These are emails I sent from Mexico.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Corona time!
We arrived intact in Los Cabos, Mexico, at noon. About 85 degrees, a far cry from our snowy Glide. By the way, we got email confirmation today that power was restored. Who cares?!
We did some walking exploration around Cabo San Lucas, drank our Coronas, had fish tacos, nachos, & tres leches cake (OMG!!!). We meet at 6am tomorrow with our guide & others for a morning & evening bird watching. The afternoon is ours, & the gorgeous pool calls to us!
Monday March 4
Day 2 in Cabo
We met our guide, Maria Elena, at 6am when she picked us up. She is about 40 & highly educated. She got her education as a cultural guide. She took many additional courses in subjects ranging from astronomy to geology. She switched to guiding, mainly birding, due to her passion for the environment. This area has expanded from 30,000 to 400,000 population in less than 15 years. The vital environmental feature of Los Cabos area is a fresh water estuary that has drastically shrunk in size. Partially due to a massive hurricane a few years ago, invasive plants that literally suck up water, & human development in the form of a marina. Anyway, it is a critical area that has the ability to draw a certain tourist group, namely us birders. There are some endemic species (not found anywhere else).
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| Estuary in Cabo San lucas |
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| Maria Elena |
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We came back to our hotel & swam & vegged out. Maria is picking us up for dinner at 6, then 3 hours of night birding.
March 5
Tuesday on the Ocean
Howdy,
Last night our guide, Maria, picked us up for dinner at 6. We enjoyed a great meal at a local restaurant. We had grilled fish, enchiladas, & Corona. Tortillas handmade right next to our table. Then we picked up another couple from Winnipeg. He is a semi-retired duck hunting guide. This was a two hour hunt for night birds up a sandy road in a canyon. There was rivulets of water that she claimed was residual from the 2009 Hurricane Odille. It was a spectacularly clear night with all of the constellations in view. She has a green laser pointer that shows up great on the night sky. We learned all about Orion, Cassiopeia, Gemini & the Pleiades. We are at 22 degrees latitude, south of the Tropic of Cancer. We saw 4 great horned owls (the same one four times??). We returned at 9:30 after a short stop at very modern grocery store for Mezcal (tequila made from the heart of agave), Pepsi, & a gallon of drinking water.
This morning we spent 4 hours in a small fishing boat whale watching & pelagic birding. Our boat captain is from generations of fishermen. Maria is training 4 different captains to spot birds, be able to keep the boat on the birds, “chum” (toss out gross oily fish guts, etc. to attract birds to the boat). Most of these guys are old-school die-hard fishermen who do not understand birding.
We returned to the same restaurant as yesterday morning for brunch. I loved it & asked if we could go back. She was very agreeable. She had thought we might like a sushi place that also specializes in ceviche (gag me!)
This afternoon we relaxed by the pool. We also had some Mezcal. Walked to a restaurant a few blocks away for a late dinner. So far we are more than satisfied with two meals a day. Ron had pork mole & I had a pork dish with green salsa & black beans. We meet again tomorrow morning at 5:30 for a long day of hiking & birding in the Sierra Laguna Biosphere, a National Park at about 3000’. We get coffee on the way (we were instructed to bring a mug), breakfast & lunch. Return at 4.
Wednesday March 6
Sierra la Laguna, tamales & lost binoculars
Loved today!!!
We started the day with the most beautiful sunrise.
We drove around the bottom of the peninsula to the road that leads up into the Sierra la Laguna mountains. Our first stop was at the Tropic of Cancer landmark & rest area. We saw our first lifer of the day, grey thrasher.
Then we stopped for takeaway breakfast quesadillas & burritos. Not the overblown vulgar Americanized version, but small delicious ones. There we saw another lifer, Xantus hummer, sucking the nectar of trumpet flowers.
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| outdoor sink |
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| fig tree growing out of the rock |
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| Sierra la Laguna vista |
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| Ron & Maria in the wash |
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| barrel cactus growing horizontally out of the bank |
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| a lone hardy bloom in the wash |
It was a heavy photography day. Since it was a long drive we got to know each other. Elena is divorced, because her husband is a typical Spanish male, & he didn’t understand her career as a guide who spent so much time away from home. Her neighbors gossip about her clothing (gasp! She wears hiking boots, technical clothing, binoculars, packs).
After parting ways, we swam at our hotel. For dinner we ate homemade tamales Maria brought for us. She kept them warm using two hot water bottles inside a cooler!
As I was packing my gear for tomorrow I realized I don’t have my binoculars. I think I left them in her car, which just happens to be a rental for the day. Hope she checked the car before turning it in!
Thursday, Mar 7, 2019
Todos Santos, carnitas, & binocs
First, my binoculars were found in the rental car by Enterprise & we picked them up this afternoon. I used a loaner pair for our excursion to the area around Todos Santos, NW of Cabo San Lucas. Beautiful sunrise over the whole area. We had 3 additional people today. Semi-birders & photographers. We walked down a private road where Maria has permission (her cousin lives there). Many of the endemic birds, all cooperating for the cameras. Next, we headed to a desert walking/biking trail. It was so beautiful as there were blooming aloe vera plants lining both sides of the trail.
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| morning inland fog |
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| organ pipe cactus |
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| barrel cactus blooms |
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| bougainvillea |
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| trumpet flowers favored by Xantus hummer |
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| fan palm |
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| faded glory |
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| century plant |
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| decorative painted skull at restaurant |
We ate at a local carnitas restaurant, barbecued pork & tortillas & “salsa buffet”, about a dozen bowls of veggies & salsas.
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| tortilla maker |
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| salsa bar |
The afternoon consisted of swimming, tequila, & siesta.
Friday, Mar 8
La Paz & Pizza
Today was the last day of our tour. We had 3 other people, a guy from Gig Harbor, WA, who’s wife is on a women’s yoga, wine, & whale watching trip with 8 other female friends. One French-Canadian woman, part of a family group staying at an Airbnb, & the other one from yesterday. Ron was the only serious birder. Maria isn’t as strong on her water birds so she learned a lot from Ron. We were in La Paz, on the Sea of Cortez. It was a two & a half hour drive, we stopped for some birding & breakfast. Our choices were quesadilla, empanadas, or tamales. Ron loved the fluffy savory empanada. We had a driver, Ivan, who turns out to be a dive master & dive instructor who is self employed. He is the guide for any water trips, which include kayaking, snorkeling with whale sharks. Super nice cute guy. By the way, he also teaches diving in Alaska!
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| Sea of Cortez, La Paz |
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| Maria Elena scoping |
We ate local fish tacos for lunch. Maria explained about all the mixed cultures in this region. Fish tacos are prepared with temupra batter in the Japanese tradition. There was an extensive salad bar including tempura onion rings and jalapeno poppers. We stopped at a working ranch for a bird walk. We turned back after a short distance due to heavy equipment working the fields, disturbing bird activity.
Ron left his binoculars in the van this afternoon. Can’t believe it!! We put in a call to Maria, she said she found them already. We had a farewell dinner with her this evening & she brought them along. She took us to a pizza place in a residential neighborhood. She knows the owner. “Long story short” (her favorite phrase!) he is a local young man who was put through culinary school 5 years ago. He now owns 4 restaurants. It is built in his grandparents home, but it is so beautiful. Very rustic, wood burning (mesquite) oven, hand-hewn tables copied after his original pallet furniture. Upholstered stools, trees growing along the outside walls, except on the inside. The walls have wooden slats displaying many empty wine bottles, festive lights draped on every ceiling surface. There were four pizza/pasta chefs in pristine white uniforms. We had custom-made thin crust pepperoni pizza, Alfredo sauce & homemade pasta, & incredibly delicious salad (almonds, goat cheese, berries, romaine) & beer. Everything was first class.
Too tired to do photos tonight
Saturday-Monday, March 9-11
Holiday Inn, San Jose del Cabo
We are on the last three day phase of the trip. We used Uber to drive us here. We found out this is an all-inclusive resort. It is on the beach, right next to the estuary that we visited last Monday. Had to wait two & a half hours until we could get into our room. We sat by one of the three pools & did some people watching. Ate lunch on the terrace, freshly grilled burgers. Then watched water aerobics, then a 90-minute dance show by the pool. Finally got into our room. Now we are relaxing at the other pool. Getting ready for a pretty sunset.
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| sunset view from our balcony |
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| The start of a most beautiful day |
This has been such a wonderful trip. The birds were beautiful, maybe 5 lifers. Many birds are our friends we know from the US. My favorite is the magnificent frigate bird. We’ve seen them before but they are really cool. Lots of great food, the local places were our favorites. How can such simple dishes be so flavorful? Quesadillas made with small corn tortillas, a tiny amount of smooth creamy cheese, & maybe a tablespoon of frijoles: my new go-to breakfast! Today there was a weather change, very breezy & a bit cooler. Like maybe 78 instead of 82! I had a margarita before noon poolside. Is this the life or what?! We are packed & ready for our 2pm flight out tomorrow. We’ll use Uber again to the airport around 11:30. After our last breakfast buffet of course!
And we have triple-checked every nook & cranny for forgotten items! Double-checked flights!
R&P
