Hola Everybody:
Hope you're all doing reasonably well considering the fact that it's stil bitterly cold in Canada and that includes the Okanagan. We have been on the road for about a week already. Our quest for the perfect whale encounter took us first to the small town of Lopez Mateo. There is a lagoon there reputed to have whales but this year there were few. A tour had just come back and only saw two whales. Since it was going to cost 150.00 U.S for the boat we decided to press on. Initially we thought we could have stayed in Lopez but the town was nothing to write home about so the lack of details should tell you something.
We drove on to the town of Loreto. Loreto is the oldest settlement in the Baja, that is oldest, aside from the indigenous population which lived there prior to our arrival. The Jesuits settled the area and established many missions. They are responsible for most of the original roads in the area. The town of Loreto is very pretty with an old section, cobblestone streets and some colonial buildings still standing. Of course it's nothing compared to some of the colonial cities we have seen in the past. Still since Baja doesn't have a lot of colonial centres it's really not bad. We stayed in a hotel just opposite old Church and down from the artesania mercado. It was amazing how much artesania they did have from the mainland. We bought a talavera sink for the bathroom and it's really pretty.
One of the trips we took brought us to the oldest and prettiest mission in all of Baja, the Mission of Saint Xavier. The road was challenging but breathtaking. Truly some of the most beautiful scenery out of all the different places we have seen in the world. The road snaked up a canyon with mountains of varying shapes, sizes and textures. There were black, red, grey, white, some "spired, some flat, some with bubble like shapes on top, mountains which Tolkien would have loved. The bottom floor was punctuated by a river bed filled with palms and typical arroyo vegetation of green scrub and cactus. It was quite awe inspiring and magical all set against a vibrant blue sky. I hope our pictures have captured some of that beauty. We also took a boat trip to an island in the hope of seeing some whales but it was windy and raining that day, yes first real rain of our trip, so we had to settle for a gorgeous and desolate white sand beach and, of course, another colony of sea lions not as friendly as the ones in Espiritu Santo.
We moved on from Loreto to the town of Mulege which comes after the Bay of Conception famous for its azure waters and its beautiful white sand beaches. Our second day in Mulege we were finally able to go swimming bu the water was cold. That, in a nutshell, is a bit of a problem in terms of staying here much longer. The further north we go, the colder it gets. Southern Baja is the warmest part of Baja but we've already spent 5 weeks there and it's trickier when you're not cooking for yourself and just staying in a hotel. The people who stay in Baja for long lengths of time are mostly RVers. They park somewhere, drink mucho beer and make nice with their neighbours. This is by way of an explanation to let you know why we're coming back a bit earlier, mid-February instead of end of February.
From Mulege we drove on San Ignacio. Again San Ignacio is a sleepy little town with a beautiful mission and a really pretty plaza. You get to the town from the highway by driving down this road fringed with date palms on
both sides. Our quest for the perfect whale encounter was destined to end here. The day after we arrived we drove 57 kms. on this mostly washboard road, it was the roughest yet and as an aside a little cheer for Subaru. Thousands of kms. and only one quart of oil. Pretty unbelievable, we're quite happy with that.
So we get to San Ignacio's Lagoon and the wind is blowing something fierce and it's cold. I was wearing most of my "heavy" clothes. We were able to tag on with this group and off we went. The wind was still howling but we started spotting our first whales, bigger than the launcha we were in. We wanted the babies to come close by so we could touch them but it was way too choppy. We had to satisfy ourselves with following mothers and babies as they were frolicking in the waves. It was still a memorable experience but we want to do it again just not this time. Coming back was extremely hard. The wind had picked up even more, the waves were higher and we were getting soaked. The shore seemed miles away. It took a long time to get back, it felt like forever but we managed to get back safe and sound. We stayed for a while and had an excellent meal of scallops and the usual assortment of rice and vegetables always accompanied by the ever ubiquitous tortillas.
The day before we had walked all the way to San Ignacio Bed and Breakfast where the yurts are. You should see these yurts, they are super deluxe. Ours even has a bathroom. All of them have windows and skylights. They are beautifully decorated. These yurts are all set in a forest of date palms. It's the prettiest place and we just had to splurge and stay one night. It's more than we usually pay for but how often do you get to sleep in a yurt! Breakfast is included and there will be homemade bread, I can't wait This is probably the last email I will write. It's sometimes harder to get internet connection or the computers don't work very well. The keys on my computer are sticking as well and it's driving me loco. Hope you enjoyed reading about our travels.
I will write to everybody individually if I can.


Lots of love, hasta luego,

Josiane

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