Category Archives: Baja Living

Lunch at Picazone

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Picazone!

YUM YUM YUM .. and what a setting!  No trip to Loreto is complete without a stop at the tony beachfront restaurant owned by Alejandro and Imelda Igartua.

Relaxing at Picazone

The food is amazing – or did I say that?  My favorite are the tacones – wraps with fish, shrimp, chicken or veggies.

The two came from Cabo 10+ years ago looking for a better place to raise their two sons – Alex Jr and Diego.  They found some property way to the north of town down a long dusty dirt road.  Starting with a tiny 2 burner propane camp stove and a few tables, they have grown the property to include upstairs living quarters, as well as an expanded restaurant.  Alejandra has a full bar, is the most gracious of hosts, and makes each visitor feel completely at home.

Boaters drop passengers, then anchor just offshore.  Schools of fish add snorkeling opportunities, and Alejandro offers windsurfing lessons in his spare time!

A must stopover.  Ask anyone in town for directions ..

Relaxing at Picazone

Funny Money

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Okay .. the best way to exchange $$ for pesos (or most any currencies) is at the good old ATM.

Driving south to Loreto, I stopped – as usual – at the ATM in Ensenada, although admittedly, at a different location

Think it was the Bank of Nova Scotia – or something like that.  I should already have been wary.

Dutifully, I pushed my card into the slot, entered password, agreed to pay the service fee, entered the amount I wanted to exchange – $400 US … and what pops out?  Not the expected pesos, but $400 USD.

I stood staring at the machine in disbelief, and of course, it couldn’t talk back to me, couldn’t answer my questions.

Why had a Mexican bank given me US dollars????  Guess I will never have the answer, but it did force me to wait another day to withdraw – this time to peso success!

Go figure .. part of the adventure of every day living.  🙂

Trouble in Paradise

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Doves' Nest in shelter of palm outside my window

Wow .. Knock me over with a 2×4.  I’ve just experience the worst of gringo hubris

While away, my neighbors – Roger Calvin and Susan Gordon – went to the Municipality and got a permit to clear cut the narrow canopy of foliage that had been planted in the community walkway next to my house.  The foliage was a bird habitat, provided a modicom of privacy and shade.  The reason for their permit (as presented) was to access the beach with their boats – while there is a new, wider, smoother, firmer access 1/2 block to the south.

The act was vicious and cruel, and taken while I was in the United States.  I replied to an email request to trim the tree on the front, that I would arrive on Friday and would take care of it – bring it down to the roof level of the house.  Knowing that I would remain absent, they rushed the process … and now, all is gone ..

Hubris ..

To them I say :

Without understanding the value of habitat – shade, oxygen, shelter and food sources, you clear cut a narrow habitat.

You never saw the doves nest, repeatedly, and the tiny birds fledged from the tree outside my bedroom window.

You never heard the finches and sparrows as they fluttered inside the tree to keep cool under the burning sun.

You never saw the cardinals dance on top of the branches, their flashy yellow bodies like golden arrows in the morning light.

You never witnessed the ruby throated hummingbird flittering from golden flower to golden flower.

You never experienced the woodpeckers chattering, bouncing, tree to tree.

You never saw the butterflies, the mariposas, fanning themselves in the shade .. again, shelter from the brutal sun.

You just arrived, stripped away a greenbelt, and  removed a narrow canopy of privacy.

Cynthia Comes North

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"Chef-tess" Cynthia Wagstaff

I got lucky.  I haven’t been able to get south for a while – business and personal stuff have my ankles shackled to the motherland …. But in the midst, my friend from San Juanico, Cynthia Wagstaff, came north to visit her daughter and stay with me for a few days in Laguna.  We walked the beaches, watched the sunset from the Rooftop at k’ya, filled our tummies with delights from Micheal Kang’s 5′ Restaurant, and wrote, talked, laughed and enjoyed being friends and women.

Before she left, she volunteered to cook for a party we threw together for her to meet some of our friends.  Fish tacos was the menu of choice – what else for Baja devotees?  Along with the amazing tacos, she prepared salsa fresca, a yummy guacamole with pomegranate seeds, and a special sauce for the tacos.  We ate like kings!  Guests included Racheal & Brett who own a home in Cabo and are moving south for a couple of months, Carlos & his girlfriend Sara from Florida, Michael and Janet, and Cathy.

Good friends. Good food.  Good conversation.  Sunset from the deck.  A perfect southern California evening.

Rough Day at the Office

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Hard Day at the Office

It’s a challenge, but somebody’s got to do it!  Love seeing my neighbors gather on the sand spit, revealed only during lunar dragged low tides.  All it takes is a beach chair, a cool drink and a gathering of friends .. and voila!  A new version of the office water cooler.

We should all find ways to spend more time like this.  It feeds the soul, the heart, the mind .. and rejuvenates our energies for other challenges.

Hard to Leave

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It’s like pulling teeth .. the yanking me from the shores of the Sea of Cortez as business calls me back to the States.
Leaving the seabirds, the undersea life, the winds and the small waves … my friends. Biz is biz .. but each trip I learn more of what is truly important to me. Exquisite lessons …… life as a work in progress.

El Rey del Taco

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El Rey del Taco

El Rey del Taco – The King of Tacos .. for sure!  I can eat “El Rey’s” fish tacos day after day and never grow tired of them.  Fresh, succulent pieces of – currently yellowtail – four different sauces, a fat tin foil rapper of salad mixings …

Of course, the to-go means I can savor his food sitting next to the water, watching the shenanigans of the sea birds.  Life is good here, south of the border.

seaside feeders

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Egret Conference : Sea of Cortez

Stately centuries in the morning light, the egrets – white and fluffy – bounce from fishing ground to fishing ground searching crustaceans and tiny morsels.  They mingle with the gulls, terns, grebes, herons, cormorants and pelicans in a noisy cacophony that breaks the otherwise silent air.  These quiet mornings, when the Sea of Cortez is mirror like, and stillness slides into a zen-like presence, nourish everything in me that begs for peace.