Got out of Dallas airport during our layover to meet some of our old friends for lunch…

Or was she drinking from two glasses at the same time?

… so as Mexicans do…

Mezcal done the authentic way – with naranja and sal con gusano!!!

We missed you Susmita!

After the first day enjoying the Pacific Ocean, today we decided to take a road trip out of the touristy places. Got a car and a friendly and knowledgeable driver – Hector – to take us to La Paz. This part of the country is total desert and mountains. Here is a shot from the moving car…

Pretty much a constant landscape once we moved away from the Pacific Ocean towards Mar De Cortes (Gulf of California).

(picture quality a little lower – taken from a moving car on the highway)

“What is that sign, senor?”
“A bull crossing”, explained Hector.

Two thoughts immediately went through my mind.
First – What did the cows do wrong not to deserve a sign of their own?
Second – If India were to put up signs for bull (or cow) crossing, would there be any space left to put other boards?

Switched over coasts and reached Mar De Cortes.
Beautiful blue waters. Very calm. And shallow. All shades of blue are here.

I remember it was green coconuts by the beach in Aruba for her. It is mango in Mexico!

This is Playa Tecolote
The mountainous island on the other side is Isla Espirito Santo (Island of the Spirit of the Saint?)

They even offered 2 for 1 !!

Hotel California !!
(As an aside, I reading up about this hotel – apparently, the Eagles have filed a lawsuit against them for using the name!!)

You see the gentleman crossing the road. He is clearly missing a leg. Now get this. He arrived at Todos Santos riding a motorbike!!

On our way back from Todos Santos to Cabo San Lucas, we drove along the Pacific Ocean. And were lucky enough to see a couple of whales playing around. This is quite some distance away but you can see one of the whales breaching the water surface.

This one was pretty friendly and came around our boat.

This beach is sandwiched between two humongous rocks (more like very big rocky hills). The name is Play del Amor, meaning Lover’s Beach. If you get down and keep walking, you will cross over to the other side and that is called Divorce Beach. And after that is the Pacific ocean. So, if the word “Pacific” was derived from Peace, you have a pretty good idea how to get there in life. Ha ha 🙂

There was a guy today peddling T-shirts that read “Stay calm. We are on the fun side of the wall”.

I wish I had taken a picture of it.

After this the Sea of Cortes (Gulf of California) and the Pacific Ocean become one.

If you can go thru the tunnel, the water you see on the other side is the Pacific Ocean..

Thousands of years of natural erosion has created this three stories tall arch. The rock itself is much older than the sea! The Sea of Cortez was formed about 5 million years back when the tectonic movement started pulling Baja California away from mainland Mexico. The rocks go back more than 100 million years before that!

Normally they sit around in the marina like old thinkers. This one was busily flying around looking for food.

… too busy for the important things.

along with custom made salsa…