Jungles and Beaches

Great day yesterday in the Calakmul Biosphere ( the second most richly diverse area in the world after the Amazon so they say) We took a trip with a guide as it was a pretty long drive in and thought it would be good to have some expert knowledge with us. There is a huge Mayan site here of which we saw 0.5%! It was proper huge! And lots of animals and birds of which we saw a few. We were in the middle of a jungle but not the kind you imagine. This one doesn't grow taller than 30m and a lot is shorter and 70% of it is deciduous! This is due to not having as much rain, and the soil is poor, mostly limestone so the water drains away. Luckily the leaves were still all here at this time of year so we got some great views from the top of pyramids over the vastness of it all. On the way back we stopped at a bat cave to watch some of the 3 million fly out for the night. It was an amazing sight. Hundreds and hundreds of small bats moving upwards in a vortex. Not easy to catch in a photo I'm afraid.

This evening we've arrived at Tulum, a beach resort. We are right on the beach and can hear the waves crashing, as it's quite windy out there. There's a very comfy hammock on the patio. Planning a couple of days of not a lot!

 

December in Mexico

A 12 day trip in the run up to Christmas.

So far we have visited Chitchen Itza and Uxmal, two of the large Mayan sites on our drive around the Yucatan area. Both very impressive and at Uxmal we were able to get amongst the ruins and also climb one of the pyramids for great views of the jungle surrounding it.

The town squares are buzzing with activity; stalls, food, displays of Mayan culture and music as it's the fiesta of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It's a good time to come. Mixed with Xmas lights and huge representations of the Nativity it's fun!

Both suffering with a bit of Montezuma's revenge so not tried as much Mexican food as we'd like but some sopa di lima (chicken soup with lime) went down well tonight!

Had a good boat trip down an estuary in Celestun, saw lots of bird life and N managed to spot the elusive osprey we were seeking in the States!

Visited a good chocolate museum too; had to be done! Watched a reenactment of cocoa bean worshipping. I felt like I could have joined in!

 

 

Chichen Itza

 

 

 

 

Uxmal

 

 

 

 

Images of Chad the rain God, top one is missing his big wavy nose!

 

 

 

 

Mangroves on our boat trip

 

 

 

 

Lots of these around

San Fran Cisco

Far too many photos of one red bridge taken, though of course varied angles can make all the difference you know! A very windy day on the bridge. Walked some way across then retreated as it wasn't pleasant!

A visit to "The Rock" that is Alcatraz today. Great audio guide that was narrated by ex-prisoners and guards and we were able to step inside the tiny 9x7ft cells too,  quite eerie. Wandered through Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown.

I like the colourful, slightly varied terraced houses here. Two good meals at Zorba's, just across the road. One, not surprisingly, Greek, the other Italian.

Packing to go home is so much easier!

Morro Bay to Monterey

Some more wild coast with big breakers to marvel at on this journey. Then a great stop at Pietras Blanca's to see an elephant seal "rookery". It was the wrong time of year for the huge males with their equally huge noses, instead lots of juveniles "resting" for a month. They are at sea for 10 months of the year, mostly solitary, so use the time on land to be a bit sociable.

 

This is Point Lobos State Reserve. Dramatic scenery, mixed in with cypress trees, the odd sea otter and more pelicans. Weather turning a bit!

Back to the coast

A busy drive through the motorway conurbation that is LA. Occasionally finding ourselves in the middle (best place to be as it gives you options!) of an 8 lane highway! I was driving rather than navigating-much safer all round! Drove past places that you never think you'll visit like Malibu and Santa Monica.

Staying in a nice place in a huge marina at Oxnard. Good couple of meals here, tonight we ate Brazilian! Got into the spirit of things and had a Brazilian cocktail, then a traditional fish dish cooked in a pot - a moqueca. It was very tasty. Neil surprised me (and anyone else who knows him!) by having the pot for two with me.

We were pretty hungry after having had a great day ferrying to the Channel Islands, about an hour off the coast here, and kayaking for 3 hours along the coast of Santa Cruz, in and out of a few sea caves too. Fun stuff. Apparently these islands have the most sea caves in the world. And I have discovered new places to ache.

 

 Looking down on where we kayaked.

 

 

 A couple of kayakers and the kelp.

  

 Sunset at Morro Bay.

Joshua Tree NP

Not a tree but a yukka! This seems to happen quite a bit with naming things doesn't it! A good day travelling through the park looking at these sometimes strange-shaped plants, as well as some enormous structures of granite. One area which was surrounded by granite hills was used as a corral years ago. Very hidden and safe it was too as we discovered when we lost the trail for a while and couldn't get out! NEVER go into the desert without water Neil! We also saw an area full of "teddy bear" cacti so nicknamed as they look soft and fluffy from a distance, just the opposite when you get closer!

 

Sin City

 

Lights blinking,

A medley of shops,

Shows abounding,

Vagrants' "stories",

Ear plugs obligatory,

Gambling extreme,

A fun place for parties,

Sad to leave?

 

 

This was our hotel, real flamingos in the garden and a couple of pelicans.

 

 

 

The volcano show at one of the hotels.

 

 

 

Some Chihuly glass in the entrance of Bellagios. This chap makes amazing glass pieces, flowers, bowls, massive structures. We saw some big pieces in Seattle too. Nice prices too. Quite fancied a yellow bowl myself (and I never really go for yellow things, but at $35,000 I resisted!)

Death Valley

Which as I learnt isn't a valley at all, as it wasn't caused by a river or glacier, but by uplift!

It got to 106f while we were there which is apparently very average, the record being 156f! I'm not going to say how hot it was!  We went hunting in some dunes for sidewinders but no joy. We did see a couple of coyotes though on different occasions. Had a good early morning walk in mosaic canyon, which was a geologist's dream of an amazing range of different types of rocks, including lots of marble shining out from amongst the limestone and sandstone. It was really striking.

Had two of our best meals here which was a nice surprise as we were pretty much a captive market. I had some delicious pulled pork tacos; lots of them in California/Nevada.

 

 

On the way here we visited Mono Lake. This is the "tufa", calcium carbonate that bubbled up from the lake floor. Funky stuff!

Yosemite NP

We've had four and a half days here and on the Glacier Point drive did a particularly good walk with really amazing views all around. Had to climb up this "dome" to get it but that bit didn't take long and was so worth it. (Even starting to speak American now, must have been here too long!)

Watched some serious climbers ascending El Capitan today. Usually takes them about 3 days to get to the top of the sheer granite face; they sleep in hammocks! The record for "Olympic" climbers is two and a half hours!

Went to a ranger talk....about bears this time! 24 killed on Yosemite's roads so far this year. With education and fines things are improving,  and with fines and lots of reminders to store food in bear-proof containers or to take into your rooms there aren't so many bears visiting camps and cars so not as many having to be killed for developing aggressive behaviour. So things are looking better thank goodness.

 

 

This is the south end of Yosemite where they have more sequoia groves. Got back from a walk just as it started raining and it continued all afternoon. We hibernated in the hotel, emailing and reading.

King's Canyon NP

Wonderful day yesterday driving along this canyon. Some fantastic views down into it on the drive and then some time walking and relaxing by the river, including a BBQ on the banks. Couldn't get much better than that!

 

 

Neil on a sequoia stump. They took a slice of this tree to a New York museum in about 1890 to display as no-one believed trees could be so huge. Still there apparently.

Bear city ! (otherwise known as Sequoia NP)

Lovely park with these enormous sequoias, a canyon in the Sierra Nevada range and lots of bear sightings - hurray! And finally a photo G! Not the best camera setting!! No time for faffing, but may be able to tamper with it later. We saw 9 bears altogether yesterday, 3 separate sightings; 3 Mums and 6 babies. We couldn't quite believe it. 2 of the sightings were when we were walking and it actually was a bit scary, especially as the Mum mock charged some other people nearby who had got a bit too close. We watched the same Mum climb right up into a tree, very fast and agile.

 

 

 

 

Went on this walk, made us think of our two brothers! This was part of the view from the top of Baldy.

Bored of volcanoes yet?

Not at this end anyway! We are travelling along part of the "ring of fire" as it's called where the Pacific plate is pushing under the North American plate. This ring is where 75% of the world's volcanoes are so not surprising there's all this action!

We were in Lassen volcanic NP today, travelled down yesterday with a cave stop on the way. One of N's favourite things caves...

Learnt that there are 4 types of volcano and the latest one to erupt here is a lava dome, with slow moving, sticky lava that often just replugs the volcano. That's what this one did and then a few days later in 1917 it erupted again this time with more gas-fuelled power.  Lots of evidence to look at, from massive rocks moved down the mountain by avalanches, to fumaroles, mud pots etc. On the way out of the park were miles of and loads of black volcanic rock in amongst the vegetation.

We had a walk around a lake here too and I had to resist collecting  lots of these massive cones.

 

Taking after Mum with my eyes closed!

 

 

 

 

And a glacial erratic. Remember all this stuff Tim?

Back up to Oregon's only NP, Crater Lake

We spent the last day and a half driving and sauntering round this beautiful lake. The volcanic eruption that made the caldera was 100 times more powerful than St Helen's! It is the clearest lake in the world-you can see to a depth of about 140ft and is a lovely blue. Around the sometimes quite sheer drops along the rim was the occasional sign that said "falling may cause injury or death" . You betcha!

 

 

 

Some "hoodoos" left over as the ash eroded on the outside of the crater.

Redwood forests, California

A less strenuous day today after a couple of long walks over the last few days (one walk of 10 miles! It's a while since we've walked that far.) We took a boat trip up the Klamath river, glad of our hats as it was HOT! We didn't see any hoped-for bears or osprey but enjoyed the pelicans and heron and our captain did a few high speed turns and emergency stops (on purpose!), so that was fun. The  forest walks have been lovely. Quiet and peaceful. We did some huge tree hugging, spotted some frogs and "banana" slugs, you can guess the colour, and came across two bull elk with fabulous antlers, one in a glade just off the trail and one actually on the trail, luckily a little while after we were off it! The end of yesterday's trail took us to fern canyon where 6 different ferns grow on the walls. We had to scramble over trees to walk up it.