March 6 to 12, 2008

March 6 to 12, 2008

Mulegé to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Thursday ; Today was sunny and hot, with a bit of a breeze blowing late in the afternoon.

This morning we departed for an expedition to see prehistoric cave paintings in one area, and petroglyphs / rock carvings in another area, done by Cochimi Indians. We heard an "estimate" that they were 5000 years old, but that doesn't sound right to me. Dustin had hired a local guide to lead us. The cave paintings are in an area restricted by the government. Entry is only allowed when accompanied by a licensed guide, and a fee must be paid. We were somewhat stunned by the difficult access. We drove 12 miles through the desert on a dirt and rock trail. It took an hour to drive the 12 miles ! We understood then why our wagonmaster was organizing "car pools" this morning, taking only the biggest trucks and an SUV. As we drove along this extremely rough dirt trail, I occasionally had to lean out the window to ensure that I didn't scrape Lanoire's rear dually "hips" on large boulders. At one point when I was doing that, I noticed that I was passing a hub cap, just as the rear wheels drove over it. Hey ... that was a Dodge hub cap. Hey ... that was a Dodge one ton hub cap. HEY ... WAS THAT MY FRONT WHEEL HUB CAP ? ? ? When we got to the ranch where we parked our vehicles to go on the hike up to the cave paintings, I saw ... damn ... that was my front hub cap. I guess I had knocked it off against one of the large boulders.

We hiked for about an hour through a canyon to get to the cave paintings. It was a very difficult hike. Two members of our group could not make it and dropped out part way. After viewing and photographing the prehistoric cave paintings, we hiked back to the ranch where we had parked our vehicles, and ate our picnic lunches. Then we set off for the next part of today's adventure. We drove for about another 12 miles, another hour, to an area where there were prehistoric petroglyphs / rock carvings high up on the walls of a steep cliff. On the way there, Dustin found my crushed hub cap on the side of the road, picked it up, and returned it to me. It's quite damaged, but perhaps I can salvage it. If not ... guess I'll have to buy a new hub cap. We parked, then hiked for 15 minutes or so through an arroyo ( dry creek bed ) to the cliffs. It was hot, and dusty. We admired and photographed the petroglyphs. I decided to sit under a bush, in the shade, and have a drink of water. OW OW OW OW OW ... I sat on a segment of a cholla cactus that had broken off and rolled / been blown under the bush. Some members of the group had a great laugh, and wanted to take photos of the piece of cholla cactus embedded in the seat of my pants before Joanne pulled it out. After having my butt photographed, and Joanne carefully plucked the cholla segment off, I walk off into the desert to find some privacy to reach inside my pants and underwear and gingerly pull out the cholla quills stuck in my ass. OW !

We hiked back to our vehicles, and drove back to our camp. About another 12 miles, and about another hour. We stopped to look at, and pick up, some little round gourds we saw growing on vines on the ground in the desert. Becky looked them up in her nature book. They were a type of wild melon that grows in the Baja desert, called Coyote Melons. Back at Hacienda de la Habana, I noticed that at some point today, I had lost Señor Caballero. Señor Caballero was a little rubber Saguaro cactus with a smiling face and a cowboy hat, stuck on my truck antenna. I guess he got knocked off by one of the many low hanging Palo Verde branches that we drove under and through today. Darn ... a crushed hub cap, cholla in my ass, and Señor Caballero was gone ! Maybe there's some merit to the theory that problems come in threes. HA HA HA ! I guess today just wasn't my day.

As soon as we got back to the trailer we took Teddy and Bo for a walk. Dustin's dog Lobo, a pit bull cross about ten times the size of Bo ran over and sniffed Teddy. Bo lunged, snarled, and snapped at Lobo. HEY ... DON'T SNIFF MY CAT ! Stupid little terrier has such strong possessive and protective instincts ! Once again, as the sun set, we went and floated around in the swimming pool. I asked Joanne to prepare Fettuccine Alfredo for supper, so that I could cook the butter clams I caught yesterday, and add them to my Fettuccine Alfredo.I cooked them, loosely following the directions I had received. They were okay. I guess I'm not much of a mollusk fan. Good thing I had caught three dozen of them. There wasn't that much meat in each of them. I fed one to Teddy. He tasted it and spit it out. Guess he’s not much of a mollusk fan either. HA HA HA ! I spent the evening gettingcaught up on processing of photos.

 

Friday ; Today was another beautiful, sunny, hot day. We decided to take a "day off" and get caught up on some errands. While Joanne slept late, I puttered around with minor maintenance. I attempted to repair my crushed hub cap and reinstall it on the truck. Well ... I repaired it as best as I could, and reinstalled it on the truck, but I expected it might not stay on for very long. It was bent and cracked, and wouldn't snap into place very tightly. I repaired the little exterior light fixture that's under the front overhang of the fifth wheel. It's there to provide light when accessing the front trunk of the trailer in the dark. A lot of fussing and fiddling seemed to solve the problem. I guess that there was so much desert dust inside the light fixture housing that the switch contacts were coated in dust and unable to make good electrical contact.

We drove two miles into the village of Mulegé . By the time we got there, I had lost the damaged hub cap. Adiós ! We got haircuts ( cortes de pelo ) and I got a beard trim ( recorte de barba ) at Estetica Roxana on the edge of town. We drove into town to where I knew there was an open access Wi-Fi signal and parked. While I worked on the computer, Joanne went grocery shopping. I got most of the online work done that I needed to, although I was unsuccessful in uploading photos to my blog update. Not enough bandwidth on the signal I was using, I guess. When Joanne returned to the truck, she used the Wi-Fi phone to phone her sister. We returned to Hacienda de la Habana, hitched the truck to the trailer, and spent the remainder of the afternoon in the swimming pool.

When we had arrived here a few days ago, Joanne asked Ray, the Cuban owner of the campground and restaurant, if he would prepare a Cuban meal for our group. Tonight he did ! When Joanne asked him a few days ago to prepare a Cuban dinner for us, I unfortunately had a bit of a brain fart and forgot to mention that I am unable to digest pork because of my ulcerative colitis. DUH ! So, of course, he prepared a pork meal. I had to select something from the regular menu. I had a very nice steak. Oh, well. It was a very nice meal, even if it wasn't Cuban. Joanne said the Cuban pork dish was very good as well.

 

Saturday ; Mulegé to Loreto

Today was sunny and hot. This morning we departed Hacienda de la Habana at 9:00 A.M., drove through the town of Mulegé, and stopped at a Pemex station on the south side of town on Mex 1 so that everyone could refill their fuel tanks. Refuelling eleven rigs is quite a time consuming ordeal. We continued south on Mex 1, passing many gorgeous beaches along Bahía Concepción, all with RV's boondocked on them. We want to boondock on a Bahía Concepción beach on the way back north. Joanne and I played tailgunner on today's drive. Dustin was either ill, hung over, having a family feud with his parents, the wagonmasters, or all of the above. When we reached the town of Loreto, we drove through town to Loreto Shores RV Park. The rigs were brought into the park and positioned in sites one at a time. I don't understand how it could have possibly taken so long to position the ten rigs in front of us. Caravan travel is a lot of "hurry up and wait". I'm certain this will be our first and last journey by caravan.

Loreto Shores RV Park is on the Sea Of Cortez waterfront, but the beach isn't great. It's rocky and slimy. We quickly got set up in our site, had lunch, and by the time we were finished, the caravan's daily meeting was just finishing. Thanks a lot, folks ! Erbon and Lorraine had initially offered to drive us back into downtown Loreto in their RoadTrek so that we wouldn't have to unhitch, but Erbon was feeling ill and they decided not to go into town after all. I napped. Joanne did laundry. I worked online. I tried to fix a problem that one of our caravan's members was having with his computer. I failed.

Yesterday in Mulegé Joanne had purchased some chorizo pollo / chicken sausages that she cooked for supper tonight. Worst sausages we've ever had. They were like spicy sawdust !

 

Sunday ; Loreto to Ciudad Constitución

Today was sunny and hot again. We departed Loreto Shores RV Park in Loreto this morning at 8:00 A.M.. Joanne and I both slept poorly last night, and feel very tired today. Loreto is a noisy town. Or at least, Loreto Shores is a noisy RV park. The town seems to be filled with free roaming Mexican dogs who bark incessantly. And roosters in pens that crow incessantly. And traffic noise. We drove though town back to Mex 1 and headed south. We drove about 100 miles to the city of Ciudad Constitución, through the city, and to Palapa 206 RV Park at Mex 1 mile marker 206. Hence the name. Joanne and I were the tailgunners again today. Dustin had left the caravan to lead a returning caravan back to the United States. Joanne has become quite proficient at the tailgunner role, keeping the whole group advised by CB radio about traffic coming up from behind us and passing. And coordinating the passing vehicles around the next 2 rigs in front of us, driven by the 2 members of our caravan who are still struggling with Mexican roads and drivers.

Once we were all set up in our sites, and the toads ( motorhomes' towed vehicles ) were unhitched, everybody headed into town to replenish groceries at Super Ley, the new, large supermarket in Ciudad Constitución. We went with Kevin and Sandra, "The Limeys". My, what gorgeous pan dulce / Mexican pastries. I bought way too many, of course. I guess I'll just have to eat them quickly. HA HA HA ! I hadn't seen such nice Mexican pastries since ... well ... the United States. HA HA HA ! After returning to Palapa 206 RV Park and putting away our groceries, we joined Kevin and Sandra on an adventure to explore the nearby village of Puerto San Carlos on Bahía Magdalena on the Pacific coast, about a 45 minute drive to the west. Puerto San Carlos is a fishing village with a large fish processing / canning factory. We wandered along the beach for awhile. There were fishermen wading out in the shallow water of the bay, pushing or pulling some sort of a cart that looked similar to a floating wheelbarrow. We think they were fishing for / collecting abalone.

We returned to Ciudad Constitución and Palapa 206 RV Park in time for our second last daily meeting. Tomorrow after we arrive in La Paz the caravan disbands, except for those that are returning with the caravan company wagonmasters. We're going to be travelling independently after tomorrow. After the meeting I wandered around the campground, looking at the resident young goats and peacocks. Bo was very uncertain about meeting the goats. He alternated between wagging his tail and sniffing them, as he would do when meeting another dog and being friendly, and barking ferociously at them, as if they were an animal that he should attempt to chase away. Poor, confused Bo. He had never met goats up close before. In the meantime, I had left Teddy outside our trailer in his tent. I looked back when I heard Joanne outside the trailer shooing something away. Three peacocks had wandered over to our trailer and were very curious about Teddy in his tent. HA HA HA ! I didn't think that peacocks were much of a threat to a cat in a tent, but Joanne wasn't so sure.

 

Monday ; Ciudad Constitución to La Paz

Today was sunny and hot. Our planned departure time this morning from Palapa 206 RV Park in Ciudad Constitución was supposed to be at 8:00 A.M., but at 7:45 A.M. our wagonmaster was calling us on the CB radio asking us if we were ready to go. Everybody else was ready, and he seemed in a rush to get started. I guess he was eager to be rid of all of us. I don't blame him ! We continued south on Mex 1 all the way to the city of La Paz. Joanne and I played tailgunner again today. We stopped just before entering La Paz and everybody refuelled < sigh >. We passed through another military inspection station as we entered La Paz. We found our way to RV Casa Blanca. It's quite a nice RV park, by Mexican standards, right in the city. As soon as everybody was set up in their sites, we had our last caravan meeting. Adiós, mi amigos !

We had lunch, then set out for a day of exploring La Paz. Kevin and Sandra ( The Limeys ) have decided to travel with Joanne and me, and Erbon and Lorraine, for the next week or so. Our wagonmaster had strongly recommended against driving our own vehicles around La Paz, for a variety of reasons. The six of us took a taxi to the malecón ( waterfront walkway ). We wandered downthe malecón for awhile, admiring the waterfront scenery, browsing at some beach side vendors, taking photos, eating ice cream, and enjoying the sunny afternoon. We walked "inland" from the waterfront for a few blocks, then followed along a major street for awhile, browsing and sightseeing. Late in the afternoon,once we were all feeling a bit tired, we took a taxi back to our RV park. As the sun set, and it began to get cooler, we met beside the swimming pool and had a travel planning meeting, figuring out where to go, where to stay, and what to do for the next 2 weeks.

 

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and hot. It was the first real "rest" day we've had in a couple of weeks. We slept late. We did things slowly. I discovered 2 leaks in my 20 foot sewer hose. I patched them. I probably won't find an opportunity to replace the hose until we return to the United States in about 3 weeks. I haven't used the 20 foot sewer hose recently. In most campgrounds I've been using our 10 foot sewer hose.

After lunch we went for a long walk with Bo around the neighbourhood. We are in a residential neighbourhood that seems to be a bit more affluent than average, for Mexico. We are across the street from a hospital, and there are many medical clinics nearby, so perhaps we're seeing the more affluent homes of doctors and other medical personnel. Most of the homes were behind locked gates. Each yard had a dog, some large, some small, that barked ferociously as we walked by with Bo. When we returned to our RV park, we spent some time lounging around the swimming pool. I read, then napped. It's nice to be able to resume my "normal" routine. Late in the afternoon, after Kevin and Sandra had returned from their day at the Immigration Office making arrangements to be allowed to stay in Mexico until September, our group of 3 couples met around the pool for a bit of a "natter". HA HA HA ... we are slowly adopting British terms that Kevin and Sandra use. We are all having fun trying to decipher one another's language peculiarities. I think Sandra is still wondering what I was talking about when I was explaining that I'm not using my "wodder heeder" ( Canadian pronunciation of "water heater" ) on electricity, I'm keeping it on the propane function setting.

Of the eight rigs of our caravan that arrived here yesterday, four left this morning. The remaining four, including our new travelling group of three rigs,are leaving tomorrow. This afternoon a large caravan of RV's arrived, crowding this RV park. They have already been around the southern loop of the Baja that begins / ends in La Paz, and they are heading back north already. The caravan company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and many of the group are Canadians. It’s obvious when a very well groomed Golden Retriever walks by with a large, plush, stuffed reindeer in its mouth that it’s a Canadian dog, not a Mexican one. HA HA HA !

 

Wednesday ; La Paz to Cabo San Lucas

Today was sunny and hot. Our day did not go as planned. And I had an "off" day. And I was very crabby ! I'm not sure which was "chicken" and which was "egg". My crabbiness was attributable to a number of things. So, of course, I felt it was ... well, at the very least, justifiable. My travelling companions would likely not agree.

We departed RV Casa Blanca this morning, drove through and out of La Paz, heading for the villages of Todos Santos and El Pescadero. Just outside La Paz, we stopped at a propane refill business so that I could refill a propane tank. It took a great deal longer than I anticipated. If I had known how long it was going to take, I wouldn't have bothered. And while the man refilling tanks was able to make change for the 4 or 5 Mexicans in front of me waiting to have their propane tanks filled, miraculously, after filling my tank, he was not able to make change. I'm getting rather tired of the ongoing attempts by Mexicans to rip off gringos whenever and however they can. I understand that it's a part of their "culture", but that doesn't mean I have to like it ! And by the time we had left La Paz, and I got my propane tank refilled, I had committed two traffic violations. That didn't improve my mood at all ! Mexico has some unusual traffic regulations, and it's easy for visiting gringos to run afoul of them.

A short distance south of La Paz, the road splits. Mex 1 runs down the east side of "The Cape", along the Sea Of Cortez to Los Cabos ( Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo ). Mex 19 runs down the west side of "The Cape", along the Pacific Ocean to Los Cabos. Mex 1 and Mex 19 form a loop around "The Cape". We wanted to visit the small, artsy village of Todos Santos. The nearest campground was in the nearby village of El Pescadero. We drove through Todos Santos, and just before El Pescadero we stopped on the side of the road. Kevin and I jumped into Erbon's van, and we drove into El Pescadero to check out the campground, listed in our guide books as "big rig friendly". Not ! There was no way either our rig or the Limey's was going to get in there. We returned to where we had left our rigs and wives on the side of the road, and discussed our options. With more angst than was necessary, we made a decision, and then had lunch on the side of the road. I never was fond of decision making by consensus.

We decided to just continue heading south all the way to Los Cabos, and visit Todos Santos as a day trip from La Paz when we return to La Paz after completing The Cape loop. We drove to Cabo San Lucas and found our way to our RV park, Villa Serena. There were 2 caravans already in the RV park. There was only one vacant regular serviced site. Kevin and Sandra got the last regular serviced site available. The park squeezed the Dickinson's RoadTrek into a little corner "overflow" site that they fit into. And they squeezed us into a little narrow space between a wall and the laundromat. We plugged into an electrical outlet on the outside of the laundromat, and connected to a water spigot beside the laundromat. We have no sewer service. Hopefully, tomorrow a regular site will become available. And despite the less then ideal conditions of our site, the park refused to discount our rate ! Hey ... just another opportunity to rip off a gringo !

After settling into our sites, such as they were, we met for a "Happy Hour" hosted by Joanne and me, on the very lovely patio area of the RV park. We munched on tortilla chips and Joanne's excellent guacamole, and drank some of the "Mexican eggnog" I had purchased in Los Algodones. I tried, but mostly failed, to shake off my crabbiness. We took Bo for a long walk around before supper. As Joanne was preparing supper, Kevin came over to tell us that while walking around the campground, he and Sandra had noticed a lovely, vacant site. It's typical Mexican efficiency for the front office to be unaware that there actually was another vacant site in the park, and stick us in an alleyway ! I guess we'll be at the office first thing tomorrow morning to arrange to be moved to that vacant site.

Kevin and Sandra, and Erbon and Lorraine, came over to our trailer to visit for the evening.

Did I mention that I'm in a bad mood ? ! ?

 

DSK