October 31- November 3, 2015

We met a nice couple at the border crossing in Tecate that said they’d been coming to Loreto for 6 months each winter for about 25 years. We’d also heard from others that it was a lovely town with quite a few expat retirees. A hotel right on the Sea of Cortez came at a reasonable rate so we decided to park it for a few days and check this town out. The first night was Halloween which isn’t that big of a deal but Nov.1 is Dia de Los Muertos, the day of the dead and that is a big deal.

It’s a Mexican tradition that coincides with the Catholic holy day, All Saints Day. It has become much more popular since the Mexican Government made it a national holiday in 1960. Families gather to remember and honor their deceased. Often gatherings are made in cemeteries where gravesites are cleaned and made fresh with flowers and small gifts left for the dearly departed. In places it’s an all-night affair with food and drink that can be a raucous party. Some towns hold parades where men, women and children dress up mostly with face-paint to look like skulls, not zombies but just skeletons happily walking down the street.

In Loreto we took a boat tour that took us around the Isla de Coronado,

an island about 30 minutes off the coast where we saw Eagles nesting in the rocks, Sea Lions sunbathing

and swimming, good snorkeling and even Blue Footed Boobies which we were under the impression were only in the Galapagos Islands . . .?

The wind came up one day just enough to go kiteboarding right outside of our hotel room.

The locals said they rarely see kiters here. After four days we decided to pull up stakes and move on.