Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur
A very calm ocean ride took us from Magdalena Bay to Cabo San Lucas last night. To our delight, as we approached the legendary arch at Land’s End, we were greeted by tons of marine birds (pelicans, frigate birds and cormorants) and some sea lions. The birds were soaring, taking advantage of the warm current that was ascending above the ochre-colored rocks. The sea lions were barking, attempting to catch any sun they could from the cloudy sky. In the middle of the harbor we also saw the remnants of the old cannery that was destroyed by a flood some decades ago; it’s hard to believe that at the beginning of the century Cabo San Lucas was only a small village of less than 500 inhabitants!
After breakfast we conducted our planned activities: some of us went for a refreshing snorkeling adventure, others went birding and still others preferred to hike, having their first encounters with the Sonoran desert vegetation. And what an encounter it was, hikers saw cardon cactus, galloping cactus, ocotillo, copal, elephant trees, jimsonweeds, and several beautiful western sycamores! They were fortunate enough to observe the endemic Xantus’ hummingbird, gray thrasher and Belding’s yellowthroat, and a hooded oriole perched on a bush (framed by a whale blow in the ocean background). California quails were also present very close to an escaping black-tailed jackrabbit.
Later in the day we convened for a hike through town. Silver (of course) and other things, including a beautiful hand-woven cotton blouse, were the result of fine shopping. For many of us, the highlight of the expedition were ornaments handmade from agave paper worked ornaments, found among the commercial stuff. In fact, as our naturalists explained, the ancient native Mexicans used (and they still use) to extract fiber from the agaves or century plants and from the inner part of the fig tree bark to make paper. With this paper, as well as with deer skin, they made Codices or Painted Books in which they depicted images of animals, plants, abstract designs and symbols for numbers and letters to leave testimony of their history, the counting of the days, years or dates, the tributes, the laws, and many other important things for their lives. Both the agave and wild fig species are present on the peninsula of Baja California.
To end up our busy day, several humpback whales were found in our journey to the Sea of Cortez. They were intensely diving and breathing strongly, changing direction abruptly and taking large “chunks” of water with their impressive mouths. Apparently they were trying to intimidate each other, practicing for the real competition of reproduction...
A very calm ocean ride took us from Magdalena Bay to Cabo San Lucas last night. To our delight, as we approached the legendary arch at Land’s End, we were greeted by tons of marine birds (pelicans, frigate birds and cormorants) and some sea lions. The birds were soaring, taking advantage of the warm current that was ascending above the ochre-colored rocks. The sea lions were barking, attempting to catch any sun they could from the cloudy sky. In the middle of the harbor we also saw the remnants of the old cannery that was destroyed by a flood some decades ago; it’s hard to believe that at the beginning of the century Cabo San Lucas was only a small village of less than 500 inhabitants!
After breakfast we conducted our planned activities: some of us went for a refreshing snorkeling adventure, others went birding and still others preferred to hike, having their first encounters with the Sonoran desert vegetation. And what an encounter it was, hikers saw cardon cactus, galloping cactus, ocotillo, copal, elephant trees, jimsonweeds, and several beautiful western sycamores! They were fortunate enough to observe the endemic Xantus’ hummingbird, gray thrasher and Belding’s yellowthroat, and a hooded oriole perched on a bush (framed by a whale blow in the ocean background). California quails were also present very close to an escaping black-tailed jackrabbit.
Later in the day we convened for a hike through town. Silver (of course) and other things, including a beautiful hand-woven cotton blouse, were the result of fine shopping. For many of us, the highlight of the expedition were ornaments handmade from agave paper worked ornaments, found among the commercial stuff. In fact, as our naturalists explained, the ancient native Mexicans used (and they still use) to extract fiber from the agaves or century plants and from the inner part of the fig tree bark to make paper. With this paper, as well as with deer skin, they made Codices or Painted Books in which they depicted images of animals, plants, abstract designs and symbols for numbers and letters to leave testimony of their history, the counting of the days, years or dates, the tributes, the laws, and many other important things for their lives. Both the agave and wild fig species are present on the peninsula of Baja California.
To end up our busy day, several humpback whales were found in our journey to the Sea of Cortez. They were intensely diving and breathing strongly, changing direction abruptly and taking large “chunks” of water with their impressive mouths. Apparently they were trying to intimidate each other, practicing for the real competition of reproduction...
