more pictures from La Paz

Our entertainment at Lapaz

La Paz, Feb 17th -21st
Another beautiful day to start our adventure from Cabo San Lucas to La Paz, with a wonderful view of a cruse ship in the harbor. We had a 106 mile ride through a Cardon cactus forest with the pacific on our left. Our campground is just off Route 1, north of La Paz. It’s is brand spanking new addition and it resembles a huge sand box.
Our first activity was dinner at La Bohe’me, a stylish French Restaurant in downtown La Paz. It was a pleasant change of menu, I had mashed potatoes and they tasted great. The deserts were special too but very rich and some of us have been suffering for our indulgence.
Today we were treated to American style doughnuts and a bus tour of the city of Peace, La Paz, the capitol of Baja California Sur. The city has a population of 300,000 and we learned about the history of the area from our tour guide Betty, whose pride in her country was evident as she showed us her picturesque city. Our first stop was the Cathedral of Our Lady of La Paz, a beautiful stone and brick twin towered church located on the south side of Plaza Constitucion. Inside it has beautiful stained glass, and the Stations of the Cross were a gift from Queen Elizabeth of England because of a very large pearl given to her from a La Paz resident. Next we visited the family owned Ibarra Pottery Shop where very fine clay was formed into bowls and plates and hand painted with beautiful colors. Our last stop was another family business where the men handed down the knowledge of weaving from generation to generation. They started by spinning and dying the wool with vegetable dye, then weaving it on hand made looms in a crude building with walls laid up without cement. The end result of their labor was beautiful rugs and blankets selling for very reasonable prices. We were busy shoppers at both places.
Some of us spent the afternoon visiting the white sand beaches north east of La Paz along the Peninsula de Pichilingue. The aquamarine clear water was inviting, it was even quite warm, and very shallow until you got about ¼ mile out, but we just soaked in the glorious beauty of the area. We could have had a beach surrounded by steep hills all to ourselves,( after we got away from the jewelry peddlers), this took a while as all of us helped out the economy a little. We walked the beach for a view of the mushroom rock, then on to the next beach for a view of the Island. The sunsets from the Malecon are magnificent; I hope everyone experienced at least one.
The next two days we were free to explore the area. They were spent shopping at the La Paz open air market, walking the 5 mile long Malecon, enjoying the museums, and for most of us a trip to Todos Santos where we spent a day shopping for stunning silver jewelry and soaking in the atmosphere at the Hotel California.( The Banos signs there were unique ). We toured the Mission of Todos de Santos with it’s stations of the cross in the windows, some of us went to the museum, and I even heard about whale watching just 30 feet from shore at Todos Santos.
Saturday 21st, our last full day in La Paz we were free to explore until we met at Ciao Molino Ristorante for an evening of entertainment and fine food. We were entertained by fantastic dancers from the Technological Institute of La Paz. They preformed dances from several states in Mexico, changing into colorful outfits to reflect the customs for each area. They even engaged some of our better dancers help with the Rabbit dance. I’m sure they didn’t know most of them had done that dance before at Manfred’s and were almost professionals! It was dusk as we were leaving and I’m sure some of our caravan checked out the Carnaval along the Malecon.
Quite a few of us have been stopped by the Mexican traffic police, for what we are not sure, so we were just happy to have made it back to the campground unscathed.

Topes
The caravan leaders voice announces over the CB “toe-pee ahead, no it’s not a Mexician bird ahead, it’s a warning to slow down and be attentive, for coming up is a speed bump with attutide!
In Mexico speed limit signs, stop signs, and no passing zones are merely suggestions that most Mexicans don’t heed, but topes are for real, slowing down the most macho driver.
Topes come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some are wide and gentle, while others are narrow and abrupt. Some give you plenty of warning while others blend in with the road and jar the inattentive to wakefulness.
There are concrete topes, asphalt topes, dirt topes, metal disk topes, and worse than all the rope topes, the ropes are big ones from ocean going ships. Then there’s the fake topes, just a wide line painted across the street or highway but a menacing sight nonetheless.
Vibradores mark an upcoming dangerous curve, and sometimes a tope field, topes are often placed several hundred feet apart to keep you going slow through a town.
Some topes are marked with road signs indicating the distance in meters to the approaching tope. Drivers are also warned of upcoming topes by various road signs. One type of a sign is a car with it’s front end (probably out of alignment), perched on a ramp. Another is two mounds affectionately called Dolly Partons.
Topes, tumulos, vibradores, speed bumps, whatever you call them they are something to slow down for and that’s their purpose, and we RESPECT them!
Todos Santos
My new Baja Jeweler

A free pedicure


Beautiful

pics of the zoo

Don't get run over by the donkeys (or run over one of them!)

Goat herding at comondu

Baja Adventure part 3
Feb 9
Today after a furnished breakfast we headed out on another adventure. The campground owner and friends fixed us breakfast which we ate outside under a palm roof. The Mexican people make use of every thing; we have even seen some woven palm walls. The roofs are very nice. We drove north about 50 miles on a paved road then turned east over an unpaved stony and often ungraded road for another 25 miles until we reached Comondu. There are 2 small poor villages there, San Jose de Comondu and San Miquel de Comondu. We visited a surviving Jesuit missionary house, now used as a church. The whole area seems to take you back in time. As our caravan leader told us when he visited there last year, he could picture himself as a priest riding a donkey down the mountains to reach the mission built in 1737.
We hunted up a home mentioned in a Moon Baja handbook, where the owner, Martina, will take you into her home and cook for you. We had carnie berettos with goat cheese and tomatoes on home made tortillas, (she cooked them in front of us) for about $4.00 per person. She also sold baskets made from palm leaves, but she only had one made, and the couple we were with bought it. I have a picture which is better for me! Martina spoke no English so we worked with hand signals. We found no one that could understand us and finding her place was a challenge. She had a table and chairs, a small wicker settee with one matching chair, a boom box radio, and her kitchen which consisted of a gas stove, refrigerator. and microwave, with a work table in the center. There was another small room off the dining area which served as a bedroom. In the back was a large room with not much in it and the toilet was in the back yard and flushed with a bucket. By then that looked like a palace to me. It was a long ride!! There was also an automatic washer in the back yard along with a cow and small pig. We think she was one of the better off people in this town as she had electricity. We passed a farmer herding his goats up the road on the way back and we made it to the campground just after sunset. Driving on these roads after dark is not a wise idea.
Feb 10th
Six of us went into Ciudad Constitucion today to shop at pharmacies, get haircuts, and just snoop around. After the haircuts we headed west about 28 miles to San Carlos where we ate a late lunch at a restaurant we had heard was good. One of us had an Oyster Cocktail that had to have had 3 dozen raw oysters in it. I stuck with fish tacos! The others who had seafood got huge amounts but said it was over cooked.
Feb 11
Today we traveled about 200 miles to Los Barriles on the Sea of Cortez. On the way we crossed another mountain range and stopped at a small town called El Triunfo. The folks there make and sell baskets woven from palms. There is also a music museum there where we looked at pianos and organs, mostly in bad repair. We were then treated to a short piano concert by the owner Nicolas Carrillo, who at one time played at Carnegie Hall. We also toured the Mission. At one shop we were ask if we wanted to buy some silly tea, we declined, we later learned it was marijuana form a retired policeman on our caravan.
We are again parked by the sea and have electric and water hookups. We are about 2 miles from a very nice hotel and we have had 4 meals furnished there. Our mission here is to ride atvs and do a little bajing. Our riding lessons were in the morning then Norm found a hot springs about 25 miles away so in the afternoon we ventured out to find it. It was 15 miles down rt. 1 and 10 miles on a dirt road. I was relieved to find it and it was a lovely remote place. There were several people who came and left while we were there and the neat thing about it were the little fishes that nibbled at your feet and legs, furnishing you with a pedicure free. The spring is located on the Tropic of Cancer. On the way back we stopped at the local zoo, a small old fashioned zoo with a lot of cages.a tiger, and lion were the big draw. I was just amazed to find one.
Feb 13,
This morning half of our group put on our helmets, goggles, and scarves and headed out on our four wheelers. We drove up the coast with some spectacular scenery, and also some beautiful homes. The rest of the day was shot for me, I think I was tossed around a little to much. I found out this morning that half of our group had the same affliction that bit me.
Happy Valentines Day to everyone in our lives!
Today we head out for Cabo San Lucas, a short 70 mile move. When approaching San Jose Cabo the traffic became heavy and it reminded us of Tjuana, with lots of shops and everything looking like you wouldn’t want to go there.. The last 10 miles between the two Cabos is very well developed with big hotels and lots of flowers, People who fly here surely never know Mexico!
Feb 16th
I havn’t seen much of Cabo. This morning I went to a local clinic to help me fight dehydration due to the scoots. I was given a shot and three medications to cure an infection from something I ate. About 12 of us have it but my luck was to get it the worse.
Enough of that, THINGS ARE LOOKING UP
Yesterday Norm went to the beach and got a massage. We’ll say so long for now. Happy travels
Lois
This is where we had lunch at Comondu

Light house at Mulege

Maricachi band on the beach

Salt fields tour.
These euclids never stop moving they are being loaded in the bottom picture.

Prison
There is a prisner behind that plywood.

Our river crossing on the way to the cave paintings.
Cave paintings

Baja California part two
San Quintin to Guererro Negro, Baja Sur
Monday Feb 2nd
We left our camp at 7:30 this morning and traveled through desert with many kinds of cactus that we had never seen before. We made just a few roadside stops, one at a onyx shop where a Mexican artist cuts the stone into animal figures. Some of our group stopped at a famous restaurant, MAMA ESPINOSA”S. Motorcyclists on the Baja 1000, stop to have her famous lobster burritos It was to early when we passed there but we hope to catch it on the way North.
We traveled over a mountain range and through the Catavina boulder fields with huge boulders strewn around many cacti. They were quite impressive
Just north of our campsite is the 28 parallel, marked by a large Mexican flag and a statue of an eagle. When we cross into Baja Sur our clocks must be turned ahead 1 hour as Baja Sur is on Mountain Time. We are staying at Mario’s tours, restaurant and campground. Mario will take us out on a boat tomorrow to whale watch.
Feb 3rd
Our whale tour was a Whale of a success!! We split into 2 groups and Norm and I got the afternoon tour of 24 people in two boats. The whales come to these shallow Lagoons to mate one year and give birth the next. At one point they came around our boats and just stayed there going under the boat and even rubbing the bottom gently to remove barnacles. Several people in our boat touched them as they went by. Unfortunately when the boat idled I got rather sea sick on the fumes and didn’t bother to try to touch them. We have 2 more whale trips scheduled so I will buy something for seasickness.
After we got back Norm went on a tour of the salt works, a large solar-evaporative operation company owned 51% by the government and 49% by Mitsubishi. The plant employs 1500 people and along with the whale watching tourist trade is the local economy. There is 70 sq mile of diked ponds that take in seawater and the sun evaporates the water in about 6 months leaving salt that is scraped up and barged to a port where it is shipped to the Mexican Mainland, Japan, US and Canada.
Feb 4th
Today is Norm’s mothers 95th birthday, and she is doing great. Jim emailed me a picture taken at her birthday party. We wish we could have been there with her but we are there in spirit. We are traveling today to Santaspec beach, near Mulege. On the way we stopped at Santa Rosalita where we hired a taxi to take us to town to see the Eiffel designed church. The French came in 1885 when they acquired mineral rights to the Copper found here in1868. Most of them left in 1954 when the copper mines closed, but they left behind a French bakery (which we found), it was mostly Mexican but I did get a good loaf of bread.
Our campsite is like a travel picture in a magazine! We are pulled in looking at the clear blue water of the Sea of Cortez with small hilly islands in it. There is another caravan parked here also but they are around a bend and we don’t even see them.
Feb 5th
Today we are having a cookout on the beach so the cookout committee of 4 couples will stick around the beach today while most of the rest of us go into town , some to do laundry and shop. We have the washer on board so we shopped for a while then went exploring, we found the mission with it beautiful views of the town and the palm lined river below. This is the first river we’ve seen in the Baja and it is lined with thousands of palms. Norm ask in town if there was a massage therapist and was directed to a restaurant where she worked. We found the place outside of town but it was closed, but from there he was told where she lived, which was the second house from the tower on the hill. These are all dirt roads, we never did find her but we had an adventure driving around, we came on a dirt air strip and a quant little fishing spot. Personally I was glad to get back to the main road. Who knows what that airstrip was used for! Cook out was great and a mariachi band came after we are and played for about 2 hours.We ended with a roaring fire.
Feb 6th
Three vans picked us up for a tour of the Mulege area. We went to the Mission, the lighthouse and the old prison, ending in town at lunch at a nice restaurant.
We returned and walked the beach. I had read that there was a hot spring close by. It wasn’t much, just a mud hole at low tide, but there is a nicer one that you need a boat to get to. The other RV group were clamming and getting a lot of clams, but they were very small and they will work for every bite. There are locals coming around with things to sell every day. So far we bought shrimp, scallops, and halibut. They are also selling blankets jewelry, dishes and wood carvings. “ALMOST FREE”
Feb 7th
Today would have been my mothers105th birthday. If she could only see us living in this way!
We had an optional tour today to view some very old cave drawings. Our first stop was at an orchard with oranges tangerines and limons (sweet lemons). They were kind of bland, like a sick grapefruit. Next we stopped in the desert where our guide identified cactus and told how they were used for remedies. We rode for about an hour on very rough sandy roads and ended up at Ranch La Trinidad where our guide led us on a ½ hour hike across a stream and climbing over rocks to see these ancient cave paintings. When we got back to the ranch house our guides wife, who was also our driver, had prepared a lunch for us of bean and cheese burritos, and coke. It was quite an interesting day. The ranch had cattle and grew oats and sorghum to feed them. These folks only get to town about 1 time per month and take candies made from cactus and cheese to trade for supplies. What a hard life most of these people have! Before we were allowed to go to the caves we had to stop by the local government building to sign a book and pay a fee to take a camera. The rancher also got a fee for letting us cross his ranch. There are only a few guides allowed to go to the caves. While in the government building we saw how the prisoners are treated. There are cells around a courtyard and we were told they did not feed them. Someone had to like you enough to bring you food or you starved! There was only one prisoner there at the time and he was yelling at us to give him a cigarette. No one in our group smoked and we were afraid if we gave him something we could end up in the same place.
Feb 8th
We traveled 164 miles today over some majestic mountains with beautiful sea views, arriving at Ciudad Constitucion around 2:15PM. Dinner was furnished and there was wonderful entertainment from a local university. We had a group of students doing folk dancing and then a chorus of men and one girl with guitars. The music was great and they are a proud people and seemed so glad to share their history with us.
That’s all for now, hope everyone is well.
Lois

The top two pictures are of our campsite in Ensenada and the bottom one is of salmon fishing nets on the way from Tijuana to Ensenada