(^138) By sunset, we had barely cycled 100 kilometres, and were nowhere
close to anywhere. The tents were set up out of sight of passing
vehicles under a bright desert moon. It was dead quiet, and I kept
hearing things grunting and gnawing. Finally, I fell asleep to the
sound of jackals laughing and yapping in the distance. Early morning,
I was startled by something galloping past; I never learned what it
was.
Desert camp – Kino - 97km
We emerged to a stunning sunrise, had coffee and peanut butter
sandwiches, before resuming our quest along a completely level road.
The desert is unforgiving; now and again, one could spot animal
skeletons baked white by the sun.
Amazingly enough, if water could be found, which was the case
around Kino, almost anything could grow. The area permitted large-
scale irrigation and produced vast quantities of crops. Irrigation of the
desert plains around this part of Mexico converted the land into wheat
and cotton fields. The largest was the Costa de Hermosillo where, at
its height, 887 pump-powered wells spew water onto more than
100,000 hectares. Sadly, this greedy discharge exceeded recharge by
250 per cent! As water tables plummeted, saltwater intruded from
the Gulf of California. The Mexican government eventually stepped in
and halved the amount of water pumped. As a result, many fields
were abandoned. Others switched from relatively low-value crops like
cotton to high-value, high-risk crops like brandy grapes, citrus,
garbanzo beans, and vegetables destined for US markets.
leana
(Leana)
#1