We had an amazing trip to Isla Pardito, one of the few inhabited islands in the Sea of Cortez. The island is less than 1/16th of a mile across and the cement block, thatch roofed houses are all stuffed onto the westward slope. There are four families who have lived there for five generations. I met a man who has lived there for 68 years! I couldn’t wrap my head around how these people could survive a hurricane on this tiny rock, but after talking with them I realized that their most valued possessions are their boats, not their houses. As long as the boats survived, they could take it all in stride. Even though many of the houses were right on the waterline, they had nothing to lose in them, so although they would get beaten by the sea, they lost nothing.
One of the most notable things was the palpable pride the parents there had for their kids. Two of their sons pulled up in a panga while we were there, and you could see that their love that sustained them all. It made the island seem like just the right size.
Tonight we are in San Evaristo, the end of the dirt ‘road’ from La Paz, home to about 20 fishing families, a few well cared for dogs, and at least six wild burros. Tomorrow we sail to Nopolo, a fishing village only accessible by boat.