El Churro, Mexico

After spending time in the beach, we headed an hour to a little village called El Churro. It only has about 50 residents here, about half ex-pat. This was a true vacation, and the spot was muy tranquillo. I had to work a bit more on my Spanish here, as no one outside the ex-pats spoke English.

this odd mexican skeletor? near El, Churro

The village was right next to a reserve de biologique. It had hot springs. If you know ash and me, you know we love hot springs. Although the area wasn’t that great for soaking as while the water coming out was hot, it was mainly dumping into the river. The hiking was stellar (pic below), we did the same hike twice along the ridge of the canyon. It had some impressive vistas, with lots of views of the mountains and the canyon below. It was also very diverse looking, in one spot there were cactuses right next to oak trees.

Cool looking tree in the park

The place we are staying here is a bit more up close. We are staying with a Canadian retiree. And her daughter, son in law and 3-year-old girl happened to be visiting for the holidays. It can be a touch awkward at times, as we feel like we are just up close with them. I will say that it is nice to see holiday family dysfunction from the outside, versus living it.

The host invited us to join the ex-pat Xmas eve dinner. They were so welcoming to us. However, they were mostly older and Canadian. But they treated us like we were their friends. The food was fantastic, I brought my chipotle beef dip to the party, and it was a hit. We left early as my stomach was bothering me a bit. 

x

Whale Shark, Hot Springs, Oh My

So I have meant to write a few blog entries about our “workcation” in Baja. However, I was too busy working and/or vacationing. But here are a few highlights. We arrived on Dec 15^th at the Cabo airport. We rented a car and headed to Las Barriles, which is on the east cape of Baja del sur. The town used to be a fishing town but now appears to be retirees mostly. It had a low key vibe to it though, even if it was primarily gringos.

We rented the bottom half of a house near the beach (about a block), in the suburbs of Los barriles – spa Buena vista.  It was a killer spot. First off, the beach was right there. Second off, the place had a hot spring tub in the back, which was lovely to soak. And it was quite artsy and well decorated. Our host was charming, giving us a lot of space. Ash loved the bird seeing the endemic Xantu Hummingbird along with costa and Anna hummingbirds plus warblers, a woodpecker, a cactus wren and a hooded oriole. The house also had a lime tree in the backyard, which we mixed with tequila for a nice afternoon cocktail.  

We stayed there a week, and it was quite the treat. On Sunday, we snorkeled with the whale sharks. We had to drive up to La Paz, about 2 hours. But it was worth it. Our guide Katrin took us out with a family for an up-close experience. It was a truly fantastic experience. Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the world, and they are a bit intimidating. They are friendly, but still, they are the size of a small bus. We got up and close. On our first swim, ash said she thought the whale shark was going to headbutt her! I got four swims in, and ash got two. The ride back through the mountain in the dark, on a narrow winding Mexican highway, was a bit scary. But overall great.

The rest of the time in Los barrilles, we worked thus the “workcation.” Ash invented that term, and we both know why. Yes, it was a lovely spot, but the work cut into too much.