February 28 to March 2, 2008

Slow Wi-Fi in Mulege.  Will attach photos later.

February 28 to March 2, 2008 ( first half of weekly entry )

Estero Beach, Baja California to Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico

 

Thursday ; Estero Beach to San Quintin ( pronounced "Keenteen" )

Today was another beautiful day. It felt cold after the sun set, due to the wind blowing in off the ocean. We're dry camped / "boondocked" on a beach.

This morning we departed from Estero Beach resort & RV Park in 2 groups. The first group of six rigs pulled out at 8:10 A.M. and the second group of five rigs pulled out at 8:40 A.M.. We were at the back of the second group. My preferred position is at the rear of the group. In our group are seven Class A motorhomes, one Class B motorhome / van conversion ( Erbon and Lorraine ), two travel trailers, and us in our fifth wheel. We find it unusual that there's only one fifth wheel in a group of eleven RV's. The group is comprised of seven Americans, three Canadians, and one couple from Britain. We continued south on Mex 1, the only main road in the Baja.

The wildflowers were blooming. Very lovely ! We passed through some agricultural land, but mostly through the foothills of lush, green mountains. As we were leaving from our second Lenny break of today, my trailer brakes were seized and I couldn't move. The rest of the group left, and the "tailgunner" stayed back with us to help me resolve the problem. The group is led by a "wagonmaster", the couple who own the caravan company, and followed by a tailgunner, their eldest son. The tailgunner is responsible for ensuring nobody gets left behind by the group, or strays off from the group by making a wrong turn or getting lost. He also stays behind with any vehicles with problems, and helps resolve whatever the problem is. I quickly ascertained that my seized brake problem was insignificant. The trailer's brake safety cable had become wedged underneath one of the fifth wheel hitch's legs. Initially we couldn't get it unstuck. I had to lower the front jacks of the trailer to raise the trailer's weight off the hitch in the bed of the truck, then pull the stuck cable out from underneath the hitch leg where it had wedged. A simple problem, and a simple fix, and we were back on the road about 15 minutes behind the rest of the group. We caught up to them before reaching our destination for today.

We stopped for the night at ElPabellón ( The Pavillion ) RV Park on Playa ( Beach ) Santa Maria on Bahía Santa Maria, an unserviced beachfront RV park just south of the town of San Quintin. We parked our rigs beside sand dunes. The wide, soft, white sand beach was on the other side of the dunes. Upon arrival one of the heavy Class A motorhomes sunk up to its axles in the soft sand. It took Dustin, our young tailgunner over an hour to dig it out. The owner of the rig declined my offer of pulling him out with our truck, which is quite capable of the job. He was concerned that the front of his expensive motorhome might sustain damage if I pulled him out of the sand with Lanoire. So he let young Dustin dig him out. I sure hope the < ahem > gentleman gives Dustin a huge tip at the end of the trip !

At 5:00 P.M. we had a Margarita party followed by a potluck hors d'oeuvres supper. The caravan company owners / wagonmasters provided the Margaritas. Joanne contributed pistolettes, a Cajun recipe from Louisiana. They were a huge hit ... thank goodness. When she served them at a potluck in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island 2 ½ years ago, they flopped. The campground owner provided a pot full of fresh home made tamales. Afterwards we had a campfire. Everybody except Dustin, me and Teddy returned to their rigs quite early. Teddy loves campfires. I sat at the campfire chatting with Dustin, with Teddy tucked inside my sweater, just his head sticking out, getting his face and ear tips warmed.

 

Friday ; San Quintin to Cataviña ( pronounced "Kataveenya" )

It was a sunny hot day as we drove across the Baja Badlands. The desert scenery was the most spectacular we've ever seen. We saw a variety of desert plants and cacti that only grow in the central interior of the Baja.

We departed El Pabellón this morning in the second group of the caravan at 8:30 A.M.. Our regular tailgunner Dustin was the second group's wagonmaster and Joanne and I were the tailgunners. After two days of driving Mex 1 everybody's driving skills have improved considerably. Mex 1 is 19 feet wide. Each lane is 9½ feet wide. When our big RV rigs meet an oncoming big RV, or more frequently a big tractor trailer truck, the mirrors on each vehicle miss by inches ... if everybody drives well. We have to squeeze over to the very edge of the road. There are no shoulders at all. NONE ! And the road usually drops off at least a few inches to the desert beside the road. I think everybody in the caravan has dropped off the edge of the road at least once. I did it once today ... my first time. At best, there is a high risk of tire damage when that happens. At worst, pulling a large motorhome with a toad, or a large truck and fifth wheel back onto the road at highway speeds can result in a lot of swinging and swaying. Very dangerous !

Mex 1 turned inland from the Pacific coast and we entered the Baja Badlands desert. We saw Cirio ( Spanish ) / Boojum Trees ( English ) which only grow in the Baja Badlands. They look somewhat like giant, upside down, fuzzy, green carrots. We saw Cardón cacti, a cactus that looks somewhat similar to Arizona's Saguaro, but grow only in the Baja Badlands. At our "Lenny break", I took a lot of pictures. We reached our day's destination shortly after passing through the town of Cataviña. We stopped for the night at Rancho Santa Ynez, a working desert ranch with a small unserviced campground. After getting settled in the campground and having a late lunch, our caravan company's owners, John and Becky, and their son Dustin, took us on a trip to hike to a cave with ancient paintings inside. Since Dustin was bringing his dog Lobo ( Spanish for "Wolf" ) we decided to bring Bo. We drove a short distance, parked, and hiked up the side of a mountain. Well ... whenever we've seen such attractions as ancient cave paintings, or some other historical / significant area, it's usually been within the well defined and well developed confines of a national park or something similar. This cave filled with paintings was out in the middle of nowhere, near nobody, in the outback of the Baja Badlands. No signs telling us where to go. No parking lots. No ice cream stands nor water slide parks nearby ! It was an interesting but strenuous hike up to the cave. One at a time we each climbed inside this small cave, lay on our backs, looked at and photographed the paintings. The cave was perhaps 10 feet by 5 feet, 3 feet high. I wonder why some Aboriginals would lie on their backs hundreds of years ago painting pictures on the roof of this cave using dyes made out of plants ? ! ! Bo had a great time hiking up and down the mountain, off leash, running with Lobo.

After we returned to the ranch, we had an authentic Mexican ranch dinner prepared for us by the ranch / campground owner's wife and daughter, in their small restaurant. The little building had a thatched roof, made of palm fronds. As the sun set, we heard the sound of a generator starting, then the restaurant's lights went on. Oh yeah ... there's no electricity in the central interior Baja. And no fuel. We're in the middle of the infamous 200 mile long "Baja gas gap". The dinner was okay, but it stunk. When it arrived, one had to overcome the odour of the fresh goat's cheese shredded on top. Once we began to eat it, it was fine.

We had "special visitors" in the campground tonight. Mike and Terry Church were there. They joined our group for dinner, and afterwards for a campfire. Mike and Terry are friends of the caravan company owners, John and Becky. They are Escapees. And they are travel authors. They have written seven books, all of them travel guides for RV travelling / camping. We are using their "Camping Mexico's Baja" book as our "bible" for this trip.

I befriended the ranch dog. A non-descript, medium size, brown, short hair dog with pit bull lineage. Pretty much the same as most Mexican dogs. She was ... skinny ! I fed her quite a bit of Bo's food. Joanne said that if I'm going to be feeding every Mexican dog that crosses my path, we have to buy some cheap dog food so that we don't run out of Bo's food while we're down here. Mexican culture / attitudes towards dogs is very different than in the United States and Canada. Dogs are skinny ... very, very skinny ... roam freely, do not go into the houses, are often flea infested, etc.. I let the skinny, cold, ranch dog sleep on one of our folding chairs, beside the trailer, with the warm furnace exhaust blowing on her. She was an ugly mutt, like most Mexican dogs, but she was sweet.

 

Saturday ; Cataviña to Guerrero Negro ( pronounced "Goorrerro Naygro" )

Today was sunny and hot, a bit windy when we got to the town of Guerrero Negro. This morning we departed Rancho Santa Ynez at 8:00 A.M. and continued south on Mex 1 for a long day of driving across the Baja Badlands. Same spectacular scenery as yesterday. We crossed from the Mexican state of Baja California ( implied Norte / North ) into the state of Baja California Sur ( South ). The time zone changed from Pacific to Mountain. Mex 1moved slowly back towards the Pacific coast. We passed through a military inspection point. Some of the group, including our rig, were carefully and thoroughly inspected by young, armed soldiers. Just outside the city of Guerrero Negro we stopped to refuel. The largest, heaviest, most expensive rig of our group sustained a damaged wheel well at the service station. When he drove over a grate in the concrete beside the fuel pumps, the grate flipped up and ripped his fiberglass wheel well moulding. The owner was not very happy ! This trip is not going well for him. That was the rig that sunk in the sand the other day.

After refuelling we had to stop at an immigration office and fill out some forms before being allowed to enter Baja California Sur ( B.C.S. ). We also passed though an agricultural inspection station where all fruits and vegetables from "Norte" had to be discarded, and our vehicle tires were sprayed with a pesticide, for which we had to pay 20 pesos. In the city of Guerrero Negro, we got settled into the Malarrimo Hotel / Restaurant / RV park. Joanne went sightseeing / bird watching with Lorraine, Kevin, and Sandra to the estuary. I worked around the trailer, refilling our fresh water holding tank, dumping our grey water waste holding tanks, resetting all clocks and watches, and working on my journal entries and photos. I was feeling pretty tired from a series of very early mornings ( for us ) and stressful driving on narrow Mex 1.

At 6:30 P.M. we had our daily group meeting in the Malarrimo Restaurant, followed by dinner. The Malarrimo Restaurant has the reputation of being the best seafood restaurant in Guerrero Negro, and one of the best in all of the Baja. I had fresh Pacific Yellowfin Tuna broiled in a herbed garlic sauce, topped with a Dijon mustard sauce. It was quite superb, yes ! After supper I tried using the Malarrimo's Wi-Fi, quite unsuccessfully. I was online for just a few moments.

 

Sunday ; Laguna Ojo de Liebre

I TOUCHED A WHALE !  I was one of three members of our group who managed to touch a whale on our whale watching expedition today.

Guerrero Negro is a "company town". Its name translates as Black Warrior. It was the name of a whaling ship that sank nearby a couple of hundred years ago. The town grew up in the early 1970's to support the large sea salt production facility on the shoreline of Laguna Ojo de Liebre, which translates as Eye Of The Jackrabbit Lagoon because of what the lagoon looks like on a map. Amongst the gringo crowd, it's also known as Scammon's Lagoon, named after a whaling ship captain from San Francisco who "discovered" the lagoon and its huge quantity of whales. From January to March each year, the grey whales come into the lagoon to give birth and nurse their young before heading for the long journey back to Alaska.

This morning our group went in a small bus to Laguna Ojo de Liebre, about half an hour from Guerrero Negro, for a whale watching eco-tour. We got into small pangas ( fishing boats ), each seating nine people, and headed out into the lagoon. It was about a 20 minute journey by panga to the grey whale breeding grounds. At this time of the year, the mother whales are teaching the babies to swim, so sometimes both mother and baby are visible near the surface. It took our boat driver about half an hour to locate a pod of whales, but once he did, we had frequent sightings for two hours. It was amazing ! We all got covered in stinky whale snot from when the whales surface right near the boat and expel air and water out their blowhole. We saw one whale actually bump a nearby boat. The whales surface slowly near the boat, blow out their blowhole, roll over, stick their hump back out of the water as they begin to roll downwards to go deeper, and if you're really lucky, they stick their trademark fluked whale tail straight up into the air. I shot 36 photos, until my camera's memory was full. Thirty-five were crap. But I got a whale tail picture ! I touched a whale ! I had to plunge my arm into the water up to my shoulder to do so, but I touched a whale ! I'm now a member of a somewhat elite fraternity of whale touchers ! ! ! We saw the whales breach, coming ¾ of the way out of the water, rolling over, and splashing back down with a huge splash. We saw them "spy hop", sticking their heads vertically out of the water, opening their eyes, and twisting around, looking. The babies are old enough to swim on their own now, so we didn't see any mothers surface with their babies on their backs.

Once back at the town of Guerrero Negro, we walked over to a fish taco truck to have fish tacos for a very late lunch. I had a taco de pescado ( fish taco ) and a taco de camarón ( shrimp taco ), both intortilla harina ( flour tortilla ), as opposed to tortilla maiz ( corn tortilla ). Very good ! Especially piled up with toppings of guacamole and pico de gallo. We walked over to the town's Mercado ( grocery store ) and did some grocery replenishment, including buying some Mexican products that we've never seen before. A cajeta flavoured milk drink, a cajeta flavoured powder to mix into milk ( like Nesquick ), a walnut flavoured powder to mix into milk, and locally produced sea salt. Back at Malarrimo RV park we used our Wi-Fi phone to phone our sisters and tell them that I touched a whale ! We went into the hotel's gift shop and I bought a t-shirt that says I touched a whale ! HA HA HA HA HA !

DSK