Los Frailes

Cabo Pulmo 191115

Amanda and I rose before sunrise and packed the minivan for a trip out to Los Frailes and Playa Los Arbolitos with Joy and Karen.

Karen was nervous about driving the rental van. She was afraid she might damage it in some way which would make her lose her sizeable deposit or getting it stuck on the loose sand. We offered to drive but because the van was rented in her name she insisted on doing it herself.

This anxiety led to some erratic driving. While driving through a sandy wash I pointed out she shouldn't go so slow we got stuck and from that moment we soared through the sandy washes.

She sometimes misheard our instructions or interpreted our casual conversations among one another as directed to her. She even did this once while in conversation with Amanda.

Karen asked, "Have you ever gotten in trouble driving in a foreign country?"

Amanda replied, "No, I haven't done it much... Oh, I guess there was that time..."

But as soon as Amanda said the word "Oh" Karen interpreted this as, "Oh No! There is something in the road ahead!" and we all flew out of our seats as she slammed on the brakes. To be fair the brakes were pretty sensitive.

Los Frailes is a long beach South of Cabo Pulmo where the local fishermen launch, returning in the afternoon with their catch. We were told you could go down there at 3 in the afternoon and buy fresh fish straight off the boat. We parked the van in the middle of one of the many access roads that ran down to the water and walked down to the rocky point.

A bunch of american motor homes were parked out on the beach and their sun baked owners sat out under awnings watching the ocean and nodding as we walked by. The beach was covered in dried fish heads and vertebrae and I found a bunch of dried turtle shells in the sand.

We left Joy and Karen on the beach while we ventured inland to find the little pond Amanda had spotted from the road. I caught a zebratail and we made a brief but fruitless chase of a whiptail. Amanda walked around the lake to look at the birds while I continued to chase lizards and I eventually sat down in the sand on the hillside and watched the butterflies swarming over the milkweed below.

01:00 (14.9MiB)

We did some snorkeling and though my sinuses felt ok, after a few dives the shooting pain returned to my left cheek. It was frustrating to not be able to dive. There was a blue hole near the beach and I could see the dark shapes of larger fish in the depths. I really wanted to dive down to investigate but my ear held me back. I caught up with Amanda and handed off the gopro.

Later we sat on the beach to dry off and Joy went out to swim around the rocks. While she was out a snorkel tour boat came around the corner, told her to swim closer to shore and then turned around and left.

A short drive north, back towards Cabo Pulmo, brought us to Arbolito beach and we paid 40 pesos per person to the boy that came up with a clipboard. We parked near the chicken coop and stinky showers and when Amanda went in to use the bathroom she said the toilet bowls were overflowing with shit.

The wind was blowing from the north and the waves were choppy and I was pretty comfortable so I stayed on the beach while Amanda, Joy, and Karen went out snorkeling. Joy said she saw several stingrays in the sand and Amanda said the coral reef was the best she'd seen yet. Both said when they ventured into some of the murky currents something invisible stung their face and hands.

Amanda and I walked down the beach, scrambling over the rocks as thousands of crabs fled at our approach. The sand was covered in coral. We picked up some trash, including the waistband of some men's underwear and she broke her cheap sandals on the walk back but we were able to repair them with the elastic.

Back at the house we caught up with Kayla and Rian and got ready to go out to Sara and Andrew's birthday party. Amanda wasn't feeling well and we were worried she'd picked up my cold so I stayed behind as the others set up party favors and headed out.

Sara and Andrew were the ones who suggested meeting in Cabo Pulmo. They were Kayla's old friends and Amanda had traveled with them on a tour of Europe. Sara was celebrating her 40th birthday and had convinced a dozen friends to come out to Mexico with her to celebrate.

Lying in bed, Amanda complained of being too cold in the 80 degree heat and then half an hour later she complained she was too hot. I made her an egg and cheese tortilla but she only ate half.