Baja Day 6- COCKTAIL NIGHT PART ONE

February 16, 2023

WORK SCHEDULES IN MEXICO

It’s only Wednesday now, and I have three new tutoring students that I just picked up starting next week. I also got a new pre-med student working on his personal statement from one of the people that I had previously helped, which really made me feel good! It’s nice to have everyone else working full time, because it gives Zak and I the freedom to work on the things we need to work on. For me, that means that I have the freedom to get more students, write more blogs, do more reading, and make more money while we’re hanging out at our campsites with our friends. For Zak, it means that he has been able to work on our YouTube videos, Instagram, and Brand reach out.

FREEZING WEATHER IN BAJA

We had a nice day today even though it absolutely refuses to be warm here. When Zak and I decided to drive down to Mexico, we were freezing our butts off in Arizona. As I snuggled up into my -20 deg. F. sleeping bag that night, I dreamt of days spent on the beach, wearing only a bikini, a cover-up, and a sun hat. But the reality here has been so different. We’ve been here for six days so far, and it has been rainy, cloudy, cold, and extremely windy. I had put away all of our winter gear (sleeping bags, jackets, long pants and sweaters). However, just tonight, I went back under our bed to get them all back out. I never thought I’d be using my sleeping bag, jeans, and jackets so often in Mexico!

STARFISH

I didn’t go see them last night because it was way too cold and windy out, but this morning Zak and I went for a walk, and we saw more starfish than I have ever seen in my life. They were all beached because the tide had gone out, so I went on a crazy goose chase of trying to put them all back in the water. I don’t know much about starfish, and the only starfish that I have familiarity with is Peach from Finding Nemo. So maybe they would have been fine on the beach, but I didn’t want to take my chances with them drying out and dying.

SEAL WATCHING

Later in the afternoon while I was working, I heard a lot of excited commotion from outside, and there was a seal in the water! He popped his head right up out of the waves and was looking around at us. Seals have always reminded me of dogs, and this one was no different.  The seal swam pretty close to us, maybe about 100 feet from shore, and then he disappeared into the waves again. We walked along the beach in the crazy wind to see if we could find him again.

MORE TREASURES ON THE BEACH

As we kept walking down the beach, we saw a lot of interesting things washed up on the shore, like small baby dried hammer head shark heads, and regular (small) shark heads, and a sheep’s head fish, and a sting ray, and some sea urchins as well! We also picked up some fishing line and plastic bottles. It’s always sad to see trash on the beach, especially when there is such beautiful wildlife around. I wondered why there were so many heads around, and we figured that maybe this was a feeding ground for the seals—although I didn’t know they were picky about heads… so maybe that’s not it.

COCKTAIL HOUR

As we walked back to the vans, it was so windy out though that we could barely hear each other talk! Around 4pm, which wasn’t too much later, Cora did a fantastic cocktail hour for all of us. It was such a nice surprise and a fun way for us to hang out and get to know each other better. Cora is GREAT at mixing drinks, and she really likes to do it too. We are so lucky to have met such a great group to travel to Mexico with! It’s weird to think that we were perfect strangers just six days ago. Actually, we don’t know each other’s last names, so maybe we still are perfect strangers!

We tried to have cocktail hour outside first. Matt and Chelsea and Tyler and Cora put their vans perpendicular to each other to block out the wind. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough. The wind has been relentless. Tyler and Cora let me borrow a wool blanket to keep my legs warm (even though I was already wearing a million layers). It was so cold that Matt was even having a hard time playing the guitar. (Does this sound like Mexico weather to you?!) Because it was just so miserable outside, Zak and I decided to convert our bed into a dinette for the first time in six months or more, and all eight of us mushed into the van! Cora made whiskey sours and I made chicken stew. Because we all live in homes the size of walk-in closets, the food and drinks were BYOCBS. (Bring your own cup, bowl, and spoon.) We laughed a ton together and everyone was gone by 8:30! That sounds like my kind of night!

SPENDING SO FAR (1 USD to 18 MXN):

• None!

CURRENT TOTAL: $6500.31 MXN — $361.13 USD

Interested in what else we’ve been up to? Check out our blogs from the last few days!

• Baja Day 1- Border Crossing
• Baja Day 2- Broken Emergency Breaks
• Baja Day 3- Starting the Work Week
• Baja Day 4- Stuck in the Sand on Valentine’s
• Baja Day 5- Dog Fight and a New Place