Sunday, May 22nd, El Fuerte

 

Greetings!

After spending a wonderful couple of days with Mario and Margarite on their Rancho San Isidro, Mario drove us down the only road to the bottom of the Canyon to the town of Urique.  It's the County.seat of Copper Canyon, where the Tarahumara must do all their official business.  It's also a town of 2,000, where everyone knows Mario and his family.  The main street bears his family's name, and he took us on a walking tour of the schools, church, baseball field.  One of his best friends continued the tour of the town's fruit trees, cactus, and flowering plants while his brother's family made us lunch.  Everywhere one can see evidence of the pride and impact the Caballo Blanco (White Horse) UltraMarathon which has brought international acclaim to the Tarahumara runners,

Unfortunately, my camera battery mysteriously died shortly after beginning the descent, and you're all going to have to imagine the trip into the deepest valley in Mexico,  It's a bucket list place, for both its views and its people.

Here are some photos which we got of the Mission, its namesake hotel operated by the Balderrama family, and the Train (also owned by the same family. 

Staying with the Tarahumara Coach and Family

Greetings!

Mario Lopez grew upon on a small ranch in Cerrocahui, 6,000 feet in Mexico's Sierra Mountains.  In the town of 2,000, everyone knows him.  Lately, his role as coach and support staff to the three recent Tarahumara running team members sweeping the Ultra-Marathon world is broadening his popularity.  

This afternoon, he drove us from the Hotel Mirador to his ranch's Cabanas de San Isidro Lodge.  His sister-in-law was waiting with the best meal we've had so far.   After a short post-meal rest, he's going to give us a tour of his eco-tourist, totally sustainable 20-hectare home, before a light dinner.

Before and after this post, you'll see photos of the whole of this adventure.  The flight down to Cabo, and Baja's dual coasts.  Flight to Los Mochis, and the drive to many nights of splendor in Balderama Collection Hotels.  The travelers we shared stories with, and sometimes actually learned Spanish from.  The spectacular scenery from rivers to mountaintops.  And the local foods which have seldom been consumed outside of these valleys.

But what I will remember, and recommend more than anything else, is to get to know the Tarahumara.  And there is no other experience which can bring that to you than to meet and spend time with Marion Lopez and his family.  Their lives, and those they support, will inspire you like few others.  Enduring struggle against enormous odds, the Tarahumara have demonstrated family and community-supportive characteristics which we all should emulate.  

Cabanas San Isidro Cerocahui on Facebook.  Here's a small batch of photos from our ride, and our cabin.

Sunday to Wednesday, May 15-18, Baja to Copper Canyon

 

Greetings!

Anne Kain, Pat and I are off on an adventure in Baja and into the States of Sinaloa and Chihuahua, Mexico.  The route is a flight to Cabo San Lucas, another to Los Mochis, a train through Copper Canyon to El Divisidero, and a stay at a beautiful Hotel (Hotel Posado del Hidalgo) owned by one of the tour companies that are our hosts (Balderama Hotel Collection).  

We're currently sitting on our balcony on the second floor of the Mirador Hotel.  It overlooks the seven ziplines and Gondola which criss-cross the Canyon, and has spectacular views.   The Hotel's elevation is 7,397 feet, and you can see every foot of it to the river below,  Guests sip wine and prepare for dinner while the hotel provides entertainment and lectures.  Plans are made for excursions in the days ahead, and the many hotel staff finish assigning rooms and carrying luggage.

Over the next few days here, we'll join a few guests for trips across the canyon, into the canyon, and to towns and cities in the Chihuahua State.  After that, we'll re-board the new Express Train back to Los Mochis, and fly back to Cabo San Lucas.  Here's a link to the photos which we've taken over the past couple of days.  Depending on the wifi and MexTel communication, there may be another Post or two before we spend more time back in Baja.  

 

 

Beginnings and Endings

 Greetings!

Everyone who grew up in La Jolla in the 1950's can trace their origins to the La Jolla Cove.  My mother, aunt, and I all have deep memories of time spent in that hundred yard stretch of cherished rocky shore.  So much so that we've all chosen to end up there.

My mom was the first, and I successfully placed her ashes (after some trouble with the wind) into the water from the rocks on its edge.

But I recommend a different approach for my aunt and I.  I'd placed our ashes into feet flippers, and carry them down across the beach from the stairs like you're going swimming.  Wade into the water, and just attempt to put on the flippers (actual swimming is optional).

Here is a link to the album of photos I took yesterday at the Cove

Life Directions

 Greetings!

Seven large government/nonprofit initiatives have dominated the work of our lives: expanded early childcare in the early 1970s, environmental and coastal protection in the same period, domestic violence prevention in the late 1970’s, HIV-AIDS prevention in the 1980s, Children and Families Commissions (First Five) in the late 1990s, community citizen engagement after retirement, and homeless housing and services in the last three years.

Pat and I have been involved in these community-driven and legislatively-implemented program expansions, mostly carrying the hopes and dreams of those who defined the issues early on to the practicality of governmental funding and operations as reality revealed the tools and routes.  They have been  career-defining experiences, each providing and amplifying important skills and relationships.  

At the apogee of these experiences (and who knows exactly when that was/is), it would seem to us that patience was the virtue most useful.  Certainly, rebelliousness and creativity were close seconds.  But understanding that we needed to be in it for the long-run helped; that we needed to be committed.

Along the way, we took time off to travel.  We chose to give back to ourselves and to others who followed, by chasing our dream to explore and learn.  While there have been set-backs and barriers to a persistent pace of doing so lately, we will continue to look for ways to fill that need in us.

Travel Planning in 2021

Greetings!

We are planning next year's travels, resigned to just take the Airstream on a trip to somewhere in the Western United States or Canada later this year (no, we're not moving to Vancouver if Trump wins).  We're going to visit Bhutan and the surrounding areas for a week in late January (after President Biden is inaugurated) before heading to Northern India to complete what we missed this year.   After that, we'll fly to Nepal to complete the month away.

Six months later, we'll travel to northwestern Australia to enjoy the top half of that continent, and the the North Island of New Zealand for three and a half months.  We'll finish that adventure by joining Overseas Adventure Travel's "Galapagos of the Southern Ocean" cruise to visit some of the best birding islands in the world.  We'll be back well before Christmas.

For the following year, we're hoping that Biden normalizes relations again with Iran.  There are so many ruins and historic towns we want to visit there.  And then there's Madagascar and a return visit to East Africa.

Hobie Surfboard by Rodney Sumpter

Greetings!

Yesterday, while dreaming about what travels to plan when this virus is defeated, I decided to walk back in time to my surfing days along the San Diego coast in the early 1960's.  A young man I met last week brought me back there as it turns out his father (Dennis Murphy) was a surfboard shaper long after I left the area.  

As Youtube and Google will do, it led me to a news column in the Orange County Register by one of the shapers featured in the YouTube video (Corky Carroll).  Corky and I shared some of the same history in the waves in our early teens on the Southern California coast.  He going on to surfing greatness as the first professional surfer at 16, and I joining many others trying our best to follow his lead.

Walking down memory lane was fun, as I read the column by Corky recounting his time with a friend (Rodney Sumpter) as shapers for Hobie Surfboards in 1963-64.  As the owner of a late 1963 Hobie surfboard, shaped by Rodney, I chuckled that I might have a surfboard created during the time they spent together in that shack behind the Hobie factory in Dana Point.

To see a few more photos, click on "Hobie Surfboard by Rodney Sumpter"