Happily Homeless

Day 152 – So, it’s the last day of the year. We will enter the new year of 2006, and if everything goes well for us, we won’t be setting foot in the states until 2007. We have started to take on a different view of time. We don’t really look at time by weeks now, like we used to when we worked in the office, when we looked forward to the weekends and what events we had planned. Now we tend to look at time in the frame of a few days, or weeks, depending on our next location/destination.

We were invited by a couple to a new year’s party that was being thrown by a family that lives in Todos Santos. That could be an interesting event and really put our Spanish to the test. This is a day of many endings. We have our last Spanish class today and we will be leaving Todos Santos in the next day or two to catch the ferry to Topolobampo on the mainland of Mexico.

Day 147-150 – We drove back to Todos Santos, staying at Los Cerritos again. We had to get back to Spanish lessons. While we were doing that, Peter explored the town a bit more and did some gift shopping. We ate dinner at Los Fuentes one night. Los Fuentes has a great atmosphere with very friendly staff. The food was excellent and the prices were quite reasonable; a nice difference from most of the restaurants in the town, where the prices are quite spendy.

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Last sunrise at Cabo Pulmo ____ The fisherman’s camp at the beach.

Henry and the Gaint Catcus – Taken by Peter

Cafe Todos Santos – the best bread you can buy in Baja. – Taken by Peter

Thursday came and it was time for Peter to catch his plane back to the states and the rainy winter of Seattle 🙁 Though I am sure he is happy to be back in his own bed and not living out of a car anymore. He was looking forward to his own bathroom where he can flush the toilet paper down the toilet and drink the faucet water when he brushed his teeth. I don’t blame him.

Ready for the cold weather of Seattle and his own bed

Peter, it was fantastic to see you and we were very happy to have you come visit us!! It was delightful to have a family member down to spend the holidays. Thanks for bringing down all the things we wanted from the states and we hope to see you in SE Asia!!

Tonight Araceli invited us to her casa for dinner, with her husband Oliver and our professor Guillermo. She made a delicious guacamole dip to start off with and I ate way too much – hardly leaving room for dinner! Dinner was a very tasty salad and quesadillas. I don’t know if I could ever get sick of Mexican food. Thank you so much Araceli for having us over, we really enjoyed hanging out and seeing your home.

Day 146 – Merry Christmas everyone!! Okay, it’s posted a bit late – but hey, we can’t get internet everywhere. We went snorkeling most of the day today. I wore my long john top to keep my upper body warm and to keep any small jellyfish from stinging me. There were some tiny jellyfish that would sting and then go away, but it was not enjoyable to be around. Today we saw sooo many fish! It was amazing all the different types and sizes. At one point there was a school of smaller fish that was three feet thick, four feet tall, and twenty or so feet long – it was like we were in the movie ‘Finding Nemo’ 🙂 Los Frailes beach has the best snorkeling at Cabo Pulmo and it is sheltered from the wind. Peter knew all the names for the fish we were looking at, as he used to have two salt water tanks, with all of these different fish in them. It was weird to see them in the real ocean instead of in his fish tanks. It makes me excited for when we get down into Central America where the water is warmer. To warm us up we had a Christmas drink by the fire; Mexican hot chocolate with a splash of Bailey’s – very delicious!

Sunrise on Christmas Day – couldn’t wait to get up!

Here comes Snorkel Man! Watch out fishies…

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Los Frailes beach_________Crabs have the coolest eyes.

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Tired Snorkel Man

Day 145 – After a six mile jaunt down a dirt road, not as bad as everyone made it out to be, we arrived in the isolated town of Cabo Pulmo, where there are only radio phones, that cost a fortune to use and a minimal grocery store. Though there are plenty of restaurants and a few snorkel and dive shops. We headed south, out of town, to the other side of a mountain ridge so we could snorkel where it was less windy. After finding a good camping spot in the dunes, we headed out to test our new snorkel gear.

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Road to Cabo Pulmo__________desertscape of Cabo Pulmo area – Taken by Peter

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Cows taking 0ver the road…

The water was pretty cold, we were told that it is supposed to be warmer than the west coast of Baja – but it wasn’t at all! We saw a bunch of different fish and a few live plants on the coral, it was pretty cool. That afternoon, after our first two short swims, we went back into town and Peter rented a wet suit from the Cabo Pulmo Dive Shop for only $50 pesos a day. Carmel, thanks for your advice on traveling, it was great meeting you, and we hope to see you sometime in the future! We are now ready for our Christmas morning dive.

Our camp cow and Peter.

In Mexico the big celebration happens on Christmas Eve – so we had a big dinner on Christmas Eve, the boys ate fried fish tacos from some homemade batter (Peter received the fish from a fisherman that had too much in his fridge) and I had some burritos. Peter brought us really great presents: some items we wanted from the states. My mom, sister, and Peter bought us a bunch of items we wanted along with some extras. Thank you guys so much for the camper meals, candy, magnets (needed them for making a bug screen), and everything else! We felt so spoiled, we didn’t think that Peter would be able to bring down anything except just a few items. I think one of the best items was a few bottles of Peter’s homebrewed beer from his master brewing process. Dark beer is nonexistent in the south and it was nice to have such a tasty porter, and it will probably be my last one until we hit Russia 😉 We got Peter a barley wine from Rogue Brewing Company, based in Portland Oregon, that was also quite tasty – he was generous enough to give us a little.

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Tasty fish taco…._________________presents on x-mas eve 🙂 – Taken by Peter.

As we were cleaning up from dinner and presents, a group of carolers came and sang to us. They invited us to a Christmas Eve celebration at someone’s RV campsite. It was an interesting time, with retired people dancing and drinking the night away. This area has a strong community of people that come down every year for the sun and holidays. It was really great for them to invite us to share in their decorated Christmas trees and music.

Christmas Carolers

Day 143/144 – This morning Jason and I got up at dawn to watch the big waves roll in. Today a big swell is coming down the coast and creating big waves. It was impressive to see, though not as big as they were saying. As we watched from the ridge we only saw three or four surfers go out to try and to surf them. After they rode one wave in that was it, no one else made it out into the ocean until the waves lessened later in the morning. The waves kept pushing anyone who tried back to shore no matter how hard they paddled. We packed up the van after being graced by the presence of huge waves and headed toward our destination – Cabo Pulmo.

Crashing waves…. somehow we lost a bunch of photos of the big waves, so this is the only one I have to post – bummer.

Oscar lounging at his truck.

Raphael and us on the ridge.

All of us at the van 🙂

First we had to stop in La Paz and get our front shocks replaced. The dirt roads took the last bit of cushion out of them. Back to our favorite VW shop, Geraldo’s VW (2145 Madero Calle – 612.125.0056) who even uses email to set up appointments! After they looked at the shocks they told us that we cracked the torsion bar in the front. Oh, that is what that noise was the other day…. we thought it was just the shocks.. oops. Glad we took it in! So, that took longer to fix and we stayed the night at the beach near the ferry terminal.

Geraldo’s VW repair shop. The best place in La Paz!

La Paz boardwalk – Taken by Peter

Eating some yummy cookies on the boardwalk at La Paz. – Taken by Peter

Sunset at El Tecolote beach outside of La Paz. – Taken by Peter.

Got up next morning, enjoying our new front end with loads of cushion! The guys went fishing and afterwards we headed into town to do our shopping and get ready for the town of Cabo Pulmo, because they don’t have much there. After shopping at a crazy packed grocery store (it was the day before Christmas eve), we went to a store similar to Costco called City Club. They gave us a day pass to go look around and find our necessary items, including our snorkeling gear. Finally, we headed off to Cabo Pulmo, but had to stop an hour and a half earlier than our destination, due to night falling upon us. The last six or so miles to Cabo Pulmo is a dirt road, not something we wanted to drive on at night, so we camped at Los Barriles. We stayed at a nice RV park called Martin Verdugo’s Beach Resort (http://www.verdugosbeachresort.com) right on the water. We got a campsite, clean bathrooms and clean showers for $120 pesos. A great place to stay!

Pelicans having their morning tea – Taken by Peter

Jason fishing at the beach – Taken by Peter

Public market in La Paz – Taken by Peter

Downtown La Paz

Day 140-142 – Today my brother, Peter, arrived at Los Cabos airport for his nine day stay with us. We were very excited to have our first travel guest on our trip. We drove back to Los Cerritos to spend the first few nights. We all gave a good run at surfing….

Los Cerritos Surf Shop at the beach – best place to rent boards, get lessons, or repair your board. – Taken by Peter

Jason going out to do harm to the ocean – or maybe it’s more the ocean doing harm to him… – Taken by Peter

Peter paddling out for the first time ….. And his first ride on the foam!! Yay!

April, I’ll give it another try.. maybe I’ll get lucky……. – Taken by Peter

While we were in town the next day we ran into our friend Raphael, who we met originally at Burning Man. He was supposed to meet us at the beach a few nights ago, but his plan was delayed 30 hours!! We thought we missed him, but no; ironically he walked past our van as we pulled into town! Raphael spent the day with us fishing; it was so great to hang out together! Later that night he joined us and Oscar, a gentleman from Oaxaca who is camping by us, for a special solstice celebration. A group of people on the beach made a mini burning man. How weird is that; meeting our friend from Burning Man and celebrating the solstice with a Burning Man in Mexico on the same day?! ‘The Man’ was a surfer dude made out of palm trees and palm leaves, which burned forever. It was a huge bonfire accompanied by the great sound of drums as we enjoyed the heat and stars. A bit different from the bright neon lights of the main Burning Man event in Nevada; but a perfect setting for celebrating the shortest day of the year.

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The Burning Surfer Man 🙂 – Taken by Peter

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Burn, burn, burn….. – Taken by Peter

We have been looking forward to this celebration because now our days will get longer. Once the night comes, unless you have a bonfire, it kind of traps you in the van and we cannot always find wood for a fire. Though we realized that once we cross the equator…. yes ~ we go back into the end of summer and start of fall/winter days (even though they will be warm). We will celebrate the shortest day of the year once again, in the winter to come, in the southern hemisphere. Oh, well.

Day 137-139 – We visited Susanna’s house for some coffee and nice conversation. Her house, which is just about finished, is an amazing network of gardens, rooms, and open spaces. She created a clean modern feeling home and kept to local materials and construction techniques. It is a very open yard and home, but the way she organized and designed it the space breaks down to cozy areas. Thank you for having us over Susanna!

random photo at Los Cerritos

Los Cerritos sunset – it’s getting colder at night! Yes, that is a hat on my head for warmth…

The rest of the week and weekend were just basic days consisting of Spanish classes, cleaning up the lot we were staying on (click here scorpion.jpg for a look at the scorpion Jason found – it was about an inch long), cooking, and trying to clean up the car since my brother is coming to visit us soon. We had a great surprise when we ran into TJ on Friday in town, and later that night we met up at a reggae concert that was being held at one of the RV parks by the beach. I was amazed at how many young people came, the place was packed!

Reggae night hosted at San Pedrito’s Trailer Park outside of Todos Santos

We hung out at the beach with TJ, at our normal spot on Los Cerritos, until he left the next day. We bought TJ’s surf board from him right before he left. Thanks man for the board, it has been fun learning how to surf! Jason still hasn’t caught anything with the prized hook 😉 I think you had some skill with the pole; any suggestions for him? 🙂

Day 135/136 – Today after our Spanish lessons we headed for La Paz to get some work done on our VW and the computer. We went to Exacto, a computer store, in hopes of getting our laptop working continuously. They were very patient with us not being able to speak much Spanish and they spoke some English. We found out the hard drive was losing contact with the computer because when he re-clipped the hard drive it worked fine. Later, we realized the clip isn’t clamping as tight as it used to and the hard drive becomes slightly disconnect from the computer when it gets bumped around. I know laptops are supposed to be dealt with carefully, but when it’s in the car and you are going down dirt roads everyday, what do you expect? At least we know how to fix it now and it won’t hinder our website anymore 😉

Sunrise in La Paz

We headed to the beach just northeast of the ferry terminal outside of La Paz to sleep for the night. You just can’t beat free camping on such beautiful location. Next morning we went into town early, before sunrise, for the VW to get the timing adjusted and our propane valve for the stove and refrigerator looked at. Geraldo’s VW did a great job timing it and we are coming back in a week or two to get our shocks and a few other things repaired or updated. The propane valve will have to be looked at by another person. These guys are the best mechanics I’ve ever been to (even in the states) and I wish we could take them along with us on the rest of our trip! I wonder if we could work something out? It is hard to find someone you can trust to work on your car, especially when you don’t speak the native language.

Day 133/134 – Our second week of Spanish lessons and our first time staying in the town. We said good bye for the time being to Vincent and TJ – it was really great meeting you guys! We wish you the best of luck with the ocean and will pray to the snow gods for you! Hope to run into you guys again and share some morning coffee.

We headed into town for better immersion in the language and to save a bit on gas money. The lot we are staying on is located on a hill in the south end of town. It is a small, but very nice lot with a pit toilet and a shower area that is useable once we clean them up. Jason is doing all the raking, collecting fallen palm leaves, and clearing out the utility areas. I picked up all the trash that local dogs brought onto the lot to rummage through, cleared the litter from other people, and I’ve worked on the blog 🙂

sunrise from the lot in Todos Santos.

Tuesday we were invited to Guillermo’s for dinner, a place he is house-sitting in for the winter. The house is located near the water, so we could hear the waves crashing and enjoy a nice view of the sun setting on the horizon. Three other ladies who live in Todos Santos were invited also. Suzanna is an architect that recently finished her house in Todos Santos and has started on a few other homes in the area. Araceli and her daughter Nicole were the two other ladies. Araceli manages the Todos Santos Hotel downtown and Nicole is learning as much as she can in school. We had a really good night and enjoyed meeting people from town; it made us feel more at home.

Day 128-132 – We stayed at the beach all week and drove into town for our Spanish class. The beach is free and it saves us some cash. Besides learning Spanish, our days were filled with watching the sunrise, drinking coffee with TJ and Vincent as we watched the waves roll in, going for swims, maybe some fishing, reading, cleaning the van, and eating.

our view from the van

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TJ surfing _____________________________a nameless surfer
It wasn’t cloudy or stormy – I just don’t have a super good zoom on my camera! That is why the pics above are grainy….

The town was having a turtle release celebration while we were there. They had a lot of activities that lead up to releasing the baby turtles, who are protected on the beach until they are ready to go out to the ocean. One of the activities was to come to Los Cerritos and make sand sculptures of sea turtles laying their eggs.

sand sculptures of sea turtles laying their eggs

We found out at the end of the week that Patty’s friend, who owns a lot in Todos Santos, said we could stay on her lot in exchange for a little bit of yard work and picking up some trash. It was really thoughtful for Patty to ask her, and it will let us walk to town for our lessons, which means we will spend more time around Spanish speaking people instead of at the beach, where it is so easy to speak only English. Though we’ll hang out on the beach on the weekends 😉

A German couple own this rig – it is a monster rv! They have had a lot of great travels in it, check out their website www.pibock.de but you have to know German to understand it.