Space Travel

Bob grew up reading lots of science fiction and dreamed of traveling between worlds, through space. Yesterday he seemingly got his chance.

We woke up 4o miles south of the Mexico/U.S. border crossing at Tecate into California. We drove there the day before from Catavina, still on the Baja peninsula, passing through dusty villages full of small tiendas and taco stands,  seeing people living simple, relaxed lives.

Two hours latter we passed through the border after a rather superficial inspection of our rig which consisted of ignoring the truck and its’ contents, inlcuding the large storage box in the truck bed, and opening only the refrigerator and freezer to see if we were smuggling in any Mexican lunch meat or avocadoes. Sure makes us feel safe!

An hour later we knew we were in a different world after driving 70 mph on a freeway, running into the first rude native we had seen in months, and having shopped at Costco in El Centro, CA. 

After a one night stay at the Parker, AZ County Park, we moved across the Colorado River to the Crossroads Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campground where we found a site right on the river for a total cost of $2.50 a night (with Bob’s Golden Access card we get half price). (Thanks for the recommendation Hobie!) We’ll stay here for several nights before moving on to some currently unknown next destination.

It does seem like space travel, and the world we’re in now seems both comfortingly familiar, as well as somewhat uncomfortably foreign.  I suspect we’ll make the transition to normalcy in a few days.

Check-in message from Crossroads BLM CG Parker Strip CA

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Longitude:-114.21555
GPS location Date/Time:03/14/2011 13:42:40 PDT
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Check-in message from La Paz Co. Park Parker Strip AZ

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Bob and Cathryn

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Movin’ North

Thursday morning we left the beach at Playa Requeson and moved north to Ray’s Hacienda de Habana in Mulege, a place we also stayed on the way south in January. We spent the day washing the rig, then at 5pm were joined by Doug and Jill who’d driven all the way up from Los Barriles.

We got together for cocktail hour and caught up on events of the last 10 days, then went to Ray’s restaurant for another of his incredible meals. They’ve got to be the “Best of Baja”.

Friday morning the four of us got an early start, driving north 315 miles to Catavina, a big travel day for us.  We had cervezas, split up for dinner, then reconvened for a bonfire where we swapped more stories.

Saturday morning we took a hike into the hills and rocks for which Catavina is famous. 

The cactus were beautiful in the morning light.

We even spotted a hummingbird sitting on its’ nest, a unique experience for us.

Lua, Doug and Jill's black German Shepherd, has been a wonderful and well-behaved companion on our trip this year; Cathryn is threating to steal her.  Bob is happy to have her along, but not keen to add a new member to our family.

Where is Ralph?

We’ve written before about there being “only one road”, referring to the fact that to travel the 1000-mile-long Baja Peninsula, everyone spends a lot of time on Mex 1, the only highway to run the full distance north to south. As a result, almost everyone who travels the Baja has some shared experiences.  One of these is staying at Rancho Santa Inez in Catavina where we camped last night.

When we traveled the peninsula in 2009 and stayed here, we posted about Ralph, an unusual gringo living up the canyon from Rancho Santa Inez in an off-grid house (see that post HERE.  Ralph was known by essentially everyone we met in Baja who ever stayed at Rancho Santa Inez for his habit of driving through the campground multiple times daily to chat and share his knowledge of the Catavina area.

On this stop, no Ralph! What does that mean? Could this iconic part of Baja have moved on, become ill, died? We may never know.  But we sort of miss him in a weird way.

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Really??? “Enough”, says Bob

Cathryn never thought the day would come when Bob would say “Enough”.  But it happened today as we sat on the beach at Playa Requeson drinking coffee in our pajamas and watching the sun rise.   As always, we discussed “What shall we do today?”  Though we’d already planned to leave Requeson and head north, in the spirit of plans cast in jello, not concrete, Cathryn inquired whether Bob was sure he was ready to depart.  He replied “After two months on various beaches, I think even I have had enough.”  WHAT??? Cathryn thought. She had no idea there was any such thing as “enough time on a beach” for Bob to be satiated and ready to move to non-beach locales.  Goes to show that even after almost 27 years together, there can still be surprises.

Our Favorite Beach (?)

We keep saying that. But if physical beauty is your only criteria, Requeson, on the Bahia Concepcion, is our favorite beach:  a small white sand spit, which at low tide is connected to a small island edged by mangroves.

Today, like last year about this same time, we’ve lucked out and gotten a site at the end of the spit with good separation from other campers.  When we came through here in January, the place was full and so we passed it by.

When we arrived there was a moderate breeze, but it calmed  by 5pm.  We had a glass of wine on the beach, then cooked burgers outside and ate them gazing at the Sea of Cortez. All our Canadian travel buddies are elsewhere.

As the sun set, Bob built a fire and we spent a couple hours talking and just staring at the fire, then the embers. Could it get any better than this?

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GPS location Date/Time:03/06/2011 11:57:27 PST

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Hike in the Hills

We set off with Greg and Debbi for a hike up Hart Trail this morning.  We parked near Puerto Escondido a mile from our campsite, walked to Rattlesnake Beach a short distance away, then began the steep ascent up a rocky trail to the top of the hill.

The views of the Sea to the south . . .

and of Puerto Escondido, the port marina to the north, were gorgeous and gave us a different perspective of the terrain. (We covered the development history of this typical Mexican “good idea” in the post HERE)

Descending the other side of the hill, Debbi took us on a tour through the palapa-style village of 75 or so gringo homes in the development attached to Tripui Hotel that we had heard about but had never seen. It’s the neatest and tidiest palapa village we’ve ever seen, and owners have full use of the hotel facilities including the swimming pool, internet, restaurant and close-by access to the marina and a place to keep a boat.  If only it were on the beach, maybe we’d be tempted. Mostly we’ve become completely clear that ownership of property, any property, in Mexico is fraught with issues, and in any case we are nomads who would rather wander from place to place than settle in one spot.

For our last night at Juncalito, we went with Greg, Debbie, Heather and Ken to “Portobello”, the lovely restaurant located at Puerto Escondido within the Port facility. Pedro and Cristina, owners of the restaurant, have become well-known acquaintances to us, as we go there for internet access many afternoons when we camp on Playa Juncalito. Pedro helps Cathryn with her Spanish and teases Bob about looking like Pancho Villa and being “muy flojo” about trying to use his bit of Spanish.

And so, our time at Juncalito has come to an end for another year or more. We said our goodbyes to Carl (the sailor) and Chris, Al and Linda, and headed north to Bahia Concepcion.

What Winter Should Be Like

Lot’s of blog post titles came to mind as we contemplated this photo. In the end, it’s just a photo depicting how we start each day in Baja. And Bob, especially, says “this is what it should be like”, even in Winter.

Slot Canyons

Today we went on a hike with Greg (of Debbie and Greg, our sometimes travel buddies from British Columbia) and Rosey, their dog. The three of us humans and one canine drove 9 miles south of Playa Juncalito on Mex 1, then turned off onto a dirt road for 4 miles until Greg told us to park the truck and begin the hike (he’d done this one previously).

We climbed a ridge above a narrow canyon which got narrower and narrower until it became what is known in these parts as a “slot canyon” – very narrow, deep, and with a periodic smattering of pools, at least this time of year before they evaporate. Occasionally the frogs in the deeper pools below were cacophonous.

Rosey shortly alerted us to the presence of 3 horned sheep (ewes) on the ridge above us. We understand there are a number of hunting camps in Baja where rich folks pay many thousands (like 35) of dollars to fly down and hunt for these animals. At Agua Verde, where we kayaked yesterday, there was a Sheep Hunting Camp on the beach.

Then we saw a falcon rise from the rocks with a small rabbit in its’ talons and perch on a ledge to eat lunch. Halfway through lunch, it took flight and left the remainder of the rabbit, perhaps to return for dinner later?

We dropped off the ridge into the slot canyon after reaching a point beyond the deep pool where we’d have had to swim in order to continue if we’d stayed below, then continued up the animal track at the bottom of the canyon. In the shade of the canyon walls, we found palm trees, sweet smelling flowering plants, and more beautiful pools of water.

We had lunch on a rock, and returned on our path back to the truck.  It was a hot day (84), but sufficiently cool in the shadows of the canyon, and with an occasional breeze.

 

An afternoon nap, followed by cocktail hour with Greg and Debbie, then fish tacos for dinner (courtesy of the Cabrillo fish we bought at Agua Verde yesterday) wrapped up another day in the Baja.

Agua Verde

You already know that means “Green Water”, right? And there’s a town in Arizona full of retirees by that name? And another on the flanks of Mt. Rainier, a couple hours from our home. This Agua Verde is different.

This morning we loaded our kayak on top of  the pickup truck, and Greg and Debbi (our sometimes travel buddies from British Columbia who we met through Doug and Jill) loaded their two kayaks on top of their Suzuki, and their dog Rosey in the back seat.  We headed south on Mex 1 for 21 miles, then turned east on a dirt road. We made this same trip two years ago in our Toyota Rav4 (see link HERE). 

The dirt road to the village of Agua Verde is 35 kilometers, often only one lane wide, and its’ condition varies from “not bad” (on which we drove about 25 mph) to “pretty rough” (which we drove about 10mph) to the last 100 meters down the hill to the beach, before which we got out of our truck, consulted with Greg who was following us to get his opinion on whether we’d REALLY be able to get back up the hill if we were brave enough to venture down; he said “Yes” so we went for it. Nonetheless, on the whole we found the road to be in somewhat better condition than two years ago.

The day was gorgeous.  Sunny, blue sky, a light breeze and eventually 84 degrees. There were tiny waves and a bit of a swell. Greg, Debbi and Rosey kayaked to a remote beach across the bay, while we circumnavigated a small, rocky island offshore, then poked along the water’s edge back to the beach where our truck, beach chairs, books and a beer awaited our return. 

Agua Verde is a tiny, very remote fishing village on the Sea of Cortez.  Perhaps 100 people live there, and only very rarely does a camper make its’ way down the rough road to stay longer than a day. We wouldn’t do it with our Arctic Fox.  It’s so beautiful that one of the few enlarged travel photos we have hanging on the wall of our family room at home is of the beach and hills of Agua Verde.

At 3:00, just as we were packing up to leave, a panga (Mexican fishing boat) pulled into shore and sold Cathryn a Cabrillo – delicious, white fish. She bought the whole fish after the panga owner agreed to clean and filet it for her.  Then two shrimp boats came into the bay, but since they were too big to come to shore, and we had already loaded up the kayaks, we missed the chance to buy just-caught shrimp.

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Sailing with Carl, again

Our first winter in Baja, at Playa Juncalito where we’re camped now, we parked down the beach from Carl and Chris, an American and Brit couple. We met them, liked them, and became friends. Last May on our way to Alaska, we spent a night at their great cabin in the woods near Likely, British Columbia (see link HERE). But that first winter, and again last winter, we went sailing with Carl. As a retirement gift to himself, a month before we met him, he bought a 27-foot sailboat and towed it behind their motorhome to Playa Juncalito where they camp 5 months each winter.

Today Carl wandered by our campsite announcing plans to sail in the afternoon and wondering if we’d like to go along. Bob has been fighting a cold that has taxed his energy for 4 days and wanted to keep the afternoon available for a nap, but Cathryn jumped at the chance, and off they went.

Carl and Cathryn spent 4 hours tacking between the Baja mainland and outlying islands, entering Honeymoon Bay to check out the sailboats anchored there and a group of half a dozen kayaks camped on the beach, chasing whale blows to get close to two whales (unidentifiable to us as to type), and circumnavigating the small island a bit offshore from Playa Juncalito where we’re camped (and Carl’s wife Chris took photos of us from shore).

Look closely at the foreground here to see the whale!

It was a warm, sunny afternoon with perfect wind, and Carl was generous in letting Cathryn share the helm. He told stories of the 5 years he and Chris sailed the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic, and explored the U.S. intracoastal waterway, in addition to his story of being shipwrecked on his first sailboat in the 1970s in the Polynesian islands, living with a tiny tribal atoll community of 11 until he was rescued two weeks later.

At 5:00 eleven beach residents including our sometimes travel buddies Greg and Debbie from British Columbia along with Carl, Chris, and 5 others gathered at our campsite for cocktail hour.  Which turned into two hours, but who’s counting?