That's My Story

JUST ADD WATER!

PUBLISHED IN WESTERN OUTDOOR NEWS BAJA BEAT WEEK of OCT. 10, 2006

Show me the water.

Contrary to what a lot of my clients and friends might think, it’s water, not cerveza that makes the Baja. They are building a new desalination plant in the Cabo San Lucas area and the hubbub over it and the possibilities it presents are tremendous.

Think of it! In this arid land of scrub and dust and thirsty throats where the pervasiveness of the sun leeches the hydration out of life on a daily basis, this is big news. To the locals, this represents water to live, wash, water, and clean! But it also means…(here we go) the panacea that paves the way for more house lots; hotels; condos; golf courses and fast food franchises. Just what we need. I guess. I like water as much as the next guy. Preferably cold. Rocks are nice. Shaken not stirred. And one of the great inventions of modern times is the hot shower!

They say there’s just not enough land for everyone on Mother Earth. But I say water is a more pressing issue. There’s not enough water for everyone. Hard to believe, but I’ve read where Baja actually gets more rain per year than say…Los Angeles! The only problem is that in Baja, all of that rain can fall in the span of 24 hours when your local chubasco comes to blow your house away and wash away your car.

But I was driving out in the hills the other day up above the East Cape in an area between Cabo and La Paz. It’s a wonderful time to drive through the Baja. Recent rains and storms up and down the peninsula have converted the landscape into a carpet of verdant lush foliage.

In a land of “brown” real grass grows everywhere. Bushes and trees often resembling a nuclear landscape are suddenly exploding with shiny new leaves. Desert flowers such and bougainvillea lend dabs of purple, fuchsia, and pink as an impressionistic painter would drift brushstrokes of color to a living canvas. There are actual creeks flowing in the desert percolating from Olympic mountain tops shrouded in clouds as the alien sound of gurgling water can be heard from springs and rivulets that only exist during this time of year. Even the stalwart cactus seem to stand a little straighter as they swell obscenely from drinking deeply from the soaked earth. It’s hard to believe this is the same Baja, but within a few months the old desert shall return. If you ever had the opportunity to drive through the Baja in the fall, it can be pretty spectacular.

As I was driving, I got to wondering what this land might look like if it had water year-round. Given that this was a land borne of fire and lava, it is rich with the same vitality that produces the jungles of Hawaii. The only difference is that Hawaii gets hundreds of inches of rain a year. All it takes is water. What would the Baja landscape be like? What would the crops be like? What would the economy and the people be like if there was water here year round? Would Tijuana or Ensenada, Loreto or Mulege be the same? Or would they now be Las Vegas? Palm Springs? Oasis carved from the scrub and desert. Could that have been Baja if Baja had all the water it wanted? Is that better?

It makes you think what Baja and northern Mexico might have been if we had never stopped up the mighty Colorado River way upstream to water our golf courses and wash our driveways and turned the river into a muddy trickle of silt.

But, I continue to drive and think and enjoy the countryside that sprawls in a carpet of green before me and a small splatter of rain hits my windshield. Not enough to even turn on the wipers, but enough to splatter the dust on my windshield and make me promise to get my windows washed as soon as I get back to town and find some water.

That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com