Feliz Navidad - Playa el Coyote Campo!

Christmas on a beach.  A beach in Baja, CA Mexico.  In Baja, CA Mexico, on the Sea of Cortez.  On the Sea of Cortez, in Bahia el Coyote.  In Bahia el Coyote, on Playa el Coyote.  On Playa el Coyote on  Christmas Eve.  Christmas Eve...melting into Christmas Day 2012.  Feliz Navidad!

Luminarias lighting our way into Christmas night at Coyote

Evening falls....

On Christmas Eve afternoon we find ourselves at our "beach home" ....escaping the Christmas we've always known, open to what we may find in this place, at this time, with these people, in this country.  Oh my!  We are the new ones to the Coyote Beach "traditions" of a beach camp celebration.

This Christmas Eve we join beach friends at an all beach pot luck dinner starting at 3:00 p.m.  Why so early?  Ah.  First, it's still light!  There is no electric power to draw things beyond the dark hours.  Over 60 folks are present with amazing offerings...from smoked salmon from Washington, to sweet potatoes candied with brown sugar, to curry dishes, to roast chicken, oysters, fancy rice, Mexican bread pudding, CHOCOLATE fudge cake, banana cake, cherry cobbler (drizzle some over the chocolate cake!)...to mention a few!

Christmas Eve potluck dinner

Nan...in charge of nothing!

We have two families with kids and that makes a grand total of four lining up for swings at the pinata.  It appears magically hanging from one of the trees, complete with ways to pull it up and down and a good old fashioned baseball bat for inflicting damage.  This is one strong pinata!

Georgia goes to "bat"

Luminarias appear on the beach....the whole length of the beach!  What a sight!  But wait...there's more!  Fireworks you say???  Fireworks?  Here?  Yes, and they are serious explosives!  Steve sets up for night photography successfully!  I keep the dogs company.

Yikes! 

Wow!  

Thank you John and Lori for planning for this light display...carrying it all the way from California...and my guess is...enjoying setting them off!

See that Santa hat with lights??

Bedtime yet?  NO!  It's time for the lighted boat parade!  Two dinghys (inflatables) lead the way, one with the motor motoring, one with the electronic keyboard playing carols (and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star....fitting really)...and two Santas in kayaks paddling.  (Who would bring Santa hats from San Juan Island with battery operated lights to light them up?)  Up and down the beach the four little boats go...voices joining in as the tunes reach the shore.

Ahhh...Baja Midnight...it's 9:00p.m.  The campsites are dark.  The boats put away.  The luminarias glow into the darkness....bringing on Christmas morning....

Christmas Day Dawns...Sunny and 70!

The morning breaks with a clear sky!  Sunshine streams down the beach.  Breakfast with friends...in short sleeves and flip flops!  What a concept....as we still struggle with how this time of year and this holiday can be celebrated in a warm climate.

Dolphins cruise the bay this morning, stopping to fish close to the beach.  I jump and run to the water's edge to watch them.

Then a whale shark glides by.  We jump in the kayaks and paddle like crazy...how can something SO big...slip by us without another sight?

Which pup has the Santa hat over his nose?  Guess!

A little kayaking, chatting with friends, sitting with another cup of coffee....a lovely day spent in a lovely way.

Dinner at Hotel Serenidad

Evening brings a beach community Christmas dinner at Hotel Serenidad in Mulege.  I wonder...what will it be?  Turns out to look very familiar!  Turkey!  Dressing, potatoes, cranberries, green beans, gravy, salad and finally a Mexican addition: Tres Leche Cake!  Oh, well...and cervezas and margaritas!

Great turkey dinner.....all we did was show up!

Guess who drove home?!

Early dinner, home by dark...to watch the candles flicker one last eve...lighting up the beach and drawing the first day of Christmas to a close.

La Playa el Coyote....At Last!

We arrive on Wednesday, three and ½ days after crossing the border.  It’s not so much about a great distance (1,000 km), but it’s the kind of driving that takes total focus and concentration.  The road is narrow, and the pavement edges are dramatic.  I find myself “sucking in breath” with each on coming truck, and somehow, we pass each other and on we go.  The landscape varies between desert beauty, mountain majesty, acres of sand and scrub, tall Cardon cactus, prickly Cholla, and this year…add some fog, mist, clouds and wind!

Arriving safely in Santa Rosilita, after descending the Cruesta de Infermo (Grade from Hell), we are thankful that our new braking system worked perfectly for towing the Jeep.  The road here follows the shoreline and three foot waves are crashing onto the beach!  Windy!

In coming...it's Steve and Nan!

I go ahead in the Jeep....and wave him forward!

Another hour sees us safely to the beach.  The road into Playa el Coyote has been worked over by a bulldozer after Hurricane Paul, and we find it easier to transit than last year. I go ahead in the Jeep to check it out and since I don’t return, Steve brings in the bus.  Go Slow.  That’s the deal. 

20 campers are already set up and enjoying life here.  We are told…hey…this is the first cloudy day!  (and windy and cold)  We find a spot, way down the beach from our usual hang out and park.  Whew!  3:00 p.m. and all is well.  Although we start to unload the Jeep rack…there is so much to do…we finally just sit, look out at the waves and wind, and begin our winter on the beach.  Friends start checking in with us, few by few.  There is much greeting, hugging, handshaking…and yes storytelling.  Oh, and a few woofs.

Coyote Bay

The beginning campsite!

Palapa move in almost complete

By 0715 Thursday morning the first vendor has arrived.  Amellio is one of the two water vendors and he wants our business.  We are still asleep…or pretending to be!  He waves in the window!  He toots his horn.  He then decides to wait us out, standing in the back whistling.  Ok then.  I give up and just go out in my jammies, saying “Oh!  No hoy…possible manana!”  So, it’s time to get up and get going.

Amellio brings water....today he needs a little gasolina....a trade for honey?

Most of the day we are organizing our campsite, hanging blankets, unfolding chairs, a run to town for purified drinking water jugs, gasoline for the Jeep and a phone call or two.  Everything takes double the time as there are many pleasant interuptions, conversations…all with folks already in the “beach life zone.”  What is time?  There is always tomorrow.  More important….Que Pasa? 

Technician Steve....

The technology report is not so happy.  We have a very good satellite system, installed carefully, with one part replaced within the first five days….now a country away from the installer, and out of cell phone reach as well (17 mile drive)…it is once again not working.  We have learned SO much about how one of these devices works, basically because it is NOT working.  The first problem had to do with the unit not stowing down.  This problem has to do with it’s brain not being able to go looking for satellites in the sky and find ours.  In fact, it can’t find any.  It spins around until it’s dizzy and we are tired of the rotation noise, and disappointed in the blinking or not blinking lights.  Steve is locking on to fixing this like a bulldog…and it is requiring hours and hours of time, phone calls, emails, (from someone else’s connection) and burning through frustration levels. 

For me…if I can’t have the connection then, I can’t.  I’ll go on and make other plans and operate as we have in past years.  Not as planned, but plans change.  I am sad to lose the money and wonder how that will go as far as recovering any of it.  Check it off to a very bad investment?  But, then, go on.  Steve says, if electronic things are going to fail, it’s usually in the beginning.  So, get on with fixing it and it will be fine.  Strange to have two things fail right away.  This saga continues at this point….won’t it be fun to find out how it wraps up?

P.S.  It is now Saturday morning.  Steve fires up the dish again, just a random chance???  I got to Norm's to collect email ...and when I return...there is a smirking smile radiating from my techo husband's face...."Shhhh...it's working!"  We are hanging a "Do Not Disturb" up...quickly posting a blog for me...and accepting that this moment in time, it's working.  That's it.  This moment in time.  

What's with the fence thing?

Here's how you picture us on Christmas Day!

Catevina - High Desert Night

The drive to Catevina is one we are successful in forgetting.  That’s why we do it again and again.  The road is narrow, the truck traffic memorable and the abrupt shoulder or mostly no shoulder just an edge….well…it makes for a long trip even though it’s short.

We arrive at Santa Inez campground around noon and have our choice of sites.  We are again, the only campers.  It is absolutely beautiful up in this high desert place.  The dogs can run a little, Skipper can play ball and Sparky can be on a long line.  We unhitch the Jeep and take a run into the little restaurant and backyard junk yard hoping to find Pancho Marina.  Last year Pancho welded a part on John and Deb’s trailer on a Sunday morning in less that balmy weather.  Steve took note of his tools and saw the hack saw blade was warped and more than dull.  One of our last stops was Home Depot to pick up a few blades as a gift.  Luckily we walked right up to Pancho, who was in the back folding a tarp. We try to explain he had helped us last March and we were all so grateful.  Smiling he gives Steve a “fist up” handshake. 

Driving a little further on we realize how easy the road seems in a car.  Not exactly wider, just so much easier and enjoyable.  A few stops for burro photography and amazing cactus pictures and maybe just because we could.  You can never pull the RV off the road any old place!

As we get toward the magic light hour….or minutes…we both take our cameras and hike up the desert trail adjacent to our camp.  There is every type of cactus waiting to have its portrait taken.  Our first Gilla woodpecker appears, calling loudly. 

Quiet is the word for the night.  Tomorrow on to Guerreo Negro and our last look at the Pacific side of the Baja for quite a while.  We hope we remember that the road gets a little or a lot better?  If only wishing made things so!

P.S.  Posting this tonight from Guerreo Negro....tucked into Marios RV for the night.  Once again, ALONE!  Where are the tourists?  

If It's Sunday....It Must Be Tijuana

Morning surfer line up!

Morning coffee with Pete and Nancy at Starbucks and it’s hitch up the Jeep and away we go! 

  The sun is out, the pavement is dry and the miles click away toward the U.S. – Mexico border and the new El Chapperell Crossing.  As advertised, it’s easy to navigate and see where to go, but on this Sunday morning, a helpful (but not helpful)  assistant points us over to “Something to Declare” and some parking near a big new building???  We make two rounds as nothing appears to be over there for RV’s and he keeps directing us back.  Finally Steve parks and holds, and I get out and go and find the official he is pointing toward.  He says he speaks very little English….and I say I speak very little Spanish, but “Vamos a Baja con RV y mi esposo y dos peros!”  He says, ok, wait here for me.  He is gone 10 minutes or more.  By the time he comes back I realize I am at the new office for acquiring tourist permits and paying for them and getting them stamped. (already did that in Algodones!)  He returns and I show him our permits.  OH!  He says, in perfect English….”You are all set for 180 days!  You’re good to go!”  I smile, yes, I am.  Then he says, “Well, over there (pointing to a group of four very young folks in uniform) are Customs agents and they might want to see you.”  

So, I go over and ask if they are Customs.  Yes.  A young woman and a young man come over to the RV.  First they look in the Jeep.  The new brake contraption hooked up to the brake pedal (Steve calls it “the hoof”) is a curiosity.  She taps it.  I wonder if she’s thinking…something is hidden inside this box?  I explain, sort of, it’s an extra brake.  What is the word for brake again? 

  Soon they go to the door of the RV where Skipper and Sparky greet them.  The young girl melts.  Ohhhhh!  Lassies!  Now I know we’re good.  They pet and pat both dogs, ask their names, ask their ages….I muddle through.  Ok then, have a good trip!  As they leave the young man suddenly realizes he needs to ask for the Jeep registration.  He comes back, I get my notebook, both dogs break out of the RV, I’m grabbing them, dogs on the run, leashes trailing...the notebook goes in the air, I try to show him the page and he just laughs and says….Adios!

So, that 45 minutes put us back in the original line we were headed for, and right on through.  The route to Mex 1 Toll is easy to find, and we are so sure we’ve got it all now that we miss the turn for Rosirito Beach Mex 1 Cuota and wind up headed off the toll road to Playas Tijuana.   Good thing it’s a Sunday and a turn around with whole rig in a little shopping area is possible. 

Good travelers....most of the time....

The tolls to Ensenada add up to $21.00, but the road makes it well worth it.  In Ensenada our new GPS tries to get us to go the shortest route, which is down the too narrow shopping street….and we have to keep turning away.  Word to the wise.  Use your past experience and follow the regular route past the malacon.  A little longer….but easy wide street and definitely the best route.

The usual one hour from entering Ensenada to leaving the southern outskirts of town.  On to San Quentin arriving at El Pabellon beach park at 4:45 p.m.  Almost dark!!  Later than planned….but then those little unexpected detours came our way today.  We know not to camp alone, but it’s dark and we won’t drive more today.   We have been here many times, so it’s just a quiet night by the sand dunes, open Pacific reaching out to the west.

  

Only campers at El Pabbelon tonight

Morning walk on the beach dunes....all new experiences for Sparky!

 On to Catavina Monday morning....safe arrival by noon.  More on this wonderful spot in next post!

Singing in the....California Rain

We arrive at Carlsbad State Beach Park and our campsite is right next to our Friday Harbor whale watch buddies, Pete and Nancy!  They are Camp Hosts here for three months this season. 

Our "inland" site...$33 a night for old folks rate

High rent district site...empty...leaves us a nice view!

This is our last U.S. stop before heading across the border.  There are still a few more details to take care of…does it ever end?  (Yes, when you cross the border! ) Upon our arrival I look out to sea and notice the dark black clouds.  Is that rain I feel?  Ohhhh, yes.  Lots and lots of rain pounds on the RV roof all night and into the next day.

Nancy has located a ukulele jam session the night we arrive at a pizza restaurant down the road, so Steve, Nancy and Nan head on over there at 6 p.m.  There are at least 100 folks, playing and singing away!  This turns into a practice uke jam for us.  We got to the place, brought our instruments, had some pizza…but…music was missing.  We learn that you can download music lists off their website “Moonlight Beach Ukelele Strummers” and then it’s there on your iPad right in front of you!  We looked over shoulders. 

Pete and Nance strum away

Steve in his element!

The good news is that Thursday night there is ALSO a uke jam, even closer in Carlsbad.  We make a plan and go.  This set up is perfect as we eat dinner first, ukes in hand arrive and the music and words are projected up on a big screen above the bar.  It’s a great evening! 

Happy Hour lives on...

Frio!  In California!?

But it's a warm fire!

We really should leave Friday, but we are at least one campfire behind, and the roads may be wet with the recent heavy rain.  What’s one more day?  The ocean calms down some, the sun comes out, there is still no one in the waterfront site in front of us…so, an inland price and location but an oceanfront view!  I fear I’m getting used to this….tomorrow it’s across the border we go.

One more stop at our favorite coffee shop....

See why they're called "Bird of Paradise"???