Laundry day! Found a most excellent lavanderia
in Los Barriles and after dropping off our clothes we discovered a great store
next door with all kinds of funny tee shirts and piñatas! One of the piñatas, obviously left over from
Christmas, was Santa! Nothing would do
but Buck and Ross had to have one each!
We also hit the grocery store, the chocolate shop and the guy selling
fresh shrimp on the beach…Dinner!
Back to the beach.... we will be sad to leave Los
Barriles…our favorite beach but we really want to get to Loreto to check out
Carnival.
Feb 14
Happy Valentine’s Day and the flower sellers
are out in force today
Back to La Paz and ready to explore some more
of this fine city. We are in a RV park
near to the centre of the city so it’s not such a long drive. Get settled into this park where we have
another caravan of 4 rigs plus a couple of single rigs and we all got to the
park at the same time!!!! Then off to
get some presents for Heather’s daughter and onto the pottery place.
The woman at the pottery place explained that
this is a family run operation and do they have beautiful things! We bought a couple of plates, a sun (imagine
that!), a hot chocolate pot, and a couple of mugs. Heather bought a few things while Buck slept
on the husband bench. Very excited young
girls when they realized there were two Santas in the place, especially when
one of the Santas offered them some candy canes!!!
Our friends Larry and Gail in San Jose del Cabo
have recommended an Italian restaurant to us: La Pazta just off the Malecon. The food there was great….pasta, gnocchi,
shrimp, and garlic. We love all the
Mexican favorites but it’s sure nice to have something different!
Had a little walk along the malecon (boardwalk)
and watched while people scrambled to get their booths or rides up and running
for the start of Carnival in a couple of days.
A fast trip to Mega to pick up a few
groceries. Back to the RV and get ready
to roll again tomorrow. The RV park was
right on the highway and we had +++ noise all night. Not too conducive to good sleep.
Feb 15
Up early and hooked up……in fact we were one of
the first rigs ready to go……..that is a first for this trip!!! Off on Hwy 1 north and heading to
Loreto. Roads were for the main part straight
with good shoulders………until we left Ciudad Constitucion. Then the winding hills through the mountains
started. As we were coming into view of
the Sea of Cortez we are on a steep, narrow, twisty road and as if we needed
more adrenalin we hear on our CB that there is a VERY wide load coming up the
hill and we should be looking for a place to pull over. All well and fine most of the time but we are
starting a series of hair pin turns at that moment. However luck is our side and we find a wide
spot in the road. Sure as shooting not a
couple of minutes had gone by when we see this behemoth of a transport tractor
pulling a massive front end loader up the hill and as it passes our rig we have
less than two feet between us and
IT! Needless to say we took the next few
miles carefully!
Finally arrive in Loreto, the original capital
of Baja California when this area was being settled.
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The sculpted ficus in downtown Loreto
|
John, our intrepid leader has recommended a
good restaurant – The Giggling Dolphin – for dinner. The RV park is very small and we are jammed
in like sardines. There may be about 3
feet between some of our rigs. Getting
out will be twice as hard as we have had other people come into the park and it
is now completely full.
Ross and Buck discovered this delightful little hotel right downtown off the main square.
We all pile into our car for a quick look at this very old town then decide to check out the Giggling Dolphin. We had a great time. The grill is placed under the hood of an old
truck, the bar is the top half of a cabin cruiser (bar supplies are kept below
decks), and there is a hatch door from the HMCS Yukon – a Canadian destroyer
that was scuttled to be used as an artificial reef! Buck is an old sea dog after serving 28 years
in the Canadian navy so he is rightfully excited but this unusual find!
Of course there are the inevitable Mariachis
but these two are pretty good so (for a small fee) they perform ‘Coo coo, Roo
Paloma’ a favorite and ‘La Cucaracha’ Heather’s new favorite!
 |
| The Mission at Loreto |
When we get back to the rig before we can
settle in for the night we have visitors!
We never know how some of our parties start but we always have a great
time……..and this is the same. Before we
knew it we were entertaining a few other couples…..and their dogs inside Prince
Reindeer (it was too cold to sit outside.)
Feb 16
We are off to see the mission at San
Javier. It is a hour travel into the
mountains on mostly paved twisty mountain roads except the last 10 miles which
is washboard gravel/dirt road.
The town
may be old and now have only a few residents but the cobblestone streets are
clean and the entrance is quite impressive.
Pillared gate posts leading onto a wide
intersection – one way leads to the church, the other leads to the school.
The church was built in the 1700s and is
beautiful. It is one of the earliest mission church on the Baja –
beautiful paintings, incredible woodwork, and gilt everything! We are then invited to go on a tour of a
local farm. The weather had clouded over
and the wind has picked up so Ross (in his t-shirt and shorts) decides to stay
in Buck’s truck while everyone else goes off hiking.
The working farm is quite amazing. Remnants of
some of the work of the original Friars is still evident including a 300 year
old olive tree that is still bearing!
Our guide, Guillermo, has lived on the farm all his 70 years…and he
looks about 50! Something to be said for
the quiet lifestyle.
In addition to the 1000 olive trees there are
grapes, radishes, peas, beans, squash, corn, fighting cocks, and his race
horse!
There is also an elaborate irrigation scheme which makes it all work.
We spotted this mother hummingbird sitting on her nest....look closely...
We spotted this classic example of Mexican wiring in the courtyard in front of the church...it's flat on the ground...maybe it never rains there??
After the tour we had Machaca burritos made by Guillermo's family and got to
meet Guillermo’s granddaughters….
On the drive home we stopped off to view some small native cave paintings that are quite old...
Back to the RV and off to dinner at Giggling
Dolphin (again). Ross started feeling
unwell halfway through dinner with cramping and some nausea. This continued throughout the evening, so
when Ed went to bed that night Ross stayed up for a while. Only when Ross decided to go to bed did he
have an unusual problem…….blood in his stool……lots of old blood. For those of you who may be squeamish suffice
it to say we were both very upset but decided to leave it until the morning. Ross stayed up the rest of the night.
Feb 17/18……it’s kinda a blur!!
Ross did not have a good night and by 7:00 he
again had another bout of blood in his stool.
We talked to Buck and Heather, then phoned our caravan leaders. John Smith came right over and Heather and
Ross jumped into his truck for a fast trip to the hospital. Needless to say, nothing goes according to
plan. We were all slated to hook up our
rigs and head back over to the beach in Santispac. That trip was held up a bit while Ross was
still being seen in the new hospital of Loreto…….actually more like a glorified
clinic - limited equipment, staff who were very new to medicine, and an ever
increasingly frustrating problem with the language.
Long story cut short, Ross was not given any
definitive diagnosis but was given a prescription for pain pills and Ranitidine. By this time the rest of the caravan has gone
on without us, but dear friends Buck and Heather have stayed behind to help in
any way they can.
After blood work at an outside laboratory (no
blood can be analyzed by the hospital – no equipment), and a return trip to the
hospital, we phone the insurance company back in Ottawa to update them on the
file (we had let them know when we originally went to the hospital). They were not happy that nothing had been
clarified and demanded that Ross be sent to a larger community hospital. They
were talking about flying him home with either Ed or Heather and sending
someone to drive the RV and car back to Canada!
So later in the afternoon………after the hospital
has found a driver and escort…….Ross was taken to the General Hospital in Ciudad
Constitucion. This facility is right out
of the 1950s with corresponding equipment………for example the IV pole Ross was
given was rusted on the bottom 1/3, the wheels did not roll (you had to lift
the pole off the ground if you wanted to go anywhere), and it had to be leaning
against a wall otherwise it fell over!!!!!!!
Ed and Buck arrived and tried to get some understanding
of what was going on ……..all to no avail………the docs at this hospital were as
confused as the staff in Loreto. Ross was kept overnight and released in the
morning with the orders to take the pain pills and Ranitidine and get home ASAP
for a possible colonoscopy. So Buck, Ed,
and Ross headed back to Loreto to consider the options. We tried to get a flight out of the area but
there was nothing available for another week.
Ed rationalized that in the time we sat around waiting to fly out we
could be back on USA soil…………..so we decide to head out and drive as fast as we
can for the border.
Feb 19
Ross is not feeling too well but we head out to
the beach at Santispac near Mulege and arrive in good time. Ross went to bed while Ed, Buck, and Heather
went over to the beach bar for mega-strong margaritas. Heather had one………the others had more than
that and came home in a convoluted manner giggling all the way!! When they could be a little more serious
(without devolving into gales of laughter each time they looked at each other)
we came to the decision to press on without the group as quickly as we could.
Feb 20
The traveling grocery store began early this
morning with three or four sellers walking up and down the beach. One such seller had his 10 year old son with
him so we gave him the last batch of “goodies” we had brought down with us……….a
very excited Dad and son!!
Feb 21
On the road early. Left with the group but they
were only going to Guerrerro Negro and we wanted to get further ahead. John
suggested that we could make El Pabellon (The Pavilion) at San Quintin, and we
drove like mad but only got to El
Rosario before it got too dark to drive.
We found an RV park that had questionable power, water, and sewer. There were no other amenities except a pot
holed parking area……….but they had room for us that night and no cucarachas! We (Buck and Ed – my saviours) drove about
250 miles over the most horrible roads you can imagine this day!
 |
We bid goodbye to Baja California Sur
|
Feb 22
 |
Strawberry fields forever!
|
Ross is feeling a bit better and everyone is
more relaxed. We are headed for the
border—about a 200 mile drive a snap on good roads! As we get closer to the
crossing from Mexico into the USA we also find more military checkpoints. Some are cursory and we are waved through,
and others want to see everything in our rig…..and our car. Found a group of soldiers checking out the
radio while others were searching the trunk.
One young man found the reindeer antlers that attach to the car
windows during Christmas……..he was
trying to attach them to his head, then tried to make like one of them was an
older model cell phone!!!!
 |
We spotted these two fellows catching the action on the roof adjacent to one of the many army inspection sites in Ensenada
|
We
crossed over to US soil about 3:30PM at Otay having to wait in the amazingly
long lineup
for 1.5hours
(that is apparently quite a short wait).
We saw two vehicles collide into each other
while trying to
maneuver through the line. Thankfully
the Otay police and the border crossing
guards held the rest of the
cars at bay while we swerved around the accident (the two drivers
were still
arguing and refusing to move)
and we were escorted through a side lane that led to a
gigantic X-ray
machine. We cleared
customs easily with little questioning
and were on our
way to the KOA campground in Chula Vista
(near San Diego).
Feb 23
Ed and Heather
headed off to Trader Joe’s leaving Ross
and Buck to their own devices.
When we
returned loaded with TJ’s goodies we realized Ross was feeling lousy and was
acting “strange”. On their insistence Ed and Ross went to the
Emergency room of Scripps
Mercy Hospital in Chula Vista.
The attending
physician was great…….a mother earth type who not only looked like our
wonderful GP back home but also had a similar name! Dr. Bruder ordered a slew
of tests
including
TWO CAT scans! Ross was poked, prodded,
X-rayed, and a myriad of other tests.
After 12
hours in Emergency Ross is released at 2:30AM with reports and everything on a
couple of CDs (good
idea for other hospitals to adopt). Everything
came back
normal………..so looks like we are back to square
one.
Ed was
more than a little tired as he had been either with Ross or driving back and forth from
the hospital
(checking on the dogs, bringing Heather to see Ross, etc.). We made it back to
the RV at 0300 (3:00 AM) and collapsed. We will save the
stories about the other patients in
the ER for later!
Feb 24
A very
late morning…not up til 9:00!
Bruce (a
dear friend from Sooke and fellow Santa) and Buck had found the Family Pancake
House just up the road
on our last visit before we left for Mexico.
Buck convinced us (not that
difficult) to give it a try.
What a
find! Delicious food, unbelievable
portions and great servers (we saw one of them
carrying 5 plates down one arm and she had two more in
the other hand!!!), and all for a great
price.
We had
planned on leaving the campground today but with the visit to ER etc. we are
all
bagged so we all feel
it is best to wait another day. We
rescued Ross’ Santa stuff he had left
at the KOA and found places to
store it in the motor home…….the beast is getting full!!!!
We
grilled steaks and had roasted potatoes with asparagus/beans/onions in a teriyaki
sauce………..good old
American/Canadian food for dinner and sat around with some of the
other
travelers who had crossed
the border the day before. They had
spent about 3.5 hours in
the line at the border and had arrived
late that afternoon. Good evening with
lots of laughs.
Feb 25
We hitch
up the wagons and are back on the road…….But wait……..the roads are wide, there
are paved shoulders,
and the signs are in English…..HMM, must be America!! The trip to
Fresno is pleasant with a few stops
for fuel and potty breaks. We park in
our regular RV park
(Fresno) and get settled in.
Took Buck
and Heather for a quick tour of Fresno our second ‘home’ and introduced them to
Five Guys restaurant. This place is one of the best places for
hamburgers……..and that’s
good because at Five Guys Hamburgers
and fries are the only thing they serve!!
Walked
around River Park mall for a bit, then home for
a nightcap and sleep.
Feb 26
We
(actually Ed) made Eggs Fresno for breakfast for Buck and Heather. He uses Trader
Joe’s multi-grain frozen
waffles toasted, tops them with ham slices, a fried egg, and TJ’s
Hollandaise
sauce…….his version of Eggs
Benedict. Very good and we only have
those on
special occasions, just in case my physician reads
this missive!!
Took Buck
and Heather around Fashion Fair mall (Ross’ “Santa” mall) where Heather did a
bit
of shopping,
then out to Kearney Park.
Kearney
was a visionary who arrived in Fresno at the turn of the previous century and
bought
up about 5000
acres southwest of Fresno. His first task was to plant an avenue of palm trees
fom the center of Fresno
out to his property….about seven miles…most still survive.
He then
built a large house to live in and run his farms. Ultimately this house would
be the farm
superintendent’s
home while Kearney planned a much grander ‘Chateau’ to be built nearby.
The
estate produced vegetables, fruit,
cattle, and grapes that were sun dried into raisins.
Unfortunately Kearney
died before he could complete his grandiose plans. The property was
willed to
the University of California
who farmed it until about 1949 when it was transferred to
the County of Fresno.
The house
sat vacant until the mid-1960s when the county transferred responsibility for
it to the
Historical
Society.
We took a
tour of the house (about 4600 sq. ft., 4 bedrooms--2 of them with ensuites),
and
contains about 80% of the original
furnishings. The park is popular with families
who picnic
under the spreading
old growth landscaping. There are other events as well..including an
annual renaissance fair and a civil war re-enactment.
Stopped
at Trader Joe’s for groceries and then home.
Dinner was appys and
salad………..just what we needed
after eating our faces off for the last month!!!!
