Punto Pelicano

 Went camping over the weekend with the boy and the dog and had a blast! We decided to drive to a beach we've been to several times (El Coyote) and then follow the dirt road we had always seen veering off to the right.  We drove through the cacti and brush, leaving the paved highway behind. I swear some of these "roads" were cattle-made first and then maintained by so many beach-goers plowing their cars through the desert.

Arrived to a gravel beach, in a nice arch-formation.  Settled on an area that had huge boulders in front of the waves, so many little pools were formed.  Nice to walk away out on, or jump off of, as our neighbors did for most of the afternoon.



taken in the morning light, but you can see the boulders a bit

In the morning, I woke up when the sky was just beginning to lighten and got up out of the tent to take some pics. 

Sunrise-lit sky, our tent in left center lookin' tiny!

Spent the afternoon lounging - something M does very well as you can see:

he didn't want to leave the shade - sand was too hot without flip flops!

Love finding sea stars like this one -
they're so camouflaged that spotting one is like winning a prize!

"Oh, QUESO!"

Contrary to what the title suggests, this post is not about cheese.  Although I am a HUGE fan of cheese and and in the future I may write a post on La Paz's best cheeses, haha.  No, I wanted to share a funny "spanglish" moment that E and I recently shared.  I was trying to clean the back porch and was trying to move a very heavy wooden door that we had recently replaced with a new steel one. It was leaning against the house.

Me <straining to move door, can't quite get a grip on it>: "JEEZ!"
E, not sure how he heard me from the front of the house, where he was watering the "lawn", arrives and without saying anything, moves the door for me.
Me <confused, in spansh>: "Como supiste que necesite ayuda?"
E <smirking, in spanish>: "Dijiste, 'QUESO'. Siempre cuando dices eso es por que necesitas ayuda con algo, Lisa."

every day is a surprise with him :)

Garden?

This pic above is basically what I'm working with in our yard. Baked, dry, scorched all come to mind.  Since E and the guys replaced the perimeter wall around the house (and ripped up the plants in the process) he has given me the green-light to be the "jardinera" and design a new garden/yard scheme. As if I have experience and knowledge in doing this, ha!

We have 1 aloe cactus that we bought at the supermarket, put in the ground and hoped it would grow.  4 years later it is full and has 9 (!) babies growing along side of it. This is not our aloe, but an idea of what it looks like:

So I definitely want to keep that and let it prosper.  We also have a leafy tree (seen below) and a nice full palm tree right next to the porch.  These i love because they cast green and blow in the breeze, etc.  The pic below is roughly what the yard looks like now:

Yeah.......so clearly I have a long way to go! Because of the sun and the fact that we're not home part of year for weeks at a time (kayak season), we need plants that LOVE the sunlight and don't need water. Shouldn't be too hard, right? This is Baja, afterall...I have a feeling I will end up with a yard full of these pretty babies:

I just have to get organized and put some money aside for the trip to the nursery. Or I could call a gardener with experience.  E would kill me! We'll see...

Big News!

Yesterday was Election Day and things went smoothly over here in Baja California.  Everyone we ran into was talking about the election and the numbers.  We listened on the radio last night to the broadcasts with the tallies and for now, it appears we have a winner.  Even E who normally does not get involved/excited in government was "sshing" me to hear the radio.  Politics does funny things to people.

For me, being an outsider to the whole spectacle has been interesting.  I've done some research on my own and even attended a short presentation on Mexican government so I could better understand the process, who's who, etc. But as my visa does not permit "participation in political activities of any kind" I am staying well on the edge.  Still is very exciting to watch though!

On another note, it RAINED in Baja this morning! First time in a year and a half!! Our dog, M, has never seen rain, so we celebrated his first time although he just looked confused.  Now from our kitchen I can hear the cars driving through puddles and the streets that have been transformed into small streams, I'm sure. Nowhere for it to go except down to the ocean.  I wonder what interesting things floated down from the city the beachcombers will find later today...Happy Monday!

Back to doing what We Do Best

Back in Baja after a great week home in the U.S.  and that means back to doing what we do best: beaching, snorkelling, cooking and beach-combing.  Here's a shot from yesterday:

More interesting posts to come this week, I promise! Election Day is tomorrow and I will be sure to talk about that! For now, Happy Saturday!

Balm for my So[u]l

Home in the U.S. for a week's visit and to attend a college friend's wedding! Flew home last Thursday and got a few more days on my visit.  Getting a few shifts of work tonight and tomorrow.  I had a wonderful weekend visiting family and friends, although it was hectic at times.  I'm extremely grateful to those in my life who rearrange their schedules to see me, even if it's just for an hour, while I'm home. Sometimes coming home feels like a breath of sweet, fresh air and other times it feels pressure-filled, tense and serves to remind me why I love living in Baja. Most times the two places complement the other very nicely.  I'm never really tired of either place.

Some things I'm loving getting to experience in the U.S. this week:
1. Stop signs = STOP
2. Toilet paper can be flushed down the toilet!
3. Tons of radio stations singing songs in English
4. My friends' laughter all around me
5. It being cool enough to make a fire in the backyard and roast marshmallows
6. Smelling Gramma's cooking wafting up from the kitchen

And a few things I'm missing terribly already from Baja already:
1. Waking up with E
2. Quality Beaches!!!
3. Food trucks selling mouth-watering food any time of the night
4. Bars serving after 2am/Liquor sales after 9pm
5. Lack of "no duh" rules & laws that seem very redundant in the U.S.

Back to Baja on Thursday!!

What We Do with a Few Free Hours

When we have a few hours to kill (or be lazy with), E and I like to take the short ride to La Concha beach just past the very end of the Malecon.  The beach is small with a few palapas and buildings to the back, but has great snorkeling and calm lapping waves.  The condos you see in the photos below are where my family has rented several times, really nice and a perfect home base for exploring La Paz.