Improbable Lands

I awoke this morning to a dog pack happily scampering about in the light of the sunrise out on the sand. Malachi the Wonder Beast, old man doggo that he is, tried very gamely to participate. The younger dogs seemed to recognize his age and treated him more gently than they treated each other. When he got overly excited and tried to jump in the fray the German Shepherd in the group gave Malachi a warning snarl to tell him to back off. It was definitely an act of kindness rather than act of aggression as the Wonder Beast is a little unsteady on his legs at times these days. Malachi does what he does best since he is not as spry as he once was. He stood in place and barked until the other dogs took notice and came over for some friendly sniffing and he slowly meandered after them once the moved on. The light was so pretty in the morning I hung out with the doggos for a long time taking pictures and just enjoying being around the sheer joy of doggos chasing after each other and wrestling in a warm, sandy place. For whatever reason they had chosen the outside of out palapa as their home base. It was a good way to wake up.

Zack Attack and Bill debated going fishing again today even though Bill had to get back to San Diego tonight, but ultimately decided they were trying to hard. Fish just weren’t meant to happen on this trip. Bill took off and we decided to head onto our next destination, Guerrero Negro. Right next to Guerrero Negro is Ojo de Liebre Lagoon where the grey whales hang out at this time of year for breeding and birthing. We worked out a couple logistical items while Malachi the Wonder Beast lounged around and stole other dogs’ beds. We I awoke this morning to a dog pack happily scampering about in the light of the sunrise out on the sand. Malachi the Wonder Beast, old man doggo that he is, tried very gamely to participate. The younger dogs seemed to recognize his age and treated him more gently than they treated each other. When he got overly excited and tried to jump in the fray the German Shepherd in the group gave Malachi a warning snarl to tell him to back off. It was definitely an act of kindness rather than act of aggression as the Wonder Beast is a little unsteady on his legs at times these days. Malachi does what he does best since he is not as spry as he once was. He stood in place and barked until the other dogs took notice and came over for some friendly sniffing and he slowly meandered after them once the moved on. The light was so pretty in the morning I hung out with the doggos for a long time taking pictures and just enjoying being around the sheer joy of doggos chasing after each other and wrestling in a warm, sandy place. For whatever reason they had chosen the outside of out palapa as their home base. It was a good way to wake up.

Zack Attack and Bill debated going fishing again today even though Bill had to get back to San Diego tonight, but ultimately decided they were trying to hard. Fish just weren’t meant to happen on this trip. Bill took off and we decided to head onto our next destination, Guerrero Negro. Right next to Guerrero Negro is Ojo de Liebre Lagoon where the grey whales hang out at this time of year for breeding and birthing. We worked out a couple logistical while Malachi the Wonder Beast stole other dogs’ beds. We hit the road in the early afternoon. We managed to survive a showdown with a cow in the road and the ubiquitous pot holes everyone complains about. We got into the campsite right at the lagoon just as the sun was setting. The light was beautiful over the salt fields from Guerrero Negro Saltworks. We scored the last palapa along the road and prepared ourselves for whale watching on the morrow. Yay whales! managed to survive a showdown with a cow in the road and the ubiquitous pot holes everyone complains about. We got into the campsite right at the lagoon just as the sun was setting. The light was beautiful over the salt fields from Guerrero Negro Saltworks. We scored the last palapa along the road and prepared ourselves for whale watching on the morrow. Yay

whales!

The fishing guide had told the boys that fishing would still be no good today due to continued winds so we decided to visit the nearby Mission. Mision San Francisco de Borja Adac. Down a dirt road, it was at least an hour trek back even in Bill’s very capable jeep. Beautiful drive in the middle of typical Valle de los Cirios landscape. The Cirios cactus have curving arms that swoop in crazy and illogical directions. The guide who toured us around the Mision is part of the same family who have stood as caretakers of the Mision for 4 generations. His knowledge of the Mision and the surrounding area was inherited and passed down. His father had been the one to discover some of cave paintings in the area that we went to see later that day. They were discovered as he went in search of his cows grazing in the area. We were dubious that the cows could be happy in a valley mostly full of cactus and very little other vegetation, but apparently they eat the fruit off the cactus as well as the inside of the smaller cactuses. They are happy cows in in their forrest of cactus with a canopy of sunbaked blue. The tour of the Mision itself and the cave paintings were a full day. We had planned poorly and had no snacks with us so we scurried back into town in the late afternoon for food.

Bill got in around ten last night after a long drive from San Diego. Apparently on the way down he and his jeep had managed to commit a small scale massacre of bunny rabbits. The bunnies were either dazzled by his lights or did not know how to look both ways before crossing. Today the high winds continued, but we wandered around town again and visited the local museum that was full of fun fossils and other historical artifacts of the region. We drove out to the south side of town and found another nice little beach that would be a good camping spot. There was a remnant there of an old brick structure built up on the hill overlooking the beach. Hard top identify what it might have been. Perhaps a lighthouse, although there is another lighthouse just round the other side of the way. There was some people there snorkling and another overlanding couple from Switzerland who had been traveling for 6 years. That had taken their rig on 4 continents and would be heading up to Alaska as the weather starts to warm up. We picked their brains for thoughts on the overlanding life. Their rig was built in Germany onto a Land Cruiser. It was nice and compact, just a few inches less wide than ours with a shorter pop up as the pop up did not extend over the cab. I admired these seasoned travelers. They had a real appreciation for the outdoors life, but were very practical and not too romantic about the lifestyle. Down in Baja especially you do meet a lot of the hippie style travelers. I often admire the bohemian esthetic, but it’s not quite me, but neither am I the North Face style of traveler that has all the correct gear and charges into opportunities for extreme climbing or sports. I am just doing what I can to chase beauty I suppose. I suppose finding your own aesthetic is a never ending process that requires continually tweaking and changes and morphs as you discover new details about yourself. So I try to be less precious about my own ideas of who I am these days.

Whatever the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth -whether it existed before or not. – John Keats

I’ve been reading the sci-fi, space opera series by Dan Simmons which is full of John Keats and this quote has been sticking with me. Imagination seizes beauty. Such and evocative idea. My new goal in life perhaps. Seize beauty. Worry not where you find it. Perhaps my beauty will be different in apprehension, but it will be true nonetheless.

After the beach and a sighting of a graceful heron skirting about the water we heading back to town for some food and then back to the campsite for a fire. The wind had died down just enough and the stars filled the sky as they do at night. The stars, perhaps, bright bits of souls long gone in worlds far away dusting us with their wisdom. All those molecules stretching across the sky in a galactic yawn that never ends. I watched Zack Attack and our friend Bill across the fire and it was just as it should be for a moment.

We meandered about town today with not much else in mind other than exploration and maybe finding a fishing boat to go out on. We also chit chatted with camp neighbors and compared notes on our rigs. This is always a fun little bit where stories of travels are cross compared and you get to check out other peoples’ setups for ideas. It’s actually kinda surprising how many people seem to live inside their rigs rather than enjoying more of the outdoors. Granted it has been especially windy on and off down here In Baja, but this also seems to be part of RV culture. As we travel more I think we’ll find ourselves camping further out in less organized campgrounds. We drove out to one today called La Gringa with a scattered couple people camping on a huge section of the bay. We met a nice Canadian couple with a puppy I fell in love with. They rescued him and his brother from a beach where he was being dumped. It was shortly after their older dog had died. We ate tacos in town and picked up some tortillas and huevos from the local market. The wind was rather bitter so we ate some dinner inside the camper and waited for our friend, Bill, to arrive, who was coming down for the fishing.

Today we took the back road from Coco’s which is part of the Baja 500 route. Coco kindly drew us a map with a sharpie on a chunk of scrap wood. It made little sense to me, but I nodded sagely along with Zack Attack. It took us on some rugged roads through a beautiful valley with an arroyo. We saw a new species of cactus (new to us) that seemed very like something Dr. Seuss might have dreamed up. There were gorgeous rock canyons of every hue. A few free roaming cows hanging out in the middle of nowhere were there too. Cows seem to enjoy a lot of freedom in this part of the world. Still, they have very little trust for me and I never manage to get too close before they scamper off. Cow dogs are not quite as ready to accept pets and head scritches as dog dogs.

The total length of the back road was probably 45 kilometers and took us about 5 hours before we hit the main road again on the other side. We saw no other cars the whole way. Malachi the Wonder Beast snored away in the back seat for most of the journey. We got almost lost once and saw a burnt out car in the middle of nowhere. Even though we weren’t incredibly far from civilization the quiet that you feel when you realize that no one else is around is both exhilarating and a little scary. The road had a couple tricky bits, but the Grolar Bear did great. We are pretty excited because now we feel like we can go pretty much anywhere we want to in our little hybrid beastie of a vehicle. I got a couple good videos of the Grolar Bear looking tough I’ll add in at some point when my internet connection is more inspiring.

We ended the day arriving into Bahia de Los Angeles. The bay way tranquil and the sun just warm enough. The view of the bay protected by its collection of small islands came into sweeping view as we rounded a corner and started meandering down the twisting road into the town. Quite a dramatic entrance for such a sleepy little town. We pulled into a quaint campo to enjoy a sunset full of delicate pastel hues and breathed in the refreshing chill of the cooling evening.

Virginia and Larry and their guests let us partake of their tasty breakfast with them and then we hit the road. We wanted to spend the night at Coco’s Corner in the desert.

Along the way we stopped at a little restaurant at Punto Bufeo where there is free camping on the beach and Malachi the Wonder Beast was harassed by two younger pups. We ate a quesadilla and had Tecates. On a different trip we will definitely camp here. One of the pups was named Percy and I never got the name of the other one so I took to call him Pancho. They were lovely little ankle biters. They were especially enamored of Malachi’s leash and would have walked him if they could have.

The freeway to Coco’s is mostly paved these days, but the last bit is still dirt. Semis still bravely traffic it though. We got to Coco’s in the late afternoon. Coco is a Baja icon who has been there since the 50s. His place is along the Baja 500 route and he’ll let you camp there for free if you buy a soda or beer. He is a soft-hearted gentlemanly lecher and hard to resist. He fed Malachi the Wonder Beast about 20 biscuit cookies from a special tin. We ended up being the only folks that stayed at his place that night so we hung out with him for a while and even cooked up breakfast for him in the morning. I gave Coco a pair of my panties to hang on his wall as apparently this is what is done and really who am I to question these things. You can tell Coco is beloved by many, but he is also isolated. Lots of folks stop in to see the legend, but few stay. Coco described to me how he tried to flag people in for Christmas and New Years by shouting at them as they passed by and shaking his bottle of tequila at them. No one stopped he said. If you pass through this part of Baja stop in and give Coco a hug and let this 81 year old gent give you a squeeze.

We returned to San Felipe after a morning stroll with Malachi the Wonder Beast. The tide was very low in the morning and made for perfect wading water for the doggo. The wind had died down a bit and we felt good that the rest of our lives would not be so blustery. The seagulls I had seen lifting off into the wind only to hover low off the ground, arrested in place, taught me that my natural preference was for a gentler breeze. Their buoyant flight was a thing of perfect beauty, while my stumbling through the sand spray capped dunes was awkward at best. We attempted to make an offer to buy a bit of abandoned astroturf we saw in the locked up hotel area, but the caretaker was concerned as a prospective buyer had recently inventoried the grounds. In San Felipe we had some laundry done, had the Grolar Bear washed all fresh and sparkly, and picked up a couple more supplies including yummy local tortillas from a little market down the road from the car wash. We headed towards Puertocitos, which we’d heard was a quaint little fishing village, but decided against the main camp site there. We wandered up the road to a local market and met some folks that had a house in the area at Camp Cesar. They let us stay on their land on a bluff over the water and it was lovely. I had picked up a peanut based hot sauce at the San Felipe Calimex. It was yummy and spicy and drizzled liberally over my dinner.

Last night strong winds whipped the camper and a rain blew in which became snow in the morning. We had already decided to leave for San Felipe, but decided to leave fairly early in the morning as we had not mentally prepared ourselves for snow being driven into our faces with strong, winter winds. A hasty retreat was made. In a couple spots along the dirt road on the way out tree limbs almost blocked us, but we squeaked past. We parked in San Felipe when we made town and had a margarita and a beer facing the Sea of Cortez. We then headed south of town to stay at the point. Punta Estrella I think was the name. We stayed at a semi-abandoned RV resort slowly being reclaimed by the san dunes. The wind had followed us so I hung some of our towels and blankets the snow had gotten the better of over some tree branches and let them snap dry. The campground, now just called the Residence, must have been very fancy at one time. Remnants of a swim up bar and tennis courts are still in evidence. It was like we had reached the end of the world. I did not expect zombies, but wouldn’t have been surprised by the appearance of an albino coyote full of tales to tell and wisdom to dispense.

In the morning we did a small hike up to the top of the nearest grouping of clumped boulders. A panoramic view of the surrounding peaks and the arid expanse of the lake bed in between greeted us at the too along with strong winds whipping around the rocks when you rounded a corner. We strolled through the lake bed as well and said hello to some cows. The dry lake is covered with a fine white down – the remnants of whatever plant life had lined the bottom of the lake – which reminded me of the silken webs of a giant spider spinning his webs for artisty rather than prey. Winds continued to be strong, so we started a fire early today

Today we bid farewell to Valle de Guadalupe and drove south through Ensenada and the east along the 3 towards San Felipe. We decided to go see Laguna Hansen, a lake about 20 miles off the main road in the National Park. The elevation gets higher than you’d expect quickly and the temps dropped. As we’d stopped in Ensenada to runs some errands and get some lunch we barely pulled into the park before sunset. It was beautiful though. Giant boulders lay strewn across the park like sleeping giants in groupings small and large. Some seem toppled upon each other in ways that defy gravity. Fir trees get thicker further from the lake bed and seem content enough with their life in the sandy soil. Unfortunately the lakes are dry for the most part. The smaller lake had a bit of water, but the larger lake seemed to have been dry for a while.