One of my favorite days of our Baja trip was Sunday when Todd dropped Katie, the kids and I off at the little fishing village we could see from our boat. From the moment I had spied it, I wanted to go and visit as my favorite part of Mexico is visiting the "off the beaten path" places and really experiencing the culture. It was also a perfect opportunity for the children to practice the Spanish I have been teaching them. I told them I was pretty sure that if we went ashore we could find a little tienda and buy ice cream but they would have to ask for it in Spanish.
This is one of the poorest looking villages I have ever visited though at one time, it appeared to have been more prosperous. Several very large, ruined buildings were in the center but they gave clues that at one time this town must have had a larger population. Today, the 195 inhabitants include 56 children and the two schoolhouse must be pretty full. As usual, the best kept building in town is the church.
Large bones are displayed throughout the village as decorations as well as outhouse style toilets. Indoor plumbing did not appear to exist. Many homes (shacks) were boarded up and the streets were dusty and littered. People were friendly, however, and we enjoyed seeing some of the local catch of scallops and octopus.
My three were delighted to find a broken down playground and happily played with yelps of joy for at least a half hour. We walked and found several tiendas but none had ice cream! We had noticed at night that lights were sporadic on the shore and I found out they only have electricity sometimes. So of course, they can't count on any food remaining frozen. I was able to buy the kids sodas and snacks so all was not lost. Of course, they had to use their Spanish first.......I was proud.
Before leaving, I asked if they would like to live there. Teddy said "No." I asked why and she said because it was too hard to understand the people........ and they didn't have ice cream!!!
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