t - Boulder fields and sandy beaches

What a day!  We left Guerrero Negro early this morning, passing the hummers camped next to us that evidently had issues as there were at least three human behinds sticking up in the air as the mechanics tried to fix stuff gone wrong.  Boy those guys had loads of camping stuff on the roofs! We soon came to the border between Baja Sur and Baja Norte -this being the agricultural check where we had to give up most of our fruit.  So we stopped and waited, and waited.  And then - well, we waited some more.  They guy in the office did not even look up or wave us on or anything so we slowly pulled away, half expecting a bunch of camoflauged  people to rush out and make us come back. But no - our fruit was safe - even the guavas!  Wow - that was an early morning bonus  :)

The scenery here was much different from before, all small and scrubby stuff - made me think that ostriches would do well here.  There were a good few Osprey nests with these gorgeous birds sitting in them and I got some pictures of those as we slowly ambled up the road.  There really is no place to pull of and stop to get these photos while standing still, so I take about 10 at a time, hoping to catch at least one that is useable.  And then the Joshua trees and the sisal trees and the cactus arrived again.... The Sisal trees are all beautifully lit up at the top with bright yellow and the cactus... well - this is how I saw them......

The cactus fields here are like a community of people.... some big, some small, some short and some tall.  Some thin, some thick, some standing proud and straight and others leaning precariously.  Some being held up by others,  some tired and bent over touching the ground while another stood straight as an arrow right next to it.  Some cactus had their arms spread wide while others held theirs closely by their sides, some were just newly budding while others where ancient and old and have been around many moons.  All of these were mixed together - different sizes, different types, different shades of green - yet all working together making one beautiful scenery and oh so similar to a human community.  This is the Sonoran Desert Vegetation Region and its littered with strange Boojam trees. There are many different types of cactus here and many of them are starting to flower and have a haze of red about them - the barrel cactus is especially pretty.  Those very big, fat and tall cactus have a fleshy outside and we see that there is a core piece of wood that often stands straight up even after the rest of the plant has died and fallen away. Many places are decorated with this cactus wood - its gorgeous with holes all around it.

The boulder fields are just amazing.... there are huge bolders littered everywhere with every type of cactus growing in amongst them.  There is no real way to describe this, except that it seems to be from a different world.  The green of the cactus stands out clearly from the color of the boulders.......  These are humongeous boulders, not just rocks.  Its a very strange area to drive through, totally fascinating and very very unforgiving.  There is a campground right behind these boulder fields and we had planned on staying there, but once we saw it, decided to move right on down the road.  There were no cactus really close and also no other campers there - it just felt like a lonely place to stay.

Since we were through here on the way south, everything has 'greened up'.  There is this awesomely beautiful haze of green, gently shimmering between everything.   The road wound its way around the remote feeling hills here in a really lovely way.  I think I am almost cured of NRS (narrow road syndrome) by now.... almost.....  I found the drive today really great - even though Frank said that the trucks today 'had his attention' as they seemed to hug the middle line more than further south.  A good many times we passed road signs that had been planted literally a foot apart from each other, one right behind the first.  Sometimes the signs said the same thing, but not always.  Its as if someone were given a road sign and told to go and put it up - with no plan or particular place pointed out.  There are many signs warning of cows on the road and today one had a coyote painted on top of the cow picture as if it was being pounced on and another had a ufo painted above the cow..... interesting what people do. I will put those photos up on the site soon too.

This stretch of road is one that has no gas stations for around 200 miles and all along the way are hand-painted signs "Gasolina" are found resting against patched together buildings or pickup trucks that have small containers of gas to sell.   There is no price written on there, but if you need gas here - no price is too high!  This stretch also seems to have more than its fair share of little eateries along the way - all with tables and chairs and tablecloths and eager cooks.  The road is now lined with green grass looking stuff along with purple, orange and yellow flowers - really pretty.  And we noticed a strange stripe in the sky too - it stayed there for a good while and was rather strange..... just a light grey stripe from way up high towards the ground - got photos of that too.

And there, along side the road, stood what looked like a tree stump, standing straight up, surrounded by a wall built from small boulders and a sign that we could not read.  Looking at the photos it does not look like a petrified tree but I would love to look it up and see what that was all about.  There is so much going on here, but they don't supply the places to stop a rig like this so that we can go and see, so often we pass by a place, wondering what we could have discovered there.  There are many, many miles between places that we can stop along the roadside and we have all had to cross our legs for a good long distance before being able to stop and either see something alongside the road  or use the bathroom.  Well, for me its easy - I can get up and go while Frank is driving - but then who would watch the road?  Just kidding.  It's am uncomfortable feeling sitting on 'the loo' while bouncing around such narrow roads, so I tend to wait till we have stopped.

We wafted over yet another hill today, only to be met with a bunch of Federales!  We both caught our breath as there were about 7 car loads of them parked on either side of the road - but they just looked at us as we cruised on by, not making any effort to get our attention or make us stop.  Normally if there is an inspection point, one is warned well ahead of time, so it was rather unexpected to see them all there.  We also passed three other vehicles manned with machine guns today - none threatening at all, just there....  And then we had to stop at some roadworks....... the hill was rather steep and when Frank pulled on up the hill when they waved us on, one of the drawers filled with stuff above our heads came out and I caught it with my head.  One really does see stars when that happens!  I am just glad it did not do that while we were screaming around a corner with a truck approaching!  Anyway - all the contents spread themselves all over the place, sending Sophie yipping back under the table.  That drawer is now back in place - duct taped so firmly that I am not sure it will open without a blowtorch!

And so we headed back towards the Pacific coast, putting in gas again at El Rosario before heading up along the coastline.  It's good to see the ocean again and tonight we are parked right next to the beach with the surf pounding away at the El Pebellon Campground.  The wind was blowing so hard when we arrived that only I braved the walk to the beach as the sheets of sand swirled around everything.  We watched the sand blowing outside the windows in huge clumps and had to keep everything closed to keep most of it out.  Still, there is a sheen of sand everywhere and every time we put something down and when I move the mouse of the computer, its got that crunchy, gravelly sound.  Frank has been great on this trip, not being too bugged by the incredible amount of sand and dust around, but he has said that one of the first things we will find when back in the USA is a carwash!

So with the sound of the surf, now only a gentle wind left, pitch black outside apart from a sliver of the moon and the twinkly stars I am heading for bed.  I loaded a good many photos last night and will do more when we get another internet connection that can handle photos again.

love and light
Annie
http://photobucket.com/BajaBaggs09