Hoarding versus Collecting

With Esperando out of town I have been watching more TV at night than I do when he is here. I don’t usually watch the Oprah Winfrey Show (which by the way is shown in the evening here, not daytime as in the US). Last night I happened upon her show about hoarders, people who can’t stop buying and collecting stuff until it piles up all around them and they have no room to live in their homes because all their floors and furniture are covered with all these things they’ve bought. I had to go look on the internet and see what they said about this and I found a website, Metropolitan Organizing LLC, that nailed it on the head with these comments:

“Collectors value and categorize their belongings, often showcasing them in display cases or archives. Hoarders often lump things together without the benefit of system or sequence.

Collectors often carry great pride in their treasures, and delight in exhibiting them to any interested party. Hoarders are often embarrassed and hide their belongings (home, car, etc.) from co-workers, neighbors and even repairmen.

Collectors house their collectibles in specific environments, and often find joy or contentment in the company of their treasure. Hoarders harbor little rhyme or reason within the muddle of their mess. Exquisite jewels might be kept with worn socks, rare books in a dirty dog kennel, or cherished photographs among old and slowly decaying magazines.”

That makes me an inverterate collector then, and still with the inordinate desire to keep buying things regardless of need. My blood is tainted. Here in Santa Rosalia I have collected several baskets full of seashells; five cats (eeeegad-really?—well 3 of them I just feed outside—they say cats are the most likely animal to be collected by hoarders); way too many clothes to fit in my drawers for the tiny space we live in; lots of textiles purchased in Loreto and Guadalajara; and the pantry full of food so we will never be caught short. I have lots of little pots of plants just hanging out waiting to be planted somewhere including four olives and a lemon tree. We have pots and pots of cactus starts that all look quite happy—but where are we going to put them all? How did I get this way? When I finally say to myself, stop this you do not need more blank, I stop buying blank, but then I find some other new thing to take the place of blank, and there I go again. After watching the TV show, this hoarding concept now nags at me. Hermana once pointed out to my niece that my home was like a store or a museum and its true, we’ve been so many places and I can’t stop wanting and buying the artesania from everywhere we go.

Esperando got home last night from being in California for a week. We are returning to Loreto today so that he can go diving tomorrow—and I will just have to do a little shopping. Gosh darn! all this introspection, but its time to aprovechar (take advantage of the situation) as we say down here.

Curses, foiled again

While I was in California I decided that we needed to plant a Sago palm in the yard at Casa Abeja. I have always admired them for their prehistoric quality in my brother Juan-in-a-Million’s yard. I looked them up on the internet and they grow on in mainland Mexico in the same climatic zone we are in here right opposite us on the Sea of Cortez. When my brother told me his daughter had a cute little tiny one in a group of potted plants, I figured I could fit that in my suitcase and sneak it into Mexico. So the two of us got in his car and zoomed around to every nursery near his house trying to find one. We probably spent about 3 hours looking. Orchard Supply Hardware had them in 1 gallon pots, and including the leaves they were about 2 feet tall and way too big for my bag. Each successive nursery had bigger and bigger trees until we were up to 20 gallons. The price went up exponentially too. That’s when I decided that I didn’t really need one after all. And then I remembered how the agricultural guy at the airport took Esperando’s corn husk nativity away from him last year because it was ‘organic’ matter, even though it came from Mexico so I pretty much really lost my enthusiasm.

When we were in Loreto a few days ago, we stopped at the nursery to see what they were selling. They seemed to have a lot more plants than they have had in the past and right before my very eyes were at least twenty 15-gallon Sago palms, all smiling up at me waving their fronds in an inviting way. I was so happy. We found several other great plants that we wanted to buy as well, but it was pretty hot so we decided we would drive by in the morning so the plants wouldn’t be cooking in the covered tail of the pickup. Alas we were foiled by mother nature as Tropical Disturbance Olaf trotted into town and inundated everything and flooded the streets. That nursery guy that had promised he would be open at 8 am wasn’t even open at 9 am when we trundled by. Got to hand it to these Mexicans for always being closed when they say they will be open, even in the middle of a tropical storm. I guess if I came from someplace where it never rained, I might be nervous when it starts to rain heavily, but I still think he should have been more excited about the big sale he was going to make to us.

In any event we still don’t have a Sago palm and just now Esperando read to me that they are seriously poisonous. To quote Wikipedia, “One disadvantage of its domestic use is that it is poisonous to animals and humans. One skin breaking scrape can lead to a hospital visit. Cycad Sago Palm is extremely poisonous to both humans and animals if ingested. Pets are at particular risk since they seem to find the plant very palatable.” So maybe there won’t be any Sago palm in my future after all since the dog is big fan of eating leaves.

Big appetites

Carmen came back last night at 3:30 AM. I heard miaowing outside at our bedroom door that opens onto the patio and saw her sitting there outside. The other two cats were sitting on top of my printer so they could look out the window and see her. I went into the bathroom and got some cat food, then I opened the door to see if she wanted in but the sound of the door opening frightened her and she ran away. I put the food on the ground. She never came back to eat it. Maybe eventually she will get hungry enough to come forward and let me feed her.

I don’t know if she will show up again tonight, but I am in Loreto at La Mision Hotel and won’t be able to answer her entreaties. I left some cat food with one of the vigilantes, Juan Manual, in case he should have better luck feeding her, not needing to open a door. How will I know this cat he asked? Well she is gray, has a bent tail, and I will give you a photo, I said. Then he told me he had talked to the cat in person the previous night and what she really wanted five hamburgers to start with or beef machacha in a flour tortilla—it is amazing what similar tastes he and the cat share in food.

The outfall of former Invest 91, now Tropical Storm Olaf, has reached Loreto where it has pretty much been raining all day. I think Esperando’s plans for a scuba dive and mine for hanging out in the sunshine may have been washed away for this weekend. When I looked at the weather report for today it was 40% chance of rain, tomorrow is 50%, and Saturday is 100%. How dismal!! In any event we will stay another night in Loreto, cruise the appliance store for a stove and refrigerator for Casa Abeja, do some food and curio shopping and have the chance for another gourmet meal here before heading back to Santa Rosalia. It is a nice break. Esperando returns again to Mexico City and the Bay Area for the rest of next week.

Life's a Beach

Inn at Loreto Bay

Good news in the offing for fans of the Inn at Loreto Bay and golf course—the hotel re-opened a few days ago under the management of Fonatur. Esperando and I are looking forward to spending a little time there this weekend to relax on the beach. It can be breezy there, but I am more concerned today about rain. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, it is overcast and Invest 91, a loosely organized storm mass drifting off the coast of Cabo is said to have a 30 to 50 percent chance of developing into a tropical storm in the next 48 hours. Esperando called from Loreto this morning where it was raining, thundering and lightening to ask me to look up the weather on the computer. I suppose a little rain might wash away some of the lingering dirt on the streets from our mudbath with Jimena, but I am happy without any rain for now.

Since we have some big investors spending the night tonight we are planning a nice barbecue for entertainment this evening. Even the dog has even been bathed in honor of the occasion. The evening will start with margaritas and hors d'œuvres of shrimp, guacamole, taquizos (part of a corn tortilla wrapped around a piece of hot dog, and the whole fried with a dip of hot sauce—actually quite tasty) and barbecued sausage followed by steaks, charro beans, a savory squash pudding, and my special coleslaw recipe of cabbage and halved grapes with oil and vinegar dressing. Dessert will be a carrot cake and Don Julio tequila reposado. We are also preparing a strata today for breakfast tomorrow morning that will need to sit all night in the refrigerator and that will be served with a fruit salad; Treasure Cake (a secret cinnamon cake recipe of my mother’s friend); a banana cake from the Union Street Inn B&B in San Francisco; and toasted bilotes (French bread) from the Panaderia Frances downtown. Hopefully no one will go away hungry.

Green Chile and Chorizo Strata

The following modified recipe (to use local ingredients) found on http://www.epicurious.com/ from Bon Appetit will be served for breakfast. Makes 6 servings

14 to 16 ounces chorizo sausage, casing removed
1 1/2 cups sour cream

2 c lowfat milk
5 large eggs
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 c sourdough bread, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 3/4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, about 7 ounces
2 4-ounce cans chopped mild green chilies
1 diced Jalapeno chile, seeds removed
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Butter 8-cup soufflé or baking dish. Sauté chorizo in heavy large skillet over medium-low heat until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer chorizo to plate lined with paper towels; drain well. Whisk next 5 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Place 2 bread slices in bottom of prepared dish. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup cheese and half each of chilies, cilantro and chorizo. Pour 1/3 of egg mixture over. Repeat layering with 2 bread slices, 3/4 cup cheese and remaining chilies, cilantro and chorizo. Pour half of remaining egg mixture over. Top with 2 bread slices. Pour remaining egg mixture over and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Cover; chill overnight. Cook at 350F for one hour.

Day 2 After Jimena

Current exterior of guesthouse redesigned by Jimena


It is such a beautiful day outside, if I didn’t know how badly the town had fared I might be able to fool myself into thinking everything was ok. The guards have been cleaning fallen leaves and broken tree limbs from the yard for the last two days. The exterior paint job on the guesthouse is damaged as are some of the inside walls where the water ran down.

A heliocopter just rumbled overhead. Yesterday was major heliocopter day, I don’t know if there was just one or if there were several flying around doing reconnaissance. The Governor of Baja Sur was supposed to be here yesterday doing damage assessment. The nearest airport, at Palo Verde (about 40 minutes south), is completely washed out. Esperando has been trying to help Baja Bush Pilots organize an air relief effort, and it looks like the highway near San Ignacio is a likely candidate.

We connected back up to City power yesterday and disconnected the generator. I was very impressed how quickly the electric company got the power back up, there were so many downed poles and wires from the storm. The power came on in fits and starts; it would come, then go off an hour later, stay on for some arbitrary amount of time, go off again and so on. The house was really hot to sleep in when the power went off not even the fans worked, there was no breeze, and the humidity must be around 90% from the good soaking the hurricane left behind. Fortunately the temperature was about 79F, it could have been much hotter. These big storms do cool the air down several degrees after they have passed through.

Esperando has been told the City water system is defunct: 2 km of water pipeline and one well have disappeared; they do not yet know the fate of the rest of the wells. People really need the water for drinking, cooking and washing. The government is setting up a potable water plant so water will be available. I noticed today when I went out the front door a strong smell of raw sewage.

We are starting to hear big trucks rumbling through right below our house. They have probably diverted the road past us. Transpeninsular Hwy 1 is IT for transporting goods across the peninsula. I know the road is badly washed out in places, but at least stuff is getting through again.

The Cowboy is flying in to Loreto today and will be driving up tomorrow with a truck load of water and other necessities for the employees. He will be a good source for finding out how the road fares between here and Loreto. It is hoped he can get the mine roads dug out. The Hurricane washed away the guard shack, gate and fence leading into the mine. It is as if there was no mine entrance ever there. The entire plain is swept clean as a whistle.

Hurricane Jimena

Highway approaches to Santa Rosalia north (top) and south (bottom three)

Hurricane Jimena has left a mess of Santa Rosalia. Both north and south Highway 1 approaches have lost big chunks to make driving all but impossible for anything but a 4X4. Downtown is still paralyzed with heavy mud. Electrical crews are working hard and electricity is slowly coming back on in town, no running water though. Baja Bush Pilots is supporting the Mexican Red Cross in trying to organize relief efforts.

The storm entered as a Category 1 Hurricane, sat on top of us for 10 hours, went away for 8 hours and has now returned as a Tropical Depression, a fairly steady downpour moving slowly at 6 mph. This is a pretty soggy place right now. We have been told by locals that this is the worst storm in 50 years.

San Ignacio gets its power from Santa Rosalia and so is also probably still without power.

The following excerpts of correspondence to jack@bajabushpilots.com is quoted:

“My name is Rosalva Rocha Cuesta. I was born and raised in Mulege, Baja California Sur. This morning I had the fortune to speak with my sister in Mulege. She related to me the devastation left behind by Hurricane Jimena. The trail of damage left by H. Jimena is far worse that H. John back in 2006. The water level was much higher(apparently 2meters over the bridge in town), than of H. John´s. Without going into further detail, I am sure you get the picture. The only store in town open for business is "´El Pinguino" near the kindergarten area. Most of the supermarkets in town had major flood problem damaging their goods and were left unable to provide for the Muleginos in ne! ed. La tienda "El Pinguino", was running out of everything this morning already. . . I am sending this message to you requesting your help for my people in Mulege. Muleginos have no way to reach out at this point, but they are in desperate need of water and food.”

“Hello Joe Diorio here at Chivato. PCH runway was in good shape until it started raining again this AM. Will need a couple of days to dry when the sun comes out.... Latest from Palo Verde / San Bruno/ Chivato Bay... what ever you want to call it. It´s unusable. large boulders and river ran through the middle of it. Hotel Serenidad (in Mulege) under water .... so we should have our (Punto Chivato) road graded to the highway as soon as the sun comes out and I´ve heard that the road from Palo Verde to Mulege is passable.... maybe air lift to here and run in with trucks??? Let me know if i can help from here. Will walk runway as soon as rain stops...”

People concerned about Punto Chivato should check out http://bajaquest.com/jimena/ which has photos of many of the homes there.

And from Dave Perry “Jack, I just talked to Loreto, there is no electricity, which they guess won´t be connected for 10 days to two weeks. No water anywhere in town for 4 days. All food sold out of markets, gas station running on a generator-lines over 1/2 mile, night and day.” Reports from a local resident employee in Loreto state that there 50 high voltage power lines down between Cuidad Constitucion (where Loreto power comes from) to Loreto.

Vacation ends tomorrow

View of church tower Mision de Loreto taken from La Mision Hotel at Loreto over the palm trees.

The last night of our vacation we spent in Loreto at La Mision, the newly completed luxury hotel right in the middle of town overlooking the malecon. We had an attractive air-conditioned room on the 3rd floor overlooking the pool and the Sea of Cortez. Their beds are super comfortable and the amenities are nice. The hotel was quite full, mostly with Mexican guests, leftover from participating in the Loreto 400 car race. We were told they were completely full the previous night which had marked the end of the car race. The swimming pool was maxed out with guests, fortunately not lots of children as they tend overwhelm things down here. We were lucky to find the last two lounge chairs, but all the pool towels had evaporated. Esperando and I are pretty sure the hotel has not had to handle so many people at once before, the services seemed kind of stretched to their limit. Two little boys about 8-years old dominated the pool. They had a couple of largish hard plastic toy boats they kept throwing across the water and into the hot tub; they were kind of obnoxious but their parents didn’t seem to notice or care. The hotel must pump water into the pool from the ocean as the water is a brackish mixture of fresh and salt water, and was like being in a warm bathtub. It made me yearn for the cool sweet water and peace and quiet of Casa Bentley’s pool that we left behind us in Todos Santos. And even more, how we miss the nice beachy setup of the defunct Inn at Loreto Bay!

Baja is famous for off-road races occurring throughout the year, most notably the Baja 1000 and Baja 500 car races. The Baja 1000 is the big off-road race that takes place on the Baja peninsula in the fall, generally September. The event includes various types of vehicle classes such as small and large bore motorcycles, stock VW’s, production vehicles, buggies, trucks, and custom-fabricated race vehicles. The course is much the same each year with the event annually alternating as a point-to-point race from Enseñada in the north, south to La Paz, or a loop race starting and finishing in Enseñada. As a point-to-point race the course length varies but is often over 1,000 miles; as a loop race the course length averages 830 miles. According to Wikipedia, ‘each year there are reports of spectators sabotaging or booby-trapping the course by digging holes, blocking river flow, or burying and hiding obstacles. Many of the booby traps are not created to intentionally injure the contestants but are created by the local spectators as jumps or obstacles for spectator entertainment. The haphazardly-designed jumps, created by the spectators, are very dangerous as the contestants may inadvertently enter the booby-trap at unsafe speeds, resulting in damage to the vehicles or injuries to competitors or spectators.’ Esperando, in the way of boys, is all hot to go watch the race this year as it passes on down to La Paz. I told him to go find another boy to watch it with, I wasn’t interested.

The Baja 500 is essentially the same race held in the springtime, but the course is shorter and loops back to Enseñada. The Loreto 400 is a stock car race dating back to the early 80’s. It goes from Loreto at the Sea of Cortes across the La Giganta mountain range over to the Pacific Ocean, then back up the coast over the mountain range and returns into Loreto. This route is also called the missions route since it follows the historical trails that connected the missions of the Jesuits, Franciscans and Dominicans. The Loreto 400 is consider to be one of the bigger races in Southern Baja.

Esperando and I spent our last night of vacation poolside with me quaffing margaritas and Esperando cold Tecates. As the evening lengthened the temperature became more pleasant and our intentions to go out to dinner evaporated. We ate a great pizza by the pool instead; the pool bar/kitchen has a brick pizza oven, and they make a mean pizza. By the time we headed up to our room, Esperando and I had outlasted the two 8-year old terrorists and almost everyone else, except for a pair of lovers, he a tall blonde gringo with a pronounced lisp and she a very pregnant Mexico girl, who remained entwined in the pool for really at least 2 hours clasped together, never moving. I wondered how you can remain that long in the pool without turning into a prune or needing to go to the bathroom. How romantic am I?

Loreto to Cabo Pulmo

Our vacation is not proceeding smoothly, but rather in fits and starts. When we left Loreto 3 days ago I got the grunge from something I ate at lunch, I thought. In retrospect I believe that one of our houseguests who thought she had bad food had a 24-hour stomach bug and passed it on to me. In any event we stopped in Loreto for lunch at La Mision, a new luxury hotel there and were offered a terrific lunch buffet. I ate far more than I had intended to including lasagna; enchilada suiza; little strips of fajita meat; these delicious ground meat gorditas in a deep fried pastry which you topped with salsa, fresh chopped onions and cilantro; ceviche; and a wide selection of desserts including fruit, flan, buñuelos, various pastries and cakes. After stuffing ourselves we continued our journey, 4 hours south to La Paz.

I was so full from lunch, I began to think I was going to throw up before we would ever get to our destination. I just chalked it up to something bad in the lunch and way too many solid days of driving. By the time we got to our accommodation for the evening, Casa Tuscany, all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and go to sleep. Our hosts, a delightful couple, Patricia and Ken Bonner (respectively from Australia and New Zealand) were quite chatty and I hoped I wouldn’t pitch it all in front of them before they showed us to our room 30 minutes later. I had no desire to go to our favorite restaurant, Las Virgenes. Fortunately our hosts had provided a very decent bottle of wine with the room and Esperando wasn’t hungry either. He sipped some wine and read while I cratered. In the morning I still hadn’t recovered, I felt better but now had diarrhea. Fortunately I recovered after a dose of Lomotil.

We ran a bunch of errands in La Paz, including retrieving a dresser drawer that had been repaired from shipping damage; trying to get a scuba tank filled (but without enough time); buying a few groceries at Walmart; and checking to see if a red enamel/stainless steel GE stove was still available at El Ferry (an appliance store) for Casa Abeja. I had seen the stove 5 months previously. At the time it was drastically marked down, I assumed because of its color. Esperando was sure it would be there, I was sure it wouldn’t and my jaw dropped to the floor to still find it, although without any price on it. Turns out someone had bought it, but returned it since one of the burners didn’t work. We told them we would be returning in a week and would buy it if they could get it fixed by then. This is Mexico, we’ll see if anything happens.

After that, we got back on the highway for Cabo Pulmo, which turned out to be 2 ½ hours distant. I had set up a 3-day stay for us at the delightful El Encanto de Cabo Pulmo, a private home comprised of a small main house, separate loft with balcony (where we stayed), and small casita. The house was designed by artist Diane Varney and every detail is beautifully finished and furnished Mexican style. She has planted an interesting garden of desert plants and many native trees which support the abundant bird life of several species of doves, cardinals, orioles, some small olive colored flittery birds and a desert lark. Cabo Pulmo itself is a national marine park, Parque Marino Nacional Cabo Pulmo, noted for great diving. It has the only coral reef system in the Sea of Cortez. Interestingly most of the tourists we’ve encountered here are Italians.

After lunch yesterday, Esperando caught ‘the grunge’ and fell ill. This morning he was feeling not 100%, but in the way of men went off on his dive anyway. Turns out the first two dives were good, but Esperando was too ill to make the last one.

Cabo Pulmo is an unusual place. We think the population must be about 200 with quite a few Mexican families. It has very little in the way of a grocery store, 4 restaurants, 5 dive shops, a host of beautiful gringo homes running on solar cells and well water. Although quite isolated it still manages to generate a cacophony of noise Mexican-style—generators humming, roosters crowing, peacocks mewing, birds chirping, children screaming, metal pans clanging, trucks rattling by, car alarms screeching, cars honking, cars revving by some with radios blaring, dogs barking, horses neighing, hammers tapping, electric saws roaring, and workmen constructing new homes hollering at one another—because of its small size every noise takes on a life of its own and rivets attention during its broadcast.

We have been eating at El Caballero. The meals are simple but tasty and the young waiter makes a truly great Margarita. Tonite we took the steak we had planned to bbq, but lacking the means for doing so they prepared it for us. Medium rare turned out to be pretty much well done, but still it was tasty.

The daytime temperature has been about 95F (although we think it topped 100F today) and since the generator is down we have no air conditioning. Other than living in the warm waters of the Sea of Cortez, taking a shower every couple of hours is the only way to cool down for a few minutes. Fortunately there is a fairly steady breeze after about 10 am (I say that as I sit here dripping prespiration in the shade). Our bedroom has a ceiling fan directly over the bed—and mosquito netting. I have already sacrificed a good portion of my ankles and legs for mosquito nourishment—they must be Aztec mosquitoes as they are quite a bloodthirsty lot. At night all the stars in the heavens and the Milky Way light up the night sky and are visible from our fine balcony location. We started out saying this place is way too remote, we could visit here, but we could never live here, but now we have added Diane Varney’s lovely home to the list of places we would buy to retire to—but just for 4 months every year—and not in hot August.

Tranquilo

Spring has finally arrived in the Baja, the days are warming up pleasantly but the nights are still cool. The garden at Casa Boleo is full of Easter lilies which are starting to bloom. We have a whole flower bed full of them opening up. The mango trees all have little tiny mangoes on them no bigger than a pea right now. The birds are everywhere looking for things to feed their babies. Yesterday I saw an industrious couple of sparrows busily peeling bugs off the radiator grill of a parked truck. And suddenly a peculiar kind of a bumblebee has resurfaced that is called a moscaron. They are big and black and in constant motion zooming around at slow speed. I have never seen one land on anything. They are territorial toward one another. People here tell me they have a really mean bite, but only if bothered. They are about half the size of a hummingbird.

Esperando and I drove up to Loreto with Sweet Pickle to spend Easter weekend and celebrate our anniversary. On the drive there we detoured to Santa Inez to see if our favorite beach had been invaded, but all we saw was a couple of families and lots of empty beach. I guess the road is too long and bumpy, and what with no services such as minimarts or little restaurants it doesn’t draw the same crowd. We drove back to the highway and sure enough all the beautiful beaches were as advertised, a tent city of Mexican tourists packed in as tight as sardines for Semana Santa. I must say it looked like everyone was having fun, we have never seen these beaches so crowded even when the gringos took them over earlier in January and February (which has the very worst weather—cold and lots of wind and blowing sand, crazy gringos).

When we got to Loreto we walked through an open house at the Inn at Loreto Bay. It was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with beautiful architectural detail, a small outdoor patio downstairs, and upstairs a nice outdoor kitchen with plenty of rooftop space for entertaining. We meet some nice people on the beach that spend half the year there and the other half in the U.S. It sort of bothers us the idea of living in a gringo enclave, but so far everyone we met connected with that property seems really nice. We were ready to buy in, but can’t afford it right now, we’re still pouring money into the Casa Abeja remodel.

That evening we drove into Loreto and had a nice dinner at El Mediterraneo on the Malecon recommended by Ray in Mulege. It has a great atmosphere and an excellent wine list. We shared the paella, I don’t believe I’ve ever had a paella that I fell in love with, even in Spain. This one was full of great shellfish but still didn’t do the trick for me. What was fun was watching all the cars cruising by from our second story perch. It was a regular bumper-to-bumper promenade of just about everyone: cops, army guys in jeeps, beer drinking teenagers packed in truck beds, grandmothers in Toyotas and dogs on their way somewhere.

Exploring Baja

It has been quite a weeks vacation whirlwind. We completely filled up our camper shell in San Diego with purchased construction supplies and food goodies; retrieved the Brainy Blonde at the airport; and started our trek back down Baja via the Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico’s answer to Napa Valley. We sampled the wines at Monte Xanic (best whites) and Adobe Guadalupe (fantastic reds) and had dinner at Laja, a touted gourmet restaurant. The night was spent at Adobe Guadalupe (http://www.adobeguadalupe.com/), Don and Tru Miller’s beautiful winery, inn and estancia in the heart of the valley. The next morning we had a lovely breakfast with Don Miller as he cajoled and scolded his six Wiemerriner dogs to eat their respective breakfasts and not go stealing one anothers. Then we trouped out to the stable for a viewing of week old Wiemerriner puppies (very cute!) followed up with a horseback ride through the vineyards. Just an hour on horseback reacquainted me of lots of muscles I hadn’t used since the last time I got on a horse twenty years ago.

The next destination of Catavina allowed us time to stop and eat lunch at El Rey Sol, a French Bistro of long standing and shop for more wine in Ensenada. We overspent our shopping time and had to step on it to get to Catavina before it was seriously dark (no night driving here, too much livestock on the highways!) The next morning we spend wandering around the desert taking cactus photos, visiting an abandoned marble (alabaster) mine— and our big adventure of the day, an excursion to Coco’s Corner, a jaunt off the highway on an “improved” dirt road that ate tires. We never did find Coco’s Corner (we think a pit stop for the Baja 1000 race) as the map was misleading, but we did get a flat tire and were delayed for several hours while Esperando ate dirt and bashed himself with the tire jack. He finally got a very uncooperative tire off the truck; it had looked like we might not be going anywhere soon.

On we traveled to Guerrero Negro for organized whale watching at the Ojo de Liebre lagoon, only to be blown away by strong winds that canceled that part of our itinerary. That did give us time to get the tire replaced and purchase some Pacific scallops. We also discovered the splendid Malarrimo Restaurant at Guerrero Negro which showcased a terrific meal and walls of used fine wine bottles autographed by passing Baja 1000 participants from previous years. That afternoon we drove on to San Ignacio hoping the winds might not be so awful and that we could see whales there. In fact, they had also cancelled their whale watching, so we came home to spend the night and unload the truck and went back to San Ignacio the following morning.

Luck was with us and we were able to go whale watching at last at Ecoturismo Kuyima. It was a little disconcerting to be in such a small boat and be surrounded by so many whales, most of them mothers with babies swimming and blowing. Some of the bolder adult whales would skyhop, raising there heads up out of the water about 12-14 feet so they could view the boats following them and lure us on to keep after them. Another favored antic was blowing large bubbles near the surface and leaving a trail of them for us to follow as well.

We spent a few days here in Santa Rosalia, then had another fine meal at Ray’s Place in Mulege, this time spending the night in his cute and comfortable cabins. Finally we drove on to Loreto and eat some good dinners at Canipole and Pacha Mamam. We cooked our bodies in the sun at the Inn at Loreto Bay. As the Brainy Blonde pointed out, with all that inactivity we were reducing our carbon footprint.

The whirlwind tour

So to our trip—we landed at Loreto on Sunday and went to check the dining table and chairs shipped from Monterrey to Conchita’s Curios. Although we were told the shop owner Conchita would be there, we found the shop shut up tight as a drum—she had gone to La Paz and no one could tell us when she would return. Cruised by the shop Bazar Loreto that sells Ken Edwards pottery, and it was also shut. This is the touchy one as that owner is an elderly lady who shuts down the shop for 3 months during the hottest part of the summer. Her health is not good and I am afraid she will croak off before I can buy pottery. So then we got on the road to Santa Rosalia earlier than anticipated. The 2 ½ drive did not seem so long this time.

We spent the next 3 days in Santa Rosalia walking through the guesthouse (Casa Boleo); taking measures and seeing what had been done; interviewing guesthouse staff; putting a down payment on our house (Casa Abeja) and measuring it. We found a cook and housekeeper out of 4 applicants. I am excited about the staff, I hope they work out well. Interviewing in Spanish was difficult for me not so much the speaking but remembering what I had said. After the third interview I could no longer remember which applicant I had told what to. I started out pretty well but dissolved into Spanglish as the interviews proceeded—the worst moment was when I said “week-o” instead of “semana.” Esperando Esposo also interviewed a couple of people for mine positions and tried to get REAL work done sandwiched around that and immigration issues. He has to get a his FM3 (like a Mexican green card) stamped with a domicilio or next time he goes into Mexico they will not let him leave the country—so he has been told. It is a complex issue requiring a lot of paperwork and 2-4 days to process. Fun, huh?

Then we drove back on Thursday to Loreto for the flight to La Paz for the furniture and appliance purchases. We probably chose appliances in about 15 minutes and spent another 40 minutes trying to organize the payment. Then on to Ramos, the furniture store where we purchased living room furniture. We stopped at Galeria de la Paz whose American owner is a red-headed wonder woman: she has great taste in furnishings and gets great stuff from all over Mexico. We bought a few pieces for Casa Abeja. After that, a night of great margaritas and food at Las Tres Virgenes and then back to Loreto for a day of R&R. Conchita is open and we check out her bedroom stuff and make another attempt at Bazar Loreto, still barred and chained. I will keep my fingers crossed that she opens her shop again in September.

Conchita gave us great pointers on a local restaurant supply distributor, Dali. We are so lucky! It is the answer to my prayers for how we are going to find the good food we will want to feed people. And it may be they will even deliver to Santa Rosalia if we order enough quantity.