Day at an Oasis 2/26/10

Today we took an offroad Jeep ride up the north arroyo to a waterfall and oasis. It is probably 10 to 12 miles in and took us about an hour to get there. This 'road' is all sand/rock/gravel and runs through a long arroyo (area where rains run down off the mountains). This is the same arroyo that fed water down to the sea a few weeks ago when we had the big rains. You might have seen the ditch on the beach on the blog at that time. Well, it's all dry now,until you get to the waterfall. The land goes from scrub to tall palm trees and stands of a skinny bamboo and lots of other plants. We also heard frogs letting us know they were in the neighborhood as we walked down the creek to the falls. Falls are not huge, but in the desert they are pretty impressive!
I've also included a photo of a huge rock that is held in place by a couple of handfuls of sand... I know someday soon it will come crashing down... another lost landmark. The palms at the oasis are huge and surround a large white sand area. We had to walk in the last way, walking in the stream part of the time. It got warm early today and is supposed to hit 81 by this afternoon so I was glad for my hat and sunglasses. We came home to a sea full of kite and sail surfers. I hope to get some good photos of them soon. The kites have leads of at least 50ft so it is hard to get a photo of the kiter AND his kite in the same photo. Well, that's all for another blog.

W enjoyed our morning at the oasis, and another great day here in Los Barriels.

Happy trails.....

Snorkling,travelling and more

Couple of days ago the Petersons took Roger and me to a beach north of Los Barriles. We travelled down a typical back road, ala Baja, (hope not to meet someone coming the other way on a one way road) but the trip was worth it! There was no one else on this beach while we were there until the last hour or so when two other couples arrived and moved on down the beach. There are miles of beach this year with no one on them. This beach was strewn with white coral, broken into small pieces; there were some various shells too. Now I have to get snorkling gear.... Linda was disappointed that day with the fish or lack there of, but it sure looks like fun, even without the fish! Today, 2/23 the four of us took a drive to La Paz with stops at San Antonio and El Triunfo. San Antonio has a cultural center where a woman from my drawing class is teaching pottery and they are trying to promote local artisans. This is a very old town, and we would like to more of it. We hoped to have lunch in El Triunfo but our favorite resturant was closed (Sun and Mon it turns out). We struggled on to La Paz. What we learned in La Paz was that we are in no hurry to return, that Walmart does NOT carry everything we want, and that "American" resturants in Baja hold no charm for us. Very long day; Roger did major work driving that long curvy, narrow road! We made ourselves feel better by stopping at our favorite ice cream store in LB. Nothing like home (LB) for us!

I've included a photo of the church in San Antonio and one of an old wall there in town. The streets in old town are cobblestone and there is a charming large plaza. Some of the streets were too narrow to drive the Jeep down. I have also included a couple of photos of paintings... you just can't keep some people down, !! I've also been taking a drawing class based on the book "Drawing from the right side of your brain"... and those I wont put up! I am doing my homework tho, so maybe I will improve. Meanwhile, we hope you all are well and having fun...we sure are! Happy trails....

QUAD Parade Los Barriles

Well, the local 'gringos' had a quad parade in downtown Los Barriles on Friday. These people went all out and lots of folks in town turned out to watch them roll by. The event was sponsored by the local Rotary Club. There was a big outdoor dinner and raffle prizes to top the evening off. I think this event was a sort of Mardi Gra celebration as there was lots of candy throwing, bead necklaces tossed about and general good time had by all. On Sunday the Petersons and Roger and I went to the Buena Vista Hotel Resort just south of us for a Valentines Day brunch. This was a very nice event with lots of seafood, roasted turkey, the usual eggs/pancakes/country potatoes affair, but also included refried beans, shrimp, clams, and prawns, as well as flan, jello custard and fresh tortillas. The seafood here is just fantastic. Oh, did I mention the unlimited mimosas too? The sad part of this event was that there was only two other couples in the dining room while we were there. This is a huge resort in a beautiful setting, right on the beach. The economy has really hurt the tourist season here. We took a walk down to the beach after brunch and watched a fellow who was trying to do some kite surfing, but gave up as it was not quite windy enough. Enjoy the photos... we had a grand time taking them.

Happy trails.

Baja kite sailing 2/12/10

Wind is back today and kite boarders and sailboarders were out in force. Had a chance to go down on the beach and get some close up photos. We had never seen the kite board up close before. They inflate the leading edge with air so it resembles the construction of a bird' wing. They use a small surf-looking board and wear a harness around the waist area. The handle is similar to one used for waterskiing.... but also attached to the harness. They 'walk' the inflated sail down to the water, carrying their board. They wade in, fill the sail with wind, and let the force pull them up out of the water. They can really move and the best of them do fancy footwork doing jumps, quick turns, etc. We've watched beginner handling the lines of the kite itself while still on solid ground. I've also included photo of the sail board. Both were out in good numbers today. We are about to take off to watch a "Quad" parade in town this afternoon. The local Rotary club has pulled together a big event and we've heard folks in town talking about decorating quad all week. Several resturants are having parties and music later. We will try Caleb's Taco night, just to keep in the spirit of things.

happy trails....

Baja 2/7/10

Yesterday the Petersons, Roger and I took a drive to the little town of Santiago, south of Los Barriles. We were going to look for a waterfall there that we've heard about. Danny also knew the local best-food place, the Palomar Hotel. We also wanted to check out a couple of rv parks that are in the area..... always checking to see if we might prefer another park to the one where we are staying. We never did find the waterfall, but we did verify that we are in the BEST rv park (for us anyway) in the area. We are totally sold on our beach front sites, and the little town of Los Barriles. I've included a photo of the 4 of us at lunch... oh yummy! There is also a photo of a closed up building just on the town square. You can see the original bricks peeking through the plaster. The photo of the ladders propped on the sea wall is just south of our park. Some of these sites are very fancy, and some are just a site with a steel framed palapa to park someone's rig under. I wondered how folks got down to the beach and today the answer showed up in the form of these ladders. February must be the THE tourist month down here, similar to how it is in AZ. This area is not an rv park, these are individual sites - they may be units for rent or owned by someone. The last photo is of an 'estate' (or whatever you call it) that juts out onto the beach to the south of us. I think this would make a great painting with the sea wall and tall palms. I'd like to add here a comment about eating in a resturant here in Baja. It takes awhile to get your meal. Chips (often home made) and condiments are served while you wait. We took photos at the Palomar while we waited. We were out doors, and there were coconuts high in a palm near us and a wonderful little casa with big banana palms in front. So your meal is served, maybe in courses if you've ordered a complete meal. You have to ask for the bill; no one would be rude enough to present the bill and give you the impression not to linger as long as you like. Our dinner at the Palomar probably took over an hour for our lunch..., the weather was perfect, the service great, the food wonderful. Meals are not fast food here, even at the taco stands or outdoor palapa counters. It is a wonderful way to enjoy your food and company. We will have to make another trip back to this area to visit the world heritage park which is perserving the only living coral reef in this part of the world. We might even find that waterfall. Tomorrow we may have some rain showers and Wed. is supposed to be pretty wet. Roger can't wait to drive the Jeep out to the arroyos to check out the run-off.... needless to say, I do not think this is a great idea..... Happy trails....

Baja weather show 2/3/10

Yesterday we had quite a weather show late in the afternoon and on into evening. I hope you can see the rainbow over the little Airstream trailer in the first couple of photos. The clouds were coming along as the weather front moved east and south. The first photo of the trailer is directly north of us. By early evening the clouds were completely dark and the lightning started. The clouds let go and it continued for several hours, with the lightning continuing off in the distance across the water. Very impressive. The video (turn on the sound for Sea of Cortez surf) is of the surf which we rarely see like this. We can hear it in the morning after the storm passed through. We don't have the rocks on our beach as shown in the video.... that beach is a little further north than we are here. Today is bright and sunny again, the storm just part of the ever changing scene here at the beach. Oh! before all the weather show started - mid afternoon- we had another kind of show....2 whales were offshore showing off for the gathering crowd (all 8 or so of us)... flukes, backs, spouts, and tails were all on display. Folks were rushing for binoculars, cameras, and chairs to catch the show. Very impressive! Needless to say, we are loving it here on the beach....
Happy trails and sea....

Baja Los Barriles 2/2/10

Thought I'd give you a look at some of the places we've checked out here in Los Barriles. We finally made it to 'Caleb's " cafe (breakfast, coffees, wifi, and a view to die for, along with a bakery and art gallery). Danny and Linda Peterson are our tour buddies from WA state. We had the upstairs open dining area to ourselves for a wonderful breakfast on Tues morning. The casas are photos taken off the beach. The orange one has a wonderful multi-tile circular set of steps down to the beach and a deep blue wrought iron fence and gate to the beach. Lots of buildings here have wonderful colorful paint jobs. The pink,yellow, and orange house is across the dirt road from Caleb's. We had rain yesterday and last night. We walked the beach this morning and found a 3 ft. trough where the water had carved itself a 'way' down to the sea. Right now Roger is off checking out the arroyo to see how it was affected. Meanwhile we've hung out our laundry on the lines at the "laundraria".... so my work for the day is done.

happy trails....