With a couple of weeks left to bumble about Baja before we hit the ferry for the mainland, we left to try out a place we’ve never visited before—La Ventana. Kiteboard capital of Baja, I believe. I checked it out on Google Earth the night before and found a picture of the arroyo where we planned to boondock covered in hundreds of RVs. Let’s just say I wasn’t expecting to be pleasantly surprised by the place.
We drove through the town where a few RV parks were packed to the gills—literally overflowing. We pressed on as the pavement turned to dirt, made it out to the arroyo, rounded the corner to the beach where there should have been hundreds of people, and instead found two rigs parked on the road—friends of ours. The place was empty of anyone else.
We then proceeded to spend two fun-filled days with five fun-filled adults and five—count ’em, five—kids under ten. It was almost as if we didn’t have kids. If they didn’t require feeding we would never have seen them.
We had one calm day, but by afternoon of day two the wind had picked up again. The tent had provided hours of entertainment and we parents were all sad to see it taken down, but underneath the tent was something even better—a mouse.
The kids proceeded to spend the next couple of hours playing with this insanely docile little mouse. It closed its eyes as the kids ran their fingers down its back. If I didn’t know better I’d swear it was purring. They built it a house, and eventually left it alone. It stayed there until nightfall, but was gone the next morning. I feared what would happen if it was still sitting there in the morning. Un ratón en la casa.
Showoff.
Ouest always loves the older girls the most.
By the morning of day three it was only us again. A beach entirely to ourselves. That’s the Cerralvo Channel there. I guess it can get pretty ugly if you don’t hit it during fairly calm weather. We motored through there on flat water a number of times.
20 Comments on “La Ventana”
It will so sad when he out grows that costume.
Hey Guys:
Did your friends have a Sportsmobile there, how did they like it?
I’ve been thinking about something like that to replace the larger RV.
Sounds like a wonderful time. Envious.
Yes, that’s a Sportsmobile. It’s still relatively new to them, but they’re happy so far. And they’ve got four of them in there. They’re planning at least six months more travel in it as well.
I count 6 kids 🙂
I believe one is probably 10 leaving 5 under 10.
I count 6 kids that are 10 and under. And another kid in that group that is north of 40! 🙂
It was good fun being chased and tackled by six tiny people! (The 2 year-old boy was napping)
LOVE the pic of Lowe pouring sand over his head while the girls are trying to smile nice for it! LOL
All boy, all the time.
Pat, I about spit coffee on the keyboard when I scrolled the last picture. That was a good one!
Did anyone notice that behind that fleeing dragon is a doll hanging out a window by its neck?
It is such a gift to follow you guys’ travels.
Love the last two pictures. I saw the second to last picture and thought it was your best ever and then I saw the last picture and you had managed to top it. You guys should have another kid so there is one to fit that costume after Lowe grows out of it.
Hi, long time reader here, first time commenter. I love your blog! And I am really sorry to rain on your parade, but I really feel I have to say this: Whenever an animal acts uncharacteristically you must consider that it might be ill.
I would not have allowed the children to play with the mouse and would have captured it and taken it away (for a mouse you have to take it 4 miles or more away or it will return, just BTW.) Small rodents carry rabies, hanta virus, and according to the CDC, Babesiosis, Colorado Tick Fever, Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis, La Crosse Encephalitis, Lyme Disease, Murine Typhus, Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever, Powassan Virus, Scrub Typhus, Rickettsialpox, Relapsing Fever, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Sylvatic Typhus, West Nile Virus. Some of these can make the rodent ill, some they are only vectors for.
After reading the foregoing you might be tempted to think that I don’t like rodents, but I do. I have raised baby mice when the mother abandoned them. I had gerbils as a child. So it’s not the mouse I take issue with, I take issue with handling a mouse or any other animal that is acting uncharacteristically.
In our neighborhood when I was a young adult, there was a deer one fall that was not afraid of humans. It could be approached and petted, it even played with the neighbor’s dogs. Come to find out, someone had raised it and then let it go. But it had to be destroyed when the rut came, and it viewed humans as competition or something, because it gored a woman with it’s yearling antlers.
It simply is dangerous to be around animals when they are acting uncharacteristically. Please consider this if you run across such a situation again.
Love the freedom, the fun and frivolity of childhood illustrated through your photos. You and your family are clearly living a fully expressed life. Thanks for sharing.
PAT DID YOU POST THE rabies, hanta virus, and according to the CDC, Babesiosis, Colorado Tick Fever, Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis, La Crosse Encephalitis, Lyme Disease, Murine Typhus, Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever, Powassan Virus, Scrub Typhus, Rickettsialpox, Relapsing Fever, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Sylvatic Typhus, West Nile Virus / the world is coming to an end / LADIES POST FOR OUR AMUSEMENT? WELL IT WORKED.
P.S Have a great Christmas and another wonderful year entertaining us all. I have followed you from the start and it has brought me much joy my 79 year old pop even reads you. Again ENJOY
MIKE CONLOW
I’ll say this one more time because, well, keyboard and fingers. That new camera is really great! Your composition has always been stellar and now you have the camera to fully complement your artistic endeavors! Just love the pictures. BTW, my favorite is the shadowed panoramic.
C’mon Bums! I’m waiting for your post-American, it’s just a day in the land of tacoplenty like any other day, I’m too sexy for my shirt–oops, I mean Christmas–post. And was that a helmet I saw on your little skateboarder? A HELMET! You guys are really taking safety too far now.
🙂
This post made me miss having friends. My family and I are currently nomadic as well, 8 months into a trip around the world with our 3 daughters. We’ve met a lot of great people and our kids always find other children to play with, but it’s just not the same. Sounds like an early Christmas present for you guys to randomly meet up with friends for a 2-day party on the beach.
Oh! The beach in Mexico! I could die of mid Atlantic state dreary gray jealousy! Naw, it’s not bad here, Christmassy and all, but the beach looks nice.