Friday, April 26, 2013

A Case of Tecate Blues (or "The Ballad of the Champagne Ranger")

Hank and I made it down to Guerrero Negro just in time to catch the last boat of the season.  The good news is we had this mommy and baby ballena all to ourselves.



I don't care how jaded you are (or how much you believe in the principle of non-interaction,) when a baby gray whale swims up to your boat, you must pet it.  I've never felt so much like I was communing with an alien intelligence.
 
 The road to the "Black Warrior" goes through the baja desert, filled with weird plants plants found only on the peninsula, like these giant cacti...
 
and this cousin of the ocotillo, called the "boojum tree" or cirrio.  The natives say touching it will bring strong winds.  I didn't know.

After saying "hola" to the whales, Hank and I decided to cross to the other side of the peninsula and go up the coast of the Sea of Cortez.  This involved taking what the guide book calls "one of the worst roads in Baja."  On Coco's advice, we lowered our tire pressure about five p.s.i. and travelled a lot more smoothly.

On the west coast we saw mostly locals and surfers, but the east coast seems to have more American retirees and, during the season, spring breakers.  In the beach town of San Felipe, Hank takes a break from tacos pescados to try the ceviche especiale (which I believe translates to "pelican vomit.")

 



One of our last stops before heading across the border was the Parque National Constitution de 1857.  With its tall ponderosas and piles of granite boulders, you might think you were in the Sierras of Northern California.
Mexico's more chipper version of Smokey Bear,
Savi la Ardilla Brigadista

hasta la vista, Mexico


 

1 comment:

Jeanette Meleen said...

Nice pictures, Jon. Those are some interesting creatures you saw down there. My favorite is you and the boojum tree. Nice ponderosas!