Couple of Months Traveling Through Baja

[Every Miles A Memory]

Friday

We both were a bit sore this morning from our extra long kayak paddle yesterday, so we decided to take the morning off from being in the boats, and headed into town to find a Cafe where we could upload some things to the website.

Wow does not having a readily available internet connection really put a damper on a travel blog! It's times like this when those big Data Storm Satellites look like a great option. A guy camped on the beach beside us has one and he cant say enough about them.

I was tempted to turn my phone on or try and plug in the Broadband card just to see if it worked, but something tells me that $1 per minute would add up real quick when I'd be saying "Oh come on Cindy, let me just check a few emails!" Next thing you'd know, we'd be socked with a bill that could buy us a new camper.

So we headed into Mulegé and found this little Cafe. It had a sign saying it was a coffee shop also, but Cindy laughed when all she found was a little rusty coffee pot on a hot plate with some packets of creamer and sugar and coffee so thick you could stand a spoon up in it.

Something tells me she was thinking - Warm croissants, maybe a few different flavors of coffee to choose from and some hot Mexican waiter.

In reality she had a hot plate and some old dude saying "You pay by the hour, pick a table." So we sat for the next few hours downloading emails, uploading blogs and trying to contact a few family members.

When we were done, we were both starving. We found the restaurant a few of the locals had told us about and grabbed a table. This is where Cindy found her hot little Spanish speaking waiter, but instead of coffee flavors, the menu was a gold mine for Margaritas.

For $28 I had two beers, Cindy had two huge margaritas that were really good, and we both had dinner platters that stuffed us like a couple of Thanksgiving turkeys. We walked out with to-go boxes that would probably feed us for a few more meals and big smiles on our faces

Our young waiter kept telling me how much he liked our truck with both thumbs up and a big smile on his face. He would sit staring out the window at it the entire time we were in the restaurant and went and got the cook once our meal was done and they sat pointing things out to one another the entire time. Remember, it's basically a stock Ford F-250?? Our big American trucks really stand out down here and most of the young men look at them like they are an exotic car when you drive by. The funny thing is I love their little cars they have down here and tend to be rubbernecking them just as much when they drive past. I cant imagine how crazy they'd goif I had something realy cool like a Sportsmobile or a Earthroamer

When we pulled back into our beachside bungalow campsite, Chuck and Sandy had the Santana jamming on the radio and we all sat under the palapa in our hammocks wasting away the afternoon. I can never get sick of this view and the warm salty breezes.

Our nightly movie was one Chuck and Sandy had told us we needed to watch called 'Lost in America'. It's a classic of a couple that sells everything and buys an RV to find themselves. Only the woman spends all their money in the first night when they stop in Las Vegas.

It was a cute little movie and being as it was filmed in the 80's, we were laughing our butts off at the outfits. Those sweater vests the women wore and all the goofy hairdo's brought back some memories long forgotten (What were we thinking?). If you've never seen it, it's pretty funny and was perfect to waste away a Mexican evening in the camper.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Saturday

After yesterdays hiatus from paddling, we were both up before the sun today and in the kayaks. Cindy is getting stronger and stronger everyday and it's getting harder for me to keep up with her.

It seems every time I stop to try and take a few pictures, she never stops paddling. When I put the camera back down in the cockpit, I have to paddle like hell to catch back up to her.

I'm thinking by this point that we've paddled ever square inch of this bay. I know each island and the rocky shoreline, but the bountiful fish and massive population of sea birds always seem to amaze me.

I know I say this with every new post, but I've never seen this many stingrays in my life. Each day we go out paddling I think I see more with different spots and markings on them. What kills me is normally when we see things and don't know that much about them, we both go back and look up as much info on them as we can find on the internet.

With us not having a signal, all we can do is look and ask each other the same questions. "Why are some black with gray spots and other brown with beige spots?" "What eats these stingrays and what do they eat themselves?" "What is the difference between stingrays and manta rays?" You get the picture? I also hope you realize how insane I was going for the fact that I didnt have an Underwater Housing for either of our camera bodies. We had ordered a Aquapac waterproof bag for the Canon 30D right before we left, but the company contacted us saying it was on backorder and it wouldnt be delivered till we got back in the states

While we were paddling Cindy yelled out "Look straight ahead of us, is that a Dolphin!" I had the camera up and at my eye in a matter of seconds waiting for it to resurface.

When it did, we both realized that it wasn't a dolphin, but some sort of seal. It was about 100 yards away from us and moving further away. We were paddling like mad, but that was about the closest we ever got to it.

We watched it resurface a few times more, but each time it would be further and further away from us. By this point we were out in open water and the afternoon winds had started to turn the calm water into a rolling boil. We decided to turn and head for home.

The next 45 minutes of paddling was a shoulder buster of a paddle. With the winds blowing strong at our right side, we had the rudders turned pretty much all the way to right just to keep us heading in a straight line, and that wasn't all that straight.

By the time we got to the protection of the closest island to our camp, my shoulders were on fire. My chest and face was covered with a salt spray from the waves and I knew Cindy had to be tired. My boat is much faster than hers and alot easier to paddle because of its design and narrowness. I offered it to her, but she said she'd rather have the workout in hers and paddled on. You Go Girl!!

The last 1/4 mile was just a cool down because once we got close to camp, one of the mountains were blocking the wind and had diverted it to our backs. We now could almost just use our rudders to guide us along the calm tropical waters with a nice tail wind pushing us along.

A nice cold shower followed by an afternoon Siesta and the day was looking nice. We knew a good nap was in order because tonight was Saturday night at Ana's Cantina which is their busiest night and our last night here on Playa Santispac before we shove off to head further south.

Around 5pm, the cars were starting to line up in front of the cantina so we headed over to get a good seat at the bar. Chuck and Sandy said they were even going to join us this evening. And up to this point, they've basically stayed back at their coach siping on cocktails by themselves.

We bellied up and ordered two of Zulema's fantastic margaritas. She makes them right in front of you with freshly squeezed limes and a large helping of tequila.

Of course you taste none of the strong tequila, but the salty feel good juice sure does catch up to you quickly.

We were talking with Joe and Sally, a couple from Napa Valley who owns a house in Mulegé who we've made friends with during our past few visits to the small Cantina, when Chuck and Sandy came in. We all toasted to a good time here on the playa and the night began.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the music got louder and the bar kept filling up. The dance floor was getting packed and next thing I know Cindy who had excused herself so she could use the ladies room hadn't returned.

Zulema walked into the bar section and yelled to me "Cindy foot no hurt no more!" I asked what she meant which she replied "She out on the dance floor dancing like a crazy woman." Either the ankle had suddenly healed itself, or the tequila had made her forget about the swelling and the bruising.

Something tells me it was the tequila, because she danced so many dances, when she came back to the bar, she was out of breath and ordering another margarita.

By last call, Sally who had been doing shots of tequila with Zulema was now dancing behind the bar with her and Russ the owner.

Sandy was trying to get on the bar and Cindy was still on the dance floor. If you've ever heard that country song Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off, well that was playing in my head as I watched these somewhat laid back women all having the time of their lives.

Once the music ended the girls finally calmed down, we said our goodbyes to Zulema and the local gang and stumbled home to the camper. I'm already gonna miss this place and the fun little cantina here on the Playa.

I thought I'd mention just so any readers don't think we're major alcoholics, that throughout the night, we each only had 3 margarita a piece. They're just that strong.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Sunday

After last nights antics, none of us were bright and chipper this morning. The winds had picked up during the night and kayaking was out of the question. This was the first time I had seen big waves with white caps all across the normally calm bay.

Between the dust and the constant salt spray, it's hard to keep anything clean down here in Mexico. While I was packing things up, I noticed that where Cindy had stopped to take a break on our way home from the Cantina last night, she left a nice imprint on the truck.....LOL

Being as today was Palm Sunday and a holiday for Catholic's (The major religion here in Mexico), the Playa was filling up fast. From what we've been told, this next week is Spring Break for Mexico and the local beaches get a bit crazy. I guess all the local Mexicans come down to the beaches with tents and have big family parties much like American's do for 4th of July and our big Holiday weekends like Labor Day and Memorial Day.

You could tell in the last few days things were changing because most of the American and Canadian tourists with their big RV's who were camping on the beaches had packed up and headed to RV Parks.

Not that camping with the locals is a bad thing, it's just that most RVers or explorers like to camp in seclusion and go out of our way to find camping spots where it's just us and maybe a few others in our group. From what we were told, the Mexicans pack every square inch of beach and it gets a bit crazy.

You knew it was going to be different when the Police set up a tent on the beach on Friday afternoon so they could bring out Military Police to walk the beach and keep things in order. This was the first time we had seen anything other than a random police car cruise by. Now we had groups of Military with their assulat rifles slung over their shoulders patrolling the once quiet beach campsite.

Already this morning you could tell a difference. The once calm beach was filling up fast, and the quiet gentle breezes were interrupted by loud two-stroke motorcycles racing up and down the beach. Kids were everywhere running around screaming and playing and just being kids. Not that there is anything wrong with any of this, its just not what I like to camp in.

So we packed up camp and headed South towards Loreto. Packing up camp was a bit slow due to our hangovers and Sandy was down for the count. The two margaritas had gotten the best of her and she never even got out of bed today.

The drive south was beautiful. For 30 of the 90 miles you travel along a curvy road that hugs the Bahía Concepción with towering cliffs on one side and bright tropical waters on the other. There are dozens of secluded little campsites along the bay and all of them made me want to stop.

Once the road turns West into the desert, the landscape makes a drastic change. You drive through barren desert with forests of Saguaro Cactus surrounded by tall mountains in every direction.

It was a nice drive at only a few hours on the road and the road wasn't that bad. This section actually looks like it had a shoulder when they built it. Granted it's only wide enough to put a tire on the other side of the white line, but better than the other sections where if your tire left the road, you'd be in the ditch.

Pulling into Loreto, we were taken from a beautiful beach setting and plucked into a big city. A big dusty city!

We found the Rivera Del Mar RV Park and set up camp. This is a very nice RV Park with full hook-ups, laundry, hot showers, a restaurant and a bar.

The restaurant patio has a beautiful garden surrounding it with dozens of blooming flowers which was a nice change from the desert contrast we had been used to. We needed a few days to be able to restock our supplies and empty the holding tanks anyway. While camping on the Playa, we were basically drycamping or Boondocking the entire time. Not that it mattered for us with our Solar Panels, but after a week of camping, our holding tanks were nearing full.

After that short drive, Cindy went to run some water and found that what little bit was left in the tanks had stirred up something and our fresh water was coming out cloudy! Great, now we're in Mexico and our drinking water is contaminated.

I emptied the fresh tank, refilled it with some filtered water and added a few caps of bleach. We bought some Thetford Fresh Tank Cleanser for when we get back to the states, but I'm wondering if we might not use it here instead.

Chuck, Cindy and I went into downtown Loreto to see about finding a place where we could buy fresh filtered water, but being as it was Sunday afternoon, every thing was closed.

So we just stopped at a market and Cindy bought a gallon of water to get us through the night. Sandy was still in bed nursing her hangover and we hadn't seen her all day. Something tells me that two of Zulema's margaritas were too many for her.

I decided to catch up on our laundry while Cindy is trying to finish a book that she's reading. It's one that I already read and I keep bugging her to finish it so we can talk about it.

When I was done with the laundry, we watched Freedom Writers which is an amazing movie. What a powerful message and shows you a different side of America that most of probably have never or will ever see. The gang life in California is just amazing with a war going on in our own country that most of us just choose to ignore. It's a great movie with a great message.

When we were finished with that one we both decided we werent tired so we watched Into The Blue. This was way better than I thought it was going to be and the Cinema-photography was outstanding.

It's got something for both sexes with hot, buff guys and plenty of beautiful sexy women. It's about scuba diving and treasure hunting, so they're all in bikinis the whole time which was very nice. Jessica Alba who stars in the movie, has one of the best rear-ends in the world and they do a great job of focusing the camera on it without making the movie seem smutty.

By 3am we were done with the movies but still not tired. I'm not sure what the deal is but for some reason we both sat up for about another hour just talking and goofing around with each other talking about our past week on the Playa.

Sunday night in the town of Loretto must be cruise night as there were cars with no mufflers and loud bass thumping all around us. Another thing they do here is drive around with loudspeakers on the roof of their cars advertising local restaurants or nightclubs. It makes it sound like were in a detention camp with this Orwellian voice sending thoughts into your head at all times of the night.

Sort of 1984ish with Big Brother and the 'Thought Police' sending subliminal messages into your mind. Only the voices were in Spanish so we had no idea what they were saying? I can make out ever 10th word and it was usually only "Loreto".

How did we go from a tropical paradise with the only sounds being the air blowing over the beach, to this detention camp in only a few hours drive?

Luckily 'our house has black little round things on it and we can move it when ever we want' as our good friend Darrell would say. So we'll explore this area for a few days before we take off to more of paradise setting like we've been in for the last week.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the RV Park, it's beautiful and well secured, I'm more or less joking about the traffic noise and the hustle and bustle of the city that were not used to.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Monday - St. Patricks Day

Waking up to roosters crowing and dogs barking, one would normally think of a farm setting. Not when you're in Mexico. This is the norm for most third world countries and something we've experienced a few times before, so we were used to it.

Cindy and I were going to ride our bikes down town and see some sights, and Chuck said he'd come along as he wanted to see where the Tortilla Factory and the Water Purification place was.

I found out I had a flat tire on my bike, which really pissed me off because when we were back in Arizona and kept getting flats from all the thorns, I went out and spent $20 per tire on tubes that were filled with Slime.

I pumped up the tire, but it was leaking air pretty fast. We had seen a sporting goods store and I figured I could ride up there fast enough that I wouldn't loose all my air before we got there.

Problem was once we got there, they didn't have a tube that would fit my rim. Most bikes have Schrader Valves, but mine has the skinnier Presta Valves. So I filled the tube back up with air and just rode around town with most of my weight on the back tire.

Downtown Loreto is very busy, but very beautiful. The Mission is one of the oldest in the Baja, and at one point this city was the Capitol of California. The town of Loreto is actually considered the oldest continuously occupied town on the Baja having been founded all the way back in 1697! You can view a full Gallery of Misión Nuestra Señora de Loreto by clicking on that link.

There is a very cool shopping area that has ficus trees lined on each side of the road which are trimmed to create a tunnel affect. After riding around for a while, we rode back to the campground because my tire was flat again. I figured I'd just drill out my rim so the stem of the larger Schrader Valve would fit through the rim.

That's my own dumb fault for not carrying a few back-up tubes as spares. I normally do, but had used both of them when we kept getting the flats in Arizona. Oh Well, once the rim is drilled out, I'll be able to find a tube anywhere. It just seems sort of silly to buy expensive rims and take a cheap drillbit to them because I came unprepaired

When we got back to Rivera Del Mar RV Park, Cindy and I decided to sample the menu at the quaint little cafe. For $4.50 per plate we each had 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, 2 sausages, 2 pancakes, hash browns and toast! At that price, it's cheaper for us to eat out then it is to go to the market and make it yourself.

One thing that I've really liked about Mexico is the good service. It might not be as fast as in the states, but they have always been very nice, very courteous and we've yet to find a rude server.

We visited the Virgin Islands for a few weeks and I hated even going out because of the awful service and the rude locals. After sitting and waiting for 10 minutes to even have the waiter come over to acknowledge that we were sitting at the bar, he told me "You need to chill out Mon, you're on Island Time!" I snapped back that "Until I have a drink in my hand, I'm just sitting here steaming mad."

One thing that is hard for Cindy and I to deal with is bad service. Coming from the Hospitality Industry, where you make your life and income on the quality of the service, it's hard to deal with knuckle heads who think giving shoddy service is OK.

After lunch/breakfast, I went to the sitting area to see if I could get online, but instead sat talking with a very nice woman who was doing her laundry.

Jeanne and her husband Chris have been down here for a few months and were leaving tomorrow to head back up to Yellowstone National Park where they both work for the summer.

It was really cool to sit and talk with someone who is doing the same thing we are and understood all my goofy stories. Usually when ever you talk with someone who only RV's a few weekends a year, you have to explain a bunch of stuff and why you do things certain ways.

When you talk with another fulltimer, many of those things that seem weird to others are now the norm. It was like going to the Overland EXPO in Arizona where everyone I ran into was living the adventure lifestyle or planning for their next trip. You instantly felt at home and it made the conversations more genuine.

After a few hours of great conversation, Jeanne asked if Cindy and I would like to go out and celebrate St. Patty's day with her and her husband. Now she's asking an ex-bar owner who's name is Patrick Scott if he wants to go drinking on an Irish Holiday. I'll bet you know what my answer was already.

During the mid-afternoon time of day, some clouds started blowing in and the temperature dropped pretty fast. I had asked Chuck and a few locals how often it rains here, which they replied "Almost never." Some told me there were years where it might go for a full year with no rain.

But low and behold, we experienced an afternoon rain shower in Southern Baja. To think that a few days ago we were complaining of the 90° heat, and here we are today with cool 60° temperatures and rain showers. How cool is that to see rain in a place that almost never experiences it?

By early evening the rain showers were passed and we were walking the few blocks to downtown so we could try and find a St. Patty's Day celebration. Chris and Jeanne knew of an Italian restaurant that was doing an Irish Dinner with Corned Beef and Cabbage, Potato Soup and even imported Guinness beer to celebrate with! The only problem was they only had 50 seats and the place was booked solid.

So we found another restaurant called La Palapa where they cooked your food over a mesquite grill while you watched and the service was outstanding. The rest of the night was spent with the four of us sharing great stories of various travels and comparing numerous places that we all have visited and what we each thought of them.

Chris and Jeanne were very much like us; laid back, easy going and just looking for a good time where ever they might find it. From their stories, I think they could blend in just about anywhere they might park their fifth wheel and would be able to have a great time.

Hopefully we didn't ask too many questions about Yellowstone because I know how sometimes when people ask you about your work too much it can get boring. But to meet two people who have lived and worked in Yellowstone for a few years now, I had to ask as many questions as possible while I had the chance.

When the restaurant closed their doors and turned off the open sign, we realized that maybe it was time to walk back home to the campground. This is again where everything everyone had warned us about in Mexico just makes me laugh. Here we are, two men, and two very good looking women walking down a neighborhood block very late in the evening with not a single worry about having any problems.

There hasn't been one time since we have been in Mexico where either Cindy or I have even felt remotely scared or uncomfortable. We had talked about this with Jeanne and Chris who both laughed saying "Oh yeah, we hear it from all our friends, before we come down here too" Jeanne went on to say "I think the only two actual crimes that really made the news were so glamorized and over-reported, that you would think it's happening every day and these are almost always ONLY in Border Towns."

When we got back to the campground, Chris invited us in to show us their fifth wheel, which only made Cindy and I walk home saying "Can you imagine having all that room?!" I don't think we could fill all the cupboards they had and that huge slide made me have a bit of Cindy's slide envy.

How cool it was to meet two great people in Baja that we have so much in common with. When we head up to Yellowstone late this spring, I cant wait to meet back up with them.

Side Note: This chance encounter led to us meeting back up with them in Yellowstone National Park when we visited later this same year. We ended up spending a few nights in the Employee Campground as Chris & Jeanne's guests and ended up applying for jobs for the following year.

The following year we came back and worked in Yellowstone for over 5 months all because of this night out in Baja with our new friends.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Tuesday

Chris and Jeanne pulled out first thing this morning. We all said "Goodbye" and planned on meeting up some time this summer in Yellowstone.

After breakfast, Cindy and I grabbed the cameras and walked into town so we could explore this historic city that was once the Capitol of California. The streets are still cobblestone and many of the buildings still look original, some well maintained and some not so well.

There is a beautiful hotel in the main town square, the Hotel Posada De Las Flores that we wanted to check out. The architecture looks like something out of an old Spanish love story and I can just see Antonio Banderas as Zorro or something romantic like that.

The main entrance has hand carved wooden doors that have to be 8 inches thick. The lobby is just breathtaking and when you look up at the ceiling, your jaw drops when you realize you're standing under the roof top swimming pool.

We asked a very nice front desk clerk if she could show us some rooms and she told us "The only thing we have available is a junior suite since we are almost sold out for the holiday weekend."

She gave us the grand tour showing us the Spa, the roof top restaurant (that only hotel guests can use), a beautiful room and then the fabulous roof top pool. The room was $220 a night, and I know we've stayed in plenty of hotels that cost this much and never offered this type of atmosphere.

If you're ever visiting Baja and aren't doing it by RV or EXPO Vehicle, this is a Must Visit hotel while in Loreto.

After the tour of the hotel, we continued to wander around the busy downtown area of Loreto. The streets are lined with ficus trees that are trimmed to create a tunnel down the main shopping district. There are plenty of restaurants in town, and you will be able to find a shop to get anything you are looking for.

Where San Ignacio and Mulegé were very small villages with only a few amenities, Loreto is a full service town that has everything to offer. But remember that this means it also has the noise and traffic to go along with a full service town/city.

Where Cindy and I sat in a roadside Cafe in San Ignacio and never saw another car pass while we ate breakfast, you have to watch where you walk in Loreto because of all the non-stop traffic.

We visited the Mission in San Ignacio and were the only two people in there the entire time we wandered around. Here in Loreto there was a constant stream of visitors coming in and out of this beautiful Mission.

After a few hours of walking on cobblestone streets, Cindy's ankle was resembling the elephant man's face, so we limped on home so she could raise it up and throw some ice on it.

The rest of the afternoon was spent listening to the heavy winds blow through the palm trees that surrounded our campground. I guess it's not so bad afterall. At least the winds were drowning out the road noise.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Wednesday

We wanted to check out the various beaches that are all around us and see if we could find any that we might be able to move to. So we loaded up some lunches and Chuck and Sandy rode with us on our quest.

We checked out a few different locations that were in the Baja Bible, but none matched the beauty and solitude that we were used to from staying at Playa Santispac. Puerto Escondido looked like it used to be a full service village that had a Yacht Club and a full port, but the last hurricane left it with crumbling buildings and empty deteriorating streets.

We spoke to a local sailor who was repairing his catamaran, which had a huge section of the hull missing after being sunk in that same storm; who told us it's free to camp here, no one bothers you and on Sundays all the locals get together in the new Yacht Club for a Potlatch feast.

While we were wandering around the ruins, we walked up to what used to be the old Puerto Escondido Yacht Club Clubhouse. The roof was half way blown off and a few of the walls along with all the windows were blown out. Cindy laughed when one of the doors had a piece of paper on it that read "Book Exchange".

We looked through the door to see shelf after shelf lined with books. This was strange since everything else was in such disarray, yet this looked like a working library.

We walked in to find everything was indeed alphabetically organized by title and looked like someone was still maintaining the book exchange. To our disbelief, we all found a few books that peaked our interest and said we would be back to donate ones we have already read.

The sailor we had talked with had told us about a little fishing village that we might want to check out. We followed his directions to a nice secluded beach that a few Americans along with a few Canadians were camped at. The beach was nice and long, but lined with rocks instead of nice white sand. I guess we're getting a bit spoiled.

Besides, there would be no way Chuck could even think of getting his monstrous Class-A back into this beach. The narrow trail we took had me scraping along a few of the turns and we had to gas it hard to make it through a few of the soft, sandy sections.

So we moved on further South to Ligui Beach. This beach is at the end of a long graded dirt road and is easily accessible by almost any size RV. Our problem was once we got to the beach, I wanted to drive further down to check out a cool looking spot.

Once I ventured off the packed sand, the truck almost immediately sunk into the soft sugar sand. Of course I had Cindy by my side narrating the whole ordeal to Chuck and Sandy in the back seat. I said I just needed to air down the tires since our bed was fully loaded with all our gear, the extra 35 gallons of drinking water and the tires were at their maximum air pressure of 80psi. Much too hard for soft sand

I was letting the air out of the tires, with Chuck sitting over my shoulder laughing, while Sandy and Cindy dug out the sand around the wheels and threw some rocks and drift wood they had found lying on the beach under the sunk tires.

Once the tires were aired down, I threw the truck into 4-Low and walked right out of the sand with no problem. Once the gang was back in the truck, we unanimously agreed that we would just deal with the noise of Loreto and stay camped where we were till the holiday weekend was over.

When we got back to the campground, we had some new Canadian neighbors.

John and Mary-Ellen are a very nice couple who retired at the end of 2007 and packed up their Class-C Camper for a long Mexican journey. They've been in Baja since January and are on their way back North after driving as far South as Cabo San Lucas which is the Southern most tip of the Baja peninsula.

They have this little, old dog that is just as cute as can be, and we all sat talking till it got dark outside. Cindy then made some scrumptious Pizza with grilled chicken breast, artichokes, green peppers and red onion! Oh man was it good! This folks is why I'm very Fat and Happy

 

[targa88]

Pat,
Excellent trip details and inspiring pix.
This is one of "my" must do trips that I absolutely want to do. However, my time horizon is only 3-4 weeks (which includes travel to MX).
The whale watching looked epic. I would need to investigate how long they stay in those waters ( when they arrive and leave) - March just seems a little early in the year for me to travel.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Thursday

Everyone keeps talking about the Mission San Javier which is a few hours drive from downtown Loreto. This Mission is the only Mission on the Baja still standing that hasn't been rebuilt and still stands in its original glory.

We decided to stuff ourselves before we left with another huge breakfast at the campground Cafe. While eating breakfast, we met Mark who is a young Canadian that has lived here for the last 14 months working on a big development just South of Loreto.

Mark gave us a bunch of tips on the local driving scene and some alternate routes for driving to the Mission. We've always found that the locals are usually the best secret for up to date road conditions.

Before we left, we were talking with one of the couples who had pulled in with the Escapee's Lazy Daze Caravan that had filled up the campground yesterday. They said they were planning on heading out to the Mission tomorrow and to make sure we give them a full report when we return.

Chuck and Sandy wanted to test their Jeep on these back country roads, so we decided to drive separate. This would later be a very important thing.

The road out to the Mission has been recently upgraded with fresh asphalt on the first 7 miles. It's still very curvy and quite steep in sections, but was a perfectly smooth road. Chuck had heard that with the construction going on, we would be detoured around this new road, but Mark had said that with today being a Holiday, just drive on the new road since no one would be working.

Once the new pavement ends, the road does get a bit bumpy. Nothing that you'd need a 4x4 for, but I wouldn't recommend an RV or anything larger than a truck with a slide in trying to make the trip. We had a few locals pass us in low clearance vehicles, so I wouldn't even worry about high clearance problems.



Once you get into the thick of the mountains, the road does get plenty steep and narrow.

With beautiful views in every direction, it was one of those drives that you just want to take nice and slow and see everything you can.

It reminded me of the Apache Trail in Arizona once it passes Tortilla Flats.

We stopped a few times at the various road side Oasis's and at a little Chapel on the mountain side. At one of the Oasis there was a spring fed stream that flowed down the side of the mountain that was surrounded by big date Palms. We took the dogs for a hike and one of the funniest things happened.

There were numerous pools of water and one was covered in a layer of moss. Lucy, our little Beagle was running along and thought she could walk across the moss and went in over her head. Luca was right behind her but he was tall enough that he only went in to his belly.



I cant believe that Lucy didn't yelp out in terror as she hates water so much. Luca didn't seem to mind that much after the initial shock wore off that he was standing in cold water and not on solid ground. But boy did Cindy and I get a good laugh.

By the time we got to the Mission, the temperature seemed like it had doubled since we left the campground. Now remember that the campground is only two blocks from the Sea of Cortez and the Mission is 22 miles into the middle of the desert.

We wandered around snapping some pictures of this beautiful structure and glad we had made the journey. It's very beautiful and well worth the long bumpy drive.

Chuck and Sandy pulled in a few minutes behind us and Chuck needed to borrow some tools. I guess along the washboard road, a few screws in his hard top had worked themselves loose. I set him up with my box of spare screws and a Phillips head screwdriver, and while I had the tool box out, our friendly campground neighbors who had pulled up in a taxi cab asked us if they could borrow some tools also.



I guess after that bumpy ride, their taxi driver couldn't get his van started either. So with the front of the Mission looking like a repair lot, Cindy and I continued to walk around snapping some pictures while Chuck tightened up his windshield and a few taxi drivers worked on their vans.

To think that I was being made fun of back at the campground when I got out my big tool box to work on my bike. I dont think Chuck or anyone else is making fun of lugging that tool box around now.

This historic mission is very nice with amazing rock work and glass windows said to be the first in a building structure in California. The interior architecture was decorated with three baroque carved and gilded wooden altar-pieces which were carved over 250 years ago in Main Land Mexico, shipped over from Tepozotlán on boats and carried by mules into the mountains.

By the time we were finished with our tour of the religious grounds, the Lazy Daze group had decided that their taxi wasn't going to start back up. We had 3 of the ladies jump in with Cindy and I and another couple crawled into the back of Chuck's very small CJ-5.

This is where I said the decision on taking two vehicles came in handy. The only problem was Cindy had wanted to bring the dogs with us. I have never understood why women always want to bring the dogs where ever they go? Do the dogs get to go in and explore the mission?

I'm thinking if you asked two lazy dogs if they wanted to sit at home on their big fluffy pillows with a fan blowing on them, or ride in the back seat of a bumpy truck, they'd choose to stay home.

But of course Cindy gets what Cindy wants, so the dogs came with us. Well when we put 3 women in the back seat of the truck, that means the dogs get to sit on Cindy's lap.

Luca, the big Pit Bull did not like this at all. He's the type of dog that wants to be sprawled out and likes his space. So he had 90% of the seat, and Cindy and Lucy shared the other 10%.

The red circle is Chucks Jeep heading down the road. I've heard since being here that there is a dirt road leading in the back way to the Mission that is pretty secluded and hopefully on our next visit o Baja, we'll make that a few day excursion

Cindy will always say to me while were driving, "Can the dogs come up here with us?" I usually just look at her with some dumb look on my face saying "Are you out of your mind!?"

After this ride, I don't think she'll ever ask that stupid question again. None of them were comfortable and maybe things happen for a reason. It took us helping 3 stranded women for her to realize that we don't have lap dogs, no matter how bad they want you to think they can act like one.

The ride home was great and we all had a couple of good laughs sharing different travel stories. These women had been on the road in Mexico for longer than us, so they gave us plenty of places to stop at if we decide to head further South.

The more we think about it, the more Cindy and I keep saying "If were this far South, why not go the rest of the way?"

When we pulled back into the campground, everyone brought chairs into a nice shaded section between the RV's and we all sat around till the sun went down. This group of Escapee's Caravaner's was a whole lotta fun and were filled with hilarious stories.

We've put together a GGallery for Mission San Francisco Javier if you'd like to see more of our images from this day trip.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Pat,
Excellent trip details and inspiring pix.
This is one of "my" must do trips that I absolutely want to do. However, my time horizon is only 3-4 weeks (which includes travel to MX).
The whale watching looked epic. I would need to investigate how long they stay in those waters ( when they arrive and leave) - March just seems a little early in the year for me to travel.
Thanks for sharing.

March is the ideal time. The trip report will be pretty long as we stayed all the way through April, but by the end of April, we were hearing from people that we were meeting that their Whale Watching Trips were pretty uneventful.

3-4 weeks would be a good amount of time if you have everything planned out in advance as to your routes. We played alot of it by ear and just went where locals would point us.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Friday

Today is one of those days of the year where my emotions run wild. Six years ago on this day my older brother was killed in a motorcycle accident. I'll never forget when my business partner and one of my best friends, Dave Munson who owned the Red Dog Saloon with us, pulled me into our office and told me the awful news.

We were crazy busy that night at the bar and I had yelled for Dave to answer the phone. I'm sort of glad that he got the initial call and not me as I don't know what I would have done right there in the middle of the bar receiving that punch in the gut phone call?

My older brother Robb and I were best friends when we were younger. He was 3 years older than me and had moved to Florida right after graduating high school. I followed him down there as soon as I graduated high school and he was actually the one who introduced me to Cindy.

Our first few years as room mates in a big city was also our first years being out of our small rural town of Milford, Michigan. What an eye opener that was.

To go from a three stop light town to West Palm Beach Florida was quite the shock to our ego's.

One day we were the Bonish Brothers who knew everyone in our town. We were known for our wild parties we would throw on the weekends and Robb was known for just about everything else.

From fast muscle cars, crazy dirt bikes to even faster street bikes. Then the next day we were just two schlubs trying to make it in a town where you had to be really rich or really good looking to get noticed. Something we lacked heavily in both departments.

It didn't take long for us to work our way into the party circuit that South Florida is known for. I could talk for days of parties that most would think would be impossible to be true, that is unless you were some of the lucky people who attended them with us.

Then after a few years of living the lifestyle most young guys only dream of, I took a step back and thought "If I keep this up, I wont make it to see 30."

Robb and I used to always say "Neither of us will ever see 35 and if we make it to see 40, something major had gone wrong in our lives."

Well when I tried to bring him with me to the side of life that meant we actually kept steady jobs and had things in the refrigerator besides cases of beer and expensive vodka, he said "I'll see you on the other side little brother!"

I settled down with my wife Cindy, even though there were many times where we dove back into that lifestyle for a few of his notorious parties, some lasting for a few days, but for the most part, we went our separate ways.

The drugs had a hold of him way too tight and no matter what Cindy and I did for him, we couldn't get him to think there was any other way. He saw no use in me having to work 3 jobs to take care of my family, when he could make that kind of money in one drug deal?

There were times when we thought he was going to live a normal life and leave the partying behind. He got into bodybuilding fulltime and was winning contest after contest.

He found a great girl after many years of acting way too crazy and we thought she just might be able to settle him down after they had got engaged.

But then at 31 years of age, it all caught up to him. It's strange how things work out in life isn't it? He died six years ago today in Tijuana Mexico. That's only a few hours from where I am right now and here I am only a few months shy of that age we both swore we'd never make it to. And I don't plan on dying any time soon.

I guess there are many ways to look at life. Some look at it as a giant party and couldn't think of living it sober, and others think of it as a giant party but don't really need the drugs and alcohol to have a good time. I know I'm having the time of my life and except for a few beers during Happy Hour each night, I don't really need all those drugs to let me know that life itself is just way too fun to miss out on.

Since Robb died, my family has changed quite a bit. Cindy and I both took a step back and said "Wow, that could have been us very easily!" It really hit home how short life is and we both decided that we wanted to get the most out of everything we do.

His death was also one of the main reasons we really buckled down and started to work on getting us to where we are right now.

Death isn't really a sad thing for me. My beliefs are that when you die, you go to a much better place. So the way I look at it is - Those family members who died are in a much better place than I am right now, so I don't really sit around and feel sad over the whole thing. Do I miss them? There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of them, but I almost never get teary eyed over it.

I just remember the good times we shared, and there was plenty of those, and know maybe they're helping me with what Cindy and I are doing today.

Sorry for bringing in so much of my personal life to this usually happy blog, but I felt I needed to share some of it.

Since today is Good Friday and I was raised Catholic, Cindy and I decided to head into downtown Loreto and see the Stages of the Cross Procession they had going on for the religious holiday.

They were having a reenactment of the final day of Jesus' life, where actors are dressed up like Roman soldiers along with everyone else involved in the Crucifixion of ************************. They have Jesus carry the cross all the way through town before he is Crucified at one of the local churches.

When we got to the main square, the procession was just passing us and the streets were jammed packed with locals watching and following along on the narrow, dusty streets. Cindy and I stayed ahead of the police escorts in the front so we could get some good pictures and continued to walk along while the crowds prayed.

I realized this would be a great way for me to learn the Spanish language. Being as I was brought to this ceremony every year as a child, I knew most of what they were saying even though I couldn't understand their language.

This was very weird to be walking in a large mob of people who were all mumbling Hail Mary's and Our Father's in a foreign language and following a bunch of dressed up Roman Soldiers. Some of the soldiers were walking and others were riding horses that were sweating massive amounts of water out in this oppressive heat.

The procession went on for miles, and every few blocks the actor playing Jesus would drop to the ground with the large wooden cross landing right on his back while the many other actors participating in the reenactment would say various prayers over him.

The temperatures were probably in the high 80's and with the crowds pushing together tightly, I could feel my shirt getting soaking wet with sweat. I could only imagine how hot it must have been for the actors in full uniform or for Jesus dragging the heavy wooden cross down the street.

It was a very emotional ceremony with women crying all around us. One of the women in our group had to leave and go back to the campground as she said "This is just too emotional for me to handle, and I'm not even religious."

When we finally got to the church where they had the 3 crosses set up on a hill for the Crucifixion, there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd. It was so weird to know exactly what was going on even though all the words didn't make any sense. It was almost like a dream for me. A very weird dream with women crying all around me and people speaking in tongues.

When the play finally ended, we walked back across town to the campground where I spent the afternoon laying in front of a fan thinking too much. I tried to take a nap, but this is one of the reasons why I have so much trouble sleeping. Every time I try and go to sleep, I just lie there and think about stuff.

With today being the day it was, my mind was just racing with random memories I hadn't thought about in a long time.

Needless to say, I never did get my afternoon Siesta.

Once the sun set and the afternoon temperatures died down, everyone in the campground gathered behind our camper and had a Potlatch dinner. It was nice to just sit and mingle with a bunch of new faces and hear so many new stories.

I only wish I could have called my mother to let her know I went to a Catholic ceremony today. It's like getting a Get Out of Jail Free Card for me....She'd be so proud.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Saturday

Today was a day to catch up on all our chores. I sat down at the laundromat washing all of our laundry including the sheets, which were disgusting! Cindy spent most of the day cleaning the inside of the camper and organizing the cupboards now that the fridge and most of the dry food storage is empty.

Camping on a beach can do numbers to the inside of the camper. Even with trying to hose ourselves off each night before we crawled into bed, I was starting to feel like like I was sleeping on sandpaper.

By the time I was finished with my 3 loads of laundry, and had updated the website on a dial-up speed of a connection, Cindy was finished with the inside.

I love our camper when it's all clean and everything is where it belongs. The only problem is its so small, it only takes about 20 minutes for both of us to be doing things inside for it to look like a Tasmanian Devil has just strolled through the place.

While we were talking with the fellow campers last night at our campground potlatch, we got to talking about wanting to head further South just to be able to see everything Baja has to offer. One of the couples from the Lazy Daze group, Noel and Jackie, asked if we'd like to go with them as they were headed towards Ciudad Constitión on Sunday and then onto La Paz on Monday.

We said we'd think it over and let them know later tonight. They asked if we wanted to go out to dinner with their group and we'd see if the game plan would work out for the four of us.

Once the heat of the day settled down (it was a hot one today), Cindy and I walked into town to meet the group for dinner. While we were walking through the neighborhood streets, I looked into a yard and said "Oh look, that guy is carrying a little goat."

Cindy was saying "Oh that's so cute" when we noticed his friend standing under a tree with some rope. When we saw the guy string up the goat by the back legs and pull out a big knife, I thought Cindy was going to crap her pants.

She started running on her gimpy ankle as fast as she could as we heard the goat give out one last scream before it was prepared for Easter dinner tomorrow.

That's just what you have to put up with when you're in a 3rd world country.

We met up with Noel and Jackie in front of the restaurant everyone had planned to meet at, but they were closed for the holiday. So we waited around for the others to show up, but after about 15 minutes, we decided to head down the road to La Palapa Restaurant hoping we'd see the others along the way.

The four of us had a great meal and even better conversation. They are a very interesting couple and it was fun to sit and hear about their travels as they've been in Baja for a few months already. If you'd like to see what they're like, Noel posts his thoughts about each day on a short blog here.

By the end of the night, Cindy and I had decided that we'd pack up camp tomorrow morning and head South with them. We figure since we're this far down already, it would be stupid to not make the full loop incase we never get the chance to get back down here. You never know what the future holds, so if you have an opportunity to take advantage of the situation, we might as well jump on it.

Walking home, we knew that the weather was heating up because you could feel a warm breeze blowing in. The last few days have been getting warmer and warmer and tonight at 10:30pm, it was still in the high 70's outside.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Easter Sunday

We were up early this morning and headed to the Sunday morning Farmers Market on the outskirts of Loreto. Everyone had been talking about how much of a good deal you can get by shopping at this weekly market, so we wanted to see if we could find some fresh produce.

One thing that has surprised me is how little the shopping markets offer in the way of produce. There are a few of the staples, but even those don't look all that good. What you do find is so overpriced, we've held out on buying anything.

When we pulled up, the first thing we saw was two goats hanging from one of the vendors racks and I said to Cindy "Hey look, there is our goat we saw yesterday!" Cindy just gave me one of those looks and said "Stop, You're not Funny!"

It's wild how they handle their meats and fish here. There is no such thing as refrigeration at many of the markets and there will be piles of meat just lying on top of each other with people handling it with bare hands trying to find a good piece they want to buy. YUCK!

Same with the fish. They have tables set up with piles of raw fish lying on top and when you ask for a certain piece, they pick it up bare handed and put it in a plastic grocery bag for you. Double YUCK!

We found a good fruit stand and loaded up on everything we could find. Fresh spinach, bananas, big red tomatoes, juicy grapes, plums, thin green asparagus, big pink grapefruits, oranges and a few other fresh items that had me wanting to sit down and eat right there. This must be where all the restaurants come to shop because you would see someone walking back to their vehicle with dolly's filled with produce.

Once we had our few bags stuffed full which cost a total of $14 American, we headed back to the campground to get things packed up.

While Cindy was getting everything locked up on the inside, I ran into town to get some more Pesos out of the ATM. If you try and use American dollars no one will give you the proper exchange rate, so you lose money with each purchase.

After I got my Mexican money, I stopped by the water purification place to see if I could get our bulk tank we keep in the bed of the truck filled with good drinking water. Now I was a bit worried about this because our tank is a 35 gallon tank. When I brought our two smaller drinking containers into town while in Mulegé, I got 8 gallons which cost me $8 American!

I'm sure the guy saw me coming from a mile away and thought I'll just give this guy any price and he cant really argue about it. Besides I'm not one to barter when it comes to buying things. After I thought I got ripped off, which I did, I talked with a few others who said they couldn't believe the prices of the purified water in that town. So I wasn't the only one who paid a fortune for drinking water.

Well after getting my tank topped off here in Loreto, I was awe struck when he told me it was only 40 Pesos. I looked at him funny and asked "40 dollars, or 40 Pesos?" He showed me the price on the register and said again "40 Pesos!"

I couldn't believe I had just gotten 35 gallons of purified water for $4 dollars American. I was so happy, I gave the guy a $2 tip which he was a bit confused with. He looked at me with a look like "Are you crazy?" But come on, what is $2 to us Americans? This is half of what many of these people make per day! How sad is that!

For those who are counting, that means we've been in Mexico for 21 days now and have gone through one 35 gallon tank, almost all of our 40 gallon tank on the camper, but I dumped out the last bit when it turned cloudy and the 8 gallons I got ripped off for. That's just over 80 gallons in 21 days.

That's for those who are trying to figure out how much to bring with you when you come. Remember that Cindy and I drink a ton of water each day to try and stay hydrated in this heat. While on Playa Santispac, we did a great job of conserving water, but that was 10 days straight of boondocking. So it adds up quick with showering, washing dishes and making a constant supply of ice cubes for our margaritas.

When I got back, Cindy was ready to go and I hooked up the truck to the Sunline and did my stuff outside. I made sure I checked everything twice so I wouldn't loose another set of jack stands like my last idiotic mistake back in San Diego.

Noel and Jackie were ready to get on the road, so we all took a few minutes saying our goodbyes to Chuck and Sandy and everyone else in the campground while we let the A/C get the cab of the truck cooled off.

Once we got on the road, we knew it was going to be a different trip from here on out. Noel's Camper was about the same size as ours in width, so when approaching semi's that took up all of their lane and a bit of ours, we didn't need to come to a complete stop like Chuck would have to do with his huge Class-A.

It only took a few hours before we pulled into Ciudad Constitución and found our next campground for the night, Manfred's RV Park.

This park has 30 full hook-ups slots, many of them were pull-thru sites, a nice little pool with a palapa over the bar and restaurant and it even has internet access.

By this time in the afternoon, the heat of the day was up at 99° on our temperature gauge and we thought we might need to use the A/C already. This would be pretty early since it's still only March.

The RV Park only had 15amp service, but it wasn't enough to run our A/C properly. It would turn it on, but the A/C unit didn't like it that's for sure. We ran it for a few minutes just to cool the camper off so we could leave the dogs in there while we jumped in with Noel and Jackie to go to the grocery store.

Once we got the temperature down to tolerable conditions, we went into town and did some grocery shopping. Ciudad Constitución is the first town South of Ensenada that has a full service grocery store and man did we need it.

When we had talked with Chuck about what we needed to bring while we were still in the planning stages, he had told us that we would be buying fresh fish in each campground, so we didn't bring all that much meat products, well we brought as much as our freezer would hold. But the windy weather conditions have kept the local fisherman on the shore, and finding fresh fish wasn't as easy as Chuck had made it out to be. That and the produce wasn't as available as we thought it was going to be. So we were really running low.

Plus we don't really have that much room to store stuff like many do when they come down here for long periods of time. Cindy and I try to eat as much fresh food as possible, and rarely eat from a can or items that are dried for long term storage. You can probably tell that from the size of my belly.

Shopping at a Mexican grocery store in Mexico is a challenge for us. In America, everything has both languages on the packaging, but here, it's only in Spanish. So we had some fun trying to figure out what is what. Some of the packaging is the same, but many things are completely different. Luckily Noel is fairly proficient with his Spanish, so when we would get stumped, he could always translate for us. Again, the open meat is weird for us, but I think were getting used to it.

After shopping, we heard there were two-for-one margaritas in the campground bar. Cindy and I grabbed the computer and headed down to see if Caroline's margaritas compared to Zulema's.

Jackie and Noel were already relaxing in the afternoon breeze, and luckily the temperature was dropping fast with the sun getting lower in the sky. It was still warm, but nothing like it had been when we pulled in. That was just too hot.

When I asked Caroline if they had a payphone so I could be a good little boy and call my mother and father for Easter, she said since her 15amp service couldn't run my A/C, she'd let me use her phone for free since I was paying for Full Hook-ups.

I thought that was very nice of her and was a fair trade.

Talking with my mom, she told me that my nephew Austin, the one who had come to visit Cindy and I in Arizona just got invited to try out for the Junior Olympics! How great is that!!

I'm so proud of him and his amazing ability to excel at any sport he plays. To watch this kid play hockey, you'd think you were watching a pro, and to think he's only 11.

I like to joke with him that when he's playing for the NHL, I'll be his personal photographer. He just jokes with me and says "Maybe if you're lucky, I'll let you take some pictures of me then."

While in the bar talking with a few of the fellow campers, Jamie told us about the Whale Watching Tours over in Lopez Mateos. I guess Noel and Jackie had tried to go out on a whale watching tour when they were with their Caravan Group, but their boat was the only one in the group that didn't see any whales up-close.

Our campground host and bartender, Caroline, said a three hour tour was only $20 per person, so we asked if she could make reservations for us for the morning tour and we all plan on taking another shot with some Gray Whales. Like we said before, this was so fun the first time, we could do it every day and not get bored.

Cindy and I also met another nice couple from Pennsylvania who have been in the Baja for the last five months. Fred and Deb had some great stories to tell and it was great hearing their last few months condensed into a half hour with just the crazy highlights for us all to laugh at.

That's the beauty of Baja, you have a young couple like Cindy and I having the time of our lives, an older mature couple like Noel and Jackie who are a few years older (In their 60's), but having just as much fun, and all the other couples who come from various walks of life with different status symbols back in the states, but here in Baja, we're all just a bunch of gringo tourists having lots of fun.

 

[meafordmike]

Hi Pat
My reading finally caught up to your posting.
Great trip report so far.
Keri-Ann and I would love to extend our travels longer then the U.P overland trip we enjoyed with you this past summer.
Keep up the great posts
Mike Scott

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Hi Pat
My reading finally caught up to your posting.
Great trip report so far.
Keri-Ann and I would love to extend our travels longer then the U.P overland trip we enjoyed with you this past summer.
Keep up the great posts
Mike Scott

Hey Mike, I'd love to share a good Baja trip with you and Keri-Ann!! There is a Camping Trip some members are putting together in Georgia/Tennessee area this January if you want to do a short weekend?

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Monday

With an early start on our morning excursion, we piled in our truck and headed over to Lopez Mateos to see if we could get up-close and personal with some more California Gray Whales.

Driving across some barren farming fields, this area of Baja is pretty deserted and abandoned looking. Big open plains of nothing which reminded me of Central Florida or much of the desert Southwest.

We found the little fishing town of Lopez Mateos and talked with the guides at Aquendi. They explained that the boat cost $1500 Pesos, and the original $20 per person would only be if we could get a few more people in our Panga. They suggested we wait around a few minutes to see if more people would show up.

It didn't take long before 3 more people showed up which brought our cost down to $23 per person. This was much cheaper than the $50 per person we paid back in Guerrero Negro which made it all the better.

While cruising out into the Bay, we had beautiful views of wide open sand dunes protecting us from the Pacific Ocean. Some sections were lined with thick mangroves along the shoreline, where other parts the dunes fell right into the water.

I spotted a small coyote along the bank that looked like it was stalking a Great Blue Herron, but when we stopped, Cindy only had a few seconds to snap a quick picture of it before it scurried off into the brush. How crazy is that to see a coyote on an island surrounded by salt water

We did see a large, bloated Sea Lion floating in the calm water that met it's maker and was waiting to become crab food. I snapped a picture of it and Cindy asked "Why would you want a picture of that?" I said "Because no one will know it was dead, I can just say that we saw a sea lion on our trip!" She gave me some disgusted look, so I deleted it for her rather than start an unneeded argument...LOL

Once out into the Pacific, the water went from glassy calmness, to raging madness. The surf was pounding the shallower mouth of the bay, and I was worried Cindy or I might get sea sick. Normally we're not that good with real rough water.

Once we saw a few boats sitting together, we headed that way figuring they were probably watching something good. Sure enough, when we pulled closer, we could see a few spouts breaking the surface.

This is when it's worth it to do things twice. After our first Whale Watching Trip, I was a bit disappointed with my pictures and how they turned out. I was so excited seeing everything for the first time, I was just shooting wildly at anything that moved. When I got back and looked at them on the computer, I was very disappointed and even told Cindy "I want to do that again now that I know what I am looking for in a picture."

This time I knew not to take hundreds of pictures of them when their just at the surface, but wait till they either broke the surface or when they are right at the boats. It makes for better images and gives you the sense of the whales size when shown near the 20' Pangas.

For the next few hours we circled around the rough surf with any concerns of sea sickness long gone. The whales were out in force today, and we had numerous mother and calf's willing to play with the small boats filled with tourists.

It's wild how the mother will almost encourage the calf to interact with the boats. It's like they like to be petted and are just as curious about us as we are about them. I find it hard to imagine ever being able to harpoon one of these gentle creatures or do them harm. They are just so docile and interesting.

On this trip, everyone in the boat got numerous chances to pet the whales, some doing it multiple times. Cindy got over her fear and once she touched it the first time, I thought she was going to give the thing a massage she rubbed it for so long.

When the boat captain said our time was up, none of us had any arguments. We had been playing in the surf with whales for two hours and had hundreds of good pictures to show for a great day.

I'm so glad we went out a second time and I swear I'd do it a few more times if I could afford it.

Once back at the campground, we packed up quickly and loaded the dogs in the truck. It was so hot outside, they wouldn't put their feet on the hot sand which made up the campground surface. They would stand there doing a dance of trying to keep their feet off the ground till we could get them into the air conditioning of the truck.

From Ciudad Constitución, we headed further south towards La Paz. The roads were very nice and the closer we got to La Paz, which is the largest city in Baja Sur, the wider they got. There were some stretches where you would think you were on an American Highway with shoulders on the roads even.

We checked into a nice campground called Casablanca. It had a beautiful pool, a hot tub, tennis courts, full RV hook-ups with 50amp service, which is amazing for Baja, and even had a nice little coffee shop connected to the office. With big concrete walls surrounding the place and a security gate, I wasn't worried that La Paz was as large as it was.

We all relaxed for the rest of the evening and were in bed early. Every day I say to myself, "Today was so good, how can I top it tomorrow?" Yet each day I find a way to have more fun or a better experience than yesterday.