Day 26 Getting to know the locals

True to his word, Juan made breakfast. Now this place is not advertised as a bed and breakfast but we don't want to argue. A couple from the states that moved nearby stayed the night and remained for breakfast.  Eric and Lillian work remotely and have moved to Baja full time. 

They could not quite make it home last night where their house is 2.5 hours drive and so ended up at the same place as we did, 4 Points RV Park in Ciudad Insurgentes. Juan's breakfast was just too much to resist so they stayed and chatted. 

After breakfast while Juan's son, Antonio, played with the dogs, Juan worked on getting the tire removed, repaired, and replaced on our motorhome. A misty rain just barely made the ground spotted with raindrops. 

Before long, the tire was off, Juan called a friend to come get the tire, and he took it, repaired it and brought it back in no time. The dogs were getting worn out by this active 6 year old and settled on their beds but not before they were subject to the creative design of the resident boy.

Antonio did a good job of keeping the dogs out of the way of his dad working.

After all was repaired, it was time for dad to take Antonio for a ride on the ATV.

Then, Juan's Dad Pedro, gave us a tour of his farm and house. He has 200 plus chickens and numerous goats as well as a captive child. .

Pedro was such a welcoming individual. He said that he and Juan and Antonio are our Mexican family. Yes, we think so too.
The goats are so gentil that they loved being held.

Pedro gets milk and meat from the goats and eggs and fryers from the chickens. I am not quite sure what product he gets from the captive child.

 Soon Juan was cooking again.

 This time kababs. Pedro entertained Antonio and soon another van with  3 people from North Carolina showed up. Pedro saw them on the beach this morning and told them that they should come by. So they did and we enjoyed talking and getting to know them. More food and beverage was consumed, laughter, games and more entertainment for Antonio. 

We eventually moved over to the palapa where the fire pit was and talked about our history and adventures while listening to music. The sun began to set leaving the sky in a pink hue. And surprisingly, a cool evening had formed. The decrease in temperature signaled that we needed to return to our warm abodes.

Comet always has a top row seat.

Day 25 Cabo Pulmo to Ciudad Insurgentes 400 KM

We had a wonderful breakfast with our dear friend, Randy before starting the trek home. We had a perfect week in Cabo Pulmo. So many special memories we will hold on to and we look forward to returning next year. We already have plans  to get together with Randy and Kim when they return to Oregon for the summer in June.

Snorkeling with Janice yesterday was a dream. It's was absolutely magical! Hopefully, we can find a spot to snorkel on our way back home. 

We headed into town and Janice hooked up the Honda to the motorhome while I walked to the little souvenir shop to pick up a magnet and a couple of much-needed t-shirts 😉. On my way back I ran into an old friend, Penny Consuelo, the beach dog. When Janice saw us walking to the motorhome she exclaimed "Oh No! .

Unfortunately we noticed the tire we had gotten repaired in Bahia de Las Angeles was low on air so we got out our compressor and blew it up now that we are officially certified to take the hubcap off of the motorhome. ( See Day #9 blog post)

We headed down the dirt road for 25 km before hitting pavement for the first time in a week. It was fun to be on the road again. The road was good except going through the mountains was slow but we talked, listened to music and Janice  caught us up on the news from her phone.

We stopped in La Paz to get some supplies. When we checked the tires we saw that it was still holding air but it had a big scrape on the side from a pothole or when I pulled over on the dirt road to avoid getting clipped by another vehicle. We Googled to find some tire shops Lanterras, they are everwheredown here) on the way out from La Paz. Unfortunately, they all closed early because of it being Easter Eve. We decided to chance it and drive 2 and a half hours to the 4 Point RV Park in Ciudad Insurgentes where we knew our buddy Juan would help us.

We got there right at sunset. Juan came out and greeted us and said he would be happy to help us in the morning. Janice made burritos and I made margaritas and Juan, his Dad, Pedro, and Juan's 6-year old son, Antonio joined us. Juan brought the firepit into the large palapa and a couple of his friends joined us and the party was on. Tomorrow Juan is going to make breakfast and we are going to pressure wash the salt from under the motorhome and fix the tire. We couldn't feel more welcome and grateful.

Day 24 Snorkling, second attempt

I woke just after sunrise and since we were not going snorkeling until 10, I thought I would get some birding in. I found a fairly active spot nearby and started to get some birds I hadn't seen yet. An indigo bunting, pyrroxia, and surprisingly, a Bendire Thrasher. My picture is not so good but the Merlin App identified it. (Apparently Merlin misidentified this and it was a cactus wren singing and likely a Gray Thrasher that I spotted. Guess I will never know. I did see a Gray Thrasher yesterday)

I also got a black throated sparrow. Good one for me. 25 species without the ocean birds which is pretty good. 

I headed back to camp just in time for breakfast. Our timetable for snorkeling got moved up and I had about 10 minutes to get ready. 

Kasey brought his own wetsuit, but I had to get one from the guideshop. They gave me one that I held up and knew it was too long but she had gone to help a family that just arrived. I went in to the bathroom and slinked into it. I tried to smooth the extra skin but there was just not enough leg to take up the extra. When I came out, another one one of the guides said that I had it on backwards. No one told me the zipper went in the back. Kasey's was in the front. Plus, they said it was too big. So back to the changing area I went and wiggled out of the old one and into a new one. Finally, We were all suited up and hit the water.

It was a gorgeous day. No wind and it was warmer. A family from San Diego joined the trip. The 3 daughters ranged from 6 to about 12. The middle daughter had the most fun I think. Conditions were.great. We saw an amazing variety of fish in all colors of the rainbow. Some were even florescent. Schools of fish seemed to be everywhere. And single grazers poked along gleaning from the coral. Some fish seemed to specialize on gleaning off of other fish. We spent quite a bit of time in the water and it was magical watching the show. Large fish seemed to be more solitary except when it came to the Jack fish. Thousands of them school together in a slow moving nearly synchronous motion. None of the fish seemed weary of us. Before we knew it, time was up. 

Town was very busy for tiny Cabo Pulmo. Easter Week brings people out to remote places. 

Back at camp we did a few chores. Randy wanted fish for dinner so he headed off and came back with fresh snapper. We whipped up some mashed potatoes and green beans and had a nice meal. The fish was the best I have tasted. 

After dinner we decided to wait up for the scheduled rocket launch. We would still be waiting had we not discovered that the launch was postponed.Tomorrow we start making tracks north so we have to leave the place we have been for a week. The longest that we have stayed in one place since a month ago. 

Day 23 Another Glorious Day in Cabo Pulmo

I woke up a little before 6 and the Boys and I quietly tumbled out of the motorhome. I wanted to go up on the bench overlooking the ocean to catch the sunrise. It was truly a moment of Zen.

Janice made coffee and we sat outside in the beautiful campground. We watched the birds and Janice took some pictures of the flowers. Our host, Randy Webb, came over and we had a great conversation about the work we are doing with Umpqua Watersheds. We told him about the Umpqua Outback Project and he listened enthusiastically, and gave us some ideas about the stage and the mural. He is an architect and an artist. He and his wife Kim, , who had to fly back to Oregon for a couple weeks, have a very successful architectural business  and it was interesting talking to him about their projects. We have become fast friends. It is quite amazing they live less than 2 hours away from us when they are home.

The groundkeepers daughter, Alexandria, is 6 years old and has been helping me with my Spanish. She is really sweet and I know she and my granddaughter, Alice, would have fun playing together.

Janice, The Boys and Dude, the Campground dog took a long walk on the beach. The water is crystal clear and there is no trash on the beach. Even though this week is a holiday in Mexico there aren't many people in Cabo Pulmo. It seemed like we had the whole ocean to ourselves!

We took a birding and botany hike at 4:30. We walked right by the place we got stuck in the sand in the motorhome. Janice and I expected our guide, Fernando, to mention the episode in broken English, "Some Americanos decided to go sandskiing in their motocasa and got demselves  atascado (stuck). Fortunalmente, Fernando didn't mention it, probably because he suggested we camp there!

It was a fun hike. We got home and Randy had grilled hamburgers. Janice brought out some side dishes and we enjoyed our meal, laughing and talking about our experiences. It was truly an amazing day.

Day 22 A day of exploration and innovation

Today was mostly relaxing and catching up on a few little things. Our hosts, Kim and Randy, were leaving for a while and would be back, eh, whenever. They took Dude with them. 

Since I was feeling better, we took a walk on the beach. There is no one around and the dogs always enjoy it.

Tad's new girlfriend, the little Shephard looking dog that has seemingly adopted us, stayed back to guard the motorhome. I was hoping that she would be gone when we got back because Tad REALLY likes her and he can be resourceful. He has even learned to open the screen door. Kasey likes the little bitch, but I am not too fond of her. Sure, she is cute, but obviously looks can be deceiving. She got into a really vicious sounding tussle with the campground dog, Kim and Randy's dog Dude earlier. Kasey says that Tad has named her Consuelo.

At least we had a break from her so Tad could give his brother some attention.

The campground, The Last Place, is well taken care of with lots of flowers. Even our short walks around the yard are enjoyable, except when I brush one of the multitude of thorny things, then a few choice but short words emerge from my mouth. The whooly mammoths we brought with us seem to gather a sampling of the available prickly products dotting the landscape. 

I learned the hard way to always wear shoes, even inside. 

After our walk we did laundry and reassembled the tow bar. We removed it during the rescue mission. It was not helping. We discovered our connector for the tow bar dislodged from the bumper and so we set to work to reattach it. 

We checked the lights and all are good! A few tasks done and we set out exploring more in the Honda. We drove south toward Cabo San Lucas. There are a lot of places for sale and the pressure to develop is immense but the locals are fighting it.

We saw crested Caracaras and a baja whip snake. This is near the National Park where fishing is not allowed. 

We drove all the way to Santa Barbara. No not the one in California, the one in Baja California. A much smaller town. Actually, not even a town. More like a house or two. The road is pretty washboardy and narrow in places. Construction of these back roads must have consisted of a road grader cutting down into the surface to a hard pack layer. The result is a road lower than the surrounding terrain wirh mounds of soft soil lining the outer edges of both sides of the road.

When there is opposing traffic, you may need to drive up on the side where the soft sand is. Hold off as long as possible so as not to spend too much time in the soft stuff. Every so often there are "topes" or speed bumps. Don't be in a hurry. 

On the way back to camp, we stopped for more beach fun and to give the dog that thinks she has been adopted time to realize that we are gone, that Dude is gone, and she should go back to town to get something to eat. 

No one but us! 

We started to get hungry, which we were hoping the dog, that won't leave, was also getting hungry and had given up on us. 

We arrived back at camp and did not see her. But soon the little varmint that likes to beg and jump on you, came trotting up to us. Even though we clearly asked her to go away, she was sure we were just kidding. 

We decided to go enjoy the pool and that is when we hatched the "How to ditch a dog you don't own or want" plan. 

We had to talk quietly because she listens to every word and we are not sure if this is HER plan all along.

Kasey would take dog food and walk back to town with said dog in tow. He would wait for me to drive in, then distract the unwanted guest with some vittles and jump in the car for the get away before she knew what happened. Sort of the opposite of a kidnapping plan.

Our little plan worked but we were sure she would be right back. So far, she has not come back. Hah, we outsmarted her.