Postcard from Todos Santos

It’s been a quiet week here in Baja California Sur. To make a short story shorter, we arrived in Todos Santos Sunday afternoon, and have been relaxing ever since.  Walking, eating, talking, reading, all in perfect edge-of-the-tropics temperatures.  All the trappings of a lovely week, complete with a few too many Toby-on-the-beach photos.   Speaking of Toby, he’s in seventh heaven.  No leash laws, new dog friends around every corner, and Jane DeLozier just down the street.  The big white guy is Jane’s Palomo.
    

Beaches here are long and empty.  Perhaps because, as everyone reminds us, they’re not safe for swimming. 
 

There were a few days of driving between Loreto and Todos Santos, and soon after leaving Loreto for La Paz, we encountered a major road construction delay.   Guys we couldn’t see were pushing boulders off the cliff, presumably to prevent same boulders from falling on unsuspecting VW Eurovans.   After a night on the outskirts of La Paz, we camped near the truly charming village of San Bartolo, in a campground called Rancho Verde.  The place was great for hiking, birding (Mary saw two endemic species, the Xantu’s Hummingbird and the Grey Thrasher), and peace and quiet in the Sierra La Laguna foothills.  Great vegetation too!
  

On to Cabo Pulmo, on the Eastern Cape.  This fishing village became a UNESCO World Heritage Site to protect the coral reef, the only surviving coral reefs in the Sea of Cortez.   Fishing has been replaced by snorkeling and diving.  We camped free in the ruins of an RV park, right on the Tropic of Cancer, and enjoyed a spectacular sunrise on our morning walk.


The bird life was pretty good too!



We arrived in Todos Santos shortly after the start of the annual film festival, and have watched two so-so movies (Quebranto and Un Mundo Secreto) from particularly uncomfortable seats.  Other hardships include arriving at a lovely restaurant in the middle of an organic farm, only to discover it is closed Tuesdays.  The mood improved when we returned Thursday and ate amazing roasted carrot and ricotta ravioli, drenched in pesto. 

Tomorrow we leave our little casita, spend a night at Jane’s, then start the return trip, catching a few spots we missed on the way down, and revisiting others we enjoyed.  Travelling companions Mabelle and Carolyn left Wednesday, so it’s down to us in the van.

Love to all, Toni

Postcard from Loreto

Mary and I are off on another van adventure, this time to the tip of Baja (southwestern-most point of North America?) and back.  We left Prescott on February 3, spent a week camping with friends at Cibola and Imperial Dam, resupplied in Yuma, and crossed the border with travelling companions Carolyn and Mabelle on February 10.
Since then I’ve been on a digital diet. Other than a couple “splurges” on 5 pesos ($0.37)/15 minutes Wi-Fi, the little RV park here in Loreto is our first internet access since crossing the border at Tecate.  So far it’s been a grand Baja road trip, my first this far south since 1975, one year after completion of the Transpeninsular Highway.  As you might imagine, much has changed.  Other than general growth,  most noticeable to me is the development of agriculture, from the vineyards in Valle de Guadalupe to the organic farms around Mulege.   I’m guessing this is due to some combination of access to transportation (the paved highway to U.S. markets) and NAFTA, and imagine the agribusiness we see comes at a cost of depleted ground water.
Our fist night in Baja was on the grounds of LA Cetto, a vineyard in the Valle de Guadalupe, source of 85% of wines produced in Mexico. Although there are many small production wineries in the valley, LA Cetto is more of a wine factory, with trucks and machinery rumbling 24/7. We loved the few wines we tasted, and hope to return for a more extended exploration. 
From Valle de Guadalupe, we passed through Ensenada and San Quintin, then on to Catavina, land of cirios  and elephant trees, followed by Bahia de Los Angeles, on the Sea of Cortez.
 
We returned to the Pacific and camped at Ojo de Liebre (Scammon’s Lagoon), where we spent a morning among more whales, mostly mother/calf pairs, than you can imagine.  No great photos.  Not only did I not bring the smartphone, I was a bit overwhelmed by  all the action.   On to San Ignacio, then Mulege, where Mary and I were able to visit the cave paintings at Rancho Trinidad.  We had to swim (me) or boat (Mary) a very short distance to reach them. Our tour included an introduction to native uses of local plants.  It seems every part of every desert plant we see in the desert can be used to cure something.  Lots to learn, and I already forgot most of it.
 
After a night on the beach at El Requeson, we find ourselves in Loreto.  A long day of driving should bring us to La Paz tomorrow.  From there we’ll circle through the Cabos and up the Pacific to Todos Santos, where we will spend a week.  
The van is doing well, and I am loving our portable 80 watt solar panel.  Toby is having a great time. 
Apologies for the rushed report.  It’s late and we’re planning an early start.

Love to all, Toni

Postcard from South Africa- Part 2

In South Africa, the Western Cape is about as far as you can get from Zululand.  Both provinces were easing into the summer season. In KwaZulu-Natal, winter is the dry season.  Summer is wet.  In Cape Town, winter is the wet season. Summer is dry. Everywhere it was early spring, i.e. weather was changeable, temperatures variable, and there was plenty of wind. On the plus side, in KwaZulu-Natal we saw baby rhinos, elephants, giraffes, etc. In the Western Cape, everything was in bloom.
Plants like Bird of Paradise grow wild in the Western Cape, home to a particular plant community called Fynbos.The pink-ish King Protea is the national flower of South Africa.

While in the Cape Town area, we visited nine of the “top 10” sites- the Company’s Garden, the V&A Waterfront, the District Six Museum,Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Groot Constantia Wine Estate, Simon’s Town and Boulders Beach, Stellenbosch, and the Cape of Good Hope. Also Robben Island (where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars), the Cape Flats Townships, the colorful Bo-Kaap (Cape Malay) community and Hermanus (best place in the world for land-based viewing of the southern right whale).

Thanks to travelling companions Ski and Dicy, we stayed in a beach-town time-share. As it was a self-catering unit, we quickly developed a routine of elegant lunches out, with breakfast and dinner at “home” in Strand.  This worked particularly well in the Western Cape, home to what might well be the best food and wine I've ever enjoyed, in the most spectacular settings, and for the most reasonable prices. Too bad it’s not an easy weekend getaway!

Of course we saw birds.  Endemic to the Western Cape are many lovely sunbirds, including the Orange-breasted Sunbird and the Southern Double-collared Sunbird. 
Also African Penguins and Blue Cranes, the national bird of South Africa.

It wasn't all gorgeous scenery and birds.  Apartheid ended less than 25 years ago. While there is much to admire in this “rainbow nation,” South Africa still has a long road to walk. Income and opportunity disparities are huge, and fall largely along racial lines.  For more on this topic, try this recent New York Times Room for Debate feature.  We were lucky to visit the Cape Flats Townships and the city of Soweto, including the pre-prison home of Nelson Mandela (for black South Africans, think Mount Vernon).

If you would like to see movies set in post-apartheid South Africa, I would recommend three very different films: ”Invictus,” “Searching for Sugar Man” and “Material.” On the book front, I’ve read two series of thrillers- Deon Meyer’s Benny Greissel novels (first is “Devil’s Peak”) and Jassy Mackenzie’s Jade de Jong investigations (first is “Random Violence”). Despite translation (rom Afrikaans), Deon Meyers is the better writer and gives readers more of a window into the dynamics of 21st century South Africa. Alan Paton’s "Cry the Beloved Country,” first published in 1948, is still a beautiful and insightful read.