Last evening we took this photo from the deck off our room at the Villa Bahia. My travel buddy and I arrived yesterday after a two-day drive from Santa Barbara, surviving once again the two-lane narrow windy roads, military checkpoints and near collisions with burros and cows crossing the highway. Once we arrived, however, all our anxiety disappeared.
This is the fourth year in a row we've made this trip to Bahia de los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez side of Baja. We were immediately greeted by Roger, the owner of the hotel. “Welcome to paradise,” he always likes to say, only this time he added, “You guys saved me. I haven't had anybody here for weeks.”
We nodded, having witnessed the plight of other hotel owners on the way down. We arrived at our favorite hotel in San Quintin Saturday night only to find it boarded up. Fortunately, Don Eddie's next door was open. He gave us a rock-bottom price for a room. We were the only guests there.
“So what happened to the Old Mill?” we asked him.
“No business. So the owner decided to take a long vacation. He'll be back in July.”
This morning I took a long walk on the beach. I didn't see another soul. And is it my imagination or have even the birds left? I have never felt so alone. The only sounds I hear are the lapping of the surf against the rocks and the whistle of the wind in my ears. It's paradise, yes, but a deserted one.
“I don't know where everyone is. Are they scared to travel here or just have no money?” Roger mused.
“Both,” we said. Mexico tourism has been hit by a double whammy: The Great Recession and sensationalized news about massacres and Americans getting killed by crossfire in the drug wars down here.
We've been labeled one of those adventurous gringos who simply ignore it all. Truthfully, we've never felt one iota of fear except for those damn vacas en la calle.
The bad news has died down a bit and the economy is slowly recovering. I know that sooner or later, Baja will again be rediscovered, and I will no longer have miles and miles of beach to myself. I intend to bask in its solitude every second of every day I am here this week. But one thing worries me. Where are all the birds?
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