Postcard from Bahia San Luis Gonzaga- March 19, 2015

Although it's Day 3 at Gonzaga Bay, if you get this postcard, we're no longer in this beautiful spot, less than 100 miles south of San Felipe.  Until a couple of years ago, getting here used to be an all-day affair. Now it takes two hours, and the road south from Puertocitos is the best we've driven in Mexico. 

I've been to Gonzaga Bay twice, once while still in high school (a Thanksgiving trip with the Gellmanns), and once in the late 90's (a Yavapai College geology trip with Wayne Ranney and the usual suspects). Both times we were driven out by the fierce winds the bay is known for.  During the geology trip, one of our sleeping bags was blown out into the Gulf, never to be seen again.

This trip our luck is better.  The intense winds come and go.  When they blow, being in the van is a whole different story than trying to hold a tent together while eating food mixed with generous portions of sand.  The bay is beautiful, the birds plentiful, and our few neighbors are old Baja hands, with stories and fresh fish to share.

The Gulf is known for extreme tides, more so when the moon is full or new, as it is now. When the tide is out, it is way out, and Gonzaga Bay offers miles and miles of white sandy beach, the only drawback being several dead dolphins, in various states of decay.  These dolphins have proved irresistible to Toby, who yesterday snagged a voluptuous roll before we caught on. A bath and Nature's Miracle helped diminish but not eliminate his ripe odor.

Before continuing, a correction to last week's postcard from Banamichi. Sotol is not a mescal. As Dennis Moroney, anxious to protect my reputation as a know-it-all albeit retired librarian, wrote,  "Sotol is made from desert spoon, Dasylirion wheeleri, which is not an agave. The taste is different, and unique."   I was misinformed.

The original plan was to drive from Banamichi to Caborca, to visit with friends Paty and Mario Zaragoza.  We learned their daughter Cristina had been in a serious car accident in Guadalajara, and was home recovering. All will eventually be well, but it's a long haul, and Cristi needed to visit a specialist in Hermosillo.

So we headed south, following the Rio Sonora through Aconchi, Baviacora, Mazocahui and Ures, to Hermosillo, and on to the Prescott College Field Station in Bahia Kino.   Old home week for Mary, and I was again impressed with the scholarship the college fosters in Kino. 

When the Zaragozas were home, we headed north to Caborca, for a while along the lovely Carretera Costera. Catching up with old friends was a treat, and Cristi is clearly on the mend.

We were expected in San Felipe, and spent a long day driving up the coast between the Pinacates and the Gulf, across the Colorado River delta, then south.  After an overnight along the Rio Hardy at  Campo Mosqueda, we finally made it to San Felipe, and the Cantu Cove cabin of Tony and Sue Norris. 

It being spring break in Arizona, the clan was gathered, and we got to meet kids and grandkids, eat San Felipe shrimp, sing around the campfire, etc.  Lovely, despite a recent hatch of fierce and plentiful flies. 

We'll leave Gonzaga Bay after one more night of incredible stars (Castor and Pollux, Sirius, not-a-star Jupiter, etc.). After showers at the store, and a drive to see where the pavement ends this month (it will eventually reach Highway 1), it's back to San Felipe for Tony's 11th Annual San Felipe Folk and Bluegrass Festival.  Flies or no flies,  it's sure to be a good few days of socializing and music before we head home.

As I write the wind has died down, flies have invaded the van, and an afternoon project has emerged.  Post lunch, a major "kitchen" cleanup will occur. 

One of the pleasures of long road trips is listening to recorded books.  Over the last few weeks, we've listened to "Defending Jacob," finally finished "Wild," and are now enjoying "The Devil in the White City."  In memory, books and landscape become inextricably linked, sometimes oddly, and always pleasurably- "Jazz" with a hot drive across the Mohave Desert, "Behind the Beautiful Forever" with the Canadian Rockies. Now the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago is all bound up with the sounds of shells and pebbles stirred by an outgoing tide.

Thanks for sharing this year's Mexico ramble with us.

Love, Toni

Postscript- Back at La Taza, a San Felipe coffee house with free WiFi. We went to the end of the pavement and nine miles further to Coco's Corner. Coco (who just turned 78) was in Ensenada for a checkup.

Photos:
Church in Baviacora
Products of the Rio Sonora valley.  Chiltepin!
Toby in Kino
Kino sunset
Caspian Tern
Osprey along the Costera
Paty, Cristi and Mario Zaragoza.  Paty and Mario had just served up a breakfast feast of machaca, eggs, Sonoran flour tortillas, and fresh fruit.
White Pelican and cormorants at Campo Mosqueda
Toby after the dolphin roll and the bath
A spectacular food fight at Bahia de San Luis Gonzaga. The pelican won.
Mary rehearsing in the van
Our camp at Rancho Grande in Gonzaga