Category Archives: Travel

’tis the season ….

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Wintry sunrises set the tone for southern Baja mornings. By wintry, meaning the early temperatures hover in the mid-50s and I may need to put on a sweatshirt for my walk with Loki. My neighbor, Ernst, without fail, slips into the water for his morning swim. He’ll do this even when the water temps drop into the 60s, somewhere in February.

The nine-days of Mexican Christmas are in full swing, so decorations, pinatas, Christmas carols continue to ring through our city of Loreto, and the tourist season has begun. A wide-ranging palate of foreign tongues – German, Italian, dare i say Canadian? – can be heard on the street and in restaurants. A outward expression of the love for our waterfront location.

Yet even with the arrival of our foreign guests, there is a tranquility, a peaceful quality of life here, that feeds anyone’s need for quiet contemplation. Perfect for greeting the New Year, which is now a mere inhale/exhale away.

The Baja

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There’s a magic in this slender peninsula that lies beyond the borders of cities or towns. Beyond the hustle and bustle of commerce and development. That sits on the edge. The untouched. The yet to be disturbed by the heavy hand of man.

Here, the coyote hunt small prey. Range cattle forage outside of fences. Red-tailed hawks and osprey soar over land and sea, eyes pinned in search of their next meal.

Tall cardon reach their stately trunks every upward, aside paloverde, paloblanco, creosote and straggley cerote. Random water holes, estuaries and narrow canyon pools remind us that water is still the essence, especially in the dry dry desert.

It’s in these lands my soul finds a freedom, a sense of expansion. In the desert, one must look with refined eyes to ferret a tiny flower, a scampering beetle, the tracks of lizard and quail. A roadrunner zooms past. A kingfisher calls from a tree branch. A flotilla of pelicans glide across the face of a wave.

Light from the rising sun reflects in my face. Home in the fierce dry landscape. Home in the magic.

UC Natural Reserve System gains Sister Reserve in Baja California

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UC Natural Reserve System gains sister reserve in Baja California Sur

UC Natural Reserve System gains sister reserve in Baja California Sur

June 4, 2019 By Kathleen Wong

The Gulf of California is a marine wonderland. Washed by crystal blue waters and dotted with arid islands large and small, it teems with whales, sea turtles, manta rays, and other animals that thrive in this spectacular meeting of desert and sea.

This extraordinary region is now available to UC Natural Reserve System users thanks to a sister reserve agreement brokered with a Mexican nonprofit. Located in Baja California Sur, Eco-Alianza de Loreto A.C. works to protect and preserve the ecosystems of the Bahía de Loreto. The 12-year-old organization conducts water quality monitoring, raises public awareness of the value of the area’s marine, coastal, and terrestrial habitats, and collaborates with universities and other institutions to foster environmental research.

A mutually beneficial partnership

“Both partners will reap a multitude of benefits,” says Peggy Fiedler, executive director of the UC NRS. “Eco-Alianza will be able to arrange places for our users to stay and resources such as boat moorings. Meanwhile, UC can provide marine research and educational opportunities for the people of Loreto and Baja Sur.”

“Our goal is to create a strong alliance with our friends on both sides of the border, with the long term objective of increasing knowledge and building protective networks for wildlife that know no borders,” says Hugo Quintero Maldonado, co-founder and executive president of Eco-Alianza.

Becoming an NRS sister reserve “provides a rich opportunity to strengthen our ongoing collaboration between the U.S. and Mexico. This will include the expanded sharing of expertise and technology in areas of conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of resources,” says Linda Kinninger, a cofounder of Eco-Alianza who now serves on the organization’s board.

A jumping-off point for land and sea expeditions

Eco-Alianza is based in the historic town of Loreto, located two-thirds of the way down the eastern side of the Baja Peninsula. Just offshore lie the waters of the Bahía de Loreto. The 510,000-acre bay is internationally acclaimed as an ecological gem. It was declared a Mexican national park in 1996, and named a Ramsar wetland of international importance in 2004. In addition, Bahía de Loreto and all of its islands are part of the Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California UNESCO World Heritage site.

Suzanne Olyarnik, director of the NRS’s Bodega Marine Reserve, visited Loreto this past March as an NRS representative. She came away deeply impressed by the commitment and interest in a partnership with the NRS. “The people of Loreto are eager to interact with researchers who can get students excited about science,” she says.

The Loreto area is rich with biological diversity, Olyarnik says, as well as intriguing oceanographic and geologic features. “From a marine science point of view, it’s an amazing place that we have only begun to explore. I am excited that the NRS can facilitate more people to come down and do academic and applied research to contribute to the management of what they have.”

An education and research exchange

UC faculty are eager to begin using the reserve. Among them is Nicholas Pinter, a professor of geosciences at UC Davis. “The vision for a Loreto reserve and field station is to serve as a spark — to bring research, education, scientific recognition and knowledge, and broader visibility to the Loreto region. We imagine Loreto as a mecca for scientific visitors to study and admire the area’s abundant natural wonders,” Pinter says.

For their part, the people of Loreto hope NRS visitors spark more interest in the natural sciences. “Collaborating with local researchers, educators, and authorities, we expect the team will foster additional understanding of our rich natural resources, strengthen the scientific and academic sectors here, and add to the rich cultural mosaic that is Loreto,” says Loreto mayor Arely Arce.

Arce and Eco-Alianza hope a UC-led uptick in environmental research will encourage the local university to launch a marine science program. At present, the Loreto campus of the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur lacks a marine science program; the nearest program is located at the university’s La Paz campus, more than a four-hour drive away.

Eco-Alianza is the NRS’s second sister reserve to date. The first sister reserve arrangement, with Gobabeb Research and Training Centre in Namibia, was established in 2017. A number of exchanges between UC and this African desert reserve are already occurring, including a proposed UC Riverside study abroad course on ecology and herpetology, plus research into desert reptile physiology and how much moisture fog contributes to desert plants.

The growing NRS family

The NRS sister reserve designation is the second recent alliance between Loreto and an American organization. In 2016, the U.S. National Park Service and Mexico’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources established a Sister Park Partnership Initiative between Channel Islands National Park and Bahía de Loreto National Park. The NRS’s Santa Cruz Island Reserve is adjacent to Channel Islands National Park and works closely with the park on island research and management issues.

The Eco-Alianza sister reserve agreement comes hot on the heels of NRS growth in California. Point Reyes Field Station and Lassen Field Station both joined the NRS this May via partnerships with the National Park Service.

 

Only in Mexico

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Only in Mexico could the transport of a huge tank that utilizes the entire width of Mex 1 – the solitary two-lane highway that spans the peninsula – take place in the full light of day. No matter that traffic backs up for hours over the spiny mountain climb through the central deserts of Baja. No. Just a couple of guys riding on the very back (no seat belts or other security measures) waving traffic to ‘back off.’

At special spots on ridges with a small pullout, the caravan (three huge trucks all tied together – imagine a Burlington-Santa Fe train – pulling this enormous tank) would simply stop. Rather than the rigs pulling over, the dudes on the back jump down and begin to direct north and south bound traffic around the road covering vehicles.

In between the stops, the traffic sooooo slow (around 8 MPH) let travelers kind of hang out, chat while ‘parked’ in the middle of the road.

In the States, it would require mountainous piles of permits, special hours of travel, police escorts with sirens and flashing lights, a special traffic co-ordinator, and specified rest stops.

It’s scenes like this that really bring travel Mexico to my heart. All that’s required is patience and a good sense of humor – along with a dollap of curiosity.

The tank? Probably bound for Santa Rosalia and the newly re-established copper mines.

Airline Angst

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SanTaco Airlines

SanTaco Airlines

Once upon a time Alaska Airlines flew daily flights from Los Angeles to Loreto – and “…the living was easy.”  During the buildup of Loreto Bay,  Delta and Continental both added flights.  Prices were low.  Flights were easy to obtain at the last minute, and travel to and from the United States was relatively simple.

Enter the dawn of the US housing crisis and airline traffic dwindled.  Delta and Continental pulled out of Loreto market, and Alaska : aka Horizon : cut flights to four days a week.  Then they switched from the 737 Jet to the much smaller load carrying prop Bombardier q400.  While the plane is more fuel efficient, it adds an additional hour to travel time.  Cost cutting measures insure that airlines stay in business, but lately, the cutbacks have had a ferocious effect.

Tie whale-watching season – mid-January through the end of March – to the needs of local fliers, and simply forget about a/getting a flight, and b/getting a flight at a reasonable price.  At least for February and most of March.  Unless you’ve got $1000 to spend round trip.  Gee whiz : I went to London and back last month for 1/2 that price!

So this morning, when my friend, Cynthia, sent me an email with the title, “New Flights to Loreto,” I couldn’t wait to open it!  Was there really a new option???  I almost peed my pants I laughed so hard, looking at the photograph she attached, with the new planes name, “SanTaco” proudly painted on the tail.  Can’t wait to book a flight – but better make sure to tie back my hair and wear sunglasses!!