No Lifeguard on Duty!

--We are on the Pacific Ocean side of the Baja peninsula just at the Tropic of Cancer, 23 1/2 degrees north latitude.  The water here is warm enough for swimming but dangerous except for one or two places.  The surf is rough and there is a rip tide.   In some places the beaches are steep and the waves crash right on the sand.  Ann's brother, J, and I went out at Las Palmas on a fairly calm day (see photo, Ann took this thinking this is the last she would see of us), and we got out a little ways we realized the waves were big and crashing right in front of us, pummeling us with white water.   We were glad to make it back to shore.  A couple of weeks later a man drowned at that same beach, he was pulled out past where the waves were breaking and couldn't get back in, the rip tide then pulled him over onto the rocks.

--There is a 6 mile or so stretch of beach between La Poza in Todos Santos and the surfer beach La Pastora where we go running or to watch the sunset/whales, and sometimes the water is very cam and inviting.  Some of the locals call this "killer Beach" so we have resisted the temptation to go in.  A year ago a long time resident and strong swimmer  drowned while swimming along this beach.  It would be interesting to see statistics on drownings in this area.

--There is one beach with a point break, Cerritos, which is good for surfing and swimming.

--Ann wants to go swimming with the whales when they come close to shore and has the idea of tying a rope to her waist, and I would be holding the end of the rope back on shore, so that if she drowns at least we would be able to recover her body!

Honey and Spiders

--This Locally produced honey ("where are the bees?","In the mountains") is sold at various mini-supers around town.  It comes in a large unlabeled plastic jar and is the color of reddish mahogany.  Ann thinks it has molasses or something added to it (she's not a fan), because it has a strong flavor and the consistency is runnier than regular honey.  It costs about 4 dollars for a quart sized jar, which seems pretty cheap, so maybe it is thinned with something cheap.

--Last night we had the BIGGEST spider either of us had ever seen (outside of a pet store or zoo), in our kitchen!   Ann let out a hearty scream.  We agree that it was 4 inches toe to toe. You can see it's eyes reflecting in the flash.   Catching it was out of the question.  Not knowing what kind of spider it was, we decided it couldn't live with us in the kitchen.  Poison in the form of a can of Raid was the weapon of choice; it was too big to hit with something or step on.

I gave it a good shot of Raid and it ran!  It scurried like a mouse behind the microwave then across the counter and I sprayed again, determined to make a quick end to it. I inadvertently sprayed the honey jar too.

After more scurrying and more spraying the beast was done in, but unfortunately so was the honey, all covered with oily poison.

The experience left us sad for the spider and what we did.  Looking at pictures of spiders later, it is hard to tell that it wasn't a brown recluse, though I don't know if they get that big.  That spider's bite causes a flesh melting wound and is especially serious for small children.

I will devote a future post to the critters we live with here, but I would like to say that most of our bugs are escorted peacefully outside with a few exceptions:  scorpions, large and fast centipedes, and now  overly large and scary looking spiders.

By the way, on our way back from baby turtle release the other night we came across a fat 5 foot long rattlesnake in the road (no photo, it moved quickly into the brush).  Everyone was impressed and stayed in the car!

Family Time

--Here we are at La Poza beach watching whales at sunset, a typical evening activity.

--We are starting the second half of our three month stay, and it seems like it has been a long time.  

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