Cataviña

As we neared Cataviña on our way north, the sun was getting low in the sky and turning the hills such a beautiful color! We had driven all the way from Bahia Concepcíon that morning and pulled into an RV park off the highway in Catavińa just as it was getting dark. It was so still and quiet. Another family pulled in around the same time and so of course we got to talking with them. We'd hardly met any other traveling families during our time in Baja. They were also from Oregon and had two boys. I pulled out a package of glow sticks and the kids had a blast racing around and playing while the adults visited. It was very cool compared to the weather on the beaches further south, and the sky was dark and sparkled with stars. We saw several meteorites streak through the sky that night. 

I lived in the High Desert of California for four years when I was a teenager, and ever since I've not been particularly fond of deserts in general. I'm glad we gave this one a chance! It is a truly beautiful place with its rugged hills and rock piles. 

Just north of Cataviña, we stopped to see some cave paintings left by the people who originally dwelled in this area. I can hardly imagine living there now, let alone back then. This is really a "middle of nowhere" place! Thankfully we didn't see any snakes, although the sign warned of them.

We saw about a jillion cardón cacti during our jaunt through the Baja, but I never saw another quite like this. Usually they grow straight and tall, their many arms reaching for the sky. This one was gnarled and twisty.

This unusual plant is a cirios, or "Boojum" tree. This is El Valle de los Cirios, and they grow abundantly in the region. They look like something straight out of a Dr. Seuss book, and we must not have been the only ones to think they were rather fantastical, as the English name of Boojum comes from a Lewis Carrol poem, The Hunting of the Snark:

 `But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day,

        If your Snark be a Boojum! For then

   You will softly and suddenly vanish away,

        And never be met with again!'

It was such a beautiful, clear day to be on the road!

 

Following the trail up to the cave. When I was just a baby, my Dad brought back pictures of a trip he took with my great grandfather in Baja. They too had explored and found cave paintings. Although these aren't the ones they saw on that trip, I felt like seeing this was part of my family legacy, something I wanted to pass on to my own kids.

The rock formations were pretty amazing! How did that get there? 

Found them! Poppy showcases some markings on the rocks.

You had to crouch down to get inside the cave, which was at the top of a hill. From within, the inhabitants would have had an excellent view of the surrounding area while remaining hidden themselves. There must have been a water source nearby as a few palm trees grew around the base of the hill.

A happy little Pearlie in the cave.

More interesting rocks next to the cave.

I was always amazed at the lines and layers in the rocks. 

Do you see the cave? It's up there in the center of the picture, although the entrance is so low it's not really obvious that it's there! 

Loreto

Typical Baja scenery, although we were told it was unusually green due to heavier than normal rains in the previous months.  

I was amazed at the beauty of the rugged mountains and desert flora.

We spent one night in Loreto on our way back north. It is a really nice, small town that feels warm and inviting, not overly touristy. I would have been happy to spend more time there. As is typical, the town square had a large bandstand and the kids took the opportunity to run and play on it.

 

The church in Loreto was one of the first in Baja and a base for further mission work by the priests who settled there. We took the time to explore the museum adjacent to the church. Reading about the history of the mission and how the Spaniards treated the native peoples was pretty disgusting to me. It seems that when faith gets mixed with political gain and power hungry governments nothing good can come of it. It ends up being such a perverse and distorted version of the Gospel of Christ, becoming the opposite of Him.

In spite of that, the mission churches are beautiful to walk through.

This ended up being the only family picture we got of all of us while we were Baja! We even got the shadow of the guy who was taking it. He was such a sweet man, so friendly and encouraging to us about our family. 

Oh, and this... our other family picture. In which we're very, very tall.

The center of Loreto is beautifully maintained. And I did have the old cowboy song going through my head the whole time we were there. (As I went out in the streets of Loreto...) Different Loreto, I'm sure, but it's a catchy tune.

We came upon a big enclosure with a peacock and his peahens, such pretty birds.

We found a little taco stand and enjoyed the fresh veggies that were so nicely presented. The tacos often just come with meat on them and then you get to fix them just the way you like. Yum!

Loncheria "Mary". I think the cook was very pleased that we were pleased.

As I walked out on the streets of Loreto... see, that song is stuck in my head again. Uh, as we went out on the streets of Loreto we found the town square being decorated for Christmas and the people preparing for some festivities that evening. It turned out to be a nice little town celebration featuring performances by several groups of school children, who'd obviously practiced and were very excited. The most memorable was a group of young girls dancing to the Spanish pop version of The Little Drummer Boy. I'm pretty sure I can't begin to do justice to it, but let's just say that the point of the song may have been lost on the dance. 

Playa Tecolote

 

    As we made our way back north, we spent a few nights boon docking at Playa Tecolote. It's one of the few beaches where RVs can park for free and is a beautiful place to camp. The water is a gorgeous  turquoise blue and across the channel is Isla Espiritu Santo, where we'd had such a wonderful time a few days prior. There were a couple of restaurants, one that made the delicious marlin escabeche we'd enjoyed on our boat outing. Erik and I bought some and had a "date" after the kids were in bed one night. We sat outside eating a late dinner and watching the stars. There was no moon that night and we saw meteorites streak across the Milky Way. It was amazing, the stars so bright and twinkly, all quiet but the sound of the surf. I think I will always remember the beauty of that night! 

    

    We had a really hard day with Peregrine while we were camping here. I don't remember now what it was over, but he was having a rough time. A woman who was camping nearby came over and talked with us for a while, having heard him screaming and carrying on. (It turned out she has a grandson with Asperger's.)  Before we left she came again and said that she wanted to tell us that she sensed so much love in our family. It blessed me so much, because she'd witnessed one of the harder moments, watched me dissolve into tears during our first conversation, and yet she could tell that underlying it all was love. That is my hope and prayer, that we are growing together in love, that it's what people see in us, and that it's what we will recall when we look back on these times. 

    One other thing I will remember about this beach were the piles of seashells the kids collected as we walked. Little hands overflowing, collecting just one more treasure. There was one particular kind of shell here I didn't see anywhere else. It's iridescent and ranges in color from white to yellow to papaya, most being a sunny yellow. It is small and delicate, with fluttery looking edges that remind me of a fairy wing. I picked up several of them, and then the kids realized I liked them, so they and Erik would come back from walks with hands full of fairy shells for mama. I came away with a pile of them, beautiful gossamer treasures from the sea. I will treasure most, though, the memory of time spent enjoying a beautiful place together.

Sunset walks, pink reflected in the water.

Typical of Baja, rugged mountains rise just beyond the beach.

Can you ever see too many sunsets? 

I never tire of watching the pelicans soar above the water, then one after another dive straight down, fishing for their supper. They bob gracefully on the water for a moment before rising to do it again. Beautiful.

One evening we drove to nearby Ballendra Bay, where the kids had fun playing in the sand and walking way out into the shallow, calm, clear waters of the bay.

Beware the sand zombie!

Handsome happy little boy. 

Poppy Joy.

One morning we watched this bird wade in the water right behind our trailer.  

Cabo Pulmo

This was one of my favorite pictures from our trip. 

  While we were in La Paz we read about an organic farmer's market in Cabo San Lucas and decided we'd make an excursion south. I was overall pretty disappointed with the quality of food I was able to find in Baja and was excited to find some fresh organic produce, ranch eggs, and other goodies. Our drive around the cape proved to be different than what we expected but we were glad we made it all the way down the peninsula! We drove through Todos Santos, reputed to be Baja's "art colony" and decided not to stop. What little we saw looked pretty touristy, but I've been told I'd love it if I gave it a chance. If we're ever in the area I hope we can stop and explore it a little more, but on this day we chose to keep on going. 

    

    As we drew near to Cabo San Lucas, the view was beautiful. The Pacific stretched out to the right as far as we could see and I even spotted a spouting whale! But much of the coastline was filled with large estates, expensive hotels, condos, and golf courses. The city itself was full of American restaurants and big box stores. We drove on through to San Jose del Cabo, where we hoped to spend the night and attend the market the next morning. What we found is that almost all the RV parks have sold their land to big developers and been closed. We did find one that wanted to charge so much we decided to skip it altogether and just keep driving. After a grocery store stop that included popsicles, we drove about an hour north up the eastern side of the peninsula to La Ribera where we parked for two nights. While there, we drove south a little to Cabo Pulmo, one of few places in the area that has a coral reef. These pictures are from that outing.

    

Erik put in a lot of hours behind the wheel, driving us all the way from Oregon to Cabo San Lucas and back! He is an excellent driver and did a great job pulling our trailer on roads that are often steep and winding. 

I was happy to see a growing awareness about recycling. Judging from the trash piled behind the bins though, I think it may take a while to really sink in! 

Peregrine and Erik were able to do a little offshore snorkeling. Unfortunately the water was pretty rough so Peregrine wasn't able to go out very far. Erik saw a sea turtle, which was pretty exciting! I tried to go out but didn't feel comfortable swimming alone with the surf the way it was. 

It was a truly beautiful place. We had fun exploring rocky areas along the shore and enjoyed a picnic lunch. The kids chased crabs and dug in the sand. It was a windy day and because I didn't feel too hot I ended up getting more sun than I should have. 

Pearl inhabited a hole that one of the other kids dug in the sand. 

The kids had their very own clubhouse in the tower that was right above where we spent the day. They had so much fun climbing up and down, making passwords for their secret society, and acting like they owned the place. (And I tried not to worry about them falling off the ladders.) 

Isla Espiritu Santo

    While we were in La Paz, we decided to splurge on a boat trip out to Isla Espiritu Santo. We weren't sure we should spend the money and I was also a little hesitant about how our kids would do on a long  boat ride. A few months prior, Poppy and Raphael had been quite adamant they didn't want to ride a boat, but we'd done a little kayaking with them at Bahia Concepcíon and they'd both enjoyed it. Raphael, however, didn't want to go out into deep water so I was really not sure how he would do. In the end, I'm so incredibly glad we went for it. It ended up being the highlight of our trip and the kids all had a fantastic time. It's definitely a day that will live long in our family's memory!  

    A walk along the malecon the previous day brought us into contact with different outfits selling boat rides. We ended up choosing a smooth talking guide named Mario. He'd lived in the US and spoke excellent English, which was a plus. He also seemed very knowledgeable about the history of the island and the ocean creatures we hoped to see. They booked a boat just for us, and that ended up being  really nice. We left La Paz around 9 in the morning and should have been back by 4:30 or 5. As it turned out, it was much later. Things often don't go the way we think they're going to! Read on...

I was relieved as we started out that the kids seemed  comfortable being on the boat. Even little Raphi was fine as we got into deeper water. Not too far out, whale sharks were spotted so we stopped to snorkel with them. Snorkeling is one of my absolute favorite things to do, so I was pretty excited. Erik and I took turns getting in the water with whatever kids wanted to come in. Peregrine and Erik went first, and you can see Peregrine in the above picture, and the shark's fin to the right of him. They were probably about 15 feet long and it was really neat to see them up close. Anytime we were in the water our guide got in too, staying close by and pointing out interesting things we may have missed. After a while Poppy and I got a turn to get in. I wasn't able to get very close to the whale sharks, as you have to swim around to stay close to them and Poppy couldn't really keep up. Regardless, it was  neat to be in the water with them, and special to be snorkeling with my girl! Raphi also got in for a few moments. I was so proud of them. I don't think I would have jumped in the ocean with anything called a shark when I was a kid! (Whale sharks are filter feeders and don't pose any threat to humans. But still.)

We didn't get any good pictures of a whale shark up close, but here's one from the National Geographic website I linked above. Somehow neither Erik nor I brought our camera with us, (I know, what were we thinking?), and we only had Poppy's camera for the day. Most of these were also taken from a moving boat on less than calm water, so they're not the best, but they're what we got. Erik actually toyed with taking another boat tour just so he could take photographs but we never did that. 

While we were happily swimming with whale sharks, our captain realized something was wrong with our boat. We lost time having to be towed back to shore and change to a different one. We ended up on a bigger boat with a different captain, Loreto, and as our guide Mario, whom we'd spoken with the day before. With all that settled we set off once again. We were delighted to spot mobula rays breaching, leaping out of the water and appearing to "flap their wings". Our next stop was Playa Tecolote, where we stayed in the boat and Loreto and Mario picked up lunch for us at a little beachside restaurant. The color of the water was an amazing aqua, and I was so excited for what lay ahead. From Tecolote we had to cross a channel and Mario warned us the water might be a little rough.

We weren't able to go to the eastern side of the island as it was too windy and Mario kept stressing "safety first". We rode along the eastern side, which is more sheltered. The coastline was amazing, dramatic fingers reaching down into the water forming beautiful turquoise bays. The island is really two separate pieces of land, the larger being Isla Espiritu Santo and the smaller northern one Isla Partida. Apparently pirates used to use hide their ships on one side and come through the small channel.

Image Credit: 

NASA/GSFC/METI/Japan Space Systems,and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team 

At the very northern tip of the island there is a cave of sorts and Loreto showed off his skill by maneuvering us through it in spite of the somewhat choppy water. It was only a little unnerving! 

North of Espiritu Santo is Los Islotes, a Sea Lion rookery. Here the sea lions come to give birth to and raise their pups. Being from Oregon, I have seen many sea lions and honestly I didn't think it would be a big deal to see a few more. It was, however, really neat to see them so close, especially so many babies sunning themselves on the rocks. We also got to get in the water and snorkel with them and it was really fun to watch how playful they were underwater. There was other sea life too, lots of brightly colored fish and Mario even pointed out a moray eel! Peregrine has caught my love of snorkeling and was absolutely enthralled with his glimpses under the sea.

Baby sea lions on the rocks.

There was so much guano on this little island!

One of the day's highlights for certain smallish people among us was the cooler full of soda  that was brought along. Our kids very rarely get to drink soda, and so it was a treat. While I was waiting on the boat with the younger kids, Raphi worked up the nerve to ask for a soda. Then he got one for Poppy. He was quite determined to ask for one for me as well and it was hard for me to convince him I really didn't want one. 

Poppy and I with the sea lions.

After our swim with the sea lions we went back to the island and had lunch at Playa Ensenada Grande, a gorgeous little beach. Mario and Loreto set up a small table and umbrellas, then set out the lunch we'd picked up earlier. There were sandwiches for the kids, white bread with ham and cheese. I think they were right up there with the sodas as exciting treats! For the more adventurous palates, there was ceviche and marlin escabeche, which was quite possibly one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. The kids had fun wading in the shallow, calm water for a while before we headed out again.

Mario pointed out many interesting things as we went along. This rock formation is known as  The Mask, and was supposedly used for sacrifices. The island was at one time inhabited. There was only one or two sources of fresh water, and surprisingly they were a long way from where there was a small village. Today there are only a few fishing families who are allowed to make their home on Isla Espiritu Santo.

This tree is known as the Medusa due to its womanly shape and wild, snaky looking "hair". It's a type of wild fig and was growing gracefully on a cliff. 

The island was formed by volcanic activity and there so many fascinating rock formations. These ones looked like honeycomb.

Peregrine was in his glory the entire day! He absolutely loved being on the boat, swimming, snorkeling, and spotting sea life. He said he'd like to be a boat tour guide when he grows up and I can totally see him doing it. Having a captive audience who actually want to listen to him talk about something he's interested in? Right up his alley.

The island was simply amazing. Erik really regrets not bringing his camera. 

I love watching pelicans. There's something so beautiful about them!

More amazing layers of rock, volcanic ash and lava, golden in the late afternoon sun.

Uh-oh. More trouble. In the late afternoon, when most of the tourist boats had already headed back in, we stopped to snorkel one more time. Because we'd lost time in the morning, we were behind schedule. This time our motor wouldn't start because the battery was dead. Thankfully there was still one other boat nearby, and we were there for quite some time while they helped us out. Finally we were able to get the motor started and begin the hourlong journey back to La Paz. The other boat was going back to a different place, but they stayed nearby as long as they could to make sure we were doing okay. The last half hour or so we were on our own. 

There was a beautiful sunset as we made our way back to La Paz. I was a little nervous as grew darker and we had no navigation lights on the boat. There was a large flashlight, and Mario stood up and held it from side to side as we went along. Loreto slowed down when we were in the vicinity of the whale sharks, and Mario explained that if we happened to hit one at that speed, "it would not be good." I think that was supposed to make me feel better? The kids did great through all of this. In fact, I was so proud of them throughout the day. They all had great attitudes, were pleasant and excited and obedient. They did things I would have been scared to do when I was a child. They didn't complain even when the day grew so long and it was dark and cool. We were relieved when we finally got back to the dock around 6:30 or so, and Mario called a taxi to take us back to where we'd parked that morning. It was an amazing day, one we will remember happily! I'm so glad we did it.