a new nest?

There are many options for living in Baja. From living in a tent or back of a truck to RVs, condos, palapas and millionaire's mansions - location is everything. Of course these options are not free, but today we found a spot that comes close. We drove over to Flat Top, a flat, rocky prominence to the southeast of the bay, that can be seen to the far left below.

We took a detour to the right of the trailhead and hiked up to a cave on a ridge just west of Flat Top. The ridge is the T-shaped rise with a bump on either end in the middle of the photo below.

The cave, on the left end of the ridge, is southfacing and has lots of living design possibilities with a nice front porch, naturally carved outdoor seating and a place for a fire. On the roof, there is a 360 degree view of mountains, the ocean and the plains in between.

The inerior living space of the cave is just as nice as the outside if you don't mind a liberal scattering of small animal scat. There's a raised area for sleeping, a nook for sitting and it's nice and dry and protected from the cold north wind. There must be a source of water somewhere! After inspecting the cave, we hiked to the southern end of the ridge and met this handsome gecko along the way.

There are lots of interesting plants and rocks along the ridge and these windows on the farthest northern end of the ridge.

We retraced our steps and then hiked up Flat Top where we were inspected by turkey vultures and frigate birds looping around the peak while we ate cheese, bread and carrots sticks for lunch. Then we hiked back down to the beach below at Rancho Leonero to gaze at mansions and do some serious sea glass collecting. That's our white truck parked in the sand down below the last house on the right.

I sorted the glass onto a tray and left it outside. It was a humid evening and as the air cooled, the moisture collected on the glass and made the pieces look very shiny and translucent.  I put them in a jar to preserve the effect and took this picture in the small garden at the front of our site. Michael found the unusual yellow piece of glass today.

The white flowers are sweet-smelling alyssum that self-seeded from may plantings last year. The purple plant is basil from an organic farm in Miraflores and I collected the shells from the beach out front earlier this year.