Wednesday, February 17
Today also did not go according to plan, but was enjoyed nonetheless. We arise and dress in our new swimwear and water shoes, anticipating meeting Daniel at Playa Santispac. As we sit at our breakfast, Daniel arrives on one of the ubiquitous four-wheelers. His motor is not fixed. A partner in Guerrero Negro has a job today, but will trailer a boat down on Thursday. So our excursion is postponed to Friday. We are fine with that. Daniel is a bit nervous. We must be nicer than some gringos.
So we decide to go to Loreto. First we visit the local mission again, and the local church, hoping to find an Ash Wednesday service for G. None such. So we head down the road to Loreto. The road twists and winds its way past Bahia de la Concepcion, its beautiful azure waters placid and serene. Fifth wheel rigs and motor homes are packed cheek-by-jowl on many of the white, sandy beaches. We encounter a large crew repaving several kilometers of the road, but are not delayed for long.
Loreto is dusty and hot. We take the first parking place near the square that we find, and walk to the mission. No services here either. So we wander around for bit until we encounter a shady cafe. As we sit and enjoy lunch on the patio, we watch what seems like hundreds of school children going to and from school, most accompanied by adults. Is this lunch hour? Or is this an early dismissal? There is dust everywhere. The vehicle traffic down this little street is sporadically heavy, and the street behind the plaza is all torn up. I don't know what they're digging for, but they are digging.
The ladies in the kitchen tell D there will be a service at the mission at 5 p.m., too late for us. They also direct us to a bookstore just around the corner, the Caballero Blanco, the White Horse. Here we meet the proprietor, a Spanish-speaking transplant from Texas. The shop is mostly used books, and there are lots of them. We are looking for a Spanish-language calendar (calendario, we are told) for G. The proprietor has no extras, but shows us a sample from an ice cream store up the street. We pause a while for conversation, and D buys a book in Spanish.
We wander up the street to the ice cream place, a most marvelous store. There are 5 long open-topped freezers with all kinds of ice cream. But this is Mexican ice cream -- no milk. G, B and I indulge in ice cream bars. There is a calendar on the desk where we pay, but the gent there has no extras.
We don't put a lot of energy into exploring Loreto. But we revisit the mission. G ventures into the sanctuary where she finds a bowl of ashes, already blessed, on the altar. The custom is, apparently, to help yourself if your schedule does not allow you to attend services. So she does. We make a stop at the big supermercado on the way out of town, where we buy margarita mix. So far our attempts at scratch margaritas leave a lot to be desired. We also make a quick stop at a papelleria (copy shop, stationer, not sure about the correct spelling). Here we find a little appointment book that will do if we can't find a wall calendar.
Satisfied, we head back to Mulege. Stopped at the road construction once again, we see one of the workers pick up a snake, using the handle of his flag, and drape it in a tree. It is a "cascabel" he tells us. A little research tells us this is a rattlesnake, a serpiente de cascabel or cascabel. The rattles evidently sound like the shaking of seeds in a dry cascabel chile. Interesting.
Driving back I read a bit of the paperback guide to Mulege. The translation from Spanish is ... interesting. Take this sentence, for example: "While one is navigating the island, one can distinguish the sea bottom spasmodic with sponges, conches and urchins ..." Can you picture it?
Back at the casita, D retires for a nap and B takes G into town to try yet again to find an Ash Wednesday service. No luck. We stroll down to Jungle Jim's bar for dinner, and then sit around a fire on our patio until time to retire.
I must finally be on vacation. My camera hung around my neck all day, but I seldom aimed it at anything.
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