Hodges Family Photo Session

  Fall is in full swing and the weather cooperated for an outdoor family session last Sunday.
Meet the Hodges family, actually 2 beautiful families. Here are a few. Enjoy and Thanks.

Todos Sanots, BCS, MX Spring 2013

  Spring slowly began to arrive in Western WA, and Ambre and I were suffering from a major case of cabin fever / winter sucks 'itus' so we picked a place on the map to visit.
  Todos Santos, BSC, MX got selected, I had driven through the town 18ish years ago on a random road trip but remembered little of it other than every other memory I have of the Baja, beautiful beaches, warm weather and wonderful people.

 So we did our normal thing of light planning (car rental, a place to sleep and plane tickets) and we were off. With a small twist, Ambre's madre vendria! I was actually very excited that Eleanor would be coming with us and am still so glad she came. Ambre's madre is a pretty damn cool lady and cracks me up when I can actually hear what she says (she speaks softly and my hearing sucks)

   We arrived in Los Cabos unscathed grabbed our rental car and headed norte to Todos Santos. It is roughly a 1-1/2 hour drive and beautiful. The change in scenery from Los Cabos through Cabo San Lucas and into the desert is striking. After passing all of the resorts and traffic of CSL the road dives into the Sonora desert, bright blue sky (I left my sunglasses in WA) with a striking contrast to the coffee brown landscape that is riddled with cacti and scrub brush.
  THEN! We round a bluff on one of the many hills and there is the virgin ocean. I say virgin, because there really is no other word to describe the empty unspoiled beaches.

   This beach is not extraordinary in the area, it is the norm. Miles of sand, crashing waves, crystal clear blue sky and most of the time complete solitude. I drew the analogy that amazing beaches on the Baja are like Douglas Fir trees in western WA, they are beautiful to look at but they are everywhere, how many people here marvel at our trees? Hundreds of miles of beach and not a person in sight! Perfect

     Main street Todos Santos. It is always a welcome shock to return to MX and see the colors, nothing is drab, beige does not exist on their color pallet and I am grateful. Here a purple house is considered annoying to the neighbors, in MX the neighbor will paint their home a complimentary color that stands out more. Vivacious, that is the word I would use to describe what you see. Everything has life.
  After a few u turns on narrow dirt roads and the help of the friendliest smile I have ever seen @ La Esquina

 we managed to find our home for the week, and where we would plant our butts every morning for great coffee and food.

  The thatched roof building is our kitchen and the tile roofed white building has 2 rooms with baths. Casa Rancho and Alec (the owner) are perfect! Our random adventures would never be possible or as memorable without the people we meet along the way, I bring it up because it is so very true. From the insanely helpful and friendly woman at La Esquina (my bad for not remembering your name) that basically offered to drive to Alec's place so we would not get lost, to Alec who just made sure we had everything we needed without being intrusive and always friendly it is the PEOPLE that make our trips great.
  And the DOGS! Ambre names the animals we see - you would have to ask her how she picks the names but they do always seem to fit. She says it just comes to her and seems right.

  Chiquita -

?????  I don't remember. Something like Guadalupe - He stopped us on the side of the road and was trying to sell us Mexican car insurance.

 These 2 had names - house dogs / garbage disposals where we stayed. They used to be local town dogs that adopted Alec and his Ranch.

Inca

 And Mancha - it means spot in Spanish - he is a chow mix with a spotted tongue - I called him Machu Pichu, or Manchego because I forgot his name

  The town! ~ What a beautiful little dirt road Mexican town. Ambre put it best when she said the people are "So very family oriented," there are laughing and playing children everywhere.
Who is up for a game of stick ball?

  We drove by the elementary school every day, (I never stopped and took a picture, kicking myself) it is a crazy brightly painted building that exudes happiness. With the windows rolled up and AC on I could still hear the laughter. We would commonly see parents walking their children to school in the morning on the dirt roads and many would sit on a bench outside the colorful fence waiting for their child to finish the day.
  Familia ~ you can feel it!

  As I wrote before, Ambres mother Eleanor came with us, she is 70 and as mean as a lap cat. Quite possibly the sweetest woman in the world and I love her something fierce. I also love that we came up with the idea of taking her to dirt road MX and in her quiet voice she said 'yes'. 4 plane rides round trip, I have no idea how many customs searches, a shuttle van from the airport to get the rental car that I drove all over the place without incident (but there were a few 'close' calls) up and down some of the snarkiest roads I have ever seen, u turns, a few 'I have no idea where are' occasions - and when I took Eleanor to the airport to fly back to Boise she still gave me a hug and a kiss and thanked me for taking care of her, and said she had a wonderful time.  Gonna break my arm patting myself on the back.

  Todos Santos is a very small town, most of the roads are not paved and pretty rough. Dry arroyos cross most of the roads. There are 2 distinct parts of Todos Santos joined by a rough road that passes through the orchard / grove area. When we first arrived I was pretty sure we were completely lost when we drove through the grove. It is the only road connecting the 2 sides of town.

  The Playa's

  As I said earlier, there are beautiful remote beaches everywhere - most require an adventurous drive down a dirt road and a leap of faith that you are heading the right way. But the reward is well worth the effort.
  We visited Cerritos playa and it was easily the most crowded beach we visited. Between the bar, surfers, and people sun bathing there was probably 50 people in view. Crazy crowded.

The surfing in Todos Santos area is AMAZING! It probably isn't as swimmer friendly as other areas but the surf is top notch.
  The water temperature this time of year is pretty cool (high 60's to low 70's) May is the coolest water time of year - in fall and winter the water temp gets well in the 80's.
 Another very wonderful surprise is the weather, mid 80's everyday with nights dipping into the 60's. For several weeks prior to the trip I had been checking the weather with an app on my phone and was a little concerned as it showed high 90's everyday with many days in the triple digits - The app was mistakenly quoting the temps in La Paz (about an hour and a half away on the sea of Cortez) and known for being wickedly hot. The friends we made in town told us that only in mid summer does it get 'hot' mid 90's are common in August but the rest of the year it stays moderate with a nice offshore breeze.
  The desert landscape looks far more inhospitable than it actually is & being from WA I love the cacti.

  Ambre and I went fishing 1 day. Our captain, Manuel met us at Playa Punta Lobos early in the morning and  we had a great morning on the water. The fishing was really good, we caught a bunch of Bonito and I caught a Puffer Fish. We kept 2 of the Bonito for dinner and let the captain keep the others and Puffer Fish to sell. The ceviche we made was incredible.

  Now for the description of panga fishing in BCS - there are no harbors or piers outside of Cabo or La Paz so the boats are launched directly into the surf in a very interesting manner that is second only to landing the boat by driving full speed through the surf and up on to the beach in what Ambre called "Fricking James Bond style"
I named these Pelicans but in true style can't remember who they are

  La Paz Cathedral

We drove to La Paz one morning to visit a few of the sites. The drive across the baja is pretty spectacular with it's desert mountains and amazing scenery. We didn't stay in La Paz very long as it was hotter than .......!
 and a pretty big city with crazy traffic and not the scene I enjoy, but the beaches were commercially picturesque 

Random Todos Santos Photos...

We spent the remainder or the trip relaxing, eating amazing food and soaking in the wonderful environment.

If you have read this far 'Thank You' I am not a functional writer and appreciate your patience - hopefully the photographs make it tolerable.

La Esquina! (Translation:  The Corner)
Coffee shop containing quite possibly the best cup of coffee I have ever had in addition to great food.
A quote from our first morning -
Ambre - "I would like a muffin"
Coffee girl - "They just came out of the oven, can you wait 3 minutes for them to cool?"
Ambre - "Ummm YEAH!"

Shot from the inside of La Esquina

My BABY! I Love You Ambre!

Tulum, Q Roo, Mexico 4/3/2012 thru 4/10/2012

 Ambre and I traveled to Tulum, MX on April 3rd for a little vacation time, sun and sand. The winter and fake spring we have been having in western WA had me feeling like I might develop Scurvy from lack of vitamin D.
  We rented a car in Cancun from Easy Way Car Rental (highly recommend them) and drove south to Tulum.
Only in Mexico does the rental car company give you a beer to drink while filling out paperwork!

The rental car was a Hyundai Atos, I had never seen one before and it was pretty small but was perfect for driving in MX. Lets just say the other drivers are aggressive. 

 We stayed at El Jardin de Frida at the south end of town. It is a mix of hostel style bunk rooms and a few private rooms with a full kitchen and bath. We opted for the private room and it was wonderful. 

    The balcony of our room is just behind the sign. Their garden in the back is absolutely beautiful and they grow much of the fruit that is put out for breakfast everyday. In true mexican style everything is painted in bright colors with eclectic statues and figures everywhere. 

   And then there is Frida. The hostel name means Fridas Garden. She is a lucky dog with a pretty nice life.

  Tulum is pretty hot, it was well in the mid 80's everyday and we loved it, but coming from 40's and raining it took a little time to get used to it. Our room did have an 'Air Conditioner'. I put it in quotes because it is not an AC unit like we have in the states. In order to cool the air you pour ice water into the unit and it blows slightly cooled air. There was a night or 2 that I was wishing for a good old energy guzzling US air conditioner, but it is perfect for their eco mindset and we appreciated that they care.
  What to do during the heat of the day? Beach beach beach!

Tulum is known for its beautiful beaches and crystal clear water. It did not disappoint! Our first day on the beach we wandered toward the cliffs to see what we could find. 

I am sure if you live in a tropical area Iguanas are common, but it was a treat for me. 

  As we explored along the cliffs a municipal police officer began flagging us down. His english wasn't very good and my spanish sucks, but I managed to understand that we were trespassing on a federal marine base! Oops, day 1 in Mexico and I am already in trouble. He was nice and only took my name down, no more Mexican jails for me :P

  After being reprimanded by the police it was time for some shade and cerveza. We found a nice little beach bar with comfy chairs in the sand! All good bars have sand floors! 

We ended up frequenting this place a few times over the weeks, the cervezas were cheap and cold and the people watching was top quality. 

We nick named this guy 'Yoga Steve' There is probably only 1 log on the whole beach and he decided to do his yoga standing on it wearing a banana hammock. Fortunately it was right in front of us, unfortunately I missed the picture of a girl walking up and sitting on the log he is standing on while he is performing. 

We went snorkeling @ Akumal Bay, the reef just off shore from this beach, and in several Cenotes. 

  The cenotes were incredible. Look Here They are underground rivers with amazing caves and formations. the water is crystal clear and cool. A perfect way to cool off in the heat of the day.

There are adjoining caverns everywhere. I explored as much as I could on a lung full of air, the depth is very hard to judge because of how clear the water is. 

Akumal Bay was quite a bit more commercial and touristy than everywhere else we went, but the reef was in good shape and there were fish everywhere. This is an Ambre fish! 

A short 40 minute drive took us to the Mayan ruin at Coba. It was a little bit of a hike in the steamy mangrove jungle but well worth the effort. Even though the ruins at Coba aren't as big as Tikal, they are older with many small temples scattered throughout the jungle with 2 grand temples. I hiked up to the top of one 

  The temples are very tall and steep with big uneven steps, they had a rope / handrail / chicken line running up the middle. I think I was more afraid of other people falling into me than the heights. It has always amazed me that the Mayans were short, but the steps are huge. Probably because they had to cut the rock by hand and carry it up there - bigger rocks equals fewer trips? 

  The plants and flowers around the ruins are as impressive as the ruins themselves.

 We also visited a couple Cenotes in the Coba area. Wow! These were holes in the ground with long steep staircases into a huge cavern with stalactites and stalagmites. Again the water was gin clear and cool, a perfect way to cool off from a jungle hike. The second cenote had a diving platform on the stairs about 6-7 meters high. It was so cool to dive from. One of my favorite parts for sure. 

  On the drive back to Tulum we stopped at a couple little shops for some pottery and honey. Ambre asked the kid at the honey shop if he ever got stung. 

Tulum is a very cool little city, it is not resorty in any way. When we were driving to the beach we picked up several locals that were hitchhiking, they told us that none of the resorts on the beach have electricity, they run on generators and only 3 have AC. It is an old town that is gaining popularity because of the beaches, but it is struggling to keep up. Personally I hope it stays small just like it is now. 

  If you ever find yourself in Tulum YOU MUST EAT AT POLLO BRONCO in the picture below. Open pit wood grilled chicken. So damn good!