04-02-2010 - Update 6

04-02-2010 - Update 6

Greetings again.  We wrote the update and tried to send it out from San Juanico, but the interent was down.  So here it is, even though we're at La Paz now.

San Juanico is the nicest Mexican town we've been to so far. The houses are mostly complete and are well kept and colorfully painted, there is a restaurant and several stores. They even have a paved street about a mile long leading out into the desert (where it ends, rather abruptly, in the middle of nowhere)--the first paved road we've seen since Ensenada. Fishing and surf-tourism are the main industries, and the town is made up of about two thirds Mexicans, the remainder being older, single ex-patriots driven out of the US by climbing healthcare costs and crowded lineups.

Transient sailboats come through a few times a week, but none stay more than a day. After our second night, some bored, friendly gringos sailed out in their dingy to meet us since we didn't seem to be leaving. It wasn't long before we found ourselves hosting a day sail for about half the town. Orca was loaded down to her toe rails and the beer flowed like water; it wasn't long before we were fast friends with most of the local gringos and beach-oriented Mexicans. This opened doors for us all over town.

One morning before the reliable NW wind came up, we caught a ride out to the tip of the point for a good dose of local knowledge and some well overhead challenging reef break with one of the best local surfers, Matt. He lives in a compound made entirely out of buses—city and school buses. There are five of them – 3 for living space, one dedicated entirely to storing surfboards, and the last runs just well enough to make it down onto the beach (everyone drives on the beach) full of beer, sunscreen, and a barbeque. The only better setup might be Orca; we don't have to move when the tide comes in, but the paddle is a bit further on small days.

Fresh green food stuff is hard to find here; its a desert after all. That's why we were so surprised to find several community supported organic gardens sprouting from the desert. Thursday morning is weeding and picking morning, and anyone who shows up to put a few hours of work into the garden is entitled to more fresh lettuce, cabbage, spinach, squash, peas, beats, swish-chard, corn, and beans than they can possibly eat. Kara was thrilled; we had just moved on to our second case of canned chilli when she made the garden discovery.

One evening we were invited to the local “chess club.” Everyone said “chess club” with a wink and a nudge. We hitched a ride into the backstreets of town, and found, of all things, a hotdog stand that made some pretty darn good hotdogs. Walking next door, hotdogs in hand, we found the chess club, which looked suspiciously like a converted bedroom. There was a single flimsy chessboard on one of the tables, but the rest of the room was taken up by a large, well-equipped bar. It didn't appear that much chess playing occurred there; when we left after a single margarita the bartender remarked that it was nice to see someone have less than eight drinks, if only because we might make it down the stairs without grievous injury. We later learned that the only local cantina—bar--was closed down recently in a property dispute and the chess club seems to have filled the void rather admirably.

During the days, the surf has been quite good. It started out small—waist high at or so, but beautifully shaped, very long waves. It's gotten progressively bigger; the last few days have been head high or even bigger, offshore and clean, and quite hollow. Kara has logged more time on her feet surfing waves in 10 days here than she has in 2 years in Monterey and says its “the funnest thing I've ever done in my life.” The lineups are mellow, rarely more than 5 or 10 guys usually quite friendly; people introduce themselves when they paddle out. This stop has furnished by far the best waves of our trip to date.

The swell is on its way down and we are getting restless again. We're leaving today after we stock up on fresh greens from the gardens. We're not sure where our next stop will be.

thanks,

J&K