When we left La Paz 2 weeks ago, we decided to split the 300-mile trip back to Posada into two days.
The first day we went only as far as Ciudad Constitution, an inland agricultural town. We ate fish tacos at Karen's taco stand, which I was introduced to a few years ago by our Posada friend Diane DeMichelle. We watched as the cook grilled peppers and tomatoes and piled them in a bowl for making salsa later. After eating, we walked around downtown a bit more than we have before, stopping to chat briefly with the denture-maker who had a stand on a busy street.We stayed at a small RV park on the north side of town that had a lovely pool, and we lounged about reading books on our Kindles.
Day 2 we stopped for lunch at our fave taco place in Loreto, El Rey del Taco ("The Taco King"). This may be the busiest taco place in town, which makes sense because they make a giant, tasty fish taco. We never go to Loreto, the site of the closest airport to Posada, without eating there.
From Loreto it's 75 miles north to Posada, our little community of about 60 homes on Bahia Concepcion (Bay of Conception). The drive is through the desert, with high, jaggedy mountains to the west, then it flattens out, then suddenly you come up over a rise and you see the southern end of the bay. What a gorgeous sight! Almost home! From there the road goes mostly along the bay, and the view is of mountains sloping down to the saguaro-cactus-studded desert and to the bay, with blue skies above. It's a stunning combination.We refer to our Posada house as our main residence, and the feeling of coming home that we get when we pull into the park confirms that. Our housesitter, Susan Nelson, took impeccable care of our house, its contents, our car, and our dog, Buddy. Susan was responsible for Buddy's gentle ending, and we're forever grateful to her.
What can you say about the first night back in your own bed after 3 months away? I slept 11 hours and could've logged more. The first day after the first night we did a lot of reconnecting with friends, and it didn't take long before we needed a calendar to keep track of dinner invitations, tennis matches, and poker games. It even felt good to go into little Mulege, our fair pueblito (little town), for groceries.
Soon after our return, we were visited by some new friends whom we had first met on the ferry back from Mazatlan to La Paz: the Quebec family Nathalie and Rejean and their girls, Charlotte, 10, and Eve, soon to be 7, and the intrepid photographer from Columbia, Lucana.The Quebecois have been on the road since last June, coming from their home in Trois Rivieres, on the St. Lawrence River, down through the U.S. and into the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Then west and south through Mexico into Guatemala and Costa Rica, then back north into Mexico. Trilingual (French, Spanish, English) parents and bilingual (French and Spanish) children! The girls did not know a word of Spanish when they left Canada, and they speak like natives now. Ah, to have the spongelike language-learning capability of a youngster!
Lucana is traveling in her 1961 Mercedes Benz, which she's owned for 23 years and works on herself. She has every technology on board -- iPhone, super-wifi laptop, GPS, etc. -- to keep her connected. Her destination is the farthest point in Alaska that she could reach, and she has some places in the western U.S. -- Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Death Valley, among others -- that comprise her itinerary. You can see Lucana's work at lucanaart.com.Our guests stayed for 3 days of fun -- some kayaking, lots of drawing, a craft class, some hiking, lots of eating. Charlotte was the star jefa (boss) in the kitchen -- a natural chef, she knew exactly how much of any ingredient she wanted in the bowl or the pan. I predict a restaurant in Charlotte's future! Or maybe a job as a food critic in Italy, the next country she wants to visit. We also played Junior Monopoly, where Eve proved to be a savvy real-estate mogul, but a lenient landlord -- she and Charlotte both charged me only half the rent due on their many properties when I went bankrupt :-)... Rejean said that Posada was the best part of their Baja time so far.
As we unpack and sort things from the RV, we're already making some new piles, since one month from now we'll be headed north back to the U.S. We plan to take a ferry from Santa Rosalia across the Sea of Cortez over to the mainland once again to Guaymas, where we'll pick up the toll road straight to Nogales. Only 5 hours to the border, then maybe another 2 to Tucson, to see friends Pat and Neil in their new downtown condo.
Normally we'd stay at Posada until the end of May, but this year I must sell my houseboat, and boating season in Sandpoint starts in May. Gary has a house to sell and business matters to attend to, also, and so we'll enjoy 4 more weeks here of boating, swimming, fishing, tennis, and hanging out with friends. There's no shortage of socializing opportunities at Posada even when people start heading back to their homes in the U.S. and Canada.
We're calling this our last Mexploration blog entry. But we will pick up the thread again next winter on our next great adventure, wherever that may be.
