The Cactus Trip Diaries

Saturday, 9 February 2008 – Loreto to San Carlos

Just returned to our Hotel, Hotel Brennan (no, they don’t serve Guinness, in fact I’m not sure how many generations ago there was Irish blood in the family, but they speak English and have an internet wifii connection, so all is not bad.

There’s not much in the way of hotels in the guide books for San Carlos and the CSSA Tour last year moved right on to a Paz. But I had the Creeping Devil, Stenocereus or Macherocereus eruca high on my list of ‘must see’ plants so we arrived early, booked in and then went to take a look around. Turns out that Isla Magdalena is opposite San Carlos, but it’s a good 100 km on dirt to get there OR to take a panga (whale watching boat) across the bay, which is what we allowed ourselves to be talked into by the son of the hotel owner.

Our car is just not built for dirt roads and we got stuck again this morning, but managed to get out once I realised that I had the hand brake on! At least we know that the hand brake works!

Having booked our boat trip (yes, we’ll have to cross a bay full of Grey Whales, so another touchy feely session with blubber is on the cards!) we went back on the only road in, to see if we could find a plant that Alain had spotted out of the car as we flashed by at 70 mph. We found it and confirmed it was the first (so far) cristate Ferocactus (F. penninsulae ssp townsendianus) and, as luck would have it, Stenocereus eruca was all over the place around it! Also found a nice Mam that I’ve tentatively IDed as M. louisae.

So live continues to be great, as temperatures are up to a comfortable 80F during the day, but still cool at night.

We should be back from the Whale Trip tomorrow around midday and will then attempt the 400 km journey to La Paz.

Thursday, 7 February 2008 – San Ignacio whaling story

Yes, we’re still in San Ignacio, but have moved from the no star room (shed?) in town to another Desert Inn / La Pinta Motel, the fourth in the chain here. Just another 2 to go and we’ll have done the set!

So, this morning at 8 we were at the eco-office in the town square, ready for our whale adventure. We had a 2 hour drive over bad dirt to get there, frustrating as we drove through cactus country with a new Fero (or two?), tons of Echinocereus brandegeei, a new ceroid (Stenocereus thurberi) and Opuntia invicta.

We are in amazement about Mexican time keeping – it could have been Switzerland! Great. Talking of time keeping – dropped my watch on the tile floor in the showers, shattered the glass – guess I’ll buy a new one on the way home at the airport. This one was bought at Gatwick as we flew out to Chile in 2006.

So, we boarded the panga (similar to the Chilean ones for the penguin trip, but with an engine 4 times the size), and nearly flew off to the observation zone. Taking pictures of whales (grey whales here) is a bit different from taking pics of cacti – they move at quite a speed!  Anyway, after some bopping about on the waves, we watched the water boil as a male and female ensured that there would be calves next year. Then, with the action over, she felt like a bit of after play with our boat. The rules are that the boats are not supposed to sail to within 30 meters of the whale, but if the whale approaches the boat, it’s OK. This one did. It was amazing to be eye to HUGE eye as it popped up to have its head stroked. This happened some 10 times! It then went on to try to remove some of its barnacles by scraping them along the bottom of the boat, pushing it around at will. It could easily have thrashed it but was ever so gentle and careful when it came to flicking fins and tail.

Alain and I were in different boats so that we could photograph each other with the whale. Alain has a great picture of me stroking the whale, but unfortunately was always on the wrong side of the boat when it was his turn.

Got back on the dot at 4 p.m. as promised, booked into the new hotel on the road out of town and headed south on MEX1 for a 1 hour cactus stop at the first opportunity to get off the road. Amazing way to finish the day. You could walk 10 meters from the car and photograph all the plants mentioned above plus a couple of Mammillaria: M. brandegeei and something that I’d still call M. dioica, but it is possibly one of the many forms of this species that have gained and refused to give up their rank as species. They were both in flower and fruit. The Fero was also in fruit (yellow colour) so it’s frustrating to keep getting stopped at the numerous army check points with kids brandishing large machine guns. NO collecting!!

Finished the evening with a Negro Modela (dark beer) and fish fillets plus salad, ‘bean mash’, baked potato and rice plus tortillas.

The Hotel’s wifii only works in the admin office, so Alain I are keeping the Hotel Manager company while thrashing out today’s episode.

I’ve included Cliff’s home address as well, as he appears not to receive them at work (although included) and Alain is now also copied in. Alain has been sending photo reports to cactus_study, one of the many forums we belong to. Angie can forward them.

We’re off south again tomorrow, to Loreto, where again there is a Desert Inn / La Pinta Motel, so you never know – might get another email!

And finally thanks to Ian for sending us the Devon Diaries. Alain has difficulties getting off to sleep, so I’m sure these will help! It’s not easy being green! 🙂

Wednesday, 6 February 2008 – Guerrero Negro to San Ignacio

Weather is getting warmer and today was the first all sunshine day – as my back and face indicate.

In the morning we drove to the Bay and saw huge numbers and variety of birds wading on the salt flats, including Egrets, pelicans, etc. I have just bought a bird guide to find out what we saw – be patient. Mike would be in his element!

In the afternoon it was driving south again on MEX1, made more cactus stops and found my first definite Echinocereus brandegeei. This species was my first favourite when I started collecting cacti.

So today we are in very primitive lodgings, Charita, but on the town square, with this internet cafe opposite. We have just booked a whale tour for tomorrow – in the same sort of pangas (small boats) that we used in Chile. Costs US$ 65 per person, but we are guaranteed to see whales, so it´ll be worth it.

People are telling us that this is the quietest that they have seen Baja – they blame the recession in the US and also there is a war between drug barons around Tijuana that is getting a lot of bad publicity in the US.

So far, we have found all the Mexicans incredibly charming and friendly, but it only takes one with a gun to change that, so we
won´t get complacent.

I´ll report back with my Whale Count tomorrow!

Tuesday, 5 February 2008 – Bahia de Los Angeles to Guerrero Negro

Catch up time; This episode actually comes from San Ignacio.

Last night we made it to Guerrero Negro (named after a boat called the Black Warrior that sank here a long time ago.

On the way from Bahia de Los Angeles to Guerrero Negro, we had hoped to make a side trip into the mountains to Misión San Borja. This can only be accessed via a rough dirt track. While the Nissan Altima glides over tarmac like a cloud, it is so low that today we grounded the car on a ´Sleeping Policeman’  (Drempel in Dutch, Topes in Bajanese)! So lots of fun on dirt, NOT! We had planned to take a track south, but after some 3 km (out of 46) had to go back, as we could not make a hill with enormous potholes, on sand. A Hilux would have had no problem.

Went back to the main road, and made a few excellent plant stops. At one, we saw a different Agave and as I walked up to it, I heard a different noise: a Rattle Snake, ready to strike. Great to have a 200 mm zoom lens on the camera, as I gently walked away from it, checking that its brother was not behind me. Got some great pictures! If this one (my first) is anything to go by, it starts making so much noise when you are still a safe distance away, that we should avoid contact, unless we are stupid – like Leo who would have wanted a close up with his 28 mm lens!

Once back on MEX1, it was easy-going south, but we made another attempt to get to the Mision from another track, leading East. This time it was ´only´ 22 miles, at a speed of 16 km p. hr. it took 2 hours with some brief stops, including ´an interesting stick Euphorbia´ (says Alain) in flower, fruit and also a crested form and a Ferocactus that was more than 2 m. tall!

We made it to the Mision around 3:45, but as it gets dark at 5:30, it was a race to get back to the main road and then drive another 80 km to Guerrero Negro.

Sunday, 3 February 2008 – San Quintín to Cataviña

This episode is written from the Raquel & Larry Hotel in Bahia de Los Angeles, on the beach, less than 20 yards from the bay. As well as my laptop, there is a large Margarita in front of me – in a glass the size of a goldfish bowl, but without the gold-fish! Ian was right: Margaritas were invented in Baja.

After the adventures of trying to build sand castles with our car on Day 2, we spent a comfortable night in San Quintín. The room stank and we had a very expensive bottle (£12.50) of crap Mexican wine with the meal.

Next morning we carried on south on MEX 1. Unlike Ruta 5 in Chile, the Mexicans are tight with their tarmac, so that the road has NO hard shoulder and I still have to work out how two large trucks travelling in opposite directions avoid hitting each other. There is a sharp 6 inch drop immediately off the highway which itself is crumbling at the edges.

Soon after San Quintín we made our first real cactus stop and thought that we were in a cactus garden, considering all the different species
we found. Absolutely amazing. You could stand in one spot and see all the different species listed in the itinerary of the American Society for their 2007 trip.

And things just got better as the day went on and Pachycerereus pringlei and the boojums appeared on the scene (Sounds like a 1960’s rock band). Made several more stops and by the end of the day felt that if we did not see another cactus until April, I’d have enough material for a talk on the cacti & Succulents of Baja California.

We’re now used to it getting dark soon after the UK, but as there was a cold wind blowing, we arrived at our hotel in Cataviña around 4. Dinner at 5, beers and wine in the room thereafter while we were doing our photos. Outside the wind howled and another load of rain came down, but we were warm inside, so who cares. Based on experience so far, Ian, Cliff, bring a fleece!

Some 10 km north of Cataviña the famous boulder fields appeared and spectacular they were too, but it was too cold and the light too bad to get really good pictures. We made up for it this morning.

The good news is that many of the cacti are already in bud (Opuntias and Feros) or in flower (3 Feros and most of the Mams); must be the early
rains.

The Rough Guide suggests that this (the week around Carnival) is a seasonal high point and that it is difficult to find rooms. Not so, everything
is empty and quiet. Whatever the news says, there is a recession in the United States and no one is spending money on fancy trips to Mexico.

We can’t believe our luck, no traffic on the roads, smooth tarmac and surrounded by cacti. Every stop we find something new. But the wind is still strong (I got quite burned in the face, while wearing jumpers and a jacket) and while it is sunny while we are in the car, as soon as we have our cameras together and taking GPS readings, ready to start taking pictures, it has become overcast and cold again.

The car is great and so far there is absolutely no reason to go for a 4×4. I’ll keep this under review as we progress south.

Tomorrow we plan to drive back towards Mex 1 and then south to Guerrero Negro, with a side trip into the hills at Mision San Borja.

Life is good!

Saturday, 2 February, 2008 – San Diego USA to San Quintin, BC, Mexico.

Following this morning’s email, we went to pick up our car. We had opted for a ‘freecard’ option, guaranteed a medium sized car and got one better, a Nissan 2.5 litre Altima. Very luxurious, but made of tin-can metal & plastic.

Next challenge was to get onto I-5 South. They say that all roads lead to Rome but in San Diego, all routes lead north to L.A. So eventually we joined I-75 to some island in the bay, then turned around the way we had come and finally turned south on to I-5.

The border crossing was a doddle, but the difficulties appear to be coming back into the USA, where there seemed to be a queue 10 lanes wide and several miles long. Allow 2 hours on a good day they say.

The first stretch of Mexico was boring. Tijuana is just a busy ‘any town anywhere’.

But there was a nice stretch of road once we got out of town. Very busy though and with lots of townships, so the
going was slow, on average 30 miles p. hr.

Made the one and only cactus stop of the day at Puente El Mirador, a view point over the Pacific, as the name suggests. Saw Bergerocactus emoryi and an Opuntia sp. plus loads of Agaves

Got stuck in Ensenada as this year’s carnival procession took priority. Too busy to take good pictures.

Stopped at the bar that claims it invented Margaritas, and again the staff warmed to us when they heard us talk Dutch. Ian, Cliff, suggest that you take a crash course in Dutch. Or else just say ‘Ja, ja’ when I ramble on in Dutch.

Also forgot that although things look more like Chile than England, it is in fact still winter here so that on an overcast day, it was pitch dark at 5:30 p.m. That meant that Alain had to drive in the dark on Mex1 for about 45 minutes and that when we got to San Quintin, where we had planned to stay in Hotel La Pinta, on the bay. We got lost and ended up stuck in sand. Not the fine stuff that we find in Chile, but the stuff you find wet on UK beaches. Should not have been a problem, but it was. We felt very lonely until we saw head lights appear in the distance. An hour later and we were 8 cars stuck in the sand! We were the only ones facing west, the others were coming from where we wanted to go. Their mistake was to slow down to see what was wrong with us. Once stopped, wheels spun and cars sank.  But it did give us an army of squat Mexicans who really took to us when they discovered that we were not Americans. ‘Ah, Holland! Amsterdam!!’ they said, showing off
their geographic prowess. By combining our powers plus the skills of Carlos, one of our new Amigos, who was expert at getting stuck and had learned many tricks to get out, we first freed the others and they then got us out. By 8 p.m. we
ended up at the bay, but failed to find the hotel and rather than get stuck again, found an alternative route to MEX 1 and settled for one of the boring road side Motels.

Friday, 1 February 2008 – London, GB to San Diego, CA, USA

Alain & I arrived safely at our motel which is simple, basic but with wifii, clean and secure + it happens to be next to Dollar Rent a Car. I have already booked a room for the day Alain & I get back on 22 Feb AND for 8 March when Cliff & Ian arrive.  So, for your immigration papers, your first night’s address will be:

Motel 6
San Diego Harbour
2353 Pacific HWY
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone 619 232 8931

Just returned from a Dennys (all day breakfasts with coffee from a bottomless cup) 2 blocks walk away, where no matter what you order, it tastes of ‘oliebollen’ (Dutch concoction that takes pancake mix + ingredient x, shape it into a ball & deep fry), even the coffee!

Also had an email from my San Diego cactus contact, humbly apologising over the double booking of speakers, completely his fault and confirming that I am the speaker and he will ask the other speaker to fill another slot later.

When we arrived at the Motel, they asked ‘Did we want an alarm call?’ After 30 hours with only very little sleep (I read the complete Rough Guide to Baja instead for a change), we said ‘No thanks!’, but as flying starts at 7 a.m. and the motel is at the end of the run way, we were awake, plane spotting, by 7:01.

Must go and pick up our car and disappear into Mexico!

Adios mi amigos!