(One boat from our three-hour tour. These are the looky lous. I was on the other boat, which held the snorkelers.)

We had an eventful evening and day in Los Barriles. After our walking tour and my ATV trip and a short siesta, Grandma and I and Bob and Mary Lou enjoyed dinner at a local restaurant called Otra Vez. We hit a little grocery store on the way to stock up. Dinner was delicious. I had shrimp cooked in a tomato sauce with basil and a little bit of whiskey, a dish that I want to try to recreate.

Yesterday we left early for a boat tour of the Sea of Cortez and lunch at a locally famous restaurant called the Giggling Marlin. I grew a little queasy on the ride over (a combination of diesel fumes and motion sickness), so I skipped the rite of passage--being hung up by your ankles and fed tequila out of the bottle--fearing that I would throw up everywhere. My sickness wore off quickly and we had a delicious Mexican lunch. Up the hillside from the restaurant, which sets alone on a stretch of coast reachable only by boat or a bad dirt road, is Ralph Lauren's vacation mansion.

On the trip back we saw two whales (briefly), dolphins (also briefly), and several manta rays doing flips above the water. It must be mating season down here because there are a lot of displays going on among the sea creatures. During our snorkeling session (also brief), I saw lots of puffer fish, needle fish, jellyfish (got a minor sting on my shoulder from one little bugger), and a host of small and large tropical fish that looked right out of an aquarium.

I returned to camp at about 3 p.m. and Grandma was not doing well. Her legs have developed a red rash and have swollen considerably over the last several days. There was word that a doctor and nurse would be making rounds through the camp later that afternoon so we logged our appointment. It is a good thing we did. Dr. Cevallos and Char Wagner, an LPN, diagnosed the problem as cellulitis. Grandmother had taken a dip in the ocean with an open cut on her finger and later shaved her legs in the ocean, something she'd always wanted to do but will never repeat. The doctor and nurse stayed late into the evening and administered IV antibiotics and left her on a slow drip overnight. The returned this morning to give her another dose. Her feet and ankles look much better and she can take oral antibiotics from here out. She is in good spirits and should be 100% in a couple of days. Please good thoughts Mable's way.

Tomorrow we drive to Cabo San Lucas, where we have lots of planned activities--deep sea fishing, a catamaran tour around land's end and to lover's beach, and a tour of a local glassblowing factory. Today I'm going to do a little shopping and run Sarah down to the beach. I am already brown as a beetle's back. If I get any darker I may be detained at the border on reentry.

Bill.