04 01 2017
The traveling adventures of Michael and Robin.

Mike always wanted to go to Europe “old school”. We tried to set up our trip following the traditions of Magellan, Henry the Navigator, Columbus, Ernest Hemingway, and our grandparents. Not knowing exactly how to get to the Spice Islands, Italy, Poland, Russia or the Guadalquivlt River and such we settled on sailing out of Port Canaveral, Florida to arrive some time later in Barcelona, Spain. In modern day terms this is called a “Transatlantic Crossing” in Mike’s words “crossing the pond”, and in cruise ship speak a “repositioning cruise”. To quote Eric Larson in “Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania” in describing his transatlantic modern day crossing on the QE2: “My voyage brought me invaluable insights into the nature of transoceanic travel. Even today, when you are in the middle of the Atlantic you are very much alone, and far from rescue if something cataclysmic were to occur. Unlike the passengers of the Lusitania, before we left New York we all were required to try on our life jackets. No one was exempted regardless of how many voyages he or she had already made. This was serious business and frankly, a bit scary, for putting on a life jacket forces you to imagine the unimaginable.”

Day 1: Was pretty much a cluster, although a happy cluster because everyone was in a good mood. We showed up at the dock, on time, with several thousand other passengers. It was kind of like being at Disney with no ride at the end. Although as Michael pointed out, “but we are going on a ride”. Thanks to my friend Gail who is a true inspiration to me in “socializing” we made many friends in the shuttle, line # 1, line # 2 and the final line across the gang plank which is actually a cushy fiber glass tunnel that shoots you into the bowels of the ship.

Our cabin is lovely, clean, ingeniously taking advantage of every square inch. Many months ago we decided to go with a balcony cabin as we couldn’t picture ourselves in an innie shoe box. Good decision; we have a nice patio with chairs, table and plexi glass wall to admire the sea and I suppose the port when we get to one. Unpacking was a relief as we packed so much stuff we couldn’t remember what we brought. They took my Gerber knife away, (which I always travel with) I get it back when we get to Barcelona. I miss my knife. After that we started walking around the ship which Michael describes as totally obscene. Ridiculously big, with very bad maps. We had trouble finding everything and Mike flat out refused to continue using the stairs as “we will never get there”. Ha Ha. We did make it to dinner, which was lovely, and as everyone says the food is amazing. It’s true. After dinner we sat on our balcony then went to bed.

Day 2: We found the gym which is gigantic. It is filled with every body type known to man. The kinetic energy (possibly stored?) alone could power our side of the ship. After the work out, lite lunch and another tour of the ship. We saw the Cigar bar, endless shopping with weird things people can’t seem to resist, watches, perfume, handbags, diamonds, chains, and the usual array of T shirts, logo beach towels, models of the ship, cigarettes, chocolate, more chocolate, candy. I got dizzy, perhaps that is their intention. I bought a Snicker Bar. Presently (back in our cabin); Zack Brown on the iTouch and Bluetooth. I love my husband for downloading all my favorite songs. Later we’ll pull up Willie and crack open the bag of pistachios we bought in Florida.
Later in the day; we strolled the decks, and found our way to a nice sunning deck and unearthed our nooks (e-books). I have saved the new Carl Hiiasen; Razor Girl, and Eric Larson’s; Dead Wake, The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. I figure these 2 books will keep me entertained for a while. Evening found us again in the more “formal” dining room (no shorts or tank tops, hardly formal). After dinner we went up to the 16th level and watched a movie under the stars; “Deep Sea Horizon” Mark Walberg and group, a very suspenseful and gripping tale of an oil rig gone terribly array. Mike and I love “the outdoors” this is what we called the Drive-in(s) in and around our hometown of Greenfield MA, there were at least 4 we went to regularly. We still have a double screen drive-in in Fort Collins.

Day 3: Off to the gym again, all the machines were crank’in, fortunately these folks don’t last long. The quality of work-out machines is astounding. You can torture absolutely any part of your body. There is also a massively strong and fit fellow who has some kind of boot camp work out on his iPad. It is brutal; I hope he doesn’t have a stroke. Lunch in the adults only area, 16th deck (although there are very few kids on this floating city). Great salads. Afternoon sunning, reading and writing a bit. I got in one of the many hot tubs and met a few retired teachers, (a shout out to my friend Mary Teats, the busiest K teacher) and one retired night club singer, they were great fun to talk to Mike and I spent the evening strolling the decks, cigar / humidor room for a while (interesting folks in there), two very loopie ladies who were trying to fix their daughter up with this nice kid who happened to be traveling on his own. I’m not sure where that all went.

Love you! Thanks for the great visit.

It’s morning at Estero Beach south of Ensenada, Mexico. The guy on the peer just caught a fish, I‘m not sure what it was but he has decided to keep it. Dinner I expect. The waves are crashing white on the sand bar while the birds continue their morning smorgasbord in the tidal bay. I believe I’m late to the feast and that it started a few hours ago at sunrise. I have my birthday binoculars and just spotted a double breasted cormorant. The brown pelicans are getting along nicely with the gulls. I saw a tern yesterday but they are pretty scarce. Mike is inside rustling up coffee on his traveling barista, we’ll be moving on today, north to the border.

Yesterday morning I entered the bathroom to brush my teeth. I went for my tooth brush that was sticking out of my dopp kit. Right as I laid my hand on the brush a cockroach ran down the handle and into my bag. Yikes, they move fast! I took a breath and said to myself, you just need to accept things like this. You are staying at a nice hotel in the middle of the desert.  I zipped my bag shut (blocking the escape route) and walked out onto the veranda, sure enough when I unzipped the bag he came scurrying out. I almost missed him but the story ends with a satisfying crunch on the tile.

OK, so we are in a new hotel not in the desert. Can you believe this toilet paper display? We’re afraid to go the bathroom. Also the Kleenex presents certain challenges.

Ignacio Springs Bed and Breakfast

I’m sitting under a date palm next to our Yurt that is called “The China Wall”. It is tastily decorated with Chinese things, has a giant king size bed, and 2 kimonos hanging in the bathroom. If I turn the other way I look out onto Ignacio Springs, it is early morning and the ducks, egrets, and herons are looking for their breakfast. Yesterday I took the kayak up to the beginning of the springs where the landscape turned into a forest of wild palms and thick reeds along the banks. This place smells really good; fresh and wild. It sounds nice too, palm leaves scraping against each other, reeds whispering along the bank. The ducks who are small and black with white beaks make a racket if I get to close, the egrets give me the eye ball, and the frogs serenade all day.

Mike just came out and asked me it any dates fell on my head. (We’re careful of coconuts but probably pretty safe with these dates.) We strolled along the banks of the lagoon to breakfast. This is the kind of place where you don’t need to comb your hair before breakfast or probably any other time. Breakfast is a family style event, all homemade down to the fresh squeezed juice, bread, jams, fruit, eggs, meat, what we call “farm to table” in Fort Collins. I think that’s a stupid phrase in Colorado but it seems to work here.

We had breakfast with a scientist who is studying the springs. This is an oasis and very much unaffected by the surrounding world during the last 8,000 years. It is an eco-system in itself. He is studying fresh water tilapia and bull frogs. The problem being that the government decided to introduce fresh water tilapia some years back and they are now 90% of the fish population, leaving only 10% of the natural species. I’m not sure what’s going on with the bull frogs but I don’t think they are supposed to be here either. This is a very kind and concerned man. We are lucky to have such folks looking out for us.

When I think of Catavina I think of the crazy Boojum tree. They look like giant upside down carrots from a Dr. Seuss book. I also think of my friend Ben who goes there to climb the boulders. Catavina indeed, is quintessential Baja, showing off it’s unique and diverse population of desert plants, boulders, heat and sun. There is a special “dry” in Catavina and during our drive thru the Valle de los Curios we drink in the dry as much as the bottled H2O. The last time we were in Catavina we camped way out in the desert. It was like being in some kind of wacky cowboy movie. In the evening a kid came strolling along pushing a wheelbarrow. He sold fire wood. We bought some and made a great fire.
This time we stopped at the Mission Inn. It used to be a Desert Inn and fortunately got bought and spiffed up a bit. After admiring the desert for most of the day we were ready to take full advantage of this most excellent oasis. It was too cold to swim but we sat by the pool in great big Mexican leather chairs and talked about this truly amazing piece of the Baja.

After dinner in their rather nice restaurant we strolled thru their sculpture garden and outer desert. Another big claim to fame (personally I love the Boomjum) is the nearby Cave Paintings. These drawings by the ancients have proven to be quite popular and are repeated by every generation, you know, coffee cups, T-Shirts, postcards and the lot. I imagine those guys would be pretty pleased to see their simple images carried through the ages. HA.

After not finding a hotel in Bufadora Mike and I continued south. For the first time the road was not good.  Pot holes, speed bumps, signs to beware of cattle in the road, and no shoulder. It got dark fast. We were exhausted from all the excitement with the Bufodorians.  We stopped in several villages, occasionally there was a sign for a hotel on the side of the road. Mike would pull into the gravel yard and I would do the “on site evaluation”. Often times the whole family would come out to show the room and I would feel horrid explaining that I needed a blanket or “the place looks great… is there a door”? I felt like a picky gringo and made another mental note to get out our “Learn Spanish in 3 days program”. I told Mike we might do better sleeping in the car.  We bumped along.

The next village featured a hand painted hotel sigh with Christmas lights. The lights were on.  There was an arrow pointing up a steep washed out sand road, we were tired and determined. Up the road we went. Half way up the hill we could see another Hotel sign, again with Christmas lights, this time they were blinking.  Mike said “this is a good sign”. I agreed and he pulled over at the top of the hill. There was some kind of village up there but being pitch dark we couldn’t see much.  The hotel was totally fenced. When we arrived; a solid metal gate rolled to the left and a fellow waved me in.  Mike said “I’ll wait in the car”.  I stepped into the compound. There were  6 rooms built into the hill, the parking lot was on the downhill, with one car. There was another small building on the right with a door.  A woman came out and shut the door. Again, a puzzling language barrier. I asked if they had rooms to rent. She looked at me and tilted her head like she didn’t understand. I pointed to the hotel sign outside the gate. I can see Mike in the car scrunching his eyebrows.  She looked me up and down and walked across the parking lot, she went up the steps and opened a room. I guess this was the site evaluation.  I followed. The room looked clean, there was a bed with a blanket, a bathroom, an overhead light and a door. Looks great I said, how much? We worked out 300 pesos ($20) punching the numbers on my cell phone and made a deal. I gave her the money. She motioned for me to follow her across the parking lot into the little room. There were  5 people in there laughing. There were hundreds of strings of lollypops hanging from the ceiling. The lollypops obstructed their vision.  It was a fun house come to life in the weirdest part of Mexico. Maybe I was just tired. She handed me a key and a remote control. I’m thinking TV? I didn’t see one.

Mike and I loaded our gear into the room, we settled in. There wasn’t any food to be had but Mike came up with a couple beers and some crackers. I started thinking about those lollypops. What were those people doing in that little room? Mike turned on the TV. An image of Alice in Wonderland came on with very bazar Spanish people in crazy outfits working out the basics of the story. We turned the channel, the same program showed up, turned the channel again and the same program again. We turned off the light and went to sleep.

The rumbling started around 1 am. The room shook slightly and it sounded like thunder. We peered out the window and saw the lollipop people rolling the gate open and shut. Cars and trucks came and cars and trucks went. These weren’t bad looking people, just kind of strange. The gate continued to roll and the whole bunch started drinking beer on the steps. The lollipop people became quite lively. I expected a full out fiesta.

The next morning we woke early. The lot was full, the gate was closed, there were lollypop wrappers everywhere. We were a little worried about the gate. Mike nudged the car forward. I saw the lollipop door crack open. Out came the gate keeper and we were on our way.

How can you resist going to a place called Bufadora, the second largest blow hole in the world? It didn’t take much for us to nudge the Jeep a little further west. We were around 1 hour south of Ensenada and already stopping at another road side attraction! To all those blow hole enthusiasts out there; Bufadora should not be missed.

There are only 3 reported blow holes in the world. The other 2 are in Hawaii and Australia. Bufadora is the second largest. A blow hole is a marine geyser phenomena which occurs when ocean waves are forced into a partially submerged sea cavern where air and water pressures build up and are forced upwards into an opening on the surface.  A lot of water comes shooting up especially at high tide.  Please notice in the picture the viewing wall and path around Bufadora, if you are standing there you will get very wet, wet all the way as they say.

The thing you don’t see in the picture are the 300 vendors who have set up shop along the pedestrian hike to the viewing site. Not quite knowing where I was I asked one vendor “Where is this blow hole?” he laughed and said “It 45 seconds or 45 minutes depending on you”. That was an accurate estimate. This place was a party waiting to happen. There were not exactly established restaurants or bars, just a mass of people giving away free samples. It was like a Mexican Bourbon Street in the French Quarter with twice as many souvenirs. The visitors were tourist to the hilt and we saw small busses arrive with bachelorette parties, college get-away and lots of tours with folks from all over the world.  The site and experience is quite spectacular.

Our slight mistake was thinking we could get a hotel in the area. The hospitality of the Bufadorinos does not extend to overnight accommodations. So if you are in the area, go back to Ensenada or like us you can proceed to a fantastic Sci-fi hotel down the road a bit.

Day 2, Route 3, Wine Country Baja, Xecue and Clos de 3 Cantos

We woke up in such a lovely spot (at the Posada Inn) we decided to hang around till check out, which was basically any time that day. I made one more visit to the petting zoo (burrow and horse branch) then we headed down the road.

Our first stop was Xecue vineyard. Now we are getting into some fine small producers. On the Ruta del Vino map, it shows this vineyard slightly off the main drag. It is actually a bit of an off- road excursion. We almost turned back twice. The road, due to a recent rain is a little sketchy. Fortunately there were signs along the way and we eventually arrived at their lovely vineyard. Picture; golden hills, rolling vineyards, exceptional cactus gardens, beautiful tasting room, delicious wines and delightful host. Like paring a good wine; this vineyard is paired by a husband and wife team. He is an agronomist and she is a chemist. Their wines are accumulating awards and notoriety.

We had a short tour of the winery, and tasted a special fall harvest sample (deliciously sweet), but what I liked was the tour of his cactus garden exhibiting many varieties of cacti, yucca, agaves and spices. He had a hedge of rosemary and sage suitable for tea. He also had a “research” garden which he experimented with different varieties of plants suitable for their location. As we circled round back to our car we bought a couple bottles or wine and waved good-by to Jose Luis Hernández, his cactus and his winery.

Our next stop strikes me more as an architectural find. It is the Clos de 3 Cantos. You can see this one from the road. Architecturally speaking it is stunning. It looks like stone pyramids with their tops cut off, clutching then balancing on a ridge overlooking, yes, vineyards on both sides.

The structures are built of local stone with wine bottles for windows. The tasting room itself is small and way beyond cool. There are cement easy chairs and couches in the court yard, the views again are beautiful. We sat outside in the sun, sampled 3 nice reds, bought a bottle and bounced down the hill.

By this time (afternoon) we both declared ourselves “wined out”. Understand we are not wine coinsures. I love the landscape, the architecture of these wild little places, the efforts and strength of entrepreneurs and the growth of small industries. Talent, hard work, success. It’s great to see.

For anyone interested in touring a “different” wine country. Make the trip, and stay a while.

Northern Baja, Mexico and the wine country

On our trailer trip 10 years ago we did not stop in the wine country. Back then we were driving a giant Suburban and dragging a 28ft travel trailer. Not the easiest vehicle to navigate on this slim Mexican roadway. Back then our concern was to stay on the road and not venture off onto the dirt. This trip we were looking forward to exploring a little of this beautiful olive-tree-rich area with acres and acres of vineyards. We were not disappointed. The first valley which we spent most of our time in was the Valle de Guadalupe. The offerings were vast and we visited a variety of vineyards. On the northern end of route 3 we started with a tour of L.A. Cetto. It is Italian owned and the largest winery in Latin America. I was thinking… kind of like visiting the Budweiser plant in Fort Collins. The difference was, Mike and I and another couple from main land Mexico were the only visitors. Our tour guide was a charming kid who switched back and forth between Spanish and English at an alarming rate. L.A. Cetto has it all together with a lovely tasting room, gift shop, grounds and gardens. We bought a couple of bottles of very affordable wine and moved on.

I can’t recall the name of the second place we stopped, it was very small, possibly a combination of several vineyards who opened a very hip outside restaurant and tasting room. We sat under white sails, looked over the vineyards, ate excellent snacks, tasted excellent wine and played Frisbee with one of the smartest dogs I have ever met.

That evening we stayed the Posada Inn, (Mision de Guadalupe, Rancho Maria Teresa). It was a great little place, it had a petting zoo. We had the whole place to ourselves, swimming pools, BBQ’s, and lovely gardens. The Posada Inn is right on Route 3 and not expensive (around $60 USD).

While Mike was inspecting the grounds he met an engaging fellow who ran the breakfast shop next door. He explained that Birrieria’s La Guadalajara (since 1972) served up traditional Mexican breakfast and lunch. The menu says “Conozca nuestro Asadero de Carnes Selectas” Translates to something like grilled select meats. Anyway we got some. We had our choice of beef head, beef tongue, lamb, or pork. I kind of wanted the beef head but went for the pork, Mike got the lamb. It was delicious.

For breakfast you got the bowl of meat, and on the side; broth, tortillas, radishes, onions, cilantro and several bowls of salsa. Next time I’m getting the beef head, you can’t go wrong at this place. It’s right before Posada Inn on Route 3.