Casa Piedra is a beautiful beach house that can best be described as Robin & Caruso meet the modern world. It is built entirely from native stones and rough hewn beams with a palapa roof. There is a stone patio that surrounds the house where we have been enjoying breakfasts looking over the Sea of Cortez and sunning in the wind shadow of the house in the afternoon.The house sits on a beautiful white sand beach which it shares with probably 15 other houses of which only half are currently occupied. It is a busy day on the beach if we see two people walking.
We spent our first three days at the house relaxing, walking on the beach, falling asleep to the sound of the surf and waking to the sunrise over the Sea of Cortez (yes, we really did watch the sunrise...right before we went back to sleep!) While enjoying our breakfast on the 2nd day we noticed some large fish jumping about 500 yards off shore. We grabbed the binoculars and discovered that it was not fish at all but Manta Rays. We sat transfixed watching the spectacle of the leaping rays for several hours until they moved on. Unfortunately they were too far off shore to get a clear picture and we're still hoping they will return. On the 4th day we were finally ready to face the prospect of getting back into the car to explore the area around the house. First we headed farther south
about 5 miles on the dirt road to Cabo Pulmo which is a small village on the beach which caters to people who come to dive or fish on the reef. The reef at Cabo Pulmo is the only living reef in the Sea of Cortez and one of the few coral reefs on the west coast of the Americas. It's a marine preserve and closed to commercial fishing so it is a haven for the divers and sports fishermen willing to come this far off the beaten path. The village consists of several dirt streets and a very small collection of ecclectic shops and restaurants. We continued another 5-6 miles to Los Frailes where we gathered the courage to test our less-than-impressive Spanish and successfully purchased a freshly caught 2 pound Red Snapper for 45 pesos ($4.25) from the fisherman on the beach. He was also selling Manta Ray, but we weren't feeling quite that adventurous. In the afternoon we went North into La Ribera and purchased "supplies" (read: BEER) at one of the small groceries in town.
about 5 miles on the dirt road to Cabo Pulmo which is a small village on the beach which caters to people who come to dive or fish on the reef. The reef at Cabo Pulmo is the only living reef in the Sea of Cortez and one of the few coral reefs on the west coast of the Americas. It's a marine preserve and closed to commercial fishing so it is a haven for the divers and sports fishermen willing to come this far off the beaten path. The village consists of several dirt streets and a very small collection of ecclectic shops and restaurants. We continued another 5-6 miles to Los Frailes where we gathered the courage to test our less-than-impressive Spanish and successfully purchased a freshly caught 2 pound Red Snapper for 45 pesos ($4.25) from the fisherman on the beach. He was also selling Manta Ray, but we weren't feeling quite that adventurous. In the afternoon we went North into La Ribera and purchased "supplies" (read: BEER) at one of the small groceries in town.On the 5th day Randy and Linda joined us in our borrowed paradise. We spent a week playing beach volleyball, hiking, eating (excessively), drinking (excessively), relaxing, watching movies and playing an addictive game called Sequence!! Randy had wisely packed his kite board (winter is windy season in Mexico) and took it out twice and "wowed" us with his kite boarding expertise. Feel free to ask Randy for the details on the Baywatch rescue!
On Thursday the wind was blowing hard and the clouds had moved in so we decided it was a perfect day to explore inland where it would be warmer. We had been told about a place called Canon de Zorro (Fox Canyon) that had a beautiful waterfall and clear pools for swimming. To get to there we passed through the small picturesque town of Santiago then followed a dirt road another 6 miles to the canyon entrance. We hiked the 1/2 mile trail to the waterfall and then had to scramble down a steep rock wall using ropes to reach the base of the waterfall. This proved to be a bit of a challenge because our Canadian friend had a cooler full of beer and our dog has no hands to hold a rope. It was all worth it. The waterfall is amazing and the pool at the bottom is crystal clear and we enjoyed cooling our feet in the cold water until we noticed the snake swimming in the pool. So, we retreated to the shore to cool of with una cerveza fria. This is about a 2 hour drive from Cabo San Lucas and well worth the trip if you are in the area.Sadly, we had to drive the Nealy/Polajzar team back to the airport Sunday and send them back to the snowy Pacific Northwest. Hopefully their tans will help see them through it!
We cooked, relaxed, read and organized today and Cayenne said goodbye to her new doggie friends so we could head back out on the road tomorrow, round the tip of the Baja Peninsula and start a SLOW journey back north! 
1 comment:
we'd still be in Mexico at this point... playing volleyball or drinking... wait, what's the "or" thing?
Anyway - that canyon and waterfall looks GORGEOUS!! Once again, jealous.
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