Sun 3 Feb 2008
Day 146 Santiparc Beach, Baja California, Mexico
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I got my chance on the kayak in the morning which was great. The sea was calm, there was no wind and the water was clear enough to see a few fish. Drake had already headed out while I was eating breakfast so I was slightly unsure of where he would be but I made it to the first island and messed around there until I finally caught sight of him. We met up by a nearby rocky outcrop covered with sea birds and he offered me a beer. It was only 9.30am!! :pWe went north for a while and then Sheena turned up in her sweats, halfway through her morning run. Drake offered her his kayak and we headed back to the camp, pausing to admire the washed up dead fish. The beauty of a waterproof camera is being able to throw it to someone in another kayak and not mind when it falls in. I had to get it out! |
 Drake finds some beach kill |
 Fishing up my camera |
Back at the beach I borrowed the fishing rod from the guys and had half an hour in the small lagoon which backed onto our campsite but didn’t get any luck. The fish seemed interested at first but were barely as big as the lure and I was casting into the wind which wasn’t helping. Sheena wanted to check her mail in town and we needed a few supplies too so we went back up the 20km to Mulege to see if anywhere was open. The Internet cafe was closed, it was a Sunday after all, I swung the van around to head out to look for somewhere else and grazed the kerb a bit too sharply. We heard a tear and a rush of air, I had stupidly ripped open the side of my tire and within 30 seconds it was flat. Shit! I was now going to see whether the jack would work and give Sheena a lesson in changing a wheel. It wasn’t a good lesson… The nuts would come off which was a relief on a 10 year old car, the jack worked but I couldn’t for the life of me work out how to get the spare from under the back of the car. I lay underneath bashing the plastic holder and trying to turn it but it wouldn’t drop down. I set Sheena off in search of help since the repair manual didn’t hold any clues but then saw the information I needed on the plastic cover that shields the jack. “Great” I thought “I’ll have it changed and be picking her up in 5 minutes”….
You drop the wheel down on a cable from the inside of the van by turning a bolt but it would come down a few inches and then stop. I lay under the van trying to work it out for another 20 minutes until Sheena turned up with the Cavalry, a local Gringo Hipster armed with a pen knife, a mini compressor and a few ideas but no real technical know how. After another 15 minutes of messing I finally worked out how to get it to drop down and it appeared the latch was pretty rusty which was stopping it. I could sort that with WD40 later but I was finally happy to have the damn spare available after an hour of minor frustration. I soon got it switched out and headed to the square to borrow my new friend Harvey’s compressor and get some groceries. I was filthy but at least I had learnt my lesson in the center of a big town when the sun was shining…
It was the time of year for the American for that weird event called the Superbowl and it was dark by the time we got back to the beach and found the guys watching the game in the local restaurant, sober as shifty judges. There were also elections going on in Mexico and no where was allowed to sell or serve alcohol which meant we had to sneak out to the car park for a beer. I wasn’t sure which team won but Pat made $450 out of the game from a couple of bets! They had invested in 4 regular logs for $2 earlier on in the day so I showed them how a disgraced scout builds a fire with just a firelighter and a $4 fan from Walmart (the fan is the secret!). No marshmallows though, we all searched for them but the common opinion was that the raccoons stole them in the night… 
