Big Bend

This is gonna be a long one! I headed south from White Sands, pausing to call 911 for a kid from the nearby military base whose car had started on fire while he was going down the highway. (By the time the volunteer firefighters arrived 30 minutes later, there was really nothing left--incredible--but no one hurt, thank goodness.)

And then soon after continuing on my way, I crossed into the great state of…

I checked out El Paso a bit and then headed farther south through lovely West Texas landscape…

…to the Big Bend area. The reason this post is so long is because I LOVED the Big Bend region. Oh my gosh. I already liked Austin, but this part of the state really catapulted Texas higher on my list of faves among the 50. My first stop was the impossibly adorable, remote, artsy town of Marfa. I loved its historical buildings...

…great coffee and juice shops, and the Saturday morning market where I got a homemade burrito.

From Marfa I continued south to Terlingua. This town originally developed as a mercury mining town, then became a ghost town, and has been revived as a tourist trap of sorts--though a pretty great tourist trap.

It was nearly bustling (shocking, given its remote location; check out a map when you have a chance) when I was there, which finally made sense when someone clued me in that they were having a big Dia de los Muertos celebration there that evening. I was tempted to stick around, but decided that being a lone traveler under very dark skies with a bunch of highly inebriated strangers might not be the wisest traveling choice. Besides, Big Bend National Park was calling. So on I drove through the gorgeous landscape.

Once in the park, I went for a hike into Santa Elena canyon…

…appreciated the oh-so-western rock formations vying for attention everywhere I looked…

…hiked through a canyon of volcanic tuff…

…appreciated the sunset on my way up to the Chisos plateau…

…and marveled at what must be one of the best sunset views offered by any national park campground in this country.

My second day in the park, it was raining (an all day rain in the Chihuahuan desert? what are the chances?), but I went ahead with my plans and took a damp but worth-it walk up in the Chisos area, appreciating all the perfect agave specimens.

Then headed southeast toward the Rio Grande Village area.

There is an amazing, semi-developed hot spring right along the edge of the Rio Grande here. What a setting! How could I not take a dip, despite the rain and ensuing caking, clay mud!?!? That's Mexico on the far bank, and while I was there, other visitors were wading across to take a walk on the foreign side.

Don't know that I've ever really seen the Rio Grande before. It's not as grand as you might assume, as so much of its flow is diverted for agriculture and city water supplies farther north. But it is still lovely. Again, that's the States on the right side of the picture and Mexico on the left.

The impressive Boquillas Canyon, with canoe trippers preparing to float on in:

After a decade-long closure, a pretty fun feature of Big Bend National Park has been revived: a class B border crossing from the park to the Mexican-side town of Boquillas del Carmen. Again…how could I NOT check it out?!?!

With a fellow traveler I met at the hot springs, I climbed into the row boat that takes people across the river to the Mexican side…

…walked for a bit in a country that somehow manages to be way more colorful than our own, at pretty much every turn…

…had real, Mexican-made burritos for lunch…

…and then appreciated the scenery walking the 3/4-mile back to the row-boat crossing...

…and returned to America. Wish I could take lunchtime field trips to other nations all the time!

Blue skies, no chance of rain

That's what someone was saying as they walked past me on the last morning in Mexico. With this view. I'm back in Denver now. Just trying to maintain the glow a bit longer.

Mexican miscellany

The second half of my week wasn't only spent by the pool at the Hilton, I swear. A few random moments that are actually connected to being in Mexico itself... 

Moving day, Mexican-style

The salsa bar at Felix's in Cabo San Lucas--super-friendly place enough off the main tourist drag that it was possible to truly enjoy a meal there before fleeing from town, which was otherwise WAY TOO MUCH. (Though it was interesting to learn that Cabo Wabo is actually a bar rather than just a nickname for Cabo San Lucas.)

Pretty gazebo seen while fleeing Cabo San Lucas after dinner.

Meat-roasting spit at Las Guacamayas restaurant on the outskirts of San José del Cabo.

Okay, I have to put a disclaimer on the next two. As someone who has repeatedly humiliated herself in half-a-dozen languages at this point, I want to be clear that I'm not including these to poke fun. I just truly love and appreciate the interesting linguistic things that happen in translation, and Las Guacamayas was fertile ground.

It's a little hard to read the best line. But: doubts? When has anyone ever invited you to share your doubts? So existential-sounding. And you gotta love anyone who does events in the domicile. And then this one, from the guy roaming the restaurant with his guitar:

No; tank you.

Hilton Los Cabos

Here's where you really get to hate me.

The whole reason for this trip was a friend who travels a lot for work and has Hilton hotel points up the wazoo was looking for a travel buddy to splurge on four free nights at the Hilton Los Cabos. Free sixth floor ocean view room with this view off the balcony:

And this view from the open-air hallway:

Free continental breakfast, free wifi. And of course total access to hotel pools, like this one. (The lighter foreground is the pool; the darker blue in the back is the ocean.)

Usually when I travel, I'm all about day trips and exploring the area where I'm staying. I had a whole list of potential things to do during the days we were based in Los Cabos. But I realized that usually when I travel, I stay in the cheapest place possible, which makes getting away from it and out into the surrounding area much more appealing. This hotel, on the other hand, is probably the nicest, most beautiful, comfortable place I have ever stayed in my entire life. My motivation to go anywhere else has ended up humming right above a level I can only call Nonexistant. Today, I literally spent my entire day sitting in this little magical chaise-lounge-but-more-like-a-bed thingie, ploughing through the 900-page book I brought with me, with breaks for swimming every so often. It really might have been one of the best days of my life, and I was so desperate for it never to end that I was still sitting there as the sun was setting and I was so chilly in the strong breeze that I was wrapped head-to-toe in beach towels.

Oh, and if restlessness does strike, how about some beach-walking right below the hotel?

They say there's no such thing as perfection, but I don't know. This day seemed to achieve it. Absolutely the only thing wrong with it is that it had to end. And even that part was gorgeous.

A trip to the beach

The time came to leave Todos Santos. Heading south out of town, we followed directions from Isabel and Gabriel at the Casablanca to turn off the highway and find an unmarked beach that they promised was worth the bumpy road. We took the car to the impromptu parking lot in the desert and then walked toward the sound of the waves through an awesomely tall palm tree grove.

And it was definitely worth the bumpy road.

Even the view inland was amazing.

And random horses on the beach? Seriously?

Finally, we got back in the car and backtracked through the picture-perfect desert.

Then turned the car back south toward Los Cabos for Part II of the Baja adventure.

Espiritu Santo

The splurge activity of this trip was a day-adventure out of La Paz to Espiritu Santo Island in La Paz Bay. An hour-long (?) motorboat ride took us from La Paz, up the eastern side of Espiritu Santo, past it's smaller neighbor just to the north (Isla La Perdita), and then to a couple of rocks just north of that which happen to be home to about 400 California sea lions.

This particular location is a safe haven for the sea lions because while their usual predators (especially orcas, sharks) sometimes pass by, they never linger. The absence of sharks also made is possible for us to strap on snorkeling gear and actually swim with the sea lions. Lacking an underwater camera, I don't have pictures of that, but it was pretty freaking great. The water was C.O.L.D., but the sea lions distracted us enough to withstand it for an hour-plus. They played with us like we were of their own kind, sneaking up on us, darting around us, swimming straight for our faces and then, at the last minute, veering down to swim just beneath the length of our bodies, and even sometimes playfully biting our hands like puppies...though that actually hurt and I don't recommend that part.

There were also beautifully colored fish, corals, and starfish to gaze at while snorkeling around, whenever the sea lions got sidetracked elsewhere.

Then we motored back south to Isla Espiritu Santo itself and pulled up to a beach for lunch.

Our guide, Francisco, took us for a short walk up into a canyon from the beach....

...and then we were able to get in kayaks and paddle around the bay.

Lots of fun creatures to gaze at while circling the rock in the bay and on land.

(Hard to see, but that's a starfish in the water)

Another day in paradise.