The Cactus Trip Diaries

Sunday, 17 February 2008 – San Felipe to Yuma, AZ, USA

I have already expressed my disappointment with San Felipe in yesterday’s Diary.  Fortunately, Sunday morning was a very civilised affair, being woken by sunshine and the gentle sounds of Mexican music from the streets below. We took a stroll to the Malecón (remember yesterday’s Spanish lessons?)  had breakfast in view of the Sea of Cortez and bought ourselves some souvenirs. As one of the store owners said: ‘ We have everything that you’ve never needed or will never want, at 10% off our best prices!’ He was right!!

I had hoped that things would get better after we had retraced our tracks to the junction of MEX5 (The San Felipe to Mexicali road) and MEX3 (the Ensenada to MEX5 road). I had hoped that (a) there would be accommodation close to and north of the junction and (b) there would be lots of interesting cacti on the way to Mexicali.

We drove the full 194 km from San Felipe to Mexicali and made 4 stops and saw no cacti apart from a couple of grotty looking Lophocereus schottii, Cylindropuntia felipensis and C. munzi. I’ll need to replan the end of the March trip so that we can at least see the fantastic Feros around Valle de Trinidad, about halfway along MEX3. Alain believes there is a hotel in the village.

Our car was only able (and very well too) to glide on tarmac, and we had just about done all the tarmac that Baja had to offer.

So, at around 14:00 we started queuing for the border crossing to the USA between the towns of Mexicali and Calexico (Get it?). Alain had never been in the USA, apart from some 12 hours after arriving on 1 February and thought it would be good to spend some time in San Diego. By the time that we finally entered the USA, it was 16:45 with all the hold up caused by US immigration. We witnessed a few guys climb across the fence to the USA – no doubt they are  already back in Mexico. It was no option for us – the car would be too heavy to lift over the 4 meter high fence!

During our wait, we had plenty of opportunity to revise our schedule, as almost a week in San Diego was quite a lot, especially as I have to spend 2 weeks in the area before Cliff & Ian arrive. So instead, after crossing the border, we turned right on California 8 and arrived in Yuma, Arizona at around 7 p.m. Arizona time which is 1 hour ahead of California and Baja. We soon found a Motel 6 but were disappointed to find that unlike the one in San Diego, this one has no wifii connection, just a cable to modem link for which we did not bring cables.

Alain’s disappointment was doubled when he discovered that all the junk food places around the motel serve junk food (surprise surprise) but do not have a license to serve beer or wine. Outrage springs to mind.

Tomorrow we plan to drive the 245 miles to Tucson where on Tuesday we hope to visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (Anton & Christiaan may remember visiting this in 1997) and if time permits, a visit to one of the nurseries – Dan Bach or Miles to Go.

Wednesday we’ll drive from Tucson in the direction of San Diego and we’ll see when we get there, in any case, Alain leaves at 7:45 a.m. on Saturday 23rd. We’ve bought overview maps of Arizona & California but have no cactus data of what we might see on the way. Never mind, the final destination in Tucson is enough.

Saturday, 16 February 2008 – San Quintin to San Felipe

Perhaps I should have said: ‘Greetings from a 1 star hotel in Blackpool on the Sea of Cortez.’ You may remember my stories from a week ago in Loreto where the whole world seemed to have to drive past our hotel with their stereos blasting as their main entertainment for Friday and Saturday night. Well, here they go by the seafront (known everywhere in any seaside town in Mexico as ‘El Malecon’ or, less romantic, ‘De Zeedijk’ in Dutch) and come back on the road past our motel.

I have to say that San Felipe is a huge disappointment and that I’d like to give it a miss in March. It is already building up with ‘white thrash USA’ in a build up to the Easter Holidays.

Having said that, it was a very interesting drive down. From our first day, we noted that we had only made one cactus stop between the US border and San Quintin, but this time, obviously with eyes more in tune with the flora alongside the road, we did see some cacti and even took a couple of stops for scenic pictures of a different Agave to the ones we had seen before. It was a long drive and a slow one as north of San Quintin, MEX1 goes through numerous villages each with their own array of ‘topes’ (drempels in Dutch, Sleeping Policemen in the UK) to slow down the traffic. And very affective they are too! as they ground our car on some 25% of the passes! It’s built up or agriculturally developed land, or passes through twisty mountain areas with no cacti visible from the road, all the way up to Ensenada. You then have to spent at least 30 minutes going through an ‘anything goes’ town, with cross roads where ‘Alto’ replaces the Chilean ‘Pare’ stop signs, but here the stop signs appear on all four entrances to the junction, so everybody sits there and it seems to be a ‘first come, first served’ system.

At Ensenada, we switched to MEX3, a bit of a misnomer as there already is a MEX3 on ‘main land Mexico’; so it’s a bit like having two M25s in the UK, one around London and the other on the Isle of Wight, except there is no ferry!

Once you leave Ensenada, MEX3 twists itself through a very scenic hilly area, a joy to see, except if you are stuck behind a truck belching out diesel fumes. Photos were made of the scenery.

Next we spotted a cactus, pulled over – not easy when your car grounds itself on a topes and the edge of the highway is as high as the average topes! – and found Mammillaria (I still think they are variations on a Mam. dioica theme) and Echinocereus engelmannii and a range of Opuntiods – one Platyopunia and a range of Cholla or Cylindropuntia.

The next moment we had left the hills and were on a plain. No cacti here we thought, but stopped anyway, to be pleasantly surprised. As we drove on, with John Pillbeam’s Fero book on Alain’s lap, we were amazed to find another Fero Maximus stop, this time with F. cylindraceus covering hillside after hillside! Plants ranging from small (and then reddish spined) seedlings to 5 ft + golden spined monsters! By the thousand! So it’s ‘the return of Golden Balls’ (for the non cactus readers, we found a population of very golden yellow spined cacti in Chile which we nicknamed ‘Golden Balls’, ’cause that’s what they were). So Ian and Cliff will want to see this, especially as it also has teddy bear Chola, at least 2 more Opuntiods a Mam. and Echinocereus engelmannii growing along MEX3.

Eventually, we hit MEX5, the San Felipe to Mexicali coast road, which has TWO military checkpoints on the junction. We played along as usual, being very polite and respectful of teenagers with large machine guns; we even called them ‘Sir’.

From the junction, it is some 50 km south to San Felipe, which is just brash, noisy and too full of American teenagers there to get drunk and laid and full of very pushy Mexicans who want the Yanks to spend their dollars. It is said to get very busy over Easter and I’m keen to avoid it. There are no cacti from the MEX 3 – 5 junction south, so I’ll be looking out for accommodation when we head north past the junction, most likely tomorrow (although Alain wants to see what is south of SF – just dirt roads that our car can’t take, according to the guide books!

I think we should do MEX3 in March, but we do need to find somewhere to stay near the junction as today’s 435 km was a hard drive.

I have been meaning to pass on the following tip to Cliff & Ian for a long time: I bought a very small rucksack at Tesco’s for next to nothing and following my experience in Rio, when I put my back out lifting a piece of toast during breakfast, I was keen not to lug my luggage (17 kg plus hand luggage plus shopping) each night from the car to the hotel and back again the next morning. I now use this small rucksack as my overnight bag, refreshed each morning from my main bag in the car when we head off again, and of course also take my main rucksack with cameras and laptop in. Poor Alain has to strap on his back-packer’s rucksack and nearly falls over under the weight. Worth considering, guys!

Finally, as most of you have guessed, I usually type up these notes half asleep and half pissed, without the benefit of spell check. Later, I copy them into a website that I am preparing for this trip, and find all the typos and garbage highlighted by the spell check function. I’m embarrassed, especially as Cliff is sensitive to spelling matters, but it is ‘warts & all’ or nothing in practical terms.

That’s all for tonight, from the tiny reception lobby of this 1 star motel, as the wifii signal does not reach the second floor, where our room is.

Friday, 15 February 2008 – Bahia de Los Angeles to San Quintin

Yes folks, we’re back to where we started on our first night in Mexico, 13 nights ago. We skipped the getting stuck in the sand this time. Our laptops even remembered the key to the wifii link!

Why so fast? Well, we hung about at Bahia de Los Angeles but the people who Ruth (the manageress) had tried arrange to take us to the islands all said that it was too windy and dangerous. So, disappointed, we left around 9:30 and headed north, making 9 fairly brief stops in all, but what stops!! and skipped lunch and drove until the sun was about to set. This way we may have more time around San Felipe on the east coast later or at San Diego, before Alain flies home.

The ‘many brief stops’ strategy is right for our first time and ‘tarmac only’ transport. We do not know of any ‘San Ramon equivalent’ 1 day hikes. We got the impression that what you see between Mex 1 and 500 meters away from it is roughly the same as if you walked 10 km away from the road, so nothing to be gained. Instead, we are filling in the gaps from the journey down and allowing ourselves to be distracted by obvious things that we simply missed or that weren’t there – such as Yucca, 2 species now coming in flower that were not even in bud 2 weeks ago.

Things look even greener now, so we also include stops to record that fact. And, because we are making different over night stops, we are now passing things at noon that on the way down we passed too early in the morning or too late at night.

Today included a stop we called Fero Maximus, as the plants here were so abundant that it started to look like a field of C. columna-alba. They can get up to 2 m tall and just like columna-alba, they lean to the ‘sun at noon’ (here the south) and eventually fall over when they  become top-heavy. Unlike Copiapoa, they are extremely dark in spine (deep red, I’m told) and epidermis – no white wax here!!!!

Not too long afterwards, we saw some Platyopuntia that looked nice as the sun was getting low in the sky. We had only gone 3 miles from ‘Fero Maximus’. As we started lining up the first shot, it became clear that we had arrived at ‘Cactus Maximus’ as I could count 9 different species in a single shot! That count increased dramatically when we started to walk around, falling over Mams in flower, Echinocereus clumps (possibly E. engelmannii) and, according to Alain, up to 8 different species of Opuntia! And we didn’t even bother counting the ‘other succulents’ – Agave (2), Yucca (2), Euphorbia (1 – E. misera) and a Dudleya. As a result, today is the first time that I managed to fill a 2 Gig card! (that’s 459 images – and I have not added the pictures from my Coolpix yet!)

The temperature has been in the high 50’s but that’s ideal for walking in the field. It was very sunny so I’m glowing and my deep tan looks reddish again (but no pain).

Well, dinner calls and then I’ll fall into bed.

Thursday, 14 February 2008 – Guerrero Negro to Bahia de Los Angeles

Greetings from Raquel & Larry’s at Bahia de Los Angeles (again).

This was one of our favourite stops on the way down, so it made sense to stay another day or two on the way back.

Last night in Guerrero Negro was cold,  54F and today has started off overcast but it turned sunny and very windy now, back at the (warmer) Sea of Cortez.

We took another side road (tarmac) that we did not spot last time round, back to the Pacific Coast at Santa Rosalillita. Only 14 km but well worth it, with lots of Feros and impressive clumps of Echinocereus maritimus and – near the coast – some with extremely long spines that may be var. hancockii.

The Feros here, at Bahia de Los Angeles, is F. garcilis ssp. coloratus, has been the only one we have seen in flower. It’s still only flowering sporadically, but full of buds, so if the cold weather persists, it may be in flower next time I’m here in March. The Opuntia too (I have lost count of how many distinct species we have seen) are in bud.

We are due to see a local boat’s man this p.m. and find out the cost of going to the islands where on some island sonly Feros and Mams have been reported.

Lunch & beers have just arrived, must go!

Wednesday, 13 February, 2008 – Loreto to Guerrero Negro

Happy Birthday Ian!!

We have surprised ourselves by having a great day, with 7 brief but excellent cactus stops and yet have come much further north than planned. The stops included one along the Sea of Cortez where a group (pod?) of dolphins noisily swam by. Angie knows how tricky it is to click the camera just right to get a good picture of a wave breaking over rocks – well imagine trying to get the rhythm of the beasts swimming so that you get at least a head or a tail as they come up or go down. I took some 20 pictures and managed to get one snout but lots of fins.

We recognised and avoided many places we had stopped before so that we would add new ones to the list. I’ll probably do the same in March as it is much more fun to explore than just to be shown spots. If we have a disappointing run down to the cape in terms of cactus spots, we can always do the best ones already visited on the way home.

Today’s stop included ‘The Dead Horse Stop’ where we saw 3 species of Mams (yet to be IDed), a grey spined form of Echinocereus brandegeei, 3 species of Opuntia, one of which should be in full flower next time we pass, lots of Feros etc.

We also ventured down a dirt track just south of Mulege, to one of the many idyllic coves and sandy beaches and believe I have found the ideal camping spot. They also have bungalows for USD 30, so if there is space, that may be the more comfortable option. Just along the road are the much more impressive yellow spined E. brandegeei in large numbers – great plants!

So we’re back in Guerrero Negro and the temperature dropped dramatically to 70 F – I know, a heat wave compared to where you are.

The planed program from here is now

	Thursday 14 Feb- back to Bahia de Los Angeles so that we can book a boat for the next day and for March
	Friday 15 Feb  to get to one of the islands with endemic Feros, Mams and Echinocereus and another night at Bahia de Los Angeles
	Saturday 16 Feb drive back to Catavina
	Sunday 17 to San Quintin
	Monday 18 to Ensenada
	Tuesday 19 to San Felipe a bit south but again on the Sea of Cortez
	Wednesday 20 to Mexicali and the border to Calimexi in the USA
	Thursday 21 Drive along Interstate Highway 8 back to San Diego
	Friday 22 San Diego – a spare day in case we need it
	Saturday 23 Alain leaves at 7:45 a.m. and I start to make my way to Long Beach, Los Angeles in time for
	Sunday 24 do my talk to Long Beach Cactus Society
	Monday 25 take a look around – perhaps visit the Huntingdon Botanic Gardens or allow myself to be persuaded by members to see a collection or two.

After that we’ll see. I might just hang out along the Ocean front at San Diego until 8 March when at noon I do my presentation to the San Diego Cactus Society and then go to the airport to pick up Cliff & Ian. Anybody else fancy coming along?

Better get back to the Motel before Alain has dropped off (I’m in the internet cafe around the corner)

Tuesday, 12 February 2008 – Buena Vista to Loreto

Today the thought of being on the way back really hit home – we completed the loop of the southern cape and started recognising places we had stopped before. The feeling was not helped by the fact that we got roaring drunk last night, including a ‘call to God on the big white telephone’. While doing our emails at the bar in Buena Vista (the Good Life) – honest, it was the only wifii spot in the complex – we were joined by James from Oregon, or was it Alaska? Anyway, he was already half way down a bottle of Tequila and insisted on pouring his heart out as his girlfriend seemed to have dumped him. She had millions of dollars (a bit like Chilean pesos in value, we joked) from a previous divorce and he had US$285 dollars to his name and called himself a poet in search of the truth, on the strength of a poem called ‘When’ (a copy of Rudyard Kippling’s ‘If’).

Things could have been worse, she had left money for him to stay another week and cover food & drink, so he was trying to spend the drink budget that night! And we, his new found buddies had to help him, ’cause you could not let a man drown his sorrows on his own. So
Margaritas were poured over and over again, and then we had to do the shots of Tequila thing. Result – we surfaced for breakfast at about 9:30 and I drank a couple of litres of water before noon. My camera refused to focus, and then I realised it was my eyes and not the camera that was to blame.

Ayway, we managed 5 short stops, but did not see anything new. On the way down I had taken pictures of every cactus taxon at each stop, so I have some 60 pictures of the butt ugly Stenocereus gummosus, just so that I know its distribution. Today, it’s just a case of taking pictures of things that are new or different, such as today seeing Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum in fruit and flower.

Another reason for the short stops was the weather: 93 F (whatever that is in decimal money) is no joke when all the plants have spines and the boots have been exchanged for sandals.

Anyway, today we covered 347 km of the journey back and are ahead of schedule – but as the way back had not been planned, that wasn’t too difficult. We have decided to take a look in the north east of Baja on the way back and cross back into the USA at Mexicali / Calmexi and then drive on a US highway back along the border to San Diego.

Opinion of car for March: A 4×4 would give us more options. The Nissan Altima gets grounded on 20% of the sleeping policemen in the villages. Off road is no fun either which means that the sandy coves and beaches are out of our reach. That means no camping, as the official campsites are stuffed with huge RVs (Camping busses to Europeans).

The other concern is that most rooms have been 2 beds only. I have noted those with 3 beds to a room, but we may struggle and we have been warned that things get crazy over Easter, which is a week long holiday here.

Well, despite only drinking water and lemonade today, that’s it – eyes refuse to stay open. Good night!

Monday, 11 February, 2008 – Todos Santos to Buena Vista

We made the usual number of cactus stops as we headed south from Todos Santos towards the Cape – our final (but disappointing) end goal. It is just like ‘Any Street, Benidorm etc’ and we could not wait to get out. Unfortunately the whole stretch of some 100 km is like this, with the Mexicans using it as the place to fleece tourists (= Americans). We drove out of town in the hope of finding a cheap hotel. No chance, and with day light failing shortly after 6, and me not liking driving in the dark on roads with plenty of dead (black) cows along the side, eventually took a turn to the Buena Vista Beach Resort which, at US$135 for two, is the most expensive we have had by some 50 dollars. But breakfast and a free Margarita are included and they have wifii, so what the hell.

I have Plan B for March to learn from today’s lessons.

So, technically, we have reached the ‘end of Baja’, turned around and are some 100 km on our way back.  The exciting thing is that more plants are coming into flower, including Pachycereus.

Finally, as a special for Angie & Margot, the picture they requested of me touching a whale. I’m the one with the Concha Y Toro (Chilean Wine) cap, throwing the shadow over my face – the whale is the one in the water!

Sunday, 10 February 2008 – San Carlos to Todos Santos

Well, a lot has happened since the last Diary issue. First of all the second Whaling Trip. I might have known – the previous day we had driven along roads with signs that said ‘put your headlights on in case of fog’ just like in Chile, but we never knew why. Now I do. We woke up to a real pea-souper!

We were up at 6 but expected to find the skipper at breakfast to call it off. Instead he had sent his dad. He reassured us that his son would be round at 8 to take us as promised, but that their might be a small chance that we would not see any whales in the mist and he would understand if we’d want to cancel. We explained that our main interest was to go to the island and see some cacti. OK – he remembered taking an American from the University of Arizona to a location where previously a guy from Japan had found some rare cacti. ‘Forget about the whales and take us to the cacti!’ we said. And so he gave instructions to take us to the cemetery (slightly worrying) on the island. The trip seemed impossible as we were completely engulfed in thick fog. Our glasses needed windscreen wipers and we got soaked. It seemed a hit and miss case of crisscrossing over the bay. Luis explained that his GPS did not work in the fog. Shame! Ours did!

Anyway, out of the fog came another shoreline, this time with crosses etc – just like a cemetery!!! He had performed a small miracle! So we jumped ashore and agreed we’d scout around for 30 minutes – but with very little hope. Within minutes we had bumped into a Stenocereus that could best be described as an intermediate between S. gummosus and S. eruca. Next we almost walked into an Opuntia, O. pycnantha var margaritana which is said to be endemic to this island and Isla Margarita next door – certainly very distinctive! On our way back to the boat we spotted a second clump of Opuntia but in getting to it, nearly tripped over some other cacti that turned out to be a Mammillaria (Cochemia) halei, and in flower!!!!

This was more than we had dared to hope for so we instructed our skipper to head home. During the ride across the bay, suddenly the fog was gone, and we arrived back at San Carlos in full glorious sunshine with a welcoming committee of some 6-7 !!! species of heron & egrets (they belong to the same 2 genera) and 2 sp of pelican. Lots of pictures for Mike.

Anyway, lots more cactus stops on the way to Todos Santos which is a really nice little town, with a Sunday Market aimed at tourists.