Playa Los Nananjos 25/11/10

Our first morning in our cabaña on the beach saw us make the decision to stay for another 5 nights. It was lovely descending into a deep slumber to the sounds of the gentle ebb and flow of the sea. So we figured we would stay and enjoy what is for us a very different experience so far on the trip-being on a beach. The cabaña is just a few meters from the waters edge-ideal for an early morning dip. It isn't luxury by some standards, but we quickly warmed to its shabby ramshackledness. We had a couple of small beds, table and chairs a cooker, some storage (check out the cupboards!) sink with running cold water, a flushing loo and cold shower. There is the possibility of a hot shower on the site but you have to stoke up the fire first and they are the only showers we have seen with a lock on the outside rather than the inside!
The cabana is shuttered all the way round over a grill of mosquito netting and chicken wire for security, so we can lift them for great sea views. Our neighbour has a very swanky cabaña covered in palm leaves. The beach is a resort of sorts with a number of cabañas some of which are leased for a whole year mostly by Americans for $3500. Though some just come and rent for the US winter from around October through March when it starts to get too hot to sit around so they all flood back to the US. These cabañas have been upgraded for long term use by their occupants both internally and externally, and quite a bit of effort goes in to decorating them The temperatures right now are between 60-65ºF,a bit higher when the wind drops and in the sun.
There are always jobs to do when we stop for any length of time, but this time we were pretty up to date. There was just one job to do so I set about giving David a hair cut and beard trim. Then completely distracted over the next few days by the bird life we took lots of photos of Pelicans having a feeding frenzy just in front of our cabaña You won't believe how many photos we took trying to capture the speed and grace of their dives. So glad for digital photography!

We were invited on Saturday night by our neighbours, Benjamin and Lynette from Colorado who have rented a cabaña until March, to a regular shin dig at the next beach. It seems there is a strong ex pat community along this part of the coast and each beach has a regular evening of entertainment. Saturday night it is the turn of Santispac, which is a beautiful clean gently curving beach, with still waters dotted along the shoreline with Palapas or grass shelters under which you can pitch your tent for about 5 dollars. It is also home to a bar and once a week a disco. So we ordered Chiles Rellanos (our newly discovered favourite dish) and for me a margarita. The bar was already full at 1730 and everyone was in a party mood. The music played and as the plates were cleared the dance floor filled with folk of a certain age wearing blindingly bright shirts and pants, wringing the life out of their retirement-rock on!! The strange looking ball here is full of candy. It was someone's birthday and it is customary for that person whilst blindfolded to chase and to beat the heck out of the ball (bit like blind man's buff) until it spills it's content over the floor whereupon there is a candy grabbing frenzy!

Thanks for inviting us Lynette and Benjamin

By about 8pm I was the worse for wear after 2 hypnotic margaritas, and our neighbours were preparing for an early night ahead of a full days fishing starting at 0430 the following day. So we headed back to our little cabaña having had a ripping night out and sampling the American ex pat community in Baja.
What is striking about the beach we are on is the number of shells. And when we went for walks along the shore we found even more which I carried in my arms for a photo shoot later.
On one of our walks I came across this strange guy again doing an impression of a tea pot!! Still waiting to be beamed up.
Then we came across a sea gull trying desperately to pop this ball. As we approached, the sea gull lost touch with the ball and it floated into the sea. As we looked on we noticed the ball had a tail, but it had no head. Had it been decapitated? Suddenly the ball deflated and disappeared beneath the water. It was a blow fish or similar doing its best to avoid being eaten by the sea gull by puffing up into a ball.
Strangely along this part of the beach there were a number of what looked to be foundations to what had been more cabanas, complete with loos We learned later that land 30 meters in from the high water mark is federally owned. But it can be leased by Mexicans. This part of the beach is owned by a Mexican lady and did have a number of cabañas, but she decided she wanted to sell the land and the new owner wanted it cleared before the contract was signed. So she gave all the cabaña owners notice to vacate. They did not, and after many months of wrangling, she torched the lot and the new owner pulled out of the sale. It is rather eerie walking past the remains of cabañas with remnants of their lives scattered about and the occasional plant just outside what would have been a door and which survived the torching
The weather here has been interesting. It is apparently typically warm with a light breeze at this time of year. The light breeze means that everything is covered in a thick film of sand. Unfortunately for us the wind picked up for the last two days and blew a hooley! The sun still shone putting on a brave face, but the wind beat the sand to a blizzard.
We have enjoyed a very relaxing time here at Playa Los Naranjos, walking, beach-combing, resting, reading, Blog writing, eating probably far too much, watching bird life, and listening to the reliable sound of waves reaching for the shoreline. We have done little except bathe our senses in the sights sounds and smells of the sea and beach. Rather like this Pelican, just being.