the elephant looms over the shallow water, casting a shadow on the dark turquoise waves below. to the left, water laps at the large rocks, and brush hugs the edge of the rocks, no room for walking. the rocky beach to the right, though, gives way to a sandy arroyo, full of cacti, lizards and rattleless rattlesnakes. we wound our way through the wide path, stepping carefully over thorny brush, fallen flowers, dead cacti.
honeybees swarmed among the yellow brush near us… we hesitated, and stepped closer. one of us stepped even closer. we spotted rattlesnakes. rattle-less ones. at first, just the brown one with the markings, and then, as c stepped closer to it, we spotted the grey one. a little bit of hissing, a little bit more puffing up. a few pictures snapped and we quickly backed away as the two snakes slithered away to the underbrush of the nearby cactus.
we kept going. no scrambling, no real hiking. just walking through the arroyo, admiring the cacti, the yellow flowers, the cardinal’s call to it’s mate.
the mexican afternoon sun beat down on us relentlessly, and there was nowhere to hide. slipping between the brush, we walked through the shade of a nearby hill, rounding the corner to yet another flat, sand and dirt covered land. we saw lizard after lizard, watched the vultures circling us from above, not giving them the satisfaction they so craved.
after a while, we turned around. wended our way out, past the lizards, the rattle-less rattlesnakes, the beehive. between the cacti, past the hill. the sea came into view now, a sliver of azure against an aqua sky. large rocks heralded our approach to the shoreline and a breeze sprung up, as if waiting for us to arrive.
another perfect day in baja.