Panterra :: MySchool Journal

Daily Journal

Hilltop High School

Day 5

We hoisted the anchor to start our day of adventures
and immediately encountered a pod of Common dolphins.

We landed on the shores of a small ranchero.

On the doorstep of the property was the skeleton of a whale.

A lizard looks on.

The property was beautiful. It had so much life all around it.

A Hummingbird finally settles down after flittering around the tree.

This turkey may look beautiful but he was crankier than heck.

We stayed clear of it, it looked like it wanted to attack someone.

The ranchero had a herd of goats.

A little baby dropped by to say hi.

The donkeys stayed in the background but they were watching as well.

After a morning of exploring a couple of different rancheros
we headed to Humpback Bay to snorkel. There were manta rays feeding in the bay.

We donned our snorkel gear and headed to the water.

Haley swims with a very large school of King Angelfish.

A Guinea Fowl Puffer.

A stingray hides amongst the rocks.

A Fang-toothed Blenny poses for a picture.

After our snorkel we visited the goat herding community of Palmo Solo.

The kids greeted us as we arrived.

An elder of the community and her granddaughters, Natalie and Estrella.

Melissa distributes a couple of the gifts bags the students brought down.
Please refer to the Baja Gifts program page of this journal.

Unfortunately the goats were all grazing in the hills and only one stayed behind.

The community also has a small herd of sheep.

After our visit we walked down the beach to a limestone deposit loaded with fossils.

Along the way we encountered a Ghost crab. It took some cunning
and a couple of devious moves to catch it but in the end we did.
Oh alright it was dead and we just picked it up to make it look good.

Exploring the fossils.

Streater was right into it.

As we headed to our evening destination the water
was alive with marine life. There were fish jumping everywhere.

We woke up at 7:30, got ready and ate cheese quesadillas with scrambled eggs and beans. Next we got ready to go for a hike along the beaches. Taking the pangas to shore, we came across a beautiful beach with a nice village. They had goats, donkeys, palm trees, vultures, lizards, humming birds, chickens but no children. Even though the land was dry there was a beautiful lush garden. Oh yeah, they also had a cranky old turkey that looked like it might attack us so we were all on guard.

Instead of walking down the beach to the next village we took the pangas and motored our way. The first initial thought of this beach was stunning and remote, but as the owner hobbled her way with her cane yelling at us to get off her private property we had second thoughts. Thank the lord Lela was there because she talked some sense into her and yes we ended up walking along the beach beachcombing.

Our next activity was snorkeling on the rockiest beach in the world. There was sightings of manta rays, sting rays, sea urchins, parrot fish, cane angel fish, sergeant majors, moorish idol, Mexican needle fish, spotted porcupine fish, and many more.

After snorkeling Paloma and Mily as usual made us a delicious snack. After our food was digested and we were healthy, we went to another village. They had the cutest pet goat that everyone wanted to take home, but we didn’t think we could get it past customs. At this village we gave out the rest of our presents to the always-thankful children. Walking down the beach to the only shade, we chiseled fossils out of rocks for souvenirs.

For supper, we were given spaghetti and meatballs, which was delicious as always. Well into the night an astronomy lesson was given by the one and only Stasia. It was very cool and she had an amazing laser that shot into the sky. We all went to bed at eleven and were very excited to sleep in and wake up for our next adventure.

Day 1 and Day 2 - part 1 | Day 2 - part 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

Day 7 | Day 8 | Baja Gifts Program | Back To Main Page

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