San Carlos Wrap Up/What's Next?

I've been back in California for two weeks now and back in El Dorado County for three days. Lots of driving under my belt has given me time to remember my time in San Carlos, Mexico and reflect a bit. It is my tendency to go into most new situations - be they as simple as a night out with friends or as unknown as a new country - without expectation. I'm inclined to have more of a "let's see what this is all about" attitude, come what may.

That being said, I realize I DID in fact have a few ideas of how it would be. As often happens, my expectations did not exactly match reality, which is not necessarily a bad thing. First off, I ended up being much more of a "tourist" than I had planned. Frances and I spent many happy hours exploring the different corners of San Carlos and a few of the surrounding areas. Our hands down favorite place was Soldier's Estuary Beach, where we went almost every day if we could. There was a special magic there and I think it was there just for us!

The Sea of Cortez is a fascinating, beautiful and unpredictable body of water which I would like to learn more about. I plan to pick up a copy of Steinbeck's "Sea of Cortez" soon. This body of water takes up the slack for any shortcomings that San Carlos may have. She is rich in biodiversity, her tides and currents are irregular and surprising. She has a winter face and a summer face. The sea is surrounded by desert and mountains. Geographically it is a stunning place and I'm honored and thrilled to have been introduced. If nothing else pleasing existed in San Carlos, this would be enough.

And that is a fortunate thing for me since much that I would otherwise desire was somewhat lacking in San Carlos, especially in the arts. By the time I left, I was feeling starved for music, art, dance, theatre, etc. Since returning to the states I've been on an "art binge", and have attended four art shows, three music concerts, one dance concert, and a lecture by author David Sedaris. I attended dance class, and next week will be submitting a photo or two for the next El Dorado Arts Council show. Whew! Thank you California!

From a more social aspect, San Carlos left me with a feeling of discomfort and awkwardness, primarily due to what I experienced as the "them and us" attitude which I ran across with a fair amount of frequency. I suppose it is because the origin of San Carlos was as a "snowbird" town that sets it up to be this way, with the northerners living in the better parts of town while the Mexicans work as labor or domestic help. I cringed every time I heard someone complain about their maid or gardner and "how it is here," or "how they are." !! It was embarrassing to hear complaints when local laws, customs or the general "way of life" didn't offer the same protections, privileges or restrictions as USA laws - or even more obnoxious - that San Carlos wasn't "Mexican enough" and needed to be improved upon. ACK!

But - as a dog lover, I miss being able to take Frances into restaurants. As someone who doesn't really grasp the concept of "borders," I was perturbed when the State of Arizona pulled me over outside of Tucson so a dog could inspect my car. The next time I kayak on the sea in the states, I will resent having to wear a life jacket and possibly even a helmet. Stupid!

As a beer snob I am happy to be home in the land of the microbrewery in every downtown. As a coffee snob... hah! Need I say more? As someone with an old car and old feet, I am happy to be back on well paved roads for my tires and suspension, and even surfaces for my feet. I've already commenced with acupuncture for cobblestone inflicted foot injuries. My care suffered a broken headlight, two turn signal lights and a tail light from the jarring roads. As a lifelong dieter, I am happy to once again buy food that is meticulously labeled with the ingredients and nutrition content.

I realized that as much as I have grown to dislike the sometimes heavy snows of Pollock Pines, that I also like a little bit more variety in the weather. I will miss the incredible warmth and helpfulness of the Mexican people.

I won't miss the gnats.

I already miss the sunsets. And the birds, the birds, the birds. Especially the brown pelicans and the frigates.

My hopes of returning home after two months rested, healthy and with some writing under my belt did not come to pass. I came home exhausted, not feeling well, and with only a bit of writing accomplished. The environment wasn't suited to those endeavors.

Except for the Estuary Beach.

In case you missed it in my previous blog, here is my Youtube of the sunset on my final night in San Carlos. It was a grand finale.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u0Z0m4yRio

All of the sunsets were beautiful, but this one was spectacular. I felt like I was being given permission to leave. My time in San Carlos was complete, and all stops were pulled out for this one last sunset.

Will I return to San Carlos? Probably not although I never say never. I enjoyed my many travels throughout the area, and in two months was able to see a great deal of splendor. My host, Betsy, gave me this fabulous opportunity to visit San Carlos, and in the end, all was at it was meant to be. Now however, there are other places in the world to explore.

So what's next?

I'm already regaining my stamina and health, It must be the arts binge and good coffee - haha. But with the exception of a couple of days here and there this summer, I will mostly remain away from El Dorado County until the end of August.

I will be spending the summer primarily in San Jose with my family. While in Mexico we learned that my sister's husbands throat cancer metasticized to both lungs. We thought he had it beat. It is now deemed "incurable." There is time though. But my sister is full time day care for her 9 month old granddaughter. I will be taking over that roll four-five days a week over the summer so that she can spend time and take some vacations with her husband while he still feels relatively well. And while in San Jose, will give my other sister a few breaks and help her out with the care of my elderly, ailing Dad.

On my days off I'll come up to Placerville, or take some day trips. I've never been to the Gilroy Garlic Festival and plan to go on July 23 - with or without baby Arabella. While at the Grand Canyon I learned that Pinnacles - just outside of San Jose - is another release site for the California Condor, as well as other wildlife settings. Moss Landing - between Santa Cruz and Monterey - has an estuary that needs to be explored by kayak (without a helmet hopefully.) There is a long list of acoustic jam sessions in the San Jose/Los Gatos area (bluegrass and/or Celtic.) I'm saving my pennies for a new mandolin.

I will be up to music direct "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" during the first part of July at Fair Oaks. I'm looking forward to attending the American River Acoustic Music Camp in August - this time as a "camper" rather than as a volunteer. Finally, around August 23, I will return to El Dorado County to work and play as per the last 30 years.

I will be posting one last blog here within a week (hopefully). It will be a lengthy write-up on the Olivas Adobe, a historic site in Ventura. My friend Rosalee Calvillo is a docent there and I was allowed to photograph some of the school field trips that come through. Then I will close out "San Carlos Sojournal."

A few folks have asked if I will continue blogging. I will crosspost the Olivas Adobe blog on my new blog "Tortuga Traveler." In Native American Culture the Tortuga (turtle in Spanish) represents Mother Earth. So as I continue to visit great and small sites and events here on my home planet du jour - at my increasingly turtlesque pace - I will photograph and write about them, although probably not as frequently as before. In writing the San Carlos SoJournal, I learned of the magic in the everyday and "ordinary." I hope to continue to find that. There is certainly no shortage of fascinating things to explore.

Cheers!

Grand Canyon

What I can I say. I spent two days at the Grand Canyon and it's all been said and photographed long before I ever got there. Yet, all the cliches are true. Sayings like, "it's indescribable" and "pictures don't do it justice," are a fact. Truly I think one does not need any photographic skills to get a good shot at the Grand Canyon. I think if you put your camera on self-timer and toss it in the air you'll come out with a good photo. That being said, I took my fair share of pictures. It's like the sunsets. How can you not.


Frances and I stayed at the Motel 6 in Flagstaff. It's 75 miles to the Grand Canyon and I had expected a windy mountain road. While it was only two lanes most of the way, it was straight and easy driving. I was able to travel between 55-70 mph the entire way and it was a scenic mountain drive. The elevation ranged between 6000 - 8000 feet and went through a national forest. There are a number of things to see along the way if you want to or have the time. In winter there is the Nordic Ski Center. Flagstaff hosts a couple of museums when you're headed out of town. There is a ranch that has White Buffalo. The only thing we stopped to see was the Chapel of the Holy Dove. It caught my eye. From the road, the door to the front of the chapel looked like it was only about three feet tall. In fact - while it IS a small door - it's just under six feet tall. It's an interdenominational chapel the has about four benches inside. It is an A-Frame building. Once inside the back has huge picture windows that look out onto the forest. I imagine it is probably used for small, intimate weddings. It kind of reminds me of that tiny chapel that used to be on Highway 17 on the way to Santa Cruz.


While at the chapel a couple pulled in with "just married" scrawled on their back windshield. They asked if I would take their picture and of course I did. Frances snuck into the shot but they didn't mind.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon and paid our fee at the entrance. I have to say that when I saw the small size of the parking lots and the number of entry lines for vehicles, that I'm glad I came mid-week in the off season in cold weather. There were still plenty of folks. If anyone goes in the summer I'd recommend taking a tour bus. It would be insane in large crowds. But today, it was not bad.


Dogs are allowed on the thirteen mile "Rim Trail" as long as they are on a leash. They are not allowed into the canyon. It's an easy paved walkway. We walked from Mather Point to Bright Angel and back, a little over four miles. Throughout the day there would be gusts of wind up to 60 mph, almost knocking you over at times. That would add a little excitement because there are many places along the trail that are not fenced. I was surprised - and pleased - to find that you are allowed to go as close to the edge as you like. And in many of the places, it's pretty close to going straight down. The high winds tended to keep folks a little further back from the edge. Here and there when a special walkway out to a ledge has been created, they do put up a fence or railing where folks (or dogs) can still observe the canyon with great interest.


Frances is very good with the "stay" command so I bent the rules a couple of times and dropped the leash so I could take a picturesque photo of her at the canyon. Several Japanese tourists saw me doing this and asked me and Frances to pose with them in their souvignier photo with the canyon behind them. Of course we did!

After our hike Frances was pooped and went to sleep in the car while I explored the various lodges. At one observation point a young man and a small crowd was staring out over a lookout point. The man was a member of the Peregrin Fund, an organization that studies and assists birds of prey. They are in charge of the California Condors that live at the Grand Canyon. The reason there was a small crowd is that one of Condors was on a rock below the observation point.


A bit about the California Condor. It is the state bird of California. In 1981 it was almost extinct, down to 22 known birds both in the wild and in captivity. Today through various programs and protection, there are now about 375 Condors, with about half living in the Grand Canyon. Of these, about half are wild born and half are captive born and then released. Those that are captive born are tagged with a number and a GPS tracker. The one I photographed was number 87, which I could see with the naked eye. These are big birds, with some characteristics in common with the vulture. They are black, with white markings on their wings. Their wingspan is nine feet. In addition to seeing #87 both on the rock and in flight, I also saw two others in flight. I was told by several park staff members that we were very fortunate to see so many.


I talked for quite awhile with the fellow from the Peregrin Fund. He told how they capture and release the birds and I learned quite a lot of interesting things about both the Condors and the program. He was holding a large antenna. With this antenna he could track the birds with the GPS and he knew which birds were in the vicinity of this portion of the canyon.

When he learned I had recently been to the Sea of Cortez he surprised me with a story of seeing crocodiles once on the Baja side of the Sea. Then we discussed the Black Frigate Bird that I became so fond of while in Mexico. I told him I saw one get in a fight with a blue footed bubi and I surprised him with the knowledge that the blue foots are on a rock in the Sea of Cortez.

There is one thing the park rangers are very adamant about. DO NOT THROW COINS INTO THE CANYON. This is a fairly new policy. Over the decades people have often used the canyon as a giant wishing well and thrown pennies into it. But a few years ago two Condors died from zinc poisoning due to eating pennies. All large birds eat a certain amount of rocks, gravel etc to aid in digestion. Coins will kill them.


At dusk I boarded one of the shuttle buses to Hopi Point to watch the sunset and the patterns of the clouds on the canyon.

On Day #2 we drove down the Eastern part of the rim trail. Because of the weather, the light on the canyon was quite different than the day before. The first day was quite hazy when looking towards the west. Air quality has becoming an increasing issue at the Grand Canyon with visibility being reduced up to 75% if it's a hazy day.


On this Eastern Trail I could see where the Colorado River cuts through the Canyon.


There was sporadic snow and hail off and on throughout the day. We stopped at many of the lookouts including Wotan's Throne and The Watcher Tower which was undergoing some renovation.


Next I stopped at Tusayan for a 30 minute lecture-tour on the ancient Pueblo Indians and accompanying ruins. Bit fat Ravens were everywhere along this route. They are used to being around people and were often as close as three-four feet away.


Once when I thought I had gotten too close to a Raven, I thought he was going to fly away, but instead he hopped several feet closer to me.





By late afternoon the snow began coming down heavily. I decided to leave the park since I had to drive back to Flagstaff over the 8000 ft summit, and had just learned I had a burned out headlight. By now the Canyon was being socked in by clouds and fog anyway.



However, once we were 20 miles out of the Canyon, the sky was clear and blue. So we stopped at the Yaba Daba Doo Campground - a Flintstones themed campsite - and had dinner at Fred's Diner. It was actually quite a tasty Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich, and the coffee really was only five cents, just like the sign said.


Afterwards Frances had her picture taken with her prehistoric cousin, Dino, and drove Fred's car.


Finally we made it back to the motel and I began downloading my bazillion photos. I do hope to return one day.

Catching Up - Sort of

Well, I am behind on my blogging. I have stuff to tell about the last day in San Carlos, and my two days at the Grand Canyon - not the least of which the sighting of three California Condors! But for now I will write a fairly brief note and back track later.

Patty and I had a fantastic final sunset at the beach. I created my first imovie with the photos from this sunset. I have attempted to imbed the video below. As far as I can tell, it works. The pictures are in the order I took them, unedited. It was like mother nature was giving us a Grand Finale Sunset on our final night in Mexico.



The Grand Canyon was indescribable. I saw most of the main South Rim sites on the Rim Trail. I took a couple of lecture tours. I would love to spend a week or two there at some future date when I'm up for more extended hiking. I will go on at length in a later blog about the Condors, and Ravens, and Japanese tourists.

I drove 525 miles to Ventura on Friday. I didn't get much sleep the night before because I was playing with imovie and then my brain wouldn't shut off. Even though I was exhausted when I arrived in Ventura around 7pm, I stayed up and laughed and chatted with Rosey and Ernie until well after midnight. I had hoped to catch up on sleep the next day but a mutual friend - Jeff - drove up from Temeculah (San Diego area) for the weekend and again we stayed up late.

Sunday we attended an outdoor concert with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. It was fantastic. We watched movies at home in the evening. Today - Monday - I finally pooped out and slept most of the afternoon before attending the UCSB lecture series with author/humorist David Sedaris. As usual his stuff had me in stitches.

Rosey , Ernie, Jeff and I all participated in the New York Times photographic event titled "A Moment in Time" where anyone who wants can submit a photo taken at 1600 hours Greenwich Meantime - which was 8am Sunday morning here. I set my alarm and stumbled out of bed about five minutes before 8 to find everyone wandering around with cameras.

I finally got back to some writing today and hope to do more in the next few days before heading up to the bay area late Friday. I'm hoping tomorrow I'll have time to be more detailed and catch up. There seems to be no end of interesting things to do and see in the Ventura area that Rosey and Ernie want to take me to.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad! I'm actually typing this late in the evening but I figure you won't get it until your birthday tomorrow. Marv Patty and I made it across the border with ease today. The wait was only about 45 minutes which is considered short. We were prepared for a couple hours wait.

Patty and Marv went on to a small town east of Phoenix to visit Marv's sister, and I'm at Motel 6 in Flagstaff. Betsy has remained in Mexico - a fairly last minute decision - as she still wants to get some things done on the house.

It's nice to be back on good roads. Flagstaff is at 7000 feet elevation with mountains all around. It's nice and cool and it's a nice change. It feels like a slightly larger, and higher version of Placerville. My car is happy to be on smooth roads again. The potholes and cobblestone roads were wearing thin in Mexico. But Frances was disappointed she couldn't go into IHOP with me in Nogales. She's used to being in restaurants now.

So I'm spending the next two days at the Grand Canyon. Tomorrow maybe I'll call you from the park somewhere if I get cell phone service. If not I'll call you in the evening when I get back to the motel. It will be later though, because I plan to find one of several sites in the park that has and east-west view - so I can watch the sun set in the west, and then the full moon rise in the east.

Frances and I will have a Whopper at Burger King across the street in your honor tomorrow!

Hope you have a happy day!!!!!

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday morning Patty and I kayaked at the beach below the house. It was a perfect kayak morning with fairly calm waters so we were able to go all the way out to bird rock where it was a bit rougher. Patty - like me - pretty much remembered all her sea kayaking skills. That was a good thing since she tipped inside the hole in the rock. We both felt good afterwards that we remembered the techniques needed for getting back into a kayak. She got a little scraped up on the rocks but only superficially.


Marv came along. He sat on the beach, sunned himself and made friends with the hotel staff. He managed to get us all an invitation to the fancy wedding that evening. (We didn't go of course). As Patty I were paddling back to shore he greeted San Carlos in a way that is apparently customary amoungst he and his brothers.


We lunched at Rosas Cantina, strolled around the Marina, came home for a brief nap, and then went out to the Estuary Beach. Marv and Patty collected a large bag of seashells.



The surf was coming in from two opposing directions. That is so typical of tides and currents in the Sea of Cortez - they are typically - "atypical."


Frances found a tennis ball. Then a toddler found Frances. They pondered over the tennis ball and seemed to come to a happy conclusion.



She then found an older boy who was willing to actually toss the ball for her.


On the way home Marv picked up some Carne Asada at a roadside taco stand. We thawed the remainder of the homemade tortillas Rosey had made a couple of weeks earlier, and had mucho bueno tacos. Patty and I played Tayu - she creamed me - and then the wedding band at the hotel beach below kept us awake until 3:00am.

So although not exactly perky, Sunday morning Patty and I nonetheless had another kayak excursion planned, this time at the Estuary Beach. We hoped to time it with the daily morning appearance of the dolphins at the estuary. I had stopped my Rubie's Wine Bar the night before to leave a message for Brian - the kayak guy - to leave us a couple of kayaks to rent. Apparently he didn't get the message as there were no kayaks for us once we got there. We stood around for a couple of minutes debating what to do, when a couple of ladies were landing with kayaks and having some trouble. We went to assist. Turns out it was a gal named Becky who I'd met earlier in the week when I was doing some writing at Soggy Peso Beach. She let us use the kayaks. I think it may have been kind of a "promo" move because Becky owns a condo on the beach and rents it out. We went kayaking for about an hour. The dolphins had already been buy. The water was very rough and my paddle was too short and not scooped so my kayak was difficult to manuever. It was a good test of skills. We returned the kayaks and got to see the inside of some of the condos on the beach. Nice!

Sunday afternoon the four of us took a ride to Guaymas to see the main sites. We went to the church square. It is San Fernando Catholic Church and is the oldest Church is Guaymas.


Last September the inside of the church collapsed during the hurricane. Many of the stained glass windows were broken. It has not been completely repaired yet, so all of the pews, altars, etc., have all been moved outside and covered with a canopy/tent like structure.





The church square and public park attracted all ages of folks who desired to take it easy on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Elderly couples and friends sat on park benches, visited and watched young children playing on small bicycles or feeding the pigeons.





Here and there a park bench would have a piece of it missing - like the seat!


A large group of teens sang, played guitar and practiced dance steps.



All the while a statue of either San Fernando or Jesus (I'm not sure who it is supposed to be) watched over the church square through the trees.


We took some pictures of the weird things at the little amusement park across the street. Strange manikins of traffic cops, pirates, skeletons and odd looking animals.




Across the street from the odd carnival was a sign that looked like it was a bar sign advertising Corona Beer. The picture of the sign was of an ear and was called "Van Goghs." The building was gutted and empty although the sign was in tact.


In the evening Betsy treated us all to dinner back in San Carlos at a place called Conquista. It's an excellent - but pricy - restaurant. We were all very pleased with the food, service and presentation. The restaurant was so happy that we were happy that they proudly brought over complimentary hoeurs duerves and dessert!

Back at home, unfortunately there was another wedding at the beach hotel below. A not very good band played loudly until midnight. Quality sleep seems to be an increasingly rare and precious commodity.

Patty wanted to explore the dynamite house so me and Frances accompanied her.

Then Patty and I played Tayu. This time I wiped her out. We tried to sleep through a dreadful singer, and were bound and determined that the morning would provide us plenty of energy for our last day in San Carlos.