Visit to La Paz

We are n La Paz now, at an RCI timeshare just outside the city. We left Los Barriles 1/22/11, making a stop at the Bay of Dreams for lunch. This is a resort complex I guess, on a beautiful bay, out in the middle of nowhere. There is a golf course, a few buildings in a residential portion of the property, and a great restaurant with a gorgeous view of the sea. This route also took us away from the mountain highway to La Paz, so though it was a longer drive (somewhat) it was new country for us and not all those winding curves! We checked in to the La Concha (The Shell) and checked out the beach. There is a very nice pool, outdoor bar with food service and service right to your palapa from the staff. The food is excellent and so is the service. However our bed is like sleeping on the floor and there is not a comfortable chair to sit on in the living space! We have spent wonderful days on the beach on cushioned lounges, and I wanted to take the cushions in to sleep on! We've driven into La Paz a couple of times. Roger is still favoring his left leg so we are not doing much walking on the famous maleco'n. He did manage to find a coffee house though and get a 'fix'... however, this is Mexico and not Seattle. They are more into Mode'lo cervesa than mochas or lattes. For the most part the weather has been just beautiful. I did buy a hoodie sweatshirt and was glad to have it today as we have a little overcast. This weather would be a warm day in Washington, but how quickly we have become accustomed to WARM weather, every day, all day. I think tomorrow we will head back to Los Barriles. I am getting too spoiled with all the great service. Having to cook a meal or make my own bed will be hard to get used to again! Remember not to waste today, it wont come again... happy trails...

Baja Lord of the Winds 1/13/11

First day of Lord of the Winds competiton here in Los Barriles. This is an international competition including both kite boarders and wind surfers. In some of the competitons, both types of surfers are in the race. Remember that you can click on any photo to enlarge it. The kites are very colorful and the wind surfers look like butterflies on the sea. Because they have to be translucent so the sailor can see where he/she is going, the sun shining through the colorful sails is quite beautiful.

This is day one of the events. We just drove down the beach a way, parked and walked among the participants, the spectators etc. There are lots of vendors with 'refreshments' but there is no pressure, and crowd was having a great time with no rowdiness (well, at least not at 2 p.m.) We will go back tomorrow to see more of the events. We will also take chairs and settle in more comfortably. The wind was really blowing out there too; I'm sure I got a good 'sandblasting' on my legs! These photos also give a good view of how great the weather has been down here....lots of sunshine. And we see these folks in front of our beach "all the time".... happy trails.......

Baja 1/11/11

I thought today I would show you that life isn't all just play and fun! We have to shop, stand in line, pay our bills and show the newbies the sights! Some of these photos show our shopping - the vendor and his wife come into the park, set up table, calculator, and boxes of great produce, fresh eggs, home made tortillas and tamales... yummy. We customers line up, make our choices, get it weighed, and pay our bills. It is also a time to catch up on what other folks here are doing, what they are cooking etc. They come about noon on Saturday, I am sure to be here when they come... much better fruits and veggies than we can get in town at the market. Yesterday we took Roger's brother Mike and his wife Elaine up the arroyos; we were able to drive very close to the waterfall in San Antonio arroyo. We were busy taking photos and getting our feet wet. There was more water here today than when we were here with Danny and Linda in December.

Los Barriles is all geared up for a big wind surf/kite surfing weekend; big international competition for both types of crafts. The main events will be south of our park, but we can look down the beach and see quite a bit; and a walk down the beach to get into the full event is easy. Today (Wednesday) many surfers are out on the water and the free beach north of us is pretty full of both participants, wannabes, and watchers. We are lucky to have such a grand spot to see it all. Well, I guess that makes it sound like another day in paradise.... I will work hard to get some photos of these wonderful colorful kites and sailboards.

Happy trails....

Baja views 12/29/10

I couldn't resist posting these photos of the cattle on the beach from yesterday. I don't know why they tickle me so much... but you just don't see cattle walking down the street in Puyallup! We went to Caleb's for brunch yesterday. While waiting for our food, we heard a calf bawling and this was in town. Pretty soon two calves came wandering out a side street. They were slowly followed by 'mamma', but not fast enough for one of the calves, who was bawling and trotting ahead down the street. I'm pretty sure those three were part of the crew we saw on the beach later in the day. All of the hotels, resorts and rv parks have cattle grates in front of their entrances to keep these wanderers out of the grounds. In one photo, you can see the fence that encloses our park, and the 'people' gate for folks to get through. You can see where our kayaks are kept on the inside of the fence, which is pretty close to the water. Very handy! The cattle came down the beach, passed our park and took a left at the fence and trundled up into the free beach area. They settled down in the scrub further back from the water. When driving around town or out in the countryside, you always have to be alert to whatever is on the side of the road; it could cattle, horses or mules, goats or an ATV come roaring out of a side road or arrroyo. I did a painting of the cattle last year and I know there'll be one from this year.... the sun is out... our produce guy is coming today - that's a big event too! happy trails....

A day at the waterfall 12/27/10

Well, we took a little Jeep off- road trip to the waterfall in first arroyo. We thought we had made the trip to the 'waterfall' last year, but seems this is the one everyone was talking about! Course the other one was nice too, but now we're official. It was pretty amazing to see this much water flowing in the desert, and we hadn't had any rain. This narrow canyon is also used for other types of off road traffic, like horses and 4 wheelers including ATVs. There are lines strung across the canyon and we saw a group sliding along the lines, hung from a harness, wearing hard hats and having a grand time. Danny got his new (to him) Jeep muddy and this was considering a plus for the trip. Linda and I let Danny and Roger do the climbing around the rocks. They were slippery and we ladies are too dignified to land on our bottoms for the camera! As you can see, weather was perfect for the day trip. We ran errands to the store after this excursion for a few necessary groceries. Home in time to watch the Hobie sail boat come into our beach. We've seen some of the flying manta ray in the last couple of days... hitting the water with a big slap/flop. We missed the whales that were seen Christmas day unfortunately. Oh well, you see them all the time....lol Happy trails.....

Christmas in Los Barriles 2

these are the photos that didn't show up on first page. Internet here is very 'iffy' sometimes. Just the 'life' in Baja.... let's call it 'charm.....

Christmas in Los Barriles 12/22/10

Well, I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the holiday decorations in our little village. The Petersons have colored lights strung on their coach, on their outdoor living tent and it's very festive! We have chili lights on the front of the coach and along the front of our canopy tent. We also have a red rope light around the mat in front of our door. Many of the big homes here are well decorated too. I did put up one local Christmas tree, that is on the second story on a house on the main road into town. It's there with the laundry and the tv dish. Our neighbors from Pennsylvania missed the snow so they made their own snowman. Course he is made out of rocks, but lends a festive air to the beach. Other rigs in the park have lights up too. I think the new plan for Christmas dinner is to go to a local place for a traditional turkey dinner. Neither of us has an oven big enough to cook a real turkey in. Oh well, that's the rv life! Hope all of your prep for Christmas is under control and you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. happy trails....... ps. we have been having slow internet, can't tell if all the photos made it or not........will 'publish' and see......