1. We descend into Loretto Bay travelling north on Hwy 1
2. Where we were greeted by great views of the islands and coastline at sun set.Happy St. Patrick's Day
Woke up this morning and we decided we are running out of time and started north. We left the Casabuena for good. This part was sad. We were stopped leaving La Paz by the Mexican Army. They waved us over into the line with the tractor trailers. My checkpoint Spanish is getting better. True to form, they looked in our ice box and found our half bottle of tequila. I guess they thought they had seen enough. The soldier told Ray not to drink while driving. I told him we only drink a little (half bottle) each night. Esta bien.
We did the 120 miles through the Suguaro (there is only one road north-south at this point on the peninsula so we replayed our previous post in reverse). Arriving in Ciudad Constitucion, we looked for a place to eat. Ray was approached by a fortune-teller that told Ray he had problems (in Spanish). Ray explained that he already knew he was going to die (in English). I wish there were more present who could appreciate the humor of the moment. I gave the priestess 10 pesos. Hopefully, this buys Ray some more time before his problems crash all around him.
We decided to postpone lunch until Puerto San Carlos which was 40 minutes away on a paved road.
We rolled into Puerto San Carlos on the Bahia Magdelena around 3:00 p.m. We cruised the town trying to get oriented per the tour books. The bay was here is beautiful. There is a power plant that appears to generate power for Ciudad Constitucion, Cuidad Insurgentes, and even Loretto. After a good but relatively expensive lunch of fish and shrimp at Los Arcos, we went and talked to Marcos at the internet café across the street (who also organizes whaling tours) about …. well whaling tours. The report wasn’t very promising. After Marcos told us that the bahia is the second largest in the world, he told us that there were only 4 whales in the bay, the rest having already lost. Moreover, since we could not fill the boat (it was just Ray and me) we would have to pay the full $65/hr. Finally, Marcos confirmed that the campsite we scoped out at the point was the place that had this retched smell of rotten fish – it is squid season and there is a fish processing plant in San Carlos. Having some semblance of math literacy still in my head, I did not like the cost / benefit ratio. Ray and I were 50/50 on whether to go just to see the bay. Then we figured that we only really have about 10 days of touring left. That tilted the scale 51% no 49% yes. We figured that we could make Lorreto by dark so we set out.
A quick plug for Marcos before we leave San Carlos. Marcos was extremely helpful and fair in helping us understand our options. His father was one of the original whale watching tour operators. Marcos went to junior high and high school in Phoenix (he speaks English like someone from the US) where he learned English to help his parents with the whale watching business. If I come back to watch whales in the bay, I would use him. His contact information is marco@magsiempre.org / 6131360884 (cell). Tell him Joel sent you.
So after crossing from the Gulf of California to the Pacific, we crossed back to Gulf of California. The ride from Ciudad Insurgentes to Loretto was very cool. We climbed to about 1100 ft gradually giving nice views to the west. Then suddenly, we descended these magnificent canyons with the peaks of the Sierra Gigante to our north. With the low sun, the lighting was spectacular. We arrived at the Gulf of Californina to a magnificent view of the islands and coast line. On the ride, we also saw two rattlesnakes on the road.
We pulled into the Coco Cabanas on Jerry and Olive’d earlier recommendation. Stephen and Barrett Scalapino (two brothers originally from the bay area) gave us a room despite the signs on the office door that said “closed” and “no vacancy”.
We had dinner in town and walked the malecon on the way home. Looks like the beginning of another adventure.
There is a new moon tonight.
Joel, that was a wise decision on your part to first paying off the priestess (although I think Ray's butt is worth a lot more than 10 pesos) then getting the heck out of her reach mucho pronto.
ReplyDeleteRay, perhaps you should let your navigator/ co-pilot do the driving sometimes. It seems you guys always get stopped with you behind the wheel. A good reason to switch driver is that when the local policia stops you, it is the driver that suffers the consequences (bail, jail time, etc).
Continue to have fun taco guys, but please be more vegilant as you get near the US border.
Hedley
I agree with Hedley. Ray is worth way more than 10 pesos and probably said his problem is that his wife misses him! A priestess would recognize this as a very big problem. xoxoxo
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