Throughout our Edventure so far, we’ve had a couple of stretches of months where we moved every day or every two days, we saw many sights back-to-back, and we slept in our trailer or in our tent for the majority of our nights. The impact of that busy schedule usually shows itself when we land somewhere for more than a week. This was the case for Todos Santos; two months of busy travel through the USA had taken a toll on us so we were ready to spread out, relax, and do nothing in particular. Casa Rancho was a great place to do just that! It is a property with three rentable cottages (casitas) that share a number of lovely common spaces including a salt-water pool and patio. Our portion of the property included two rooms each with bathrooms and a stand-alone, circular kitchen and living room. It was outdoor living; we had to walk out through the elements to reach our kitchen and back out again if you needed to pee. Having had two months with off-and-on camping, we were fine with this concept. However, what we didn’t anticipate were all of the other creatures that also enjoyed living in Casa Rancho.

On our first day, we opened a cupboard and lifted out a plate with two, large cockroaches. I believe I shrieked. They jumped and scurried away. I thought, “ok, not going to use that plate”. But when the next cupboard had roach droppings and the drawers too, we called our host. He was wonderful at reacting and we had a fully washed, sprayed, and organized kitchen by the next day. He was very surprised to see the insects as he’s never had them move into his property before. However, since Hurricane Olof made landing on the peninsula, he’s had to do more insect management than ever before. The hurricane is also to blame for the washed out, rutted, and rough roads all throughout town. Meeting cockroaches made us all a bit skittish for the next few days. We also met geckos and lizards and huntsman spiders, all of whom liked to live with us in our palm thatch-roofed kitchen. But the most challenging insect to live with was the mosquito. They were relentless. They’d find their way into our rooms despite our best efforts to stop them and would attack our legs even while we slept. After about a week of getting bitten and scratching, we grew some tolerance and seemed to get bitten less (and Erik scored some bug zappers that worked fairly well).

But the best defence for the kids’ bug fears was our new friend Jaden, a 12 year old with a love and fascination for animals. He knew every species we came across and he even showed our kids how to catch and release safely. The kids built terrariums together and caught geckos and spiders and fed them fresh-caught crickets. Suddenly, the mini-world wasn’t as freaky.

We had advanced our arrival date by a few days in order to be in Todos Santos in time to participate in the Dia de los Muertos activities. Back in April, we started taking online Spanish classes with Brayan who works with Hablando Mexicano in Todos Santos. Brayan encouraged us to participate in the festival’s Catrina competition and was gracious enough to help borrow costumes for the kids. We worked with Hablando’s staff and got a makeup artist to do their makeup and we were taken under the wing of Hablando’s Director who showed us where to be, what to expect, and who also guided the girls during the parade. The evening was magical and we were really feeling like we were part of something special. The costumes and makeup of other competitors were stunning! It’s impressive what body art can do to make someone look like a truly dead skeleton in fancy clothes. The theme for this year’s parade was Legends and each competitor submitted a summary of the legend for which their costume represented. Claire and Molly bravely walked the “runway” for their turn, in front of the whole town: Proud Mama moment!

Hablando also hosted an alter making activity where the kids got to learn about creating an alter and all of the components that must be included. They then helped to make one large alter at the school. They learned about how to represent the 4 elements of earth, fire, water, and wind (usually represented with bread, candles, water pitcher or glass of water, and tissue paper flags (or papel picado)). They learned to include candles in a cross shape to symbolize North, South, East, and West so that the spirits can find their way and a photo of each ancestor. They learned that most commonly an alter will have three levels to represent the three worlds of heaven, earth, and the underworld. They provided offerings on the alter, including sugar skulls for each ancestor. They created a tapete de arena with colourful sawdust and dyed rice (which is a tradition that was adopted from the Spanish Catholic celebrations for the feast of Corpus Christi). The lesson and set-up of the alter was followed by a dinner of traditional Mexican food. Yum!

Speaking of food, we were introduced to a number of scrumptious meals in Todos Santos. We ate our first plate of green salsa chilaquiles (like nachos, but usually for breakfast), our first tortas (sandwiches), sopes and tostadas (like a hard-shell taco, served on a flat shell). We had watched the Netflix documentary Taco Chronicles and were eager to have an el pastor taco. One of the restaurants they featured for Fish Tacos happened to be in nearby Cerritos, so we had to visit. It was really yummy! Our teacher, Brayan, joked with us that all Mexican food is corn shell, then meat, then lettuce, then veggies, and sauce. It’s true! I learned a little bit about how to prepare these meals, but it was so inexpensive (compared to Canada) to eat out, that we let the experts feed us. Our kitchen was well stocked so we were able to make many of our usual meals, but grocery shopping was a bit more challenging. Fresh food is mostly only available at fruit stands. And you’ll get stuff that is fresh and in season. Anything that is sold with labels or in cans/boxes, you have to go to a supermercado. In Todos, we were able to get most of what we wanted but had to compromise on a few of our usual staples. That said, with tasty and cheap meals easily accessible, we never had any issues eating.

As we relaxed and hung out and played and swam, we also met with Brayan up to three times a week for a couple of hours. His day job is as a primary school teacher so he had some great tools and tricks for getting our three niños engaged in learning Spanish. He’s also a huge fan of Disney so they all got along great! We walked through markets with him, went out for ice cream, ate at restaurants, went to the beach, and he even organized a boat tour to Espiritu Santo Island. He quickly became a friend along with his wife and his crazy Shih Tzu named Kooper who likes to eat LEGO. One day, Brayan asked if the kids would like to come into the primary school and sit in a class. The kids were against the idea. Erik and I loved it, so we met Brayan at the front gate and promptly shoved the kids through with their masks and said “have fun”. We may have even jogged a little to get out of sight quickly. We used the two hours to hang out and have an early lunch and coffee. Why didn’t we just put them in school from the start?? They came out of the school all smiles and Brayan shared some photos of them participating. Even the principal asked if we’d like to enroll them full-time. It was tempting.

We really capitalized on the pool and hammocks and the company of other people to help us spend our month relaxing and absorbing the sun. One day, we did venture out to do a hike which ended up being short, steep, prickly, and awesome. We followed a small trail that led up the side of a cliff named Punta Lobo (Wolf Point) that was protruding into the ocean. Once up, we could see down the other side into a small, secluded bay. There were many turkey vultures living amongst the cliffs’ ledges and we enjoyed watching them soar around the sea. Close to the start of the trail was an abandoned factory where we spent a bit of time exploring and playing hide and seek.

One of the highlights of our time was the boat trip to Espiritu Santo Island. The kids were leery about getting onto a boat again after their seasickness during Erik’s birthday ocean fishing trip. They worried for nothing as the ride was quite pleasant in comparison. We headed straight for the top of the island where there is a colony of sea lions. We all put on snorkel gear, life jackets, and hopped into the water. We were permitted to swim around a designated area for about 30 minutes. The island is in a protected marine park and the park tightly controls the number of boats and swimmers that are in the area of the animals each day. This was the first time the kids had snorkelled with fish and it was Erik and my first time with sea lions. Erik got a quick sniff/kiss right after he jumped into the water. The kids all saw the sea lions swimming below them. Our guide dove down for a starfish to show the kids and we saw a number of colourful fish as well. The 30 minutes went by very quickly. The next stop was on a beautiful sandy beach where we got to snorkel some more along the shallow rocks and eat a tasty ceviche lunch. It was glorious. We saw long, skinny fish that looked like swimming rulers and a number of small silver fish swimming in a school. Being able to touch the bottom and stand up made the kids much more comfortable with the idea of floating and watching fish. After lunch, we were taken to an area where birds were nesting and saw thousands of Frigate Birds. We then landed at another beach that was very shallow and had some interesting rock formations. Finally, as the sun dipped lower, we headed back to La Paz. Along the route, our captain spotted a pod of dolphins and took us a bit closer. It was amazing to see this huge pod, easily more than a hundred, moving through the water. They bounded along so gracefully. I was particularly excited to see them because boating along beside swimming dolphins has been on my bucket list. Check! We finished the day with massive “Mexican” hot dogs.

Since the town lies on the Pacific coast of the peninsula, most of the beaches are great for surfing but not awesome for swimming because those pacific waves are big and strong. The exception is Cerritos beach which was a 15 min drive south of the town. We have a number of fun-filled afternoons on this beach getting pummelled by the waves and trying some belly boarding. We were even invited to a beach party and played capture the flag. But one of the best parts of Cerritos beach was the fish taco restaurant Barracuda Cantina who happen to make some amazing tacos and were given a mention in the Netflix documentary called Tacos Chronicles. Yum!

Along the beaches by Todos, a number of different sea turtle species will lay their eggs at certain points of the year. During our visit, the Olive Ridley turtles’ eggs began hatching. We were able to learn a bit about them (but only a bit as our host was speaking very fast Spanish) and were each given two turtles to help release to the ocean. We were told to name them for good luck, as the trip from beach to sea and then on to adulthood is rather treacherous. Then, we were to place them down on the sand facing the setting sun. Their turtle instincts tell them to head towards the light and so we were explicitly asked to make sure we let them go in that direction. We watched and cheered as Swimmer, Spark, Sandy, Susie, Jujube, Barkley, Crush, Waves, and Joe made their way to the harsh waves and onward to the big ocean. We were informed that they will, as adults, come back to the exact same beach to lay their eggs. Crazy. Good luck out there, little dudes.

An hour’s drive from Todos Santos is Cabo San Lucas, a resort city perched at the tip of the peninsula. It’s a popular destination for tourism as the beaches are wonderful and the city has a modern and fun vibe. Erik found a freediving school in Cabo, Ocean Tigers and signed up for a two-day course. He had some pre-reading to do and worked on some breath-holding techniques leading up to the course. Once there, he quickly discovered that it was harder than it looks. Not only are you needing to relax and not panic as you head down deep, you also have to clear your ears (equalize) nearly every two seconds. The trick to making it deep is the ability to be zen and in an almost meditative state so that you can ignore the instinct to take in a breath when your CO2 levels start to get elevated. Meditative states are not Erik’s forte. But, after practice and coaching, he surprised himself with a very strong first attempt followed by a personal best dive of 20m and a swimming breath hold of 2 minutes. Congrats Erik! We’re proud of you.

Near the end of our stay, Molly celebrated her 9th birthday. This was the first time she was able to have a pool party for her birthday so we made sure to keep the theme as sunny, summer, and pool-ish as possible. Although she missed her Ottawa friends and family, she was pleased to have met some other fun-loving kids who celebrated with her. We even learned about a Mexican tradition where the birthday girl gets her head smashed into her cake as a first bite. Thanks to all who gave up their weekend afternoon to help Molly feel extra special!

I couldn’t possibly end this post without also mentioning the great people that we met and spent time with while here. We connected with families who were living a similar, nomadic life, families that had been nomadic and were choosing to make Todos their longer-term home, families on two-week holidays taking some much-needed space from their insane life (read health-care worker), and a number of locals who helped to make our stay very comfortable. We had the great fortune of sharing our space with some four-legged friends as well who will be fondly remembered.

With mixed emotions, we said farewell to the beautiful weather, the wonderful people, but also to the cockroaches and huntsmen spiders. We made our way to La Paz to board an overnight ferry to Mazatlan. Adios, Todos. XO