Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Northward Ho!


Tom's Office

Jan's Studio
0N THE ROAD AGAIN
3/6/11 La Ventana:  We made our way north to windy La Ventana (on the Sea of Cortez) where the gringo population seems to be from the Columbia Gorge.  The town is mostly a string of houses, small hotels and not much else along a stretch of beach.  We stayed in a campground for a night which was inundated by wind surfers. They all had their area’s staked out along the beach with their small RV or van and an awning and then a shed built from metal poles and plastic.  As we walked the beach we could see inside the storage areas, and many of the surfers had what looked like a small store full of a multitude of sails, boards and wet suits.  We had fun talking to people (mostly from Hood River, the Dalles, Mosier and White Salmon) and checking out the scene, but we decided that if you weren’t a wind surfer/kiter you were pretty out of place in La Ventana.  Oh well.


3/7/11 Carnival in La Paz.  After arriving in La Paz and and finding a place to camp in a park about 5 miles out of town. We hopped on a bus into the city to check out the “Carnival”, their rendition of  Mardi Gras before Lent.  The streets were closed off on the Melacon  along the bay and food vendors, beer and alcohol vendors, trinket salesmen, gambling booths and carnival rides lined the open streets. People were wandering around enjoying the early evening mood as the sun was going down. About 6:00 we started to hear sirens, and saw police cars coming down the middle, clearing people to the sides, and we could start to see the beginnings of the parade.  This was the second or three nights of parade, and we had heard that the night before the streets had been packed with 200,000 people.  You couldn’t walk anywhere. You were just carried by the crowd.  Not liking the ideas of being squished in a crowd we, fortunately, arrived on this second night which was less crowded.  The Parade arrived with costumed and sequined women and men riding on floats being hauled by big 16 wheeler trucks, each blaring their own music.  Groups of people in costume danced by, and trucks carried various mexican bands .  People were throwing empty eggs full of confetti at the trucks and a few of the  people on floats threw candy for the kids. As an added bonus we were watching right under a big screen and a TV camera on the street, so the people would stop and dance and put on their show in front of us.
       After the parade, we wandered the Malacon and as it got dark more and more people showed up until it started to get pretty crowded again.  We drank several Mexican beers to go with our Mexican hot dogs and “gorditos” (like english muffins cooked on hot griddle and covered with a little sweetened condensed milk) and we just watched the scene.  A couple amusing items for kids were 1. A bunch of lighted easels for kids to paint a picture printed on cardboard.  Unfortunately they were trying to paint them with a box of watercolor paints and very tiny brushes.  It would have taken them all night to finish one, but maybe that was the point. They were all giving it a valiant try.

2. Was a large swimming pool filled with giant clear plastic balls, filled with kids crawling around inside of them.  Every once in a while a “wrangler” would move a ball to the side and unzip it and let the child out. The next child would enter, the collapsable ball would get partially zipped closed and the attendant would stick a leaf blower into the zipper to fill the ball with air, as the child held their hands over their ears.  They would then finish zipping the ball closed and push them off into the pool.  We watched this in awe, and wondered if the parents could just leave them in there all night while they went to the Carnival.  We never did figure out how they knew when which kid should come out.  It looked like a nightmare to me.
The nighttime brought out music bands on stages and more carnival goers, but we didn’t last too long and headed home to the peace and quiet of Tortuga.

3/11/11 The Tsunami,
We’d made our way over 30 miles of gravel and car-eating potholed roads and then 30 miles of brand new pavement out in the middle of nowhere to find the little fishing village of San Juanico and Scorpion Bay on the Pacific coast.  Our friends Mike and Linda from Stevenson were camped for the month and we went for a visit on our way north.  We’d been there two days, exploring the area, watching the surfers on some world class surfing waves, eating fresh caught halibut (thanks, Mike) and Linda and I plein air painted together.  On our third morning Tom woke up to news on his short wave radio that Japan had had the terrible 9 point earthquake/tsunami and that it was headed our way across the Pacific.  Then  Linda came over to our campsite to tell us that the police had been by to warn them of the possible danger.  Since we were camped up on a bluff 40 feet above the water, we weren’t to concerned, but we put our stuff into Tortuga in case we had to make a hasty get away.  In town, all of the fishermen had moved their pangas up high off the beach and we watched as two large tuna boats came into the bay to anchor. The waves were supposed to hit about 9:00 or so and we sat around watching and waiting for something to happen.  Nothing happened. 
Then about 11:00 the tide started going far out below the low tide line and then returning to the high tide level at about 20 minute intervals... the tsunami was finally here. It was kind of like a slow motion tsunami, as the waves coming in were less of a giant wave than a surge of several consecutive waves that just kept coming into shore, coming higher and higher with each wave.  At the apex of the tide there would be no surf at all, and then the water would start sucking out again causing confused, sideways waves close into shore.  This high/low tide repeated itself all afternoon about every 15-30 minutes.  The highest waves came in around about 3:00 and actually took some people by surprise who had driven out on the beach thinking that the tsunami was over.  They had to drive to high ground, and then still got their cars wet.  A few surfers went out to surf the Tsunami, but came back in fairly quickly as the surge going out of the bay was taking them out to sea.  The interesting part is that the surges went on all night.  Just when we thought they were over, the tide would come in and crash against the cliff again.  The waves were fairly small but powerful. We can’t imagine what it must have been like for people in Japan with 3-6 meter waves. Incredible and terrifying.
Before the tsunami
Tsunami Wave















             3/13/11 Whale spit in my face:  We’d planned on doing some whale watching sometime during our trip, and there are about three places on the Pacific coast side where you can see the Gray Whales from a boat.  We chose the port of Lopez Mateo because it was the closest to get to off the highway and we’d read that it was easy to spot them here in this constricted part of the bay of Magdalena. We were not disappointed.  We got to the embarcadero the night before and camped at the dock. Up early in the morning, we had to wait for a few hours before enough tourists showed up to share a panga (small boat).  We ended up with a Mexican family of 4, mom, dad and two teen age girls (almost all the tourists were Mexicans here) and our boat captain, Erin.  We were only about 15 minutes out of the port when we spotted the first whales, a mother and a calf. We motored right up to them and watched them for a while with two other boats, and then finally by ourselves, we followed them for almost an hour.  It seems as though there are no rules here about how close you can get to the whales.  It bothered us some, as the boats would drive up close enough for people to actually touch them, which is what most of the tourists wanted to do, and it seemed a bit like harassment. On the other hand, it was also one of the most exhilarating wildlife encounters we’d ever had.   With the other boats gone, the whales moved slowly around, surfacing and coming very close to the boat.  Several times they swam right under us and we could see their giant forms, twice the length of our boat.  At several points they surfaced and blew spray and whale breath all over us.  I was fascinated just to lay at the bow of the boat and watch them at nearly eye level.  What an experience. Truly awesome!  There were several whale mom’s and baby’s in the bay around us and we could see about a dozen whales at one time.  On our way home, Erin took us by a beach which was covered with thousands of sea birds, and near a mangrove stand where a huge flock of Magnificent Frigate birds were roosting.  What a day!

3/20/11  Bay of Conception
We traveled back across the mainland and through the Sierra La Giganta to the Sea of Cortez at Puerto Escondido.
Juncalito Beach. Notice our Tortuga at the lower right of the bay.

There we camped on a free beach with a backdrop that looked like the Nepali Coast in Hawaii, with mountains descending right to down to the ocean.  We were captured here for two days and then drove on to Loreto where we found it to be a quaint little town with low buildings along tree lined streets.  It had a plaza and the first of the Baja missions still in tact.  We met nice people there and camped next to two Alaskans, so we had fun trading stories and drinking margaritas at the local hangout, Augies Bar and Baitshop.


Town Center Loreto


Plya La Perla on the Bay of Conception
At the moment we are camped along the Bay of Conception at Playa La Perla.  It's in a little cove with turquoise water and small cacitas built of sticks and palm fronds for each of the camping places.  We’ve been  here for three nights and have been to two dinner/parties with the other few gringos who have been camping here for the winter. 



 
One neighbor loaned us his kayaks yesterday to check out the close by island and the other neighbor took us in his zodiac over to “Cheeseburger in Paradise” restaurant for... you guessed it: cheeseburgers and beer”. Tonight we are off to some other restaurant with the third neighbor to go to some 15th annual celebration at another restaurant along the bay.   As they say, “No bad days” in Baja. 

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Leaving Los Barriles

Time to pick up the campsite and head out of Los Barriles.  We have been here for two and a half months, and it has been a fun experiment in putting down roots for that much time.  But the rest of wild Baja is calling us and we will be spending a month or so on the road again, working our way back up north (depending on the weather, whether or not we return home by April.)  We’ve had a great time here in this little town: met great people, ate wonderful fresh food every day, walks on the beach and arroyos, occasional entertainment with music in the restaurants and bars, etc. etc.

Interesting to be in one location long enough to make some attachments, rather than just traveling through.  There are so many subtleties to a place, the experience changes the longer you stay.  We can definitely see coming back, or even making a winter home here someday.
    A few short highlights since we wrote last (a month ago!... time flies here... manana...Baja time.)  Least you think that we spent most of our time on our rears, sunning ourselves, margarita in hand...

We took a trip to Santiago, about an hour south of LB with some folks from Colorado to check out the beautiful waterfall outside of town.  There are several hidden canyons with water running through them within an hour of LB, but they require a vehicle to get to.  This one was in a wonderful, deep, granite canyon with a 25 foot drop into hazel-green water.  The hike down was more of a climb, but the steepness kept a lot of the tourists at bay.  We enjoyed the day swimming, exploring and hanging out on the big rocks watching two Canadian  guys stringing a  line for tightrope walking about 100 feet above the pool.  We left before they attempted it, not really wanting to see the consequences of the plunge about to happen.  We spied them the next day in LB, so I guess they made it across.


   In February, I was fortunate to be able to participate in a “Artist Studio Tour” at the pool side of the RV park with several other artists.  Since none of us had a real studio,  we banded together to offer paintings, jewelry and collaged toilet seats (really).  There were about 20 artists throughout town showing their studios.  I was able to sell about 6 paintings!  I offered them up pretty cheap since I didn’t have anything to frame them with, and made enough to make it worth it. Got a lot of nice comments,  which is always validating, too.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with all of the paintings anyhow, except decorate my “Mexican” bathroom at home.   During the tour, I also met several artists who painted regularly in their homes.  I got a chance to paint a couple of days with them which was a lot of fun for me.  I wish I had met them earlier in our stay.
Jan at her "studio" during the Artist's Studio Tour



     We’ve found that the Gringos in Los Barriles who aren’t here wind surfing or kite boarding are out fishing when the wind isn’t blowing.  This is historically a very popular place for fishermen (Think marlin and giant man-sized grouper) and during the late spring, summer and early fall, that is mostly who sticks around here. (Other Gringos get out of town as it is very hot and humid).  Tom  got a chance to go out several times with our new friend, John who has a small inflatable and is an enthusiastic fisherman.   They would be up before dawn and out on the water trolling for bate fish while the sun came up.  The times Tom went out, they caught enough fish to keep him interested.  The water has been a lot colder than normal and thus the game fish have not been plentiful this year.  (The water is finally warming as we are leaving and people are starting to catch Yellow Tail, in which we’ve been able to partake feasting on.  Yum!)


    A few of the women in the RV park have a relationship with a small boarding school for rural farm children in the small town of La Ribera.  They do projects for them like raise money for winter coats, bedding, shower supplies etc.  The project during our stay here was to take school photos and make framed pictures for them to give to their families, since none of them have the opportunity to do this on their own.   I went with the gals out to the school, to check it out and had a very pleasant day meeting the kids (45 of them from ages 4-17). It was a nice school facility with the kids being very sweet (at least while we were there), the big ones helping the little ones, like one big family.  They all came out and greeted us, many offering handshakes and hugs.  While the ladies were taking the official photos, I was snapping candid of the kids and showing them to the kids as I went.  Of course they all had to come and get their picture done by me so they could see it.  I have to admit that some of my photos were the ones we ended up using, as they were more relaxed in front of my camera.


   Over the two months we took  two side trips in Tortuga, one to Cabo Jan Jose/Cabo San Lucas and one to Todo Santos, both with art in mind.  I wanted to go back to the galleries in Todo because when we were there before, with Tyler and Tom in tow, they lasted in the galleries about 10 minutes.  I was able to bribe Tom into staying longer, and I think he even enjoyed some of it.
   In Cabo, we rode the city busses around and went to the open “Art Walk” in San Jose Del Cabo which they have once a week.  About a dozen galleries open up late and offer  wine and tequila etc. as you stroll the streets going from gallery to gallery.  Only problem was that there was a freezing wind and we were all hunkered up in our light jackets trying to keep out of the cold.  Forget the iced Kalua.  Where’s the coffee shop? 
   We also went down to downtown Cabo and jostled our way around the docks amid the tour hawkers to check out the fancy yachts and the waterfront scene. About every 5 feet someone would try to hustle you onto their boat to go fishing, snorkeling or to sight see the famous rock arch.  It didn’t take long before we wished we’d had a sign around our neck that said “No fishing, no arch, no tours, no gracias!)  Exhausted, we got out of there pretty fast. 




One hiking adventure was with Anne, a friend of Julie Jonas’ from Alaska.  She and her husband John live here in LB in the winter and fish in Alaska in the summer (as do a lot of people we’ve met here).  She invited us on a hike in the mountains along an old cobblestone road going from one village to another and back, about 8 miles.  When we arrived for our halfway lunch stop in El Trifino, an old silver mining town, we went to the single cafe and found a Canadian film crew working on a movie out front.  There were trucks filled with costumes and equipment and lots of people walking around with radios and earphones etc.  We never did see the m actually filming, but it was kind of fun to take it all in.  

  Our last weekend in Los Barilles we got to view the beginning and end of the Baja 300 car race.  The race went 300k or 180 miles through the back roads and arroyos around the southern cape and started and ended for the first time in LB.  The staging area was at the big hotel in town and there were several hundred participants (almost all Mexican) with a variety of vehicles... fourwheel quads, motor bikes, VW’s and souped up fancy race cars. It was fun to watch them get ready, the drivers and co-drivers climbing into their one piece suits (and helmets with attached filtered air hoses.... many of the cars didn’t even have windshields). Having prayer circles with all the mechanics/helpers dressed alike, giving each other big abrazo good luck hugs, all with the concofany of noise from unmuffled race cars.   When the race started we viewed them a few other places: at the starting line where they left at one minute intervals and a blast of sand and noise;  at a turn heading out of town where they had to cross the highway (everyone holding their breath as the normal traffic on the highway was, hopefully, stopped by flaggers between the race cars crossing)  Up high on a bluff as they zipped to the finish below, and again as they entered town after crossing under a finish arch.  We rode our bikes back to he staging area and watched some of the celebration, but soon realized as the beer was flowing that we didn’t really want to be out on the roads after too long.
Getting ready for the Baja 300
At the starting line of the Baja 300
Drivers in ready to go


   So now we have started our exploration in Los Fariles bay, 20 miles  and a long gravel road south of Los Barriles. We are camped in an arroyo with some other gringos, a fish camp of Mexicans and a bay with several yachts moored every night.  It is a simpler life here, off the grid. The people seem a little hardier than the 4 wheeler retiree crowd in  LB.  We like watching the ocean and the boats and the birds looking for a snack as the fishermen come in.  We’ve been watching the whales migrate by and yesterday had a good show with a mama and baby Humpback whales doing some breaching tricks in front of the bay.

So we’ll be back with you as our adventures unfold and we find internet connection. For now, we wish you well and an early spring!