Phil Collins

The finishing on the project is certainly much slower than the building of the project was. The details right now mostly involve stone work for the terracing. They are building steps as well, which are very time consuming. We are still “making it up” as we go along which continues to shock and surprise most people. It seems to be working well, though. Arriba de la Roca is going to be awesome! Yesterday we had a couple of groups visit us and people seem to agree that we are building a very special place. We even had some excitement as one of our friend’s SUV slid off our road. Luckily Maurice, and his truck, were on top so he could approach the SUV from above, connect a chain and pull him up before he slid entirely off the side of the road!! More great pictures for our albumn!!

BUT...this was in no way as exciting as what happened to us at the Sand Bar last night...well really not “to us” but to everyone who was there.

First I have to tell you that on most “pizza nights” there are 5 to 10 local police that come in for pizza. They are friendly, nice guys, and they come, eat, have a soda or two and head out. We all smile, say hello, and borrow the hot pepper flakes from each other while they are there. Last night, about 5:30, we saw a sand storm of dust coming from in front of the open walled Sand Bar. In rushed about 20 Federales, with an equal number of them outside. They were all carrying machine guns and some had masks on their faces, to protect their identity we were told.

What happened was about 10 vehicles, some trucks, some cars, some SUV’s, all Federales, pulled in and blocked all the cars from leaving. Then some of the guys swarmed in and blocked off all the exits and starting searching . They searched the bathrooms, the garbage, people’s backpacks, purses, the coolers, liquor cupboards, the outside areas; even some of the patrons were patted down and searched. I stayed inside, with my mouth hanging open and Maurice went out to allow them to search our truck. (Not like we had a choice) Unfortunately for them we had about 5 large bags of garbage in the bed of the truck that they chose to go through. They searched our glove compartment, under and inside the seats...everywhere. Maurice had a big knife which they did not even bat an eyelash about…we heard they were looking for drugs.

Since we were totally innocent I loved it! I felt like we were in a movie. Maurice, too, thought it was a cool experience, especially since one of the policemen, while he was searching the truck, called him over and asked if he was carrying a gun. We felt no fear, since we had no reason to, but I can tell you there were a few guys there that certainly would not have agreed with us.

The whole raid took about 20 to 30 minutes, While some of the Federale’s job was to search, the others - the masked men, stood on the perimeters, machine guns in hand, on guard, in case the big Drug Don was there, or some such thing. Crazy! We are in the Baja!! It is like adult Disneyland here. It is paradise! No crime, all fun, no drama, just a perfect way of life. That is why this whole thing seemed so surreal.

After they were done they all piled into their vehicles and stormed off, in a cloud of dust, to head to the next bar to raid.

I looked around at all the “regular” patrons in the bar and thought of Phil Collins.

I guess it’s just another day, another day for you and me in paradise....