Part 3: Science, Culture, and Nature

Casita en El Centenario 

We are near the top of a hill with a sweeping view of the sea and the city of La Paz about 10K to the east. Our little casita in El Centenario shares a scenic patio/balcony with the main house of the Vancouverites who own it, Paul and Leanne. They live here in the winter. There is a tall, narrow screen between us, and on their side they have a solar-heated swimming pool which we can use if we like, but haven't.

We have a large bedroom and bathroom with a washer, a good-sized marble-countertop kitchen with tall stools, and a small living room. The dining table is on the patio. There's a spiral staircase to the lounge-chair roof. It's all very new, tastefully decorated and landscaped. About three blocks west of us the desert is undeveloped and unfenced. A series of trails and arroyos make for interesting nature hikes with lots of birds and desert flora.

Un cernícalo y wren en nuestra primera caminata

El Centenario is a mostly residential suburb maybe seven blocks wide for 3K along paved Mexico Hwy 1 going north. On either side of the four lane highway are restaurants, taco stands, motels, mini-supers, farmacias, and tortillerias. Modest houses of Mexicano residents occupy the lower portion of town. The rest of the burb seems to be mostly Canadian gringos in fancier homes especially up on the hills. With one exception, the town is all dirt roads. The roads in higher class areas get much more care and maintenance. We are still searching for the best route home to avoid washboards and ruts.

It took at least a week to recover from the break-in of our car. Each day we made ourselves go out for a hike or kayak and we did a lot of shopping. Having to share one computer was driving us crazy--our organizational and maintenance styles differ, shall we say. So we decided to buy John a low-cost replacement to use for the rest of the trip, primarily to process photos.

Maridos sobre los acantilados de Playa Balandra 

We've hiked the desert trails behind our casita and the cliffs above Balandra, a popular tourist beach. We've eaten 'almejas naturales' on the beach at Tecolote. One day we drove to almost the end of the Mogote peninsula, and walked on the northside beaches. On the way back we took the rough shoreline road which came to a "T" at a large federal marine science facility called CIBNOR.

One of our most interesting early experiences here was spending a day at Rancho Cacachilas. It's a demonstration site for low-impact, sustainable agriculture, located in the Cacachilas Mountains. In addition to farm chores, employees of the rancho give guided tours and classes for other local farmers and ranchers.

Florent Jacques Francois Gomis

Our guide was Florent Gomis, a recent MS grad in sustainable agriculture at CIBNOR, originally from France. He explained their approach to holistic management. Stops on the tour took us to three sites on the mountain side separated by several kilometres. The first was large gardens, where they grow vegetables for local restaurants and experiment with high protein plants that require little water, for both human and animal consumption.

Second stop was the tourism aspect of the farms--cabins, campsites, and kitchens for visitors. All the facilities use composting toilets, and other water conservation methods. The rancho maintains mountain trails for biking and mule rides (they also run a bicycle shop in El Sargento).

Mamá cabra

Third stop was where they raise various animals: chickens, mules, horses, cattle, pigs, and goats. They have a good-sized goat cheese facility and the cheeses are excellent. While we were there baby goats were being born. Florent explained that one of their focuses is to change livestock practice in the area from free-range to planned grazing. At the end of the tour they served us an excellent lunch featuring their products.

Daniela y Don están en el CIB

Florent's connection to CIBNOR (Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas del Noroeste) was the second time it came up, so when we got home, John called to see what he could learn. He talked to Daniela Nunez who also told him about an event downtown the next evening. We attended this talk about an interdsiciplinary project between CIB and artists and sculptors from Spain. Sounded interesting, but it was all in Spanish, of course, so we understood little. Their printed brochure said the intent of the project is to build public appreciation for both art and science. A few days later Daniela (on her day off) gave us the tour of the biology and marine science labs. She is a communications specialist, who does radio and video programs on the importance of science and the work of CIB, part of a network of four or five biology labs across Mexico. We also met Daniela's director who is overseeing the art project. It was great to go inside this sophisticated facility and they were excited to show it off to us.

Fragatas magníficens se posan
en un árbol en Ensenada de Aripes

Other fun outings over the next few days included kayaking in Ensenada de Aripes, the inner cove of La Paz;

Un colibrí en el arroyo debajo de la presa

Hiking at Presa de la Buena Mujer, a dam in the mountains;

Don está dentro de la presa en un túnel oscuro 

Los cardones son gruesos en el camino
a El Saltito y Ensenada El Coyote

Relaxing at El Saltito, a secluded beach across the main peninsula;

'Black-necked stilts' y 'black-bellied whistling ducks'
en la planta de tratamiento de aguas negras

And bird watching near a marsh at the waste water treatment plant on the edge of town. As we were leaving, we ran into a group of birders (including a UABCS university professor) who invited us to join them in the Xmas bird count around Todos Santos the next week.

On December 20, we spent about four hours with Susan Mittelstadt, the organizer of the annual bird count, in the environs of El Pescadero. It was a hot, sunny day and I pooped out pretty fast, but the three of us counted 35 different species and saw at least one endemic bird, the gray thrasher, which obligingly posed for us. The group we were a part of logged 105 species that day from shoreline to mountains.

Hay 'gray thrasher' en El Pescadero

Our next big adventure took us to Mogote again. The seas on the north side of the peninsula are often white-capped and the winds unpredictable, but this day the breeze was from the south, the water calm, and we launched on the long sandy beach. In no time we saw their large fins breaking the surface and slowly undulating through the water. Whale sharks! The largest non-mammalian species on the planet. They eat plankton, so we were in no danger of being bitten, but it is still pretty freaky to watch an animal twice as long as your 17-foot boat pass under you with it's huge mouth wide open.

La Paz tiene muchos murales y grafiti

Throughout our stay in La Paz we explored the town. We ate at the three top restaurants (Sorstis, NIM, and Las Tres Virgenes), several informal places like McFishers and J&R Costilleria, and many popular fish taco stands. Nearly every time we went downtown we parked and walked the length of the malecon and beyond. We spent an afternoon in the fairly new natural history museo. We shopped at the mercado centro for fresh fish, and strolled through rows of street vendor booths. We had margaritas at upstairs bars looking out to the sea.

We also learned the shops in El Centenario: the Frutería where a wonderful older woman sold us avocadoes and figs and papayas; El Faro the little store with whatever you need plus homemade tamales and Oaxaca mole; and Agua Purificada where for a dollar we bought 5 gallons of drinking water every few days.

El Triunfo

One Sunday we drove south to El Triunfo, an old mining town and point of interest. There is a new museo on local history and industry which we toured.

Paella para treinta personas

We had an amazing paella dinner, and later a local farmer sold us a three dollar bag of vegetables that lasted us for three weeks.

A few other adventures are worth noting:

La playa en Punta Arena

A drive to the boat launch at Ensenada de los Muertos for lunch and a walk on the beach at Punta Arena;

Una gran roca en el cañón

Hiking a long canyon off the road toward San Evaristo;

Playa remota en Pichilingue

A hike and later a kayak outing from Pichilingue to a beach accessible only by foot or water, and an off shore lighthouse rock inhabited by excitable sea lions;

A challenging week-long Spanish language class--three hours each day (can you tell I'm practicing?).

El amanecer de nuestra casita

We leave La Paz tomorrow. Our six weeks here were bookended by two massive rain storms. Our last load of laundry couldn't be hung outside to dry, so its on a line strung between the rooms of our casita.