Lighthouse at Point Reyes

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There was a light at the end of the tunnel, or - in this case - journey.

After traveling a mere 2 hours from the bustle of San Francisco's Pier 39,  through the coastal redwoods of Muir State Park,  I found myself here...
at the lighthouse on the Wyoming-esque peninsula known as Point Reyes National Seashore.

SIGNIFICANCE OF POINT REYES LIGHTHOUSE

30 nautical miles north of San Francisco, on a stretch of coast washed by north-south currents, the Point Reyes lighthouse is respected as the most important light station on the Pacific coast.
To complicate mariners' concerns, the offshore Farallon Islands (a spanish word for "pillar") lie only 20 miles SW of Point Reyes.   So mariners could not just steer a wide berth around Point Reyes;  to reach San Fran harbor, they were forced to navigate carefully between Point Reyes and the rocks.

Point Reyes' statistic as the 2nd foggiest place in North America made this passage even more precarious.

Imagine my luck, to arrive here on a day like this:

WHERE'S POINT REYES LIGHTHOUSE:
Check out that tiny point due north of the Farallons on the above map.

STEPS TO POINT REYES LIGHTHOUSE
Enjoy the ride out through the peninsula's brown hills, because you have a hike in front of you!  20 minutes up a small rise, through a tunnel of evergreens, with sweeping views over the white-shark-infested Gulf of Farallones,  you'll reach the steps to the Point Reyes lighthouse:   308, to be exact.

HISTORY OF POINT REYES LIGHTHOUSE







For its opening in 1870, the  Fresnel (pronounced fray-nel) lens was crafted in France and shipped around the bottom of South America to the port at San Francisco, where it was sailed on to Drake's Bay, then oxcart-ed down the peninsula, to be lowered to the construction site.  
Despite its effectiveness -- shining out 24 miles compared to the earlier mirror technology of 8-10 miles of light -- there were still so many sailing emergencies that, in 1890,  a life-saving station was added. Today there's a cemetery, marked by this amusing sign:


GETTING AROUND POINT REYES PARK:




Your drive around Point Reyes National Seashore takes you past estuaries, through barren brown fields, and past historic farms.

You'll wind your way through this agrarian landscape to the finger of Tamales Bay.
Welcome, oyster-lovers!

"EATS" AT POINT REYES LIGHTHOUSE
Oysters are the key ingredient at Point Reyes.
The Farm House restaurant in Point Reye's gateway town, Olema, may have the biggest reputation for these BBQed bivalves, but my favorite spots offered fresh shellfish and BBQ grills for do-it-yourselfers.

Check out Tamales Bay Oyster company, where you pick your bivalves out of a tank at $12-15/dozen, then set up your picnic at a nearby table on the shoreline.  Forgot oyster knife or gloves?  Need charcoal?  It's all for sale there.   They've even installed oyster-cracking horseshoes, for beginners.  Don't forget your beverage, though!

The famous Drakes Bay Oyster Company is another favorite.  Located WITHIN Point Reyes park, you can shuck for yourself, right on the beach.

wharf at Nick's

Want to slurp without the work?   Try Nick's over in Marshall, on the northern shoreline of Tamales Bay, or any number of oyster stands along the drive.

WHERE TO SLEEP AT POINT REYES?

I found a boathouse... technically, the boatman's quarters.. right on Tamales Bay, where a blazing wood fire illuminated the rustic interior as the full moon sparkled on the bay just outside the 8'-long window-seat where I made my bed for the night.
It's not like I had no alternative, though.  Check out the bedroom!

Stay posted for "Sleeping in a boathouse on Tamales Bay", coming soon on the TLT blog!

Curious about a lighthouse crawl along the California coast?   Grab a free phone call with Melanie to explore the possibilities!

Melanie can show you the inside scoop on Point Reyes!

Anchovy buffet at Moss Landing!

Love this WILD wildlife excursion? Let Melanie share her favorite fur-adventures, during a free phone!

How do I describe the smell of whale breath? 

Sort of heavy and compost-y.  A bit fishy.  

Sort of like a big post-anchovy-feast burp (although scientists will tell you that whales' respiratory and digestive systems are not connected, so their breath has nothing to do with their diet) 

How would I know this?

I showed up -- along with the Fall run of anchovies and the accompanying mass of marine mammal feeders--  at Moss Landing on the northern CA coast one week this September.   This is what I saw: 

WHY'RE SO MANY MARINE ANIMALS AT MOSS LANDING?

Moss Landing enjoys a queer underwater topographical feature that resembles the Grand Canyon -- some 2 miles deep, running perpendicular to the shoreline, for more than a mile offshore!

Marine mammals find this deep water appealing, and the migrating anchovy mass irresistible.       At Moss Landing,  a slick of sea lions, 200+ strong, accompanied by more than a dozen diving humpback whales, kept our boat entranced for hours!  Check out how close they were!

WHAT'S THE BEST BOAT AT MOSS LANDING?
The Sanctuary -- no question!
This whale watch outfit operates solely on biodiesel, a more expensive but far cleaner marine fuel that supports the protected waters of Moss Landing.
They are a small boat, so it's easy to find a spot at the rail.

With 3 marine naturalists and only about 30 guests on board, I surely got a great bargain at 50 bucks for 5 hours with the whales!

WHAT MONTH AT MOSS LANDING IS BEST FOR WHALE WATCHING?
ALL months!
In Spring, baby gray whales migrate north with their mothers along the coast of Moss Landing, and orcas can often be seen hunting them.
In Summertime,  krill -- that microscopic plant growth, blooms in the bay around Moss Landing, attracting large baleen feeders like humpbacks and blue whales.
Fall brings typically calmer seas and the anchovy run, like I filmed above.
And Winter is a parade of gray whales past Moss Landing-- although they're stealthy bottom-feeders and our naturalist said they were consequently hard to get a good "visit" with.

WHAT  ANIMALS MIGHT YOU SEE OFF MOSS LANDING BESIDES WHALES?
The Californian sea otter -- that playful marine mammal with hands that can unscrew the drain on aquarium tanks! -- has the lushest fur of ANY mammal on earth!   Moss Landing is a protected marine site and so enjoys the privilege of hosting newly rehabbed otters from the Monterey Aquarium.

Sea lions pile on the docks, and spotted seals leap through the water.

And birds!   The albatross comes all the way from Hawaii to feed;  pelicans and murres can be seen year round.  And the Shearwaters, straight from Hitchcock's The Birds?   They're out there, too.

Let Melanie at Tough Love Travel design your next adventure.   Email her right here.

Peru adventure in Amaru

Homestays  are just one of the many unique lodgings that I offer at Tough Love Travel. 

Want to sleep in a lighthouse?  On a barge or in a castle?   Up in a treehouse or even in a cave?  

Get a free phone call to hear more!

I speak no Quechuan -- which seemed as good a reason as any to adventure to Amaru and learn some.  I was to learn much more than kinsa (three) and mikhuy (eat) though.

LESSONS FROM MY AMARU ADVENTURE
That adventure to Amaru opened my eyes to a richly connected village life where 3 generations of family shared a single abode and prepared meals over an open hearth...
where fathers cooked and guided on Incan Trail adventures while their sons went to school to learn math...
and where simple self-sufficiency blotted out that crazed modern world, 15,000' below.

OUR PERU ADVENTURE BEGINS...
Our adventure began in Cusco where a guide drove us from our posh room at the Orient Express Monastery, 45 minutes out into the Sacred Valley, to the village of Pisac.

We stopped on the street to buy some hostess gifts -- some mashua, purple corn, and an armful of cactus fruits -- and also a sack of tamales which we couldn't resist out of a bucket on the corner.
Munching on tamales, we juggled our packs and gifts over to a waiting purple sedan, our ride to adventure in Amaru.

Why, I stood there wondering,  are the perfectly paved lanes of Dallas packed with SUVs, while the pocked and cracked rural roads of this mountain community are serviced only by lowslung hatchbacks with 1970's suspension systems?

ADVENTURE COMRADES
We got in.
So did 2 local workers and a young Mom with a papoosed infant -- plus her entire month's supply of groceries, bundled in a tweedy red Andean blanket.  Oh -- did I mention the 4-layer crate of eggs?

The 5 1/2 of us squeezed our way into the purple sedan alongside the driver, and our overloaded group headed out of Pisac as the first raindrops fell.

THE DRIVE WAS AN ADVENTURE BY ITSELF...
The road quickly turned upward, and began serpentining along the crooks of the hillside.  The asphalt turned to red gravel, then to dirt.  Our driver gunned the gas at super steep patches, and we skidded ahead.

At sharp corners, the cars outside wheels would seem to grab the loose gravel edge and I saw my first cross-n-flower memorial at the dropoff.

The heat of our bodies in the car created a fog against the rainy windshield, but the young Mom thought she could help.  She reached over the infant and into her bundle to produce a greasy tissue.  Wiping in bigger and bigger circles, she created a giant smear that now obscured the road entirely -- and that's when I got officially worried.

The driver handily rubbed his sleeve to clear a small scope the size of a jumbo Ms. Fields cookie, and we were soon off again.  My ears started popping.

At one point, we bottomed out - the rain runoff had rutted our road and we all had to pile out while the men, with a 1-2-3, hoisted the little sedan out of the ditch.

As we rounded hairpins, I tried to look out and down, but all I could see was air!  I sort of just stopped worrying, at that point.

We continued to fight our way up the mountainside until just after dusk, when we pulled into Amaru.

CULTURAL ADVENTURE IN AMARU
A cluster of orange lights showed the basic outline of the village.  We opened the wooden gate to "our" home and stepped carefully around the mud, to enter the low front door.
There was a frenzy of smiles, Quechuan welcomes, English thank-yous.   Then we were seated at a low beach, and while the 2 chilren made us hot tea, our eyes adjusted to the dark interior.
We spied guinea pigs running back and forth.  Were they pets or dinner?   Yes.


The evening was busy.  "Grandma" stirred the big black supper pot over the fire and tried to keep 3-year-old Lourdas off my lap.  The Mom unpacked special plates apparently saved just for us (that felt a little awkward), and Nicodemus was in charge of our entertainment, displaying his schoolbooks and teaching us Quechuan words for fire and table.

Before bed, we used a hole in the ground (aka toilet) and felt only gratitude for its privacy and shelter so we could pee out of the rain.
Then we turned into our own room where they covered us with so many Andean woolens that I was positively nailed to the bed.

OVERNIGHT ADVENTURE
I couldn't sleep at first and went to stand at the door, mesmerized by the rain dripping silently in the dark.  I tried to picture my spot on the globe -- that pulsing GPS button showing me in the forgotten wooded ravine, deep within the Andean mountain chain, in Peru.  I finally crawled back under the blankets, and fell asleep to the faint sounds of music floating from a distant party in Amaru.

MEALS ON A HOMESTAY ADVENTURE?
The next morning we were greeted with hot ground-lima-bean tea (looks a lot like a latte) and some corn cakes fried up freshly by the Dad who had returned overnight from the Trail.
We spent the morning admiring the family's small goat herd and purchasing a scarf handwoven by the Mom.
Then we bid goodbye and followed our host mom down the mountain to the weekly market in Pisac. She scampered over the rocks in her flimsy sandals. We struggle behind in our high-tech hiking boots.

Today, that scarf hangs over the doorway to my music room in my NJ home, a powerful touchstone to my Peru adventure with a family who took me in, if only for 1 night.

If you'd like a vacation adventure, doing things that no one else is doing, email me now!

The Barriadas of Lima

Melanie Tucker's  custom trip design is aimed to give you a more authentic travel experience.    Sometimes this means rafting with the humpback whales, and other times it means a poverty tour....like this one, walking the barriadas of Lima.  

Call her to talk about YOUR next trip:  (609) 923-0304!

The neighborhood's cheerfully colorful from a distance.... 

but look closer,

and ever closer, and sadly, the impoverished homes sit in plain sight.

 Limas barriadas, or pueblo jovenes, house a staggering 20-30% of the Lima population, many with no running water, subsisting off proceeds from gum which they sell on the street between the stinking piles of rubbish and the mangy dogs.

Many tour companies like to glide through the barriadas on air-conditioned motor coaches, as though they can protect their guests from this sprawling reality.  But what a disservice this is to the traveler becuase, in addition to bearing witness to common humanity, there are sights in the shantytowns that will truly make you smile.

Haku tours, for example, will WALK with you through the lanes of shacks.  You'll visit a kindergarten, and a local small factory where some of the slumdwellers work.   There's a local market, a community kitchen, and projects that can draw you in.






This team is replacing a roof on the daycare center.  Other  projects include the creation of a common park and a brand new kitchen!



Are you wondering where all these poor folks came from?  Slums blossomed in the 1940's as rural Andeans migrated to Lima for education and jobs, then escalated again with the violence of the 1980s.   Today, they shelter over 1.6 million bodies.

Wondering how you'd respond to a poverty tour?    Take this virtual tour of Lima's barriadas:



Do you think poverty tours of Lima's barriadas are helpful (to increase monies for the slums as well as awareness for the travelers) or disrespectful?  I'd like to hear.  Email me your thoughts here....