mulege, BCN

We spent the entire morning in San Ignacio, walking around the plaza; walking around the center of town (well, in actuality, that would be the plaza and about 2 blocks surrounding it); walking around the iglesia (1768 church).  I spotted a tortilla factory and thought the kids might enjoy watching the tortillas made.  When Jesse figured out that these were his much preferred "harina" (i.e. WHITE flour instead of mom’s WHEAT flour ) tortillas, he was quite excited to buy some.  I coached the boys on the phrase to use, about 5 feet away from the window where you buy them; the ladies heard the entire conversation.  Jesse found the entire phrase "una docena de harina, por favor" too long so we split it up; Jesse practiced the "una docena de harina" and Pike practiced the "por favor".  We did this over and over and over until the boys felt comfortable with their lines and could remember them.  I sent them over to the window (the ladies and one customer had been watching and listening with much interest the entire time) and after they repeated their lines, one lady responded to him with a couple sentences and I could see his eyes glazing over.  It immediately sunk in, what she had said to them, and I doubled over in laughter; the customer was laughing and both ladies were laughing.  Clear as day, written over the window the boys had used to try to purchase "harina" tortillas was the sign "MAIZ" (corn).  In Mexico, tortillas are made of either corn or flour, which is why the phrase I taught them was to ask for a dozen of FLOUR.

I looked to the side, where one lady had pointed and saw the window designating "HARINA".  The poor boys thought everyone was laughing at them and they needed a lot of reassurance to understand that it was MOM’S mistake; not theirs.  The recovered, and dutifully (by now it was absolutely not necessary, but so cute to see them do it) went to the right window (same lady) and asked for a dozen.  Jamie quickly put to eating the entire dozen and they got to practice the phrase again, when they purchased a second dozen.  By then, Jesse had memorized the entire phrase and didn’t need Pike’s input, but he offered it just the same.

We left around 2pm (the absolute latest we’ve EVER left camp) and Jamie was really loathe to leave.  He found San Ignacio absolutely charming and thought we’d never see anything as cute as it.  I knew, from the towns I’ve been to in South America, that San Ignacio was really an ugly little town (by COMPARISON; it is not an ugly little town) with a pretty church compared to the colonial towns in Mexico.  I don’t think he believed me, but wanted to get the kids out of the mud.  I was concerned about the trip ahead; I’d heard so very many horror stories about "la cuesta del diablo" (the road to hell) and that the road was literally liberally littered (you’d think I could find another "L" adjective) with crashed cars - IF you could see thems down the cliffs you were traversing.  Perhaps I shouldn’t admit it, to keep my road kharma to a positive balance, but the road was really not that bad.  There was a terrific dropoff from the desert with a grade that I wouldn’t want to know the % of, but I simply put the van in 2nd gear and down we went.  It levelled off soon enough and that was that.  No more narrow than the roads we’ve already been on, but I was hating the guardrails.  They seemed to make the road even more narrow by taking away any real estate available on the edges of the roads.  There was very little oncoming traffic though (and NO caravans!!!) so that made it much easier.  We decided not to stop in Santa Rosalia but to leave it for a daytrip from Mulege.  From the Transpenninsular, it didn’t look all that inviting anyway.  Dusty, dirty, and without character.

The trip down the "road to hell" was incredible, however, coming from the flats of the desert though an incredible gorge down to the sea; it was absolutely spectacular scenery and road.  We followed the Sea of Cortes (so nice to see it again) for a nice ways.  Once past Santa Rosalia I spied gorgeous green sea flanked by white sand beaches and noticed signs for RV parks.  I asked Jamie if they were in "the book" (the Church’s book) and as he said no, we passed on by.  It looked paradisaical, almost Caribbean in the beauty.  We arrived easily and quickly enough in Mulege (well, actually, just outside Mulege) and parked at the Villa Real park.  After forking over TWENTY TWO DOLLARS (since they gouge you if you pay with pesos), the kids found the (FREEZING COLD) swimming pool and absolutely, positively, HAD to swim.  Sissy actually immersed herself but the boys wouldn’t go under until Jamie dared Pike to and went as far as to pushing Jesse in.  He may burn in hell for that if Jesse has anything to say about it. 

I had been ready to go to town for a number of hours, and as the sun set, the kids finally decided they would get ready to go.  We headed in at dark and immediately found a taqueria which has risen to the top of any list we might have.  Fish is very lightly battered and incredibly fresh; they have pork (and everyone LOVED it) and beef.  The girls split a "sangria" which, from what I could ascertain, is very different from the Sangria’s that Jamie and I have drunk.  It was a mixture of grape and other fruits and had a very deep taste; I could easily see it in an alcoholic version.  I’m almost certain that it was not a wine sangria but you wouldn’t know that from Ellen’s reaction.

After 16 tacos (a light dinner; last night, Jamie and the kids alone ate 19 tacos), we headed down the streets into town.  We were enchanted with the town and can’t wait to see it in the morning.  The kids found a playground in one of the placitas (plazita?  I’m not sure it that is a word, but it is like a teeny plaza) and we had to tear them away from the teetertotters and swings.  It’s been forever since they played at a playground.  We found a futbol game and watched for a bit and finally headed back to the car and to camp.  It looks like such a cute little town; I think we’re going to fall in love in the morning.  The kids are starting to speak more and last night Jesse was complimented on his accent "buenas noches" and after that each and every child made it a point to say "buenas noches" to everyone they met.  There is absolutely NOTHING like traveling with kids.  I’m so glad we didn’t wait until they were grown and gone.  Well, most of the time.

san ignacio

Some pictures of the town; we walked to the plaza and all around the plaza this morning.  We found a tortilla factory and the boys bought two dozen.  (una docena de harina, por favor?)  It took them about 5 minutes to memorize the phrase and the tortilla ladies were quite taken with all four.  We walked away with 2 dozen and 5 free ones. 

I finally got a look at the church and loved it, but Sissy was really scared of the Jesus (on the cross) figure.  Today we head on the "road from hell" down to Santa Rosalia and then to Mulege.  Think of us, will you?  Everyone tells horror stories about this road. 

I’m typing from a building constructed in the late 1700’s which is now an Internet cafe.  It faces the plaza and I can watch the kids playing at the same time.  We’re living a dream life.

Oh, I’ve got the dates in late January and early February all screwed up, but I’m not in any hurry to fix them.  At least now, the posts are in order.

San Ignacio

It seemed like we were surrounded by fog when the sun came up this morning; the light was filtered and grey instead of the bright orange we normally get at sunrise.  We experimented a bit with the Interstate batteries and the generator; we ran the generator for one hour and got 4 hours of juice from the batteries.  Last night we ran the generator for 3 hours and they lasted at least 6 hours.  After connecting the generator to get the fridge going again (even when running on propane, it needs electricity to do something (thermostat?) and if there is no juice, the fridge shuts down.  We had a lovely breakfast watching the whales and shore birds and slowly putzing about getting things ready to leave. 

Yesterday, I’d asked one of the fishermen if they knew what the weather was and they said no, but high tide would be Monday.  Looking north, to our neighbor campground (no-one was camped around at all) we saw that it had flooded.  It was strange, because when I’d gotten up I noticed that all the driveways had dried from yesterday’s flooding.  The kids were playing and I was cleaning when I suddenly noticed that the tide was still rising and was causing the driveways and surrounding land to flood.  I began to hurry a bit and the kids noticed the advancing waters and ran out to play.  I informed Jamie of the rising water but he didn’t seem terribly concerned.  Luckily, he began to hurry up but we weren’t ready to go until we had about 5 inches of water to drive through.  By the time we left, the entire camp was flooded with high tide (which, actually, won’t arrive til Monday).  I’m not sure I’d want to be here Monday.    We drove to San Isidro and the kids partook of too many dates.  Everyone is lying about with funny tummies.  I’m going to head to the center and see if we have Internet access and see what the experts at RV Forums  have to say.

Picture is of the boys in San Ignacio (where I’m posting from) picking dates.  Yes, DATES!!!
San Ignacio IS a very different city.  All the other Baja cities we’ve been to have been strips along the Transpenninsular, catering to truck and tourist traffic.  San Ignacio was founded WELL before the advent of the Transpenninsular (1728) and retains a colonial charm.  The Internet Cafe is in a small adobe room off the plaza.  (that there is an Internet Cafe at all, is such a clash between two worlds it is difficult to comprehend). 

The iglesia was constructed in 1786 and was in use this evening, when I attempted to take a look.  After hooking up and doing a load of laundry (the bathtub makes a very good washtub) while Ellen covered herself in mud (and as such, required a cold rinse off, which she absolutely LOVED (NOT)), we headed into the center of town.  Elections were in full swing (we’ve been seeing advertisements for this election since Guerrero Negro) in the absolute middle of the concrete plaza.  Kids ran about playing, there were two distinct groups; a younger group marching about and an older group running around hitting each other with empty plastic bottles.  Jamie was in awe of this little tiny town; the inhabitants relaxing in the plaza; families milling about and the absolute beauty of the tree lined plaza and church.

I got some good information from the experts at RV dot NET  and we’ll be looking for a battery charger in Santa Rosalia and/or Loreto, if not La Paz.  If that doesn’t work, we’ll ask Mom and Dad to bring us a  Charge Wizard for our convertor/inverter that we’ll have delivered to Aunty Chris (who is also running a mail forwarding service and package holding service).    Lastly, if THAT doesn’t work (the charge wizard; not Aunty Chris’s services) we’ll get golf cart batteries.  Or we’ll never boondock again (not likely). 

Whales, baby!

The kids want to stay longer than two days at the Laguna, so we’re headed back to town for water.  I never imagined how beautiful it would be here.  It is so absolultely quiet in the morning and at night that you can hear the whales spouting and breathing but you can also hear the generator from the restaurant.  There are few insects (other than flies that only appear early in the morning or when the breeze falls away) or birds to distract us from the whales.  I woke early this morning; I saw the sunrise.  it is so very odd to see the sun rise over water and while I never actually made it out of bed and down to the beach for sunrise at San Felipe, now that I’ve experienced it (from bed, no less), I just might have to do it again.  I found that heading to the lagoon to camp was not only a beautiful experience but also a cheap one. 

I purchased tickets for a panga to take us out on the lagoon this morning; Ellen was free and the rest of the kids half price; the adults paid 150 pesos less than the price in town.  So, while we spent $145 on tickets here, in town we would have spent $$260.  When you have a large family, seemingly small discounts really add up.  My thoughts have been with Deb all day and I hope she feels the whale energy through my thoughts.  The whale trip was spectacular (though, how could it not be?).  Sissy said "it was like a dream" and both boys said it was "incredible".  Even Ellen loved it, but about 15 minutes before we headed back to shore she was ready to go. 

We headed out around 9:30 or so after having watched the whales breaching and spouting while we sat campside sipping our coffee.  hedonists; I know.    I can’t begin to imagine or count the number of mama/baby pairs we saw or how many times a baby would pop up out of the water and eye us; there are no words…  We had one baby swim under the panga and Jamie actually copped a feel.  Of course, I have no picture. 

While digital cameras are wonderful, there is such a delay from the time you pres the button to take the picture to the actual taking of the picture that many were missed.  On the way back to the shore we were astonished to find dolphins racing the prow of the boat.  The kids were delighted and talked and talked about the dolphins for quite a while afterwards.  Pike said he was able to touch one.  The pictures are all from today’s whale excursion.  I loved your last sunset picture Dad, and took these with you in mind.  We’ll be at the lagoon (Scammon’s Lagoon) until we can tear the kids away, then off to San Ignacio.  Ciao to all, and Deb; we really missed you and the kids today.  I hope they enjoy the pictures.

We have been concerned about power for a while now but thought purchasing 2 additional RV batteries and the generator would solve them. 

We left Guerrero Negro last night, headed for the lagoon (and campground) at 6:30pm.  The sun was setting and looking West was a gorgeous sunset.  Looking south, however, was frightening.  The sky was absolutely black and curtains of black ran from grey clouds in areas where the black lightened to grey (mostly the west).  The drive from town to the campground runs 5 miles south of Guerrero Negro on the Transpenninsular and then 25km to the west on salt flats and dirt.  As we drove out of town we saw flashes of lightening.  As we continued south towards the campground road, we saw more lightening and we were headed directly into the center of the darkness. 

As we turned off the highway and onto our salt/dirt road, it was raining, the sky ahead was cloudy but not black, the sky to the south was frighteningly black and the sky to the north was a beautiful red sunset.  The landscape was flat and as we traveled west, towards camp, the lightening began to surround us.  We drove through countless lightening strikes and fishtailed through the sloppy sections of road and hit camp.  The road was frequently lit by lightening; it was surrounding us.  Thunder boomed as we got closer to camp and the wind picked up.  As we made for bed, it sounded like the winds were announcing the arrival of a hurricane; they were so loud, gusty and strong.  We replaced our batteries with the ones we’d charged in San Felipe (the 2 new ones we’d purchased) and while the monitor status changed from "fair" to "good", just before dawn, when light was just beginning to show in the sky, the LP alarm sounded.  This meant that the batteries were dead. 

Jamie connected the generator, filled it up with gas (as it had emptied in Cataviña) and after the generator kicked in, the alarm stopped.  For some reason (thankfully) the alarm never wakes the kids, but always wakes us.  We can’t imagine why we are only getting 1.5 days from our batteries and I’ve asked the experts at RV Forums to help us.  When we get to Mulege we’ll find out.  Since the new batteries only lasted 6-8 hours, we’re hoping they never received a full charge.  We are stymied as to why the Interstate batteries (the ones that came with the trailer) aren’t providing us with more than 1.5 days of juice.  We use only a few lights, no TV, no microwave, no furnace, nothing more than lights.

After our heads cleared from a bleary night of sleep, we found that our campsite is the only one not flooded.  What incredible luck!  The winds died in the middle of the night and the storm moved on.  The day dawned cloudy and soon cleared to bright sky and beautiful clouds.  It is as if the lightening and thunder and rain was simply a fig newton of our imagination.   The kids are playing in the other flooded (apparently by tide, which should maximize on Monday) campgrounds and getting completely wet and muddy.  The washing load is getting difficult to manage; we are down to 5 gallons but the kids seem to have a never ending need for mud and water play (and then to cleanup).

Scammon’s Lagoon

I don’t know why anyone stays in Guerrero Negro if they know that there is a campground at the Lagoon.  The town is dusty and dirty and, quite simply, ugly.  The campground is approached via a 20km salt and dirt road, which, before the rains, must have been a quick drive.  Today we did 5-10mph for the first 10k and 20mph for the next 5k and then 5mph for the last 5k.  The road gave us the opportunity to take our time and enjoy the scenery.  THE LARGEST SALT FLAT/MINE in the WORLD!  The lagoon is so incredibly quiet; it is late afternoon and we’ve just finished up a surprise rainstorm.  The boys are out on bikes, I have cookies in the oven and bread waiting for the cookies and the girls are eating pasta.  Sun is just starting to come out of the clouds and I’m off to take some photos.  I’m expecting an incredible sunset.  I will not be disappointed.

We spent the evening in such a decadent fashion, I’m ashamed to put it to words.  Jamie and I sat on the beach watching grey whales spout and surface.  They weren’t up close, but you could see the dark shapes coming out of the water and water/air mushrooming up above them.  The kids played at our feet; the boys making homes for Piglet and Pooh and the girls playing with horses.  After sunset, we
adjoined to the trailer where we feasted on freshly made cookies.

Tomorrow we will try to get on a tour, I had headed to the ticket office earlier, but in typical Mexican fashion, after waiting for 10-15 minutes with Ellen, I asked someone what was happening with the ticket office and was told that the girl who sells tickets was at lunch.  No idea when she’d return.    We waited another 10 minutes or so and then headed back to the trailer.  Camping fee tonight is the lowest so far.  Thirty pesos. 

Guerrero Negro

We decided to spend an extra day in Cataviña as the boys were having such a fine time boulder climbing.  The desert is dry, clear, beautiful and quiet.  Later in the day, three Airstreams (long, cigar shaped, shiny aluminum trailers) came in, a 5th wheel with THREE axles (who immediately began to fill up his ONE HUNDRED GALLON WATER TANK), another 5th wheel, a trailer and a Class C.  Even so, it wasn’t even close to full.  The camping area is enormous.  After the kids had their fill of boulder climbing (and Ellen was insistent on being able to DO IT HERSELF), we headed to town for lunch. 

We found the cafe (I think that there might be two, all together) and ordered.  I then saw the menu and was broken-hearted at the prices.  Thirty pesos for a taco; forty for a burrito.  We’d found, the day before, that a Mexican burrito and a Californian burrito are VERY different.  The Californian is ENORMOUS and more than a meal.  The Mexican is a simple tortilla with meat it in and rolled.  Exactly like a taco, but rolled, not folded.  Jesse was less than impressed; I think he was envisioning a Californian burrito.  After I’d ordered (and I’d ordered in mind with just a start on the food we’d be getting) I realized I’d just ordered 200 pesos (about $18) of food and was horrified.  I hoped they’d be large plates of food and it would work for all of us.  The food came; one solitary taco on a plate; one solitary little burrito on a plate; I was terribly upset.  I gave my food (a sope, which turned out to be what we call a "tostada") to Jesse and warned Pike not to ask for any more food; that his simple taco was going to cost $4.  I left Jamie to pay while I tried to keep Ellen off of the Transpenninsular.  He came to the car and said the meal (2 tacos, 2 burritos and 1 sope) had cost 48 pesos.  I guess I never should have looked at the menu.  I was starving when we came home and hurriedly made myself and the kids something to eat.  For dinner, we tried the campground restaurant and although the bill was 200 pesos, we walked away stuffed.

We left Cataviña at 9am; the earliest we’ve managed to get away yet. The batteries didn’t last the night and Jamie got up in the middle of the night to connect the generator.  It quit (ran out of gas) but had juiced the batteries enough to last til morning.  I’m really wondering if these batteries will work for us if we can only boondock one night without needing the generator, but Jamie assured me that he’d accidentaly left the furnace on both nights.  We made incredible time to Guerrero Negro; we averaged 75kph.  The roads were flat and good.  We were passed by two caravans (about 10 or more RV’s traveling together) and spotted one grey Lazy Daze in the second one.  They are a bit frightening to pass; they seem to hug the middle of the road and there were more than two RV’s who were actually in MY lane as they passed.  Luckilly, I had my driver’s side mirror pulled in and was hugging the right edge of the pavement.  I much prefer the semi’s.

We’re at the expensive place in Guerrero Negro; it is TWENTY THREE dollars a night, so tomorrow we’ll be boondocking at Scammon’s Lagoon.  We hope to take the kids whale watching, but hear that tour prices in town are about 500 pesos a person.  We’re hoping that by going out to the lagoon we’ll save 100P/person and further that they’ll charge us 1/2 price for the kids.  At any rate, it can’t hurt to try.

There are apparently two internet cafe’s in town; the first doesn’t know what an SMTP server is and I can’t send email so tomorrow I’ll try the second and see if I can’t get email out.  I’ll also post some of the 3 million pictures we’ve taken. 

All pictures are from Cataviña; you;ll have to excuse typos and spelling errors and lack of tildes and accents; I’m lucky to get online!   

Just a quick update as this is the easiest was to get news out; we’ll stay in Guerrero Negro for a couple days; we did 5 loads of laundry yesterday and the kids are having so much fun playing in the trailer I hate to break them away (so I’ll post lost of pictures while I wait for them to be done).  We’ll stay at Scammon’s Lagoon tonight and try to get in a whale watching trip tomorrow.  We’ll stay there again tomorrow night and then head to San Ignacio and spend the night there; then to Santa Rosalia and/or Mulege (we really only do a maximum of 200km/day) and we’ll post an update from Mulege (we’ll stay in town).  Then we’ll head to Bahia de la Concepcion and stay on the beaches for a couple weeks (unless we really hate it).  We’ll then either head back up to Santa Rosalia and take the ferry to the mainland or head to La Paz and take the ferry from there.  I’ll update while we’re in the Mulege area and expect Mom and Dad to do the same. 

We’re still planning on hooking up with you guys on the mainland and are really looking forward to it.

Thanks to Chrissy for all the emails (two? ) and pictures.  Please send more pictures (tho not movies; take too long to download) of Becky!  Love to all!

(it is 9 years later and I'm importing all these old entries that I had assumed were long lost.  when i originally wrote this i had no clue of a tilde.  Ellen just corrected me and chided me in a very gringa accent of my writing catavina and not Cataviña.  so they are now corrected)

Cataviña

We are camped in the desert tonight.  It is a teeny town; teeny even by Baja standards.  The stars are bright white and twinkling and it seems that the sky is absolutely filled to capacity with them.  The trailer is buffeted by the gusty winds, but we are warm and secure and I have Ellen’s warm, sleepy arm on my waist.  I don’t want to move, her tiny little arm radiates so much heat and love.

We left Vicente Guerrero around 10 and soon afterward found a brand new Baja.  The trip from Ensenada to San Quintin or from Mexicali to San Felipe, while somewhat remote, is always full of reminders of the human machine.  It is also on roads that, while more narrow than our in the States, are not frighteningly so narrow.  Today we found the real narrow roads.  I pulled in my driver’s side mirror and twice, was terribly glad I did, as the passing space was tighter than I could have believed.  There is rarely a shoulder, but today’s roads were not only without shoulder, but to quicken the heart, with decent dropoffs at the edge of the pavement.

Once leaving Lazaro (right after San Quintin) we followed electric poles for a while and then they quit.  We began to leave the thick green and found some of the barren desert - though it is still much greener than ever before.  We headed towards the ocean and followed the coastline of the Pacific Ocean for a while, watching the waves break in giant (so they seemed after the calm waves of the Sea of Cortes) then turned inland and snaked through countless kilometers of windy road, mountain peak, range top and valley.  We climbed a gigantic grade and found ourselves on what seemed like the top of the world.  Guess what we found there; a flat (yet green) mesa of desert?  A military checkpoint.  :)  They waved us through and we made for El Rosario.  The attendant topped us off so high we had a nice puddle on the ground and I stopped him.  Since there are no facilities for 219 miles or so, I think they really try to top tanks off.  As soon as we pulled into the station, a senora and her daughters? sold the kids some bracelets.

We wanted to lunch in El Rosario but couldn’t find an open taqueria.  Strangely, everything was closed and I expected the famous restaurant (of lobster and crab burrito fame) to be obvious, but it wasn’t.  We finally took lunch at El Descanso; somewhere between El Rosario and San Austin.  We tried "machaca" (dried, shredded beef) and carne asada.  The restaurant was simply a restuarant and domicile; no town, no gas station, nothing.

Outside of El Rosario (but quite a bit outside) we saw two cyclists heading south.  They were in need of nothing, so we gave them the lane and passed.