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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
Member Is Offline
Mood: Optimistic
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THE BEGGAR OF CATAVINA
CATAVINA..land of giants, spas, and beggars.
I always know I'm halfway to my Baja destination when I drive into the small desert compound of Catavina.
For me, it's about 650 miles from the Tecate US/Mexico border to my driveway.
Once upon a time, a young child called this place the LAND OF THE GIANT ROCKS and I am reminded of that ever time I pass
through this scenic boulder field. Just seeing some boonjums again warms my heart with old memories.
Did you see this wash just north of town? I am also reminded of flash floods and when this arroyo's smooth stone bowls would be
full of fresh water...and we would swim in them for hours. Our spa. A rare luxury in the heat of the desert.
We have all come across this vado or dip in the road just a couple miles north of Catavina. One of the landmarks of the Baja Road
that was oftentimes flooded. At times we would take advantage of the running water and wash our rigs here. Safely over to the side
of course...no sense hogging the whole roadway, even though it was an hour or two between vehicles back then.
Some strange events happened to me at this bump in the Baja Road. Right there at the bottom of the vado, where a sharp trench cut by
the water made you slow way, way down...I crossed paths with an amigo I had just met the year before when he and his wife were camping in Coyote Bay.
He was traveling north and I was southbound. We pulled off into a wide spot and had lunch together, renewing our friendship, then finally continueing
on our separate ways. A welcome chance meeting of Baja Buddies.
The next year at about the same time I am headed north and who do I meet at the very same bump in the road? Si..the same fellow, who
is my amigo Pier. We were both totally amazed and decided to call it Dos Amigos Vado. That was over 30 years ago and we've met
almost every year since in other Baja places. Who knows when we will connect again at our vado?
Knowing us and how much we love Baja, I'd say the chances are pretty damn good.
I noticed a new addition to this area a few years back. Now DON'T ask me how many, I might say 2 when it was probably 12.. That new addition was.....
....a new tourism business...a museum, camping, and hiking trail enterprise.
Unfortunately when I passed by the last few times (NO, I don't know how many times!) the facility was in shambles. Looks
like Mother Nature batted last.
Once upon a time in Catavina we stayed at this pink motel & adjoining..uh, cafe. It was called Mi Cabana...My
Cabin.
Well, I really love cabins..grew up in them all over the Up North country. So I figured that with that name going for them, these
would be a welcome change to the never-any-hot water & no-electricity at the old El Presidentes, which became
Pintas, and now..you know, called something Desert or..?...wait, that's it, I think.."Desert Storms", right? I can
never quite keep up with all these name changes over the years.
My gal's mother and her nice cat-in-a-cage took one room, while we took the adjoining one. One look inside did not bring to mind any 'cabin' I had
ever stayed in Up North. A cell at a monastery would have more decor and appeal than this cement cubicle. The bed was a wobbly
narrow swayback with a threadbare blanket and one pillow. No sheets, no pillow case. Our furniture was an over-turned can with a half-burned candle
melted down on top. No matches. We DID have a window to escape through if a chupacabra or such busted down the 1/8" plywood door.
I heard a slight cry of alarm from the room next door.
I thought, 'That guy is not going to refund one centavo, soooo...'
I hauled in a big cooler full of Pacificos and Cokes, a bottle of Bacardi...and got some limes and chairs from the 'cafe.'
After 3 or 4 hours the rooms were not so bad. The cat had a bad hangover the next day.
.
NEED GAS?
Although this gasoline is muy caro it is for those emergencies when you have forgotten to top off your tank. You know you've done that,
right? Here I am getting about 5 gallons ... just in case. It's about 70 miles north to the next Pemex...and almost 100 to the south.
I really liked these remote Baja Road hotels when they were first built during the highway construction era...1972-73. Back then they were all
El Presidente Hotels and they were a welcome sight to weary travelers. Later this one became one of the Pintas, and now today of the
Desert Inns. Far more than being merely a place to rest and eat, the lounges became gathering spots for early Baja vets to share experiences of their
trip to date.
You always seemed to meet an old friend in the lounge..or meet a new one. You ran into some real 'characters' out here in the middle of the Baja
desert. Fun stuff around those evening bull sessions at the old Presidentes. A chance meeting with some Baja authors, or amiga Baja Patti, who I had
already met in Conception Bay. The tequila flowed that night! What stories she had..and what a love of horses and horsemen.
So many others get lost in the fog of my memory banks, faces you had seen somewhere before?, familiar rigs like the Tortuga out in the lot, more
amigos like JW Black aka Blackjack, an ex-girlfriend from Polson Lake (Hi Joyce! oh mama mia...), well..you get the idea. These were the kind of
places Baja-lovers would bivouac for the night, pulled together by that common bond, the love of this land a lot of us now call home.
And there are some Newer additions.....
Hold on a sec..thinking of 'Baja Characters' who hasn't passed through Catavina the last couple of years without being greeted by this unique guy.
The Beggar Of Catavina
"Gotta extra peso?"
For myself, I first ran across him sitting on the wall next to the highway pretty close to that little general store on the north edge of Catavina.
If you slow down enough he'll approach and ask for a small 'donation'..."gotta peso?" Give him a fewkh and then ask how he came to be in this lonely
stretch of real estate...You'll be truly amazed at the stories that will enfold!
After listening to just ONE of his explanations as to how he came to be here...I looked up an old photo online to check that story out for myself. I
dunno..he really doesn't look that much like 'BOY' in the old Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies. 'Sides, those movies are a mite
dated for his age, doncha-think?
'Andy' (a name he gave me one time) also invented the Frisbee and the Hula-Hoop. You gotta love him, though. He's part of what makes the Baja Road
so damn much fun!!
The last time I visited with Gottapeso was Sept 15 during one of my trips to Mulege after Hurricane Jimena. He asked where I was from and then told
me many actual facts about my home state. So indeed, it seems he has a wealth of information at his disposal to impress and entertain. Hey, it's
his rice bowl. I asked if I could take some photos of him and post them on the internet with a story about him. He said fine..and when I pass by
again I will show him this result.
.
Another Plus..it's just plain fascinating around the Catavina Rocks. No small wonder it became a national treasure and park worthy of it's legal
protection, the Desierto Central de Baja California, Baja's unique Central Desert.
The various cactus found in these parts are truly amazing and should keep any botanist busy for weeks.
Hundreds of species of cactus live here, many of them found nowhere else.
This desert is also home to many non-cactus species,
including two almost identical looking but unrelated versions of the elephant tree,
and the cirio, or boojum, Baja's signature contribution to the world of unusual flora.
Some interesting history on The Boojum. This plant looks like nothing else. It mimicks a giant carrot growing upside down, with its root sticking up
to fifty feet in the air. It has a trunk and leaves, but no branches until it's a hundred years old or more, when the trunk divides into two or more
whip-like tops. A fifty-year-old specimen might be a foot thick at its base, and less than five feet tall. It's one of the slowest growing plants in
the world, at the rate of a foot every ten years, which means a mature fifty-footer may be more than 500 years old.
An Arizona botanist, in 1922, applied the name boojum, after the imaginary "boojum" that inhabited "distant shores" in Lewis Carrol's Hunting
of the Snark. The early Spaniards called it cirio, or candle, probably because of its resemblance to the handmade tapers
that decorated the Jesuit altars.
After plentiful rainfall, the "candle" sprouts a flame of yellow blossoms at its tip, and its trunk is covered with small green leaves. When water is
absent, it sheds all its leaves, to preserve moisture within the trunk. The boojum is abundant in this two hundred mile strip of desert, but the only
other place it grows is a small patch at the same latitude across the Sea of Cortez, in the State of Sonora.
This is fertile ground for the giant cardón, the world's largest cactus, reaching more than sixty feet tall. The cardón is often
mistaken for its smaller northern cousin, the saguaro. In Indian lore, the cardón sometimes took on human attributes and moved around
the desert at night when people slept.
.
These giant cacti may have been an inspiration for the ancient cave paintings of giants in the nearby mountains.
OR...the cactus may be just damn glad to be here in Baja and simply signaling YIPPEE!
Unique varieties of barrel cacti, organ pipe (pitahaya), prickly pear (nopal) and cholla also decorate the landscape, along with yuccas, agaves and
rare varieties of ocotillo, a thorny Medusa-head vine distantly related to the cirio.
These plants provided food and water for the Baja native people who survived in the desert for thousands of years before the arrival of the first
Europeans. Then as now, some of the woody stalks were used as firewood, and for constructing shelter and fences. One of the first things I noticed in
area were the unique cactus-rib and living fences.
Young nopal pads, and pitahaya and several other types of cactus fruit are still popular foods in Baja today. All of us have
noticed these well-cared fields of 'ping-pong paddles', as that youngster used to call them so long ago.
Well, the shadows are getting longer and ..."I have miles to go before I sleep"..so it's time to move the herd south again.
Can you hear that familiar voice out there..? I can.
"We're burning daylight, pilgrim."
[Edited on 12-3-2009 by Pompano]
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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wessongroup
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21152
Registered: 8-9-2009
Location: Mission Viejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Suicide Hot line ... please hold
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Can only say, thank you so much for sharing ...... the pictures just add so much to a thread, and thanks for all the work putting all this together to
put up... 
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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Ahh, Roger....When I see your travelogues, I'm happily reminded of this song:
The Happy Wanderer
I love to go a-wandering,
Along the mountain track,
And as I go, I love to sing,
My knapsack on my back.
Chorus:
Val-deri,Val-dera,
Val-deri,
Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Val-deri,Val-dera.
My knapsack on my back.
I love to wander by the stream
That dances in the sun,
So joyously it calls to me,
"Come! Join my happy song!"
I wave my hat to all I meet,
And they wave back to me,
And blackbirds call so loud and sweet
From ev'ry green wood tree.
High overhead, the skylarks wing,
They never rest at home
But just like me, they love to sing,
As o'er the world we roam.
Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die!
Oh, may I always laugh and sing,
Beneath God's clear blue sky!
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
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Pompano, Thanks.
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
Member Is Offline
Mood: Optimistic
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Dennis...my sister sang that Wanderer song to lots of children. Once I think we were on a school bus going to the lake to swim one summer day long
ago. Sure takes me back..
[Edited on 11-30-2009 by Pompano]
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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k-rico
Super Nomad
Posts: 2079
Registered: 7-10-2008
Location: Playas de Tijuana
Member Is Offline
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Somebody told me the beggar's name is "Un Peso" because that's what he asks for. I usually give him 10 pesos. We always stop at Catavina to stretch
our legs and let the dogs out. I first saw him several years ago and he's been there every time since.
He told me the Tarzan movie story and that he helped Lennon and McCartney write their songs. He is truly insane in a harmless way. Really. If you've
never spoken with a 100% deluded person, chat him up, it's interesting from a psychological point of view. He's tough to shut up once he's on a roll
though.
Catavina is a magical place. One of my favorites along the road. Un peso has found a nice place to dwell upon his madness.
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fixtrauma
Nomad
Posts: 389
Registered: 11-17-2008
Location: El Centenario & Lebanon,Oregon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Monomaniac
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I am grateful for the posting Pompano.
It took a lot of effort to to post it and I enjoyed it. We will watch for the "Beggar of Catavina" when we drive through if a few
weeks.
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rts551
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6699
Registered: 9-5-2003
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Great. Haven't seen the begger in a while????? Mexicans call him "gotapeso"
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
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Mood: mellow
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Thanks Roger,
Saves me another trip.
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Udo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6344
Registered: 4-26-2008
Location: Black Hills, SD/Ensenada/San Felipe
Member Is Offline
Mood: TEQUILA!
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Your photolog is exactly what I needed, Roger, while putting up with up with 25 degree weather as well as 5" of fresh snow and 30MPH winds.
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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BajaGringo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3922
Registered: 8-24-2006
Location: La Chorera
Member Is Offline
Mood: Let's have a BBQ!
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Another great photo/story post Roger. What a great way to start my day...
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AcuDoc
Nomad
Posts: 331
Registered: 9-3-2003
Location: The Seven Seas and Thailand
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I'm also postive this is the same guy I met years ago at Rice and Beans in San Ignacio. There were some really wild stories about the movies, how he
was once married to the daughter of the Corona Beer fortune etc...
[Edited on 11-30-2009 by AcuDoc]
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64829
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Thank you Roger...
The Cataviña El Presidente was the last one constructed in the last section of Hwy. 1 to be completed... before the end of 1973. It was an amazing
rush job of construction crews... We went through there in July of 1973, and the new road bed had not reached Santa Ynez from either direction (there
was no 'Cataviña' yet... just the neame from the abandoned rancho down the arroyo. Just Rancho San Luis and Rancho Santa Ynez in the 60's and until
the end of '73.
The new roadbed, unpaved had reached near Agua Dulce from the north (pavement ended near El Progreso) and to Laguna Chapala from the south (pavement
was in sections to Punta Prieta and solid to Villa Jesus Maria coming from the south that July).
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KurtG
Super Nomad
Posts: 1205
Registered: 1-27-2004
Location: California Central Coast
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Mood: Press On Regardless!!
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I've never forgotten riding my then new Honda 750 through Cataviña in the Fall of '74. It was absolutely stunning and I camped in the rocks under an
almost full moon. Recently I have looked inside the old cafeteria there and and at the BOLA turn off, sad to see the remnants of those lovely
places with their little rock and cactus gardens in the center. That trip was my first to Baja and I had a grand plan to ferry to the mainland and
then ride back to the states. I rode to La Paz and then to San Jose del Cabo and San Lucas and after enjoying that area for a couple of weeks decided
I wasn't going to find anyplace I liked more than Mulege so headed back north and settled into the Hacienda for a couple of weeks. Found a little
house for rent behind Las Casitas which I rented from Cuca's brother Alan. Went back to Minnesota where my two pre-school children were staying with
my parents while I did my traveling and we headed back to Mulege where we spent much of the next two years. That may have been the best part of my
life and my children have great memories of our life and subsequent visits there. Looking at old photos from that time brings back fantastic
memories.
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LaTijereta
Super Nomad
Posts: 1192
Registered: 8-27-2003
Location: Loreto
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That "Dos Amigos Vado" has not changed much in 30+years
1978 Catavina Vado
I remember driving through it slowly to help cool the underside of the car when there was water sitting in it..
Democracy is like two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin (1759)
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k-rico
Super Nomad
Posts: 2079
Registered: 7-10-2008
Location: Playas de Tijuana
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| Quote: | Originally posted by fixtrauma
It took a lot of effort to to post it and I enjoyed it. We will watch for the "Beggar of Catavina" when we drive through if a few
weeks. |
He could probably use some warm clothes if you have some to spare.
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Happy Wanderer
I thought I remembered hearing that melody sung in German when I was a toddler.
Sure enough, it was written after WWII:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happy_Wanderer
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Acuity
Nomad
Posts: 195
Registered: 5-26-2005
Location: Comox, BC, and Todos Santos
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Mood: Craving sleep!
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Pompano - your posts are one of the reasons I look at the forum. Very enjoyable!
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gnukid
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4411
Registered: 7-2-2006
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One peso please?
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Catavina's rock garden
A natural playground.
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