Travel Blog
No Ordinary Moments
There were no ordinary moments. Not flying 50 ft. above the aqua waves lapping the soft sand of the dunes no human habitation in sight, not the backs of the birthing whales covered in rose and ochre barnacles, not the arching noses of the colony of hundreds of sea lions above the surf, not the delight of the young woman with the new red glasses dancing around the spare concrete room with the rusted metal roof with bright sky poking through. None of the moments of this 3-day trip to a volunteer medical clinic deep in the heart of Baja California Sur are ordinary. I am a little shocked at this. Going from my life of comfort and overabundance in Arizona, via a 4-hour flight onto the shores of the great Pacific Ocean, seems like entering another time and life…
Red Hot Mexico Green Chile Wars
When I think back on my family’s relationship to Mexico and Mexican cuisine, I find myself thinking of two things, handmade local tortillas and poblano chile rellenos. The chile wars break out often in my family. The smell of roasting green chiles fuels the fire. It fills the air all over Arizona, New Mexico and Peñasco from the huge gas torched metal roasting drums in parking lots roasting tons of dark stubby poblano, and long bright green Anaheim chilies. We have a saying that you must eat chilies, and a lot of them often, or your fire will go out. I think it is the spicy, piquant flavor and the fact that you never know just how hot the chile, or even the bite of chile, will be that adds to the excitement of cooking and eating chiles…
Pueblos Mágicos
My first trip to magical Baja was a real adventure. 1979, beat up ancient $150 Pinto station-wagon, long lost adventure buddy. $800 budget to ride the ferry from the mainland to Baja and then drive back to the States. It was gorgeous. I still remember how alone and yet safe we felt camping on deserted beaches, campfires on the beach under the blue-black blanket of the sky studded with diamonds. Surviving on tortillas and street food. We barely had enough money for gas to cross back into the states 2 weeks later. I have been back to Baja many times since that first drive-up Mexico 1 from the southern tip at Cabo back to the US in 1979. I recently reread the great adventure book “Into a Desert Place” by a real greenhorn, you might say crazy red-headed, fair skinned European Graham MacKintosh. He circumnavigated the whole of the Baja peninsula in 1997 on foot. That was the way to really experience all of the magic this place offers…