By Ann Hazard
Photos by Terry Hauswirth

The main street of Cabo Pulmo, through Terry’s eyes.

Everyone who lives in Baja Sur knows about airport runs. When you live in paradise, people come to visit, and they usually don’t drive. So whether we live in Los Barriles, Todos Santos or Los Cabos, we could all pretty much make the drive to the airport blindfolded. Sometimes it’s a straight run. Fifty minutes down. In and out and homeward bound … over with in two hours if we’re lucky. Other times we go for carnitas at El Michoacano, make a quick stop at the bank and a run through Soriana’s in San Jose to get groceries. Their produce is the best. There are always errands we can jam in before a pickup or after a drop off.

A couple weeks ago, when my daughter came to visit, we decided to try something totally different. We had an official errand to run. We had a picture and some books for a guy staying in Cabo Pulmo. The plan was launched, the map consulted and the cooler packed with ice-cold beer. We dropped Gayle and her friend, Jeff at the airport at 11:15 and searched out the dirt road just south of there that goes across to the Sea of Cortez and comes out at Vinorama on the (dirt) East Cape Road. We bumped along for a little over an hour through some desolate country. Every so often there was a little rancho with a well and a garden—an explosion of green in an endless expanse of sand dotted with cacti and dormant gray trees and bushes. It’s been quite dry this year.

“...It’s been quite dry this year.”

Once we passed over the tallest hill, and the Sea of Cortez spread out beneath us.  It was like a slap in the face—a stunning sapphire mirror against the backdrop of a cloudless periwinkle sky and the desert. Around the corner we found the Crossroads Country Club. This place doesn’t live up to its name. It’s really just a palapa and patio with plastic chairs and tables and an outhouse (with flushing toilets) on a cliff overlooking a stunning, deserted beach. It may not be fancy, but the view is to-die-for and the food is amazing. Imagine eating a Carprese salad of buffalo mozzarella and slices of tomato with pesto drizzled over it out in the middle of nowhere! I’m always craving Italian food, and living in the East Cape we don’t have any Italian restaurants, so I was in heaven. There was a big bowl of water for dogs, Internet access and a lending library for books. Definitely a well-stocked outpost.

After lunch we headed up the East Cape Road to Cabo Pulmo. It was what my dad always used to call a newly graded dirt road: a freeway. It was so good that Terry flew along at 40 mph in some places. We stopped  at Arbolitos just after Los Frailes where I went snorkeling. There were so many Mexicans camped out there that it looked like Semana  Santa was still going strong. I came in from snorkeling and noticed that Terry was messing with the jack and the spare tire in the back of our Explorer. Uh oh. “What are you doing?” I asked him. “What do you think I’m doing?” he asked back. I walked around to the front of the car. Left front tire was flat as a pancake. Woops. Did we perhaps go a bit too fast on that “freeway?” Apparently.  Terry seemed on the cranky side, so it was back into the water for me for another round of snorkeling. It’s the best snorkeling ever there because it's a national park and the fish aren’t hunted. They have no fear of humans, so instead of darting away from me when I got near them like they do here, they just cruised along. I was one of the school … close enough to touch them if I’d wanted to. A few nibbled on my toes as we swam along. I felt like a mermaid.

Playa Arbolitos en Cabo Pulmo.

I got out of the water. The tire was magically changed and Terry was sipping on a cerveza. It was time to run our errand … the purpose for our trip, or perhaps just the perfect excuse. Probably more like the truth! We were looking for a guy named Wes in Cabo Pulmo who had been emailing me for weeks. He had ordered 3 books and a copy of the Pulmo picture on the back of the cookbook. We stopped in at Nancy's Restaurant there and she pointed us in the right direction. Just turn right past Pepe's Dive Shop and go to the second house on the street. We went. I opened the gate into a compound of three houses and started walking around hollering, "Hello!" The only living being I encountered was a black lab in the back house who barked back at me.

Not willing to give up, I crossed the dirt road to another compound that said "Bungalows for Rent" on the fence. In luck! I saw three people sitting under a palapa talking. "Anyone know a guy named Wes?" I asked. "Aqui," said one guy. He gave me a look. "Hey, are you Ann?" We walked out to the car and I gave Terry two thumbs up. 

Cabo Pulmo sunset.

We hung out for an hour with Wes and his wife, Shelly and went back to Nancy's for a Margarita. I went to the bathroom and came back to find Terry talking to a young couple seated near us. Come to find out, they had just had their own private marriage ceremony on the beach, with rings and vows and no one but themselves. They were from Seattle and going to the judge Monday at 8 a.m. before reporting in to work (Both are PhDs and professors at University of Washington) at 9. Terry just happened to have brought a framed copy of the Cabo Pulmo picture with him to show Nancy, and on the spur of the moment, he gave it to the couple, Craig and Amalia, as a wedding gift. They gave us little white bundles of Jordan almonds wrapped in tulle and bought a cookbook. They said it was their first wedding gift as they had officially eloped! She later emailed me and ensured me that the picture was hanging in her office.

 © Ann Hazard, 2006. No part of this article may be reprinted without permission. Article printed in edition 79 of DISCOVER MAGAZINE.

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