R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 173

Fun Photo Friday — Danza de los Voladores

One Ritual, Two Names — Danza de los Voladores (Dance of the Flyers) or Palo Volador (Pole Flying)

There is a ritual originating from the deep, central regions of Mexico known as Pole Flying (Palo Volador) or the Dance of the Flyers (Danza de los Voladores). Today it’s more associated with the Totonac people along the eastern coastal Veracruz region of Mexico.

One Ritual, Two Names — Danza de los Voladores (Dance of the Flyers) or Palo Volador (Pole Flying)

But you won’t catch me doing it. Po...

Continuing Our Tour of Land’s End and El Arco (The Arch)

Land’s End panorama as seen from the Golden Princess

CaboSan Lucas does not have a pier in waters deep enoughto handle a large ship. That means your cruise ship will be anchoring offshore in the Bahia (Bay) San Lucas and you will be transportedashore via either ship’s tender or one of the many local tenders that the cruise lines hire. That has both advantages and disadvantages.

Land’s End as seen from the Golden Princess

The primary advantages are the view of the rock formationsat Land’s End...

Heading Out Towards Land’s End

Land’s End

Want some cheap entertainment and adventure while visiting Cabo San Lucas? Look no further than a boat ride out to Land’s End and El Arco (The Arch).

El Arco — The Arch

Upon arrival by ship’s tender Ursula and I strolled around the Marina Cabo San Lucas. Here we found several opportunities for taking yet another (we’d done this before) boat ride out to the very tip of the Baja Peninsula. Just walk around to the backside of the marina and check out the various water taxis and glass-...

Fun Photo Friday — Cabo Marina Favorites

Real Boats — Faux Lighthouse

Enjoy today’s slide show by clicking on any image below:

By the way, if you’re reading this and other material authored by me on The Destinary website, this post was not “Posted on (fill in the date) | By destinary” as they’ve been erroneously claiming; this material was in fact reposted. The Destinary have also been claiming the right to do so, without links back to the original and without full attribution (“by RDoug” and a nonworking link is not proper attr...

Cabo — Seals, Pelicans, Rocks, and Scooby-Doo

Pelicans on the prowl

Cabo San Lucas has some pretty extraordinary wildlife that doesn’t seem quite so wild. Indeed these pelicans are almost tame in how close they come to the tourists and fishermen. They’ll even jump into the boat looking for morsels, but they don’t seem eager to share.

Sharing is caring

Ursula and I haggled down the price of a water tour and boarded a boat to go out to El Arco de San Cabo San Lucas (which you’ll see in a later post). Along the way we stumbled upon the peli...

Arriving Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas Panorama

We left San Diego on October 31, spent one day at sea, and anchored offshore at our first Mexican destination on November 2. Cabo San Lucas is one of my favorite Mexican destinations. There’s just so much to see and do here. But first we would have to tender into port.

Tendering in from the Grand Princess

Over this week and next I’ll be showing a lot of this area, from the marina to the downtown area, and even a water tour out to Land’s End and El Arco de Cabo San Luca...

Fun Photo Friday — Springtime in the Desert

Why do hummingbirds hum?

Springtime in the desert.

Because they don’t know the words.

My second favorite time of the year in the Great Desert Southwest.

You saw the bird; here’s the bee

The Chihuahua Desert is a thing of beauty.

Today I devote Fun Photo Friday to the sights and sounds of spring in the Chihuahua Desert.

Cactus Flower

Click on any image below to bring up today’s slide show:

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker Tagged: cactus, cactus flowers, Fun P...

The Classic Definition of Insanity — Privatizing Essential Government Services . . . Again . . . and Expecting Different Results!

We’ve tried this failed experiment before, and once again it’s your safety and the nation’s security that are at stake as we try it yet again. Yep, we’re talking lives, property, and national security sacrificed upon the altar of a long-discredited philosophy that places corporate profits above your (and the nation’s) interests.

Standard warning posted outside Air Traffic Control Facilities — Looks “Inherently Governmental” to me!

This time it’s the remnants your Air Traffic Control system th...

The Real Culprit in the Germanwings Flight 9525 Crash

Doomed GermanwingsAirbusD-AIPX— Photo from Wikipedia article on Germanwings Flight 9525

I just this past week returned to the U.S.from an extended trip to South and Central America, and much has happened in aviation safety since I left. Therefore I’m postponing until next week the continuation of my series on our fall 2014 cruise into the Sea of Cortez to concentrate on such matters today and Wednesday. Fun Photo Friday will still await you however with some interesting flora photos of desert...

Fun Photo Friday — Day of the Dead and Old Town Favorites

Día de Muertos, San Diego Old Town

Today I present one final look at San Diego Old Town and the Día de Muertos decorations that were going up throughout, but mostly in the Fiesta de Reyes (Festival of the Kings) commercial area of Old Town. Click on any image below to bring up today’s colorful slide show.

By the way, if you’re reading this and other material authored by me on The Destinary website, this post was not “Posted on (fill in the date) | By destinary” as they’ve been erroneo...