Baja Tuesdays...A Journey Through Hilarity

*Horse power, horsepower and the Secret in the Sand*
A Photographic Odyssey
Part 1- Horse power

Wednesday morning dawned bright and early in Los Cabos. Being a fishing village, and a tourist attraction for the large sport fish those waters held, dawn and dusk were the busiest times of day. Hundreds of boats of all sizes departed at sunrise and then returned home again at sunset with their catch, or at the very least, with flag adorned masts denoting which great fish were caught, and subsequently released, on the days journey. We loved to wake up at 6am and watch them getting their gear together and loading the boats. Then, like a signal had gone off to all of them at once, the engines would roar to life and they would streak out of the harbor and melt into the sunrise. The day has officially begun.

This afternoon we have scheduled a private horseback ride at sunset at a ranch not too far from Cabo. We spend the morning at the beach club, humiliate ourselves in and out of the water taxi, and then meet up with a local company for a quick glass bottomed boat tour out to Los Arcos, or The Arch.
I absolutely LOVE boating. Have I mentioned that? LOVE it. I could very happily live on a boat for the rest of my life. A small one though- not one of those cruise ships. Those are scary. Anyway- So, once again we're in a crappy little wooden boat bouncing through the choppy waves out of the marina, and I am in 7th heaven. Couldn't be happier, honestly. See? Here's a picture of me joking around with the guide (another good looking Mexican whose name is sadly forgotten).


If you ignore the fact that I look hungover, which I assure you, I was NOT- then you can clearly see how delighted I am. Ahem, anyway- This really was one of my favorite fun things because A. it was free, B. it was cool (I'm talking temps here) and C. we were able to meet many of the natives up close and personal. See below.

You kind of wonder what is being said in this conversation....

A crabby friend who promptly pinched our guide...and of course,

The real wildlife.

The view was also amazing and the sea, indescribable. It's impossible to explain the color and the beauty of it except to say what I said many times on the boat that day, it's just like in the pictures you always see of tropical places. They aren't kidding or using photoshop. It's really that color.


Moving on. Our group departs after the tour and we head back to the hotel to eat and prepare for our sunset ride. Eileen and I have been looking forward to this since long before we left for Mexico and have actually paid for this, so it better be good. (This post is going to be heavy on pictures and light on literature- hope no one minds)
I'd like to introduce you to Jimmie.

Jimmie is a BIG palomino gelding full of 'espirito', which is what I had Dave request in Spanish upon arriving at the ranch. I'm not some city chick (in spite of my love for handbags and shoes) who's never been on a horse, and my biggest apprehension about this tour was that I'd get stuck with a plodder. So we requested espirito, muy espirito, and that's exactly what we got.
Jimmie was a giant and he HAD to be in the front. He looks sweet in this picture, and in fact he was, but he was happiest when running full tilt down the beach at a hundred miles per hour. I was happiest that way too, but since our guide Jose' had risked his neck letting me do it, I only got one chance at it. You'll have to ask Eileen about the whole episode as Ryan (the one with the camera) did not get any pictures as he was out buying a muffin.
Eileen got the plodder, unfortunately, and ended up tethered to the guide's saddle and being literally pulled down the beach against the very adamant convictions of the beast in question.
Dave and Ryan were given horses with zero personality, which I'm sure Ryan appreciated. He suffered a slight 'wardrobe malfunction' in that he opted to wear thin, quick-dry pants with no 'protection' against the abusive saddle.
At a walk we were fine, but the minute the guide picked up speed Jimmie jumped against the lead horses hindquarters in an attempt to shove it out of his way, Eileen's horse (being towed by the guide) was unintentionally and perpetually in Big Jim's way and Eileen and I were knocking together like the abused cohoney's of the guy behind us, that being Ryan. Dave followed along on his personality-free nag and yelled conversational spanish from 20 feet behind the guide. The wind was blowing, the surf was pounding and it was almost impossible to have a conversation no matter what language you were speaking, but it was indescribably important to Dave to ask this kid about everything under the sun, at which point the kid would turn around so he could hear Dave, Jimmie would make a grab for the front seat, Eileen's horse would pick up some centrifugal force and spin around behind the guide and the guide's own horse, who was the idiot among them all, would begin to dance around like a bolt had come loose somewhere. Ryan's horse, just for fun, would stand still and bounce in place, having discovered the secret of his riders misery and assumingly, enjoying the sound of whimpering.

At some point it became more than obvious that Eileen's little legs were too short for the stirrups. This was evidenced by the fact that aforementioned legs were bouncing along at a 90 degree angle to her hips, like a tiny lego-lady, bent in half. The stirrups were shortened as much as possible, but resulted in the same effect, and so for Eileen, the ride was over.
Jose' radioed back to the ranch and just as the sun was setting, rescue came. Eileen and the ranch owner blazed off together on his ATV, she clinging to his back as they roared over the dunes. We could hear the screaming laughter for miles and Dave suddenly looked as if the dangers of this situation were only now becoming known to him, like a candy had suddenly turned sour in his mouth, the idea of his Sweetie pie alone with a bunch of wrangling Mexicans surprised him and apparently didn't sit well.
He was quiet (which, for Dave, means a less animated conversation) for the rest of the ride. Ryan's horse did his best to keep the pace at an even trot, effectively sterilizing my husband and ruining his vocal cords to operate at a frequency that only dogs could hear. Jimmie was forever pushing for the front and when we once again hit the open beach after touring around some old buildings above the dunes, Big Jim was set to run. Muscle and previous experience with Big Dumb Animals, had prepared me for this luckily, and I was able to keep him at a dancing, gyrating trot/gallop the whole way back.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Eileen was enjoying the exclusive attentions of the ranch owner and his men, who were lavishing her with conversation and cold, carbonated beverages. Dave, Ryan and myself, the resident Wrangling Hero's, made an uneventful, yet lovely, trip back along the beach and through the palm groves near the corrals.
We joined Eileen on the veranda just as the sun was setting. The perfect end to a truly great day.

Proof that they did it.


Our 16-year-old guide, Jose'.


The Muffin Man. (with a cameo from Dave)

And so our sunset tour ends and I for one was totally happy. I now want to live in Cabo and am thinking Ryan may have difficulty getting me back onto the return flight....hmm...
One last picture of me and Jimmie (note the crazy 'I-just-rode-100-mph-on horseback' hair I'm sporting.

Great, great day.

Sunset, Sunrise- a few meals and suddenly it's Thursday.



*Please stay tuned for next weeks episode of Baja Tuesday's...Horse power, horsepower and The Secret in The Sand, Part II