This trip inadvertently followed the death of a very good friend, and no better prescription could have been given for my soul!
In my room, from whose bed I could watch and hear the ocean. I could think but not ruminate about loss. I could stay in loose touch as a trustee with an attorney but not spin out of control alternately grieving and taking care of estate matters.
In addition to the beautiful scenery, for some of the visit I had yerno Don’s company (he’s the lord of the estate), until his scheduled pulled him back to the US, leaving me in the company of my daughter Sarah, whom I usually do not see enough. Copacetic.
Having given the burros quite a few photos in previous entries, I’m skipping them, howsoever cute they are, except for a video of one tailing me. Previous entries also explain the geography and community—the first delves into the bigger picture of Baja itself, along with the origin of the word “California”—with the result that photos dominate this post.
During my stay, the whales were winding down, but throughout the day these creatures known as Munk’s Devil Rays or locally as Mobula Rays jumped out of the water for who knows what reason. It was wonderful. See this article for the zoological name, good photos, and descriptions. (My photo was found somewhere on the internet in an undocumented location.)From our palapa (Don owns it but I sometimes sleep there, making me Papa Palapa)—in the distance is a huge resort under construction for over a year. Vidanta Group is building it and simultaneously irritating locals by closing off the beach. (This article discusses the matter although the article seems to pull in photos of other resorts.)One day Sarah and I walked in the sand a couple of miles toward Vidanta, but we didn’t yell at them or anything. Walking two miles in that deep sand is like walking four miles on dirt!View from my bedroom in the morningSunset…grew brilliant for about 10 seconds and vanished into the grey skySame view as the previous sunset, different eveningWhat I love is that one can turn his back to the ocean and remain dazzledThese are the cacti upon which vultures sit in the day time, as pictured the in the post from my first visitThis is a nod to how Buddhism manifests itself in the off-grid, expatriate community of ZacatitosSarah on her stand-up paddle board. Such water!One day Sarah caught a wave at Old Man’s while a professional photographer was tracking her (while I was looking at the wrong surfer, way out there, by mistake)—so we ended up with some good photosLeaving on a jet plane, it’s interesting to see how narrow at times is the Baja peninsula…Pacific here, Sea of Cortez there
Finally, a 10-second motion picture during which I address a burro:
