DAY 20 OF THE AROUND-THE-BLOCK MOTORCYCLE TRIP/ JULY 20, 2008

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July 20, 2008 - Sunday - Day 20
USA/MEXICO/CANADA
DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY
& THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY
  -- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008
Miles Today - 0    - Total Miles - 4741
(-staying at  Charles Grey's in Ensenada,Mexico -)
- SYNOPSIS -

   After awakening after a good night's rest, I got right to work and finally finished Day 18 of  this journal. It wasn't until around 9:30am that I showed my face down at the main house.
  We went to Baja Mama's Restaurant, a well known eatery in the area, around 10:15am.  And it was yet another meal for me right beside the Pacific Ocean - close enough to hear the waves crashing and the birds yapping.
   There was a huge collection of buffet foods there. And many I could eat.
   There was a station wagon out in amongst the waves. Carol surmised that the owner had driven onto the beach last night, fallen asleep, and then the tide came in. Before we left, a huge earth moving machine came and dragged the auto out from the water.
  Marilyn, an amazing woman, who had built her own house near the top of one of the mountains came over with her sparkling blue eyes, and asked about the dolphin that had washed up on the beach. She said it was probably shot. What happens is that dolphins get into the tuna nets and the owners shoot them because they have no market value. It's usually reported to federal authorities, but Charles had never heard of anyone being arrested for it.  Marilyn noted that the dolphin cortex is larger than the human one.
   There used to be dogs all over the place here, but only a few were sniffing and trotting around the place now.
   As we sat, we saw some huge oil tankers on the edge of the far bay. They were likely there to bring diesel fuel to the area explained Charles. The trucking and taxi industries need that fuel. There were also cruise ships in another part of the ocean that came from all over the world. All the ships - and the people who came ashore - contributed in a very large way to the economy here.
   There is a huge American expatriate community here primarily because of it's proximity to the United States.  I learned that sometimes this area was called "Gringo Gulch".
   This beach was a Federally Protected Environmental area. But as was mentioned about other laws here, the supervision was just haphazard when it was there at all.  One of the worst examples of this was in the case of child labor laws.
   I noted to Carol and Charles that maybe I was getting into the forget-about-time thing a bit. Because it seemed, I hadn't worn my watch for the last couple of days.
  Charles and I went down to the waves and I touched them. He got some pictures and video on this side of the continent, just as Connie had on the other side of the continent in Vero Beach. That was fourteen days ago on Day 6.

   At one point some little sales girls came up and plied their necklaces and wristlets to those sitting around the tables. 
   We sat for a bit more than two hours at Baja Mama's enjoying the amazing Pacific breezes, the atmosphere of the open air part of the place where we sat, the rhythms emanating from the guitar players, and the views extraordinary and mundane.  Carol exclaimed, "This is the life!"
  I thought to myself that if I have to ride through another 110 degree day, I want to reflect back onto this wonderful cool breeze wafting over me from the Pacific!

   We drove from Baja Mama's place to a place called Bufadora.
   The place was a mélange of food odors and other smells, as well as huge collections of wares for sale - from Mexican jumping beans to sombreros to turquoise jewelry to ponchos of every hue and color.  There were corncobs and sweet things and fruits of many description.  There was the hustle and bustle of all sorts of folks selling and buying and running around, sweating and sightseeing.
  There was a famous tourist spot here where the waves crash into the land in a particular way and because of the angle of the rocks often splay a huge geyser of water up into the air. Around this area a gallery of people watch, some from perilous rock advantages, as the water shoots high into the air. The kids go "Oooooo" and everyone smiles in delight. It's a lot like Old Faithful in many ways but much more often in frequency, of course.  I took a bunch of pictures and video there in the crowded area.

  Walking back we stopped at an eatery.  Sitting atop the high and huge windowed room above the sea and tourist area in the Habana Banana, we enjoyed some rest and drinks.
  At one point, I noticed a stooped older man just hobbling along. I reflected wondering if one day we would be like that…  We thought about that a moment, and then Charles took the edge off the moment, by getting another little friendly vegetarian dig in with, "Yeah, and that was from just ONE hamburger!"
   I noted that around that Bufadora area it wouldn't be too good for folks who were allergic to dust. And Charles added that a lot of folks were also allergic to the pollen of the many olive trees in the area.
   We were talking motorcycles and some of Charles' rides - and he used a great expression when he described a particular ride, and said he had a 'helmet full of grin'.

   The first wave of immigrants came to the Ensenada area in 1898 or so. They were Russians, followed by the Chinese. Then the Mexicans came to the Baja area.  There were gold mines and silver mines. The Chinese stayed and established the city of Mexicali which has the only major Chinatown in the area.
  We were pretty tired when we got back to the house. Charles did a few things to get ready for tomorrow's bash, and I promptly went to my casita and fell asleep for an hour and a half.
  I ran and biked in the evening. My run took me to the coastline, and I walked out onto the sand a little. There were kids digging holes, families walking along the shore, boyfriends and girlfriends holding hands, and even a little fly plane buzzing over the waves.
  I had my picture taken in a cutout face. And I took some pictures of the evening skies.
  It was a little camping place there, and I asked one of the folks if there were any ping pong tables but there were none… "Used to be one at the fire station," offered one fellow.
  I spent some time on the DSL with the computer - no wireless available right here - and it was good connecting with folks again.
  In my casita I wrote and worked on the many recent day pictures until past midnight.


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To view photos from trip, and there are a LOT from today, you can check out
http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=45&user_id=42473&event=196141. Some folks have reported trouble with this link, but most find that it works. Sometimes it takes two tries… Also, you can check out the past day journal entries by going to joelperlish.com, and clicking on the appropriate trip down at the bottom on the left hand corner, by going to http://www.joelperlish.com/blog/blog.html.


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