Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, BCS
Water is the hidden treasure of Baja California. Here is a peninsula hundreds of miles long with towns and cities spaced so far from each other they almost seem to be islands in this parched land; far flung settlements whose placement was determined by a fortunate find of fresh water. The Sierra de la Laguna, a string of mountains we could see to the north of us, are biological islands. Pine trees can be found in the higher elevations; the trees are botanical remnants of cooler periods of time and are now stranded on their moist island mountaintops.
From these mountains came the water we followed as we explored the estuary in San Jose del Cabo. A sinuous trickle of water weaved between the golden toes of snowy egrets, around the bubble-gum pink legs of black-necked stilts and past the probing beaks of long-billed dowitchers. We found a plethora of feathered treasures such as the sora rail, several of which paraded out in the open, oblivious to the literature stating they should have been skulking in the reeds as well as a zone-tailed hawk, doing its best imitation of a soaring turkey vulture.
Treasures can be small and simple things; it depends greatly on your own perspective. In a land of sun, sand, cactus, and rock, a trickle of cool, clear water can be a gleaming jewel.
Water is the hidden treasure of Baja California. Here is a peninsula hundreds of miles long with towns and cities spaced so far from each other they almost seem to be islands in this parched land; far flung settlements whose placement was determined by a fortunate find of fresh water. The Sierra de la Laguna, a string of mountains we could see to the north of us, are biological islands. Pine trees can be found in the higher elevations; the trees are botanical remnants of cooler periods of time and are now stranded on their moist island mountaintops.
From these mountains came the water we followed as we explored the estuary in San Jose del Cabo. A sinuous trickle of water weaved between the golden toes of snowy egrets, around the bubble-gum pink legs of black-necked stilts and past the probing beaks of long-billed dowitchers. We found a plethora of feathered treasures such as the sora rail, several of which paraded out in the open, oblivious to the literature stating they should have been skulking in the reeds as well as a zone-tailed hawk, doing its best imitation of a soaring turkey vulture.
Treasures can be small and simple things; it depends greatly on your own perspective. In a land of sun, sand, cactus, and rock, a trickle of cool, clear water can be a gleaming jewel.
