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New Beginnings on Mexico’s Baja Sur

20 Mar 2012 -
P1040117

Going Deeper

 

There is an illusion that stories have a beginning, middle and end.

But where does a story begin? And does it ever truly end?

We are in Todos Santos now. Staying at the very lovely Hotel Casa Tota. I am sitting by the pool with the steady fall of the water over the slate fountain, letting my mind wander and wonder about some of the ‘locals’ we have met.

There are the two Canadians from Vancouver, April and Alec, who have built a new business, Baja Beans; a magical coffee place that reminds me of some of the best of the Canadian Gulf Islands…kind of a funky Bohemiam vibe with on-site roasting and home of the best carrot cake EVER.

Or the Americans from California with their organic garden that supplies their new restuarant Wind and C.  Windspirit grew up on a commune in Northern California and then worked in construction. Carolen had a catering business in Menocino. The market crashed around them.

Did their story start when they met, or when the market told them to try something else or was everything that ever happened in their lives, simply leading them to this wonderful new oasis where they could build new lives and reinvent their world?

Or what about the Italians Magda and Angelo? Back in Italy, he was a third-generation restauranteur, she had her own successful restaurant, so when they merged to create their dream restaurant on the shores of a beautiful northern lake, you would think that was a fantastic new beginning to their story.

Except.

Fifty-four days of running their new successful vision ended when the earthquake of 2008 destroyed their dream. They lost it all. Did they wake to an ending? Or a complete new start?

Because they now run the amazing Italian restaurant Tre Galline, where they source local organic greens, buy fresh fish from the local fisherman and create artful feasts for the lucky people of Todos Santos.

Todos Santos is a magical place where dreamers and visionaries come to try something new.

Perhaps there are no endings. And maybe these aren’t even beginnings.

But I feel like I’ve wandered into the middle of something pretty wonderful.

Category: Food/Restaurants, Hotels, Musings, Photos, Travel writing, Traveling  Leave a Comment

Eating on the Baja

19 Mar 2012 -

P1040066

“Toto. We’re not eating tacos any more.”

<Note to self…always say yes to any press trip where the other writers are food writers.>

Our press trip got off to a bit of a slow start, what with Bill Esparza and Josh Lurie having their flight turned around because of a loose windshield (apparently it’s not comforting when the pilot announces to the passengers that it’s making a ‘nervewracking sound’.)

By the time they got on the next flight yesterday morning, our lunch that was scheduled for 1 pm, was closer to 4 pm.

It was worth waiting for.

Carlito Cham grew up in a bi-cultural Chinese/Mexican home and the resulting mix are dishes like the stuffed lobster curry you see pictured above. There were others, lots and lots of them, like crab-stuffed banana peppers in a panko-crust with a mango sauce, or cracked crab dripping in a messy sticky superb sauce that had everyone eating their own hands. You know…just your typical Mexican fare.

Carlito’s Restaurant is down a dusty road between Pescadero and Todos Santos; a little oasis that you definitely want to find. After stuffing us senseless we were sent on our way.

To Rancho Pescadero, right by the ocean, where I’m typing this right now.

I am stretched out on a chaise lounge, on a huge open deck that faces the pounding Pacific. My coffee will be delivered to my door in ten more minutes after one of my best sleeps in a long time (was it because of the wood-framed glass wall that completely disappears so that I was sleeping in an open-sided treefort to the breeze and surf? or was it because I felt as stuffed as a big ol’ turkey at Thanksgiving?)

But let me tell you about Chef Bueno. His name is for real and so is his cooking.

We arrived – just as the sun was showing off with spectacular streaks of magenta and purple – and after driving down a bumpy road, past lots of  healthy-looking gardens. Turns out all those wonderful plots are the organic fodder that  fueled our meal.

Thankfully, dinner wasn’t until 8:30 and after a Hibiscus martini by the pool, I could almost detect hunger pangs. That was a happy coincidence as Chef Beuno was clearly on his game.

Gazpacho that tasted of sunshine and summer. Empanadas with an intense gremolata. Halibut fresh off the boat. Foccacia with the crispest, lightest chew I’ve ever ever tasted.  And quite possibly the best pork chop of my life. Tasting plates kept coming out of the kitchen as the chef told us how he wanted to ‘take us around the world’ with his cooking. He definitely took us on a culinary tour but created it all with food firmly grounded in the Baja region.

Things have certainly changed around here since I was last here (apparently a lot can happen in 15 years).

Locally sourced & organically grown is catching on everywhere. It is certainly not the exclusive domain of any one region. But I think the Baja, with such an incredible growing climate and culinary geniuses, just might have the whole thing nailed.

I’ll keep you posted…sounds like we’ll be going out for a few more good meals yet.

You know…just your typical Mexican fare.

Category: Food/Restaurants, Hotels, Photos, Travel writing, Traveling  Tags: , , , ,  7 Comments

Facebook Page for ColleenFriesen.Writer

17 Mar 2012 -

 

Glistening

 

I was supposed to be traveling right now…I thought that when this appeared, I would be somewhere between Vancouver, BC and Dallas, TX enroute to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  I had scheduled this post to show up yesterday morning.  Pretty tricky huh? Except, it somehow messed up, and here I am, editing it to include these latest details.

Everything that was supposed to happen on this Baja press trip so far…has not. The other writers had their plane turned back yesterday and are now flying down this morning. I can’t imagine the indignity of going through the gong show of L.A. Homeland Security twice. Yuk. Poor things.

So. I’ve been hanging out in the palm-rustling wind and waiting. Other people are pool side. Me? Not so much. I like this quiet shade and the gleaming silence of the marble floor.

I thought I’d also take this time to invite you another venue. I like to add different things to the mix on my Facebook Page, so please come visit over there when you can.

And I’d love it, if while you’re there, you could click on that big ol’ thumbs up “Like” please.

And, if you don’t like it? Please don’t tell anyone. That can be our secret; between the wind and the waves and you and I.

Category: Musings, Photos, Traveling  Tags: , , , , ,  2 Comments

Baja Trip

16 Mar 2012 -

Baja Mexico 2009

Baja Paddling


 
It’s funny how fast things can shift.

On Tuesday my week was unfolding in a fairly-Vancouver-ish way. Between the rainy bits, I would walk, write, and generally carry on with my life. But Tuesday night it all changed.

Because that was when I was invited on a press trip to the Baja.

The last time Kevin and I were in the Baja, was in 2009. We went there for a kayaking trip (hence the photo above).

As for the last time we were in Cabo? I’m thinking it’s been quite a few years, probably a dozen. (When on earth did it become normal for something to have happened over a dozen years ago? I still believe I’m in my early twenties. Clearly this would be evidence to the contrary).

I’m pretty sure I had declared to all who would listen, that once I got back from San Miguel de Allende, I would NOT be leaving again except to go to France at the end of April. Yes, well…

I was talking to a good friend the other day. She told me that her latest thinking is to pay attention to what “gets her jazzed” and to then have faith and trust that energizing feeling to see where it leads.

So. In spite of my announcements and declarations and very good intentions to stay home and dutifully do what I said I would do, I decided to notice my excitement. And what I noticed is that when I was asked to go on this trip…I got excited. Seriously excited. I love Mexico.  And I’m going to follow that jazzy trail all over the Baja like a hound on the scent.

My tickets came through an hour ago. I leave tomorrow morning. Stay tuned.
 

Category: Photos, Travel writing, Traveling  Tags: , , , ,  4 Comments

Journal Pages

14 Mar 2012 -

Morning Pages

My methods have changed over the years, but the effect remains the same. Somewhere, there are only stumps in a former forest, because I have single-handedly devastated whacks of trees with my daily habit of three-pages-each-morning journalling.

The picture shows two years of that habit. These two binders are out of the Rubbermaid container buried in the basement in Sechelt. The pink bin is filled with small journals, scribblers, wire-bound notebooks, fancy leather books, and loose sheets tied with ribbon.

I pulled those years in particular because I am working on my memoir and I want to see what I was thinking & what was happening and when it occurred. Relying strictly on my memory of events is not exactly fool-proof…or perhaps proof that a fool is afoot.

Unfortunately, I’m not a very good diarist. I am just as prone to wax on for two pages about the previous night’s dream and then fill a full page with purple prose while describing my coffee and the way the ocean is gleaming. This doesn’t do me much good when I’m trying to find out what exactly was happening on the date in question.

But then I find other days where I’m amazed at the detail of a particular moment or feeling. And now, with my perspective of time and distance, I want to yell at my past-self to let her know what’s coming and to tell her what I can see from here that she could not.

As I read these pages, I can see some things that are so obvious now and sadly, should have been obvious then too. But as I was writing back then, I seemed to be unable to rise above my circumstances and be objective.

“Colleen!” I mutter at the pages, “Grab some perspective. Look at the big picture!”

It’s good advice. I might take it.

Category: Musings, Photos, Writing  Tags: , , , , ,  2 Comments
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