The SLC Zoo

The monkeys run the zoo and Alan is the Chief Chimp. For some reason, we found almost everything in Baja to be humorous. The roads, the construction, the grocery store, the government, the vehicles, etc. But the king of them all was Rick and Alan’s constant use of nicknames that kept us laughing and totally confused the entire time. They had a name for everything. Sometimes the origin of the name was immediately apparent (Red Larry has red hair), but sometimes it required a lengthy background story that proved to be just as humorous, like our very own Tater9, which will be explained in a later post. The names aren't just for people, but things and events too, like the barrage of Mexican squid fisherman heading out of the cove at dark (Pangamonium). Here's a pic before all the action starts (which seems to be a pretty typical Baja theme). The flag in the background is a military camp.

It’s even possible to have multiple names assigned to one person, so on the LAST day we finally figured out the difference between Red Larry, Larry’s Toy, Scary Larry, and Ratchetjaw. Hint: there are only two Larry’s.
The names just kept coming, so I’d write a few new ones down each day; Two Bait Brian, SkipTown, Meter Maid Dave, Syd’s Nephew, The Codfather, The Sherpas, Fast Eddy, Jimmy NoEggs....I'm sure I got only half.

All namecalling aside, the dozen or so permanent residents that make up San Lucas Cove are a neat bunch. By permanent, I mean people who park an RV there year-round. Most of them just come for a few months of the year, but their RV has been there for years. Some get to looking pretty permanent with landscaping and everything.

We’d see people eating together in the evening, fishing out of each others’ boats from day to day. Most have marine radios installed in their campers too, so they can check on the fishing throughout the day. One day we were out fishing, and over the radio somebody asks if anyone wants to buy shrimp outta some Mexican's trunk. We called in an order for The Spudmobile and picked them up later that evening, meeting Red Larry for the first time. Excellent fat shrimp, and a nice guy too.
Another morning we had trouble with the tilt lever on the outboard, and before we even had a chance to get the tools out, Syd is on the radio talking to local outboard mechanic. On the last evening we were there, Wendy put together a little birthday party for Spencer, who is the grandfather of Yellowtail fishing in the area, teaching even San Marcos Mike how to fish - who later went on to become one of the top YT guides in the entire Cortez.

From left to right is Steve, Alan, Sam, Rick, Spencer and Spencer's brother Rod.
These are just small examples of the day to day generosity and camaraderie found among most campers in the cove.
There are no water or power hookups in the RV spots, so anybody that has stayed here more than one night has chosen to do so almost exclusively because of the small boat fishing, and I think that’s what makes the community so much fun.

Oh, and returning to the zoo theme. The RV Park is run by a group of Mexicans who appear to be quite content having their little camp of gringos move in semi-permanently. Their approach is so hands-off that we ended up paying Alan for our first week's rent and he gave us a receipt out of his own book - hence the monkeys running the zoo.