and oranges growing in the campground before heading out again.
Lime's are very necessary to the Margarita's that Frank makes and the
oranges, well, they just looked delicious. I chatted with the owner,
Patty, for a while as Frank unhooked and got the rv ready to roll
again and then with a final wave, we were on our way further south.
The mist was eerily swooshing around everything, making the cactus
look like ghosts standing all along the road beckoning us to go their
way. There was a strange rainbow thing that had no colors but was a
distinct bow in the mist and it stretched out just like a real proper
rainbow..... it followed us for a good few miles and, yup, I got a
good few photos of it too. All along the road are fences, held up by
any sort of old crooked sticks with about 4 strands of wire stretched
between them. These fences sometimes go on for miles and miles and
other times just cover a short stretch, ending abruptly and leaving
everything behind them now open. Not that there was anything but
cactus anyway. Well, between these wire strands were the most
beautiful spiderwebs! They were huge and beautifully build and there
was absolutely no place to pull over and get any pictures....... The
weak sunshine that was able to get through the mist, lit up these webs
like lights all along the way..... There were also many birds perched
up on the very top of the tall cactus plants, some with their wings
spread wide to dry or warm themselves and others that were just teeny
tiny little things surveying their land.
I did not much enjoy the drive of the day at all. I found myself
tense and uncomfortable, even at the slow speed Frank was doing
especially for me. The roads seemed narrower, the trucks bigger and
the curves even curvier. The words "Curva Peligrosa" were there every
time I blinked - we gather that means dangerous curve, or something
equivalent judging by the curves that follow these signs. The road
eating monsters loved this part of the roads too and many times the
sides of the road just dissappeared into a black hole and a good many
times we were met with a huge tractor trailer coming around one of
those peligrosa corners - always the blind corners of course, where
you don't see the truck until it snorting right up your headlight and
my palms become instantly soggy while my heart finds its way back up
from my big toe. Frank just calmly steers around the corner with a
smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Sometimes I really do want
to kill him!
There are literally no places to pull off along the road for many many
miles and I really don't think about what would happen if we
needed...... nope - not going there. Not even here. But because of
the lack of pull off places that we could get the rv into, the doglets
had a very long stretch to wait for a p-break. Sophie came out a few
times with a deeply pleading look in her eyes and I swear her back
legs were crossed.... but they held it all in beautifully until we
finally got them out. The roads today were littered with Topes -
Serious Speed Bumps. If that is not bad enough, each tope is
announced by what feels like a mile of pre-topes...... these are
either row after row of cats eyes all across the road or simply much
smaller speed bumps - about 20 of them....... all to make sure you
slow down enough for the main one. Sophie decided that she did not
like these at all and came out of her bed each time to bark loudly and
continuously at them as everything shook and rattled and made the most
incredible sounds in the rv. Allie just sits and does her wimp thing
in her cave bed I made her, never showing her face till we stop.
It seems that when the cactus grows upwards, it sends a little round
new section out of the top - this then grows and fits in with the
section below and the process is repeated, so there are many very big
cactus plants - all fat and wide and seemingly as big as they can
grow, with almost perfect little round pieces right on the top. It
looks quite weird. We went through another military checkpoint where
one of them came in to look around, asked a few questions that we
could not understand, we gave a few answers that I am sure did not
match the questions and they waved us on our way again while shaking
their heads and saying even more that we could not understand.
And then we came into La Paz (Law-Pahs). This town has a population
of around 170 000 and I swear they were all out there to greet us!
Geez.......... this was something else after driving for miles seeing
nothing and no one. First you drive past a really impressive and huge
whale tale statue with an enormous arch over it....and then the town
happens.... There are little eateries all along the roads. These are
no more than a palm tree leaf covered shack with plastic chairs and
tables in the shade. I bet one could get anything there at all and
the smells were quite delicious. Seeing as it was Valentines Day too,
the balloons danced in the wind everywhere and at every corner at
least three people here holding roses for sale. The road through the
town was wide but, I am sure, not meant for the three lanes of traffic
that was crowded into it, and thats not counting the cars parked on
the side either! Its so full, so busy, so alive and sooooooooo - well
just incredible to drive through these towns... It's freaking
frightening too when, even in the middle of town, a four way stop is
totally ignored and one does not know whether its wiser to stop or
just keep on going through it like everyone else!
Finally we popped out of the other side, on the correct bypass road
and breathed deeply again. The little houses, or apartments, were
build all along the roads on the outer parts of town and it was really
interesting to see how they were designed. Even though they were all
built together, each place had a full height wall between them and the
neighbors giving some privacy.. Also, each house had a water storage
tank on top and many of them had their bright clothes hanging on the
lines outside to dry, which just added more color to everything.
We had decided not to head to the beaches right outside La Paz, as it
was weekend and probably busy, so we headed down to Los Barriles and a
campground that Antonio from the Misiones RV Park had recommended.
Antonio had cooked us the awesome meal the night before and she highly
recommended Playa Norte RV Haven right on the beach. And here we
are. We are not camped on the beach right now, but just one row back
from it, which nicely shelters us from the wind, which is supposed to
stop blowing tomorrow.
Yesterday and today was spent mostly walking the beach and scrounging
between the rocks, taking photos of the windsurfers and just
relaxing. We have had afternoon naps both days which is wonderful and
we have both started some serious work on our tans too! The sunshine
is simply glorious.........One lady windsurfer had a itsy bitsy teeny
weeny bright yellow bikini - over her wetsuit! It looked so funny.
Another guy had a cap on while he was surfing to keep the sun off the
back of his neck - when I looked at the photos it was an ordinary cap
like so many people wear backwards - but his was all covered in duct
tape! I got some lovely photos of them jumping the waves and some
literally flying a good 10 - 20 feet into the air doing twirls and
full acrobatic circles up there! There are not many shells here at
all and the ones we found were really small but totally beautiful -
mostly while coral and beautiful purple twirly whirly ones. There are
also gold flecks in the sand here, but not nearly as much as at la
Jolla Beach Camp outside Ensenada.
Sophie has decided that the waves need an education and she spends her
time on the beach running full tilt for the length of her lead and
then barking madly at them, even biting them if they get too close to
her. She is not shy about chasing after a retreating wave and when one
just sort of fades away into the sand, she looks at us in puzzlement -
where did it go? Allie just looks at all this with a superior look in
her eye, behaving very well and trotting daintily at Franks heels.
She really can be a prissy little thing at times!
There are the most beautiful colored bouganvilla plants everywhere,
some deeply entwined with some of the thorny trees around making them
look as if they are all blooming and pretty. We hear a million birds
in these trees, but have only seen a few, all incredibly bright yellow
and fast as lightening. The campground is not really full at all and
its lovely at night to hear the breakers meeting the sand, no dogs
barking and a lovely quiet. The stars are bright and beautiful and the
wind seems to rest at night too. I take the doglets out for a quick
walk late at night around 11pm and its pitch black outside and so
incredibly peaceful.
We took the bicycles out today to go to the little local mini-mart for
some supplies today - its not easy riding in sand at all but makes for
some interesting skidding and created a good few laughs too as we each
nearly met the sand face first. We needed to take the bicycles so
that we could easily get our supplies back home....eggs, beer etc.....
One of the things we were looking for was flour, but not knowing what
its called or how its packaged I decided to do a bunch of sign
language with what we thought was flour and a loaf of bread. Oh boy -
another Mexican that absolutely knows that I am certifiably insane!
Eventually we agreed that the package of what I had was good to make
tortillas with. yeah! Tortillas need flour right? So we bought it,
brought it home and wanted to make some pan bread. It was lard!
Well, it felt like flour in a tightly sealed bag. Sigh. No pan bread
and the lard hit the trash can in record time. We ate nuts for supper
instead.
So another day is over and yet another one looms promisingly ahead. I
will put some more photos up tomorrow again.
love and light
Annie
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