Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We stayed for 5 nights at Casa Cyrene and managed to get up to date with our website diary - at last!! We had 4 weeks
to write! But, it wasn't all work. Helen went into town (Todos Santos is about 7 miles north of Casa Cyrene) with
Cyril and Cathy, a Canadian who´d found this place and also stayed longer than originally planned. Kirsten made a
cover for our shoe rack to stop the shoes falling out every time we drive. She also cleaned our mountain bikes so
that we could finally make use of them for the first time! It took a while to get them off the bike rack and adjust
them for us, but we finally got on them and went for a 2.5 hour bike ride in the sun and found a far better road
back to the main road for Winnie. We also looked at some hand made woven blankets which we could use to put over our
seats inside Winnie, at some little shops on the main highway. The man in the shop said they cost 50 and we managed
to get him down to 40. When Helen tried to pay him 40 Pesos he looked at us in shock and said 40 dollars! (That's
about 400 Pesos) Well, we didn't have that amount of money with us so we left empty handed.
The next day we went on another bike ride to try and find a back route to a lovely bay we had been told about. There
is no road and you just have to try and head north until you find it. Well, we couldn't even find a road from Casa
Cyrene to San Pedrito camp, just along the beach. So we ended up having to push the bikes in the sand! Then we tried
a few lanes heading north but kept ending up in dead ends. After a while we just gave up and headed out for the main
highway. The highway is not really suitable for cyclists so we got off onto side roads running parallel as much as
possible for the short distance to our turn off. Even so, Kirsten got her baseball cap blown off by a truck passing
us and had to stop and fetch it!
We also met Rosko the wily dachshund who is extremely bow-legged and waddles around Casa Cyrene. He's quite a
character. We were sitting on the patio that has steps down to the beach and watching a grey whale blow spouts
of water through its blow hole, and Rosko didn't seem to be able to find the right spot to lie down in. First in
the sun, then in the shade, then back in the sun! After half an hour, Mike (a surfer staying for about 6 months)
got up off his padded sun lounger, and Rosko found what he was looking for! He soon jumped onto the sun lounger
and made himself comfortable! At least he allowed Mike to share it with him when he came back! We also made the
mistake of eating salami in front of Rosko - he nearly bit Helens hand off when she gave him a small piece. Later,
he waited outside our door for some more!
On Thursday 29th Jan, we drove further south, stopping off to buy our seat covers for 300 Pesos ($30 instead of $40!).
Cabo San Lucas is "Lands End" on the Baja peninsular and is as far south as you can go. It is also extremely up-market
and hence, very expensive. We parked near the marina and had a little walk around, but we didn't have much time as it
was getting late and we needed to find an RV park for the night. Cabo also has a complicated road system and so it took
us a long time to get back to an RV park we´d spotted too late to turn off the road. Once we got back there though, we
found out it was far too expensive. Kirsten went on a search around the area for about 45 minutes but was not impressed
with other places. So we decided to drive to San José del Cabo about 20 miles away and go to an RV park called Abba Ranch
which was supposed to be reasonably priced. We ended up staying for 4 nights.
We had some really nice neighbours, Brian and Lily, who told us they had seen us at various RV parks and beaches on the
way south. They're obviously far more observant than we are!! It turns out that one of Brian's ancestor is the Duke of
Argyle!, but he's a New Zealander who has lived in Canada for decades. He's also a very handy man to have as a neighbour.
He told us he's a battery fanatic which probably comes from a life time of building and sailing boats, and said he was
going to check his batteries. He asked us if we wanted him to have a look at ours whilst he's at it. Well, you don't say
no to someone related to the Duke of Argyle!! He checked our front and back batteries for us and topped them up. The front
battery was very low, so it's a good job he took a look. We have to admit that neither of us knew that batteries should be
topped up with distilled water from time to time!! But we're learning! Helen also checked the oil and topped up the radiator
and screen wash whilst we were under the bonnet!
Brian also checked our gas heater for us. It worked without him having to do anything other than turn it on!! So, the only
explanation for it not working during the freezing nights we went through, was that the battery was too low to provide the
spark for it to ignite. But at least we know that it works.
They also took us with them into San José del Cabo for an afternoon, to go to the internet and have a look around. We were
even given a walkie-talkie so that we could arrange to meet up with them later and travel back to the camp. They are equipped
with everything. They even lent us their DVD player and a large battery to run it off so that we could watch a film or two!!
So we had an evening at the Winnie mini cinema and watched the start of "Unfaithful" with Richard Gere until we realised we'd
seen it and then "Corellis Mandolin" with Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz. We started to watch another film with Matt Damon and
others using and really terrible Texan drawl that was difficult for Kirsten to understand. Fortunately, the battery ran out!
But we certainly had luxury for the evening!
The only thing we could do in return was to bake some cakes and share one with them! But I think they enjoyed it.
On our last day here, Kirsten was given the task of cutting Helens hair again. It seems we're both getting better at it the
more we practice! Helen has just been told to write that her hair has been cut superbly!!
