The Cousins Mexican Adventure

[Jeff]

Day 34 - St Ignacio

If you drive up Route 1 on the Baja one of the more unlikely spots to pick for a couple of days stay might well be St Ignacio. Located halfway across the peninsula it is a desert town that is the only real stop after leaving Santa Rosalia on the Sea of Cortes until reaching Guerrero Negro on the Pacific.

We did stop in Santa Rosalia for a late brunch and a walk around the pretty little town before seeing our last view of the Sea of Cortes and climbing a winding road to the high desert. After setting up in the Rice and Beans RV Park it was time for a surprise from our Wagon Masters Pat and Alice to celebrate a wedding anniversary and have a lot of fun! Bob and Trish Close celebrated their 17th anniversary today and if you go back a day you will see a photo of Bob conducting his rooster wake up call early in the morning.

So Pat, under his authority as Wagon Master issued by Governor Felix Manuel Loopy Loco Lopes of La Paz, conducted a remarriage ceremony using a rooster and chicken as props! Special music was written by Ted (Processional: Here comes the bride, a chicken by her side.......) The party got wilder when all the wedding groomsmen and attendants appeared in drag! We are sharing the RV park with a hotel that had 12 off road bikers from the Denver area who watched this unfold in disbelief. When Gina (Geno) approached them with a margarita she ended up on a wild bike ride through the parking lot. Everyone laughed until it hurt!

We will sleep late in the morning and have a quiet pot luck tommorrow evening to recover.

Miles Driven: 110
Fuel Purchased: 52 Gallons, $105.50

[Betty Brewer]

Day 34 - St Ignacio

So Pat, under his authority as Wagon Master issued by Governor Felix Manuel Loopy Loco Lopes of La Paz, conducted a remarriage ceremony using a rooster and chicken as props! Special music was written by Ted (Processional: Here comes the bride, a chicken by her side.......) The party got wilder when all the wedding groomsmen and attendants appeared in drag! We are sharing the RV park with a hotel that had 12 off road bikers from the Denver area who watched this unfold in disbelief. When Gina (Geno) approached them with a margarita she ended up on a wild bike ride through the parking lot. Everyone laughed until it hurt!

Jeff,
I too had a laugh that almost hurt.  This story really exemplifies the value of a caravan.  Most of us as individuals would never "let go" to get this wild and  crazy.  Yet within the friendships and commonalities developed in a caravan there is opportunity and motivation  to enjoy life to the fullest.  I'm sure this will be a highlight to your trip and it can't be duplicated ever again on any other trip.  Thanks for sharing such a special memory.  I am thankful  however, that we did not have an anniversary on our trip. 

Betty

[Shayne]

Agreeing with Betty 100%

[Jeff]

Day 35 - St Ignacio

Today was our day off in St Ignacio and for most it was just that. Sue worked on cards and Jeff massaged some video and photos of the party last night.

We had a pot luck this evening and presented Geno (Or Gina) with a new photo of his motor home reflecting his new license plates. We all called it quits early and will be pulling out around 9:00AM for Guerrero Negro and a dinner and briefing tomorrow evening about our whale watching trip.

[Shayne]

This eve has got to be one of the fine hi-lites of the trip.   Great reporting.

[Jeff]

Day 36- Guerrero Negro

Today our 90 mile drive has taken us to the Pacific and within a mile of the border between Baja California and Baja California Sur (South). We will be here at Mario's RV Park until day after tomorrow to go on a whale watching tour in the Laguna Ojo de Liebre where hundreds of gray whales migrate from Alaska to mate and give birth each winter.

One of the interesting local landmarks is a cemetery just behind the park that really reflects the differences in how Mexicans treat the deceased. As you can see from the photos the cemetery appears to be a small town as you approach. Many families constructs elaborate homes to shelter their departed's remains that reflect the life of their loved ones.

Another large landmark are the salt evaporation mines that are a joint project of Mitsubishi and a Mexican organization. These are one of the largest in the world and ship most of the salt overseas.

In addition to our usual bantering we had a briefing during happy hour on the plans for tomorrow. Our group will split into two groups who will each go out to the inlet of the lagoon in two 10 passenger boats to see the whales and their calves. It is late in the season and the water table is low so we will travel out to the edge of the inlet in search of whales.

We finished the evening with dinner at Mario's and somehow ended watching another chicken dance which seems to becoming a trademark of this group!

Tomorrow it is out to the whales!

Miles Driven: 89

[Ned]

Oh no, not the chicken dance    You'll be right at home in Wisconsin if you get there.  No wedding is complete without it.

[Jeff]

Oh no, not the chicken dance    You'll be right at home in Wisconsin if you get there.  No wedding is complete without it.

Ned:

That song is becoming the theme song for this trip!

[Shayne]

Again Jeff   Many thanks.

[Ned]

That song is becoming the theme song for this trip!

You have my sympathy

[Jeff]

Day 37 - Whales!

I think today was the highlight of our trip in everyone's mind. We broke up into two groups today, the first 18 left at 8:00 for the whale boats and the rest of us met them at 11:30 when they returned.

Because of low water and the late part of the season we loaded into 22 foot open boats and traveled about 15 miles out past the inlet into the open sea with about 4-6 foot swells, which is an experience in itself! We were out in the open sea for about 45 minutes when we spotted the first whale blow. It took another 30 minutes for our driver to finally get us in the midst of several mothers and their calves.

The young whales are intensely curious and start by checking out the boats from a distance but it does not take long for them to approach the boats under the watchful eyes of their mothers. They come up to the boats and wait to be touched and then start to play. We got drenched several times and also watched them dive under the boats. (Remember-22 feet!)

As the other boats, including the rest of our afternoon group got closer the calves would pass from one boat to the next waiting to be touched and to splash everyone in sight. The photo of the calf out of the water was one of several, it happened to be the one Jeff caught on camera.

In the meantime the mothers are nearby keeping an eye on everything as their young ones play. The size of the adults is really breathtaking when they come up alongside those little boats! After a bit one mother would herd her calf away and another would take its place. We were out there three hours but it seemed like minutes with the whales all about.

Our boat had the final excitement of the day when we ran out of gasolina a few minutes from the dock on the way back in. Even though Jack offered to row us in another boat came to the rescue with more fuel. You can see all the sympathetic faces waiting for us at the shore!

Happy hour was spent remembering the great times and discussing our long drive up the Baja tomorrow. We will make a brief stop tomorrow night at Vincente Gurrero and then continue on to Ensenada for three days.

[Tom]

Great shots again Jeff, thanks. It's a lot of fun seeing whales and dolphins close up. Reminds me of our trip down the coast by water a couple of years ago.

I don't know about that many folks in those small boats though, but glad to see everyone was wearing a PFD.

[Jeff]

Great shots again Jeff, thanks. It's a lot of fun seeing whales and dolphins close up. Reminds me of our trip down the coast by water a couple of years ago.

I don't know about that many folks in those small boats though, but glad to see everyone was wearing a PFD.

Tom:

Remember, Mexico is an adventure! (And we are all back on dry land!)

It really was one of the days I am glad I bought the Panasonic FZ-50 in December.

[Tom]

....And we are all back on dry land!

We're sure glad you are! Maybe I'm just too cautious, paranoid, or whatever. Probably comes from being scared of water when I was younger (another story for another time.) My daughter calls me "Mr safety" when it comes to being on the water.

[Shayne]

Again Jeff  Great  I'm a bit envious

[Ian]

Jeff, loving the travel stories, loving the pictures, envy doesn't even come close to how I wish I was part of an adventure like yours. But, I guess I am a little like Tom, that sized boat out amongst those sized fish? Mmmm, yep, that makes me nervous. And then he runs out of fuel? Now don't get me wrong on this, it is an adventure and it sounds like it was a lot of fun but any person in charge of a boat with paying passengers that lets it run out of fuel is a person that should not be a holder of a license to carry passengers for hire. That could just have easily been out 10 miles from shore. You know what I mean? You were lucky but that boating company needs a serious kick in the pants for doing things as slapdash as that. Doesn't matter that they were in Mexico, they took American tourists and American Dollars and gave back a very third world duty of care.
And while you are talking about getting close to the whales, Down Under if you get your boat within 200 Metres (I think it is) you can not only be heavily fined, there is a possibility of doing time depending on the circumstances. Lets just say that they take a dim view of getting close to these beasts.
Different strokes for different folks

[Tom]

....I am a little like Tom, that sized boat out amongst those sized fish?

Ian, last time I checked, whales were mammals. I wasn't concerned about the size of the whales, but the size of the boats.

[Ian]

Ahhrrggg, mammals, fish, don' matter none, them's still bigguns, more bigguns than them boats <VBG>

[Jeff]

Ian:

Several things:

1. While we ran out of gas we did talk the man running the boat in staying out a few minutes longer than the other boat.

2. Regardless of the rest of the world Mexico does have rules about approaching the whales within 50 meters, and we did not. Once the young whales spotted the boats they came to us out of curiosity while we sat idle.

3. The lagoon at Guerrero Negro had been a whale birthing ground for centuries and the Mexicans AND the whales have developed a relationship that is very difficult to describe. The larger mother whales always stayed at a distance of 50 feet or so alongside the boats. When the calves started getting frisky the mothers would herd them away. We were warned coninuously not to touch the young whales near their eyes, blow holes, and mouths.

4. These whales are certainly tame and we can discuss the consequences of that till the cows come home but the fact remains that half the young calves will not survive the trip back to Alaskan waters to feed because of sharks and Orcra (killer) whales, not humans.

5. If someone does not feel the risks of this adventure is justified then they should certainly stay on shore, but they will miss an opportunity of a lifetime. And this is a Mexican controlled program, not American.

[Ian]

Thanks Jeff, all fair points. Looks like I'll have to do some thinking when I get the opportunity that you have had

[Jeff]

Day 38 - A Hard Day's Drive North

The caravan pulled out of Guerrero Negro at 7:00AM this morning for a 270 miles run up the backbone of the  peninsula to the Pacific and then up the west coast to Vincente Guerrero for the night. Four rigs including us decided to leave late and catch up with the group as they approached Vincente Guerrero this afternoon.

Leaving Guerrero Negro we were stopped for inspections of our tourist visas and then at several Army checkpoints as we headed north. There military stops are primarily looking for drugs and illegal immigrants headed north.

The first part of the day was up across the central desert of Baja that is rocks and cacti! In fact Sue kept shooting photos of a few cactus that got monotonous. The pile of rocks is the only attraction for miles until we came to a curio shop at the entrance to a onyx mine where we had lunch and the girls did a little shopping. The roads in Baja are very narrow with no shoulders and the high winds and heavy truck traffic made it a hard day's drive.

A little excitement got added to the day when the awning on Geno and Isabel's coach unfurled in the high winds on top of the hills this afternoon. As the photos show we got it rewound with a lot of effort by Bob Bietler on the windy roof. We finally arrived at Posado Don Diego RV Park late this afternoon and helped celebrate Jack Bunting's 72 birthday with a cake and good wishes.

We finished the day with dinner at the restaurant here in the Park and called it a night. Tomorrow we have a relatively short 99 miles to Ensenada for the next three days.

Miles Driven 270

[Shayne]

Thanks jeff  I've run out of adjectives.

[Tom]

Shayne,

Does that mean you're speechless?

[Shayne]

Heck  Tom   Let's don't go that far  LOL

[KodiakRV]

Day 38 - A Hard Day's Drive North

...A little excitement got added to the day when the awning on Geno and Isabel's coach unfurled in the high winds on top of the hills this afternoon. As the photos show we got it rewound with a lot of effort by Bob Bietler on the windy roof...

Did it unfurl while driving?

[Jeff]

Did it unfurl while driving?

It sure did, right on top of the highest, narrowest  ridge we drove all day. To turn the m/h around to get the awnong away from the wind we had to stop trqaffic and work it back and forth on the road.

[Jeff]

Day 39 - Last Stop - Ensenada

It is almost unbelievable that this will be our last stop on our Mexican Adventure! We have been on the road 39 days and it seems like a couple of weeks. We will be here three days and then will head for the border Saturday morning. We are parked on the south shore of Ensenada Bay at the Estero Resort, without a doubt the nicest campground we have been in on the trip.

The sophistication of RV resorts in Mexico is well below that in the US, electricity voltage has varied between 95 and 142 volts, water pressure between 5 and 90 psi, sewers are nonexistent or plugged up so each stop was a new experience. When anyone asked if the next RV Park had 50 Amp service, our Wagonmaster Pat's answer was invariably "Yes if you have enough cord to reach San Diego".

The drive today was a short 100 miles of relatively easy driving through hilly farming country. The roads are wider here in northern Baja California which contributed the drivers relaxed frame of mind.. There are large areas of irrigated farming including large strawberry fields as well as a lot of grapes being grown. We passed the second oldest winery in Mexico (Oldest on Baja) the Santo Tomas Winery while in the foothills but unfortunately could not get in to visit.

Happy Hour this evening was  the same staid old group, tonight having a crazy hat contest. As you can see imaginations have not suffered greatly from all the margaritas! Most of the group called it a night early or headed for the hot tub. We are back in the land of DirecTV so watching the evening news was a big treat!

Tomorrow we leave on a tour of Ensenada at 9:00.

Miles Driven: 100

Fuel: 68 Gallons Cost $137.50

[Shayne]

Again  Thanks   Jeff.

[Tom]

Jeff,

SOunds like you might be crossing at Tijuana. If so, be prepared for a long wait.

[Jeff]

Jeff,

SOunds like you might be crossing at Tijuana. If so, be prepared for a long wait.

Tom:

No, Adventure uses Tecate to the east.