The Return
Cabo Pulmo 191121
I got up at 5:30 after another night of strange and complicated dreams. The power went out while we packed in the early morning darkness and we had to finish with our headlamps.
Karen had cooked up the remainder of our vegetables in a big skillet but there was too much to eat. We all went out to watch the sun rise over the ocean.
Joy had the first flight out of Los Cabos at 10 so the plan was to get on the road at 8. Our flights, in contrast, left at 14:00 and 14:30 and Amanda did some research and found a estuary, just outside Los Cabos where we could look at birds while we waited.
Unfortunately they were rebuilding the roads in the city and we got stuck in traffic. The rain had washed the road out in several places and men were working on replacing the curb around the median to prevent drivers from driving over it to escape the traffic. Of course this work caused more traffic and I saw one man driving across the unfinished medium to avoid the delay.
It took 30min to drive through the city and we were nearly out of the worst of it when we realized that our schedule was tight and we didn't know how long it would take to return the rental car so we turned around and went back to the airport without seeing the estuary.
The security check was much more relaxed than in the states and it dumped us into a horrible duty-free mall with salespeople pushing to get us to spend our remaining money on souvenirs, cigarettes, and tequila. Once running the duty-free gauntlet we were let out into the terminal which was organized like a strip mall selling American fast food and faux Mexican trinkets like maracas, sombreros, and tequila in skull shaped bottles.
We got rid of our water before going through security and then discovered there were no water fountains on the other side. Everyone we asked told us to buy bottled water for $4. We were a little hungry so we decided to go to the sports bar and were charged $100 for lunch for 4 people.
Kayla and Rian pulled out caveman and we played to kill some time. Amanda just wanted to watch and after a while Kayla gave her a handful of pesos and asked if she would go to the duty free shop and buy one of those bottles of vanilla.
Amanda picked up the vanilla and a small bottle of tequila to calm her nerves before the flight but the total was more than the pesos she held so she gave the woman her credit card. To finalize the transaction the cashier asked for her passport and boarding pass, scanned both, put the vanilla and tequila in a bag and locked it with a security tie. Amanda didn't want to hold up the line asking about how duty free goods worked so she just took it. Back at the table she said she wasn't sure she could hand over the vanilla because they scanned her passport and she didn't dare open the bag to drink the tequila in case she was arrested on entering the US. So we brought the tequila home with us, thanks Kayla!
They scanned our tickets and we piled into a bus that drove us out to where our plane waited on the tarmac. The radio channel on the bus was filled with excited Mexicans shouting at each other. Once on the tarmac we split into two groups and boarded the flight from both the front and the rear. It went much faster than boarding from the front though I noticed some of the fatter Americans had a hard time climbing the steps.
Once in the air, we flew along the east coast of Baja and I found I could recognize our position on the map by comparing the shapes of the islands seen from the window. I followed our progress all the way up the coast and into the armpit of the peninsula before running out of recognizable islands but I picked up our location again outside of Los Angeles and pointed out Santa Monica and Venice beach as we flew over.
US customs was much more relaxed than I expected and we were soon out of the airport and waiting for the shuttle that would take us back to Monterey. It was supposed to arrive at 6pm and Amanda asked one of the parking attendants where to go and he told us to go wait at number 8. So we waited but when our van still hadn't arrived by 18:10 we called the shuttle company and Amanda listened to the pre-recorded message telling us we were supposed to be waiting at number 4. This sparked a mad dash around the airport looking for bus stop four. We found 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 but I had to ask about the location of 4. We found it hidden behind a parked bus and Amanda called the shuttle company while we waited. Fortunately the shuttle was running late and picked us up a few minutes later.
We were dropped off downtown and a friend picked us up and drove us back up the hill to the apartment and our belligerent cat.
post-script:
Amanda counted 87 bird species in the region around Cabo Pulmo - crushing the competition. She is now listed as the top birder for the ebird hotspot of Cabo Pulmo with a total of 68 species.
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