Day Eleven: Monday, March 26: Santispac - relaxing on the beach and meeting new friends

Early (7am) this morning, we awoke to the sound of a horn that played “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from the musical Oklahoma – a fitting song for Playa Santispac. We had read about vendors selling groceries and other items that came by early, so I quickly got up and dressed to see what they had. Obero was the owner of the truck with the musical horn, and he was really nice – great smile and attitude, and helpful clear Spanish. I like it when people make it easy to communicate! Bought some fresh tortillas from a tortilleria in Mulegé, some limes (limons), garlic, avocado, steaming hot tamales and some empanadas. All was quite good and we were quite happy to no longer have a reason to leave this beautiful beach!

Last night we got some new neighbors in a tent and the palapa next door, Bernardo, from Guadalajara, Mexico, and Alethea (pronounced “Ah-LEE-thuh”) from Alberta, Canada. Alethea had been teaching English in Mexico and she and Bernardo met down here, and now he was traveling with her up to Canada. What a great couple they were! We learned more about Mexico and Mexican culture from Bernardo, who is fluent in three languages and went to high school in England, so speak English with a British accent. We enjoyed chatting with them and ended up deciding to share dinner – there were vendors who drove up to the campsite selling fish, shrimp, scallops, and more. We also arranged to keep the kayak they had rented so we could go out in it the next morning, when they were leaving. The little store/restaurant on the beach was on "summer hours" and didn't open until 2pm, making renting a kayak in the morning difficult!

The Mighty Kayakers Return!

We waded out in the water some- it stays shallow quite far out, collected shells, read, watched birds, took photos, and generally had a lovely day. There are sting rays in the water here, so wading is doing the “Baja Shuffle” to keep from getting stung. Bernardo and Alethea waded out quite far before seeing their first stingray, which made their return wade quite a bit slower! Bernardo then found good sticks to use to test where you would put your foot and brought me one when I was out splashing about. Devin already has one – his cane. The only problem is they get water in them and he has to remember to drain them before bringing them inside – ha. We waded out quite far, looking at the little schools of fish and small crabs that would occasionally startle me by scuttling right across my feet! I think I stepped on one once, because it pinched my toe! Only lightly, but it was still startling.

My mosquito bites were starting to itch fiercely, to the point of madness, and talking with Bernardo and Alethea, we found out about “Vampire Flies” – don’t know their real name, but that’s what they called them, because they act just like vampire bats – injecting some anticoagulant with their bite and then lapping up the blood, rather than sucking the way mosquitoes do. They make a small crater-like wound. Devin had seen one of these on my leg at San Ignacio – maybe I had vampire fly bites!

While we were sitting out on our “patio” watching the Herons, Egrets, Pelicans, Frigatebirds, Ospreys and Vultures, a couple from one of the sailboats motored in close to shore in their dinghy, set anchor and waded up. They introduced themselves and asked if we’d watch their water shoes, after they changed into walking shoes. Tony and Marquita were another wonderful couple, warm, friendly, fun, funny, genuine, and talkative. They had a place in San Carlos in the winter, and lived in Albuquerque in the summer. They said walking was something they didn’t get to do enough of on their sailboat, so they came ashore to go for walks, in addition to going into town for supplies. They went for a walk, came back and got their shoes (we were watching them to make sure no dogs ran off with them, which had happened before, apparently!) and they said we were hired! Ha. Marquita said we’d have to come out and see their sailboat, and we thought that would be great.

It was a great day, and we had a wonderful dinner, too – Alethea and Bernardo made shrimp in garlic sauce and scallops – but they aren’t real scallops, and are quite chewy, though delicious. Alethea was quite embarrassed at their chewy-ness and said they were like bubble gum, but they weren’t ~that~ chewy! They tasted quite good, too! They come from a different creature than what we call scallops. What we call scallops, the Mexicans call “Mane de Leon” (mane of the lion) and they get quite large. What they call scallops come from a spiny large shell that is oblong, and apparently the disks are cut out of a larger organism. They are called Callo de Hacha, and just the adductor muscles are eaten. Atrina maura is the scientific name, as far as I can tell from Google research since then, or Pinna rugosa, or some other species of Pinna or Atrina – sometimes called a Pen Clam or Fan Mussel. I think these type of scallops are meant to be eaten as ceviche, and cured with lime juice rather than cooked, but we didn’t know that then. The next morning, Bernardo fed the leftover scallops to the crabs - he said he heard the crab saying "chewy!" Ha.

We grilled the fish, of unknown variety (just “pescado”) on our Weber Baby Cue, which was the first time we got it out in Mexico. Here’s the marinade, which I got from my former roommate, Tom Wright, who cooked salmon this way – yum!

Recipe for Fish Marinade:
Lime Juice
Soy Sauce
Garlic
Serrano Chiles
Onion (purple is good)
Cilantro

After marinating, wrap fish with some marinade in foil and grill for 10 minutes or until firm and no longer translucent. flake apart and serve with warm tortillas and fresh salsa (tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime, chiles - basically, the marinade without the soy sauce!)

Go back to Day One of Baja Trip