| Pages:
1
2 |
lindsay
Nomad
Posts: 189
Registered: 9-9-2003
Member Is Offline
|
|
Alone but not Lonely...Favorite Solo Moments
Since I'm alone at the English school right now and watching the sunset over La Jolla from my office, I thought that I would see who wants to share
their favorite or memorable alone in Baja California moments. The topic came to mind because so often we are not really alone with ourselves for any
significant time. Even when we are by ourselves, there are still other forces around us to keep us company...the computer, the TV, the radio, etc.
During my first year in Mulege, I learned a little about really being by myself with few other distractions but those of nature. For my first few
months, I lived in a friend's palapa at the front of the Bay of Concepcion with my Mexican colleague, who helped me with the high school students that
were training to be guides at the town's museum. In December, he went to work up at Laguna San Ignacio for the whale season so I was living "la vida
sola" at the palapa. The property, known as Villas de Mulege, had just a few residents and their homes were set several hundred yards away from my
friend's palapa which was the last one at the northern end of the beach (said palapa is sadly but a memory now due to one of the hurricanes taking it
out a few years ago but that is another story).
Anyway, living out at this palapa was quite an adventure because you really felt all alone with nature...the sea just in front of you as your
frontyard and the desert landscape behind for the backyard running up to the highway.
The soundtrack of this setting did take some getting used to at times. I remember various nights where instead of being jarred from a deep sleep by
some piercing car alarm or roaring engine, as is sometimes the case at home in La Jolla, I would awaken, at bit disoriented, to the sounds of barking
seals flopping in the water in front of the palapa, coyotes calling out from the desert or the hypnotic rhythm of dolphins surfacing for air. I may
have grown up in a San Diego beachtown but I never lived on the beach, per se, and being surrounded by nature as I was on the Bay of Concepcion was a
truly unique opportunity.
Other favorite solo but not alone adventures included skipping rocks on the bay and having seagulls think that some tasty fish were breaking the
surface...a new breed of "rockfish" for them. Walking the old parts of Highway 1 which ran through part of the property was another wonderful
exploration...sometimes with ospreys above calling out to each other or just enjoying the changing colors of the hills as the late day sun hit them.
Last but not least, as I'm sure many nomads would agree, the full moon rising over the water is a visual that is just spectacular.
So, those are just a few of my solo moments...look forward to hearing some of your's! 
|
|
|
Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
Member Is Offline
Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
|
|
very nice story thanks. why did you ever leave?
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
 |
|
|
FrankO
Nomad
Posts: 301
Registered: 11-10-2002
Location: Ocean Beach
Member Is Offline
|
|
I think one of my favorite moments is when the sun isn't up yet but is lightening the sky and the air is in the 80's, the water is glass and I'm on it
all alone on my boat heading out........
Union thug.
|
|
|
Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
Member Is Offline
|
|
After a big blow, when the calm returns to our little village I do a little walkabout to see what damage we have sustained. Before noon I can tell if
we are once again isolated, the village cutoff by ruined roads and arroyos that now run like rivers in freshette. There is an eerie silence -- the
trees have all been pruned and the leaves, fronds are shredded making odd green mounds here and there. The whole town begins to wonder just how long
we will be alone together -- about the third day when we all start to run out of food and patience all the ladies stop in the streets to chat and
theorize about when the roads will open, service trucks will once again be heard lumbering through the streets, empty store shelves will once again be
stocked, life will return to normal.
|
|
|
Don Jorge
Senior Nomad
Posts: 638
Registered: 8-29-2003
Member Is Offline
|
|
Alone but not lonely
When I have been out in the back country for a few days and I find a faint trail. When climbing up and around and down into water courses gone dry
except for few tinajas still holding stagnant but life giving water.
I am especially alone but not lonely when I stumble upon a pictograph and stone tools from a people who managed to eek out an existence in a land
which for long cycles has not much eeking in it.
As Craig Childs said, topography is found between the lines.
�And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry
years. It was always that way.�― John Steinbeck
"All models are wrong, but some are useful." George E.P. Box
"Nature bats last." Doug "Hayduke" Peac-ck
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64479
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
Much like Don Jorge, I seek out the past in Baja. I try to imagine what was happening when I am at an old mine, mission, or cave art site. Searching
for and hiking on the Camino Real is a thrill to me. Also, walking up a white sand arroyo, through boojum covered hills... you can't beat it.
|
|
|
KurtG
Super Nomad
Posts: 1201
Registered: 1-27-2004
Location: California Central Coast
Member Is Offline
Mood: Press On Regardless!!
|
|
My most memorable solo experience was camping alone on the rugged Pacific coast south of Punta Canoas. I was on a rocky point with views for many
miles up and down the coast and had seen no one else while out there. After dark there was a comet out to the west, I forget the name, and a full
moon rising behind me. As the moon came up I realized there was a change in the moonlight and turned around to see a partial lunar eclipse. Sitting
there totally alone with that spectacular display was just incredible and maybe just a little spooky. Not a sound except for the surf below me
crashing on the rocks.
|
|
|
lindsay
Nomad
Posts: 189
Registered: 9-9-2003
Member Is Offline
|
|
Great Posts Everyone
I've enjoyed reading all of your memories of various experiences and you have transported me back to Baja California as I'm at the English school in
San Diego again this morning. Osprey, which town do you live in if you don't mind me asking?? Bruce, thanks for your kind comments and I left Mulege
because unfortunately the funding for the project that I was doing in Mulege at the museum ran out. We had a collaboration with the San Diego Natural
History Museum but our funding was mostly through private donors. Now I return twice a year so Sara can visit her dad and relatives in Mulege but down
the road I could see myself back in Mulege. I really enjoyed my classes with the high school students so we'll see what the future brings.
Thanks again everyone for sharing some of your experiences.
|
|
|
burro bob
Nomad
Posts: 264
Registered: 3-15-2004
Location: Poblado del Ejido Plan National Agrario
Member Is Offline
|
|
Almost all my hiking and camping trips are solo. My favorite solo experience was a week long float trip down the Green River in Utah.
Here in Baja I ocassionaly take people to some of my favorite spots but usually it is just me and my dogs. Many of my Mexican friends are sure that
some day I will be eaten by a mountain lion. I can think of worse ways to go. I know I get more respect from the other ranchers out there because I am
"brave " enough to go alone. I don't need a caravan of other vehicles to make it back. There is a greater thrill of danger, when you are solo, and
find mountain lion tracks on top of your own tracks from the day before.
When I am solo I see more and hear more and cover a lot more ground. I don't have to have inane conversations about subjects I don't care about,
although after a few days alone I do start to talk to my self ( I only argue with the dogs). A lot of people I know can't be alone for any serious
length of time. Maybe they can't deal with just their own thoughts.
Going solo is only part of the equation though. I like the feeling of discovery I get when I find something that no one told me about. I am not so
nieve to think that I am the first to find a pool or a site but the thrill of discovery is very intense. I also like to go in relatively ignorant. I
study maps before I go but seldom carry any with me.
I have never written down any of David's gps coordinates. I am sure someday I'll be real sorry when I get to a fork in the road and am low on gas,
that I didn't, but even that detracts from the experience for me.
I don't have a death wish or anything. I am comfortable with my outdoor skills. I don't take any needless risks when I am solo. In general I feel it
is safer being alone in the canyons than being alone in a big city.
burro bob
|
|
|
Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
|
|
Lindsay, I just wanted you to know that I enjoy this tread you started very much. I am a loner by nature, have been for many years now. Anyway, I have
too much to say about being alone to address this today, but I did want you to know that I very much indentified with most everyone has to say on the
subject so far, anyway. Thanks, Sara
[Edited on 6-29-2005 by Eli]
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64479
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by burro bob
Almost all my hiking and camping trips are solo. My favorite solo experience was a week long float trip down the Green River in Utah.
Here in Baja I ocassionaly take people to some of my favorite spots but usually it is just me and my dogs. Many of my Mexican friends are sure that
some day I will be eaten by a mountain lion. I can think of worse ways to go. I know I get more respect from the other ranchers out there because I am
"brave " enough to go alone. I don't need a caravan of other vehicles to make it back. There is a greater thrill of danger, when you are solo, and
find mountain lion tracks on top of your own tracks from the day before.
When I am solo I see more and hear more and cover a lot more ground. I don't have to have inane conversations about subjects I don't care about,
although after a few days alone I do start to talk to my self ( I only argue with the dogs). A lot of people I know can't be alone for any serious
length of time. Maybe they can't deal with just their own thoughts.
Going solo is only part of the equation though. I like the feeling of discovery I get when I find something that no one told me about. I am not so
nieve to think that I am the first to find a pool or a site but the thrill of discovery is very intense. I also like to go in relatively ignorant. I
study maps before I go but seldom carry any with me.
I have never written down any of David's gps coordinates. I am sure someday I'll be real sorry when I get to a fork in the road and am low on gas,
that I didn't, but even that detracts from the experience for me.
I don't have a death wish or anything. I am comfortable with my outdoor skills. I don't take any needless risks when I am solo. In general I feel it
is safer being alone in the canyons than being alone in a big city.
burro bob |
The GPS thing is more of a techno fun gizmo to play with... I obviously got to the many Baja places without it, but it is the future of road
navigation... So, for fun or navigation, I record the waypoints of places I visit. It is just a different way to navigate, instead of using the
odometer... plus it works when you leave the car and go for a hike.
No secrets are revealed in any of the waypoints on my GPS web page... If the things didn't exist, then I would give a list of milage directions to the
places I visit... like I did in my first two travel guides.
David K's Baja GPS List
|
|
|
TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
Member Is Offline
|
|
I'm not often alone in my travels in Baja but when I am I like the solitude. I enjoy very much the time it allows to think or even day dream of what
ever pops into the mind, or to work out some problem or task. I too enjoy the very early morning hours just before daylight. When I camp alone I like
to relax with a great view of the stars and see what may pass in night.
|
|
|
woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15937
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
|
|
six months outta high school. first time out and no one else around except for my best bro, the photog. the shark wouldn't bite and the bee wouldn't
sting....
|
|
|
Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
|
|
Alone, but not lonely
I sit in my office alone, but, unlike the other offices in my past that were composed of cubicles and stale air conditioning, this one has a window
looking out to the ocean.
And I am never really alone.
Ravens fly in acrobatic loops overhead, pelicans glide by in their geometrically precise formations, egrets stand on the lawn in rigid formations that
imitate statuary.
Lizards climb the columns of the patio to bask in the sun and freshly born, brash ground squirrels skitter right up to the house and peer in the
windows, looking for something to eat.
Occasionally, dolphins or whales go by. When that happens, I take a break from my struggle to put words together in an order that is right and good
and I run to watch and celebrate them.
The greatest gift of my alone but not lonely life was when I looked up from my monitor to see a wounded peregrine falcon sitting on our wall.
He was missing some flight and tail feathers. He watched intensely, stalking the pigeons nesting on the cliff. For several days, he returned,
sustaining himself on the relatively easy access to sources of food.
Each time he appeared, I scrambled for binoculars and camera.
When he disappeared, I wondered about him, what had happened? Then, next season, a juvenile falcon appeared on the same spot on the wall. He hunted
for a few days and then disappeared as well.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
|
|
|
Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3326
Registered: 12-13-2002
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow
|
|
Once, I think it was in 1980, I was with my family at Punta San Francisquito and it was very early in the morning. Everybody else was still asleep.
The morning was beautiful and the water was glassy calm. I loaded my scuba and underwater photo equipment into my Metzeler inflatable and headed out
alone towards the first point south of the crescent beach. I had hopes of making an easy dive in about 40-50fsw looking for small critters
(nudibranchs, eels, gobies) that I knew hung out in that area. I found the spot, cut the engine, dropped anchor, hung my camera over the side on a
line, suited up, and rolled backward over the side. I unsnapped the camera from the line, and headed down my anchor line. I checked the anchor and
made sure it was secure (pretty important when you're alone), and headed out over the bouldery bottom in good visibility at about 50fsw looking for
stuff to photograph. Even though it was early in the morning there was plenty of light, and I started finding some nudibranchs that I had never seen
before. As I was setting up the photo, all of a sudden everything went dark, like an eclipse. Startled at first, I looked up and saw one of the most
amazing and beautiful things I have ever seen underwater. I was directly under a school of THOUSANDS of mobulas. The school extended as far as I
could see in every direction. They literally covered the entire surface above me. They are pelagic rays, closely related to the big pacific mantas,
but smaller (about 6-8 ft wingspans). They are the rays that are commonly seen jumping - the larger true Pacific mantas rarely if ever do that. They
were cruising just under the surface, about 40 ft above me. They seemed to be flapping their "wings" in synch, almost touching, moving slowly but
with purpose from north to south, as if they were one animal. I was mesmerized. I sat on the bottom, leaned back on my elbows, and simply watched in
awe as the entire school passed. It took at least five minutes. They were sooo graceful, peaceful, and beautiful. Naturally the 105mm macro lens
was useless so the event is recorded only in my mind, but it will never be forgotten. When the trailing edge of the school passed I watched them
disappear into the limits of horizontal visibility. I have subsequently seen a few large schools moving together topside from boats, but the
opportunity to see them from below was pure magic. I was alone but definitely not lonely. I just wish I could have recorded it photographically.
Words don't do it justice.
++Ken++
|
|
|
TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
Member Is Offline
|
|
Ken what is the largest shark you've seen while under water and how close was he.
|
|
|
Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
Member Is Offline
Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
|
|
The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself.
Mark Twain
(1835 - 1910)
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
|
|
|
Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3326
Registered: 12-13-2002
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow
|
|
TW
The largest shark I have ever seen underwater was a whale shark, about 40 ft long, touching distance. Other than whale sharks, the largest shark I
have seen would have been hammerheads. I have seen them schooling by the hundreds in several locations, the Sea of Cortez, the Galapagos, and Cocos
Island in Costa Rica. The largest was probably about 12 feet long, and although they are very shy, I have gotten within a few feet of them on several
occasions. The most aggressive sharks I have encountered are silkies. They are a little smaller (6-8 ft) but they are very curious and have bumped
me with their snouts several times and I have pushed them away with fins or cameras many times. I have seen large blue sharks in California (8-10ft)
but that has always been when I was in a cage. There are generally thought to be four truly dangerous sharks, white, tiger, bull, and oceanic
whitetip. Of those four the only one I have seen is the oceanic whitetip, and that was from some distance (probably 30-40ft).
++Ken++
|
|
|
rpleger
Super Nomad
Posts: 1087
Registered: 3-12-2005
Location: H. Mulegé, BCS
Member Is Offline
Mood: Was good.
|
|
lindsay,
I missed seeing you on your last trip down even tho you were staying in Marybell`s rental unit.
You are a very good writer and express yourself well.
Hope to see you on your next trip.
Richard on the Hill
*ABROAD*, adj. At war with savages and idiots. To be a Frenchman abroad is to
be miserable; to be an American abroad is to make others miserable.
-- Ambrose Bierce, _The Enlarged Devil\'s Dictionary_
|
|
|
jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4863
Registered: 2-2-2003
Member Is Offline
|
|
most all of my trips
have been made solo. With the exception of the dogs. Most memorable was from San Evaristo to Santa Rita. 2 wheel drive van, no information on the
route available, and pueblos spaced far enough apart and off the beaten track to have actually caused a little concern on my part.
beat the heck out of ourselves, (the dogs) met some incredible folks in the pueblos/ranchos and made it out ok.
there are many sories of my "alone"trips at http://groups.msn.com/TheBajasBestGuidesPhotoAlbum
Freezer with cold beer and ice cream, tv/vcr to view the days photos, and them dogs, heck, who needs more company than that?
[Edited on 6/29/2005 by jrbaja]
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
2 |
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
