I opted to spend a second night in Cataviña. There were some sights I wanted to explore and a day of leisure was sounding pretty nice after the stress of leaving Oakland and a few long days of driving.

I awoke early to a beautiful sunrise which illuminating the hills to the west. After a leisurely breakfast in bed, Luna and I explored our backyard – miles of cacti and boulders. It was beautiful, but there were no trails and it was a prickly affair. Poor Luna is not accustomed to cacti and it was a challenge negotiating the prickles both on the ground and on the plants.

I drove north out of town to see the Cuevas Pintadas (see previous blog post, Paleo Art and Ritual in the Baja), I then drove back south to explore the town of Cataviña. With two hotels (one open and one shuttered), one café, one tienda (corner store), a Coco shop with shave ice and ice cream, and two guys on the side of the road selling gas off the back of their truck, the exploration lasted all of twenty minutes. There were a couple of other interesting sights, the twin shitters, ballet pink for the girls and baby blue for the boys, the Virgin of Guadalupe painting tucked into a rock alcove, the picturesque, closed down taqueria, and the graveyard for old appliances. The town is more of a pit stop for those who forgot to fill their gas tank, or who didn’t plan their trip properly and got caught out after dark. I was back at mi Casita Lunita by 10:30 am with little to do but read, write, eat, and siesta. It was heavenly.

In the evening, I met Brian and Roger, fellow adventurers from San Diego. They were traveling together in Brian’s old VW Vanagon. They were dressed alike in baggy overalls and floppy hats. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I had stumbled upon a Brokeback Mountain scenario. They were delightful company and gave me two sound pieces of advice: visit the baby whales with Alberto in Laguna de San Ignacio, and “slow down little missy, you will get better gas mileage.”

I’ll have to rethink my, “I can’t drive 55.” Gas is very expensive here in Baja.