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.