Journey to El Sargento

Leaving Cabo Pulmo was hard in more ways than one. I'm always sad to take leave of a place that has been kind to us, even more so when there are things left unexplored! We are endebted to Bob for getting us to Cabo Pulmo in the first place, as it has been a goal since our first trip down here. Before we even got to Baja this year, Bruce proposed several alternative plans for getting us out of Cabo Pulmo once Bob left with the car. We felt pretty sure that after 10 days in any one place we would find somebody willing to give us a ride. Failing that, we thought we could hitch a ride from Cabo Pulmo to Los Barriles, gringo Mecca of the east cape, with plenty of lodging and bus service. From Los Barriles we had a couple of choices: we could do what we've done before and patch together a couple of bus systems to get from Los Barriles to La Paz and from La Paz to El Sargento. If you are tracing our route on a map that shows the major roads, you will see that this is the long way around to El Sargento from Los Barriles. What the map doesn't show you is the inconvenience of the bus schedules. Choosing this alternative would mean nothing less than two days travel time to get to El Sargento. Then Bruce came up with another alternative: hitch to Los Barriles from Cabo Pulmo, spend the night in Los Barriles, bus to the small town of San Antonio, hitch from San Antonio via the shortcut (where no buses go) into El Sargento. This way would be shorter, fast and cheaper.

Once in Cabo Pulmo, I became less confident of our ability to find a ride out of there. Many of the tourists are on day trips from Cabo San Lucas or San Jose del Cabo, both located south of Cabo Pulmo. A local resident informed us of the number of people actually living in Cabo Pulmo and suggested we post a notice on the local electronic bulletin board. For some unknown reason, Bruce refused that alternative. When we hadn't met anyone headed the same direction as our travels, our landlord said he could drive us, but that would mean a special trip for him into Los Barriles and we knew he had just made that drive two days ago. The only option remaining was to station ourselves on the only shady spot on the road out of town and travel Sissy Hankshaw style, with our thumbs extended. Fortunately, we had started early and only had an hour wait before the day got too hot and we caught a ride from a man who said he'd been in Cabo Pulmo for over twenty years. On the drive to Los Barriles we learned that meant he'd been coming down to Cabo Pulmo from the US for over twenty years and that he was well versed in the gringo dynamics of the area. From him, we got quite a lesson in local history, though somewhat one-sided. He was kind enough to drop us off right at the Los Barriles bus station so we could check the schedule for the following day. A not too distant walk brought us to Charlie's Chocolates where I lamented that we could only buy a one day supply (who knew how long those yummy chocolates would have to sit in my warm bag until we got to El Sagento). And then on to a hotel.

Our stay in Los Barriles was somewhat uneventful, except for the spectacular wind storm there. The kite and wind surfers put on a good show; we just couldn't stay out in the blowing sand to enjoy it for very long. Further inland where the restaurants are, things were calmer and we did enjoy a couple of great meals there: pork carnitas, chile rellenos and a fine breakfast of fried eggs, ranchero style.

By 9 AM the next morning, we were on the bus. I sat back and enjoyed the soft murmur of Spanish in the background, mingled with the usual mix of Mexican music. We hadn't gotten much of that this trip. We were the only gringos in the bus and we were absolutely the only people getting off in San Antonio. A short walk took us to the shortcut road to La Ventana and El Sargento. Before too long a Mexican man picked us up and dropped us off just before he had to turn west toward La Paz. It was interesting talking to him. He is a musician (plays percussion) and teaches at the state music school in La Paz. His real passion seemed to be the ranchero he owns near San Antonio where he raises over 300 chickens. He sells the eggs and meat to his friends in La Paz. As he let us out, he had to step out of the truck so he could open the cooler in the back and show us the plump chickens he was taking to his friends. They looked bigger and less fatty than the whole roasters we see in Livingston's grocery stores, that's for sure.

As soon as we got out of the truck we could see that the wind had followed us from Los Barriles. We were just deciding where we should stand when another truck pulled over and motioned for us to hop in the back. It actually felt less windy riding in the back of the truck than it did standing by the side of the road. This ride took us to within an easy walking distance of the casita we had rented for the week in El Sargento. We dropped our bags on the front porch before wandering back to the nearby grocery store to stock up for a few days. By the time we got back, our landlady also came home and we had a fun little reunion.

By evening, friends Vince and Cindy found us and took us to their house for dinner. It was fun to see them again and to see the progress on their house including unusual floor paintings by Livingston artist (and co-owner of the house) Parks Reese. We stayed up way too late visiting, but then, None of us had to get up early the next morning, so it was all good fun.

Since then our time here has been divided between the beach out front of our place and goofing around with Vince and Cindy. We spent one really windy day lazing around and reading. I think the whole town (except a few intrepid kite surfers) was doing the same. Yesterday Vince and Cindy took us "touring." As I sat in the back with Cindy and the boys up front wondered if they were on the right road winding through the desert I felt like I was a kid again sitting in the back seat of the family station wagon driving through the Arizona desert to a favored picnic spot. Only this time, we ended up at a real Mexican ranchero, with patron standing outside the car talking to Vince; the conversation punctuated with my new favorite Spanish phrase, "asi es....siiiiiii, asi es." (This is how it is....yeeees, this is how it is) I tried to understand some of the conversation, but what we all understood was the curiosity of the women and of the older ranch men who cautiously and one at a time, peered around a corner of the hacienda or the outdoor kitchen to see what this excitement was. This part of the desert was so forsaken, we thought we might be lost and we had stopped to ask how far we were from a known town. Turns out we were close to the town and Vince ended up making a new friend there in the middle of the desert!

Today was a most pleasant day on our beach. The wind was calm all day. So we not only got in our regular dose of sunshine and reading, but also got to do some snorkeling. We saw the lovely angelfish we first met at Cabo Pulmo and we saw several new varieties. The water here is very clear, calm and moderately deep. All of that added up to many happy and successful snorkeling hours. On this side of the Baja Pennisula, the water is so calm, that we can lay on the beach and still hear the trill songs of the birds further inland. We also are seeing more pelicans than we saw on the Pacific side and we are seeing a few whales. I love to watch the pelicans skim over the water's surface. It looks like they might dangle the tips of their wing into the water, but they are always just a wee bit above the surface.

Tomorrow promises more of the same activity. Our casita comes with beach chairs and a kayak. What better surroundings for enjoying a volume of magical realism I picked up in Cabp Pulmo! It does all feel rather magical here in sunny Mexico in the middle of March.