Kayaking, Whales & onyx mine

We finished our  glorious 9 day stay on Santispac beach with some kayaking where we saw dozens of stingrays - glad we weren't swimming! I spent our last day of hot weather floating on my floatie in the ocean soaking up the last of the sun, then enjoying pizza delivery (unsolicited, just brought to the beach hoping to sell them). Robin went out in a small/tiny tin boat with Randy & they returned with 2 trigger fish.

We have spent 3 days driving through the desert, now much greener, with flowers blooming amongst the cacti. We unhooked the car & drove separately up the "Grade from Hell", easier than having the RV do all that pulling - we need to keep the old girl in good shape for future trips. We have been thru 3 military checkpoints where armed men search thru the RV looking for drugs & guns, somewhat imtimidating. We spent 2 nights in Guerrero Negro where we went out on another whale watching tour - they say they get only 1/2" of rain per year & we got half of it! Out on the water for 3 hrs, in a 20 ft boat, big waves, windy & rain - but all worthwhile as we saw many whales, but unfortunately still didn't get to touch one. Maybe next year! We went out for Chinese food, actually quite good, & had to "beg" the RV office to exchange US dollars for pesos as the banks in town don't like our debit card.

We went exploring to Ojo de Liebre lagoon, scouting for next year - took a wrong turn & ended up in the working area of the salt flats. They flood huge areas of land with sea water where it evaporates, then they scoop up the salt - big business, it's exported all over the world, including Canada as road salt. We got a good picture of one of their HUGE trucks, sort of what Adam drives. Of course we added a chunk of salt to our rock collection.

We visisted El Marmol, an abandoned onyx mine where we found a school building made entirely of blocks of onyx. There was everything from huge boulders to small chunks, all colorful srtiped onyx - white, yellow, orange, & green. Of course we brought back a "few" chunks, plus purchased a wind chime & some earrings. We camped in the yard of the family who run the small onyx gift shop & we woke to a temperature of 8C inside the RV & frost on the car! This is as close to winter as we would like to see!

We are now in San Quintin, on the Pacific coast - miles of deserted beach, big sand dunes & the occasional fisherman digging clams or diving for abalone. We have been "adopted" by a lovely family with 4 young kids from Pennsylvania. We spent the morning tiring each other out, going for a long walk along the beach after watching their dad surf. We went into town for lunch, found a palapa resturant where they make crab soup in a tinfoil "boat" & cook it over an open fire - delicious & picante! We went for a drive thru the farm fields of strawberries, broccoli & ?? and were lucky enough to see a roadrunner.

The Mexican part of our trip is nearly over, our last stop will be Ensenada - we will drive there tomorrow & be sure to stock up at the fish market.

Pictures: sunset at Santispac over the RV, stingray in the water, kayaking x2, whale tour - panga, whale spouting & us (yes it was cold), HUGE salt trucks, desert cacti, crab soup on the fire, & their resturant, Pacific beach at San Quintin.

Still Loving it!

Santispac - Lazy days

We finally buy an internet stick & go figure - it doesn't work on the beach! Here I sit, doing laundry & doing internet in Mulege. All remains well, we've done some kayaking here & lots of hiking. We had a lovely pot luck supper with scallops, barbequed tuna & all the fixins for Valentines Day.
The vendors keep coming to the beach, today it was ice cream - I never want to leave!
Robin found a nice fishin' hole - at the end of the beach there's a mangrove pond, connected to the ocean. We checked it out last evening & there were several kinds of large birds fishing. This morning Robin went out & caught a nice sized corvina (the name the local gave it), should be good eating for supper!
Last evening the beer truck came to supply the 2 beach resturants, we bought 24 Pacifico for about $16. They make it too easy to stay here for ever!
Weather is improving- it was cool, but now it's back into the mid 20's for a high & sunny.
We will stay here a few more days, stretching it out as long as we can, then continue north.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Family day weekend, we will be thinking of all our family & friends!

Still living the dream!

Ballena Gris - Lopez Mateos

We finished our stay in La Paz with a nice long bike ride - the bikes have been mainly an inconvenience in Mexico, few suitable places to ride. They won't get to come on vacation next year! We left La Paz on Feb. 7, stopped for a 10 lb. bag of oranges (from a truck vendor) for about $2.50, fresh & juicy! We arrived in the little fishing village of Lopez Mateos early afternoon & after some searching found the dock from which the pangas (small fishing boats) depart. There were several "tent' resturants & souvenir shops right next to the water & we were able to park the RV next to them & about 50 ft from the water. The bay (Magdelena Bay) is very narrow there, less than a km. across & we could see whales cruising up & down 100-200 metres away from us. Robin spotted 14 before breakfast one morning. We went out in a panga, along with 3 American women for 1 1/2 hrs, saw several mamas & babies, as close as 10 ft from the boat. The calving season was a bit later this year, the babies still young & the mamas a bit protective, so none came close enough to touch. It was still a magical experience to be so close to such huge creatures! We plan to do another whale tour further north as well. Trying to get good pictures was tricky - but we have good memeories.
We stayed there 2 nights, had a yummy seafood dinner, lobster, shrimp & fish & did some bike riding. We also left some school supplies with the local school. Oh, of course, more shells!

We headed to Loreto next, spent only 2 nights - lucked out to be there on Sunday for the huge outdoor market. It was set up overnight in the dry riverbed - tents after tents - fresh fruit & veggies, seafood, meat, souvenirs, clothing, toys, kids stuff - used by Gringos & locals. Also several places to eat - we chose one with no English signs, had pozole, a pork/ham soup which was very good, lucky we didn't choose the soup made with cow stomachs! Stocked up on shrimp & fish.

We arrived at Santispac beach 3 days ago, its on Bahia Conception, near the town of Mulege. Beautiful sandy beach, parked right near the water, facing the bay. Peaceful, but not empty - there are 32 rigs parked there, but still everone has ocean frontage. Weather is cooler, you can tell we are moving north - 14 last night, highs of 18-23, still better than home. We took a drive yesterday to a tiny village on the Sea of Cortez, San Nicholas - not much there, the 16 km road in took 1 hr., but lots of good shells & a nice walk along the water - much bigger waves than where we are. Robin has found more good wood for carving.  Our new friends from Washington arrived 2 days ago, so much wine, beer & story telling!

Our new internet stick won't work on the beach, no cell service, so we are in Mulege, guess I have to do some more shopping, since we are here!

Pictures:sunset over the pangas, Ballena Gris (grey whales), whale tail, whale, whale by the boat, mama & baby, another sunset, scenery thru the mountains, vendor cart in Loreto, Robin above Bahia Conception,, me at the beach, San Nicholas, fish camp there, burros along the drive.

Still having fun!

La Paz - "The Ticket"

Another wonderful week in paradise! We still can't believe how lucky we are to actually be doing this!
We left Cabo Jan. 27 with a promise to return next year. Next stop was Pescadero, a small town near Todos Santos, on the Pacific coast. We had to meet the owner of the RV park in town & we were led 3 km. out to the site through fields of basil, peppers, onions & thyme. Campsite a short walk to the beach, crashing waves, but too windy for the surfers. Ran into 2 sets of people we knew on the beach, one couple from Kamloops who's seminar we attended on "RVing the Baja" (& here we are!) & the French Canadian couple we had Christmas Day dinner with. Explored local beaches & lunched in Todos Santos.

Another doctor visit, this time for myself with an ear & sinus infection - you'd think all the cervesas would have prevented that! Impressed with the well equipped clinic/ER & English speaking Dr. - total for exam & meds was 850 pesos, about $68.

I bought fish & shrimp tacos "to go" & they came with 6 little plastic bags of assorted toppings & salsas - can't seem to get enough of these.

We have relocated to the La Paz area - spent 4 nights free camping on 2 beaches, Tecolote & Pichilingue -  back on Sea of Cortez, amazing blue, green water, less waves. It was really windy, lots of new sand dunes so we tried the beach close to the ferry, Pichilingue, but had to leave as there were millions of tiny flies. We did have one night with a beautiful sunset, though. We visited the Whale museum & the Anthropolgy museum in La Paz -  finally convinced Robin that it wouldn't kill him to see a couple museums!

We finally bought an internet stick, it will work where-ever there is cell phone coverage - cost $20 for 1 GB/mo. for 5 months (current deal), just for Mexico.

We did a lot of hiking/mountain climbing around Tecolote - up to a cave high up a hill that was littered with old sea shells ? prehistoric man? Another 3 hour hike up & over a huge hill, found a seam of quartz crystals, lots of interesting rock formations & could look down onto nearby bays & beaches. An all day journey to Balandra Bay, hiking, rock climbing, wading in the ocean & ceviche for lunch.

We are now in La Paz in an RV park with all the amenities, will stay one more night then head to Puerto Lopez Mateos for a whale watching tour. We have been catching up with laundry, cleaning the RV inside & out & some shopping. I went out today to go to the local market for fresh veggies & had my first (& hopefully only) experience with Mexican traffic cops. I was driving in a busy part of town, I think I stopped at the stop sign, but I got pulled over by 3 female officers. They demanded my license, which I reluctantly handed over. None of them spoke any English, other than "ticket" & "office" - indicating that I did not stop, I would have to go to the "office", pay the ticket & get my license back. I was quite adamant that I wasn't leaving without my license - more Spanish - we had a standoff. I then asked what the ticket would cost & one of them wrote 550 on her hand (about $40). I indicated that if I could, I would just pay them & get my damn license back. I pulled out a 500 peso bill & held it up, one of them quickly pushed my hand down out of view & traded me the 500 for my license. No ticket, $40 poorer & a bit wiser. They actually have a name for this - mordida - underpaid cops who target gringos & hope to get paid off.
Robin was quick to tell me that he's driven over 5000 km & "no tickets!" My defense is that he has a navigator (me) & I did not.

Pictures: Sunset at Pescadero over our RV, Robin Pacific behind him, shrimp boat in the waves, me on a path to a lovely beach, the beach, sunset at Pichilingue, looking down on RV at Pichilingue, me inside the cave we hiked to, looking up at the mouth of the cave, sand dunes, Robin picking out quartz, me up really high/hiking, Robin mountain climbing!

Still living the dream & loving it!