Baja 5/5/2012, last full moon this season

We are on our countdown days now in Los Barriels.  I worked on another mural - this one is in the second bedroom of Onda Rocks.  The owner had drawn the design and painted in the background.  She suggested I could work on it if I chose and of course, I couldn't pass that up!  I did not have the necessary black paint to put on the finishing touches to the bridle, ropes etc., was able to pretty much finish the rest of it.  This mural is probably 6 ft tall and 6 ft wide.  Very fun project.  It is May, the wind has pretty much gone away for the season and so have the kite boarders and most of the winter  tourists.  The "free beach" (free for camping) was quite full all winter with some pretty elaborate rigs and palm 'homes.  I've put up some photos of the empty beach now.  What a difference... now mostly cows are walking the arroyo roads and beaches.  The fishermen are coming in now and there are many more boats moored in the bay.  Mike and Elaine, our room mates this winter, left last Friday for points north.  We are winding up our last week here, leaving on Tues for the border.  We went out on the beach this evening to watch the full moon come up.  While we were watching the rays jump out in the bay, we caught sight of two whales moving south, showing off w/ tails and flukes every once in awhile.  Really amazing and that full moon just made it perfect.  It is getting very warm here now and we are missing the breezes.  Time to head north and another world.  Hope you are enjoying your world, where ever that may be... happy trails...

Baja wall mural 4/12

Today's posting is about the mural Danny and Linda Peterson asked me to paint on the wall of their casita in Los Barriles, Baja Sur this winter. We talked about what they had in mind and I did a small watercolor after measuring the wall. Danny particularly wanted a tall coco palm and Linda loves Bird of Paradise flowers. Mexican style pots were part of the plan. After we agreed upon the basic design Linda and I went to town to pick up the paint. We wanted 5 cans and the store had enough base for 3. They promised to have more base in two days and they did. This is a small town! I made "patterns' of the vases to be sure we had a visually pleasing size that fit together. I painted the big vase first, then added the Bird of Paradise. Next I did the middle vase and leaves for the flowers. Filling the small pot with flowers was a fun effort, using red and yellow for the flowers and adding little leaves in green. The end pot was a challenge because we wanted a mottled look... a big sponge did the trick and I added some painted walking sticks to complete the total vase part of the mural. I was able to paint the trunk of the coco tree while standing on the floor under the palapa. However, to finish the fronds, Danny found a tall ladder for me to stand on. It worked great and gave me great access to the span of wall. This was my first big outdoor wall mural and I had a great time doing it. Murals are common here in Los Barriles; there is only one neon sign in the whole town that I can think of. The Petersons mural is under their palapa and not in direct sunlight. It should last a long time! One of my goals for this winter was to do much more painting than I have winters passed. And I have done a lot of paintings this winter; this project, while a different medium (acrylic waterbased paints) and much bigger, was still painting in it's best sense of the word. To make a plan, a drawing and execute it is the basis of any painting - well, I think it is most of the time anyway. I hope you are planning and executing your own plan for fun and satisfaction! Happy Trails.....

Baja current events 4/7/12

Well, in the last few weeks we have just been enjoying the 'everyday' here in Los Barriles. We've been trying out the various "hot dog" stands which only open up after dark. One is at "Three Dog Corner"; a more elaborate affair that also serves stuffed potatoes, gigantic burritos and barbq steak. The photo here shows a stand in the person's yard; nice hot dogs, w/ cooked onions, peppers and the usual condiments. We also tried a stand that parks in a space across the street from the local grammer school. He had hot dogs wrapped in bacon, with good toppings too. We stood on the curb that night. April 1st was a big art show on the grounds of the Hotel Las Palmas. We started out early as we knew it was going to be a very warm day and managed to get in some good shopping! In the center of the show was a large stage where a young lady performed with guitar while we were there. There was also a large food pavillion for the weary shoppers so they could refuel and carry on. I have included a shot of Roger on "our" beach; we have kayaked from this beach as well as further south on the 'sandier' beaches. Wave action has really erroded much of the beach we used last year. Rocks have appeared where we never saw them before. Last night (Friday 4/6) the Petersons and Roger and I took a free shuttle to El Cardonal, about 20 miles, to the Mar & Tierra restaurant for their seafood buffet. So glad someone else was driving that road! The food was great, lobster, scallops, shrimp in a creamy cheese sauce, steamed veggies, salad and dessert. A huge orange moon came up over the water while we finished our desserts; as you can see from the photos, we were outside and the evening was perfect. I have been working on a mural at the Petersons casita and will have a blog with photos when it is finished. Danny is working on some sort of contraption so I can reach the top of the wall! More to come... another great week in Los Barrilesl, Baja Sur. Happy trails....

P.S, I have put up my paintings on the website www.Pinterest.com if you'd like to take a look.

Baja week of 3/13/12

We've had a busy week at the ol Onda Rocks casa! Tues night we held a "Murder Mystery dinner with Mike, Elaine, Danny and Linda Peterson, and Roger and myself. Turned out I was the 'murder' and no one 'caught' me! But it was fun and we will try to do one more before we leave. Thursday I painted while the rest of the Koehns were off for an off-road Jeep ride. Saturday was market day with folk dancers, lots of local vendors with good food and produce. We bought tickets for next weekend's play. We also enjoyed some fresh bakery treats! That night we went to dinner at Tio Pablo's with some Irish entertainment added to the evening. Yesterday, Sunday, we travelled to El Triunfo, a village of about 400 people for their annual Arts Festival. Lots of people poured into the little town - they were not disappointed! Music, food, arts and crafts as well as exhibitions of dancing and puppetry. We also visited a local home that is 200 years old. It was so beautiful inside and we could see the conservation work being done to keep it in wonderful condition. The dining room table was one solid piece of granite and long enough for at least 12 people. The family was extremely proud of the home, as well they should be... it is wonderful. The Petersons went along for the day. Later we met them at a local restaurant for a quiet dinner. One of the usual (unusual for us) things that happened the night of the 17th was that the power went out all over town and stayed that way until early the next morning. No mochas or latte's for us the morning of the 18th! Roger and I went into town to have our usual coffee fix, BUT the local spot was without power and only had coffee-pot coffee, so we made do with coffee and scones... that's life in Baja! Happy trails...

Whale Watching in Bay of Magdalena 3/6/2012

We took an overnight tour to the Bay of Magdalena, north of Constitution. We were told there were many whales and "babies" in the bay. This trip is one of the items on "bucket list" of things I really wanted to do. We have seen PBS National Geographic films on these whales and the area. Our first outing was Tues afternoon. We went out for about 2 hours; 6 of us, our tour guide and the boatman. It was amazing! A large whale (Momma?) and 'baby' came right up to the boat. We were all able to touch a whale, get a face full of whale breath, and some of us wet from slapping, blowing whales! We were in the long inlet of the bay, which is about a mile across at it's widest point. We saw adults w/ babies, singles and some small groups of whales, many at very close range. Octavio, our guide took us out again just before sunset to bird island and up to the sand dunes. This was an added bonus to the regular tour schedule. Dinner that night was at the hotel, which is clean and very simple. But the dinner was excellent, lobster, grilled shrimp and a filet of halibut, plus rice and vegetables. We all crashed pretty early after hours on the water and meeting the tour at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning it was a breakfast of scrambled eggs with chiriso and pancakes, with fresh bananas and oranges. Then 8 a.m. we were off to the boat again for our morning whale tour. No close up touching encounters that morning, but we saw so many astounding displays of whales, fins, tails, jumps and spins, we were all yelling in excitement. Trying to learn how to use the camera on my phone was a riot... I had to delete many video of the floor of the boat, my knees, Roger's shoes etc. But I did manage to get some great shots of the whale activites... now the challenge is to get those video on the blog. That may have to wait til next blog! Many things about how the camera/Picasso works are still a mystery to me. So we are still having adventures... and hope you are too! Happy trails...

Baja 3/3/2012

We had another nice day at the Farmers Market here in Los Barriles. The Folklore Dancers were the entertainment. They are a wonderful troop with beautiful costumes. You can see Roger met a couple of the performers. The market has a wonderful assortment of things to see.... food, produce, art work, music and dancers. We also stopped at two garage sales ... on the beach, under the trees, they are still 'garage' sales. On another note, yesterday we were without power and water for most of the day. This happens (water) couple times a week; power is not usually a problem, though we have had a couple of other outages. Anyway, we decided that rather than sit in the dark we would go into town and have dinner at the only restaurant that we knew had a generator. Could be that 'town' had more power than further out neighborhoods. But no doubt we were w/out power, so dinner in town was a good idea. Tonight we are going to a "Story Night" at Caleb's, a favorite spot. This will include dessert and several 6-8 minute stories, read by their authors. Mike and Elaine went last year and really enjoyed it. Next week Roger and I will take off on an overnight whale watching trip to the Bay of Magdalena. Very much looking forward to that! Had to include photos of recent paintings and one of a kite boarder. Winds have been pretty steady here and not good for kayaking.... but the kite boarders are loving it and they are fun to watch. Hope you are enjoying yourself where ever you are... happy trails...

Baja 2/19/2012

We had a fun day yesterday. The first Farmers Market was held at the new pavillion park in Los Barriles. We went and got some goodies, Mango Chutney and Mango Jam, as well as some fresh veggies. The local grammer school children did some Baja folk dances. They even got some of the audience involved, including Elaine. The weather was perfect, warm with a slight breeze. The new park is very nice and includes a large sand box area which Elaine knew her grandkids would enjoy as a real treat. Then of course we realized that the whole area down here is a big sandbox for the local kids! We had to go out to lunch after such a fun morning. Later in the afternoon the local Rotary Club sponsored a big Mardi Gra parade though town and we sat on a curb as spectators. I think everyone down here is having a second childhood, acting out all the fun stuff they were too busy working to enjoy the first time around. The photos tell the tale. More sunshine and beads to enjoy. The crowd chased after the bead necklaces and candy the parade royalty tossed to the enjoyment of their humble attendants!... all us little kids, remember? I am also including a new painting ... my version of the Plaza Libertadad in town. This is a collage, and I enjoyed 'going for it' with all the color and texture. We finished off the evening after the parade with dinner at Tio Pablo's for Saturday night 1/2 price burgers! Today the other Koehns are off in their Jeeps, while I stick to my paints. We are indeed living the good life! Hope you are too. Happy trails...

I'd like to add a P.S. to this post... we've heard alot about the dangers of coming down to Baja.... I hope these photos give a different perspective. Of course there are normal precautions one would take any where, Seattle, Boise, New Orleans, or Cabo or Tijuana.... we feel very safe and love it here!