Baja racing

Oh, here's one last shot from Carnival with friends Don and Susie from mv Neshama.





Our marina is owned and operated by the Abaroa family, as is the marina next to us. This family is involved in other activities in addition to their marinas and boatyards. Some, are only rumors, while others, like the racing, are totally for real.



The man in this photo with his son is Louis, the manager of our marina, and winning driver of the number 21 car. At least twice a week, they bring this car out of the garage (in the marina next to us) and run the engine. All I can say is wow! this is the real deal. I've always loved the sound of big horsepower revving, and we get to hear it on a regular basis. Scott, I'll try to get a photo of this rig with the body panels off - at an estimated 400K, it is impressive.




I just assumed that these cars (there are two brothers, two cars) ran in races like the Baja 1000 and that there was nothing to go and watch. But one day, I asked Louis about that and he lit up and told me about a race that was being run just outside of La Paz on the coming Sunday.

(Check out Claudia's hair)

So, we loaded the van with folks and beer and were off to the races. We drove just a couple miles out of the City and then about three more miles into the desert on sand through a ranch to the staging area you see in the photos.


Once again, the camera can only do so much, but the sight was really impressive. Thousands of people had gathered in the dusty sand. If you can imagine a bowl, maybe 3/4 of a mile across, with tents, trailers, and motorhomes lining about 1/2 of the perimeter two tiers high, I think it would be close. The cars run in the bowl on a track sort of like a motocross, then they run out into the desert for six or eight miles before returning to the bowl. That makes one lap of a five lap race. We could only see the dust once they were outside the bowl, but it was still pretty exciting.

A good time was had by all!

And Now For Your Viewing Pleasure . . Dolphin Stampede

CARNIVAL 2010

Claudia and I have always enjoyed fairs. From the Minnesota State fair to all the little County fairs we've lived near, you could count on us to be there. For me, the attraction was almost certainly the rides. And lucky for me, when C began losing interest in carnival rides, our daughter Kristen was happy to take over her place. She even got me on the roller coaster at New York, New York in Las Vegas a few years ago. Whew! That one might be my last. But I was wishing she were here in La Paz last week during Carnival.











The big attraction ride was the one in this photo. Since I couldn't get the whole thing into a decent picture, you'll just have to imagine.......... a very sturdy base (yellow) probably fifty feet tall, supporting the center of a ninety foot long boom, which had a "car" at each end with seats for four suck, uh, people. It didn't have to spin around many times to give folks quite a ride!


And just to show that the Mexicans do have a sense of humor, check out the life sized statue . I'd have gone on this with Kristen anyway.



I've been trying to come up with a one word description of Carnival, but it's not easily done. First of all, it runs for the six days before Ash Wednesday, which I believe begins the 40 days of lent. So it comes from religion, but it certainly doesn't seem religious.



It's also BIG. They close down about a mile and a half of the main drag through La Paz, which runs along the Malecon. Remember, the Malecon is the wide ornate ceramic and concrete sidewalk
that borders the water in a coastal Mexican city.
In La Paz, it's about 6 or 7 miles long, with palm trees and benches and sculptures, a wonderful place where families and young people hang out. Anyway, then they fill all this space with booths and rolling carts and walking vendors and sound stages. Hats, shoes, food of every variety, beer, blankets, Mickey Mouse ears, masks, jewelry, and the usual carnival junk and games of chance, and music.







Then there are the parades. Actually, one parade, done three times. The first day it runs from South to North. They leave the floats and stuff somewhere, and then the next evening the parade comes back South. And the next evening the whole thing moves back North. And each parade attracts a huge crowd to watch and cheer.








The mood is electric. Everyone is partying as though it's their last chance - actually, for many, it is, for forty days at least.




As the night moves along, the crowds keep growing. For us, about 10:30 is pretty late, and we still have a 20 minute walk back to the boat. It actually gets so crowded that in many places you can only move with the crowd. Too close for sure. And the headline music hasn't even begun yet!!





Which brings us to my final thought on the one word description. Try to imagine walking through this. On your right, a booth is selling pirated CD's and playing them through a sound system that would support a local band. LOUD. And it sounds pretty good - good old American rock and roll. Then, as you move along, you begin to hear the Mariachi band playing to your left on a sound stage and Peruvian pipes being broadcast from the next booth on your right. You just keep moving through this sea of sound for as long as you're there.

When one sound is dominant, it sounds pretty good. Otherwise, the word that comes to mind is cacophony. Pretty much just good old noise.

And even when we're back on Sojourner it isn't over because the main stage lights up with the headline group at 11:00. We are quite a distance away, but sound travels well over water - some sounds at least. We can here clearly the bass, boom boom boom. And if we wake up before 3:00 AM we can still hear it.

Then there are the girls of Carnival..........

Todos Santos

About midway between La Paz & Cabo San Lucas is a small town called Todos Santos. In its heyday it was the most fertile area of Baja California (southern part of the Baja) because of its abundant water supply from the Lajuna Mountains. It was home to eight sugar refineries & was covered with green palm trees and fruit trees. During the town's 100 year bonanza beautiful homes & buildings were built including an outdoor theater. However, a sudden loss of water from the mountains & a drop in sugar prices led to a collapse in the town's econony, & in 1950 it became a ghost town. The town slept for the next 30 years & the few remaining inhabitants devoted themselves to fishsing & agriculture to survive. Mysteriously, in 1981, the water returned & the land became fertile again. A two-lane highway was completed in 1984 & now the town was only an hour journey from Cabo or La Paz. In 1986 an internationally renown painter & sculptor settled in the town & started to promote the area as an artists colony. Sound interesting?? We thought so. So on my birthday we all packed into 2 cars & took off to check it out.

This pic is of the home that was originally the town's outdoor theater. The owners opened their home to us & gave us a tour explaining what was original & how they had changed the layout. Wow, it was magnificant. The pic directly above shows the area in purple that was the "screen" where they would shine the movie picture. Of course there were no plants or additional structures at that time. The pic above & to the left is part of their kitchen.

Part of the fascination of this town is the many old buildings, especially the doors, that have survived for so many years.

Here we have to goof around & just enjoy all the trouble we can get into as adults.

Lots of "galerias" from glass to copper to weaving to woodworking to jewelry to all the stuff inbetween.

The final bit of fun was traveling back home, finding a palapa along the road side where we could sit down to relax & have a cold one. We even got to see a show, Mexican style. These guys were transporting their donkey home when they had a flat tire.
Not a bad birthday. c