The Tortuga has landed (for a while)

Los Barriles (the barrels?)

We’ve arrived at Los Barriles on Sunday (Dec. 12th) and have settled into an RV park in the middle of town for a week.  There were two other choices of camping places, one in a very crowded trailer to trailer park and another at the “North Beach”, which was a bit more primitive right on the water (and right in the wind). Los Barriles has lots of windsurfers and kite boarders because, well, there’s a heck of a lot of wind here when it blows.   Anyhow, for now we’ve opted for the RV park, with the pretty landscaping, the pool and the hot tub and a bunch of other older Northerners.  (OK, maybe we are showing our old age, but hey we also ge hi-speed internet from our Tortuga here).  My vision of what this winter would be like is changing rapidly.  Baja (at least the part we can get to in Tortuga) is full of gringos and seems to lack the definite Mexican culture that we experienced on the mainland last year.  The Mexican people in this town are very friendly and seem to be accepting of the Gringo invasion. They smile and wave as they drive by in their pickup trucks and are very cordial in the stores etc.  The restaurants in Los Barriles seem to cater to the gringos and rarely do we see the Mexicans going out to eat. It helps to speak Spanish, but most people who hang around the tourist services also understand English.  There isn’t blaring music, or public markets, or dance/music street performances like we’ve seen in cities all over Mexico last year. I think that this “frontier” of Mexico is much more laid back, very safe (so far) and much more full of visitors.  So this winter’s stay could be more like living in a beautiful, warm climate in say, a border town Arizona.  I guess that isn’t all bad, it’s just different than we expected. 

(IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE PICTURES BELOW ENLARGED, CLICK ON THE PHOTO)

First order of business, a haircut from mom

   We picked Tyler up at the San Jose Del Cabo Airport on Thursday Dec. 16th.  He is joining us for 10 days over Christmas Holiday. When Tyler was 10 years old, we traveled the USA in a motor home just like Tortuga for 4 months(many of you will remember.)  Now Tyler is 6’2” and he takes up a bit more space.  He has to sleep at an angle on the couch and his feet stick out into the driver’s side, but so far he is doing OK.  He is happy to be somewhere that he can wear shorts and can get away from his math studies for a while (although his is reading a physics book for fun!)  We will probably travel around the southern tip of Baja while he is here for some adventure, although he is enjoying the hot tub here so far :-) 
 We are starting to get to know Los Barriles a little better (6 days here now).  I have run into  friends from Stevenson Washington, Linda and Mike Hunter, at an art festival our first day in town.  Linda is also in my plein air  painting group in the Gorge, so  we’ve already gotten together to paint one day. We are hoping to meet a few times a week to paint.  There are a few other artists in town, but as of yet, I don’t  know if they are into painting out.
I’m seeing that that is how I’ll be spending a lot of my time.  Tom is doing a lot of reading.
There really isn’t much to Los Barriles.  It has one main street with a few stores, banks and several restaurants and taco stands.  We did go to an open mike music gathering the other night and will probably be meeting more people as time goes by here.

Tyler at our pad in Los Barriles

 

Would you like a sample of rum?

One more tale before I go: On our way to pick up Tyler, we stopped into the Cabo Costco to pick up supplies for Ty’s visit.  As we were walking around, it felt just like the Costco in Portland with free samples (and American prices).  But when we got to the liquor section, where lots of older gringos wandered around on canes and baskets full of alcohol, we found the free samples that you wouldn’t find in any Costco in the US.... little plastic 1 oz cups of rum and tequila. (Oh yes, I think I’ll try that one now, yes, and that one, too) Yahoo!  Now that’s what I call shopping!