seen so far. You know those pictures one gets where you have to look
for all different things and at first you don't see them but if you
look in a different way, there are so many other things going on in
the picture that you dont see at first? Well, this is what its like
here. It's not like you just drive past some houses or through a town
and thats that - there are so many different things happening around
what first catches my attention. Driving down the Mex 1 highway is
really an incredible experience..... the telephone poles have
straightened out now and march for miles in an almost militant way
down the road in start contrast to everything else that seem to create
their own angles. The paved road leads the way on south, but life
really happens on the side of this road - the brightly colored and
busily signposted businesses are set back a good way from the road,
allowing for another dusty double lane for real life here in the
towns. The cars scream down these sandy sidewalks, stopping in front
of the different stores as needed without impeding the main road
traffic at all. We saw many people out with brooms and rakes,
smoothing, sweeping and raking the sandy spots in front of their
stores. There is almost no trash around these areas which is quite
incredible. Its just so awesomely filled with character, color and so
much happening!
There are fruit stands everywhere, little arches you walk under into a
vege stand, others ride three wheel cycles with huge baskets on the
front selling their wares, and others have the hugs stacks of empty
cans, paper and other stuff on the back of theirs, obviously on the
way to a recycle place..... these also all trundle down the dusty
sides of the road. It seems to be one long line of little stores in
each town - as long as a block without a gap between places. They are
all totally differently painted, decorated and signed and go on for
miles and miles, only broken up by yet another dusty road leading away
from the main road and holding its own fascinating buildings and
peoples. During the day today, I tried to find a way to describe this
all, but nothing really came to mind, so you will just have to wait
for the photos.... It really is something that we are both enjoying
and we have not at any point felt unsafe at all. The people are
friendly, keen to talk, eager to try to understand our flailing sign
language and wave enthusiastically, even the Militia.
The road out from the last campground, La Jolla at La Bufodora, to
here was interesting, to say the least. The speed bumps (topes)
became more and more interesting with smaller ones leading up to the
main bump. They place them closer and closer to each other and there
is no doubt at all that slowing down to around 5mph is a really great
idea. Then a good sigh of relief arrives as we oomph over the main
Tope and onto smoother road again. The road is very narrow with no
shoulder at all in most places. Where there is shoulder wide enough,
there are multiple little palapas, like little coconut leave covered
stands, where almost everything is sold....... mostly fruit, but we
have seen birds, wine that I think would possibly not be very wise to
try and brightly colored clothes and many many very touristy things.
Soon after we got back onto the Mex 1 South (the campground was on a
side road) we came to the first military checkpoint. We had heard so
many scary things about these and were really not sure at all what to
expect although we really were not worried at all. We had to drive
off the road onto the sandy side where a guard stopped us and asked
where we were going - told him that we were headed all the way south,
he clapped his hands and waved us on. And that was it. Well, there
were a good few of them around there, with serious guns and lots of
ammo, but they did not even look inside or ask us for any papers. We
had also heard that its pretty scary when the big trucks come
screaming up the road, but we found that they stayed very much on
their side of the road - it was the cars that screamed around us and
crowded us badly at times.
And then it was time to go up and over the mountains.... I wish I
could see what they were called, but my map does not show me. We did
not see much of the coastline at all during the drive down, but the
mountains were beautiful. They are not huge like the Rockies at all,
just incredibly green with houses and cactus farms dotted all over.
Yup - they farm cactus here and there are huge areas where you can see
what looks like one big, flat cactus branch (not sure how else to
describe it, but its almost round) is planted and grow into full
plants from there on. I bet they eat it here and we have decided to
definitely give it a try sometime soon.
There are little towns dotted all along the road and they all seem to
be a shudderingly poor as the previous one..... the houses are patched
with anything that works, some don't have doors or windows but there
is the ever present satelite dish perched on top, held down by
blocks. No grass, but the hills all around are colored with all
different shades of green. Cactus grow wild everywhere and this would
not be a good place for a midnight, moonlight stroll at all!
The towns have power lines running in all directions and many times
they just seem to be draped higgeldy piggeldy without any official
direction. Even the poorest looking shack is painted in some color
and most towns have a great selection of Cafe's with very old, very
dusty chairs parked outside, just waiting for someone to fill them.
It's so incredibly fascinating and in many ways sad but so culturally
and visually rich.
At La Jolla campground we got chatting to another couple who were
heading north after a few weeks down here and they told us to watch
for the numbers on the Pemex gas (petrol) stations. Pemex is the only
gas station here and they are all numbered, which makes following
directions much easier. Come to think of it, I have not seen a road
name here yet - only Mex 1. I am going to look for that when we
leave here tomorrow. Anyway, we soon found the road leading to the
campground we wanted to go to.... again, on the advice of these north-
heading people and also after checking in the amazing Baja Camping
guide by Mike and Terry Church. Boy has this book got tons of info
and directions. I use both this book and the Moon Baja Camping guide
and would not know where to go without them! Asking directions with a
language barrier is not working too well - next time we are here I
will be able to understand more - I have promised myself this!
So we turned of the Mex 1, headed down this narrow little road that
was like a tunnel with the huge trees meeting each other overhead and
found the campground almost at the end of it. There are about 7 spots
here and when I went in to pay for out site I asked whether there is
power on the sites. The answer was "maybe", with a shrug and a
twinkle in her eye. Our site had none, but the people two over to
both the left and right of us had power, but only from 2.30pm to
around 10pm when the restaurant had their generators going..... So
last night we did without and it was lovely. We went for supper at
their restaurant which was lovely. Mike and Karen, the couple we met
in the USA campground were also here so we joined up and had dinner
together which was really good. We were serenaded by three guys
playing the guitar, accordion and a huge base guitar? I know what it
was, just cant think of its proper name now..but it was one of those
instruments that rested on the floor, had 5 thick strings and reached
over the kids head that was playing it.
And I had my very first Margarita! Oh my......I can see that we are
going to have to find a recipe and some glasses before we head back
into the USA! We started with ordering a typical Mexican meal with
burritos and other things I cannot spell, and some coffee to warm
up. Well, let me tell you about the showers here and why we needed
to warm up. The shower stall was huge with the shower 'head' way up
high. When turned on, it was a spout of water almost as thick as my
little finger and it did not get past warm. There was a half door
into the block building, but no door on the shower stall which was,
thankfully, placed around the corner. The window had been broken many
many moons ago and someone had tried to put some cardboard in front of
it.... not very successfully. But we really needed a shower! Frank
went to his side and was very quiet, so I knew that he was dealing
with about the same as what I had. The building was also not fully
closed in, the walls and roof did not meet and I could see the birds
flying by as I washed at super-speed. It was cold in there. So thats
why we started with coffee.
Karen, our friend who joined us, ordered a tequila margarita and it
looked so ......... well, exotic in the huge (I mean Huge!) glass with
salt all around it. Now I know that all my kids have had these before
and they are probably laughing at me now, and with this in mind I just
had to order one! Oh boy. Frank tasted mine, his eyes lit up too,
and soon he ordered another and two straws were quickly stuck in that
one, both of us happily supping away with big smiles. Dinner was
delishous, drinks were awesome, the company was great and we had two
very excited doglets to greet us when we got home. An awesome end to
a wonderful day. The meal and two margaritas cost a total of $26 for
both Frank and I together.... the campground cost is $5 per night.
Now to back up a bit - I know, this is getting loooong.... but.... Of
course we had to take a beach walk as well when we arrived yesterday,
and so down the road we trudged, doglets happily trotting next to us.
It was about a quarter of a mile down a packed down dirt road, across
a barren and very open and exposed area of what looked like flattened
dunes, then over the proper sand dunes and the sand dollar studded
beach stretched endlessly and emptily to both the left and right. The
waves crashed on the shore and an absolutely awesome quiet arrived.
Not a silence, but a soul filling quiet - one that almost makes tears
come to one's eyes and breathing easier and deeper and it was funny
how so many people flashed through my mind while just standing and
looking over the Pacific Ocean. Awesome. So we walked, at first
picking up the sand dollars but quickly realizing that there was
little point as the rv could not haul all I picked up! The sand was
also flecked with gold here, not as thickly as before, but the shells
lay unbroken in the sand all studded with gold glitter. The water was
not too cold and even the doglets played in it some. At one time a
biggish wave came in and literally floated them both back to
shore.....now we have 'salty dogs' too. They did not seem to mind
too much, but Sophie decided to bark at every wave from then on. We
let them run loose for a while, Allie listens, but Sophie was another
story and quickly got leashed again.
Our friends left here this morning, heading to Bahia Los Angeles where
we will be headed tomorrow (Saturday). This town sits on the Sea of
Cortez and is apparently absolutely beautiful. We are aiming for a
campground right on the beach where there is beautiful blue water,
lots of sunshine, whale tours and ........well, it looks simply
stunning. We will be driving on the TransPeninsula Highway which
will take us from the West coast to the East cost of Baja. So we
waved them goodbye until we meet up again, possibly in Guerro Negro in
a few days time, and headed out on a beach bicycle ride. We decided
to take the doglets with us again even though it was pretty overcast.
They got cold and spent most of the time riding in their baskets on
our handlebars. We had been told that there were many whale sightings
at a point on the beach about 7 miles up. We can do that! So off we
headed, water, snacks and camera.
We saw the whales but they were pretty far out and we could just see
them playing in the distance. I did not have my big camera with me,
so any pictures I got, well - I will have to tell people what they are
looking at - its not obvious at all. But we saw them cavorting behind
the breakers, there seemed to be a good few of them. And we saw a sea
lion with its head sticking out of the water, just watching us. Every
time I took a step closer, it sank down and re-surfaced a bit further
away. We were definitely being watched though - it was kinda
cute.... I wonder if it went home and told the kids of the wildlife
it saw today??
And then we noticed the clouds building - fast - and realized that we
were a long way from home and probably going to get wet, so we hopped
back on the bikes and pedaled like heck. We are obviously not fit at
all and quickly became saddle sore too. We saw vulture like birds on
the carcass of a sea lion and another on a huge squid up in the dunes,
we rode over countless sand dollars and watched as the whales blew,
all the time watching the clouds getting darker and darker and very
grateful for the wind that was helping us home. Doglets were now
covered up with a blanket each, huddled shivering in their baskets -
totally friggin spoiled! Sophie did not mind running alongside, but
kept trying to catch my front wheel while barking loudly - very
irritating, so she got to ride instead.
We rode and walked, endlessly it seemed. There was absolutely no one
else along the beach at all, and then suddenly there was a car -
parked with its nose pointed towards the waves and a little way ahead
of us. As we came closer we saw three, then five people milling
around it. Hmmmm. I have to admit to being a tad nervous at this
point, but not badly. We admitted that maybe we needed
to ...........what? Not beach walk? Anyway, we decided to be riding
rather than walking, as we passed them by, just in case.. but all was
ok. We were met with enthusiastic waves and shouts of "Hola!", which
means hello, and none of them made any move towards us at all.... By
the time we passed the third vehicle along the way, we were totally
comfortable again. Obviously they were all coming out for low tide
and crabbing and as the tide got lower, the beach became a racetrack
of cars screaming along to get to their favorite place to find crab.
The military also patrolled the beach in a hummer loaded with guys in
uniform in the back and scarves tied around their mouths. Again we
were met with happy 'hola's" and wide smiles. I could almost hear
their "stupid tourist" remarks. Ah well. They passed us again when we
finally got back on the right path to the campground after getting a
little lost in the sand dunes. We definitely plan to stay on the
right side of them. At all times.
After the long and lovely walk/ride today, and loaded with sand
dollars for the grandchillens and not getting too wet, we made a
sandwich and headed for the soft bed and an afternoon snooze with a
good start to a lovely tan and seriously aching legs and butts. We
had moved our campsite earlier and have power for tonight which is
good as its still a tad chilly and the accessory battery on the rv was
low and needed charging as well, as do the camera batteries. I can
hear the waves pounding the shore from here and am now going to wrap
it up and head for bed. There is so much more to talk about, but each
day would be a full book if I tried to tell it all.....
So far this country is a whole lot more awesome than I ever thought
possible. We are seriously loving it. Tomorrow we are on the way to
the Sea of Cortez - even the sound of it just sounds totally
unbelievable.... We still have not been able to wipe the smiles off
our faces..
love and light
Annie
1 comment:
Wow, you saw whales already. This is wonderful reading about everything. Glad you are smiling and soaking in everything!
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