Merry Christmas 2012 from Los Barriles

We'll be sitting on the beach, with our feet in the sand, drinking cervesas for Christmas. We have found an RVing "family" to spend it with - 2 couples travelling together from Washington (with 5 dogs)  & a German woman  travelling alone with her dog. We have been enjoying their company - meals out, cervesas by the campfire & trips out exploring. They have shown us a lovely waterfall & pond at the end of a dry arroyo that appears out of nowhere, tumbles down the rocks into a stream that slowly disappears again. Another trip involved going to the dump where we watched cows pulling open plastic bags & eating the garbage! We have plans to enjoy "Christmas pizza" in El Triunfo with them on the 25th.
We've watched a "dune buggy, etc." race through the sand - spectators much too close to the action, but exciting. Out our front window we see dozens of kite-boarders  -which means that it's awfully windy! We also see "flying" manta rays near the shore - they leap out of the water, the fall back in, kind of like skipping a stone along the water. Could be warmer, but still wearing shorts,( sweater required, even with the campfire, which is next to the community Christmas tree.)
Robin & I did a day trip to Cabo Pulmo - hoping to return for a snorkelling trip as it has the only coral reef in the Sea of Cortez. Another delightful Mexican road - first paved, then full of potholes, then the pavement ends & the washboard sand begins. Lovely beaches but lots of waves that day. Excellent taco lunch (picture to follow).
We plan to move to an RV park just outside of Cabo San Lucas on Dec 26. If it seems OK we may stay there 1 month - it would be a treat to have full hook-ups & WiFi every day. After that it's the long road home - Robin keeps telling me that it will then be my turn to drive - not likely!
We miss family & friends, but we look forward to catching up in the spring, we hope everyone has a wonderful Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Still Living the Dream!

Tecolote - turtles & snorkelling with sea lions

We left Loreto Dec. 2 (on the Sea of Cortez) & crossed over (not thru) the Sierra La Giganta mountains accompanied by thousands of yellow butterflies. We passed through the middle of the Baja peninsula to Ciudad Constition, crossing many arroyos (dry stream beds) seeing evidence of massive amounts of water, leaving boulders on the road. Glad we were not here in hurricane season. We made a day trip to the Pacific coast - 55 km to San Carlos, a small fishing village where whale watching later in the winter is popular. We found it strange to see cacti growing so close to the ocean, we saw many large birds - crested carracas, vultures & ospreys & collected more shells.
Next to La Paz, back on the Sea of Cortez, a large city, which we bypassed, as did all the big trucks on their way to the ferry to the mainland. Another tiny, curvy road. We set up on Tecolote Beach - great long sandy beach, free camping amongst the sand dunes - stayed 10 nights. No services except for a few beach resturants, very peaceful. We drove in to La Paz for shopping, more tacos & to mail Christmas cards ( Dec 5, hopefully we don't beat them home).
We did an amazing boat tour - to Isla Espiritu Santo - beautiful scenery as we motored around the islands & we snorkelled right next to a sea lion colony - quite intimidating having sea lions swimming just below you & comorants (big birds) diving next to you. Lots of colorful fish in every size as well. Lunch of ceviche tostados ( I wasn't going to eat "raw" fish but I'm still alive & well) on a secluded beach & then we were very lucky to have a large family of dolphins swimming alongside the boat on our way back.
We also lucked out as we were invited to participate in a baby turtle release - a local beach resturant protects a site where turtles lay eggs & when they hatch they keep them until dark & release them into the ocean (no pelicans at night) - unforgettable!
I have experienced my first Mexican haircut - cost $6.50, non English speaking hairdresser so not quite what I wanted, but it will grow. I'd like to color my hair also, but I can't read the instructions & I'm afraid of the results!
We rented a 2 man kayak on our beach & decided to venture over to Balandra Bay (we thought it was "right around the corner"). Not quite- it took about 1 hour to paddle there & longer to return as there were a few whitecaps & some good sized swells by then. I snorkelled part of the way back - overall a good time, but pretty sore for a couple of days. We have decided that a 2 man kayak is the way to go - two people paddling is much easier & one can rest if the one in front isn't watching!
Feels a bit more like winter, we have had a few cloudy, cooler days & 1 full day of rain. We moved to a full hook-up campground in Los Barriles to recharge the batteries, fill with water & catch up with internet, then back to free beach camping just outside of town.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays - still Loving It!

Santispac Sunshine

We are currently in Loreto, have finally caught up with laundry & will update our adventures. We actually had some iffy weather, foggy with a bit of rain as we travelled to San Ignacio - we also heard a "clink" as we just ticked mirrors with a big bus! No damage!
 San Ignacio is a date palm oasis with a church built of lava that has walls 4 feet thick & a lovely garden with name tags for all the strange plants & cacti - very helpful. We just stopped for a short visit then proeceeded down Cuesta del Infierno  -(the grade to hell) to Santa Rosalia. This is the steepest hill in Mexico, definitely more than our 6-8%. This town was a copper mining area, lots of huge abandoned buildings, old wooden houses & a church designed by A.G. Eiffel, same guy who designed the Eiffel Tower. Apparently the church was prefabricated, set up for the World's Fair in Paris in 1889, then taken apart, shipped to Mexico & put back together - not much to look at, but cool story.
We stayed at San Lucas Cove, a fishing camp - the campground we were looking for (per our trusty book) - is now a strip bar & maybe a bit more.
Onward to Bahia Concepcion & Playa Santispac - so far the best spot to camp! Beautiful sandy beach with palapas, calm water (good for relaxing on my floatie), friendly people, Mexican fellows who arrive daily behind the RV with fresh fish, shrimp, scallops, veggies, eggs, cinnamon buns, souvenirs & water to fill your tank. All that was missing was beer delivery - for that you had a short drive to Mulege or grab a chair at one of the 2 beach resturants. All of this for $7 per night! No services, but you can`t have everything! We spent 4 glorious nights there & will spend more on our return.We set up next to a couple who live in OK Falls, a 10 minute drive from Penticton - small world.
We have quite a shell collection, not sure what we will do with them, now Robin is collecting choya wood - old dried cactus, maybe for carving.
We tried kayaking, loved it & will now be looking for used kayaks. We got a look at a huge turtle- just it`s head- when we were out kayaking. It would have scared us but we knew it was out there.
We have time for lots of reading, doing a bit of biking & definitely caught up on sleep.
Had to throw in some thing about food - excellent ice cream!
The beach pics are Santispac. Our RV is one on the left.

Hard to believe it`s December, as we ``Live the Dream``.