USA Bound

It was bittersweet packing up the truck to come home....we had both made friends there this year and even though it was hard to leave the beach and our new friends, we knew it was time to get back to Colorado!

One of the exciting things we did before we left was to rent a garage for the boat and ATV - not too far from our place so that made it handy!  Glenn left about 90% of all of his fishing stuff he uses down there and I got to leave a tub full of supplies that we use along with a camp chair and a beach lounger.  Which means that next year when we go, we can take the car - and that means Glenn won't have to do all of the driving!

Restrictions in the Baja were still going strong - barricades at the entrance to town, police patrols for the beach and of course no recreational driving of any sort.  I kept reading reports of people that had driven ahead of us up the Baja so we were well informed of what to do!

Our friend Cat who we had met at the Bay of Ascension (and then later arrived at Los Barriles) decided she was going to tag along with us as she was heading to the Bay of LA, about 1/2 way up the Baja!

Before we left I made a sign in Spanish that basically said where we were coming from and where we were going - that's what the military always asks at the checkpoints!

We left in the dark at 6:00am and met Cat up on the highway!  The drive is such a beautiful one and it was fun to turn around and see the sun rise up over the ocean - I WILL miss those stunning sunrises!

A couple of hours into the drive and all of a sudden this wild thought comes into my brain - where is my reading kindle????  Of course I panicked and checked my purse and then got the computer bag and completely emptied it, knowing all the time exactly where I had left it in the rental house - on a footstool that was pushed against the wall in the living room!  The night before (after I had rearranged the living room back to what it was when we came) I had taken my phone and kindle into the living room and never ended up reading my kindle.  The next morning, I KNEW I had already packed up everything in the living room so didn't even go back in that room - my mistake!!  I was just sick!!

I debated who to call (as we didn't have a Mexico phone plan and found it very difficult to call anybody) and decided to call one of the friends I had made whom I knew was heading down to the beach to swim shortly - luckily the phone call went through and I explained the situation - since we had left the house unlocked for the cleaning crew, she went right down and got it and would mail it after she got home - WHEW!!!  What a thing to leave!!

The sign worked well at the checkpoints - we had a total of 8 medical/military stops on the Baja and most of them just waved us through after we would put the sign up to the window and have our masks on - only twice did we have to roll the window down!

The desert was gorgeous as we drove - I LOVE looking down at these places on the Bay of Conception.

We stopped for a quick lunch and then again in Santa Rosalia to stretch!

I had communicated with the yurt people (where we stayed last year) and they were the only ones open in mid-Baja and were just taking Americans and Canadians trying to get home!  Our host upgraded us to the African yurt which is the nicest one there so we were thrilled - it's right beside the river!

The interior was all decked out in African and was truly beautiful!

We headed to their outdoor bar and had a drink and later on they served us dinner which was a delicious seafood pasta!  The grounds are lovely!

And did we sleep well in that lovely place???  Not quite - because we were right by the river, a bullfrog decided to make sounds most of the night!!  Have you ever heard a bullfrog?  It sounds somewhat like a bad tuba player crossed with a freight train!!  OH MY GOSH!!!  I never thought a frog could sound that bad and continue most of the night!!!!!  After breakfast we headed out and a couple of hours into the drive we bid Cat goodbye and headed on our way!  We made it to the border in record time and it took us 5 minutes to cross the border with only one car in front of us! 

We stayed in Yuma, AZ the first night and walked to a BBQ place to get take out to eat in the room.  Breakfast (which is usually a hot one) was only cold cereal, oranges, and yogurt so we ate that in our rooms before heading out.  Gallup, NM was the next nights' stay with NO breakfast whatsoever served.

The last day is always the longest.....but we finally made it home by 5 that afternoon and it felt great to be back up in the mountains at our place!

And I'm sure you're all just dying to know how many books I read during our Mexico trip - would you believe 28 books!!!  All on the kindle of course....

We are booked for next year in the same place at the same price so we're both thrilled about that!  Until next year......

An Unforgettable Evening

Since it's time to head home and I haven't blogged about this, I guess I better because if it doesn't make the blog, it never happened - HA!  No pictures - just a story!!

A little over 2 weeks ago this happened - and I hope it never happens again!!  None of the fishing guys actually knew if they could fish or not since the beach was closed - one police would say you could - the next one would say absolutely not!  So who knew if you were supposed to be out on a boat or not!!  Glenn went out very early a couple of days and snuck back in when the police weren't here - but he decided he would go night fishing so he wouldn't have to worry about the police seeing him!

So let me set the stage - it's DARK outside - the moon was out but it was cloudy - there's some light coming from the beachfront houses but not much.  Glenn was to take the boat down to the water with the ATV and then I was to come down and drive it back up!  I noticed when I walked by the hot tub that his oar was on it so as soon as I got down there, I asked him if he needed it and of course he said yes!

Glenn hadn't figured in that high tide was almost upon the beach - and the waves were crashing pretty good!  And when the waves have crashed for a while, the sand gets a ledge on it!  So when I got down there he had the boat sitting at an angle.  He got off the ATV (without putting it in park) and unhooked it from the boat - I turned around to run back to the house to get the oar and heard a crash!  I turned around and saw that the atv had surged forward and knocked the boat up on its side!!!  And everything in the boat that was loose was now in the ocean with the crashing waves!!

OMG - we both started picking up stuff and throwing it on the sand - and mind you, it's DARK!!!  We finally got it all out of the ocean and tried to right the boat as the waves are filling it with water - but of course the ATV is in the way so Glenn yells at me to get on the ATV and back it up while he's trying to hold onto the boat so it doesn't go out with the waves!  It's dark - I have NO IDEA where the different gears are as I don't drive it!!  I finally got it in reverse but it was stuck in the sand!

So Glenn gets on and finally gets the atv backed up enough so we can try to right the boat - it's heavy, it's full of water and I'm not strong at all!!  Glenn says we'll have to hook it up to the atv to try to right it so I get back on as it needs to come forward now - what a mess!!  We FINALLY get it hooked up to the boat and get it turned back over, only to have a crashing wave turn it right back up on its side!!

Glenn's yelling at me as quietly as he can as to NOT attract the police and the waves are crashing so we can't hear each other anyway!!  And everyone knows what it's like when a husband/wife team try to do something together - yup - chaos!!!

We do get the boat turned up - it's so full of water though that the atv can't pull it so I start bailing the water out - when we get enough out so that the atv will pull it, Glenn says to put all the stuff back in the boat.  So we put everything back in and he gets on the ATV to pull it our of the water and the dang thing goes up on its side again because it's at such an angle in the water!!  OH MY GOSH!! Everything once again comes out in the ocean!!  So then we have to get back in the water and throw it all up on the beach AGAIN!!!!!

By this time I am exhausted - I had kept asking Glenn if I could run back up to the house and get the neighbor behind us to help!!    After he got the atv stuck AGAIN he said go ahead and go  -  I ran up but he wasn't home.......I did think to grab the shovel though since the ATV was stuck.  After digging the tire out, then the atv wouldn't start!!  OH my gosh, can anything else go wrong!!

WE FINALLY get the atv started and the boat at least OUT of the water up on the sand - but we're still at such a bad angle that the darn boat goes on its side 3 more times before we got it up on the level sand!!  Keep in mind there are 2 baja wheels on the back which makes it extra heavy!  And awkward!!  At one time, the police came on the beach road so we shut the atv off and luckily they didn't see us!

I was never so glad to see that atv and boat up on the level sand!  

What a nightmare - I was shaking so hard I could hardly walk - and we're both wet and covered in sand!!  I had peeked at the clock for some reason when I originally went down and by the time we got back up home, we had messed with that boat and atv for an entire hour!!!

Glenn went back down on the beach after he put the boat in the yard but luckily we had gotten everything picked up and he basically only lost a few lures!

The whole ordeal was something else - it's a miracle we didn't lose the boat to the ocean because it's hard to imagine how difficult it was to hold that dang boat with those crashing waves until we could get it out of the ocean!

It was a night I NEVER want to ever happen again!  And that's my story!

This 'n That

Maybe I should call this the mid-April photo dump!  Random photos with not a lot to say about each one!

This is my view as I sit on the loveseat reading - not the most comfortable seat but definitely the best view!!

And here we go again, not remembering what kind of fish is this - maybe a sierra?

This guy came to visit and stayed awhile!

The view from on top!

 And last but not least - one of our geckos!  I knew he was sick when he didn't move - Glenn finally took him outside and we hope he got better!  But he was usually a nice green color!!

A Different Easter

Yes - it was a pretty strange Easter everywhere!!  Our usual plan is to head to Jill's for the weekend - do the Easter program and egg hunt at her church - lunch followed by Easter egg dyeing and then a hunt in the back yard before we have our big meal!  It certainly didn't happen this year!

But Jill set up a zoom for Saturday morning when everyone was going to color Easter eggs and that was a big hit!!  We got to watch the kids color their eggs and yes, it was kind of loud but OH SO FUN!!!!  The next best thing to being there!!

Easter Sunday was quite different here in the Baja!  USUALLY hundreds of Mexicans flood the beaches to camp and party - of course this year the beach was closed with patrols making sure you weren't on the beach!  So it was very quiet around here to say the least!

I watched Jill's church online Sunday morning for my Easter "fix" and then listened to a couple of old Easter hymns on another service!  And it was easy to imagine that everyone else was doing the same thing!

The girls texted me pics of the grand kids - I sure miss them!

I WILL be cooking a ham when we return home as you can't find them here - you can find ham lunch meat but that's about it!  In fact, I'll be cooking a lot of our favorites once we're home as it's much more difficult to find ingredients in this small town!

Glenn has handed out a lot of fish that he catches since it's way too much for us.  And look what we got in return from one couple!!  (Along with 2 huge chocolate chip cookies which didn't make the picture because they were immediately eaten with our coffee!!)  The rolls were delicious!!

And what was our meal for Easter?  Tacos - there was no chicken at the little store when he went so the choice was hamburger or fish - I opted for the hamburger to make tacos!  But they are VERY good with the homemade tortillas from the tortilla factory so I can't complain!!  Happy Easter!

The "Pink" Full Moon

Even though I found out the full moon wouldn't actually be pink in color, I was still excited to see it - and usually when we are here, the full moon comes up over the ocean!  Very hard to capture in pictures but still.....

Unfortunately there was a dark bank of clouds so I didn't even get to see it until it was up quite a ways and then I could see it peeking through the clouds!  And once it cleared the clouds, it was gorgeous shining on the water! (and yes, I was on top of the roof taking these pictures - accessible only by crawling over the cement wall to our neighbors' place - going through 3 of his outside gates and then climbing the steps to get to not only his roof but our roof too!!!  Take note - he's not here, already has gone home!!)

I love this picture because if you just glance at it, you might see that the bank of clouds actually looks like huge, rolling waves!!

A week ago we HAD to get out of the house - so we took the ATV out for a ride on the dirt road to La Ribera - we are not allowed to ride it on the beach or BE on the beach!  It was a nice ride and felt good to feel the breeze in our faces as we went along!   I saw this monkey on one of the light poles!

The 3 girls and I did facetime all together on WhatsApp!  It was sure fun!!

Even though we don't get to see the actual sunset as it sets behind us, the sky above the ocean usually turns a beautiful pink color!

And that's a wrap!

Fish and Sunrises

Glenn is excited about tomorrow (Monday after Easter) as the wind has been blowing here for the past 5 days and the waves are just too big to go out fishing - but tomorrow and actually the rest of the week look pretty darn good for fishing!  So that's the plan!

But I haven't posted the last couple of fish pictures so will go ahead and get caught up on that and of course, what's a blog without more sunrise pictures!!

I've forgotten what this first fish is - maybe a snapper?  Maybe not!

I do know this fish is a trigger fish because a friend of ours wanted to see what one looked like!  Triggers are easier to catch than the others - and they're our "go to" fish when we need some to eat!  It's a white meat that is very firm and layered - not mushy at all!  And we both love to eat it!

Here's my mask that a friend made - Glenn has one too - who knows where his was when I took the picture - probably in his pocket!  We do wear them when we go out!

And the lovely sunrise pictures!  I just keep snapping them in the morning when it looks like this!  I can't help myself!

Beach/ATV Fun aka Eluding The Police!

No we are NOT supposed to be on the beach!!  But we see ATV's go by every single day - and at the end of the beach front houses, there is a spot that only ATV's will fit through, not vehicles!  So one day we chose to head out down the beach - after making sure there were no police in sight!

It felt good to go for a ride and then stop so Glenn could fish from shore a little bit and I looked for sea glass!

Some of the waves were crashing in spots!

And in other spots, it was very peaceful!!

Here is a picture of the barrel (of course it had blown down from the wind when I took the picture) and tape to let you know not to come on the beach!!

And a few days later they FINALLY put up a sign!

I'm kind of liking having an empty beach in front of us - not that it's ever that busy during the week - but the empty beach is rather nice!  I'm getting spoiled !

The BIG Waterfall

When we took Cindy and Renes' ATV back to the owner (rented from a private party), the guy asked us if we had went to the big waterfall.  After much discussion, we determined that there is a 2nd waterfall that we have never been to!  WOW - amazing what you find out from people!

So Glenn and I decided to find the larger waterfall one day when we had nothing better to do!  It was a HOT day so the breeze from the ATV riding was a welcome relief!

We found the spot off the arroyo and there were a couple of ATV's already parked there so we knew we were in the right spot!  We hiked in a little ways - noting that Glenn absolutely wore the wrong shoes as he had clogs on!!  And when you get to a certain spot, you have to climb on the rocks and go around on a large rock - luckily there is a rope to hold onto or I wouldn't have done it!

Once we made it around the rocks, we just went a little further and there was this gorgeous waterfall with a pool of beautiful water beneath it!  Darn - we SHOULD have worn our swim suits!  Not that we couldn't have swam in our clothes but we had groceries to get on the way home!

The water was clear as could be and was nice and cool which felt great as there wasn't much of a breeze back in there!

What a great place!  We'll have to go back!

That evening we met Eric and Hillary for dinner at a little local place to eat!  It was very nice with lots of plants and flowers around!  I ordered a stuffed baked potato as had been wanting to try it ever since Hillary had told me about them!  Oh my gosh - it was SO good!!  The bottom is a smashed baked potato with corn and mushrooms on it - then topped with chicken and a LOT of melted cheese - served with tomatoes and guacamole!    Delicious!

Our dear friends whom we hang out with in Mexico - they're from Massachusett!

March Photo Dump

My two daughters that blog have started doing a monthly "photo dump" off their phone of random photos that don't need an entire blog devoted to them - so I'm following suit!

I decided I HAD to have a haircut - I normally get one about every 4 to 6 weeks!!  I had brought scissors so just started in!

It didn't turn out too badly!  Of course it's pretty hard to screw up my haircut!

Here's the sea glass Glenn and I have picked up so far.....

This is how the propane gas is delivered - the truck comes around twice a week (although the last couple of weeks it's only been once a week) and plays a tune (like the ice cream truck) and you just go out and flag it down.  They bring it in and hook it up and you pay them!  Sounds easy - we haven't run out yet!!

We usually watch TV at night but I think the wind was going crazy that day and we actually watched during the day!  No regular TV - just a DVD player and a few movies I brought!  We also can watch Netflix on the computer screen!  Glenn makes awesome popcorn -and sits on the lounger sometimes as the couch is so uncomfortable!!

One day he caught a rooster fish from shore!!!  He quickly walked up with it so I could take a picture and then released it!  They aren't good to eat but he later found out that the gardener would have taken it for soup - next time!!

And what photo dump isn't complete without a couple more sunrise pictures!!

One story I forgot to write about:  the very first night we were here, we left our slider open and there was no screen on it - we have one now!  Anyway, we just left it open a little ways as it was warm in the bedroom!  In the middle of the night, I kept hearing sounds from the kitchen - and then there was a crash!!!  I was petrified and we both jumped up - couldn't find the light switch - and then we heard this cry that sounded like a sick dog!!!  Finally got the dining room light on and saw a black cat in the kitchen - it jumped on top of the cabinets and of course was scared to death (as we were!!!!)  Glenn went out and got the broom and got it down and then it ran into our bedroom and under our bed - wonderful!  He scooted the broom underneath the bed and the cat ran out!  And so went our first night!

Corona Virus Update

I'm behind in  my blogging anyway - so a good time to sit back and talk about the virus situation here!

I am hooked up to several different websites to keep abreast of the situation here - at the moment there are 26 cases in lower Baja - 6 in Lapaz and 20 in Cabo!  The site doesn't list any small towns like ours - I guess you are just considered part of the "county" and our county is Cabo.  About 1/2 way up the beach is Lapaz County.

At this time we are not aware of any cases here - rumor is there was a case a couple days ago but I think it was just that - a rumor!  The gardener that works at our place and the place next door did get sick and we were worried he had the virus - but he did go to the dr and it was just the normal flu.

Things have changed drastically here as the officials closed the beach on Monday - we are right beside one of 2 beach roads so were here when they put the barrel and tape up!  Nobody really knew what was going on and when people would talk to the police, they would get a different story each time!

But we did know that the police would make their rounds a couple times a day and if you were SITTING on the beach relaxing, they would tell you to leave.  Because most of the little community here walk in the morning, the police seemed to leave us all alone then - I walked all week with no problem.

Yesterday that changed - an actual sign was posted that said the beach was closed!  Our friend Juan, who speaks Spanish, talked to one of the police and he said if you are caught on the beach you get a warning and your picture taken the first time.  The 2nd time you are caught, you spend 2 or 3 nights in jail and have to pay a fine!  I don't even want to know what happens if they catch you a 3rd time!

Unfortunately, there is NO clear cut answer on fishing!  Commercial fishing and charter fishing are not allowed - but we have heard from several people that as long as you kayak or are in a small boat with just one person that it is no problem! But you have to be on the beach to get the boat launched and that's where the problem is!   It's kind of scary wondering what would happen if Glenn is caught coming back in from fishing!

So yesterday he went out at 5:00am and was back in by 10, along with Juan in his kayak.  They got the boat in our yard in record time and no police were patrolling at that time.  Today they both went back out at 5:00am and Glenn was back in by 8am!  He wasn't taking any chances!  But it's nerve wracking not knowing for sure if he's legal or not!

The police also told Juan that marines and federales would be patrolling the beaches - and we have no idea when they will come or if they'll have ATV's or what?  I did walk at my usual time of 6:15am this morning but just did a quick walk and have decided not to do it again - makes me too nervous - so I will just have to walk in the streets and arroyo.

A friend made masks for both Glenn and I and we wore them to the store a couple days ago - now the order has been handed down that we are to "shelter in place" and only one person can go to the store.  I'm not sure they will be enforcing that down here but again, we don't want to NOT be in compliance.

So it's pretty strange, sitting on the front porch now with absolutely NO activity on the beach!  I kind of like the solitude but Glenn always enjoyed talking to people as they would walk by or drive by on their ATV's.  We can no longer take the ATV to town since the beach is closed and we have no other way to get the ATV in there.....  So we're back to driving the truck when we need groceries.  Luckily there is a very small store just 1/2 mile away and then another small one before you ever get into town - we make do with whatever they have in the store!!

Are we staying still an extra 3 weeks?  If Glenn decides he cannot fish, we will head home after Easter - there is not a lot for him to do here without the fishing!  (I already have jigsaw puzzles on the list for next year!)  I can read anywhere - but I LOVE the warm weather and just looking at the ocean, even though I can't be on the sand.  So time will tell!

The Waterfall

One of our ATV trips is always to the waterfall!  It's a fun drive through the arroyo and then you park and walk in the rest of the way!

We always meet under the bridge to get out of the sun for a while and have a snack!

The canyon was gorgeous as usual plus nice and wet - it felt great to walk barefoot! in the water!

Photo op time in the rocks!

We hiked back in to the waterfall and sure enough there was some water running!

Goof offs Rene' and Glenn posing - they're always doing something crazy!!

This plant was blooming as we raced by so I made Glenn back up so I could get a picture of it!  It was pretty cool looking!

An awesome day spent with friends!