Baja California - by Small Plane

I owned a small plane for many years.

A 1958 Cessna 175.

(4-seater. Tricycle gear. Franklin engine. Good for short runways.)




Bought it used in Liberia, West Africa in 1982.
I learned to fly there.

Built in 1958! 

A couple of missionaries flew it to West Africa. 

From the US. Via Brazil. Yikes.

Every landing in Liberia had a welcoming committee of small boys. Especially for a "missy" pilot!

I learned to fly over the jungles of West Africa.
Serious "bush" flying.

Yes, that's the runway. Straight ahead. 

Flying in Africa - is a very cool story. For another day.

But it made me comfortable flying into short fields and dirt airstrips.

Landing strip - by the beach. Handy - if that's where you want to set up your tent.

And - it brings us to to Baja.
It's relevant.

Because - the best parts of Baja are visited by small plane.
I kept that plane from Africa.

Flew it from Liberia to Switzerland when I worked there.
Then brought it along when we moved to New Mexico.

(My company, Pan Am, said I could ship a 'vehicle'.
They probably didn't expect it to be a plane.)




Where's Baja?
Not everyone knows.

Baja California is not in California.
It's in Mexico.

It's the long lean peninsula off the western coast of Mexico.
Between the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean. 

Below California.

Thus the name "Baja".

"Lower" California.

But not part of the US.

(Of course, that doesn't bother us.

We're from New Mexico. 

Which is not in Mexico.)

Mulege. The landing strip is to the left. See it?

Baja is remote and crazy beautiful.





Not Cabo San Lucas, down at the far end.
Not Ensenada, up near San Diego.

But the thousand or so kilometers in between.

The Fish Whisperer?

 It's a dry, dramatic, desert peninsula.
Amazing coastline and craggy mountains.




Wonderful for flying.

And the water is the perfect temperature.




There's wildlife:
Birds. Dolphins. Reptiles. Fish. Whales. Corals.

Amazing plants.
Ocean life.

With hardly anyone around.

It's not real easy to get to some parts of Baja without a small plane. 

So one time, Stan and I flew down to a tiny airstrip over Christmas.

I'd been there before, and wanted to show it to him.

Yep -  that's the runway. To the left. 

We'd brought our tent and a couple of sleeping bags.

Stan always brings his guitar. Even to the beach. In a very small plane.

We set up camp on the beach, under a straw palapa umbrella.
About 100 yards from the airplane.

It was parked on the sandy airstrip.

The view from our tent.

No one else around.

But there was a place nearby that sold fish tacos and cold beer.

That'll do.




For Christmas, they made pumpkin tamales.

Perfect.

View of our 'home' from an early morning swim in the sea.

Landing at Punta Chivato. Nearby. Easier than at San Francisquito.

When my kids were small, we'd pack them into the back of the plane. 

Mikey and Erik, collecting shells at Punta Chivato.

Head across the Sea of Cortez - to Baja California Sur.





We could make it in a day from Albuquerque.

Crossing the border into Mexico at Nogales.
(You had to stop at both sides of the border to clear customs.)

Kilian and Trish

The beach - the Sea of Cortez - is calm and shallow.

Perfect for small children.





Someday, they'll finish paving the road.

Maybe they have already.





The place may become wildly popular.





Another Cabo San Lucas.
High-rise hotels. Hip bars. Mega malls.

Who knows?

I'm just glad I had the opportunity to experience it - for many years - like this.






Welcome to Baja.

Essaouira - on the Edge of Morocco

Morocco is SO full of cool colors. And - the DOORS -!

So - do you know the difference between a medina, a souk, a casbah, a riad?

I wasn't sure.
So here it is:

The medina - is the old town.
It usually has a wall around it.

The wall around the medina in Essaouira. It used to be called "Mogador". Isn't that a great name?

Small restaurants within the medina.

Taxis here cost between 70 cents and a dollar.

Those huge stone gates? They're called "Babs".

You can use them for directions. 
Like telling a taxi, "Drop me off at the South Babs."

Cats - are everywhere in Morocco! One fellow said, "We should really call it Catablanca."

The souk - is the market. The bazaar.
Often covered.

The souk is usually within the medina.

You can buy EVERYTHING in the souk.





A casbah is a type of fortress.
A citadel. Might also be within the medina.
Or not.

This old casbah has a VERY large stork's nest on top of it!

And a riad - is a traditional house built around a courtyard, often a garden.
Recently, a lot of riads have been turned into hotels.

It's a popular thing: Come to Morocco, buy a riad.
Fix it up, and start a guesthouse.

There you go. Now you know, too.


We're in Essaouira. 
The western coast of Morocco.

It's crazy colorful here.

We've been in Morocco over a month already. We hadn't planned to stay here so long.





In fact, we'd already bought tickets to SE Asia.

Turkish Airlines - from Casablanca to Istanbul to Bangkok.
We've been traveling in Morocco for a while, and thought we were ready to move on.

Then - we arrived in Essaouira. 
We spent Christmas here with family.


And - it's really cool! 
Relaxed. Comfortable. Chill.
Perfect temperature. Plenty of places to rent.

Kite surfing.
Guys playing soccer on the beach.
Umbrellas over restaurant tables. 

History, culture and a colorful medina.

And camels.

So - we decided to stay here a while longer.
We've rented a super cool little rooftop apartment.

It's about $40 a night. But - the wine is more expensive here. When you can find it.

Just inside the medina.

It's very sunny - but not hot.
Just about perfect for long walks on the beach. 

It's a very long beach-!

There's a thriving fishing industry here.
Lots of boats. Lots of fish. Lots of sea birds.

The birds are loud! Almost as loud as the mosques -

And - good restaurants.

It's about 3 hours' drive west of Marrakech. 

Marrakech - in contrast - is a VERY busy place.
About a million people, but it feels like more.

Traffic in Marrakech is - challenging.
 Erik drove through it.

His comment: "You’re right. The driving here is reaaaally crazy." 

And this - from a guy who lives and drives - in Bangkok.

So, what's in Morocco beside sand? 

Awesome blue cities.




Ancient castles buried in palm fringed valleys. 
Old stone palaces. Roman ruins. 

Mountain peaks and wild gorges. 

Berber villages.

We stayed with a large Berber family up in the mountains - lots of mint tea and soup.

Incredible markets and souks where you can wander for hours.
Everything from carpets to camel heads. 

The medina in Fes has 9,000 alleyways. (and 40,000 dead ends) 
It helps to have a guide - we did. 
One who was born and raised in the souk itself.





Oasis after oasis. Just like in films.

Music. And - incredible fossils.

This - is a table in our room.

Rugs. Tiles.
Handicrafts. Art. 

Steps are tiled. Walls. Sinks. Tables. Floors. Fountains. Tiles everywhere.

Brass, copper, rugs, textiles, teapots, trays, coffee pots. Certainly an Aladdin's lamp in there somewhere.

The tanneries of Fes, what a sight! 

Built in the 11th century, where they still tan and dye leather. 
Cow, sheep, goat, and camel hides are tanned, and then dried in the sun. 

Did you know goat hides make the softest leather?

The view is impressive - and so is the smell. 
(They give you a spring of mint to smell when you enter. As if.)

So many of the places look like film sets. 

Apparently, the film companies think so, too. 

A lot of popular films are shot here. 

Stan adding to the local color. They all call him Ali Baba. Not sure exactly why.

Stan was looking for meteorites.
Morocco is a good place to find them.

Stan hunting for meteorites. With his pétanque magnet.

Did I mention the doors...?

The main languages in Morocco are Arabic and Berber. 

About 75% of the people are Berber. 

Here's what the Berber alphabet looks like. 

Really.

Berber alphabet

A lot of Morocco reminds me of New Mexico. 

And of Iran, where I lived 1977-79. 

The climate, the geography, the adobe buildings. 
Sunshine and deep blue skies.

Almost as cool as the doors....

Our route: 

Casablanca - Rabat - Meknes - Volubilis - Fes - Midelt - Erfoud - Merzouga - Ouarzazate - Ait Benhaddou - Marrakech - Sidi Kaouki - Essaouira

...and more Morocco - here.