2-12-05

As I was driving around yesterday trying to find the Reggae camp I came across these nice fields.

This area reminds me of the Monterey, California area.  There are fields that come almost down to the ocean. This area has had a lot of agriculture in the past but now the houses are moving in on them. I am sure that it is the same here as in California, you can make more money off houses than agriculture. All the fields use drip irrigation which I guess not only makes sense water use wise but makes it easier to irrigate. Drip irrigation has a couple of major problems. One is expense and the other is this.

The dang drip stuff is everwhere. There are pieces of plastic all over the field and a lot along the edges. When they prepare a field they often just disk the plastic in and what a mess that makes.

Succession planting.

I’m not sure what these things are but maybe papayas? it was hard to get a good photo here as it was overcast and they were hidden behind a windbreak fence of corn. There was an orchard of these trees and I see several other orchards in the area of small starts of these trees.

I went in to Todo Santos yesterday afternoon as I was very low on water and it was raining and not so nice to hang out here. I was able to get five gallons at a grocery store for a buck and a quarter, sealed in a big round five gallon bottle. I emptied that into my jug that I carry in the car.

When I came back to camp it had really washed the road in several places and was still running down the road. It sprinkled all night but by morning it had cleared up and it is a bright and sunny day here. It is going to be a great day for their Reggae Festival. There is a crew setting up the stage, sound system as well as a huge light bank, so I guess that this is going to go on tonight as well. There are a few campers that have left because they didn’t want to hear the music.

This morning I went out and took a photo of this guy with his dog enjoying the morning view. There are a few dogs around camp, but none so far that need extra pets that I am willing to give them.

It didn’t take long for the surfers to get out.

The big guys are off a beach that breaks around the tip of land that sticks out in the ocean. There are big boulders on the beach and the best waves are there evidently. Further down the beach is sandy and this is where I found a couple of boys catching a few waves. They were really good surfers.

I met one of the surfer guys this morning who comes down every year from Oregon to surf. He was telling me that Cabo san Lucas is just a big drug party place. He said that since Baja was such a laid back place with lax laws, it was a good place for the drug traffickers to move in here. He was telling me that the camp where he usually camps for the winter is run by a Mexican in his thirties that is totally strung out on drugs. He says that the camp has about 45 people that pay three bucks a day/night and that much money has made a lot of these old ranching families kids, druggies.

When I was in town yesterday I saw across the street from where I was getting the wifi connection, is a community and historical center. I went in for a quick look around. Most of the stuff was old photos of people but I found a room that had a display of photos of ranches and ranch life. Some of my favorite were photos of the kitchen with mud brick stove and iron griddle on top with the woman cooking tortillas and large pots of beans(?). The photos reminded me of the cowboy photos in Montana but without all the fancy stuff. They don’t get ‘dressed’ to be a cowboy down here. 

A young kid came by this morning while I was talking with the surfer and wanted to know if it was better to get a battery charged right away or would it be ok to leave it down for a couple of days and then get a jump to get his van started. I went over and gave him a jump with lil Red. He said it always started good before but they were using the light last night too much. It turned out that the battery was old and the terminals were corroded so I cleaned as best I could and that helped to get him going. I suggested that he go to town and get a fresh battery. They are form New York and totally clueless concerning cars. The girl was jumping up and down she was SO happy to get the dang thing started as she thought it was broke and couldn’t be fixed.

2-13-05

It was an absolute beautiful day yesterday for the Reggae Festival. The surf was good the surfers say in the morning and all afternoon was excellent bikini watching. It turns out that lil Red was right on the main path to the concert. I set up my shade canopy and kicked back in my chair and watched the show. It took the stage crew until about three in the afternoon to get everything all set up. I think there were three bands that played yesterday. I went down and got a photo of the first one.

There weren’t very many people here at this time but they just kept streaming in it seemed like all night. The sound system was turned up really loud and it was just too much for my poor ears to be this close. My camp was just about right for sound level. I really liked the music. Some of the bands were better than others but all I think did a great job.

2-13-05

I got up at first light and made myself a cup of tea. I was sitting in lil red drinking that cup when a couple of guys come crusing thourgh my neighbors camp slowly looking at everything. They stopped at one van that had a large bag on the ground at the rear. These guys got down and were just about to get it untied when I yelled ‘get the hell out of here’. They took right off. I went over later and saw that they had the bag tied to the bumper hitch with an old belt. I know that they would have been able to untie it and been gone with that bag.

I didn’t realize that after the performance, the stage crew disassembled the stage and packed it up and were long gone by the time I was up. The only thing left was the beer cans and trash. Some people can really be pigs.

I had another request for a jump start this morning from a guy that is Austrian. He is a truck driver in Austria and in the winter is over here building up a camping place in Todo Santos. He hopes to build the place up so he can make enough to stay and not go back to drive truck.

I headed out of camp for Cabo San Lucas. Everyone was right, it is a zoo of huge hotels and condos. On an overlook I stopped at there was a guy selling coconuts. The deal is: he cuts the top off with a machete. He then opens up just a little two inch hole and hands the coconut to you and tells you to get a straw. You take a straw and drink the milk (wow, there is a lot in there). You then hand it back and he cuts it in half and then scores the inside and scoops the meat away from the shell. You then get the choice of having it on the half shell or put in a small plastic bag. You then squeeze a lime on it, salt it, and then put on picante (some sort of red sauce or powder, 3 choices). You get a tooth pick and enjoy!!! I had never had a raw fresh coconut before and they don’t taste like the store bought stuff.

There is a four lane expressway connecting to San Jose del Cabo and you don’t get to see the ocean much for that 18 miles. There are a few small access points and the Mexican families were taking advantage to get to the water with the kids. The Mexican’s have lost this part of Baja. They are the service workers so I guess it is the same down here as up north. 

 I stopped I San Jose del Cabo at a large grocery store in hopes of getting one of those chicken dinners. As it turned out I got there too late or too early. There was one batch gone and the next batch to come out of the rotisserie would be another hour. They have two big rotisseries packed full with maybe 60 or more chickens in each. These are big sellers and I can see why. I saw on the price tag that a whole chicken twelve tortillas and all the trimmings was 6.70 at this place or about six dollars.

What really surprised me was on the way out I noticed a guy in a watch tower. I had heard him talking on the way in but didn’t pay much attention. This guy has a loudspeaker and tells potential thieves to get away from cars (or people?) if they look suspicious. He also has a horn that he honks regularly and what really gets your attention is when he sounds the siren. He stands up there and watches the entire parking lot with binoculars and he is always taking and warning someone. It is a running commentary with horn honks and siren for added emphasis.

This says a lot of what kind of place this is. I can’t imagine living in a place were you have a security guard at the parking lot of the grocery store. Everyplace has bars on the windows or if they are the big hotels/ condo units they have walls and guards. It is sort of like a prison only in reverse. I really hate this and I sure hope that the mainland of Mexico isn’t like this.

I left that mess and headed up the peninsula past Santiago and  am camped not far from La Ribera but closer to Punta Colorada. I actually went through Punta Colorada (I think, there are few signs) last night. It was starting to get dark and wanted to make it someplace to camp for the night. I really don’t want to be out on the road at night. In that little town they were having some sort of party. I think it might have been a town party or valentines party as everyone was dressed up. the music sounded good and there were food stalls aplenty, but I am so spooked about these roads I decided to pass on the party. I found a nice gravel pit to camp in way off the road and not far from the coast. I could see the lighthouse in the distance. I was going to try to make it down one of these little roads to the coast, but the roads crossed some what looked like muddy places and there was a threat of rain in the clouds.

2-14-05

No rain last night and the sky is clear and bright this am.

I made it up the coast on a little dirt/sand road and it was just so wonderful to be off of the high speed pavement and the whole tourist scene. When I went through Todos Santos and San Jose del Cabo, both of which are focused on the gringo shopper, I noticed that no one made eye contact. It was just as if I was in a big city somewhere in the US. In the small towns at least everyone makes eye contact and nods or says hi. It seems like people come down here to get away form what it is like back home and in turn bring it with them.

I am in Los Barriles and it looks to be a place where a lot of gringos come for the winter as well. I met a woman on the beach in Buena Vista just a few miles down the road. actually I met her dog who came up and wanted to play stick. The dog was a well filled out chocolate lab and she was a serious stick dog. I finally found one for her and she dove right in the surf and finally found it. I learned to throw the stick out further so she could find it easier than in the surf. The woman says that she is just staying over here for a while and really lives in Todos Santos. She says that it is too windy over here as well as smoking hot. She likes it in Todos Santos but said it was growing too fast. I here and read that that is the problem in a lot of these Mexican towns, the pace of development far outpaces the infastructure. Hmmmm, mybe the same back home?

I have found a small internet café and will try to get this off or posted to website. I hope I can get the dang website working.