17th Annual Rocky Point Rally - Early Registration

Hear that roar? It's the 17th Rocky Point Rally heading back to town...in just over 1 week!

Rocky Point Rally Registration 2017: EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION ONLINE $20 US This registration fee is a donation to a number of charity organizations that benefit from the event. Registration packet includes official wristband to identify Rally-goers (also for free boarding of Pirate Boat), Official Rally Pin, Official Rocky Point Rally patch, official R0cky Point Rally items from sponsors (koozies, bandanas, etc.), Rocky Point Rally Calendar and map, plus the "Rocky Point Rally Passport" which highlights all our local sponsors around town!  REGISTRATION ON EVENT DATE $25 US - Be sure to register online for the Early Bird donation rate!

In 2017, you will also be able to sign up for the In-town Charity Poker Run $10 US - includes individual sticker (Thursday & Friday)!

NOTE: Rally t-shirts are sold separately from "Registration Packet" T-shirts will be available at registration area during Rally and at Playa Bonita Resort

Eventbrite - 17th Annual Rocky Point Rally™

As in past years, the REGISTRATION AREA for the Rocky Point Rally will be situated Thursday and Friday at Barclin's gas station just North of town, on the highway between Sonoyta and Puerto Peñasco.

When coming into town, just over the BRIDGE when heading down the Sonoyta-Peñasco highway, Barclin's will be on your left shortly after crossing (tents and signs will be up) Some folk ride into town first and then choose to ride back out for their registration material (which would put entrance on your right). Be sure to register as this will help strengthen our DONATIONS to local CHARITY GROUPS!  Plus, you can gas up right there!

The local Rocky Point Riders group also sets up quite a fiesta in the area, adding to the overall flavor of making it to Rocky Point.

Registration area will include:

* WILL CALL spot for everyone who has registered online (thank you!)

* Registration tables - don't forget to register - which includes OFFICIAL PATCH, PIN, Rally swag, program, map and Rally Passport details

* CHARITY POKER RUN - pick up your game sheet and head out to the 1st stop once you hit town!  $10 US

* OFFICIAL RALLY T-SHIRT SALES

* Donation drop off:  toys (yep, we're starting our toy collection for the 4th Annual Kings Day Ride coming up Jan. 6, 2018;  other donations welcome include dog food for one of the local privately run dog shelters, items for Casa Hogar home for the elderly (adult diapers, cleaning supplies)

First Vaquita 'Rescued' in Bid to Save the Porpoise from Extinction

A project to save a small, critically endangered porpoise called the vaquita in the Gulf of California succeeded in capturing a 6-month-old calf in mid-October.

Veterinarians noticed signs of stress, so they made the decision to release it back into the wild, rather than keep it in a sea pen.

The project's leaders are heartened by the experience and hope to round up more vaquita to keep them safe from the still-present threat of gillnet entanglement in the Northern Sea of Cortez.

For the first time, a team of scientists has captured and then released a vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a rare porpoise in the Gulf of California, as part of a project called VaquitaCPR aimed at hauling the critically endangered species back from the edge of extinction.

"The successful rescue made conservation history and demonstrates that the goal of VaquitaCPR is feasible," said Rafael Pacchiano, the minister of the environment and natural resources in Mexico, in a statement. "No one has ever captured and cared for a vaquita porpoise, even for a brief period of time."

The VaquitaCPR team, comprising members from at least seven countries, caught a 6-month-old calf on Oct. 19 with the aid of underwater acoustic monitoring, but team veterinarians noticed that the animal seemed to be stressed out. Once they had taken tissue samples for later genetic testing, they released it back into the location where they had found it.

"While we were disappointed we could not keep the vaquita in human care, we have demonstrated that we are able to locate and capture a vaquita," said Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, a government scientist and the head of VaquitaCPR, in the statement.

Short for "Vaquita Conservation, Protection and Recovery," VaquitaCPR is a Mexican government-led project aiming to find the porpoises in the wild and house them in specially built pens. It's a last-ditch effort to save the remaining vaquita, whose numbers have declined to fewer than 30, one that was recommended by the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita, known by its Spanish acronym, CIRVA.

Team members with a vaquita calf. Photo credit: VaquitaCPR.

Gillnets, now banned in the Gulf of California, still pose the persistent danger of entanglement to vaquita, whether as abandoned "ghost" nets or those used by fishermen hunting for a Critically Endangered fish called the totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi). Totoaba swim bladders fetch thousands of dollars in Asian traditional medicine markets.

Ultimately, the team plans to shelter caught vaquita in floating sea pens near the town of San Felipe until the animals have a better chance of survival. Crews are also searching for ghost and illicit nets with the help of U.S. Navy-trained dolphins and a boat from the Whale Museum in La Paz. VaquitaCPR said that the boat is responsible for pulling 274,320 meters (900,000 feet) of nets from the water.

Though the scientists weren't able to keep the animal from this first "rescue," Rojas-Bracho said that the process helped validate VaquitaCPR's ability to transport and assess the health of a captured vaquita.

The animal is sometimes referred to as the "panda of the sea" or by its Spanish name, vaquita marina, which translates to "little sea cow."

Pacchiano said this experience made him hopeful. "I am confident we can indeed save the vaquita marina from extinction."

The Monarch Butterflies in Mexico

From November to March each year, you can be witness to one of the most spectacular natural phenomena in the forested mountains west of Mexico City: Monarch butterflies over-wintering in Mexico.

The very special Methuselah generations of butterflies migrate each year, leaving the colder northern climes of the U.S. and Canada to take winter refuge and breed in Mexico.

These migrating Monarch butterflies travel in colonies of about 20 million insects and will travel between 80-120 nautical miles per day, depending on the wind and other weather conditions. The butterflies take advantage of ascending warm-air currents, gliding in the thrust they provide, needing only to flap their wings when the air current diminishes a little or when they change their flight path. This technique uses their energy efficiently, and physically enables them to undertake the long journey.

The butterflies usually start arriving in early November, and between mid-late November and the end March, it's possible to visit one of the sanctuaries open to visitors and witness these remarkable insects in their natural habitat.

The Monarch Butterflies settle in the Oyamel fir tree forests which are situated west of Mexico City; along the eastern perimeter of the Mexican state of Michoacán, also bordering the State of Mexico. Once here, the butterflies cluster on the tree trunks and remain in the region for the winter.

As the sun heats the day, some of the butterflies will flutter in the forests and return to the tree trunks when the air cools in the evening.

The height of viewing season is between mid-January and the end of March. Before the mid-January, the air temperature on the mountain is colder and the butterflies don't flutter as much.

The Mexican government has set up a number of protected sanctuaries within a biosphere reserve to ensure that the important habitats required by the Monarch Butterflies are protected and preserved, while still allowing visitors to witness these remarkable insects amidst some of Mexico's most breath-taking landscapes.

Chocolate has been called the "drink of the Gods", and the Mexican History books will narrate how it was given to the soldiers to give strength, and how it was a drink reserved for the priests and the wealthy. Even Hernán Cortés wrote to King Carlos I of Spain telling him that he had found a "drink that builds up resistance and fights fatigue."  

Today, it still gives resistance and strength to the people that work the land of the cocoa plantations in the Southern part of México. The men and women go to work very early in the morning, carrying with them a full canteen of "pozol."  A drink made of water, corn dough, and ground cocoa beans. Pozol helps to sustain them in their hard work until the midday hour when the high temperatures will reach 90 degrees in the jungle-like area of southeast México.

Pozol is a drink is for the summer.  Since winter is on the way, it calls for a hot drink to nourish and keep our body warm. Champurrado, similar to pozol, is a hot thick drink also made of corn dough and chocolate.  There are several variations of Champurrado.  Some add water, milk, or both. Some even add star anise for extra flavor.

Here is one favorite recipe for you to try and enjoy in these cold days.

Since this is a slightly thick drink it is hotter that you may think, be careful while serving and drinking.

NOTES:

* The Champurrado's consistency is like that of a light gravy. If you want a lighter version, reduce the amount of corn flour to 1/3 cup.

* If fresh corn masa is available in your area use 1 cup of masa instead of the corn flour.

* Piloncillo or Panela is unrefined whole cane sugar.  

When buying Piloncillo or Panela, make sure it is pure. Some stores carry a look alike version that is just regular sugar in the form of a cone and doesn't have the flavor or nutrients of Piloncillo.

* To easily cut the piloncillo, warm the piloncillo first.  This will soften the piloncillo.

Thanks to modern technology, there's no longer any need to learn how to put accents on Spanish words. Instead of bothering with complicated, picky rules, just announce firstly and loudly that the keyboard on your smart phone "doesn't do accents": contemporaries will take this as a perfectly acceptable euphemism for "you don't do accents," - and will say no more about it.

There could, of course, be the old fogeys and purists who may mutter something about the state of education these days, and with these in mind, here are some simple rules for the use of accents in Spanish.

Most Spanish accents are to indicate which syllable should be stressed in pronouncing a word. When the pronunciation deviates from the natural spoken stress, the syllable to be stressed is accented.

There are only two rules for natural stress:

If a word ends in a vowel, n, or s, the natural spoken stress goes on the second from last syllable: camino (path or road), libros (books), entienden (they understand)

If a word ends in a consonant other than n or s, the spoken stress falls on the last syllable: español (Spanish), cerrar (to close), ciudad (city).

Words that don't follow these two rules have a written accent on the stressed syllable: habló (he/she spoke), rápido (fast), cajón (drawer), inglés (English); and in the case of words ending in a consonant other than n or s: lápiz (pencil), árbol (tree).

As a consequence of these two rules, any words stressed on the third from last syllable or an even earlier syllable have a written accent: cámara (camera), teléfono (telephone), rápidamente (quickly).

There are also some other reasons for using accents. One is to differentiate when the same word has several meanings. The most common are el (the, masc.) and él (he/him); mas (but) and más (more); tu (your) and tú (you), solo (alone) and sólo (only).

Words such as qué (what), cuándo (when), cómo (how), dónde (where), quién (who), cuánto (how much) take an accent when used to form a question or an exclamation: ¿cuánto cuesta? (how much does it cost?), ¿dónde vives? (where do you live?), ¡qué diversión! (what fun!). But, háblame cuando llegas (call me when your arrive) and ella no es como tú (she's not like you), don't take accents on those words.

Another use of accents is used to split up weak vowels (i, u) from strong vowels (a, e, o) to make a separate syllable. When two strong vowels follow one another, each vowel is a separate syllable. Caoba (mahogany) pronounced "cah-oh'-bah." When a weak vowel is next to a strong vowel, they form a single syllable, with the strong vowel pronounced: 

bai-lar (dance), cau-ti-vo (captive). To separate a weak vowel into its own syllable, it takes an accent: día (day) is pronounced "dee'-ah", or púa (barb) "poo'ah"