easy entry and exit.

Quartzite Arizona

Quartzite is a very strange place. In the summer it is incredibly hot – like 125! And there are hardly any people there. In the winter, starting about now, but more in January, the snowbirds arrive and the desert around the little town fills up with motor homes. Like 10s of thousands! Why do they come there? Don’t know for sure except there is a huge rock and gem show there in the winter months – there are warehouses full of beads, warehouses full of crystals, precious and semi precious stones from all over the world, stone carvings, teak, you name it. This is where the wholesalers come to get their bargains. It looks rather like a very large swap meet. The first picture is a warehouse filled with cool things made from rocks, geodes and crystals. The display is of lamps made from salt crystals and further inside the warehouse are big slabs of rock that can be used for a variety of things, hung in a window to show the light coming through, as a table top.... whatever you want. The next shot is of several pallets of geodes from Brazil - mostly amethyst. The next is a street view of the site. Lots of venders!

Its $40 for a long term stay to camp on the BLM lands (Bureau of Land Management) – 2 weeks. However, if you stay further away from the town you can stay for free or a very cheap permit. Just pull up some ground. There is a place right next to Interstate 10 that is also free but it would be noisy. We found a spot in an RV park where there was internet, power, water, showers and laundry. We do like to be in touch. The next afternoon we rode our bikes over to the show to do a bit of shopping.

We were hoping for a bright and early start, however, we had to return to the show to buy a few more things, gifts for others and gifts for us. We left Quartzite at 12noon, stopping for lunch and last minute groceries at Yuma and hope to arrive at Portrero for New Years Eve dinner – king crab legs and steak and champagne with Dawne. It is 5:30 now and we have 30 miles of the twistiest part of this route ahead of us. Here’s hoping we arrive in Portrero before we get too hungry!!

Well the road sign says 55 mph but we went about 35 most of the way – very twisty~ we arrived at 6:30, were greeted by Dawn and had a wonderful New Years Eve dinner of King Crab legs and wine. Dawne and I then serenaded Lorne with our music and we brought the New Year in with champagne (Calgary time) and turned in.