cold sand near the waters edge. Frank had told me that the sun was
rising, I got dressed, grabbed the camera and headed down here
again.........and then woke up. I had even forgotten to put my
glasses on and after a quick check was happy that I was fully
dressed! And I captured yet another perfect sunrise.........Many of
the photos have that magical circle right around the sun and also that
moulten "I am still forming into a ball" effect of the sun trying to
break free from the horizon while it threw the most beautiful colors
of orange, pink, silver, gold and yellow into the sky and on the
ripples of the water all the way to my feet. There is a little boat
anchored right offshore which made for a wonderful prop and the paddle-
man arrived again and added to the scene. The rays were jumping this
morning, creating golden flecks as their splashing ruffled the almost
perfectly still waters... Just glorious!
And so we packed up and left Los Barriles........ It was time for us
to move on again and we had planned a long drive today - all the way
around the point of Baja, passing through Cabo San Lucas and up to a
campground on the Pacific coast. On the way we went over the Tropic
of Cancer and there is a monument. Unfortunately I did not think that
we were that close already and we were whizzing by the monument before
realizing it! No turn around places at all created a bit of a
disappointment, but I did nab two photos as we screamed by at
40mph.......... The monument is simply a big round rock/globe painted
white that sits behind a fence that looks like its all done up with
different color tinsel, like one uses on a Christmas tree. It's right
on the ground and there was no way we could have got close to it for a
pic anyway, so ........
The views today were almost bland after the blue waters, or is it that
we are just getting used to cactus and mountains and desert? The
cactus now have the buds almost all ready to flower - should be just a
day or two and they will be in bloom. There are untold numbers of
pickup trucks (bakkies) parked at the side of the road selling
delicious looking oranges and naartjies. We have some and will have
to part with whatever we have in excess when we head into Baja North
again, so there is little point in buying any - great pity! The road
leads inland and we left the Sea of Cortez behind almost
immediately.... The traffic also increased dramatically and in the
towns surrounding Cabo San Lucas, we were treated to the most
incredible driving I have ever experienced. Red lights and stop
streets literally don't count for anything, and when we stopped we
were herded on by multiple horns honking - there are no lines or dots
or anything marking lanes and many times someone would just edge in
next to another car, creating a three lane road where only two lanes
belonged, at a push! And if someone had stopped at a store along the
road and needed back in the traffic flow - no problemo! Just
reverse! Yes, into the traffic! It was quite amazing and an
education in driving too - there were no wrecks, very little horn
honking and no fingers out of the windows either.... Everyone just
adjusted to whatever anyone was doing around them, no matter what it
was. Accepted chaos? It got us laughing almost all the way through
these towns.
Cabo San Lucas is a typical tourist place. Big money, big hotels,
lots of development and a huge cruise ship sitting in the bay right in
the middle of it all. They have done an incredibly beautiful job with
all the bouganvilla plants everywhere, creating splashes and designs
of color all through the town..... its lovely. And the walls they
build - there is some really lovely work done with those. One thing
that surprised us there is that there is still so much development
going on. I mean that its not been done before now. It's obviously a
place that not too long ago was kinda smallish but has now been fully
discovered. This is sad in a way as many of the hotels and buildings
going up are going to totally block the ocean view. Progress? One
thing I do love about it here is that the beaches are totally public -
all of them. No one is allowed to block access to any beach. I wish
America was like that too....
While driving through Cabo, one notices that there is a strong traffic
police presence and we also came across two truck loads of militia all
in black uniform, holding on to their really big guns while sitting in
the back of the trucks as they sped through town. There were about 5
in each truck, all facing a different way and I have to say that they
were quite impressive. We did not want to tangle with them at all,
but I did sneak a photo or three......
And then we missed a turn to get out of Cabo San Lucas and ended up on
tiny back roads that were lined with the most interesting little
stores and houses and people and color and electric wires going
everywhere and cobbled roads and brightly colored clothing and broken
houses still being lived in and stores with no roofs and little
eateries everywhere and hills that the rv screamed to get up
and............. it was awesome! This was really a place that we
could have stopped and walked around in, but no parking anywhere!
Well, there was, but that would be doing what so many others were
doing and that is double parking just anywhere they needed to
stop.... The roads were even named with signposts at the corners of
each one, but the dust was so thick that there was no way to read them
at all. Brooms are a very well used item here and many were whisking
the sidewalks all up and down the roads... a never-ending job, it
seems. I wonder how all the color and vibrancy still stands out so
clearly in all the dust? That little drive was one of the highlights
of my day :)
And then we popped out onto the right road again and soon were greeted
by the Pacific ocean. The 'real' ocean always makes me breathe
deeper, brings a sort of quiet to my soul and makes me want to just
sit and listen to that never-ending pounding of the waves. So many
things change in life, but not the waves, they just keep on coming.
And it looks as if everything along this coast is for sale..... there
are huge gates held up by very decorative wall posts and then nothing
- this, we have learned, is the precursor to some or other major
development. In many places there is simply a wall built. A pretty
wall, but nothing else. And the for sale signs dot the landscape. We
can just imagine what this is all going to look like in another 10
years or so.
The road up this section is not really close to the ocean so I spent
my time squinting across Frank's nose to try and see those waves and
on one stretch we even saw whales blowing....and then the hills hid
them again. What we could see looked absolutely heavenly! The blue
waters, edged by huge white breakers, rocky coastlines in places, wide
white beaches and we had to look through enormous cactus to see it all
- really incredible scenery.
And.............. no wait - this email is getting waaay too long. I
have to laugh when some of you write and say that you have been
reading my 'books'.....:) So I will carry on in the next one.....
love and light
Annie
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