March 3 to 5, 2008

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

March 3 to 5, 2008 ( second half of weekly entry )

Guerrero Negro to Mulegé

 

Monday ; Guerrero Negro to Mulegé Today was sunny and warm. This morning we departed Malarrimo's RV Park in Guerrero Negro at 8:00 A.M. and continued south on Mex 1. We drove a lot of miles today, and all the drivers are fatigued from the challenge of driving narrow Mex 1 for 5 of the last 6 days. But I've noticed, since we usually bring up the rear, that most of the drivers' skills have improved since we started. Most, not all ! Some of them are still regularly dropping off the right side of the road.

Mex 1 crossed the Baja today southeast, from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf Of California / Sea Of Cortez. Just before we arrived in Mulegé ( pronounced Moolahay ) we saw the Sea Of Cortez for the first time. On the northern edge of the town of Mulegé we turned off to Hacienda de la Habana ( Havana House ) RV Park & Restaurant, commonly called Ray's Place. Ray is from Cuba. It's a nice RV park, especially by Mexican RV park standards, which are very different than in the U.S. and Canada. We all got parked and set up in our sites, then had our daily group meeting. We were originally scheduled to be here for 2 nights, then move 20 miles south for 3 nights of dry camping / boondocking on a beach on the Sea Of Cortez. But the winds are forecast to be quite strong starting in a couple of days, and lasting for a few days. We decided as a group that we would prefer to spend 5 nights here at this serviced RV park, rather then spend 3 nights without services on a windy beach. We'll visit the beach on day trip outings.

Almost everyone in the group went for dinner to Ray's Place Restaurant. Joanne and I had dinner at our rig. Ray's Place Restaurant was closed today, but he agreed to make dinner for our group, serving Blackened Yellowtail, a local fish prepared the Cajun way. Joanne doesn't particularly like most fish dishes. And if I wanted Cajun food, I'd go to Louisiana. We would prefer to go to Ray's Place another night, and order from the menu.

I was a bit behind in some work I had to get done, so I spent the evening working on the computer. I had a backlog of about 100 photos taken over the last 3 days to process. My whale tail photo is now my new computer desktop background.

 

Tuesday ; Mulegé

Today was another lovely, sunny, warm day. Our group's plan was to sleep in a bit this morning, and depart at 10:00 A.M. for a day in the town of Mulegé . It was a good thing that I didn't sleep late this morning, because I ended up having to do a repair on the trailer before it could be unhitched from the truck. It took me over an hour to do the repair. I couldn't lower one of the front jacks to raise the trailer to unhitch it from the truck. A shear pin had come out. I found the shear pin and, after some difficulty, got it reinserted. I'm not completely confident that I've reinserted it in as far as it is supposed to go. I'll watch it closely for awhile, and redo the repair if necessary.

We went to town as a group. Becky and John guided the group to a lavamatica / laundromat, then gave us directions to where we were to meet for lunch. Joanne and I, and Erbon and Lorraine, wandered around town, sightseeing, stopping to browse and shop in grocery stores and candy stores. I bought some chocolate bars ( Yippee ... Coconugs ). Joanne bought some fresh produce. I wandered around town for an hour and a half with the Wi-Fi phone continually seeking an unencrypted Wi-Fi signal so that I could pay my U.S.$ MasterCard bill by phone. That's the only bill that I can't pay online. When I finally found an unencrypted Wi-Fi signal right near the restaurant where our group was meeting for lunch, I phoned BMO to pay the bill. Their computers were down and they were telling all "phone banking" clients to call back again later. I was really miffed ! Since I had a good Wi-Fi signal right near the restaurant, I let members of our caravan group make phone calls home using my Wi-Fi phone. We had a great lunch in a little taco stand restaurant. I had Mixtas. Joanne had Quesatacos.

After lunch we walked back to where the truck was parked near the lavamatica, and drove beside the Santa Rosalia River to the beach on the Sea Of Cortez on the edge of town. We walked around briefly. Lorraine waded in the Sea Of Cortez. Some men drive their big trucks into each new body of water they come to. Some men make their wives wade into the cold water. HA HA HA ! We drove back into town and went in search of two RV parks we wanted to check out, for consideration for our return trip. We found the first one we were interested in, Villa Maria Isabel RV Park. It was very nice. We were interested in it because it has a bakery. Then we found the Hotel Serenidad, which has a small RV park on its property. Our interest in the Hotel Serenidad was their Saturday night pig roast with Mariachi band performing. The RV park wasn't as nice as Villa Maria Isabel, but the restaurant, courtyard, and swimming pool were very attractive. We made a reservation for four, for the Saturday night pig roast and Mariachi band performance, for Saturday, March 22. The Hotel Serenidad has its own gravel air strip. Before the Transpeninsular Highway ( Mex 1 ) was built in the early 1970's, the rich and famous movie stars of the 50's and the 60's used to fly down in their private airplanes to the Hotel Serenidad for some private, peaceful, rest and relaxation.

We drove to the Misió n Santa Rosalia on a hill overlooking town. It's a church built in the mid 1700's, and there are great views of town and the surrounding valley and mountains from behind the church. Erbon and Lorraine viewed Magnificent Frigatebirds soaring overhead and "fishing" in the river below. That was a new and unexpected bird viewing for them. We drove back into town to pick up their laundry at the lavamatica. Here in Mexico, in most of the lavamaticas, one just drops off laundry, and it is washed, dried and folded by the laundromat staff. We walked around town a bit more, stopping to buy a cup of cajeta ice cream at an ice cream stand. Finally ... Joanne gets her beloved cajeta ice cream. We finally figured out that cajeta is caramel made with goat's milk.

We returned to Hacienda de la Habana. Joanne and I visited with Kevin and Sandra ( CB "handle" The Limeys ), comparing our whale pictures. Sandra took many more whale photos than I did, but I got the one really good one ! We barbecued supper, then I downloaded and processed today's photos.

 

Wednesday ; Playa Santispac

Today was sunny and hot. A perfect day for the beach. This morning there was some confusion about whether we were leaving for the beach at 9:00 A.M. or 10:00 A.M., and whether we were to bring a picnic lunch, or drive into town for lunch. The group decision making has become somewhat "fluid". That's okay ... it fits in with our wagonmasters' advice at the beginning of the trip to consider this a trip into "Flexico". Joanne and I, and the Limeys, Kevin and Sandra were ready to depart at 9:00 A.M. with picnic lunches prepared. The Limeys and we are the most inclined to break away from the group, so we decided to leave, and let the rest of the group catch up to us an hour later. We drove about 12 miles south on Mex 1 to Playa ( Beach ) Santispac on Bahí a Coyote within Bahí a Concepcí on. WOW ! Emerald blue clear water, white sand beach, brilliant sunshine !

We wandered around the beach. At the end of the beach near an estuary there were two couples from Washington dry camped on the beach, along with their three Jack Russell Terriers, and a Jack Russell / Chihuahua cross that they had rescued / adopted on another beach a little further south, three days ago. We had allowed Bo to be off leash, since we were on a fairly deserted beach. Bo saw the other four dogs, ran over, they all greeted one another, then Bo promptly lifted his leg and peed on their tent ! Since they had four male dogs, the people were all very understanding and forgiving. Within five minutes of our arrival, Bo had peed on somebody's tent, ran into the Sea Of Cortez, drank salt water, and rolled on a dead fish on the beach. Within another half an hour, he had stumbled into the muddy hot springs near the mangroves beside the beach, and was muddy right up to his eyeballs. Are we having fun yet, Bo ? ! ?

While Joanne, Erbon and Lorraine went on a hike to the muddy hot springs, guided by Dustin, I went wading in the shallow, warm water on the tidal flats / estuary leading into the mangroves. Lobo and Bo went on the hot springs hike. After I had been wading on the tidal flats / estuary for awhile, Bo came running around the mangroves, having decided to return from the hike on his own. He was covered in mud, up to his eyeballs. I found out later from Joanne that he had stumbled into the muddy hot springs. No problem, he came wading out into the shallow water of the tidal flats / estuary, swimming when he had to because the water was too deep for him to touch bottom. He certainly is one fearless little mutt !

We had our lunch under the shade of a thatched roof palapa on the beach. Vendors wandered by occasionally, selling jewellery, blankets, and wood carvings. A boat with a few fishermen / divers pulled up on the beach with their day's catch of scallops.. My goodness, what incredibly huge scallops. They were the size of oranges ! Members of our group quickly bought up the fishermen's entire day's catch, paying 100 pesos ( approximately U.S.$10 ) for a large bag full of scallops. I wandered back over to the shallow tidal flats, to watch the people from Washington catch clams. They taught me how to catch them, and how to cook them, so I caught myself a couple of dozen clams. Dustin says they are called butter clams. I wouldn't know a butter clam from a margarine clam. HA HA HA !

Kevin and Sandra are travelling with a couple of kayaks. Kevin invited me to go out kayaking. With Kevin in one kayak, and Bo and me in the other, we paddled around the bay we were in, around a large rocky point, and into another large bay. We could see different colours of tropical fish in the crystal clear waters. In the second bay, there were starfishes. In shallow water, I managed to reach over far enough to pick one up. Kevin was concerned that I was going to tip over the kayak, but I didn’t. I placed the starfish on the bow of the kayak, to take it back to show the others. Bo stood up on the bow of the kayak, very interested in the starfish that I had placed there. His standing on the bow made the kayak rather unsteady, so I made him come back down between my legs in the kayak. We’re a great combination in a kayak. A fearless dog, and a non-swimming, stupid man. HA HA HA !

Around 2:30 we left the beach to drive back to Mulegé . Our wagonmaster had arranged for a local organic vegetable farmer to have freshly picked vegetables for sale to us at 3:00 P.M.. We bought a lot of really nice, fresh vegetables, incredibly cheap. Joanne and I drove back into Mulegé . I wanted to get online and pay my U.S.$ MasterCard bill, and Joanne wanted to buy a bit of groceries. The Wi-Fi connection I was "stealing" was extremely poor today. I was on hold with BMO for 20 minutes until I got an agent, then he and I had to repeat everything we said to each other multiple times to be understood. But I got the bill paid, and that relieved me of some stress, for sure.

Back at Hacienda de la Habana, while Joanne put away the fresh vegetables and other groceries, I put my clams out to soak in sea water and cornmeal, following Dustin's instructions. Apparently clams under the sand will continually take in and expel grains of sand, so this will allow them to expel thesand that is in them and replace it with cornmeal over a period of six hours or so. I'll cook them for supper tomorrow. As the sun was getting low in the sky, Joanne and I went to soak in the swimming pool for awhile, watching the sun set.

What a great day to be alive !

In the evening we were invited over by The Limeys to have a British beer and see the photos Sandra took of me and Bo kayaking. HA HA HA ... what a fun loving little dog !

DSK