Week Four in Baja Sur

Week 4- Baja Sur, Mexico

April 13^th-19th

(pic1: driving back from the thermal springs)(pic2: small but wonderful)(pic3: we didn't want to risk this drive with the truck!)

Day 22 & 23, Agua Verde:

We spent the next few nights in town and headed south on Monday to a thermal ocean hot spring called Aqua Verde. What a magic spot this was it was a bit of a trek to get to, but well worth the rough road. Since the hot spring was only reachable during low tide so we had to wait until the next morning to soak. We woke up with the sun in the morn’ and all piled into Neil’s 4WD Mitsubishi van to drive over the volcanic coastline to the peninsula where the geothermal pool was. It was completely unassuming, we would never had known it was there had we not been told by the locals where to find it. At high tide the peninsula was completely covered with water, but at low tide you are able to walk out about 200 to 300 feet. Right in the middle of the rocks and ocean is a hot 15x15ft pool of water around 2 ½ feet deep. We soaked for a few hours and then headed back to camp for a pancake breakfast. Kindra and I stayed one more night and endured a hellish windstorm. I should mention that anywhere along the coast of the Baja the wind really whips.

(pic1: I should have payed more attention to that falling rock sign!)

(pic2: Kindra, Neil, Pati, and John)

(pic3: Pati and Kindra relaxing in the thermal pool)

Day 24 & 25, Loreto (Nopolo)

Back in Loreto I collected around 20 gallons of oil and ran the centrifuge for the first time with the power at Patricia’s house. It ran great and we are in the process of waiting for 4 more of our collecting vessels to be full. We should have a full tank here in a few days. (side note from Kindra: We also had a run in with some trees when we were in town… some police officer detoured us through a walking street that had a bunch of low hanging trees. Once at the end where it was blocked off and after all of the locals staring at us like “stupid gringos” we had to reverse back through the canopy of trees. Our bikes’ baskets took souvenirs of branches every inch of the way! I of course tried to hunch down out of sight during the whole thing!) We thought of another way to make money: candy! We decided on caramels… we got a recipe online and they turned out great! We are still trying to figure out how much we will sell them for. Wish us luck!

(pic1: secret water hole)

(pic2: it looked dead, but I knew it was a trick!)

Day 26 & 27, San Javier

We ran into some friends (we made in Bahia de Los Angeles) in Loreto. We all camped together in the mountains west of Loreto near the mission San Javier. Their names are Rance and Grace, and are doing a similar journey as us in there 78’ WV van with their 3 dogs!!! Grace’s dad lives in Columbia so that’s where they’re headed. We all had dinner together last night and made plans to meet at the Sunday market tomorrow. On Saturday John and I decided on exploring a bit because we keep seeing some of the locals going past us and then following a path along the river bed. We knew it had to be something worth seeing! The moment we reached the water we knew… it was so clear, but yet so green. It was a hot day so the water felt refreshing. Wallace was getting anxious because we were in the water and he wasn’t so after a little motivation he decided to take the big leap and swim! He jumped right in and swam to us. What an accomplishment! We never thought he would be so brave. We also so a small snake when we where walking along a really old irrigation canal. Its head was bobbing in the water and it appeared to be dead… moments later it slithered under a rock, nope not dead!

(pic: Grace, Rance, Kindra and John in San Javier)

Day 28, Rattlesnake Beach:

Toady is one month in Mexico! Kindra and I have decided to take the ferry out of Santa Rosalia next week. The prices there are cheaper than in La Paz. We’ve never had plans to go all the way to the tip anyway and have heard La Paz and Cabo can be a bit crazy and unpleasant. Kindra has been consistently making new original, beautiful pieces of jewelry w/ found shells and treasures, along w/ some of the things she brought along with her. With the help of our friend Chris Kaup from Evergreen, CO I have been making little wallets out of old Tera Packs (soy and rice milk containers, as well as juice) they are everywhere!!! (Thanks for the cryptic directions Chris!) Our latest endeavor/supplemental fundage project has been making caramels… that’s right, home made buttery caramels to sell on the beach or street to natives and tourists alike looking for their sugar fix “Bonito Walito’s Grande Carmelo’s!! They’re delicsh. We actually made 13 bucks yesterday! We’ll let you know how the ferry goes and give a holler when we are on the mainland.

love y’all

JnK