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!

Baja 2/5/2012

We have been in Baja Sur just a month today. We are settled in at Onda Rocks, have been kayaking and off-road Jeeping. We have had some wonderful meals here at the house; Mike is a great cook and the rest of us just contribute what we can. Of course our little town of Los Barriles has wonderful restaurants and we've sampled them too. One of the things I am happiest about is that I am painting regularly! This was one of my main goals since we first came down 3 years ago... and I managed the first two years to actually do some painting. However, this year, in this house, I am having a wonderful time with water and paint. My regular camera has died, so I have had to learn to use the camera on the Iphone, which isn't that hard. However, transfering photos is another challenge we are working on. I've posted my most recent paintings; you can see I've done a variety of subjects.... and I am having toooo much fun! Hope you are too... Happy trails...

Baja 1/27/2012

We took a road trip south looking for an abandoned lighthouse on the Sea of Cortez. Much of the coast off-road is in sandy washes called arroyos and dirt roads wandering around in the hills of the coastline. This is not the rock climbing off-road that we do in AZ, though of course, that includes lots of sand too! Often we could see the lighthouse in the distance; however, finding the right road to it was a challenge. After a couple of 'side trips', we found a road that led to the beach and we backtracked to the lighthouse on the beach... all sand and some pretty deep. The photo second from bottom is of Mike roaring up the last hill, in pretty deep sand, to the lighthouse. With such a pristine beach, it is hard to see the run-down palapas, some up side down, on the beach. We did see two shimper/fish boats anchored offshore. The day was beautiful and we do love the sunshine here. Another day, another adventuer! The painting is an immature Cardinal, from a photo taken at Santispac. Happy trails....

Baja 1/20/2012

On Wednesday, 1/18 we had dinner with Danny and Linda Peterson, along with Mike and Elaine Koehn at Tio Pablo's in Los Barriles. It's alwasy fun to get together with our Baja friends. We met Danny and Linda on our first trip down to Los Barriles. Today we Koehns took an 'off-road' trip south. Outside of Miraflores we headed off road and saw a lot of traffic.... cows and goats. When we made it back to Mexico 1, we turned north and went looking for the hot springs outside of Santiago. This little jaunt took a couple of hours! I've included the blue church in Agua Caliente (hot water) and the white church in Santiago. The pool at the hot springs wasn't all that hot, according to Roger, but you can see from the photo of him and the Jeeps, he had a very good time. I was ready for a nap by the time we got back to Onda Rocks. Weather has not cooperated for our kayaking, but we keep hoping. Meanwhile, Happy Trails...

Baja 1/18/2012

We took a road trip up the San Bartolo arroyo today. We saw turkey vultures having a late lunch, a herd of goats and their dog manager, and enjoyed a beautiful Baja day. We have gone up to San Bartolo before, but this year, the bamboo has really taken over where the water springs up. We were able in past years to walk to the big pool at the end of the trail; this year we gave up trying to get through the bamboo. I drove our lil Jeep back, first time driving it. I now know how to put it in 4-wheel drive but don't know a thing about the 'lockers'... and probably wont for a long while.... I've included photos of Mike and Elaine - these off-road trips were one of the big things the brothers wanted to do this winter. Last page I put up a photo of our Mexican dish with some vegetables... this time I am including a painting of a collection of the Mexican pottery and veggies. Too much fun! We hope you are having fun too! Happy trails....