2012 Series

December 16, 2012

Today is the last day of school before Christmas and I am starting to PACK! I am Bobby Daniels and my Dad, Dr. Robert Daniels, MD is taking me with him to his favorite fishing spot EVER! Bahia de Los Angeles, Baja California! Dad has been promising this for years and now we are GOING! Oh, I am 16 years old and in the 10th grade at Bakersfield Union High School. We are going to fly down to San Quentin and rent a jeep to cross Baja and get to the Bahia. Dad bought me this neat record book so I can record all the fish I catch!

December 17, 2012

We are sitting on the runway at Bakersfield, California Municipal Airpark waiting for the tower to give permission for takeoff. Dad is the pilot and I am right seat, I just got my certification in the mail yesterday! We are loaded with enough food and clothes for our two-week fish trip! OOOPS, Here we go! BOOOOOORING, Dad put the plane on autopilot and told me I was in charge and then he takes a NAP! I guess we crossed the border into Mexico ok, after I reported to Mexican Air Control they didn't shoot us down anyway. About 20 minutes out from San Quentin, Dad wakes up and tells me he has the stick. It was getting dark but the landing was a breeze, there was a barrel with burning stuff in it at the end of a dirt runway! The people from the motel were waiting for us, it was right alongside the runway! We got all our stuff out of the plane and tied the plane down before heading to the motel. It was old-fashioned and the people running it were refugees from Czechoslovakia. Their son was my age, Andrea. He has bright red hair and a killer smile! Down boy! After a quick supper, Dad and I hit the hay, we were both tired and wanted to be ready bright and early tomorrow as it will be an all-day drive to get to the Bahia.

December 18, 2012

Yea Gods, it's still dark outside and Dad is yanking the blankets off me. OOPS, glad I didn't embarrass myself! Andrea and his family served a huge breakfast, I have never seen eggs cooked in that many ways. When we headed to the rented jeep, Andrea is with us, HUH? Dad says, "Oh, I guess I didn't tell you, Andrea is going with us so you have somebody to pal around with while I catch all the fish!" I am thinking, "OH, OH, this could be a problem!- OH well" We head down Baja 1 Highway, dodging dogs, donkeys and people for a few miles, then Dad turns left on this road that looks like a boulder pile! All day long, we bounce from boulder to boulder. Andrea is laughing his ass off at me trying to hold on! Finally, we almost dive off a cliff and are in this little village. Dad says, "Welcome to Bahia de Los Angeles!" HUH? Where? All I see is a dozen or so mud-brick houses, a building that says "CANTINA" and another that says, "MERCADO" Oh, and under that last sign, it says in tiny letters, "Alcalde" and "Policia"! I sure hope their English is better than my Spanish, I am only in first-year GERMAN! Andrea jumps out of the jeep and starts a rapid-fire conversation with a couple of boys, then he waves me over, these here are Roberto and Stephano, they are the best fishing guides in all of Baja! Dad shouts, we don't need guides, I have fished here before! Andrea giggles and whispers to Roberto, then says to me, "You with us, ok?" He smiles at me and I would have followed him to the moon if he wanted! Dad walks over and says, "Ah, a conquest already, huh?" "UUUUUHHH, no Dad, uuuuu" He laughs and says, "Bobby, you don't have to hide, your Mom and I know and we both understand" Quick, where is a rock I can hide under? He wraps his arms around me and says, "Son, it's OK. Go with Andrea, I think he is looking for a boyfriend too" OH GOD, how do parents know these things? Can't they just wait until they are told, like in a hundred years? He walks away, chuckling, like he does to some of Uncle Don's awful jokes! I catch up to Andrea and the two boys, Andrea looks at me and says, "You ok? You look kinda green?" We all head down to the beach, arm in arm laughing about nothing in particular. After about an hour, Dad honks the horn on the jeep and waves for us to come back. He says, "It's getting late, let's have some tacos and enchiladas in the Cantina and then make our camp" I look at him and say, "It's not dog, is it?" He stares at me and Andrea starts to whoop and holler, then he says something to Roberto and Stephano and they are practically rolling on the ground. Andrea finally catches his breath and says, "Well, Maybe" and they all start laughing again, Dad included. Dad waves us all into the Cantina and tells Roberto and Stephano that it is his treat. Wow, they are sat down at the table before the rest of us are hardly in the door! I don't know if it was dog or not, but it sure was good and Dad let us boys have ONE beer each! We spent the night under a mesquite tree, it was so warm we all slept on top of our sleeping bags, well, Roberto and Stephano only had a blanket each, but we didn't need anything more.

December 19, 2012

The next morning was clear skies and almost no wind. Andrea tells Dad that he and I will go fishing and we will compare catches with him at lunch time. At that, we scuttle off to the other side of the village, where Roberto and Stephano are waiting for us beside a boat that looks more patch than boat! We look up to see Dad going by in a power boat and a guy driving it, he waves and yells, "I'll have more fish than all of you put together!" Andrea just snickers and starts putting poles and bait in the boat. We pick up the boat and carry it to the water, Roberto has a set of oars and he sits in the middle, with me in the bow and Andrea and Stephano in the stern. Roberto starts rowing slow and easy strokes and pretty soon we are going across the water at a pretty healthy clip, headed towards a good-sized island that Andrea calls Isla Guardia. We get about 100 yards off the tip of the island and Stephano throws out an old bucket filled with cement tied to a piece of rope. As soon as the boat settles down Roberto hands me a fishing pole and an old coffee can filled with chunks of meat. The meat smells awful, but he tells me something in Spanish, I kinda understand, it's bait! There are 3 hooks on my line, so I bait them all and throw the line out in the water. WOWEEEEE, something hit the line and almost ripped it out of my hands! I reel it in and all three hooks have fish on them. I start to take one off the hook and Stephano hollers and grabs my hand away! He picked up a small stick that was laying in the bottom of the boat and pushes it near the fish's mouth - SNAP and the stick it in two pieces! Andrea just says, "Trigger Fish" After that, I let Stephano take ALL my fish off the hooks! We fished all morning and when we went back to the village, where we were to meet Dad, it took all 4 of us to carry that sack of fish that we caught! Dad was standing proud next to the jeep, he had a pan full of 6 fish! Andrea dumped our fish out and poor Dad gulped and then told us lunch was on him! Most of the fish we gave to Roberto's Mom. Stephano lived with them, he just said that he didn't have any parents, I didn't pry. As we were sitting down in the Cantina for lunch, it seemed like the whole building was jumping and things were falling off the shelf. Dad grabbed us kids and dragged us out onto the street. It was an earthquake! Roberto told us they had been getting worse in the last few days! We stayed out in the street for a while, there didn't seem to be anymore, so we went back inside to finish our lunch. We just walked the beach in the afternoon and for supper, the lady in the Cantina fried up our fish, we shared with everyone there. They were sooooo good. As we were walking out of the Cantina, the ground shook and rocks started tumbling down the hill, then it shook again, enough to knock us off our feet. We looked out on the bay, and all of a sudden, the shallow part of the bay was drained of its water. Dad shouted, "RUN, run up the hill as fast as you can, RUN!" Andrea grabbed Stephano and I grabbed Roberto and we all clambered up the hill to the very top. All of a sudden, the water came back and roared up the street we had just been standing in! The water roared through the Cantina and pots and pans and tables came floating out into the street. Dad said, "Maybe we ought to go back to San Quentin", Andrea said, "You cannot drive that road at night, it is too dangerous!" So, we recovered our belongings and drove the jeep up to the top of the hill to spend the night with the idea that we would leave as soon as it got light in the morning. Sometime in the middle of the night, an even worse, more severe earthquake hit, tumbling down most of the buildings in the village and we could hear rocks rolling down the hillside above us. None of us slept any more that night!

December 20, 2012

As soon as it got light, we could see that we were trapped in Bahia de Los Angeles. The whole mountainside had collapsed and covered the road with boulders, some as big as a house! The canyon that lead up to the top, was filled with rocks and dirt, and the entire road had disappeared! There was no way out. Dad tried telephoning out on his satellite phone, but he could not get a dial tone! After a while, he said that Andrea's parents knew where we were and would tell the authorities to send help. All we could do is wait. Nothing more happened that day, we had supper and again tried to get some sleep. There were strange groaning sounds all night and we could hear boulders rolling down the mountain, but there were no more earthquakes that night!

December 21, 2012

Just as it started to get light, the earth started to shake so hard we had to sit down or we would have fallen. Roberto looked out over the bay and he screamed! We looked up and saw the water racing out the bay and as far as we could see out into the Gulf. The earth was making the most horrible groaning sound and the dust completely blocked out the sun. My watch kept working most of the day, until I was thrown to the ground and it smashed. The hands were stuck at 4 pm! We had not seen the sun for hours and a few people struggled up to our hilltop from the village, Roberto's parents were not among them. We spent that night on our hilltop again, with the survivors of the village, holding on to each other and giving what comfort we could to each other. We knew it was going to be bad, we were almost afraid to have the daylight return! As daylight grew, all we could see was devastation. The village was completely gone, and not a sign of it ever having been there remained.

December 22, 2012

Andrea and I stood tall for Roberto and Stephano and then, I thought about Andrea's situation. I hugged him and told him I was there for him too. Dad came over and hugged all of us boys and said, "Well, I guess I have 4 sons now." Had I not been holding onto Roberto, he would have collapsed in the mud. He kept repeating, "Mama, Papa; Mama, Papa" The tears were streaming down his face, I could see he was close to hysteria, so I said to him, "Help dig some stuff out of the jeep so we can feed something to these people. They are OUR people now!" That seemed to help him and we started some coffee, we found enough wood to start a small fire to cook some eggs and bacon. We didn't have much, but so far, we had found only 10 people plus the 5 of us out of the entire village! A small girl started screaming and pointing toward Isla Guardia. It wasn't an island anymore, there was land connecting the island to our shore. As we looked northward, we could see the red glow of either a very big fire or it was lava. Since it was mostly desert, it had to be a volcano. We could see a red streak flowing down the cliffs and dropping into the water. Just then, another huge earthquake hit us, just to the south of us, the whole range of mountains collapsed into the gulf and then fiery lava started shooting into the sky. It was too hazy to see across the gulf, but we could see a red glow directly across from us. More volcanoes! After a while, the earthquakes seemed to abate a bit, so Andrea, Roberto, Stephano and I hiked down to the shore and collected the still-living fish that were flopping on the beach. We found some pots and pans in the wreckage of the village, on our way back to our refuge hill, we discovered a spring had opened and a small stream of fresh water was flowing down the hill and into the gulf. We collected some water and brought the fish up, one of the women started cooking the fish in a pan we had found. At least we had water and fish! We took a count, out of about 150 people that lived in the village, 42 survived. We never found any bodies, so they must have been swept out into the gulf. It was a sad and bedraggled group huddled together at the top of the hill, hanging on to each other more for comfort than need. We were able to scavenge cooking utensils, a few blankets and some tools from the wreckage so the men and us boys built lean-tos for shelter and hung the blankets to dry. We had young children, so as soon as we could, we got them to lay down and take a nap or, at least, rest in the shade of the lean-to. With all the smoke and dust in the air, night came quickly, all we could do in the dark was hug each other and lay down and quietly give comfort to those in mourning. As I write this, I realize that in the last few hours, I have grown up, a lot! My childhood has ended and my manhood began at 16 years old!

December 29, 2012

A week has passed and a few more survivors have straggled in, but NOT Roberto's parents. Our small group now numbers 60 people, but some are old and sick or have given up hope. They probably will not be with us for long. The air is thick with volcanic smoke and sulfur, at night the whole sky to the north of us is lit up red! So, also, is it the same across the gulf from us. The seawater rests uneasily in the gulf, and the level changes frequently, sometimes by as much as 10 feet! We found a boat caught in some rocks, but Dad thinks it is not safe yet to go out on the water. We have been able to fish from some rocks, so we have plenty of fish to eat. Some bottles of cooking oil and some containers of spices washed ashore, so the women are able to make a tasty dish. I suppose we will get very tired of fish before too long.

January 15, 2013

I am not writing much, trying to conserve paper. One of the men hiked to the top of the mountain and found a cow! When he discovered that it had milk, instead of killing it for the meat, he made a rope out of some dead vines and led it down to us. Now, at least the small children have fresh milk. We are marking the days off on the cliff face. We hope we don't miss any, but, who cares if this diary is a day or so off?

March 1, 2013

Some more refugees have joined us, and the villagers from Los Robles, north of us, walked down the beach and have joined our group. We now are 102 people. Dad has become the "head man" and I guess the villagers think of Andrea and me as his assistants. Anyway, everyone seems to ask us permission before they go and do something. Andrea and I got brave this morning and took the boat out to see if there were any fish left. We came back with a boatload, plus we found clams in the shallow water just south of Isla Guardia. Roberto and Stephano uncovered several small gardens from our village and they carefully replanted the vegetables near the new creek, so they could be watered. We robbed some bird nests over at Isla Guardia, even though it is no longer an island, but they were not very good. One of the men from Los Robles said he knew how to tell fresh eggs from old ones, so guess what? He got the job!

October 1, 2013

At least we THINK it is that date. Constanzia and Sophia have taken over the gardens. They carefully set seeds aside for next year but we have plentiful supplies of onions, garlic, melons and gourds. They saved all the corn this year for seed. A fruit, I think is papaya, which makes a great breakfast. It tastes great and had lots of seeds in it so we will grow those next year, also. Dad still leads us, but his heart is not in it, he misses Mom and I catch him crying when he thinks I don't see him. He has started to teach Andrea and me about surgery and simple medicines that we can make out of the plants and herbs that grow here. Some of the men tried to cross the mountains to get to San Quentin, they came back a few days later and told us the mountains were gone and it was a plain of lava as far as they could see! We are cut off from the outside world and we have seen no airplanes flying overhead. A young woman, Maria, is pregnant. Dad thinks she is about 7 months, so he is teaching us about delivery and what to expect.

March 1, 2014

Dad is failing fast, his hands shake and I think his eyesight is going bad. This scares me, I am NOT ready to be the doctor for our people. Andrea feels the same way, we sit every day with Dad and he tells us how to prepare medicines and fix broken bones. Maria had her baby, a little girl. I delivered with Dad telling me each step of the way. There are 4 more women pregnant, so the next few months are going to be busy. Andrea has organized the younger boys into fishing crews. The older boys, he has been sending out with the men to hunt. We found enough metal to make spear points and we fastened them to straight mesquite limbs. They occasionally bring back a small deer and several times they have brought back live cattle that they find roaming the hills. We have milk and have been able to make butter and a kind of white cheese. Our little group has grown now to almost 150 people. Some more refugees straggled in from another village that apparently had no name. They were mostly children and some were hurt, so Dad showed Andrea and me how to dress their wounds and set one broken arm. My Spanish, or more likely, Mexican/Indian, is getting much better and I can carry on a whole conversation now without Andrea having to interpret! Andrea and I are recognized as a couple now and nobody seems to have a problem with it. We are both 18 years old and we have taken Roberto and Stephano as our sons. They are both 14 and they are very close, the same as Andrea and myself! Dad has become very close to us, I am worried about him.

March 1, 2015

The past year has been terrible, Dad died in his sleep. We buried him on the top of the cliff. Andrea and I have become even closer. The villagers recognize me as their Leader, though they just call me "BOBBY" I guess Andrea and I can call ourselves adults, we are both now 20 years old. I have been teaching Roberto and Stephano English, but after losing Dad, I am afraid the language will be lost if I don't. Roberto has taken to calling himself "Little Bobby" and he wants to learn as much as he can about medicine. Oh, I wish Dad were here, I miss him so much. Andrea has begun to teach some of the older boys how to defend our village against wild animals and other people who might want to hurt us. We have 165 people we are responsible for, including 5 new babies that I delivered the past year. The weather has definitely changed, we get plentiful rains in the winter and trees are growing on the hills around us. Each little canyon has a flowing stream and we dammed up one to make a small pond. We have 20 head of cattle now, so we took a chance a slaughtered one young bull. We had a feast and then cut the remainder of the meat up and dried it with salt. We make the salt by letting sea water into a basin and then letting it dry. It is a slow process, but it does make pretty good salt. We have a whole field of corn this year, it looks like it will be ready to eat soon. Andrea had to post some men and young "warriors" around the corn to keep the cattle out of it! There is plentiful grass, so they are NOT starving! We still get an occasional earthquake and there is volcanic smoke up north of us still. Some of the men tried again to get across the mountains but they had to turn back as the lava is still too hot. We saw some people in a canoe out on the gulf and tried to attract their attention, but they didn't see us. Andrea wants to build a stone tower and put some firewood up on the top as a signal. I will call a meeting of the village and we shall vote on it. The villagers are now calling me "Jefe BOBBY" now. I hope that I can lead them well and keep them safe. Andrea has taken charge of a group we call Our Warriors. They are young men who guard our cattle and carry spears. We tried making bows and arrows, but it was a dismal failure!

March 1, 2016

Another year has passed and we have had 10 more children born to us! Young Bobby assisted me in the deliveries, he has an aptitude for it and a very gentle touch. He is learning to make medicines from the native plants and has already set a broken leg on his own, with me watching. We had a meeting with all the villagers and agreed to build a stone tower like Andrea wanted. It will be about 60 feet high when we get it completed and will have a small deck on the top with firewood that can be lit as a beacon. We have not seen any more canoes since the first one last year. The cattle herd has grown and we regularly have meat now. Of course, fish remains our principal food. We grow papaya, corn, onions, garlic, melons, gourds, and a kind of fruit that is like a plum. It can be dried and is very sweet. One of the men built a mud beehive and attracted a colony of bees, so we now have honey to sweeten our food. A woman showed me a plant that, when the leaves are dried, you can make a kind of tea with hot water. It is very good and has a strong "pick me up" kick! There are some wild grapes growing in one of the canyons and some of the men want to try fermenting them. So far, most of us oppose that!

March 1, 2017

Our population continues to grow, there have been 21 births this past year, and all of them were delivered by Little Bobby. We call him that because I am Jefe Bobby! A young boy, Nolo, brought in a young female dog near whelp. Much to Little Bobby's delight, he got to "assist" the delivery, so now we have 6 puppies and 1 female dog. The puppies were immediately spoken for by the boys and were hardly weaned before they got carted off! Little Bobby and Stephano are both 18 this year and they have been talking of "adopting sons"! The harvests were good this past year, we had to build a storehouse for the corn and melons. Our population is growing so fast, I am concerned about enough land to grow food. So far, we are ok, but everywhere I look, I see women pregnant! There must be a male dog around somewhere because our female is in whelp AGAIN! An up-and-coming entrepreneur, Antonio, put together a crew and started building boats! They are quite clever, he fashioned wooden pegs and found an old crosscut saw to cut boards from the new-growth pines that are beginning to flourish in the canyons. He has produced 3 boats, which he "rents" out for a portion of the catch! He then built a raft and rented it to some boys who wanted to rake oysters and clams! He has so much seafood now, he is giving it away! Maria and her husband, Carlos are expecting again. He has started a fish drying operation, he salts the fish and dries them on racks he built. He traded some salted fish for salted beef, a whole community of businessmen! Another year has gone by and we have not seen any more people in canoes.

March 1, 2018

We had some violent storms this past winter, heavy rains did quite a bit of damage to the homes. We have rebuilt, mostly with stone this time. We sighted a canoe filled with men and women, Stephano climbed the stone tower and lit the signal fire. They saw the smoke and paddled into our little cove. Their speech was difficult to understand, and we later found that they were Turahumara People who had been driven out of Copper Canyon by volcanic activity. They stayed with us for several weeks and one of their young men remained with us after the group left, because of a girl, Rosa! They promised to return, we gave them salted meats and some vegetables. They were delighted with our corn, it was much better, they said, than their own. They promised to return again to trade. Our corn harvest nearly overwhelmed us, we had to build a second storage room to hold it all! As winter approached, the canoe people came back, this time with blankets, sandals and hats to trade for corn and some of our dried fruit. All of our blankets were quite old and we had no way to make new ones, so we felt lucky. Again, they promised to return for more trade. We learned they called themselves Miraposas and we told them we were Angelenos.

March 1, 2019

The Miraposas came back to trade again just before the winter storms arrive and we traded more corn, salted beef and some medicines for more blankets and clothing. They are a friendly people and there was much back-slapping when Rosa showed up pregnant! Her new husband, Corio, had a red face! One of the Mariposas men, Corio's father told us that he would bring Corio's Mother here before the baby was born. He was true to his word, and about a month later, a smaller canoe with just 3 people in it arrived - Corio's Mother and Father, and his little sister, Chesita. We made them welcome and they stayed until after the baby, who they named, Bobby, was born. Corio's Mother was amazed that I, a man, delivered the baby, I showed her the medicines I used and she became very excited. Corio's Father, Chey, explained to us, that Corio's older sister had died trying to give birth and they lost the baby also. They were in tears telling us this, I told them we would help in the future if we could get there in time. Little Bobby told us, he would go to their village and live there for a while to help them, so when Corio's Family departed, Little Bobby went with them and Chesita stayed with us. Stephano was heartbroken, he sat on the top of the stone tower watching for Little Bobby. Weeks went by and Andrea and I were becoming worried about him, still, he would not come down except to eat. Nearly a month later, during a lull in winter storms, A larger canoe, laden with goods and people crossed the gulf and entered our cove. Stephano climbed down from his tower and ran to the beach, screaming, "BOBBY- BOBBY- BOBBY" Little Bobby walked up the beach, laden with gifts, blankets, sandals, ponchos and hats. Chey and Corio's Mother, Serena, brought food, and gifts for all of us. Little Bobby had saved the life of Serena's little sister, Cara and her baby! Chey told me that their tribe wanted to trade with us regularly and they would like to have some of our children stay in their village and some of theirs stay in our village. It sounded great to me and Andrea. Stephano didn't care, he had Little Bobby back with him!

June 1, 2022

There is much sorrow in our village, last year some canoes came into our cove. Thinking they were from Chey's people, we welcomed them. Instead, they were RAIDERS! Our Warriors fought desperately and finally killed many and drove off the rest. It was not without cost, my beloved Andrea was killed, Stephano lost his right eye and many of our women were kidnapped. Little Bobby has tried to comfort me, but I seem to have lost the meaning of my life. Corio asked some men to go with him and they took a canoe to cross the gulf to seek assistance from his people. It seemed only a short time, Chey, Serena, Cara, Chesita and Cara's husband, Mano, along with another canoe full of Miraposas Warriors arrived. Serena took charge of me, first she bathed me and cleaned the accumulated filth from my home, she made me eat as much as she thought I should have and spent long hours just sitting with me, talking only when I wanted to talk. The Warriors set up guard posts all around our village and Cara and Mano, sat and talked with each villager. Cara's baby cooed and gurgled at all of us, even me. Finally, Serena grabbed my shoulder and shook it, "HOW CAN YOU DISRESPECT ANDREA LIKE THIS?" "HOW DARE YOU FORGET ALL THE GOOD THAT ANDREA WAS?" She was right, how could I do this? I stood up and called to my people, "We must speak of this, come, let us speak now" We all sat in front of my house and we finally decided to move our village higher up on the mountain and some of Mariposas would move with us. We would keep a small compound on the cove for fishermen, but they would have homes in the new village. Little Bobby and Stephano adopted two boys, Manuel and Coli. Their parents were killed by the raiders, Manuel was 9 and Coli was 7. Manuel insisted on changing his name to Andrea, so Coli decided he would be Bobby! I was completely undone, I had been so deep in my own misery, I had failed to see the needs of the people who depended upon me!

June, 2024

We have prospered in the last two years, the population has grown to 250 people! We are seriously going to have to find an area to produce additional food. It is fortunate that our growing season is so long. I am 28 years old now, and Roberto and Stephano are 22. Andrea and Bobby are teenagers now and are devoted to each other like their parents. I envy them, but I have reconciled myself to being alone. With 250 people, I am kept busy tending to their hurts and delivering their babies. Little Bobby, who is not so little anymore, is becoming a wonderful medicine man. He is loving and caring to our people and many times Mariposa people cross the gulf so that he can treat them. We have had no further problems with raiders, but we have Warriors on guard duty all the time.

June, 2030

Little Bobby has started training his son, Bobby as a medicine man. He assists us both in caring for our people. Some of the men cleared the ground south of our village to expand our farmland. I would guess we have about 75 acres planted in various crops. Fish and shellfish are our principal meat, although we do have beef. One of the hunters found some goats that had gone wild and brought them to the village to raise, but a wildcat got into the pen and killed all of them. Corio's parents drowned while crossing the gulf. I particularly miss Serena, she put me back on track and saved my life. A delegation of Mariposa people have been talking with us to move all our people across the gulf and combine the villages, we can think about that, but Bahia is our home.

June, 2037

A number of our people have moved over to Mariposa, we see them regularly as they come to visit family. Several boys have come to be trained by us in the making of medicines and birthing babies. One boy has been especially skillful in setting broken bones. There are almost 3,000 people living in Mariposa and they keep wanting us to move there.

June, 2045

Our people have begun calling me "El Bobby" and Little Bobby has become Jefe Bobby. Bobby, I guess I should refer to him as Baby Bobby, is now the Medicine Man for our people! We have held several meetings of our village, they now number over 600, and we have decided to move across the gulf to Mariposa. It hurts me to leave Andrea behind, but I am getting old now, I am 49 years old and it won't be long before I see him again. This book is nearly full, so we are going to sew in into a cover of calf hide and coat it with tallow. There is a cavity in the stone tower where we will place it and cover the entrance with pure white rocks. My final entries will be to tell anyone who finds it where we have gone. I love you, Andrea, wait for me, I will be with you soon.

BOOK 2 - THE AUSTRALIANS

We reached the Kingdom of Hawaii in slightly less time than we had anticipated. They welcomed us as brothers and insisted on having a festival in our honor. This delayed our departure, so we did not sail from Honolulu until November 10, 2569. It was an easy sail to Baja California, which we discovered was now an island instead of a peninsula shown on our antique charts. We felt that it would be safer sailing to sail between Baja Island and the mainland of Mexico. The west coast of Baja appeared to be very rugged and we could see active volcanoes north along the coast. We anchored off the southern tip of Baja Island, where our old charts indicated there was a major city, Cabo San Lucas, on December 1, 2569. We went ashore only to find deserted ruins, most of which had been washed by at least several tidal waves. It was eerie, there was absolutely no life of any kind, not even vegetation! We spent two weeks sifting through the ruins, but found little of historic value. We decided to sail northward along the coast of Baja, hoping to find some worthwhile locations to explore.

December 25, 2569

We have located some major ruins at, what we think, is La Paz. There are a few primitive people living here speaking a kind of guttural Spanish. They tell us a fanciful story of how the Mountain Gods took a broom and swept the land clean of the "evil ones"! It must have been a fair-sized city as the ruins are quite extensive. I have been making new charts as we travel up the Gulf, the coastline is much different from what the old charts show. The Dig crews have recovered plentiful art objects - ceramic tiles, metal artifacts and some machinery we believe was used in a weaving process. We will sail in a couple of days to continue our trip northward. There isn't enough here to make continued digging worthwhile.

January 1, 2570

We set sail from La Paz on December 26th, it had been a rather disappointing stop as there really was little of value to be learned there. The few natives in the area were quite primitive and had little oral history to contribute. We are continuing up the coast, checking likely bays that could or might have supported a village that survived. So far, all we have seen is desolation.

January 9, 2570

We are at anchor in a rather large bay, a headland to the bay is connected to the mainland with a narrow isthmus suggesting that the headland might at one time have been an island. It is too dark to go ashore tonight, however, there is an interesting stone structure on a hill above the bay that warrants closer inspection.

January 11, 2570

We believe we have discovered an archeological Jackpot! We went ashore yesterday and discovered the well-preserved ruins of a village of about 500 people. It is obvious that it had been built or greatly enlarged AFTER the cataclysm that destroyed much of this hemisphere! The stone structure we observed is some kind of signal tower and had a storage cavity in the base that had been blocked and sealed with great care. Dr. Alice Loring opened the cavity and found a bound ledger book of obvious pre-cataclysm machine manufacture. It had been carefully sewn into a tanned cowhide and coated with a protective layer of animal lard. The writing begins in pre-cataclysm English and has entries for approximately 40 years, ending in a mixture of English and Spanish. It gives recognizable directions as to where the people went. We will sail tomorrow morning in an attempt to follow their path. This is a stunning discovery and will hopefully lead to a better understanding of what happened here.

January 20, 2570

After several false leads, we are now at anchor in the harbor of an incredible city, the inhabitants call Mariposa! Since I am the only member of our party fluent in Spanish, I was elected to make the first contact. The sailors rowed me ashore, where a large group of inhabitants had gathered. Their language contained words of Spanish, an Indian dialect and archaic English. I detect no hostility, in fact, they appear glad that we have FINALLY come! Their Ruler is someone titled, "El Jefe Bobby". The military leader of the well-organized force of spearmen and archers is Andrea. He made me understand that they have been expecting us for over 300 years! As it was getting dark, he suggested that in the morning we move the ship to a permanent anchorage near a light dock on the south point of the harbor. He said that there would be boats and men to assist us in the move. As a sign of surety, he accompanied me back to the ship alone and said he would spend the night with us. During our evening meal, we questioned Andrea as best we could, with me doing the interpreting. He told us that "El Jefe Bobby" was a traditional title going back to the great earthquakes, as was his own title, "Andrea" He told us that, when Either "El Jefe Bobby" or "Andrea" died, there was another of the same name already in training. It is not heredity as a candidate is adopted by the current understudy. It is common for the Andrea and the El Jefe Bobby to be mates. He apparently means a homosexual relationship. When I asked him about this, he said that his people have no problems with such relationships, in fact, they are quite common. There are 9 major Family groups and they have approximately 200,000 people living in 4 large cities and numerous smaller communities. He then told us that both he and El Jefe Bobby spoke English, but not very well. It was a requirement of their office. At that, Captain Voorhees asked him, in English, how many men did he have as soldiers. Andrea thought for a while, and then replied in broken, but perfectly understandable English that he had a standing force of 10,000 warriors and a reserve of another 25,000. Not all his warriors are men, both men and women serve. He continued that to the south of them is a shallow sea and volcanic islands and then another large continent. There are people who eat other people (cannibals?) on the islands. To the north are primitive people who raid their communities to steal cattle and women. That is why they keep such a large group of warriors. I then asked him if he was any relation to the Andrea in the record book. He smiled and told us that he was a "historic" descendent, that all Andreas and Bobbys were chosen and adopted by their predecessors. Theirs is not a hereditary government and that each candidate for "Little" Andrea and "Little" Bobby had to undergo rigorous examination by the Council of Elders before they were adopted. By now, it was getting quite late, so Captain Voorhees escorted Andrea to a cabin where he might sleep. For myself, sleep did NOT come easily that night.

January 21, 2570

At first light, we were awakened by 20 rowing boats, all with tow ropes. Captain Voorhees ordered the anchor raised and the towing ropes were fastened to our ship. The rowing boat's crews then towed us to an anchorage where we would have besides the ship access to a pier, eliminating the need to use boats to go ashore. Waiting for us at the head of the pier was a large entourage of officials, including about 50 pike men! The Scientific party, headed by myself, and accompanied by Captain Voorhees and First Mate Dorn walked ashore to be met by the Mariposans. The impressive man in the front of the entourage identified himself, in English, as "El Jefe Bobby." After greetings and introductions, he said, "Andrea and I would like to invite you to our home where we may talk comfortably." He then asked us to follow him and we soon arrived at a modest, but well-appointed home. We were invited in and served cool drinks and fruits. El Jefe Bobby then spoke to us, "I am the 8th El Jefe Bobby, we have been waiting for you for over 300 years. It was foretold you would come, we welcome you to our land and hope we might establish relations and trade with your home country. We understand you are explorers, but we also hope that, at least one of you has ambassadorial powers. I spoke up and said that I did, this was something that my fellow expedition members were not aware of. El Jefe Bobby told us that his land had many minerals, metals and agricultural products to trade. He showed us iron and steel objects that were made from iron mined in the mountains, he presented Captain Voorhees and Dr. Donald Loring, each, with a silver necklace on which was hung a faceted ruby the size of a child's fist. To Dr. Alice Loring, he gave a necklace with an emerald of the same size. The rest of us received necklaces with somewhat smaller rubies. He gave Captain Voorhees a cloth bag of smaller rubies to be given to each crew member. He went on to tell us that they raised corn, barley, fruits, coffee, cotton, vegetables, pineapples, sugar cane, coconuts, cocoa along with cattle, sheep, goats, ostriches, swine, chickens and a few llamas. All of which his people were willing to trade for manufactured goods, medicines, educational materials, teachers, doctors and firearms/ammunition to combat the wild tribes and the cannibals. He said that the first things they wanted were Doctors and Teachers. First Mate Dorn asked what religions were practiced in his country, El Jefe Bobby said, "We have a religion native to our Indian people and also Christian groups - Catholic, Mormon, Baptist and Methodist. There are no priests of the Christian Faiths here, but our people would like some to come. We do not discriminate against anyone's religious faith." He then to me and said, "Mr. Ambassador, before you leave our country, we would like to contract a treaty of friendship and trade with your nation." I felt like I was getting in over my head, but I told him we could write a treaty subject to approval by both our governments. He smiled and said, "I AM the government!" Andrea told us that Baja was now an island, and all of South California was ocean as far east as the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which were heavily volcanic and in constant eruption. He continued, they had sent search parties north, most of what was Texas is underwater and they were told that there is no river flowing through central North America (Mississippi River?) The central part of North America is a desert and uninhabited. They did not know anything about the far north or the eastern coast. The large land mass south of the volcanic islands (South America?) is mostly covered with fresh lava and the few places that are not are inhabited by cannibals. As far as he knows, there are no civilized cities on that continent. They know of no other civilization in what was Mexico, other than their own. There are a few fishing tribes on the eastern coast and they occasionally trade with them for pearls. The central part of Mexico was ravaged by volcanoes that remain active. After spending nearly a week in the company of El Jefe Bobby and Andreas, we met with merchants from the city who wanted to send trial amounts of their goods with us on consignment. We told them it would be a long time before we returned, sailing ships do not travel very fast. They still wanted to send goods with us.

February 15, 2570

We are finally loaded for our return trip, El Jefe Bobby completely resupplied our ship with food, water and fresh fruits and vegetables for our consumption. The merchants filled both cargo holds with goods on consignment, precious metals, copper, gemstones, sulfur and cobalt. All their contracts were written in English, I surely hope we can fulfill our part of the bargain! We will sail in the morning, direct for Sydney. Captain Voorhees expects a trip duration of 55 days. Just before we sailed, Andrea and a group of Warriors came running down the pier. With them were two young men who he introduced as Little Bobby and Little Andrea! El Jefe Bobby was sending members of his own Family as his Representatives to our government. Captain Voorhees promised he would take great care of these two young men, it was obvious, by the way they held each other's hand, that they were a couple.

April 7, 2570

We made excellent sailing time and our arrival at Sydney Point was exactly on time. We stopped at the Naval Quarantine Station and telegraphed the Prime Minister's Office that we had Two Ministers Plenipotentiary of the Government of Mariposa on board in addition to a signed Treaty of Friendship and Trade. By the time we warped to the University Pier, the crowd was being held back by the National Guard! Queen Alexis and Prime Minister Milton were standing on the pier waiting to greet our passengers. They greeted the Queen and Prime Minister in English, which nearly floored our government, and presented gifts from El Jefe Bobby to the Queen and Prime Minister.

June 1, 2570

The Queen's Government appointed me Ambassador General to The Government of Mariposa and all surrounding nations, countries and tribes. The goods sent by the Mariposa merchants on consignment were auctioned off, generating enough cash to purchase a 3-mast sailing cargo ship, and hire 20 teachers, 20 doctors, 60 tons of books and another 60 tons of medicines. An assortment of pharmacists, nurses, miners, mechanics and weavers were also retained. Captain Voorhees and many of his crew resigned from University service to sail the Mariposa Trader back to Mariposa. To accompany us was a new Hegemony steam Warship and full crew. Little Andrea and Little Bobby were to remain in Sydney until relieved as Ambassadors to Her Majesty's Government.

September 10, 2570

We sailed into Mariposa Harbor, the Warship's siren bellowing out our arrival! It was a carnival atmosphere in Mariposa, El Jefe Bobby hugged me like I was his lost brother, while Andrea stood beside him grinning. It was a new era for our two countries and a relationship that would last lifetimes. The merchants were astounded at what their goods purchased and immediately began planning for a return voyage! El Jefe Bobby, caused to be constructed a magnificent building as my home and Embassy. It was to be a lifetime appointment, one that brought great honor and new wealth to our two nations. The cannibals south of Mariposa were wiped out, they no longer plague Mariposa settlers on the southern border. The primitive peoples of the north were sent teachers, food and goods. They eventually became herders and cattlemen benefiting themselves and Mariposa. Little Bobby and Little Andrea eventually returned to Mariposa and, sadly El Jefe Bobby died suddenly of cancer. Andrea outlived him by less than a year. Little Bobby and Little Andrea were elevated to the leadership of their country and the new Little Bobby and Little Andrea play regularly with my Grandchildren.

March 5, 2091

CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE, MARIPOSA - It is with great sorrow we report the death of Dr. James Callaghan, Ambassador General of the Hegemony of Australia. Dr. Callaghan served Her Majesty's Government as Ambassador to our Nation for 21 years and was greatly admired in both countries. El Jefe Bobby has declared a week of National Mourning to honor Dr. Callaghan. News of his death was transmitted to his Home Country on the new underwater telegraph cable that Dr. Callaghan fought for so gallantly between our two countries. His death brings great sorrow to all Mariposans. Dr. Callaghan will be buried with High Honors in Mariposa Memorial Park at his own request.

TBC