Loreto, Baja California Sur

 

We wake with the sun. This morning my head peeps out of my sleeping bag with the smell of fresh coffee brewing and I watch pods of dolphins swimming. It could not be more picturesque. The baby dolphins are young and swim next to their mothers, matching them dive for dive. Antonio, one of our guides, calls us to coffee and I slide out of bed. The mornings are brisk but the desert sun is quick to warm.

Today we will cross the deep channel from the islands back to the mainland. From there we paddle south, trying to find protection before the Norte hits us. Their are eight of us, two Mexican guides, Jorge and Antonio, a mother and daughter from Berkley, two Sea Trek guides that are learning the ins and outs of this new company, Galen and me. Everyone gets along well, and even after just two days we feel like a little tribe. After a delicious veggie scramble with beans and fresh tortillas we pack our boats. The simplicity of the trip is a relief. We bring what we can carry in our boats and no more. Of course sea kayaks can fit a lot more than a backpack, so we are never hungry or short on luxuries.

Jorge gathers us around to explain the day’s route. One by one we carry the loaded sea kayaks to the water and push off. In the shallows you can see all the way through the turquoise waters to the ocean bottom. A manta ray passes underneath Jorge’s boat. Galen is fishing so he sits in the back, trailing a big silver lure behind the kayak. So far all he has caught are rocks but that is not for lack of trying.

A few hours of paddling and we stop at a beautiful white sand beach. Remote as we are along the Baja peninsula, a resort sits at the edge. Our guides tell us the story of this place, the narrative of most of the resorts along the Baja peninsula.  Resorts with big, green golf courses that have no water. The marine park is protected as a national park but that protection does not extend inland. With the recent upturn of the economy many of these development projects have started up again.

We spend some time exploring the beach and the small town nearby, snorkel around a little bit, eat a delicious salad and hop back on the water. It is  just a short paddle to tonight’s camp. On the way we see a blue whale spout and dive. An angry sea lion barks at us as we paddle past his beach. We arrive at camp, unpack our boats and set up our kitchen. Jorge, Antonio and Art go fishing for dinner.

The Norte is coming in now. We have been lucky and had windless days paddling, now we hunker down on our small but protected beach. A natural hot spring emerges out of the ocean at low tide, fresh caught fish sit on the beach waiting to be cleaned, embers begin glowing as the sun sets on the Sea of Cortez, turning the sky purple, pink and orange before bathing us in darkness.

For one moment, everything is still and perfect.

 

The City

“Somehow the great cities of America have taken their places in a mythology that shapes their destiny: Money lives in New York. Power sits in Washington. Freedom sips a Cappuccino in a sidewalk cafe in San Francisco.”

~Joe Flower

Marin County is a lovely little bubble. The views are superb, open space is everywhere, the shops are charming and appallingly expensive, the food is all organic, free-range, hand-patted, and made with love.  We are surrounded by tall trees, ocean and bay views, huge ridge lines and small creeks where the salmon still run. It is quite a nice bubble.

Last week I left that little bubble with a little venture into the City.

To be completely honest, the City terrifies me. It is noisy, horns are always honking, people seem constantly irritated. I walk around completely tensed, bristling at every shout, cringing with every screech of a cable car. So to voluntarily take the ferry into the city to wander around for “the cultural experience”, well, that was a big deal for me.

So, I got dressed up in my second-hand but ultra-cute pea/trench coat with some adorable boots and an umbrella, and ferried into San Francisco.

Now to be honest, it was actually an excellent adventure. First off because Galen picked me up in the afternoon and I didn’t have to figure out how to get home; second because it was free museum day and I just wandered around museums, pondered art, drank fancy-ass coffee and had a mean Puerto Rican lunch.

There is definitely a learning curve though. A person like me gets chewed-up in spit out in big cities such as San Francisco. I hope to share some tips I learn so that I can refer back to my blog the next time I cross the bay (there will be a next time though!)

1.  Preparation is KEY. In order to go into the City, one needs the right attitude. The right attitude starts with the right attire. Something professional, demure and sleek; something that doesn’t stand out in a crowd, but instead says, “I spend all of my time here, so don’t mess with me. I know this city better than anybody and currently am in a mad rush to get to my very important tech job where I make millions of dollars and spend it all at farmer’s markets and “experiences”. Public transportation….pshhhh, no problem. I commute. I commute all damn day.”

2.  Absolutely don’t make eye contact with anyone. I make this mistake ALL the time, and then end up in very long rambles with another person and often another imaginary person. Or I end up giving money or spending money on something or the other.

3.  Smiles are nice, but there is a reason people don’t smile in the city. Smiling too much means you end up in a similar situation as making eye contact.

4.  Have an action plan, and then of course be flexible. But don’t, don’t, do not WANDER AIMLESSLY around a city. There are all of these secret streets that everyone knows about that signify one neighborhood or the other, but I am just not savvy to that sort of thing. So I end up in neighborhood with a lot of conversations with imaginary people and of course my phone is dead or my data is turned off and I am not sure where I am, or if anyone around me knows where they are, or how to get home. Which brings me to tip #5.

5.  Charge your phone.

So, I challenge you now to leave your little bubble and discover your city, wherever that may be. And then feel really good about going back into your bubble. And maybe you will find a cool cafe that does this:

Cappuccino in the City