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!