Sandblasted at the Beach

We left Loreto on Friday after a banking semi-emergency. We were trying to stock up with pesos at an ATM and the machine swallowed our card "by order of our financial institution." We knew this was bogus because we'd been using it just fine until now. The electronic skyway between Mexico and the US still leaves a lot to be desired. We had a similar, but not as serious, glitch, about a month ago, when the machine kept rejecting our card, and a collect call to our bank in the US couldn't find anything amiss--we were able to get $$ the next day just fine. Since the card-swallowing ATM was not at the bank itself but in a kiosk on the outskirts of town, we were hard-pressed to figure out how to get our card back. We ended up just notifying our bank that it had happened, and went to our emergency cash stash in Steve's sock drawer. We were able to convert most of that to pesos, and, between that and my Visa card, will be just fine. Might be a few less souveniers, unless they take plastic, but other that, we're ok.

An hour and a half after leaving Loreto, we were back at beautiful Bahia de Conception, this time at a picture-perfect beach called Playa El Requeson. And I mean the "picture-perfect" part literally--this particular beach is on many postcards of the Baja, and, in fact, is on the cover of one of our guidebooks. The beach is a sand spit connecting an island to the mainland at low tide, and divides the pretty little cove in two. Kayaking and snorkeling are said to be great here. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find out. The wind came up, and it's been blowing hard for days; any boating is impossible. This morning, we regretfully moved to an RV park in Mulage, along the river. The wind is still howling, but it's more sheltered here. I have a dive scheduled for tomorrow. I think it will be a dive from shore at Playa Los Burros to a wreck not far out in the cove, so the surf shouldn't be an issue. The dive shop owner, is either British or Australian--talks like Crocodile Dundee and yes, his name is Mick. He is a very colorful guy with lots of stories. When I went to the dive shop in Mulage to schedule my dive, I petted his fat old dog, Lady, who was sleeping in the sun on the porch as I walked in. Mick reported that although she doesn't look like much, she literally saved his life. Last September, a hurricane came through this area. Mulage didn't get much of the wind, but they did get all the rain. The river that runs next to town flooded and became a torrent; apparently there were several fatalities because they flood hit about 3 a.m. when everyone was sleeping, and destroyed many homes along the river. Mick says he was sleeping soundly when lady came and woke him up. When he got out of bed, the water was up to his knees; by the time he and his wife made it to the back door to exit, it was up to his neck. They swam to higher ground, using one hand to pull themselves along the vegitation and the other to hold onto the dog (Mick) and the kitten (Maria). Along with being filled with mud, there was some structural damage to the house; it's almost fully repaired, and they hope to move back in within the next couple of weeks.