Here We Go - The Casa Creation Commences!

Felice Navidad!  Prospero Ano Nuevo

Here we are, house footprint chalked out on the ground and equipment at the ready.  We are about to officially begin ground breaking.  Very exciting!!

Here is the footprint of the house.  The large tree in the center is actually in the "kitchen".  It is a Ciruelo (wild plum).  To the right is a pitahaya cactus - it is on the terrace outside the bedroom.  Both of these plants have to be moved.  This part of the property and the lot behind us was scraped by the rancher when the original subdivision occurred many years ago.  Fortunately this is where the house is going anyway.  The lower part of the property has some trees, mostly the wild plum and a few lomboy.

The foundation being dug.  The soil is decomposed granite, a very solid foundation for building a house.  It compacts very well and provides good drainage.

The trenches are now dug for the foundation.  This soil is so compacted they would have had to use a crowbar or pick to dig it in the past.  So the backhoe has really changed how this work gets done.  Not long ago - like maybe 3 years, there were no backhoes available for this work in the area.  Everything was done by hand.

The moving of the pitahaya cactus - above and to the left.  This is not a trivial job.  It is a big cactus, breaks easily and has nasty thorns.  These men are not wearing gloves.  The man with the hat has the situation well in hand.  His son is running his machine and following his fathers instructions carefully.








Pataya relocated in the foreground and the wild plum in the background both looking like they have always been there.  The plum is now happily standing up tall!  Its hardly recognizable as the same tree that had been blown over by Hurricane John 5 years ago.

The men take a well deserved rest.

Some of the small cactus that had to be moved.  One barrel cactus, a cholla pelona and the rest are viejita

Lorne watering a recently moved Torote, also called Elephant Tree.  We found this in the brush in the corner of the lot.  These trees transplant very easily and take very little water once established.    

Placing rebar.  The bottom of the footings have a layer of crushed gravel and then a cage of rebar is made on site and placed in the bottom of the trench.

The septic tank has been built on site.

I'm getting a view from the floor level, wearing my personalized Casa shirt.  Carlos, our contractor supplied these shirts for all the crew and Lorne and I.  A nice touch and good advertising for CMC Construction (large letters on the back).

The first concrete pour for the footings!

The first concrete pour for the top of the septic tank.

Two men delivered and unloaded 100 bags of concrete.  Each bag weighs 100 pounds.  5 tons of concrete lifted by two men!  They were laughing and joking with the crew while they were doing it and didn't stop once for a breather.  In fact, they weren't even breathing hard.  These guys are very strong.  

Here is part of the 12 man relay team - one man (67 years old) loading buckets of gravel, two men filling buckets of sand and one guy emptying them into the mixer.  Another man responsible to add the bags of concrete and water and to mix to exactly the right consistency.  Three  men on the wheel barrels and when the concrete is ready they are ready to take their load.  There are a dozen men working from dawn till dusk with three short breaks each day.


Below, the footings taking shape.

Stay tuned.... more progress to follow.

Over the Gigantes to Los Barriles - forgotten post

Friday November 11

We were up for our usual early departure around 9 for the last stretch over the Gigantes and to La Paz for essentials at the new Sorianos (mostly to check to see if they had any Lorne friendly foods).  We made it all the way to San Antonio before dark so we stopped to cook dinner before tackling the twisty undulating mountain drive.  The cows were out again tonight, several just standing on the edge of the road and one that was poised to cross the road…., a bit startling to say the least, all of them were black or dark brown, impossible to see in the dark until right upon them, and completely unfazed by vehicles whizzing by.  We rolled into Los Barriles around 8:00 and were greeted with huge enthusiasm by Checkers, Paul and Renota’s dog.  We had a good visit with Paul and Renota and camped in their back yard.

The next two days Paul and Renota prepared their vehicle to go camping for two weeks.  This year they have a tent trailer so are not sleeping on the ground.  Their plan was to go to Los Frailes and find a little spot for camping up the arroyo. 

We had a lovely time in their home caring for their three cats and their beautiful garden (with the help of Umberto the gardener).  We were quite busy building a model of our new house from the poster board we brought with us from Canada.  We also spent a lot of time at the property figuring out exactly where the house was going and what the views were from each room.  Exciting.  We are planning on taking lots of pictures throughout the process.  

Out of Guerro Negro

Thursday, November 10

Out of Guerro Negro about 9:30 am.  Another beautiful day.  We stayed at Malarrimo last night.  They are supposed to have internet but it wasn’t working – again.  We usually stay here and it seems to me it has never worked properly.  Well, there was electricity and the showers were clean and warm.  Life is good

I can’t believe it – we just passed cyclists, two adults and two children – one child between 6 - 8 years old riding his own bike, both adults loaded down with camping gear and the younger child – a toddler on the front of a recumbent!  The father was riding in the middle of the lane next to the young rider.  I guess this way is safer, everyone has to go out into the oncoming lane to pass them.  Heaven help them though when they meet an 18 wheeler and another comes up behind them at the same time.

The area around Guerro Negro is usually particularly desolate, very little vegetation, and most of it very low growing and dead looking.  This year the wind was blowing sand across the highway - reminiscent of blizzards in Alberta.  Definitely desert territory! 

At km 73 it was great to see San Ignacio, a picturesque oasis in the desert.  Although, it also looks dryer this year.  Time for gas, a nap for Lorne, lunch, and to see what treats there are in the store.  This town grows date palms and there are always dates for sale.  We have bought the dates before but have found them to be quite gritty.  So now we pass on the dates.  The grocery store attached to the Pemex almost always has some date bakery items that are usually quite good and I can’t resist buying something that I haven’t had before.  This day I was looking for a date taste treat to buy and found a package of large Florentine looking things… I don’t know if I should really go on with this story…. 

Now this store has definitely improved its appearance since we started coming down the Baja.  It always has had meat hanging in it, usually near the front door.  Strips of fresh meat hanging on a clothes rack like thing, usually dripping blood on the floor – old blood, new blood.  Then there is the chest deep freezer that is usually fairly full of chicken pieces.  Not wrapped in anything, just tossed in the freezer, cold but not frozen.   It usually has quite a few vegetables that are not too bad.  This year it has had a face lift and every thing looks fresh and clean (except for that hanging meat – although there were fresh looking newpapers underneath the meat to soak up the blood, and the rack was further into the store and not the first thing you see when you step in).  

Now, back to the Florentines… well… there were four of them in a package wrapped in plastic and placed inside a glass display case near the front door – upon close examination it looked like a leg of an insect was sticking out between the Florentines.  Upon closer inspection I am sure it was a cucaracha.  At any rate the cucaracha was quite dead and it looked like it was coated with the candied sugar too…..  I bought an avocado and left.  I know, Florentines are one of Lorne’s favourite but I made a decision not to buy them for him this time, I'm sure there was flour in them.  

We stopped in at San Lucas Cove to give John and Beatrice a hug and carried on all the way to Loreto.  They both look well and happy.  Married life seems to suit them.  We pulled in at Yolanda’s RV park around 6ish again.  She no longer has her excellent restaurant open.  Yolanda and her mother said the restaurant was primarily open to serve the locals, the customers at the RV park were not where most of her business had come from.  Since the local economy is bad and tourism is down there was just not enough business this year to make it worth their while.  Too bad. Great food.

9:30 am departure from Posada Don Diego

November 9, 2011

It is incredibly dry this year.  There are quite a few large puddles of water so it must have rained in the past few days, but not much has greened up yet.  All the dessert cactus have a dusty grey green cast to them, some look totally dead.  It does look quite desolate in spots.  However, it is beautifully warm this morning and I hear the weather is getting ugly back home so…. we will tough it out.

Gas price at El Rosario 90 cents a litre for premium.

South of El Rosario I saw a field of bright pink in the desert – there was a sand road going into the area.  I have no idea what it was and there was just a brief glimpse of it from the highway. 

Once again we are reaching our destination (Guerro Negro) past nightfall.  The highway south of Santa Innis was not good, much has been resurfaced since last year but there is still lots to do.  By the time we were about 30 km north of Guerro Negro they detoured us off the highway and onto a path cut through the desert that stretched for kms!  It was so incredibly dusty, like fine talcum powder; and while the track had been somewhat packed down there were a lot more loose patches than either of us were comfortable with.  We have been stuck in the sand in a pickup before – not fun – and the image of getting stuck in the sand in the dark with this heavy motor home taking up the lane …. Well, we don’t want to go there!  At long last it ended and we made our way back onto the narrow highway. 

There were quite a few cows spotted lurking by the side of the road.  It’s strange but cows’ eyes either don’t reflect headlights as other animals do, or they simply don’t ever look at the headlights.  They are but large dark hulks waiting to be smacked by moving vehicles.  And they frequently are.  Particularly when they lay down on the highway which they are wont to do. 

By the way, in case I haven’t been clear, the real danger about driving at night in Baja is the cow factor, not the bandito factor.  

Heading into Baja 2011

Day one:  Tuesday, November 8, 2011:

We crossed the border at 10:30 am.  The border guards gave us a green light but the military stopped us for an inspection.  For the first time my guitar case was opened - he must have heard how fabulous my new Pii is.  He tapped on all the walls and ceiling and needed instruction to open the fridge, the door to the bathroom and the drawers.  Then he complemented us on our pretty motor home and left.  No problem. 

The road south from Tecate goes through wine country and the whole wine route was dry, the grapes looked more than somewhat parched, of course it is fall so maybe that’s how vines are supposed to look this time of year.  Its just that in previous years this whole area has been very green and lush when we have passed through it in December or January.  We had lunch at our usual spot, the gas station at Guadalupe.  We had a nice chat with the gas station attendant we met there last year.  He worked in the BC interior a few years back and his English is quite good.  He would like to come back to Canada to work but he does make good money at the Pemex and he has another job as well, he has a big family to support.  We rushed into Wal-Mart in Ensenada and then into Costco to get yet more “essentials.”  The motor home is really loaded this year….  We really need to cross the border earlier in the future to make it a more relaxing drive as we get toward nightfall.

It was a beautiful sunset, a big red fire ball dropping into the sea. We hoped the light would last till our arrival at Posada Don Diego in Colonia Vicente Guerrero (km 173 just before the gas plant).  However, it was a bit too far into darkness for my liking by the time we rolled in about 6:00.  While there are often big billboards advertising the RV parks, they are set off the road allowance and none of them have any night time illumination, so they are impossible to see once the sun sets.  We stayed at Don Diego’s in 2005, the first year we came down with Baja Adventures Caravan so we really only had a vague idea of its location.  I guess I should say Lorne had no idea and I was the one with the vague idea.  Its my job as navigator to have vague ideas….  You really have to know where you are going once darkness falls as the streets in these communities are buzzing with traffic this time of night; all going at great speed.  Many approaches off the highway are disastrous for our motor home, with abrupt jumps from the pavement to the sand.  And of course turning around in our motor home is not the easiest thing to do particularly given the unreliable approaches to the highway. 

We decided against staying at the fairly isolated beach at El Pabillon south of San Quintin as we haven’t seen a single camper or motor home since we arrived in Baja and we always like to camp with others.  There were no campers at Don Diegos either, however there is a restaurant open till 9 pm and then they have a night watchman so we felt comfortable. 

We had a nice chat with the proprietor, a young man with excellent English whose name escapes me.  He was born in San Diego, his mother is American and his father Mexican.  When an aunt purchased the property thirty some years ago, the family moved from the US to work at the RV park and restaurant.  As a child they had no television or movies so his US relatives sent lots of movies, all in English.  They always spoke English in the house and Spanish at school so he really does have excellent English.  They offer free internet, electricity, water and showers.  I do have a note I made in our guide book that the water is salty here, but we have full water tanks anyway from Potrero, where we camped in the US Monday night before crossing at Tecate. 

Driscols is an ever expanding operation here, employing many locals and supplying berries all over North America.  Prima tomatoes are also here big time.  Development is very apparent with lots of homes under construction and new small businesses; the market stands south of town are turning into little shops, and a Mexican Wal-mart is about to open.  They have a big, very beautiful, bridge crossing the big arroyo in town.  Annual wash outs led the locals to petition the governor for design improvements which led to this new bridge.  This one has to be the best we’ve seen in Baja yet.  It even has protected pedestrian walkways on each side as well as decorative sides.  There is an election next year and unfortunately this governor and president cannot be re-elected due to the limitation on terms being only 2, making a maximum of 6 years in office.

October 29, 2011 – Mexico Bound!

Getting ready to head south for 3 months has been challenging enough these past years, this year we are off for 6 months.  That takes just a bit more organizing…  Its a good thing my to do and to bring list gets more refined every year.  We are staying longer in Baja because we are planning on building a house.  I say planning  because that’s where we are still at.  Planning.  We have the architectural plans, the engineered drawings and next we have to decide on a builder.  

So to begin….

I took on a contract for the government in the late spring so have been madly getting the report done prior to departure; these things always take more time than anticipated.  I was pleased with the whole thing other than it was a huge file to review.  9 boxes of file….  Lots of reading.  However, it was a very interesting case and I enjoyed the writing. 

We zipped south this year, zipping for us anyway!  We packed up and managed to get to Mike and Kates Thursday October 29^th as planned, arriving about 11:00 pm as I anticipated.  (We live in Metchosin, they live in Gordon Head, about a 35 minute drive from us) I walked the kids to school in the morning and we caught the 10:00 am ferry.  On our way!!  We stopped in Sacramento for dinner with some new friends.  We’ve never stopped in Sacramento before and we found it to be quite a pretty city.  I stocked up on wine at one of their big wine stores, purchasing some remarkable Pinot’s.  Our son Mike will be glad to know that I also bought a nice bottle of single malt Scotch.  He sees Scotch as much more value for the dollar than wine compared to prices in Canada.  I will think of him while I sip it and share it. 

We camped at our mechanic Miguel’s shop in Uplands (LA).  He found a few things to do on the coach, he always does, fortunately we made it to his place with no breakdown.

We arrived at my God daughter Megan’s on Sunday and had a great visit with her, her husband Reginald and their sons Ethan (2 1/2 ) and Aedan (4 months).  We will miss having Christmas with them this year.  Aedan is the sweetest baby, I didn’t hear him cry at all although I understand he hates the carseat and cried all the way to dinner at Sizzlers and back.  We had to take two vehicles as there were four adults and two kids.  Ethan is still very musical, he now wants to play the drums.  He absolutely loved Garage Band on my iPad - he could play various kinds of drums with his fingers.  He remembered my banjo and wanted to play it a bit, however, the drums on the iPad were what enchanted him.  

It was sad to leave them after such a quick visit, these little ones grow and change so quickly, its fun to spend time with them.  Well, hopefully we can visit again on our way north in April.  

Monday morning we are off to Whole Foods in La Jolla and to Tecate to get our tourist visas so we can cross over easily on Tuesday morning.  

Big News!

Well, we had decided last year that we would just rent a nice house on the beach each year and forget about buying anything. Of course this year about a week went by before we started "just checking the prices because there was so much for sale". It seemed that the prices had come down somewhat so we continued our “just looking”.

Our realtor from last year sent us a few emails to see if we were interested in seeing anything and finally we made a list of things. So long story short and four offers later we now own a lot in an area of Los Barriles called Las Brisas. Its beautiful! Its fairly flat as these lots go with a fantastic 360 degree view of the water, the arroyo and up into the mountains. We are very excited about it and hope to start building by August – September. Of course we have to officially own it first and at this point it is in escrow in Colorado. We expect it to close by the end of June, all going well, and then we will really own it. Well, we will own it for 50 years renewable....  Buying a property in Mexico can be quite interesting to say the least. We are doing what we are supposed to do with lots of guidance from the realtor, the lawyer and friends.


We had hoped for a “turn key” but it seems like house owners still want more than what Lorne is prepared to pay in this economy, plus there is not really anything that excites us within our price range. So… we will build what we want.

Now comes the exciting part! Designing what we want to build and then…. Building! There is not much building going on now, so, there are lots of builders available and they are charging much less than a few years ago. Unfortunately, building supplies are still expensive. We have found an architect from La Paz who has come down to meet with us and to photograph the lot and the views. Here’s hoping for all good things at not very much money…..

We slept overnight on our lot for the two nights before we left town.  These two photos are of the sunrise.  The video below is taken from the roof of the motor home. 

Los Barriles Comes to a Close

It has been a very quick trip this time – at least it really feels that way. We have been so busy since we got to Los Barriles. Friends back home puzzle over what do we "DO?"  Well, its a very social environment with lots of like minded people around our age, mostly retired. 

I really enjoy playing Mah Jong with a group of women on Fridays. We play from 10 am till 4 with a very quick break for lunch. It is a challenging game and I would love to find some people to play with in Victoria.

I was taking yoga classes twice a week till I could no longer walk – I think the side plank did my hip in. I have bursitis! So, I never did get back to yoga, perhaps Karen’s classes in Metchosin or Peggy’s in Victoria will be better. I’ve been painting with the ladies at Sandy’s house every Thursday. What an encouraging group of painters! There was a three day acrylic class with Jennifer Bowman that I participated in along with 12 other women and tried my brush in acrylics. It’s a much more forgiving medium than water colors that’s for sure. Consequently I have been on ebay searching for good deals on acrylic paint – and finding lots of course. Its easier to buy and there is more available on the US ebay.  Plus its much easier and cheaper to have things delivered to a US address – and items sell for less money than on Canadian ebay. In addition, many people won’t deliver to a Canadian address and if they do it is very expensive. So, thankfully we have a few friends in the US that will receive my parcels and we can pick them up on our way north.

Music has continued at Road Runner Café every Wednesday night. There have been some excellent musicians in town and a wide taste in music. A Sunday night jam has started at Vinny’s in Spa just 2 blocks from us. Vinney plays and teaches accordion. It has been quite interesting playing Bluegrass and blues with an accordion. Its been a lot of fun too. I much prefer the jamming to performing. Road Runner has standing room only on Wednesday nights now – 70 - 80 people is not unusual and Donna has been providing wonderful set meals. Everyone seems to really enjoy the musical diversity and people tend to come up and do 2 or 3 songs and leave so its nothing like a jam.  The place to be on Wednesday nights is the Road Runner!

This is an aside as I'm writing this while driver er passengering North;   [GASP!  Good Grief! The road south of Catavina is the worst ever, there a holes and ruts and bumps and wind and uneven patches and bites out of the side and no shoulder and many many pieces of ripped up tire to demonstrate how bad it is for tires to drive on roads like this. Lorne reminded me that every year he gets two new tires for the front and moves the old ones back.]

The Big Car Race!

This was a very exciting car race held in the area, competitors come from the US and Mainland Mexico as well as some local talent.  Our cleaning lady's husband came in third in the car race!  He would have won but had an electrical problem somewhere out in the desert that took him some time to fix.  Even so he came in third so that's pretty good.  The cars (and bikes) left from the hotel downtown on the beach road, up and over the highway and then off into the desert for about 4 hours or more before returning down one of the arroyos and back into town, finishing at the hotel. 

This is the website for the race:

http://www.probajaonline.com/

Be sure to watch the video of the race through the desert - the route is barely marked and is very rough! 



promo Dos mares 500 2010 de RIGOS VIDEOS from army66 on Vimeo.

Some Interesting Videos

This is a video taken right in front of the hotel in down town Los Barriles.  We didn't see it happening but we do see and hear the rays leaping out of the water day and night - in a sort of can-can dance.  Its puzzling as to why they do this....  Ideas?

Rays and orcas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvDxnpBxCeQ



A whale shark swam into El Coyote 2 days before we got there, the campground was buzzing with it and here is the video they took:

Whale Sharks El Coyote
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvLy6tyGbBo




Sortly after we arrived in Los Barriles the big kite board and wind surfing competition occured.  It was a world class event and there were competitors there from all over the world.  These are a few of the clips, pretty amazing and very exciting to watch.  They jump some 30 feet in the air:

Lord of the Winds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk7sC7tH5ac&feature=player_embedded



Lord of the Winds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHr2x7qi3Bg



Lord of the Winds
http://vimeo.com/19331710

Yikes! I thought I posted this.....somewhere around January.....

The time has been whizzing by without documenting anything!! It seems as though at this point not only do we need a date book to tell us what we’re going to be doing each day, we need to write down what we did right when we did it so we can remember that too!! Yikes!


We have finished our house sitting at Paul and Renota’s and moved to our rental house in Spa Buena Vista. Paul and Renota’s home was great – fresh grapefruit and oranges every day and conversational Spanish Tuesday and Friday mornings with Umberto the gardener and Mondays with Gloria the cleaning lady. Every Tuesday Marcos the fish man and his mother Maria arrived at the gate by 9 am with fresh fish caught in La Paz the night before by his brother. Beautiful fish: scallops, shrimp, parrot fish, yellow tail, bass, trigger fish, dorrado, tuna, clams, and occasionally lobster. He always has a good assortment of fresh fish at a very reasonable price.

We made a deal with Marcos that he would come over to Spa with fish for us on Tuesday afternoons; but we have yet to see him. It is entirely possible that by the time he finishes with Los Barriles he is sold out!

Spanish classes three mornings a week have been great, it is a lot of fun and we laugh a great deal at the outrageous stories we make up together in class; all in Spanish. Adriana is an excellent, very professional teacher. She once taught elementary and secondary school but prefers adults now. She gives lots of homework but it is manageable, and I think I am learning something for my time and money.

Shortly after moving to Spa, I got bursitis in my hip and then Lorne put his back out, it has taken us some time to get mobile again. Quite the pair of crips creaking in and out of the car! Shades of life to come I guess…. I stopped taking my anti-inflammatory drugs and immediately had a relapse that took several days to get under control again. We are both on the mend now.

Best Pedicure! Naty's in Los Barriles

Today, after the fish truck stopped at our gate and we selected fresh parrotfish for dinner..... I learned how to play hand and foot, had lunch with the girls and then quaded into town to Naty's for just the best pedicure yet!  Naty is a lovely Mexical lady that has her own shop, she is the only staff and many Mexican and Gringo men and boys drop in to get their hair cut there, including Lorne.  He says she cuts his hair the very best, way better than his guy in Canada.  I would agree.  She also provides the very best pedicure.  I usually bring my own polish as she doesn't have a big range of colors.  She worked on my feet for 2 hours.  I kid you not.  She made them soft as can be - without pain!  She is very precise.  I guess it helped that no one else entered her shop until just  after she painted my toes so she had no distractions.   I also got to practice my Spanish.  Great day.  All that for 340 pesos - about 30 Canadian dollars.

Yoga is tomorrow and then Music night at Roadrunner Cafe.  Painting is on Thursday, Mah Jong is usually on Friday except its Thursday this week so it conflicts with painting.  Then yoga again on Saturday, hand and foot Monday and Tuesday.    Busy, busy.

Concerned about Travel in Mexico?

Many people back home have expressed concern about our travel in Mexico.  We have come across some more realistic information about travel in Mexico that coincides with our experience and will perhaps help to allay your fears.  I have included a link to the publication that has done some more responsible jouralism for your reading pleasure.  http://www.bajainsider.com/baja-california-travel/mexico-travel-warning.htm A good summary of the article basically states:

"Tijuana is one of the more dangerous cities in Mexico – particularly if you are a cartel member. It had a murder rate of 7.2 per 100K, exactly the same as Philadelphia, which by chance has about the same population. This would only put TJ about 1/3 of the way up the list compared to most US cities. New Orleans being the hands down violence winner at 18.2 murders per 100K. Have you read any travel warnings to New Orleans recently in the US press?

If you deduct those deaths directly connected to the cartels TJ is just about as safe as San Diego across the border, one of the safest cities in the US.

I like to get about 100 miles south of any border to get into what I call ‘real Mexico’ anyway. (Although that line seems to keep pushing south.)"
 
We do not go to Tijuana, nor do we stop in Tecate which is the border town where we do cross.  We do not even think about crossing the border at CD Juarez.

Ciudad Constitucion (yes that is the correct spelling)

We had heard that we should drive very carefully right through Constitucion as the cops were on the look out to tap tourists, looking for any infraction to charge them with - and of course to collect their mordida (bribe).  We stopped at Misiones RV Park http://www.misionesrvpark.com/ for the night.  We have made friends with the owners, Jaime and Patty and their girls in previous years.  They are lovely people, very easy to befriend.  I think anyone who stays there would say the same. 

Lorne was looking to buy a special plug for the motor home (which we lost somewhere along the trip) so we could plug into their power so, just like any other RV park owner in Canada and the US; Patty drove him around to a number of potential stores - they were unsuccessful.  Upon return Patty told Lorne that she knew he wouldn't be able to find such a thing in town but she didn't want him to drive around the town on his own and in our car with Canadian plates because the police were on the prowl for tourists and he would certainly be stopped.  She also said that she had spoken to the mayor about the police behaviour before and that the police had stopped stalking tourists for awhile but they are at it again.  It is very bad for any business that relies on tourists and she said she has not had the numbers staying with them that she has in previous years.  She believes it is because of the reputation of the police and she is likley right.  Baja regulars have a number of news groups so word about anything and everything gets around very quickly. 

This is all most unfortunate for Jaime and Patty as they are such nice people and I hope that their business picks up again.  It is election year so campaigning is going on all over.  Perhaps a new mayor will have influence over the police in this city.  We have always found the people in this city to be very helpful and friendly so it would be nice to feel relaxed there again.

Indeed, as we were leaving town in the morning, the police were cruising along with us.  They finally stopped Lorne.  While I was circling back in the car to demand his release, they told him there was a problem and clearly thought they got him for no seatbelt.  When he showed the police his lap belt they still thought he needed the shoulder belt (which would  be great if we could have one installed but it can't be done).  When Lorne explained it was a 1976 vehicle they seemed to understand that vehicles that old don't have shoulder belts and they let him drive on!!  So, we were lucky that time, whew!!

Playa El Coyote

Ahhh, at last, the breeze is light, the sun is warm, the beach is soft white sand, the water is tranquil and turquoise, and we have our own brand new palapa. As our neighbour says; the only thing that would make it a better day might be free beer… We have had some glorious paddles, wish we had brought our little camera, definitely don’t want to go out on the water with the Olympus.

This is a great beach, its got just enough people that everyone gets together every day for 4:30 happy hour, once weekly movie night, and if there is a game on, well, someone has satellite TV and there is hooting and hollering and pizza till all hours. There are two rigs with internet that will let others use daily from 8:30 – 9 am.

Our neighbour on our right is Raven Gary – he is somewhat of a naturalist and spends his days pursuing his interest in documenting the wild life he sees, including snorkelling and counting the numbers and types of fish he sees. His palapa is filled with interesting information about the region that he has been gathering for about 15 years.

This is our front yard - how cool is that!!  Well, some people were swimming, it was still too cool for me.

There are great hikes in this area; including one to see the petroglyphs. That was very interesting, especially interesting trying to determine whether the rocks fell from above before being etched or after.




Lorne studying the petroglyph rocks



These petroglyph rocks are scattered all about on huge rocks that appear to have tumbled from the cliffs some hundreds of years ago.

This was a figure we found repeated on many of the rocks

We have seen some interesting birds here; particularly the blue footed booby! It displays a wonderfully enthusiastic dive into the water for fish – of course the opportunists lurk – the pelicans, the gulls and the amazing frigate birds. When the booby makes his catch all join in the celebration…. The booby prevails and managed to keep every fish. (By the way, I was having a shower - in the palapa wearing my bikini - when Raven Gary ran over to tell me there was a booby out there.....kind of took me by surprise, I thought I was being discrete)

Dave and Lynn

Dave and Lynn Wheatley arrived at El Coyote so we had a very enjoyable evening – they are Lisa’s parents (Mark’s wife). Mark and his parents have been friends of our family since our kids were all about 3 years old. Lisa’s mom plays guitar and mandolin and is learning a new instrument that is something like a ukulele – can’t remember the name of it. We had a great time playing and singing while the guys made dinner.



This is Dave and Lynn's site at El Coyote



It was definitely difficult leaving this beach. I think this area is pretty perfect for us – very sheltered water for paddling and lots of area to hike in. Other than cycling from one end of the beach to the other, not much opportunity for cycling.  It was also difficult to leave because there is a steep incline up to the highway - with not much visibility.  Dave ran out and stopped traffic while Lorne took a mad run at it.  After 3 tries he was up and away!!

We are now at Ciudad Constitution at our friends Jaime and Patty's Misiones  RV Park. They are still trying to figure out a way to send their daughter Aime to the College of the Pacific in Victoria.  It will be very expensive for a poor Mexican family unless she can get a scholarship.  Aime has her quincianos birthday in October which is a tradicional huge celebration - and will cost a few dollars as well.









San Lucas Cove

We arrived here – just south of Santa Rosalia - only to find that our friend John wasn’t there – at all!! His camper wasn’t even there anymore! Lorne wandered about looking to see if he had moved it to another spot and since he looked so puzzled a neighbour came to help. It turns out that John got married!! He married Beatrice, his paramour from the past few years. Now John has been a confirmed bachelor for some time. He repeatedly stated that after being married 4 times he wasn’t about to do that again and even though Beatrice wanted to get married it just wasn't going to happen. Well – he did and he looks pretty happy, as does Beatrice! We went to visit them – following their honeymoon in Yellowstone John has moved into her house in town and has been working on fixing it up. So, congratulations to John and Beatrice!

We got our laundry done here, as usual by the time we get here everything we own is dirty! So, now we smell lovely and the whites are truly whiter than white! We think that Mexico still has phosphates in their laundry soap so everything gets very clean! In addition, the soap has a very strong scent that has both Lorne and I sneezing. One night here at this fishing beach and we are off south to El Coyote.

Dagget's, Bahia de Los Angeles

New Years Day

We are in Bahia de Los Angeles at Daggets RV park New Years Day. It is windy but the sun is shining today so all is as it should be. This place has showers…. This is good. Warm running water, no matter how small the dribble is …. always good. We maybe have internet at our site in the mornings while the sun is shining on the host’s solar panels, this is also good. We have only the electricity that we generate with our own solar panels.

We made friends with our British neighbours John and Faye who have lived for a long time in White Rock (still have their family home there) and who now live in Sointula for the summer (an island off the coast of Northern Vancouver Island, near Alert Bay and Port McNeil). He worked at Triumph at UBC in Vancouver. Triumph is a nuclear research accelerator and John was a science technician so built parts and repaired it. It’s not clear that he is totally retired from this. He can likely fix anything.  We have an open invitation to their beautiful home on the beach on Sointula.

It is warm enough in the shelter of the motor home that I can play my banjo outside (it’s an outdoor activity, according to Lorne). Since I have been deprived of playing the banjo for some time now this is very good!

It is usually very windy here this time of year, although we have had some nice kayaking mornings in previous years.  Yesterday we used a spectacular wind-LESS day to drive around the bay in the 4x4 to see the small community of Gringo houses on that side.  In hindsite it would have been a great day - all day - to kayak!!  Who knew?  The wind can spring up very quickly here and we just expected it to start anytime....  Today it was a beautiful morning so up we got, unleashed the kayaks, were ready to hop in, and the wind sprang up.  Before our eyes the flat water turned to ever increasig whitecaps - so since we are very inexperienced kayakers yet experienced enough to know that it would be more like work than fun, we retired to our alternate activities.

The change in light makes a surreal picture



The change in light throughout the day on the mountains is amazing



 These look like cinder cones from the volcano long ago



The sun setting across the bay

The sun shining on the mountains across the bay

The different colors of the rock look like a painting to me

These cirio cactus (also called Boojum trees) grow as tall as 18 meters and as old as 360 years.   These have blooms at their top. 

We plan on staying here till Thursday the 6th before heading south to San Lucas Cove, then El Coyote for a few days, then on to Ligui for a day, then La Paz to stock up on good groceries (that means steak and excellent Mexican chicken) and arriving in Los Barriles by the 13th so we can still see the Kite boarding (and bikini) contest.

Water water not quite everywhere

Thursday December 30
We didn’t have to worry so much about water on the road south of Ensenada or at the Beach camp yet we were still very glad that we stopped at Estero Beach for the night. There was major construction on the road south of Ensenada – the trip to Colonet, about 180 km took us about 4 hours!! So much for the wheel alignment on the motor home that we got in Fremont, California!! There were some massive car eating and wheel wrenching pot holes. These were of course not marked. There was a flag man in one very difficult spot however, he was madly waving everyone on – even though there was only room for one vehicle to drive through.

We did manage to make it to Rancho Santa Ines at Catavina in time for a nice dinner. There was only a bus full of young kids, a couple on motorcycles and another motor home here for the night. It was very cold – there was frost on the car in the morning! This is the high desert and does get very cold at night in the winter.

We stayed for 2 nights as we wanted to drive into El Marmol, an old abandoned onyx quarry. It was very interesting; there is the ruin of an abandoned school house built entirely of blocks of onyx. They also used onyx blocks for their well.  We saw no ruins of old houses, the people likely lived in small huts.

The school house is very small - the triangular pieces out the sides were built as supports I guess.  The opposite side of the building has fallen down.

There were huge blocks of beautiful onyx just laying all over the ground.  Yes thats a touque on my head and my winter jacket (without the fleece) it was very cold! 

There was also an old graveyard (apparently there are two but we only saw one). Most of the graves were piles of onyx, marked only with a wooden cross and nothing to say who they were. According to the rancher at Santa Ines the mine ran for around 100 years and the onyx was mined completely by hand. He also said a lot of people died from the hard work at the mine.


The 15 km drive into El Marmol was such a very rough road that it took us at more than an hour each way in my little 4x4.

We returned to the ranch for lunch then drove back up the highway to another arroyo that we had been wanting to hike in to. We found a well marked trail up a cliff to a cave that had paintings done by the local Indians many years ago.  It had a very small opening ..... yikes...

However, the paintings were very interesting.  What they mean is anyone's guess.  Maybe Lorne loves Catherine or Lorne was here....

So, that was our New Years Eve. Very cool.

Into Mexico Wednesday December 29, 2010

We like to walk across the border at Tecate and get our visas stamped, then we are able to just cross over the next day and keep on driving. Parking on the Tecate side of the border is very difficult, narrow streets riddled with potholes and cars parked everywhere. In previous years we have had to park many blocks away, walk back to the border, and felt a bit nervous about leaving our motor home. So, now we park on the American side in a parking lot right next to the border and walk over, get our visas stamped and walk back. This year we had as usual, a very friendly immigration officer on the Mexican side. Once stamped, we walked across the street and had to go through American customs. The two American female officers were very official and sternly insisted that we pass through separately. The interview went like this:

Officer: Where are you coming from?

Me: Just across the street….we…

Officer: Where are you going?

Me: Los Barriles….we…

Officer: Do you live there?

Me: No…. we are just going there for three months vacation

Officer: What are you bringing with you?

Me: Our motor home (now I’m really lost, why does she care?)

Officer: So what are you bringing with you?

Me: Just our personal things that we need…

Officer: What do you have on you right now?

Me: Nothing. Just my visa

She waved us through – I’m not sure who was more confused…. Lorne thinks it was me….

The next morning we cross into Tecate - I was in the lead and got the green light - which means drive on no questions asked.  Lorne got the green light but the female officer waved him over anyway.  She came in, looked around, wanted to see the registration papers and then sent him on.  I had to drive ahead and was wondering what had happened to him.  Thank goodness for our little walkie talkies.  "Whats happening Lorne, where are you?   Where are you Catherine?  I can't see you?  Don't worry I'm coming.  Catherine?  Where are you?  Catherine, can you hear me?  Don't worry, I'm coming - there you are Lorne, I see you, I'm right behind you.  Catherine where are you?  Lorne, I said, I'm right behind you...."  and so it goes. 

We made it to Ensenada today – We took the toll road 2d toward Tijuana (not to be confused with 2D which goes somewhere else entirely). We cut off well before TJ, hit the coast, and then went south on the toll road to Ensenada. The toll road was a very good road compared to Mexicali 3, the one we usually take! But - pouring rain so there was lots of water on the road. Driving the car was not at all scary, this road is just fine for me.

There continues to be major road construction on Mexicali 3 south of Tecate to Ensenada. This road passes through the Guadalupe Valley, a beautiful grape–growing region complete with vineyards. It is a tourist area for Baja that must be really suffering – this is the second year that the road has been basically out of commission. Well, when it is finished it promises to be a great route. We stopped at Estero Beach resort in Ensenada as we were concerned that the road to the beach we were planning on staying at is likely full of water by now, and we sure don’t want to get stuck.

I'm going to have to be very organized if I am going to be able to get anything on my blog since I'm driving the whole way too.