Hola Amigos,
We are enjoying the aftermath of Hurricane Paul. It is lush and green, green, green here. We had no bad wind storms here on the Sea of Cortez side of Baja, just several days of heavy rain. Of course, we had to drive into San Jose to deliver people to the airport on the worst day, but it was interesting to see what people have to deal with in the big towns. There were some serious road washouts south of Loreto, however. Here's a link to a YouTube video if you're interested. Lots of water, and it closed Highway 1 for at least a day until they built detours around the washouts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6vtng50RHY&feature=player_embedded
The photo below was from our drive into San Jose last Tuesday. Yes, that is a river flowing across the main road, probably close to a foot deep, and moving fast. I've often wondered what happens to all the businesses (nurseries, car and equipment dealers, etc) who are set up on the "high side" of the road in the middle of the arroyo. The definition for arroyo is "dry wash". It definitely wasn't dry that day!
Anyhow, everyone got delivered safely, and the rain had pretty much stopped and the sun was out by the time we left the airport for the trip home! And the suicide butterflies were out and about! You've never seen so many pretty little butterflies in your life as there are in Baja after a rain. They are everywhere, flitting around....usually right in front of your car! Yes, sadly, here is a photo of a suicide butterfly who got stuck on our antenna. I'm surprised I was able to get a clear photo of him through all the butterfly smears on the windshield!
"Mexican Time".... have you ever heard that term? It is something we deal with here every day. Mexicans do things at their own pace, usually a lot slower than us Gringos are used to. Even after living here for over 10 years, we are still frustrated with that pace in some situations. Here's a story for you as an example.
While we were on our way down to Baja in early October, and still in California, our son Ryan was driving our white truck on yet another airport run. He was taking a friend to the airport, then he was going to take the truck to the shop in San Jose where we go. It had been in for repairs of the front end a week or two before, but he said it was making some strange noises, so he wanted to have them check it out. Well, as he was on the way to San Jose (is there a song in that?), the wheel fell off the truck! Yikes!!! He was on one of those rare stretches of road where there was a gradual, wide pull off, and the shoulders weren't straight down. He managed to get the truck over in that parking area. Here's the photo he took with his phone right after it happened.
He even managed to find the wheel in to bushes (and cactus!) and called a tow truck to take them to San Jose (never mind the Federal Police stop down the road a ways where they were giving him a hard time about leaving the scene of an accident before a policeman was there). He sent us this photo before we left our hotel room in Tracy, CA, Tuesday morning. Whoa! We were so thankful that he and his friend Ken were OK! This could have been a disaster! Anyhow, we told him to make sure to get a receipt from the tow company, because we were hoping the insurance would pay for that.
When we got back into town, we e-mailed our insurance company, and yes, it would pay for the towing. We just needed a receipt from the tow company. We didn't think the one we had would suffice (no company name, just the price and a word that must have meant "towing"...I couldn't read his writing!) There ensued a two week process of multiple phone calls (mostly made by our friend Dalia) to the insurance company, the tow company, the insurance company, the tow company. We needed an official factura for the insurance company. The tow company needed an "RFC" number, which we don't have, to make an offical factura. The insurance company told us to make it out to their RFC number. It then only took about a WEEK for the tow company man to make out the Factura. Then we had to figure out how to get it to us so we can take it into La Paz to the insurance company. He was going to bring it by our house on Saturday (we were there ALL day). He never showed up. Dalia called him on Sunday, and he needed MORE information (which we gave to him). Ben finally drove out to La Ribera and picked up the "official" factura from the man. Ben will take it to La Paz, maybe manana, and then we'll see how long it takes for the insurance company to pay up! It was over $300 US, so it is worth it to us to go to all this trouble. Oh, and a new phone card for Dalia!!
And finally, a success story! About three years ago, our friend Karen, who lives north of Los Barriles up on a hill, told us about a pretty little plant she had found, and she wanted us to come up and dig it (shhhh....don't tell anyone!) We dug it and transplanted it in our yard, and put a little marker by it, because we didn't want the gardener digging up the little grass like plant. The next year, we didn't see any plant...just the marker. The next year, no plant...but this year! Eureka! The plant is back! It has a little bulb, so it may take large amounts of water to reproduce. (We did plant it in our cactus bed, which we don't generally water). It's a cute little thing, don't you think?
We always like to show you our bugs, too, so here is a Walking Stick we found by our kitchen door the other day. (Mexicans call them Burro Killers. Why? No idea!)
More photos are posted at the end of our 2012 October Picasa Album .
Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey
We are enjoying the aftermath of Hurricane Paul. It is lush and green, green, green here. We had no bad wind storms here on the Sea of Cortez side of Baja, just several days of heavy rain. Of course, we had to drive into San Jose to deliver people to the airport on the worst day, but it was interesting to see what people have to deal with in the big towns. There were some serious road washouts south of Loreto, however. Here's a link to a YouTube video if you're interested. Lots of water, and it closed Highway 1 for at least a day until they built detours around the washouts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6vtng50RHY&feature=player_embedded
The photo below was from our drive into San Jose last Tuesday. Yes, that is a river flowing across the main road, probably close to a foot deep, and moving fast. I've often wondered what happens to all the businesses (nurseries, car and equipment dealers, etc) who are set up on the "high side" of the road in the middle of the arroyo. The definition for arroyo is "dry wash". It definitely wasn't dry that day!
Anyhow, everyone got delivered safely, and the rain had pretty much stopped and the sun was out by the time we left the airport for the trip home! And the suicide butterflies were out and about! You've never seen so many pretty little butterflies in your life as there are in Baja after a rain. They are everywhere, flitting around....usually right in front of your car! Yes, sadly, here is a photo of a suicide butterfly who got stuck on our antenna. I'm surprised I was able to get a clear photo of him through all the butterfly smears on the windshield!
Now, we're enjoying scenes like this....calm seas and sunny skies. By the way, this is the view from our new carport deck. (Our guests "private" deck, because you have to go through the guest rooms to get to it!)
While we were on our way down to Baja in early October, and still in California, our son Ryan was driving our white truck on yet another airport run. He was taking a friend to the airport, then he was going to take the truck to the shop in San Jose where we go. It had been in for repairs of the front end a week or two before, but he said it was making some strange noises, so he wanted to have them check it out. Well, as he was on the way to San Jose (is there a song in that?), the wheel fell off the truck! Yikes!!! He was on one of those rare stretches of road where there was a gradual, wide pull off, and the shoulders weren't straight down. He managed to get the truck over in that parking area. Here's the photo he took with his phone right after it happened.
He even managed to find the wheel in to bushes (and cactus!) and called a tow truck to take them to San Jose (never mind the Federal Police stop down the road a ways where they were giving him a hard time about leaving the scene of an accident before a policeman was there). He sent us this photo before we left our hotel room in Tracy, CA, Tuesday morning. Whoa! We were so thankful that he and his friend Ken were OK! This could have been a disaster! Anyhow, we told him to make sure to get a receipt from the tow company, because we were hoping the insurance would pay for that.
When we got back into town, we e-mailed our insurance company, and yes, it would pay for the towing. We just needed a receipt from the tow company. We didn't think the one we had would suffice (no company name, just the price and a word that must have meant "towing"...I couldn't read his writing!) There ensued a two week process of multiple phone calls (mostly made by our friend Dalia) to the insurance company, the tow company, the insurance company, the tow company. We needed an official factura for the insurance company. The tow company needed an "RFC" number, which we don't have, to make an offical factura. The insurance company told us to make it out to their RFC number. It then only took about a WEEK for the tow company man to make out the Factura. Then we had to figure out how to get it to us so we can take it into La Paz to the insurance company. He was going to bring it by our house on Saturday (we were there ALL day). He never showed up. Dalia called him on Sunday, and he needed MORE information (which we gave to him). Ben finally drove out to La Ribera and picked up the "official" factura from the man. Ben will take it to La Paz, maybe manana, and then we'll see how long it takes for the insurance company to pay up! It was over $300 US, so it is worth it to us to go to all this trouble. Oh, and a new phone card for Dalia!!
And finally, a success story! About three years ago, our friend Karen, who lives north of Los Barriles up on a hill, told us about a pretty little plant she had found, and she wanted us to come up and dig it (shhhh....don't tell anyone!) We dug it and transplanted it in our yard, and put a little marker by it, because we didn't want the gardener digging up the little grass like plant. The next year, we didn't see any plant...just the marker. The next year, no plant...but this year! Eureka! The plant is back! It has a little bulb, so it may take large amounts of water to reproduce. (We did plant it in our cactus bed, which we don't generally water). It's a cute little thing, don't you think?
We always like to show you our bugs, too, so here is a Walking Stick we found by our kitchen door the other day. (Mexicans call them Burro Killers. Why? No idea!)
More photos are posted at the end of our 2012 October Picasa Album .
Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey
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