The Delicious Cooking

While hauling ass from Todos Santos over to the Eastern Cape, I stopped down in a squirt of a village in the center of Baja.  Dead, smack in the mid of nowhere...it had some special kind of charm to it that literally took my breath away. 

Population about 300, cobblestone streets (like 3), and best of all, some funky little European-style coffee-house set back one avenue from the main road.  I was smitten the moment I walked in the door and linked up with Veronica, the local who ran the joint.  She was adorable - full of zest and life and smiles.  She told me how her and her baby moved back home to the village from Tijuana  (which is where she learned a bit of English) and she is so happy - unmarried, with her baby and good job near her family in a village she loves.  After making me a freakishly good coffee, we walked together to her little house she was trying to fix up and I told her about 4WL.  She was delighted at the idea of learning more English and said all the villagers would be as well.

There were a few small artisan set-ups in a nearby house and between those, Veronica, the coffee-house (that makes organic wood-fired pizzas), I was close to sold.  Thing is, not everybody can jam to Indo for a month.  Most people are scared even.  Baja, however...well, that is another story.  It's so close and so magical.  And, seriously teaching/learning/showing is hard work, but...with a GIANT proper double espresso latte in the morning, well, staying a month is easy as pie.

Plus, I can drive there. I didn't spring the idea of keeping my solar trailer in Veronica's back yard on her just yet - somehow though, I know she'd be game.  I love the Mexicans.  Was I a bandito Mexican in another life?  Like Zorro? Or was he Spanish?  Whatever, I just love 'em.

So, we've opened the books on our very next 4WL Pilates Retreat and this time, we're on the Pacific coast, at the off-grid, solar-powered Prana del Mar.  Our good friend Kathleen Conklin is running the Pilates sessions, and we're running the rest of it (surfing, volunteering, whale watching, fitness bootcamp, Todos Santos day trips).  All organic/healthy meals are included, and so is a killer surfing session..plus you can help out some endangered sea turtles!

This one is 7 days/6 nights and is $1850 single and $1450 shared.  Lots of amazing things going on for this one and the awesome news is that every single penny for you is a write-off cause it's all 4th World Love fundraising.  Super cool...

Check out the site here and hope I see ya there!

Some features of Prana del Mar:  solar-heated pool, chill-out bar, spacious club house, zen meditation room, indonesian teak and rattan furnishings, organic cotton sheets, bamboo-laid pilates studio

What the retreat includes:

2 pilates lessons per day, all mats

roundtrip airport transport

day trip to funky todos santos

all healthy meals (3x per day)

whale watching from beach

AWESOME surfing lesson

VOLUNTEERING with endangered sea turtles

bootcamp fitness sessions

I don't think people realize just how different the Sea of Cortez is from the Pacific.  Above is the SoC taken from the plane as it was about to land in Cabo.  Below is the Pacific, on a small beach near Todos Santos.  So close and clearly so far. 

Those who have done the Baja will steer toward the Sea of Cortez cause it's so much wilder than the Pacific.  In it's sheer breathtaking beauty, for one.  The Pac can see untouchable, frothing, seething and brave.  The SoC is more remote, kind, spellbinding, and magnetic.  They both bring ya back for more, once you've tried 'em.  Both can be incredibly deadly.  As all good things are.

The poor Atlantic.  All plain and shallow.  Dusty and boring.  Before anyone goes flipping out, please do prove me wrong.  I beg of you.

I was in Baja last week for a few reasons:  a/ figure out if we want to hold the next pilates retreat somewhere down near Todos Santos (yes);  b/  figure out if I want to move my little solar trailer currently in San Miguel de Allende over to the coast (still debating);  c/ snorkel;  d/scout around a bit for the next 4th World Love location (so many amazing options).  I pretty much sorted everything out in about 48 hours.  

Saw 4 possible retreat locations, found what could be the coolest village in Baja, snorkeled near a live coral reef, located a possible trailer location and stayed at this amazing hotel in the Eastern Cape called Punta Pescadero (you can see it perched way out on the cliff).  You don't need much time for a scout - when you are on a mad, mad mission.

I was the only person staying there, which was nuts.  That's off-season for ya, I guess.  I had the ultimate service and views that shook me to the core.  I only found it cause I was cruising down this dirt road, looking for food.  It all goes back to food.  I didn't find the grub at that moment, but I did find a secluded little spot to swim and escape the sweltering heat.  

Then, I happened upon Punta Pescadero and had a lovely evening reading a terrifying horror book after getting a deep tissue massage.  The nightmares were intense and I kept thinking, OMG, it's just me here...tonight is the night I'm gonna die.  An, but never fail, I woke up alive the next morning and vowed to chill on the scary stuff for a minute.   I also let the Mexican massage lady take the giant hotel shears to my head of curls and give it all a good whacking.  I just couldn't stand them a second longer -- still a little in shock over the drastic measure I took in the moment of hair weakness, but it'll grow, it'll grow.

I did stumble upon a great bowl of tortilla soup at a place called La Curva and figured out which ferry to haul my trailer over on from the mainland.  A good adventure across the board.  More soon from the Pacific side of Baja.  The two coasts are sooooo different.  Funny what a small jaunt across the peninsula can look like.