DESAYUNO

We landed in Cabo San Lucas last Sunday afternoon. People around us on the plane were stereotypes, cigar smoking, middle age men and their bejeweled wives, looking to drink a lot of Scotch at poolside while the women shop. Some of my friends (some just people I know) they said, “Oh, you’re going to love Cabo.” but i don’t think they had a clue. We got out of Cabo as fast as we could. Todos Santos is almost two hours from the airport, up the west coast about 50 miles. It is tourist enough and the gringos here want to keep it a secret. Humps, bumps and small, water-cut channels mark all the dusty, dirt side streets and most of the main, paved streets only get a C-. Even at that it is certainly cleaner and more laid back than border towns like Matamoros or Nogales and I am more comfortable here than I am in modern America - No Pit Bull politicians, no terrorism fixation, no radical ideologues, just wholesome Mexicans and expatriated gringos who like this side of DT's wall better than his. Too much, way-to-serious rip tide and undertoe at Todos Santos. Nobody swims in the ocean here. I think these two weeks are going to be sweet. 

We are staying at turtle camp's compound in town (on one of those disty, dirt side streets) more like a hostal with little casitas (one room sleeping w/rest room and a shared, outside, common kitchen.) This morning  early I heard people talking down in the kitchen so I went down. Avi and Tamara are a young couple from the west coast, here to save turtles. Really neat folks. When Sharon came down I looked in the refrigerator to see what we had there: flour tortias, apples, cheese and an avocado. So I made rollups with those ingredients. It was so good; the apples and avocado went together so well and the white colby cheese matched perfectly. I acted like I knew all along, that I was cool beans in the kitchen. The word for breakfast in Spanish is “Desayuno” and our desayuno this morning will be replicated again, often; not to mention I am using my Spanish more, every day and thatis a big plus.

At turtle camp our guru opened a nest that should have hatched a few days ago and discovered that none of the eggs had developed enough to hatch except for two who were trapped under lots of tainted eggs. The nest had been discovered by a fisherman, dug up, transported to cam and was suspect to begin with. The two little buggers that made it were all that survived out of 110 eggs. When we turned them loose at sunset there was a crowd of maybe 25 watching. The surf was big but coming in at an angle from the north. Last night it took a long time for the babies to make it out of swash zone. They would be pulled out, disappear for a moment and be pushed back up with the next wave. Today the 2 pilgrims, Pancho and Pepi were lined up for a race to the sea. They both took off, 5, maybe 7 strokes at a time in the sand then rest a little and 5 or 7 more strokes. A big wave crashed, sending a sluice of water and foam up and over the berm. All the people got wet and Pancho was carried up then down at an angle to the south. The next wave wasn’t as big but it didn’t need to be. Pancho disappeared into the froth at the bottom, where the waves were crashing. Two waves later, Pepi took the same ride. It was over in no time at all. 

We were disappointed that there weren’t more babies to set free but it was a great ending for the day. Thinking now about the two new Olive Ridleys, I wonder how they are doing. Four hours into their journey, the odds are stacked against them but we did all we could to even those odds. I think even the hardest shell, don’t-give-a-damn would feel a tug of emotion, one way or another. We must be hardwired that way. No bigger than an Oreo cookie with tiny paddles, plunging headlong into the Pacific Ocean, nothing but instinct and good fortune on their side. How does one not feel something? It’s getting late. Here at the compound we are just under a mile from the beach and, over barking dogs and the crowing of renegade roosters, the pounding surf is unmistakable and I am feeling pretty good.