Baja Nomads

Fleeting Smiles

2009-08-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

These precious glimpses of the funny little person he is becoming are more frequent now. He's responding to our smiles from time to time and is definitely ticklish!

He's here!

2009-08-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

The little one has finally arrived! Today is his three-week birthday.

We're all happy and healthy and finding our groove together. We've spent the last few weeks enveloped in a protective cocoon of love and support (not to mention being spoiled by food deliveries, dishwashers, and laundry-doers.) As we get to know each other and learn to be a family, we didn't have to worry about a thing. Our dinners showed up every evening just when it was time to eat; there are stacks and stacks of clean baby clothes and blankets and burp cloths thanks to hand-me-downs from friends and family and Trudie's magical way with stain remover; there are so many sweet voices and hearts wishing us well; and there are wise, wise midwives, grandparents, aunties and uncles by our side helping us find our way into parenthood.

And our little man is also a wise teacher. I wasn't expecting that. He is patient, loving, persistent, and gives the most incredible positive feedback, even when we're doing something only half-right. He is humbling, and to our dazzled eyes, exquisitely handsome.

10 Things I'm Loving Right Now

2009-01-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

1) Watching sunrises. Photographing people watching sunrises.

2) Designing my dream house on Google Sketchup
3) Taking photos of birds (no, this is not the same as bird watching and don't ever call me a bird nerd!)

4) Knitting baby hats and then making my dog pose for pictures modeling the hats.

5) Ravelry.
6) Using only solar power for electricity and hot water.
7) The view from my private yoga studio. In the morning, I see rays jumping, sea lions, and occasionally dolphins. In the evenings there is an osprey who comes to hunt along the shoreline. There are always flying fish and pelicans to watch.

8) That time early in the morning when the only sound is the waves.
9) This picture (from December 15th.)

10) This video (from yesterday.)

Cribs La Ventana

2008-12-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

"Yo wassup. Welcome to Casa de Hooijer."

"This is where my maid works. That's an original kiteboard-inspired dishwashing station, one-of-a-kind. And you can see the walk-in shower with custom palm thatching to the right."

"And this is the view from the bedroom -- where the magic happened."

"In here I got the living area with custom flooring and authentic ming dynasty hanging lamps, sweet."

"This is the view from our chill out room."

"And out front I got an infinity ocean"

"Here in my garage I've got a sweet Honda 650R with black 21s."

"Thanks for touring Casa de Hooijer. Now get outta here."

Santa arrives in Baja!

2008-12-23T16:20:00.000-08:00

He came a little early and he left the reindeer and sleigh behind...

Merry Christmas everyone!

My first (semi-)professional photography job

2008-12-22T08:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't exactly get paid or anything... but we (Humphrey, Arnoud, Tim and I) did get to go for free on an amazing kite trip. Check out the photos at Downwind Kiting's website. Mostly the section about the Isla Cerralvo trip, but also some of the website's promotional photos. I took most of the pictures and Arnoud modeled for some of them. I might even get paid to take photos for them if they sell some excursions! And I've been asked to be the "professional photographer" during the freestyle clinic with the pro rider for f-one. Wish me luck!

Back in Baja Blogland

2008-12-12T10:32:00.000-08:00

So we've been having a nice time relaxing into our vacation. We set up a nice camp -- a whole house with living area, a nice large kitchen, a shower, and a front yard with a hammock and a view of the sea.
The wind has been sporadic but we've still gotten a fair amount of time on the water. Arnoud has been working on his Raleys (pictured below) and backrolls with 180 transitions. I'm working on not face planting or digging in my edges or looking like I'm sitting on the toilet. Oh, to be Arnoud!

From My Pictures

I did ride Arnoud's strapless surfboard for the first time yesterday. Very exciting to do, not terrribly exciting to watch. It'll be awhile until I brave the waves.
We went on an overnight to the Isla Cerralvo, 14 miles off the coast, with 11 friend on a cat-hull powerboat with a 250 hp motor and a built in blender.

From 2008_12_08

We set up camp on a beach, deserted except for us and a few marked turtle nests. After a day of playing in the water and on the beach -- kiting, spearfishing, snorkelling, and swimming; frisbee, shell hunting, sunbathing and hiking -- we ate dutch-oven enchiladas and chiles rellenos by the campfire and watched great big meteors streak across the sky.

From 2008_12_08

The next day we crossed back; Arnoud and several others kited downwind as Humphrey and I enjoyed the boat ride and took hundreds of photos. Here's a few for you to enjoy!

Marie and Greg's Wedding in Paradise

2008-08-07T15:21:00.003-07:00

So it's been an awfully long time since Marie and Greg's wedding, but I wanted to share some of the photos since it was so beautiful! The wedding was in the cute little surf town of Sayulita, north of Puerto Vallarta on the west coast of the mainland of Mexico.

We stayed in an incredible "compound" of houses right on the beach with a view of the sunset.

It was a whole week of fun in the sun culminating with Marie and Greg's western-style wedding in a thatch-roofed palapa on a bluff above the crashing waves. Unfortunately, no photos of the ceremony, I was too busy crying my eyes out. After dinner there was a surprise fireworks display and then we danced for hours. There's a rumor that I did some synchronized swimming back in the pool at the compound later that night, but don't trust everything you read on the internet.

The next day there was a Korean-style wedding with some giving of wooden ducks and throwing of dates and nuts. The bride and groom looked like dolls in their traditional outfits.

And then on the last day we stayed with Champang at her cliff-top rental house with this incredible pool.

I was just as happy as I've ever been, lying in an eternity pool with a book and a glass of white wine. I'm just going to imagine myself back there...

If you're interested in the rest of the photos, look at the web album here.

Marie and Greg

2008-08-07T15:21:00.001-07:00

Do the Barracuda!

2008-05-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hallo from Holland!

2008-05-27T03:20:00.001-07:00

We've had a wonderful, busy trip so far. First we stayed with Arnoud's parents and enjoyed the countryside around Arnoud's hometown. We took a bike ride through the quiet country roads and hiked through a nature preserve, the Kampina.

Then came Martine's bachelorette party on Saturday, May 17th. We had a tarot card reading, tasted Belgian beer, wore silly hats, and made even sillier photos. By the time we made it to the restaurant for dinner, Martine was half-naked (I've edited those photos out!) and everyone was half-drunk. Apparently we had a good time, and luckily we got everything on film as the details of the evening are a bit hazy.

For my birthday we went to Zaanse Schans, a cute little village north of Amsterdam, to see some of the old windmills from the 17th and 18th centuries. The Zaanstreek was an important industrial area of the time (the first industrial area in Europe) and produced all sorts of goods: paint, flour, oil, mustard, snuff, and milled wood. Some of the windmills are still working and we toured a paint mill, De Kat (The Cat). It looks very calm from the outside, with hardly any noise, but from the inside it's very loud and everything shakes and moves. The wings of the windmill turn all sorts of gears and mill stones and grinding and pounding devices. It's amazing how much energy those little sails generate!

We also visited a klompen museum to see the history of wooden clogs. Despite how it sounds, it was actually fascinating! We saw all different kinds of clogs from beautiful hand painted and carved bridal clogs to (my favorite) rollerskate clogs. Humphrey even found a clog to fit him.

Our friend Philipp came over from Vienna for a visit and arrived on Friday just in time for Happy Hour in the sunshine at a cafe in Amsterdam. Together with our family, we took over Eelco and Rianna's beautiful apartment for a Thai food take-out birthday dinner.

On Saturday our friend Tim took us out on his little boat to tour the canals of Amsterdam. It's a beautiful city and it's wonderful and unusual to view it from waterlevel.

We finished at Eelco and Rianna's where we enjoyed Mojitos in the park and once again were treated to a wonderful dinner. We finished the evening in Studio 80, a club in the center of Amsterdam, where we saw our friend Neal (from Error Krew) deejay and danced until dawn.

On Sunday nothing happened because we were too hungover.

and the rest of our stay in Baja...

2008-05-27T03:15:00.000-07:00

can be seen in our web album:

Baja 2007

Photos!

2007-12-31T09:33:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Enjoy the random photos.

No Comment

2007-12-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

Going Under

2007-12-21T12:58:00.000-08:00

We went for a sunrise scuba dive south of Ensenada Blanca with our friends Nancy and Chris from El Santuario. We loaded up kayaks with tanks and gear and paddled south along the coast to a secluded beach surrounded by cliffs. After a short refresher and equipment check, Nancy and I descended right next to a beautiful painted moray eel. We saw lots of reef fish: jacks, angels, triggers, damsels, and the largest parrot fish I've ever seen.

Arnoud and Chris went second and Chris swears he saw a reef shark, but Arnoud missed it. Humphrey didn't get to go, but he enjoyed the kayak ride! It was a beautiful morning and so much fun to get back under the surface.

Now we've moved south of La Paz to a bay called La Ventana which, as you might expect from the name, is famous for it's wind. It's a huge campground that is taken over by windsurfers and kiteboarders from December to March. It's not quite as remote as our last camp, but there's a lot more to do.

On Arnoud's first day back on his windsurf board, he snapped his mast in half way out. After an hour and a half of swimming, a kiteboarder finally took pity on him and dragged him to shore. In gratitude, I decided to learn kiteboarding. Watch out sunbathers, I'm coming and I've got a 9 meter kite strapped to my waist!

I've been taking lessons with Nat Lincoln from Edge Kiteboarding School. After a lot of theory and practice on shore with a little training kite, I finally got to go in the water yesterday, although I didn't get to take my board. I started up on the north side of the bay and dragged myself all the way south (about 3/4 of a mile) using a 6 meter kite. It was a lot of fun, although there's still water dripping out of my nose 24 hours later.

Arnoud's been a bit quicker with picking up the sport (darn him!) and took out a board yesterday. After a couple of mishaps and unintentional kite loops, he managed to stand up -- only to fall right back down... I would have laughed a little evil laugh to see that, but I was busy "tea bagging" my way down the bay (and no, you dirty people, not that kind of tea bagging!)

Humphrey, mean while, has learned a new sport too; he's finally mastered fetch and wants to practice all the time.

Other than our new extreme sports, we're practicing mostly relaxed activities. We bought a paddle and put my huge windsurf board to better use as a stand up paddle board for dawn balancing acts(photos soon.) Arnoud's been making lots of beautiful rock piles. And of course sunset is a spectator sport.

What a Wild Life!

2007-12-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

The most amazing thing happened yesterday: We had breakfast sitting on the beach. It's was a totally calm day, with not a breeze or a wave in sight. I walked down to the water's edge with Humphrey and looked out to sea and all of a sudden a dolphin breached. He couldn't have been more than 20 feet out, in thigh deep water. And then another dolphin breached right next to the first, and bait fish started jumping out of the glassy water. I walked along the shore and watched as the two dolphins swam, sliding up out of the water every couple feet, all the way south along the beach and around the corner.

Today we went fishing with our neighbor and caught a bunch of big sierras (a kind of mackerel.) On our way back to the beach, we were followed by a sea lion who wanted to see if he could beg a few of our catch. We saw osprey hunting and manta rays jumping out of the water.

For lunch we had a ceviche of very fresh sierra plus a few giant diver scallops (almost as big as my palm) from some of the local guys. As we sat on the beach afterwards, enjoying a siesta break, we watched pelicans hunting, stitching the water in synchronized patterns, and herons wading around in the shallows looking for their own lunch.

Sorry about the silly title of this post, but it's been an amazing 24 hours down here, although according to our "neighbors", it's all perfectly normal. And about that stingray experience that so many of you have expressed concern about: It turns out that what we stepped on were probably skates or flounders or something like that. The local fishermen laughed at our stingray fears. And we went snorkeling on this beach yesterday and didn't see a single ray, so I think we're safe. I even went out windsurfing (and fell a lot!) without fear.

Single Track in Baja

2007-12-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

We've moved into a camp on the beach, south of Loreto, near a pueblo called Ligui. We're in the dunes behind the beach, in a little stand of some sort of manzanita. It's shady and private and smells wonderfully of sea and heat and some sort of desert plant I haven't been able to identify. We're sleeping in our tent with a screen roof, so we wake up to see hummingbirds buzzing past and go to sleep with the stars above our heads. There are more shooting stars here than I've ever seen before, and they are big and fat and fall lazily.

Arnoud went windsurfing the other day, but it's still and quiet now. We may go out on our neighbors little boat to go fishing instead today, although he went out yesterday and only caught one small needlefish. We went for a long mountain bike ride yesterday, up an arroyo and over a saddle to a viewpoint of the sea, looking down towards "our beach." Humphrey ran along beside us the whole way and had a great time. He did well, but was tired last night. As was I, so we slept while Arnoud played dominoes with some of his friends from Point Reyes who are down here.

Adventures on the Water

2007-12-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

We went windsurfing the other day. Arnoud did a few good laps and then it was my turn. I climbed up on the board and sailed right off… for about 15 feet before I did a very graceful butt flop. The water was still only thigh high, so I stood up to climb back onto my board and stepped on something slippery and moving! So I did what any self-respecting woman would do — I let out a high pitched shriek and leapt all the way on top of my board. As I screamed to Arnoud what had happened, he jumped straight up at least a foot and a half because he had stepped on one too. And so we found out there are stingrays in the Loreto Bay. Needless to say, we swam straight back to the beach without letting our feet touch the sand and cut our windsurf session short. We’ll have to go somewhere a bit deeper next time.
We spent a day on the water with Romeo Cota, the mayor of the pueblo from which we are hoping to purchase land. We went out to “our beach” and visited. It really is beautiful and peaceful and dramatic all at once.
Afterwards, we took Humphrey and the mountain bikes for a ride on the cow trails between beaches and ended up at El Santuario where some of Arnoud’s former coworkers from Blue Waters Kayak are hanging out and waiting for their kayak guide work to start. There’s a really beautiful beach there with free (no facility) camping that we’ve decided to move to. I’ve arranged with a nearby hotel and rv park to sit by their pool and use their wifi everyday, a tropical office. We’ll be much happier living on a beach than here in town, although it will be a bit less convenient and we won’t get fresh tortillas and aguas frescas everyday.

Travelling South

2007-12-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

We’ve had a longer than hoped for trip down, but it’s been relatively smooth sailing all the way. So much to tell you all…
We stopped in San Diego after a marathon, all-night drive. We stayed with Jorden (Arnoud’s friend from Boxtel, he was at our wedding) and Kristin. Had a lovely time there and got to see their new house as well as a bit of the city and Coronado. San Diego dogs have it great and Humphrey had a blast on one of the many dog friendly beaches as well as at happy hour at an outdoor bar with a spectacular view across the bay to the SD skyline. We stayed with Jorden and Kristin for Thanksgiving. Kristin made us a fantastic roast chicken, Arnoud made mulled wine (”gluhwein”). It was all so cozy that it made it a bit easier not to be with all my family. Thanks Jorden and Kristin!
We left for the border on Friday and almost made it to Ensenada before dark. We ended up at a campground where a surf contest was going to happen the next morning so we met lots of cool So Cal surfer dudes. Humphrey found out that in Mexico there are no leash laws and everything smells so fantastically bad!
On Saturday we finally made some real tracks, all the way into the desert highlands. Lots of boulders and weird Dr Seussian plants — it was spectacularly beautiful even before the sun set and the full moon rose. We started driving before dawn on Sunday, so we also got to see a sunrise over the desert. We took tons of photos — it was just unsettlingly beautiful! Unfortunately, Humphrey had his first encounter with a cactus and cried all the way back to the camper. He spent the rest of the morning pouting and resenting us for dragging him all the way down to this god-forsaken prickly place.

We made tracks further south all day and ended up on beautiful Playa Requeson where we watched the sunset and Humphrey made a little friend and decided that he likes Baja after all.