Meling

Day 13-14, March 7-8, 2001
Rancho Meling to Rosarito
(The Winding Down Days)

We left Meling Ranch early on Thursday morning, and headed for Rosarito. It was hard for me to leave Meling, because it was essentially the end of our adventure. Maybe it's because I don't expect the magic of Baja to happen near the border that it doesn't happen. Or maybe it's because it is really nothing like the further reaches of Baja, and the type of people it attracts -- both gringos and Mexicans -- are different. But I was right, anyway. Nothing magic happened once we left Meling and the sparsely populated parts of Baja.

We arrived in Ensenada, and at least Dad and I were bewildered and fatigued by the traffic and commotion of every day life in a city. Jesse seems more at home with activity and people, so he was happy to be returning to civilization. We had such a beautiful trip, and the only negative thing to occur in two weeks happened at a military checkpoint just south of Rosarito. We passed through the tollbooth-like lanes, and were waved over by some uniformed solidiers. They asked us to get out of the Hummer, just like we'd been asked many times at roadside checkpoints.

This time, though, a soldier asked Jesse to empty his pockets. Jesse was carrying a $70 pocket knife that he says is perfectly legal at home and here. The soldier said it was illegal and he took it. We tried to explain that you can buy that kind of knife anywhere in Baja, but they didn't want to talk about it. They told us to go. Basically Jesse experienced a "shakedown," and he wasn't too happy about it. It was really a minor incident considering the wonderful people we'd met and the experiences we'd had, but it was disappointing nonetheless.

We got to the Rosarito Beach Hotel in the early afternoon. I'd never been here, and the hotel does have some historic value and some very pretty tile and murals in the lobby. It was built in the '20s by an aspiring Mexican film star and her husband. The older parts of the hotel have an air of glamor and elegance, though it is fading a bit now. The spa is spectacular, however. It has a great art deco design with a Spanish flair. I loved using the sauna, jacuzzi and steam room today. They charge $10 a day for use of the spa, and I thought it was well worth it.

It was interesting that in Rosarito, the exchange rate was 10 pesos to the dollar. Further south the rate is not quite as good, at about 9.5 pesos to the dollar. Not sure why that happens.

Anyway, we got three suites, at $69 each. They have separate bedrooms, kitchenettes, and tiny balconies. We all have spectacular ocean views. The weather still isn't exactly warm. It warmed up for part of the day yesterday and today and was very pleasant, but it clouded up both afternoons and got pretty chilly.

I thought I would finally be able to check my email, but alas, you have to call the operator and give her the number you want to call, and she dials it for you and charges $1.85 a minute for calls to the U.S. I couldn't figure out how to make that setup work with my modem, so I will have to go two weeks without any email. The world will go on, I suppose. I did go to the Internet cafe near the hotel, Bajachat.com, and read the news. An article in the San Jose Mercury News declared the Internet Gold Rush over. It's been interesting watching it from the front row for the past few years, but the bubble had to burst sometime. My stock options are basically worthless now, but I just hope I have a job when I get back. I never expected to get rich in the Bay Area. I just wanted to stop being so chronically poor, which is the typical fate of a newspaper journalist. I guess the journalists are having the last laugh now -- I detected a good dose of smug satisfaction in that Merc article about the collapse of the dot com kingdom.

But back to the last days of the great Baja Escape. Last night we ate dinner in the hotel, at a pretty good Mexican buffet. (The food at the hotel is particulary good, and I feel spoiled having so many choices.) Then we sat out by the pool and smoked Cuban cigars we bought here, and Dad and Jess drank more Presidente brandy. We sat in the jacuzzi for a while with a group of college kids, and a nice couple from Toronto. Then Jesse and I went to the hotel bar for karaoke. There are a few college students from Arizona, Colorado and Missouri whose schools have spring break this week, but they were extremely disappointed to be a week early for the real thing. I am so glad we didn't hit the real spring break week. This place clearly becomes a drunken zoo. I felt so old with all the 19 year olds hanging out here. The legal drinking age in Mexico is 18, so I'm sure that's a major draw. The bar was filled with seniors on a bus tour and the college kids. I think I must have been the only person besides Jess between 20 and 60 in the place. I made a huge effort to enjoy myself, but I gave up and went back to my room early.

The same adolescent kitten I'd met earlier was still hanging out by my room. I picked her up and she didn't want to let go. She knew I was a sucker. I brought her in my room and she slept with me all night. She was adorable, and it will be hard to leave her behind, even though she smelled strongly of motor oil and my only clean sweatshirt smells like motor oil now, too. Dad and Jess met another woman who slept with the kitten the night before. I imagine this cat never has to spend a night in the cold.

Today we did a lot of shopping in a little flea market near the hotel, and Dad got his first facial in the spa, which he loved. The spa was booked up, so Jess and I got massages at a little salon along the main strip near the hotel. It was sort of a cross between a rubdown, a chiropractic adjustment, and a regular massage. At $35 an hour, I couldn't complain. You can't get a massage for less than $65 an hour at home.

Being here reminds me of being in Vegas. I can find things to enjoy, like the spa, and maybe do some shopping (although I would much rather shop here than in Vegas). I did buy some beautiful Mexican blankets. But my heart's not in it. Tourists are constantly accosted on the street here by kids and adults selling chicklets and all kinds of junk. It makes you feel like a target instead of a person. That just doesn't happen anywhere else in Baja except Cabo San Lucas, which is why I would never go there for a vacation. La Paz is the biggest city in Baja, and I have never felt like a big American target there. People treat you like another human being, with respect and dignity. The same way I treat them. I know a lot of Americans come here and act like jerks--that a lot of Americans come to places like this just so they can act like jerks. So there is a reason why we are treated this way here. But I really only like going to places where those kinds of Americans don't go, so I am not lumped in with them.

When I was walking on the street today, I got behind a group of Mexicans about my age. I noticed that they did not get accosted by vendors, so I walked close to them to appear as though I was with them, although I was dressed much more casually than they were. It worked and I got to travel incognito, so to speak. I don't like having to hide to walk on the streets without being pestered. I actually couldn't wait to get back to the hotel so I would be left alone. That is not my idea of a vacation -- being in a place where you have to hide out at your hotel.

I'm writing this from my hotel room, on the last night of our vacation. I've got so many great memories swimming through my head. On balance, it's been nice to decompress here a bit before going back to my "real life." But this place is only a resting spot for me, not somewhere I will dream about, or somewhere that will get under my skin and make me itch to return. This place actually makes me want to turn tail and get as far south as I can, short of Cabo, of course. Because it will only go downhill from here. San Francisco is about as civilized and techologized as you can get, and that's far, far too civilized for me, thank you very much.

I'll take a palapa on the beach without running water, electricity, cell phones, regular phones, palm pilots, the Internet, or annoying sales people any day. But I might just bring my laptop so I can write about the color of the sunrise on the Sea of Cortez, and photograph it with my digital camera. And I might just post all that rhapsodizing on my website later so you all can read about it. And of course I'll check my email to see if you have written me yet. :)