In the morning we left the ranch, hit the main roads, and a sandstorm on the way to Mexicali. The run-off from the now mostly dry Laguna Salada caught wind and sailed across our route for hours; probably not much help to the jack-knifed truck in the road, or the squinting federales. We were trailing around the giant, mostly dry Laguna, first north into Mexicali, and then south, back toward the Sierra Juarez and into the canyon perimeters of Parque Nacional Constitucion de 1857.

The rocky road to Cañón Guadalupe is some thirty-five miles, first along the shore of the Salada, then sandy flats. High enough in the canyon, we find the two-thousand or so California fan palms lining the creek and blue mineral pools that dance down the canyon.

These palms are oddly the only major species endemic to the Californias. But the fan palms are magnificent in their natural state; forming dark, cool canopies of mosque-like interiors, '.and a giant rattlesnake too', Vance would say later.

But I was higher up by then, where the canyon narrowed and waterfalls formed blue pools of water. I swam in the cool water, watching a lizard make it down the cliff to drink from the pool. It had no idea I was there, and when it noticed me, it lost its grip, and hung by one hand off the wall, finally making a pounce for a nearby ledge and escaping to the drink. I thought, now that is a bajacaliforniado.

Vance was stewing the whole time over 'should'a killed that rattlesnake and ate it' until we crossed the border. It seems that perhaps being out-of-touch had overcome him; he had in a sense adapted to a faraway place. But what being out-of-touch can do is bring perspective to the shriveled newspapers in the driveway. "Zedillo Ousted!"

It had been good news, maybe the most significant event for Mexico in seventy years. Not because Zedillo was a bad president: he was honest, and free-market, and pro-NAFTA, doing great things for the country. But he was part of a long-established political monarchy; that had ties, ultimately to corruption and 'old ways.' A monarchy that turned the other way at Baja California's nightmarish murder rate, and cocaine running, and to the drugs that 'nothing can penetrate.'

Maps and Journals Baja Map

Desert Mexico Sonora, Mexico Sierra del Pinacate Range Travels and observations in North America's oddest desert. Baja Norte, Mexico Tijuana and El Rosario The first stretch of traveling into Baja Norte. Bahia de Los Angeles A bay riddled with islands and wind. San Felipe Strange times in this tourist-riddled town. Mountains of Baja Norte On the old dirt bikers route across the Baja Peninsula. Canyons of Baja Norte Refuge in the quiet canyons of the north. Baja Sur, Mexico Mulegé The old town and its river. The Islets of Bahia Coyote Kayaking in the cactus islands of the Sea of Cortez. Guerrero Negro Wandering in Baja Sur's gray whale capital. Isla Espiritu Santo A week exploring the Sea of Cortez' most famous sanctuary.