Home in Cholla, Overwhelmed by acts of kindness during our journey home
Our journey home from Loreto was full of acts of kindness. We have lots of stories to tell and we have to start with our journey across the Sea of Cortez from Santa Rosalia to Guaymas. This leg, of our entire Baja09 adventure, has been a concern since the ferry doesn’t officially allow dogs to travel except to ride in vehicles and we are traveling by foot. At the last minute before joining Gato Loco on leg 2 we decided to bring Neely’s “Therapy Dog” vest hoping it might help. The journey across the sea starts with Brenda, the owner of the awesome hotel we stayed at in Santa Rosalia for two nights, kindly giving us a ride to the ferry station with Frankie in the front and Neely & I riding in the back of her truck. More on her hotel later… The ferry was cancelled on Tuesday so there’s lots passengers and trucks that have been waiting the extra day. Accessing the situation we see that we must pass through security and have our bags inspected if we get the red light. There’s also extra identification security that I check-in through. I leave Frankie and our “therapy dog” Neely standing outside in front of the terminal. Neely is playing the part perfectly. While I was gone, a tall handsome Mexican man begins talking to Frankie and Neely, saying what a beautiful dog she is. He asks if she is a children’s therapy dog and Frankie says yes. He wanted to With the captain’s assurances, we relax as we pass through security. Things go very smoothly with everybody considering Neely a special dog (the vest is working). The daily fog we’ve seen the past days rolls in as we board the ferry delaying our departure until 11 AM since we can’t even see the harbor exit. Underway, as you can see, Neely and I make ourselves comfortable on the top Talking with him more, we find his dive boat is named Baja Adventures (appropriate name) and he invites us to go out on the boat if we were going to be in Guaymas another day. What a pleasant crossing and a huge act of kindness from our captain. Mexico you’ve got to love it.. There’s more but let’s flash back to Saturday when we linked up with Sally, Marilyn and Liza, Bill’s leg 5 crew. La Damiana B&B has become our Gato Loco headquarters in
. The plan was to have dinner at the B&B as a special treat for yet another Kerry Bday (#3). Dinner is not going to work at the B&B so Debra recommends a local landmark family restaurant (Caripole, just east of the Mission). .
This is an awesome restaurant. We’re the only guest and were treated like family. Kell & Mark, traveling surfers (& owner of Cobra Surf boards) joined us for the evening. .
. Having reservations, they knew it was Kerry’s Bday celebration and decorated the restaurant with balloons and even baked a special cake for desert, another act of kindness.
. . Right, we all say our goodbyes and thanks for a wonderful evening. . Another story… Our on board internet expired on Saturday night. The renewal procedure given to us by TelCel is not working so when we arrived today (Saturday) I head to the TelCel office to try to solve the problem. They speak no English, so with my limited Spanish and finally some help from Sally we spent 2+ hours with the TelCel lady on the phone with support. She finally determined our internet was blocked from renewal because it had not been registered to ensure appropriate usage. The lady spent another 30 minutes to scan my documents and write a report to get it unblocked. Another huge act of kindness..
. . . . . Sunday and it’s time to say goodbye to the leg 5 crew as they head north for their first night on a near by island (see Lisa’s updates) . We will spend another night at the B&B. Talking with Debra & Gerardo, we find out that many of their current & recent guest are working in the field of nature conservation and at the moment are working on issues for the Loreto National Marine Park which all the local islands are in. Very interesting people who are working to keep the Loreto area as pristine as possible with huge pressures from population explosions, tourism and all the impact this has on the local eco system. < Palapa homes in Conception Bay Since we’re so interested in Loreto area, Debra asked her friend Juve if he would drive us to Santa Rosalia to catch the ferry in Santa Rosalia. He’s the premiere local guide for seeing the islands by land and underwater and does excursions into the mountains through-out southern Baja. Juve kindly accepted to take us north telling us story after story about the areas as we drove to San Lucas Cove just south of Santa Rosalia. Juve has his business next to La Damaina and Cell 613-114-7294 New river front in Mulege> . Next stop, San Lucas Cove to visit Myron & Marilyn (M&M) friends we met last year while traveling in the area. They’ve kindly offered to let us stay with them or drive us into Santa Rosalia Happy birthday Myron Left, Myron lights rockets to celebrate his Bday Las Casitas Hotel Santa Rosalia > . It’s a late night ride back to Santa Rosalia , another restful night & we’re finally ready to head for the ferry. Thank you so much Myron & Marilyn for the wonderful visit and Brenda for the ride to the ferry station… Now you have the story of our journey north and all the great people that made it so special. During our drive in Pee Wee back to Cholla yesterday we reflected on how great the Baja 09 experience has been for us. While the US press puts out one negative report after another, we travel among the most pleasant and kind people of Mexico never feeling concerned or threatened. We only wish the true Mexican story can be told. As Guillermo, our wonderful ferry boat captain, said “Amigos are Muy Importante” Enjoy the rest of the Baja 09 story… Until the next Update.. |
What a fabulous voyage.. The blog is so realistic I am about to go and get my suntan lotion so I don’t burn. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Neely, your so cute I wish you were my therapist.
THE BLOG IS SO REALISTIC ALONG WITH THE PICTURES I NEED MY SUN TIN OIL JUST TO READ IT.
WHAT A GREAT VOYAGE. YEAH……………
Neely, you are so cute you could be my therapist anytime even without your vest.
Okay the “therapy dog” thing has me cracking up!!!!!!!!! I don’t think I could pass either one of my babies off as therapy dogs – they just need therapy! Glad it all worked out – thanks so much for the update and the pics – awesome to see my mom on this adventure!
Love,
Mel and the boys (and Zoe!)
You know what they say..”What goes around, comes around”.. You guys ALWAYS offer random acts of kindness!!..
Less than a week for us.. Yay! Thanks for all the positive words about our Paradise! It really is fabuloso!
Again, so EXCITING!!! Neely, you are the DOG!!! Lowell and Frankie, good things happen to good people. Thanks for your help with Ava in RP!! You lead us to the correct medical facility. Many thanks!! Good luck with the rest of your summer and hope to see you soon!!
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