New Friendly Neighbors Needed

HOUSE FOR SALE

Elaine and JB are selling their place - help spread the word.

Two bedroom 900' casita plus a covered porch and 600' work shop/garage right on the Pacific Ocean in La Bocana, Mexico. Large, eat in kitchen with range and oven, microwave and reverse osmosis water filter. Hot water heater, wind generator, solar panel, 8 batteries, and a back up Onan 4000 kw propane generator. The house sits high looking down on a secluded beach. Lot is 60' from the ocean. Home only is for sale; the land is leased. The buyer will need to sign a new lease with the landowner. La Bocana is very secluded, 14 miles down a gravel road (well traveled). Other Americans homeownders are near by, some full time and some part time residents. Directions: Hwy 1 South from Ensenada, turn right when you see the Santo Tomas winery on your left. Go west until you see the ocean - the house is the first one on the left. For more information, e-mail: ecbjbb@msn.com

Asking Price: $$69,500.

For more photos and more information: http://www.viviun.com/AD-82994/

What was the weather like in La Bocana this weekend?

If you were sitting in the states, thinking about La Bocana and wishing you were there, here's some info on recent conditions:

• Foggy most of the day
• Not too much wind
• Cool but not cold
• Calm seas
• Pelicans are starting to head north again in the evenings
• 2 dolphins were seen by this reporter

In other words, pretty darn nice!

Has Anyone Seen These Around La Bocana?

Special prize to the person who tells us who made this fish and why.

Write your answer in the comments.

Web Site is up and running again

Dear La Bocana Residents,

The web site was temporarily down for a few days. The technology staff which is my friend Bob, me, myself, and I had to be called in to fix a server routing problem.

It is fixed and up and running. Sorry for the inconvenience - you can post to your heart's content. Send us your photos and stories!

Joe Darrough

Report on the New Road from Rosarito to Tijuana

If you have seen that beautiful new road heading east from the Foxploration area just south of Rosarito and been tempted to take it, here's a little report. Indeed, it is a beautiful 4 lane divided highway that winds its way through farmland and scenic hills. No tolls, little traffic. But where does it go?

It meets up with the toll road to Tecate in the eastern part of Tijuana. We were hoping it was a faster way to the Otay Mesa border crossing but it actually takes much longer than either the toll road or the other free road out of Rosarito (described in the post about the Sentri pass in the comments). The distance is 31 miles. We do not recommend this road if you are going to San Ysidro or Otay Mesa. If you are planning to cross at Tecate, this might be a good way to get there. I think it is about 20 miles on the toll road to Tecate and this road is certainly easier driving than the free road from Ensenada to Tecate.

And speaking of going from here to there, the AM/PM near the Rosarito toll booth sells a great map of Tijuana. I highly recommend it. If anyone has any comments or suggestions about the road, please share!

How cold was it?

Yes, that's SNOW! This photo was taken from the car on the road leaving Ensenada on January 13, 2007. Rumor has it there was also snow at Jorge Kemal's place that week.

Spring in La Bocana

After the rains. La Bocana has many faces, and of course, the local face that we all love!

These beautiful photos were submitted by Margery Buck. Please send your beautiful photos, too!

THE KALEIDOSCOPIC SEA

From the journal of Gordon, first American resident of La Bocana. 1963

In Baja the sea was our theatre.

Recurrent inbound fog engulfed the bay, rising over cliffs and up the mountain side. Sea and merged indistinguishable. Fog cascaded over the mountain back of the Port like a massive waterfall. Wind-blown clouds cast moving shadows at sea. Shafts
of light, pouring through breaks in the clouds, illumined strips
of water near the horizon.

The bay reflected the rosy colors of dawn. At twilight, the sun, setting in mist, cast a pale-orange, Monet light on the water. On fog-free days, boats, rocks and whitecaps were as sharply defined as a Winslow Homer.

Violent winter storms drove waves against the rocks.

The outer sea was an opaque green with whitecap highlights.
Close to the rocks the bay was seething foam. In the summer,
the bay sparkled and the surf was quiet. Late one summer after noon, the setting sun struck widespread kelp beds. The kelp leaves in the wind and the ocean flashed with golden light. Rainbow spectrums appeared in spray blown laterally along the wave tops by a north wind.

V-shaped formations of pelican flew over the point at twilight hovering over the schools of anchovy below. Their dive was comical hodge-podge of wings, feet and joints spread in all directions. They hit the water with a splash that stunned the fish. Their dive was comical hodge-podge of wings, feet and joints spread in all directions. They hit the water with a splash that stunned the fish.

Submitted by Margery Buck.

La Bocana circa 1960

These photos were taken in 1960 by Opal and Gordon, the first American residents of La Bocana.

Submitted by Margery Buck.

More Photos

If you have some photos you would like to share, send them to Sharon at Sharon.Darrough@gmail.com. Click on any photo to make it larger.

Fright Night?

I want to share my frightening New Years Eve experience with you. After our wonderful first annual New Years Eve party I said Good Night to Dallas and Emily and snuggled down in my trailer to read a little. I dozed off and was rudely awakened about 10:30 pm by someone pounding on the front of my trailer and shaking it violently back and forth. Needless to say, I was terrified. I was alone and had nothing to defend myself with except a small pepper spray canister. The closest house is Romulo and he was in town. I knew if I screamed, Dallas and Emily couldn’t hear me. All I could think of was the horror stories I had heard from all of my “do good” friends warning me to stay out of Mexico. I knew I would have to face my attacker or I would never get out alive.

So…armed with a flashlight and my little can of pepper spray and my heart pounding, I stepped out of my door and there HE was… a big cow scratching her back on the front of the trailer. After I regained my composure I chased her so far down the road screaming and yelling that I thought she would never return. Well…return she did. In the morning she had mowed down most of my flowers and some of Emily’s too! Dallas chased her through the gate about 5:30 am on New Years Day.

Submitted by Carol Snyder

Only in La Bocana

Please share any entertaining/interesting stories! If you have a photo to go with it, send it to Joe or Sharon and we'll post it.

Read below about the cow in the septic tank...

How did the cow get into the septic tank? It fell through the aging roof of the unused third stage of our tank.

When did it fall in? We're not sure but we didn't notice it until the second day we were there (you can't see it from inside the house and it was quite cold and rainy and we didn't go out much). I thought I heard a cow moo the first day but when I looked out the window, I didn't see one.

How did we get the cow out? Good question. Joe and I considered several scenarios, all of which ended with either one of us or the cow in the hospital. In the meanwhile, we fed the cow all of the cow-type food we had - lettuce, cabbage, grapes - and gave it some water. We lowered a beam with cleats and hoped the cow could walk up it. This did not work. We told Romulo and he agreed to spread the word throughout the valley - we hoped that the rightful owner would step in and help solve this problem. By late afternoon, worried that the cow would spend another night in the tank, we consulted some friendly neighbors. After a thorough inspection, it was decided that the only safe way to get the cow out was to break part of the wall of the tank.

No sooner had we made that decision did some relatives of the rightful cow owner show up. They proceded to help with the breaking of one corner of the tank and within minutes, the cow was free. Hungry, but free. At the least after 30+ years, this portion of the septic tank got some use.

The New Year's Eve party

Photographs of Life at La Bocana

Send us your photos!

Cathy's Page

Cathy knows everyone - this is her page to answer who what when and where of La Bocana.

Dallas and Emily Question Page

Dallas and Emily live at La Bocana full time and they are the experts on everything that makes life wonderful there.

Directions to the Sentri Lane at Otay Mesa

To get to the SENTRI Line at Otay Mesa:

From Ensenada, take the toll road to Rosarito and go through the first two tolls

Exit onto the free road just after the Commerical Mexicana (an orange pelican on your right) - the sign will say "Rosarito Norte". Follow that road - you will soon see a sign that says Tijuana Libre. There will be several traffic lights in the first little bit and then it opens up into a two lane highway.

Follow that until you see a Pemez on your right immediately followed by a Dico furniture store - you will then veer to the right. The sign will say "Mexicali".

Follow that road toward the airport. You will go through a lot of city traffic but just keep going on the main road following any signs that lead to the airport or Garita Otay. You'll wind up the hill to the plateau. DO NOT TURN where it says San Diego or the border or something like that. This is for the regular lanes - keep going.

Turn right at the large sign that says "Vehiculos Pesados" which is also Belles Artes.

Go a few blocks and then turn left into the SENTRI lane.

Good luck.

We did this on New Years Day and crossed the border almost exactly 3 hours after leaving the house in La Bocana.

Does any one have direction to the San Ysidro Sentri Lane?

The Sentri Frequent Border Crossing Program

Sharon and I have finish our extensive testing of the new express border crossing system, the Sentri program. We highty recommend it! $129 for a five year pass - the best value in the Dept of Homeland Security. There is a link to the Sentri system in the links section.

Directions to the Sentri Office - thanks to Carol Snyder:
805 south to the 905. Take the Siempre Viva off ramp and head East of the freeway and take the road between the Shell station and the Chevron station South. Go past the Carl's and the Burger King and go through the "Road Closed" sign and park in the second lot on your right - it says Sentri parking or something like that. The building is just a little bit south of the parking lot. Basically, the Sentri office is just east of the Otay Mesa Border crossing on the US side. Leave extra time to get there because it is a little confusing and mapquest won't lead you there.

Good luck!