Excerpts from the Book

The Flower Lady of Punta Banda

Her real name is Genie Leslie and she's called the “Flower Lady” because of all the beautiful flowers she grows.  She had four feet of rich topsoil bought in to replace the sand in her courtyard at her home near the beach.  Her place looks like a tropical paradise with all manner of plants.

She was in charge of the planting of flowers at our Church, Baja Christian Church.  The grounds were beautiful.  She would pick a bouquet every Sunday to place in front of the Altar at the church.  She would pick flowers and deliver them to the sick and shut-in to cheer them up.

She would often wear flowered dresses and could be seen with her banana eating dog, Greta, walking the beach in the mornings.  Genie would be carrying a tall wooden staff as an aid for walking.

Genie is also an artist.  Her medium is water color and her paintings are bright and vivid, but she did work in oils sometimes. As you might recall, she painted the flowers on the Library building in Campo La Jolla.

A Most Perfect Business on the Country Road

There were other businesses, the Laundromat and several small stores and eateries.

The most interesting of all the businesses on the "Country Road" was a Mexican family with a horse rental business.  When you saw Americans riding horses on the beach or along the road or along the beach, most often the horses were rented from this family.

I wanted to go for a horse ride, so I stopped on a weekday at the horse rental place about half way between the Cantu and La Jolla Camp.  The owner was there shoveling you know what, into his pickup.  He would sell it to Americans for their gardens.

"I would like to rent a horse."  I said to the owner in my very best Spanish.

"Horses not here.  You see horses?” he asked, waving around to the empty area where we stood. "No se renta!"

"When will the horses regrese (return)?" I asked.

"Viernes," the man answered, using the Spanish word for Friday.

"Thank you! Gracias!" I said and left.

Often, when Americans rent these horses it is for a one way trip from the rental area on the Country Road along the beach to the hotel area.  When too many horses are at the terminus, they are tied together and brought back to the rental area by one of the sons.

I left there heading to my friend Danny Rios' house for some Presidente brandy.  He was having some mechanical problems with the backhoe so I knew that he would be home.

I told him of my experience with the owner of the horse rental place on the Country Road.

"That was ol' Jessie Rodriguez," Danny informed me.  "Well, there are very few tourists around during the week so it would be a waste of his dinero (money) feeding them all week."

Jessie lets the horses go on Sunday evening and they graze all over the mountains during the week.  On Thursday they start heading back and by Friday, all have returned to the general area and Jessie and his sons herd them across the road and saddle them up.

Jessie doesn't have to provide food for the horses all week nor does he have to clean up behind them. He doesn't even have to provide them with water so he saves money there.

Can you think of a more perfect business?  OK, then can you think of a more perfect legitimate business?

Land's End La Bufadora

La Bufadora means the Blowhole. The Blowhole is the main tourist attraction outside of Ensenada. I've read that it is the second largest in the world. There are only 3 or 4 in existence. One is in Hawaii, one in Russia and one in Mexico. The local Americans refer to La Bufadoro as the "Buf" or they refer to it as the "Mall."

We used to tell our visitors that we were going to the Mall to shop and they would appear confused. However, when we arrived at La Bufadora they were always pleased and excited because it was not the kind of mall they were expecting...

There are Restaurants at La Bufadora and a variety of souvenir shops. My favorite restaurant was and is "Celia's."

Celia is an American lady of Mexican descent. She has had her restaurant for years and she has expanded as the area has been improved, attracting more tourists.

From Celia's you can see Toscano's Ranch. Here, as in La Jolla Camp, Americans leased land and built their homes. You can see those homes overlooking the small bay from the windows at Celia's.

I asked Dinorah Payne, a friend of mine, why she would want to live at Toscano's.

When she and her husband were looking for a place to retire, they had investigated many places. When she saw the homes being built at Toscano's she said that she was reminded of a Mediterranean fishing village overlooking the sea and that's why she settled on that area to build her home.

Looking across at it now, Toscano's does have that Mediterranean fishing village appearance.

Note: That is actually Tina standing there in pink pants at the entrance gate to La Bufadora.

View of the Bay from the shopping area at La Bufadora.

Dinorah's Mediterranean Fishing Village

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