L.A. Bay and Cataviña

I woke up this morning thinking I might see if the folks in the other rig in camp were also headed north, but they left before I’d even finished my breakfast. So, about 8:30 I took off on my own for L.A. bay. I thought it would be an 84 mile drive, but that was the distance to the junction. That left another 40 miles east, but on a well-graded, newly paved road through scenic hills, ending with dramatic views of the bay. My excitement for the morning was having to stop to let a steer cross the highway!
When I got to L.A. bay, the 5 RV parks I checked out were all empty! Apparently the season is definitely ending. I hung around for a couple of hours, had some lunch, but then decided I’d rather end the day closer to home than spend the afternoon there – especially since the wind was picking up, so beach time wouldn’t be that great.
It was an easy drive back to Mexico 1 and north to Cataviña, where we had stayed March 7th and 8th. Shortly after I parked, Tom & Joanne and Cliff & Diane pulled in. So the five of us socialized for a while, until it got dark and a little chilly. It did take a walk back in the arroyo. The wild-flowers are mostly gone, but the cactus are in full bloom. (I barely survived a chance encounter with a cholla! ) Anyway, it looks like I’ll have people to travel with tomorrow. Yeah!

North to Guerrero Negro

Today was another driving day. I’d only intended to go as far as San Ignacio – maybe not even that far if I ran into someone else headed north. So I left Loreto at 8:30 and drove to Playa Santispac, in case I knew anyone there. There were 4 or 5 rigs on the beach, but no one I knew. Drove on to Villa Maria Isabel in Mulegé, where the park was empty. Later, I found the same result at El Padrino in San Ignacio. Just north of there I stopped for the second Puesto de Militar (military post) of the day, where they entered the rigs making sure I wasn’t smuggling drugs or weapons!
It was after 1 pm by now, and I was clearly going to keep traveling, so I stopped had a delicious bowl of soup – Knorr’s cream of poblana chile. I ended the day at Mario’s in Guerrero Negro, a large RV park with only one other rig in it. I’ll see if they’re going north, and I’ll also check the RV park in town. My plan for tomorrow is to drive only 85 miles, to the Bahia de Los Angeles, which is said to be one of the most beautiful spots in Baja.

North to Loreto

There is not much for the blog reader today. But since I try to journal everyday, I can tell you that I spent an hour or so downloading Skype software, only to find that the microphone on my ibook is not working! Then spent some time trying to help Sarah find out where to refill a prescription. Finally on the road around 10:30, I had an uneventful drive back to the Rivera del Mar RV Park in Loreto.
One of the eye-catching sights in Mexico are the roadside shrines. In the States, these are often a cross, adorned with flowers, usually at the site of a traffic fatality. Mexico has these, also. But often a small shrine is built, with a photo, or statue, of Mary. Although only 2 or 3 feet tall, these can be elaborate. Then there are the “over-achievers”, as shown in the photo. This one had no signage, but usually they do have a sign remembering the one who died nearby. But sometimes these are also ‘thanksgiving’ shrines, fulfillment of a promise made during a prayer like, “If I get through this, I’ll build you a shrine!”
The road today alternated between farm country and mountains. I didn’t take a farm photos, but here’s one of the Sierra Giganta just south of Loreto.

Back to La Paz

Got up, had breakfast and made my decision – to travel Mex 19 through Todos Santos on the Pacific Coast, continuing on to La Paz. A sign of the changes in Los Cabos is the new, huge, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club across the highway from Vagabundos del Mar. With rising real estate values, RV parks look to be a thing of the past in the area.
I was on the road by 9 am and pleasantly surprised by my celphone around 10:30 – Jackie was on the ground at SFO and about to be picked up by Melissa. Her layover in Mexico City was apparently a rough one. We’d been told there were sleeping rooms to rent but, if there are, she was never able to find anyone who knew of them. She had a hard time even finding someone who could direct her to United Air Lines! But she survived (of course!) this unexpected “adventure”.
I stopped in Todos Santos for to wander around, look at the Mission church, and have lunch – a sandwich in the rig – before continuing on to La Paz. The most interesting sight of the day was this crashed car with a sign inviting people to enjoy Christmas (!) with responsibility – use seatbelts, don’t speed, don’t drive drunk.
In La Paz I found Sarah, Pete, Cathy, and Jim – who I’d expected would be here, but also four other couples who had been on the rally with us. They’ve been moving south more slowly, but expect to head north in a few days. I expect to continue north tomorrow.

Los Barriles to Los Cabos

We decided to go out to breakfast this morning, at the nearby Cafe Paradise, then walked the beach for some fresh air and exercise. The mobula rays were flying again, although not as many as the previous afternoon. Back at the park mid-morning, we packed up, said our goodbyes Pat and Cindy, and headed south towards Los Cabos.
Mid-day we were in San Jose de Cabo and I wheeled the Lazy Days through the narrow streets of the centro and happened on a large almost vacant parking lot – 20 pesos for an hour, but 40 pesos for us because of our size! We parked, walked around, poked our heads into some shops offering over-priced curios and found a nice street-side cafe for our last lunch together in Baja California. It was a little touristy, but in a nice way.
Continuing south, we stopped at Villa Sirena RV Park to meet Chet and Mary, fellow Lazy Daze owners and friends of Sarah and Pete. Then on to Vagabundos del Mar, where we spotted two rigs with Baja Sí stickers while we were parking.
Jackie finished packing and we rode a local bus out to the airport. She got checked in, we shared an airport sandwich, hugged goodbye at security, and I rode the bus back to the park. Tomorrow morning I’ll have to decide which direction I go from here.

La Paz to Los Barriles

It is only 2 hours to Los Barriles, so we had a leisurely morning and got underway around 10:30. By mid-day we were passing through the town of El Triunfo, a former gold and silver mining center that now seems like something of a ghost town. A few shops, a church and a small museum (closed), but many stone and brick buildings that are empty shells. There were some local artisan shops – Jackie bought a nice pair of earrings. Then on to Los Barriles, a small beach community on the Sea of Cortez. The RV park is run by two norteamericanos who also run a sport fishing business. We walked down to the beach and watched the most amazing sight of flying mobula rays swimming and leaping high into the air, about 100 yards off shore. Pat and Cindy got a ride out in a small boat and took some awesome close-up photos. They’ll probably show up tomorrow on their web site at everysmilesamemory.com
This evening, Jackie is packing a suitcase. Tomorrow we’ll drive to Los Cabos and she’ll fly home from the airport at San Jose del Cabo, connecting through Mexico City.

La Paz

Today was another magical day in Baja. We left the RV park around 9 am for the 30 minute drive to Playa Tecolote, where we’d heard there was a great cruise. We learned that for 550 pesos (about $50) we’d have a 4 1/2 hour ride around Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida viewing various sights and stopping for snorkeling and lunch on a beach. We left the playa around 10:30 with 6 people on board, then made an unexpected stop at a beach near the south end of Espiritu Santo to pickup 4 people. They had been dropped off the previous afternoon and had camped overnight on the island. We then proceeded counter-clockwise around E.S. and P to the north of it. Our first big stop was in a rocky cove with hundreds of sea lions, including pups. This was our snorkeling spot – coral, tropical fish, and the occasional seal lion swimming with us! The only down-side was the cool water – not really cold, but I wished I’d had a “shortie” wet suit. After about 30 minutes, we continued around Isla Partida to a warm sandy beach and lunch of ceviche, marlin salad, ham and cheese sandwiches and soft drinks. Slightly warmer water, so we swam a little also. After an hour or so, we continued cruising past interesting rock formations and other sights. Then, heading to open water we thought we were returning to Tecolote only to find we were moving into a school of hundreds of porpoises breaching, diving, rolling and just putting on the most marvelous show. Finally it was time to return to port.
We returned to camp, cleaned up, and then drove to La Paz Centro and strolled the waterfront, where we saw the most amazing sand sculpture of the last supper. We watched the sunset on the bay over magaritas, then people-watched through a leisurely dinner in a terrace restaurant. Life is good!

We Petted the Whales!

This morning we drove with Pat and Cindy out to Puerto Lopez Mateos, a 30 minute drive, to go whale watching in the northenr lagoons of Bahia Magdalena. The lagoons themselves are interesting – mangrove swamps on the interior side and sand dunes separating the lagoon from the Pacific Ocean. After negotiating, in Spanish, at the Aquendi office, we joined 3 other people in a panga and headed out into the Bahia. The lagoon was dead calm as we motored out past trees with comorants, pelicans, osprey, and frigate birds. Then we came to the whales. Not as many as at San Ignacio, but we finally got close enough to touch and pet two (or one twice – it’s hard to tell). And watching the cow and calf rise up, dive, roll, and play around the boats was beautiful.
We returned to our rigs in Cd. Constitución shortly after lunchtime, and saddled up for the 2 1/2 hour drive to La Paz. It was an uneventful drive and we found Casa Blanca RV park easily. Tomorrow we go down to the marina and look into a cruise out to Isla Spiritu Santo.

Loreto to Cd. Constitucion

Today is Sunday, the day of the outdoor market in the arroyo west of the town center. We got up at 6 am (!) to head over there around 6:30 because people said we need to be there early to get good fruits and vegetables. The market is a combination farmers’ market and flea market. The sunrise view was spectacular – the market not so much!
The six of us had breakfast at a waterfront bakery-cafe, during which Cathy and Jim insisted that we let them wash our rig. Having washed theirs, maybe they thought ours . Anyway, we agreed to all pitch in. With five of us working (Pete had to study) it took less than 30 minutes and I must admit the rig looks and feels better.
Pat and Cindy hitched up and the four of us got on the road by 11:30, with lots of adios and hasta luegos to the others. It was a pretty drive along the coast, then over the Sierra Gigantes to the town of Ciudad Constitución. We’re in a little RV Park called Manfred’s, whose owner makes the most wicked margaritas and whose cook makes “the best chile rellenos in Mexico”. It was a hot day, but has cooled off since sundown. Caroline, our host, has told us of the marvelous whale watching in the nearby Bahia Magdalena, so we’ll head over there tomorrow morning, before continuing south towards La Paz mid-day. Over drinks here we’ve gotten tips from other Rvers of ‘must see’ stops south of here – each day is another adventure.

Loreto

There is a cruise ship coming to Loreto today, which means there will be music and traditional folk dance performed on the town plaza. We walked to the centro with Chuck and Sandy and had breakfast at an outdoor cafe while waiting for the festivities. They ran from around 10:30 to noon with a mariachi trio, three women and one man performing ballet folklorico, and the cutest set of kindergarten and first graders doing the Mexican Hat Dance.
Mid-day, which we’d talked about as a departure time, we decided to relax here. We read some: Jackie cut my hair; we watched Jim & Cathy and Sarah wash their rigs –Pete was off at a dive lesson. Our rig is dirty dusty, but it can wait until we’re off the road. Tomorrow there is a big Sunday market in the arroyo south of the centro, then we head south. Pat and Cindy, who are full-timing with a truck and travel trailer, will head south with us, since the couple they were travelling is are ready to turn north. They are an interesting couple, both love the outdoors and serious photography. You can see their photos and read about their travels at www.everysmilesamemory.com

Good Friday in Loreto

Today is Good Friday, so we got up and out of the rig early and walked to the plaza with our neighbors Chuck and Sandy. We enjoyed coffee outside a coffee shop which trying to learn where the Way of the Cross (viacrucis) procession would be. We discovered that it would be coming towards us around 10 am and turn the corner a few yards away. So at 9:45 we walked west to meet it. Wow, what an impressive, moving spectacle. We had heard of these reenactments being popular in Latin countries, but had never seen one. Since Loreto is a fairly small town, this was a chance to see it up close.
As we encountered the procession, they had just begun the party where Mary meets Jesus and they try to comfort one another. It really brought home the humanity of their experience. We walked alongside for 30 minutes or so. Then, when the procession passed a small taco stand where Sarah, Jim, and Cathy were watching, we joined them – having decided that the reenactment of the crucifixtion itself was more than we wanted to see.
Sarah had noticed an unusual town cemetery which we then went to see. Instead of simple gravestones, families build these elaborate shrines – almost chapels – with photos and mementos of their lost ones. Very impressive and touching.
Back in camp after lunch, we got laundry done and a few other small chores. Several of us walked down to the marina and back. Then the six couples at our end of the park had barbecue potluck and shared stories of our recent travels and our plans from here.
Pete has enrolled in a scuba diving class, which means they won’t leave until Tuesday. Jackie and I won’t stay here that long, since we want to see the rest of Baja. So we’ll probably leave Saturday morning for Ciudad Constitución.

Misión San Francisco de Javier

The three Lazy Daze women have hired a taxi to drive them to the Mission San Francisco Javier high up the nearby mountains. They invited us to join them and share the expense. Leaving around 10:30, the first 20 minutes was driving the bottom of a dry arroyo, with a stop to photograph the most unusual tree growing against a rocky outcrop. After 30 minutes climbing the rugged and arid Sierra de Gigantes, we began to wonder what the original missionaries could have been thinking. But finally, we came into a high mountain valley. It was hardly lush, but there was water so the Jesuits founded a mission in 1699. The church they completed in 1758 it still in use. When we got ready to return, our taxi wouldn’t start. While the taxista worked on it, we spotted our neighbors from the RV park, who offered us rides back to Loreto. Back in camp, we all enjoyed happy hour with enough hor d’ouerves that we didn’t need to make supper.
Around 8 pm, Jim and Cathy and Jackie and I piled into Sarah and Pete’s Honda Insight for another adventure, a mexican circus. We had a blast. It was small and a little hokey, but there were acrobats, dancers, aerialists, five trained tigers, six trained horses, and so forth.

Playa Santispac to Loreto

Today has begun windy again, so the three Lazy Daze couples have decided to get off this lovely, but windy, beach and head down to the coastal town of Loreto, about two hours sourth. We got underway around 9 and arrived here around 11. When we came into the Rivera del Mar RV Park, there were three other Lazy Daze RVs belonging to three single women Rvers -- Lorna, Calicia, and Marilyn. We’d met Lorna before, but not the other two. After a little catching up and getting settled, the six of us took off for the town center a few blocks away to view the Mission – the oldest of the California missions and to get acquainted with the town. The inscription above the mission doors says this is the head and mother of the missions of lower and upper Calfiornia. Loreto is somewhat tourist-oriented, but not enough to ruin it! We did learn that there will be a Good Friday Way of the Cross procession, starting at 9 am. We just don’t know exactly where!
Then we walked back to camp and visited before going to an over-priced so-so “Texas BBQ” restaurant on the malecon (waterfront) – serves us right for making that kind of choice in a Mexican town.

Day Trip to Santa Rosalía

On our last driving day, we passed through Santa Rosalía, which is a former copper mining town with interested French colonial architecture and a later-19th century church built from steel. It was designed and built by Gustav Eiffel (yeah, same guy who did the tower in France) for an International Fair, then disassembled and moved here by a French mining company. So we six decided to cram into Sarah & Pete’s Honda Insight and drive up for a visit. The town is also a terminal for ferries to the mainland and, of course, we’re into Santa Semana.
When we returned, we had a big happy hour camp circle in the lee of Kevin and Jeannie’s big bus, which they’d parked cross-ways to the prevailing winds. Several people took out guitars and we all had fun pickin’an’ singin’. It was still too windy to cook-out, but we did have a nice bonfire afterwards.
Jackie and I have talked more about our schedule. In order for her to be home by the 29th, we either have to turn north soon, or make plans for her to fly. She has decided fly home out of San Jose del Cabo on the 28th. This means we have ten more days to see the rest of Baja together. Then she’ll fly north and I’ll return later in the RV.

On to Playa Santispac

We were up early, since we’d volunteered to slice fruit for the getaway. We bid goodbye and/or see you later – adios y/o hasta luega – to many friends and pulled out around 9:30 with Sarah & Pete and Jim and Cathy close behind; three Lazy Daze RVs moving a big ten miles (!) south, to camp on the beach at Playa Santispac on the Bahia de Concepción. There we found a half dozen other rigs from our group, who had moved down on Saturday, afraid they wouldn’t find room if they waited. This is the beginning of Santa Semana (holy week). Schools are closed, many businesses close also, and families head for the beaches for a festive holiday. Santispac is one of the more popular beaches and there are many families here. Vendors patrol the beach selling fish, water, ice cream (helado), fire-wood and, of course, souvenirs. We’d been told to expect wall-to-wall people, not nearly that bad.
It is a beautiful beach, but we are getting the edge of a winter storm that apparently caused hail in Ensenada and snow in Mexicali – both quite a ways north of us. Nonetheless, it is windy. We decided against a cook-out and instead ate at Ana’s restaurant on the beach. Afterwards, we visited inside the rig and retired early rather than have a beach bonfire.

Baja Sí is Ending

This is the final day of our rally. We spent it exploring possible beach camps south of here, and then having hamburgers, of all things, in town. I haven’t mentioned the campground. There aren’t enough sites with water and electricity, etc for all of us. We are dry camped, but don’t mind, as we’re parked under the most gorgeous bougainvilla plant.
This evening we will have the Chapter’s Annual Meeting – electing new officers and approving the destination for next year’s rally. It is a chance to recognize the efforts of all the volunteers who made the rally possible. Our wagon-masters, Lin and Maryke Hines, have been planning this for two years and working non-stop for the last month. Even with a cadre of willing and skillful volunteers, its been a lot of work.
The other group that worked “above and beyond the call” were our parkers. Since this is a progressive rally, we’ve stayed at six locations in Mexico. On each travel day, the parking crew leaves well before the first travel group, checks the destination – and usually finds unwelcome surprise challenges. Then, they stand out in the sun, wind, whatever all day with walkie-talkies as the various groups arrive. Ideally, we come in small groups, but sometimes 10 or 15 rigs arrive in rapid succession, as the parkers try to sort who to put where! So, our hats are off the the volunteers of Chapter 8. And a special thanks to fellow RVers with satellite internet access who have graciously opened their networks so that people like us can post these blogs, as well as send and receive email and so forth.
Tomorrow, Jackie and I will be up early – we have volunteered to help cut fruit for the morning’s getaway breakfast – and then everyone will go their separate ways. We will continue south for a while longer, until it is time to return home. Internet access is sure to become more scarce, so fewer updates for awhile.

Mulegé

Today is a day to explore, do laundry, and so forth. After breakfast, Jackie and I walked the mile to the center of Mulegé. We bought a few souvenir gifts, found the ice cream shop(!), and then continued to the stone Misión de Santa Rosalía de Mulegé on a hill above the town. Unfortunately, it was locked, or appeared to be, so we didn’t get to see inside. The hillside affords gorgeous views of the Mulege valley, filled with date palms.
After lunch and a few household chores, we joined our fellow Rvers for another of the Charity Auctions which are part of our trip. We bid on various donated items – a $7 bottle of wine going for $20 or $30 — one of the ways we support the charitable side of the rally. In various ways, we’ve contributed over $4000 to our charity fund. Added to $3000 carried over from last year’s rally, we will donate over $7000 to several good causes.
Later, we walked to the nearby Hotel Serenidad which hosts a roast pig dinner on Saturday nights, complete with margaritas and mariachi music. A great day!

San Ignacio to Mulegé

This is our last travel day as a caravan, from San Ignacio to Mulegé on the Gulf of California. Since we have a late (10:30) departure this day, we had time to dump our holding tanks and drive up to the Pemex station on the highway for gas. All gas station in Mexico are owned by the government-owned petroleum company. The government regulates that price, which is the same everywhere. This makes buying gas very simple!
We were told the drive might be a difficult one, but the road was better than expected. The only real challenge was when two groups, 10 rigs, all tried to get into the propane yard near Santa Rosalía at the same time!

Mulegé is a small village of 3000 people on the banks of the Rio Mulegé, only a mile or two from the Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez). It is an oasis filled with palm trees and boasts a significant winter population of norteamericanos. After getting settled into the Villa Maria Isabel RV Park, we invited members of our travel group to wine and hors d’oeurves (antejitos in Spanish) outside our rig. A little later, seven of us found our way to a small sea-shore restaurant for a nice fish dinner.

Rest Day in San Ignacio

This is a free day for the half of us that went whale watching yesterday. We slept in, cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast, and didn’t even get out of the rig until 10 am. Late morning we walked to town and visited the small museum next to the mission, which explains the cave art for which this part of Baja is known. We learned that archeologists have determined that these paintings span a period from 3000 B.C. to 1600 A.D., which means that this simple culture was maintained for over 4000 years! The museum includes a full-scale replica of the paintings from the San Pablo cave, which would otherwise take several days of back-country travel to see.
After a light lunch in the rig, we rode with Andy and Mary to the ojo de agua, or spring, which was, as promised, a delightful spot with warm crystal clear water. Not quite deep enough for swimming, but refreshing to wade or sit in. In the evening, Jackie, Mary and Sarah put together a great meal built around Trader Joe’s Curried Chicken Tenders, which we had in our freezers. It was a very relaxing day.

Whale Watching

We are in the 7:30 group for whale-watching, so we rose early for a bouncy, dusty one-hour ride to the Laguna de San Ignacio – one of prime winter havens for gray whales. By 9:30 we were on the water, three small boats called pangas, each with 8 of us. In only a few minutes we could see water-spouts and then the ocassional whale breeching. A few minutes more and we had whales in all directions, some within 10 feet of our boat. People in the other boats were even luckier – whales allowed them close enough that they could reach down and pat one of these 30-foot long, 10-ton behemoths. We spent an hour and a half alternately amazed at what were we seeing and wishing for a chance to touch one. We got some great video slips but I don't want to abuse our neighbor's satellite connection by trying to upload them. We'll share them later.
Around 11 am, we headed back to shore for a lunch of delicious fish tacos, followed by another bouncy dusty ride back to San Ignacio.
We spent the afternoon removing staples from the floor and the carpet pieces so we could use the carpet without hurting our feet.

Guerrero Negro to San Ignacio

Today is a short 90 mile drive to San Ignacio, which is south and inland, but still close enough to the Pacific to be a good base for whale-watching tours. We arrived around 11 am to what feels like a tropical oasis. There is a spring-fed pond nearby and the valley is filled with date palms originally planted by the missionaries in the 1700s. It is only a short walk to the center of the town, with a traditional town square across from the 18th century stone mission church. And it is warm.
We sat around and just visited and enjoyed the setting before walking to town to buy a few souvenirs and relax at the outdoor seating in a cafe on the square. We met an American woman, from San Francisco, who owns the 3-room Casa Lereé hotel, along with an nice bookstore. She came to visit 5 years ago, fell in love with the place, bought the hotel and seems happy with her new life. Not for us!
Back in the campground, we had a happy hour with announcements of adjustments to the whale-watching schedule. Folks then split up for dinner on their own – we ate with some of our friends right there in the camp restaurant.

Guerrero Negro

Not a great day! When I stepped out of bed, the floor was wet. Walking to the rear of the coach, I discovered a flooded floor. Apparently, the water didn’t shut off when I’d used the bathroom around 6:30 am and our water pump empted our fresh (thankfully) water onto the floor, about 30 gallons of it! The carpet was soaked, as was the padding underneath. We sopped up as much as we could with towels, then decided to go ahead on the planned morning tour – why let a little disaster ruin your day!
The tour was of the world’s largest salt production facility: thousands of acres of evaporation ponds and huge salt harvesting machinery. The orange salt haulers carry 120 tons per hopper, 360 tons per triple unit. We saw several being filled and driven to the shipping facility just in the few minutes we were watching. The company has placed osprey nests around their harbor. We were treated to momma feeding her babies.
After lunch in town – slow and leisurely – we returned to our still soggy RV and proceeded to remove the carpet and padding. We concluded that was the only way to eliminate the risk of mold. Plus, we’ve been talking about replacing the carpet anyway. Now we can’t put it off. We’ll dry it as best we can; use the cut-up pieces until we get home, then replace it.
At 6 pm we gathered for one of the rallies included dinners, in the large campground restaurant. There were strolling mariachi players, good food and great margaritas. By the end of the day we were both exhausted!

Cataviña to Guerrero Negro

We had breakfast outdoors in the camp resaturant, great “Mexican Fud”. This was a long day, made longer by our decision to stop at a restaurant for lunch. Service in Mexican restaurants is leisurely in any event, but it seemed even slower here. Out short break turned into a two hour layover. We were the third leaving Cataviña and ninth to arrive! The ride was scenic and uneventful, at least for our group. Someone in anouther group lost a mirror when a northbound RV got too close. And the lock on someone’s trailer jammed (with them outside), which meant that they had to remove the door by its hinges and then repair the lock!
Mario’s RV park supposedly has full hookups with electricity, water, and sewer. However the electric voltage was too low to be any good. Then, one of the neighbors tested the water and found a high coliform bacteira count. At least the sewer was okay and we dumped our holding tanks. We don’t really need electric hookups. And in Mexico, we drink bottled water and only use the RV water for washing.
We invited Pete and Sarah and Andy and Mary to join us for dinner in our rig. It was really close with six adults, but we had a great time.

Cataviña

After a brilliant orange sky at sunrise, we had a quick shower and breakfast in the rig before assembling at 7:30 am for a desert walk through the remarkable granite boulder fields that are unique to Cataviña. We must have seen a dozen or more varieties of cactus along with other shrubs and flowering plants. Most unusual are the tall boojum trees and many-branched elephant trees. Some of the areas we walked through looked like they had been planted as desert rock gardens – they were so beautiful.
Then, back in camp, we assembled car pools to see a huge, probably 100 year-old cardon cactus a few miles away. We then drove an hour or so on a gravel road to El Marmól, an abandoned onyx quarry. Among the interesting artifacts was the old school built of blocks of onyx and the rusted-out body of a truck from Estero Beach, which our first stop last week!
Returning to camp mid-afternoon, we had time to relax a little, catch up on this blog, and then go to the little café here in the camp, where the entire group had an outdoor dinner of carne asada, frijoles, salad and tortillas. We have another starlit sky tonight. Tomorrow we leave for our longest driving day, 144 miles to Guerrero Negro.

San Quintín to Cataviña

Wow, what a day.! After breakfast and tidying the rig for travel, we had a brisk walk along the beach, then lined up the “Dingos” (travel group D) for a 9 am departure. It was a beautiful drive along the coast, then inland climbing hills covered with wildflowers, agave plants, and a few cactus before arriving El Rosario around 10 am. Since the next gas would be 200 miles, several rigs topped off their tanks. We had volunteered to buy bags of ice for the evening’s margarita party, which found in a small mercado nearby. When we returned to the station, we learned that the Martin’s RV would not start – Kirk was working on the batteries trying to find the cause. After another 30 minutes, our leader asked us to stay behind with the Martin’s (part of our job as tail-gunners) while he led the rest of the group on to Cataviña. Kirk kept working on his rig. I managed to find a mecanico who tried to help. My spanish is elementary, his english was non-existent, but we managed to determine that it was an electrical problem and come up with a work-around that got the RV started.
Meanwhile, the last group (J) had come along, so we joined them as J-3 and J-4. About 20 miles down the road, J-group’s tail-gunner radioed that they had a problem, probably a broken spring on their trailer. We all pulled off at the earliest chance; our leader said he’d go back to take care of J-7, and we were to continue on with J-2 as our new leader. We’d gone only another 15 miles or so when J-4 reported he had a blow-out of a trailer tire. So off the road again, this time with a relatively easy fix, since he was carrying a good spare tire.
When we finally arrived at Cataviña around 3:30, everyone was relieved to see us – especialy since we had the ice for the margaritas. We’re parked in a beautiful place, surrounded by cactus, palo verdes, and a few palm trees. After dark, the stars are incredible, from horizon to horizon. What a day!