q - Whales Galore!

The road from the campground in San Ignacio to the lagoon -Laguna San
Ignacia, inside the Bahai de Ballenas, was 65 km of one hellava
rollercoaster ride........ We started off by being greeted by Carlos
who could speak as much English as we can speak Spanish. Out came the
milk crate to help us up into the van and off we went......Within the
first 2 miles I was convinced that at least one wheel was going to
come off and maybe even the roof! That thing rattled and shook and
hiccuped and danced over boulders the size of cars! Well, almost.
Carlos swooshed that van down roads that don't deserve that name. At
times we screamed over blind hills and were going sideways like a crab
around the corners as the sand grabbed the back wheels and we slid on
around... It was incredible. The grader had obviously not been there
for a good while and in places where the road got too bad, another
road was created on the side of it! A simple and great solution when
there is so much space one can use too. One place had three roads to
choose from - he seemed to know the 'best' one to take. Funnily
enough I was totally unfreaked about this all and happily sitting in
front thinking that if he wrecks - its his vehicle! It was truly a
ride to remember - both ways! The way out of town to start this
roller coaster road is through a small lane, lined with beautiful palm
trees and campgrounds on either side, which made us drool...... then
through the small town that is lined on either side with little
tienda's selling everything one could think of, past the town square
and an incredibly beautiful Mission.....more on that later..... and
onto the road.

And so we arrived at the lagoon where there are a good few 'houses'.
These are more like shacks pasted together with anything at all - all
squiff and multicolored, paper and plastic, tin and wood..... The
brightly multicolored washing hung on the lines at almost every
place. A good few permanent places were small rv's now up on blocks
with all sorts of things gathered outside. This is the town that is
here for the people who pull out the oysters and other fishy things in
shells. There is, however, a restaurant, but we did not eat there.
We were greeted with huge smiles and lifejackets, shown to our boat
and pushed off the rocks with jaunty yells of 'see you tomorrow!'

And another totally incredible experience started. It took about 10
minutes of very fast motoring to get out of the shallow greenish
waters and into the whale area and once we got there, there was not a
moment that we did not see a whale around! We were totally surrounded
by these huge creatures, blowing and gently gliding through the water
all around us - thats quite a feeling to be so surrounded by something
so big that it could seriously ruin one's day in half a heartbeat. It
did not take long for the first whale to come up to the boat. They
actually come to the boats to rub up against them, getting the
barnacles off and also, it seems, just to be petted. The little boat
we were in was about a third of the length of these incredible
creatures and they were so amazingly gentle around the boat, even
though they did rub themselves and move the boat a little, the guide
knew just how to keep us in the right spot.

The whales would come directly towards us, then sink down, gliding
almost spookily below to come up on the other side right up against
the boat. We touched them, scratched them and I even managed to hook
a barnacle off one of them. Its difficult to get a good photo while
trying to take it all in, and awesome to see how they rolled around
right below and next to the boat. A good few times, water and spray
shot out of their very strange and elongated blowholes, just inches
from the boat - we got a few photos that even have rainbows in them.
For a good long while we had two whales, one male and one female,
playing around us, moving from the bow to the stern of our little
boat, as if to give everyone a chance to touch and scratch them. At
times they would move away from us and flick tails at each other
creating enormous splashes that got us all ducking and shielding our
cameras. They would roll up on their sides, looking at us all in the
boat and then one huge fluke would gentle rest against the boat - and
the camera's clicked in double step, especially when they blew right
next to us as well.

I don't think there is a way to describe the feeling of touching a
whale. Yes, its wet, cool and ....... not quite slimy - well, like a
fish............ but thats not all it is.... There I had my hand on
its mouth, on its fluke, stomach and back, scratching slightly and
seeing its eye, just watching.. It's a very weird and totally
wonderful feeling. It was definitely a situation where the whales had
come to see us, allowed us to get close and then when they were done -
well, they left. They were definitely in charge. I loved watching
their tales swish from side to side just under the water and kept
sending them a message "come on baby - show us some tail!" but they
never did a full "tail exposure", not close to the boat anyway.

Further away, but not too far, there were a few whales breaching,
throwing themselves into the air and making this ginormous splash as
they crash landed back into the water. All around us were whales
spouting and arching their huge bodies out of the water, just enough
to get the cameras clicking again. Anytime someone of the boat
pointed out a whale, four others were pointing out eight others -
truly amazing..... While looking for the whales initially and
navigating around them, we could hardly hear the engine of the boat,
so when the guide revved it up a bit, pointed its nose back to the
shoreline and picked up speed we were all almost disbelieving that 3
hours had passed by and very disappointed!

Its as if we had been honored by these creatures, they came to us
willingly and allowed us to see and pet them..... I have to admit to
being totally in awe of them and very grateful and thankful that they
visited.... On the way back to the shore, we had to slow down a good
many times to let some whales go past the bow and we did stop a few
times to watch other breaching whales - but it was definitely over and
I was grinning from ear to ear all the way to dry land.

There was not a single moment when I was concerned, worried or
scared........ I would just have been terribly sad if the boat had
tipped and I had lost all those photos!

And so we got back to dry land and the ride back to the rv. It was
difficult having virtually no way to communicate with Carlos and the
drive was and hour and a half each way through some fascinating
scenery.....so much hand language was used, sounds and ......... well,
it was rather like a game of charades when neither side knew if the
other person got the answer. We managed to understand some questions
and answers and I will never visit another country without first
knowing at least the very basics of their language. It's just wrong
and I know we missed out on SO much not being able to talk to Carlos.
There were some little villages along the way and its quite scary to
see where some people live...... no water, no electricity, a road that
is a vehicle eater, endless dust and nothing for miles and miles
around. We could see three volcano's and the lava that had spewed
from them in years past, there were dry arroyos all over, strange and
huge cactus and places where there were puddles of salt, all
crystalized around the edges with the most incredible blue and green
coloring in the middle. So many questions burbled to my tongue, but
most would have been impossible for Carlos to understand what I was
asking, so I did not.

And then we popped back into the town with our brains still jiggling
around in our skulls and our rear ends able to spend more time on the
seat than in the air. I had managed to ask Carlos to stop at the
church/mission, in the town. I really needed to see one of these and
well, Bea had put in so many requests on even the angle of the photos
of a church for her and here was an opportunity not to be missed! See
what I do for you, Bea! :) So we stopped at the very impressive
Jesuit Mision de San Ignacio de Kadakaaman, a well preserved and
totally beautiful church made in 1786 of lava rock. All the doors
were wide open and the inside was simply stunning! even up on the
roof......... Outside in the yard grew orange and lime trees and
there were the smallest of steps up on the side of the building that
led to a huge wooden hand carved door...... Ah, it was a a beautiful
place to be, beautiful and awesome in a way different from the whales
- just as deep but in a different way. Just amazing. I have posted a
few photos of it under the whale watching heading - its impossible to
verbally describe this place.

And so we landed back at the rv, doglets happy to see us, Carlos happy
with his days earnings and us thrilled at an incredible day. I shoved
in the camera cards to download the photos and discovered that between
us, the whales, the drive and the Mission - we had taken 1555
photographs! aaaaaaarrrrrgggghh. How does one begin to find the good
ones out of that bunch? Frank had my 10 megapix camera and I could
not help but grin when I heard him clicking away all day long.. he
got some really good photos!

We measured our lengths on the bed for an hour or two while the photos
loaded and then headed back to the hotel for supper. We had noticed
two pots on the counter the night before and tonight they told us they
would sell them for $20 each... Sold! So now we have two lovely pots
stowed away on board as well. We had an early night, especially as
the internet connection did not reach the rv very well and it had been
one seriously beautiful day.

Oh - I have loaded a good few albums of photos yesterday and today -
whales included...... And I loaded that whacky photo I was talking
about the other day... It's on the front page when you first go to
photobucket. If anyone can guess what this is - let me know :)

And on to Bahia Asuncion we went............
love and light
Annie
http://photobucket.com/BajaBaggs09