DAY THIRTEEN

Well today was something completely different. We were getting cabin fever (Tijuana style), stuck in our rooms. So we hired a taxi, manned by Manny, our Mexican cabbie who speaks English well, and headed out for Rosarita Beach.

 The ride out and back was very interesting. Mexico is a place of great disparity, and a lot of poverty. This experience has actually made me a fan of zoning bylaws. You often see homes which are obviously very very expensive, right next to slums and vacant lots full of garbage. There are nice neighbourhoods too, but very few. Also, in a newer area, we saw rows and rows of exactly identical tract housing. I guess it's good to have good housing, but it reminded me very much about that old folk song (Pete Seeger or Woodie Guthrie, for those of you who are older), that talks about "and they're all made of ticky-tacky, and they all look just the same." Anyway, Chris told me long ago that when you travel internationally, you ought not criticize, but simply observe. So I'm observing :-)

When we got to Rosarito, the cab dropped us off near the beach and we walked down to the sand. It was mostly deserted, except for a few stands where people were serving various kinds of drinks, and sliced up fruit. There is no social safety net, so people do whatever they have to do to put bread (tacos?) on the table. I'm sure family is very much more important here, of necessity.

Anyway, we walked down the beach and watched a couple of guys surfing. Not great surf, but the ocean is always awe inspiring, to me at least. The power, the beauty, the massive strength - unbelievable. Anyway, then we went and checked out a giant pier, that goes way out into the water and is very high (I think Ev has a picture or two). It connects back to a hotel, where there was a wedding going on (they wrap their chairs in that white stuff, like in Canada). We skirted the wedding and checked out the hotel. It was connected to a "condo hotel" which looked really neat from outside, but really only had a small lobby/sales area, and otherwise was just rooms, rooms, rooms, with nothing that a hotel would normally have inside. I guess they did have a pool and lawns (all greeen, of course), and some recreation stuff, all of which was pretty well deserted.

Our highlight of the day was to rent a couple of quads (Yamadog 125's), which we raced up and down about a mile of mostly deserted beach. We really did have a blast. It was Ev's first time on a quad - figure he's a convert. We did high speed runs, then lots of donuts, and near the end realized that on the landward rim of the beach there were some semi-trails which you could race around. We just went for a half-hour, and that was enough. It was starting to get boring; the mountains are lots more fun!

We then ate in a very interesting restaurant. We wanted lobster, and had been told they would have it, but they didn't, so we had different seafood (shrimp and some sort of flat fish, bass?), and it was good. I think Ev has pictures of that too.

Then a taxi ride home, and a 2 hour nap, and some phone calls, and again it's almost time for bed. Big day tomorrow.

God bless you all,

Love, Grant