MA to AZ and beyond

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Saturday, we were just winging it. We took it easy and walked dog down to the beach once we started moving. We discussed myriad options for the day but couldn't really decide on anything. Our only solid plans were Tuesday in Guerrero Negro, which was far off and away. We were liking Pete's Camp so far, so we were thinking of staying another night. Since the winds had calmed dramatically, we thought it would be good to move to the beach from where we were at up on the hill. But when we asked, the price had changed from $20US to $35US. So then we were thinking of driving down the street to some place cheaper.

We hadn't really made any solid decisions when a man drove up to the dumpster on a UTV. He said hello and how's it going. I was sitting in the door of the van, and I mentioned that we hadn't figured out what we wanted to do for the day. The conversation started rolling, and it came about that we were had no plans until whale watching Tuesday. "You wouldn't happen to be going to Whale Magic..?" Well, as a matter of fact, yes. Thanks @jcmadeintheshade@gmail.com for the suggestion! Well, the UTV guy's name was Wayne, and Wayne just happened to be a close personal friend of the owner of Whale Magic, Shari. And he tasked us with delivering a bottle of Fireball to Shari from him, because apparently, it's her favorite and he'd brought it down as a gift but hadn't had an opportunity to get it to her yet. Of course, that was no problem for us. Wayne even went a step further and offered us to stay at a piece of property that he owns just outside of Puertocitos for the night! He showed us where he keeps a key and how to get to the spot. And just like that, we had plans for the day!

First, Wayne took us on a tour around Pete's Camp on his UTV and showed us all the spots he and his friends and family own, and we got the inside scoop on a bunch of the houses. It's a really cool neighborhood and we agreed if someone offered to trade one of the houses for our van we might just stay there permanently. Eventually, he dropped us off, and we secured the Fireball and hit the road south to Puertocitos. We stopped first at Bahia Christina Restuarant and got some lunch and drinks, and we chatted with Christina there a bit. We told her we'd be staying at Wayne's, so she wasn't suspicious of us and wondering if we were supposed to be there or not. The shrimp tacos and margarita were all fantastic!



We cashed out after eating and got settled on Wayne's spot for the night. We picked up trash around the site as a thanks for letting us stay there. Unfortunately, some people like to use the spot who aren't necessarily invited and leave behind stuff that doesn't belong. But the spot is simply gorgeous, right on the water, and with hardly anything around. There's a mountain to the west, so the sun set at about 5:30 or so, and it immediately started getting cold.





The winds picked up. We hung out inside for a while until around 8 or 9pm, then we stepped out to marvel at the stars a while. This was the darkest sky we've seen in a really long time. We setup the GoPro to run a timelapse and left it out there until the battery died. Around 11pm, the winds were coming in so strongly from the side that Mandy fired up the van and rotated it 90 degrees, so we were pointed into the winds. That took the rocking down to a much more manageable level, and we fell asleep.

 

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Sunday, we were originally planning to stay the whole day in Bahia Christina and spend another night at Wayne's place. In talking with the restaurant owner, however, we realized we'd need to leave before she did at 3pm, because she'd lock the gate that we didn't have a key to. So, we decided instead to leave once we were up and ready. We didn't rush, and we didn't stick around, either. We walked around a bit in the morning with the dog. Prior to going outside, he alerted us to a coyote wandering by right outside the van that we'd have otherwise missed. He really wanted to go say hi, so we waited a bit first.



Once we got out there, we wandered down to the water. I saw...something...out there. I suspect it may have been some type of small whale or perhaps a dolphin, I'm not really sure. It was just off the shoreline, periodically breaking through the surface. It looked like only one, though, which is why I'm not sure it was a dolphin. But anyways, it was neat.

We showered then hit the road to head towards Guerrero Negro. I think it was along this stretch of road that the scale of the landscape hit me the most. And a feeling of really doing something. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly huge landscapes all around the US - it wasn't just that. It's really tough to articulate. Something about it just felt epic.



Mostly, it was just a long driving day. We passed through two checkpoints on the way to Guerrero Negro: one military, one agricultural. The military stop was as simple as where are you coming from, going to, and purpose? Vamos a Guerrero Negro desde Puertocitos en vacacion. Or something like that, I'm sure I butchered it. The agricultural stop is just after the border crossing into Baja California Sur - our second Mexican state. I tried to get out of it, but we ultimately had to pay $1US to get the bottom of our van sprayed with a pesticide. Allegedly. We cruised over to the operations center for Whale Magic, pulled the van into the walled and gated parking lot and got out for the night.





We tried to get a feel for what was actually going on inside, but it felt like mayhem. We tracked down Shari, who was exceptionally busy, to give her the Fireball from Wayne. She was very grateful for that, but then immediately sprang back to work. People were coming and going and milling all about. Some were there for a day, some for several days, for all types of tours. We started meeting people straight away, and it was really nice to be making friends and sharing stories. We took Loki for a walk around the neighborhood, but on a recommendation from one of the staff, we found and carried a stick in case other dogs approached. We only made it a few blocks before a rather large dog started barking at us, so we turned around and went back to the van. The dog didn't give chase at all, which was good. I think he was just standing his ground, which was fine. As we were walking back, a car behind us kept honking. We were in the middle of the parking lot, so we walked out of the way, and still they kept honking. As they parked and got out, @jcmadeintheshade@gmail.com introduced himself and said he was going on a tour tomorrow! What a crazy series of coincidences! We talked for a while, and it was so great to meet John and Susie.

We grabbed beers next door and then fretted over the price until we realized we'd only paid $2-3US for a couple large cans. Much cheaper than US prices. We hung out in the lobby to enjoy them and try to get a grasp on what all was going on inside. One group of ladies passing through announced that they were having car troubles, so I asked if they needed help. It seemed like the battery in the key was dead, and that was preventing them from starting the car at all. They were booked to be at Whale Camp for a few days, which is quite remote, and only accessible via a ride from the staff because it's in a nature preserve that requires a permit to enter. Their plan was to hurry back after their camp days to pick up their rental car and hustle to catch a plane home. In short, there was no time allotted for vehicular repair. I offered the battery from my key if it was the same, since we have two keys. After a while of struggling to open up the keys, we discovered the batteries were the same, and their issue was resolved! They were extremely grateful, and then hurried off to grab dinner.

It got dark and chilly fairly early, so we went inside to edit videos and relax for the night. Once inside, I didn't feel like working on the laptop, so we just did some reading and fell asleep early.

 

[rob cote]

Yikes I'm a whole week behind. We had some challenges with our phones which we've been using to connect to the outside world. In the states, we were using T-Mobile because they offer the most high-speed data of all the major carriers. I think everyone else throttles it at a lower data volume. But, they don't clearly define the rules for international usage. When we were in Nova Scotia for one week last summer, they sent some stern messages like, "hey you better knock it off....or else!" So rather than deal with that again, we switched to Google Fi. Who also don't very explicitly state the rules around international usage, but at the very least, they definitely offer free calls and texts from every country we're going to. And it seemed like the data usage would be fine, too. So, we took care of the switch while we were still in Arizona and everything was fine. It took some time one night, but it seemed like everything was functioning normal.

We crossed into Mexico, and my phone started having issues connecting to the network. I opened a support ticket and began a long series of troubleshooting over several days. We finally seem to have a resolution, hence I am writing to you today. All this was going on in the background of us having a good time and moving around a bunch. So, the whole story is that the Fi support team were convinced that the issue was just our location - that we weren't in an area that had cell coverage at all. I told them several times that Mandy's phone was working just fine in the same location and I wasn't convinced there wasn't something else wrong. They basically said send us a bug report and move somewhere else. Like 3 times. That was their "fix". One day, we arrived to a spot and Mandy's phone stopped working the same time mine began working again. I sent this to Google, and they said "Great we've closed the ticket". So, yeah. That's what I was up against. That only lasted a day or two, and then the flipped back to her phone working and mine not.

We finally broke down and bought a Telcel SIM, in case both phones decided to give up and leave us stranded. I put the SIM in my phone and got it working. Actually, the Telcel staff did all of it. They were super helpful. A couple hours later, I noticed that the Google eSIM was active, and seemed to be working. I removed the Telcel SIM and my phone was working like it was supposed to on the Google network only. But then Mandy's wasn't. So I put the Telcel SIM in her phone, and got it working. That way, we'd at least have both phones functional to some degree. But then I kept tinkering. I discovered a setting that toggles international data on and off. But whenever I'd turn it on, it would crash. So I sent the bug report to open a ticket. But then it wouldn't complete whatever it was doing - it would just have the spinning circle icon for several minutes. Eventually, I was just like whatever, you're using Telcel, I give up. And then, Fi was working. Just, suddenly and without explanation.

Ultimately, I fixed whatever the support team were unable to, but I have no idea how I did, really. And it was SUPER frustrating. But it seems to be resolved now, and we have a backup plan on hand in case it stops. I am not a network engineer at all. The extent of my knowledge is a basic understanding of two-way communications and repeater operations. But I guess my point is, even if you're not an expert, but you suspect something is wrong, keep at it. You might be right.

That was longer than anticipated. I'll save Monday for a separate post I guess, because that will probably be long, too.

 

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Monday was planned to be a chill day. We arrived to Whale Magic headquarters a day earlier than we scheduled for because of needing to leave Wayne's place to not get locked in. In talking with Shari ahead of our arrival, Tuesday was the better-weather day, so we booked a tour Tuesday. As such, we got up slowly Monday morning. Eventually, we made our way outside to pee Loki and whatnot. Mandy went inside to pay for our stay and the remaining balance for our tour. She hurried back out to say today's weather is bad, but now Tuesday is going to be worse and they don't know if any boats will go out tomorrow. They're leaving in 15 minutes and they have room to bring us today instead.

So, we scrambled! We inhaled some food and guzzled coffees. We walked Loki around briskly and then put the van into night mode, but with windows open. We setup the dog with a bunch of treats and then left him inside. We made our way to the lobby and waited to see what happens next. There was a long period of waiting and it didn't really seem like we knew what for? But eventually, we all herded out to a bus and a van to make the ride to the boats. The boats are called pangas. Except, the bus wouldn't start. Dead battery. They quickly jumped it, and we headed off. The ride to the water was about an hour, and our guide Lela gave us a ton of information and answered a bunch of our questions along the way. She was really friendly and really informative.

We got out of the van and into the bed of a pickup truck and they backed the truck right out into the ocean next to the panga. An easy step down and we were into the boat. By the way, John @jcmadeintheshade@gmail.com was in our boat with us on the tour! Totally by chance, as we were scheduled for different days. So that was neat. We set off into the bay Ojo de Liebre. This is a spot where grey whales like to come to birth new whales for a few reasons. Importantly, it's a shallow bay, which keeps out a lot of predators that prefer deeper waters. Like orcas. Orcas are kind of ****************; Lela explained that they like to eat only the tongues of the newborn whales. So, it's really just killing for sport - if they were hungry, they'd eat more than just the tongue. Anyway. The bay is saltier, too, which means the water is denser so it's easier to float. It's believed the whales like this as it makes teaching the newborns to swim much easier. The water assists in the floating part, making it easier for the two-thousand-pound infants to learn without drowning.



The whales truly seem to enjoy interacting with the people on the boats. Scientists and amateurs alike have been interacting with and studying the whales around Baja for decades. What I found truly remarkable was that it was humans who brought them near to extinction and yet they've given us another chance at being friends. We spent about 4 hours out on the water watching whales watching us. Petting the whales, getting sprayed by them, and generally trying to not flip over our boat. The return journey was mostly quiet as we absorbed all of what we had just encountered.



When we got back to the van, we found that Loki had been perfectly well-behaved in our absence. Evidence showed he mostly slept. It's impossible to know, and we're usually inclined to feel a bit sad for him, but it's equally likely that he loved his relaxing quiet day in bed. In any event, he was really excited to see us and hang out outside some more. We spent the afternoon hanging in the courtyard with him by the van until dinner time. Our parking-neighbors and whale tour buddies Bill and Julie asked if we wanted to join them for dinner in town. We said sure and tagged along. We went to Caracola Restaurant and had a great meal with some lovely folks. They're seasoned Baja veterans, so they had tons of recommendations for where we should go along our way south. They highly recommended a stop in Mulege, which they were also headed to, and was about 4 and a half hours drive to get to. That made the decision pretty simple, so we had plans for the following day. After we got back from dinner, it was getting pretty late, so we all went to bed.

 

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Tuesday was questionable weather, but I believe they took the boats out again anyways. We declined to go again although there was room for us. Instead, we took our time getting moving, mostly relaxing through the morning and doing some housekeeping before hitting the road. We stopped in town to get groceries and cash. We at least succeeded on the food items, but the ATM was closed so we left town without any pesos.

We pretty much drove all day towards Mulege. It ended up taking longer than expected; I think the van navigated us strangely. We stopped in a pull-off on the side of the highway to make some breakfast and pick up garbage. We picked up over 10lbs in minutes. It's frustrating that we can only carry a large trash bags worth at a time, and dumpsters are hard to find around here. We can fit more in our Trasharoo, but not a lot, and we save that room for in case of emergency because we're also generating our own garbage inside the van. But anyway, we do what we can and ignore how small a dent it is.



Per Bill and Julie's suggestion, we went to Huerta Don Chano in Mulege. It's a beautiful little RV park that also has houses for rent, we think? We didn't make any reservations, but when we showed up there were sites available, so we took one for the night. I think it was $10US for a full-hookup site. As soon as we hopped out, our neighbor Rick started chatting with us. He sure had a lot to say and he was really friendly. Eventually, we decided to take Loki for a walk along the river. We headed towards the coast rather than inland, although we didn't get very far. But it was a decent walk. We ran out of sidewalk, and the dirt was really squishy and sticky, so we turned back. On our way back, we bumped into Bill and Julie, along with their friends Eric and Caron who were also out on a walk. There was a party ongoing at a bar outside, which they decided to head into, so we said bye to them all there and headed home ourselves for dinner. We had leftovers for dinner. Then, we chilled in our chairs outside the van reading in the night til we got too cold. At which point, we went to bed.

 

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Wednesday, we weren't really sure what to do with at first. We were really liking the vibe we were getting from Don Chano's campground, though, so we asked if we could stay in our site another day. No problem. So, we did. We took a day off driving for us as much as for Loki, and we all just hung out. Our neighbor Rick introduced us to his wife, Arianna, and we hung out under their palapa a while sharing travel stories. We lamented the slow WiFi and lack of cell service at the campground, and they kindly offered us access to their Starlink transciever to upload our YouTube video. So nice!



Eventually, they decided to try their hand at fishing, and so packed up their UTV and headed out towards he ocean. We took a walk into town with Loki. This was a poor choice, as we learned, because there were so many local dogs that really like to protect their homes. We did our best to avoid them and not stress them out, but we quickly realized the best plan was to just not walk near there. Back at the campground, we just relaxed for the day which was so nice. We really enjoy the no-travel days. Loki is much more chill, which allows us to relax much more, too.



We took a walk around the campground a couple times. We cooked some food. We read some books. We talked to strangers. Rick and Arianna came back from their fishing trip unsuccessful. Lucky for them, a dude drove through the campground selling fresh-caught fish out of the trunk of his car! They would still eat fish! After dinner, Loki was pretty amenable to hanging out inside the van by himself, so we popped over to the restaurant at the campground for a night cap. The air gets pretty cold at night, so we opted to take them outside to the fire in the pit. As we sat there, a group of workers from the campground were hanging out there, too. A couple of patrons asked to join us, too, and pulled up some chairs. They were Lonnie and Olga, and they were equal parts kind and funny. Her English was minimal, as was his Spanish. He was mostly speaking half and half, but Olga spoke very clearly and slowly in Spanish, enough that I could string together a conversation with her, more or less. That was a lot of fun. I'm definitely getting better but it's hard. As we were chatting around the fire, Rick and Arianna came by with a couple drinks and joined in as well. Then, a group of two couples travelling together joined in as well until we had a huge crowd around the fire all sharing stories. It was awesome. Inevitably, after the specified duration of time, we went to bed.

 

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Thursday was another drive day, though. We actually made use of the hookups in our campsite. We topped off our freshwater supply in the morning and dumped our greywater tank. We made a note to ensure that we're using the UV water filter moving forward for any drinking or cooking water. Cold-brewing coffee is a little bit awkward with it, but it's working. If you don't remember, we've been using reverse osmosis to filter all our drinking and cooking water. There are a few tiny bacteria that are small enough to pass through the RO membrane. It's not a concern with potable water in the US, but since the town's freshwater supply quality was unknown to us, we want to err on the side of caution. The UV light should kill any bacteria that pass through the filter. The combination of RO and UV should make pretty much any supply of water drinkable.

We eventually got moving and made the drive all the way to Playa Regalito. Along the way, we stopped for groceries at one of the worst grocery stores we've seen. It was a Ley, which is a Mexican grocery store chain, but what a disaster inside! The shelves needed to be stocked, and someone had started in each aisle. As in, they'd filled every aisle with boxes of product on the floor. And most of the shelves were barren. It was mayhem. I got some of the things we needed and got the heck out of there.



Once we got to Playa Regalito, we parked just off the road and took a walk. It had been a long drive, so we were all anxious to get out. We walked a long sandy road out to the shoreline and saw plenty of parking spots out there. We made note of the sandy spots along the road that were of questionable pass-ability. On our way back, we found an alternate route that had a firmer surface. We hopped in and drove out to the coast and parked the van. It was super windy, which was rather unfortunate because it was just on the cusp of being comfortably warm outside. If there was no wind, it would have been the ideal temperature. And volume.



We took a hike up an adjacent hill, anyways, just cause. The views were gorgeous. We could just barely see the van in the brush. It felt good to climb something and look out from the top. When we climbed back down, I surveyed the site and hypothesized that if we moved the van a bit we could get out of most of the wind. So, we relocated to slightly further from the water's edge, and had a much better spot. The sun was setting over the mountains and we sat outside to soak in its dwindling warmth but away from the wind. We washed and lotioned each others' drying feet and read books. I dunno if any of you read, but I'm still working on the Wheel of Time series. It's THICK. But, it's quite good. We started watching the show a while back but I forget what happened to that. I don't recall it really blowing me away, but then, Game of Thrones set the bar for the genre so high I'm sure it's tough to match.



Anyway, we chilled like that until the sun disappeared, and then we moved inside to hide from the chill until it was time to go to sleep.

 

[rob cote]

Friday morning was the moment we gave up on trying to get Google Fi to work happily. We were heading towards La Paz, so we stopped in Ciudad Constitucion along the way to pop into a Telcel to get a SIM card activated. For 500 pesos, which is around $27US, I got 6GB of data, unlimited calls and texts. I think it's valid for 2 or 4 weeks. I forget which. Everything appeared to be working, so we grabbed some groceries before continuing along our way. We declined a car wash at the grocery store while we shopped. We know, it's dirty.

Cars are really cheap down here:



We didn't quite make it all the way to La Paz. We stopped at a beach just before getting into the city itself. The road out was quite rough with washboard texture, but we opted not to air down. Our teeth needed a good rattling, anyway. We stopped at the first spot on the side of the road that was available and took a long walk further down the road. We weren't crazy about the site we were in; it was small, immediately adjacent to the road, and it wasn't quite level at all. We found a couple decent sites on our walk, but there was some really loose sand between here and there, so we opted not to drive through it. A lot of cars had driven through, but every car exerts a different pressure and we're probably higher than most passenger cars, so it's impossible to tell if we'd be safe. Best not try.

When we got back to the van, we noticed that a spot that had been occupied on our way in was now vacant. Mandy and Loki stood there for a few minutes while I ran to drive the van over. I guess that's kind of a ******** move, but I don't think anyone drove by in that time anyways, so. It didn't affect anyone. Anyway, that site was much larger and much closer to level. It also had a wide sandy path to the ocean. We spent some time collecting rocks to park on to get the level dialed in better, and we let air out of the driver's side tires to get it perfect. We cooked some tacos for dinner and watched another gorgeous Baja sunset.

 

[rob cote]

The main reason we were headed to La Paz is that we are taking a ferry to mainland Mexico. I guess I left that part out previously. When we were in Mulege, I called to reserve a spot on a boat for our van on Friday. No, the next one. We had some things to take care of in town first, though. Chief among those was to get a temporary import permit (TIP). When you enter Baja California and Baja California Sur from the US, they're a kind of "free states". You don't need to import the vehicle if you remain in those states, and I believe northern Sonora (or all of Sonora?) falls in that category, too. It probably saves a ton of paperwork because so many people make that drive for tourism. We've seen so many USA license plates so far in Mexico. Anyway, there's been reports of issues with obtaining a TIP for van-based RVs. I don't know the exact phrasing of the regulations, but as I understand it, there's a misinterpretation by the Mexican aduana office of vehicle weight as gross vehicle weight rating, which as you know are completely different things. We were unsure we'd actually be able to get on the ferry at all without a TIP. So, we wanted to get to the port ahead of our departure date to try and get an answer to that big question mark on our plans.



Saturday was the day for that. But first, we had to get there. Once we were up and breakfasted, we hopped outside for a walk with the dog along the beach. A lovely morning for it. Back at the van, I let air out of the passenger's side tires to even things up for the ride out to pavement. I think we were at 30psi all around. We should have done 20-25 instead; it was still a little choppy. But, less time airing back up out at the street. We cruised into La Paz proper which is the biggest city we've encountered in Mexico thus far. We actually drove mostly around the city as the shipping port is actually in Pichilingue. We parked in the lot and I gathered all the documents I thought I'd need, and copies of each, and I headed to the Banjercito there. This is where you start the process. I had originals and copies of our title, registration, insurance cards, passport, and driver's license. I had only the original FMM, but they require a copy. I asked the guy in the parking ticket office if he'd copy it for me, and he did, no problem. Back at the Banjercito window, the agent showed me a paper she'd highlighted that said the GVWR can't exceed 7,000-something pounds. I think it was 7700? I forget the exact number, I just knew we were over it, which I showed her on our title. She said that's no problem, there's just an additional piece of paper and a couple extra steps. Per the Banjercito agent's instructions, I took that piece of paper to the aduana office. It basically said our van is overweight. Then, the aduana agent inspects the vehicle, I assume to verify the VIN matches, and that it's just a personal vehicle (not a commercial one). If everything checks out, the paper gets stamped and signed by the aduana agent. Then, it's back to Banjercito to finish the documentation process and receive a copy of our TIP.

It was really quite simple. I wasted a bunch of time walking all over the port trying to find the customs office because I'm an idiot. I specifically didn't go to aduana because she said "customs", even though I knew they're the same. Anyway, everyone involved was really helpful and understanding of my terrible Spanish. It was exhausting walking all over and trying to translate everything quickly. So, we chose to do a short drive a little further from La Paz to a different beach spot for the afternoon and maybe evening. There were a bunch of people there, which was cool, but there were also a ton of flies that were super annoying. We got so fed up with them while collecting trash that we decided to eat inside and then leave. We found a spot in La Paz to park overnight and headed there.

We saw this awesome wide-body Comanche:



Along the way as I was driving next to a stone wall, I noticed a rattling sound, so my mind started racing. Some bolt somewhere had come loose. I hate when that happens because the driving is immediately more stressful. I'm just waiting for a wheel to fall off. It's happened to me before (in a different car. Okay in different cars) and it's not fun. We stopped in the first parking lot I found which seemed to be miles and miles from when the noise first started. I collected some wrenches from the toolbox and climbed underneath. I did a lot of visual inspections first, which can tell a lot. Most times, you can easily see if a bolt has come loose. If it's hard to tell if a nut has backed off, a fingernail between the nut and the part can be a quick and easy check. Just know that these checks aren't positive affirmation. A bolt could be loose without looking loose. But I wasn't in a situation to put a wrench on every single fastener under there. The sun was sliding down on the afternoon. I put a wrench on the critical things I had actually loosened, to make sure it wasn't my own doing. Wheel bolts, caliper bolts, axle U-bolts, shock hardware, power steps, etc. It sounded like a heavy part, so I skipped over a lot of the small things that just wouldn't make that frequency noise. I found the positive power post on the intake air filter housing hadn't been installed correctly, so I fixed that. There were zero other findings. Everything checked out. I guess it was just that things rattling around on the engine? I gave up and packed up the tools.

A woman drove through oozing excitement for our van, strictly in Spanish. She pulled in next to us and started talking to us. I was trying my best to keep up with her, and she took it pretty slowly. Clearly recognizing that my Spanish is only so-so. We answered all her questions as best we could and gave her a tour of the interior. She said she wants to do exactly what we're doing, but she doesn't know where to start. She gave us her name and number, we gave her our card with our contact info on it, and she drove off. It was such a sweet interaction; we LOVED it. Lolita was such a sweetheart. We left shortly after her. There was some sort of festival going on in the city which we wanted to check out. Unfortunately, the parking lot we were headed to was full, and we weren't sure where would be safe and legal to park in town overnight, so we headed back towards the beach we'd just come from. I was so done with driving through the city, and driving in general, that I shut it down straight away and we converted to night mode right after that and climbed into bed.

 

[rob cote]

Sunday morning, we woke up and picked up garbage with Loki on the morning walk. I like to think of it as a form of payment when we have a free camp spot. It doesn't take long, and then the place looks a bit nicer afterwards. It feels good. And it gives time for the coffee to kick in.



Once that happened, we hit the road to continue our tour of the peninsula. We wanted to get all the way down to Cabo San Lucas, just cause. It's the end of the land, so why not? We found a public beach that's nestled in between a whole strip of resorts and paid to park there. This seems like a gringo tax because it looked like locals were getting in for free. Perhaps they have a season pass or something, who knows. It wasn't much anyways, and we'd be able to stay the night, so we weren't too upset about it.

We parked the van and headed out to have a relaxing beach day. Loki is allowed one the beach, which is another win. He seemed to really like it. He went straight into the water because it was really hot outside. We all did. Then, we lounged on the sand for a while. There was a giant yacht in the bay spinning circles, so we tried to figure that out. We didn't reach any conclusions. It spun around several times over a few hours without really moving much at all. Maybe they're not allowed to anchor?



Anyway, eventually we decided to go for a walk into town. My dad wanted us to get a beer at Sammy Hagar's bar Cabo Wabo Cantina, so we walked that way. It's in the thick of things anyways, so it wasn't much of a detour, and it gave us a goal to head towards. When we arrived, there was a line to get in, and it was very obvious Loki wouldn't be allowed in, so we moved along. I don't think we did anything besides just walking around town and people watching. We made our way back to the beach to get some more swimming and sunning in before it was too late.



After sunset, we hung out next to the van as the parking lot was emptying out and opened the doors to cool it off inside. When we got hungry, we left Loki in the van and headed to a pizza place in town. This time, we walked along the beach past all the resorts towards the marina. It's always neat to check out all the boats in the parking lot. You can get a sense of how much money is in town by the boats it hosts. Cabo San Lucas was the busiest and richest place we've seen yet in Mexico. It feels nothing at all like the rest of Baja. Lots of people just visiting for a short time. So many sunburns. Anyway, the pizza was quite good - it was wood fired, just a classic pepperoni. After dinner, we headed home via the roads instead of the beach as it felt a bit safer. Better lit. We had no issues at all, and Loki was chilling but excited to see us. We got him settled and we all went to bed. Locals partied in the parking lot all through the night.

 

[rob cote]

Monday, we woke up at the beach. It was lovely. We didn't stick around for very long after the morning walk, though. We weren't sure at what point they'd come around to kick us out. Or charge us for another day of parking. We found a different beach just up the coast that was open and free. So, we headed there. Sorry dad, we'll head to Sammy's on the way north from Patagonia. Maybe there won't be a line to get in then.

The next beach is situated between the Cabos. Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. Cabo means cape, by the way. Anyway. It's really an arroyo, so there's probably times of year when it's not usable due to flooding. It looks very much like a wash, where mountain rains run down to eventually meet the ocean. Luck for us, the weather was very dry. And sunny. Very few clouds. Quite warm, too. (That's for everyone reading this up north right now freezing). Sorry, not sorry. Perfect beach weather. Unfortunately, it wasn't the perfect beach. The slope is incredibly steep, much steeper than any sand-covered beach we've ever seen. I'm still wondering what factors determine the slope of a beach.



But the sands were soft and the view was just lovely. There were several other vans around. One Mandy recognized from Instagram, so we talked to its owners Sam and Kelly for a while and Loki and their dog hung out together. They were so nice and lovely to chat with. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing in the sun, really. We didn't do any swimming deeper than our knees because the tide was so powerful it felt risky. We filled a garbage bag with trash from the parking area. We did some more people watching. It seems a really popular hangout spot for locals after work. It started to fill out a while before sunset.



Right around dusk, I noticed a Jeep with its hood open and the occupants standing around it. After several minutes of not much seeming to happen, I walked over to see if they needed help. Their battery was dead, and they were in need of a jump start. No problem, I can do that. Mandy and Loki hung out by the chairs, and I drove the van over to them. Unfortunately, they were right at the high tide line, which is the crest of the steep slope down to the water. And it was about 50 feet of loose sand between us and them. I got stuck right in the middle. With everyone watching, of course. I was a little worried, but not full-on panicking yet. I screwed some relief valves onto the valve stems to lower the tire pressure and put the van into low range and backed up the way I'd come. It still wanted to stick, but I won. I took a different path to get to the Cherokee and got within jumpstarting distance without further issues. The jumpstart went without a hitch (other than the language barrier). They were very thankful and wanted to chat afterwards. I did my best, but I couldn't contribute a lot to the conversation.



I pulled back to where the van was initially parked, and calmed down for a bit. The nerves always get a bit high when it's stuck. We enjoyed the rest of the night chilling outside until it was well and fully dark. At which point we headed in for bed.

 

[rob cote]

Tuesday was just another beach day. It feels odd to us to just hang out for the whole day. You guys know, we are on the move almost every day. But, we had some time to kill before getting to the ferry in La Paz, and it felt like the Baja thing to do. We picked up more trash. We soaked up more sun. We met more interesting travellers. We ate food and we drank. We listened to music. We felt the air on our skin and the sand between our toes. Actually, we felt sand on pretty much everything. No matter how often you sweep, there will be a ton of sand inside. That's van life.

We mostly just walked around and started talking to people who were outside. Everyone is so friendly when they're traveling! We've met people from all over, but none from anywhere near where we're from. It seems pretty rare to meet anyone from the northeast on the road. I think so far we've only come across one or two vehicles from New England. Also, everyone seems to know someone else who is traveling to mainland Mexico, or to Panama, or Patagonia, but we've yet to meet anyone heading the same way as us. Oh well!



We've had some difficulties with internet connectivity, as I explained in a previous post. It's challenging, and frustrating because we like to share with everyone who cares. But we can't without a solid connection. Even writing here can be a hassle sometimes when it's a weak connection. Each picture will take seemingly forever to upload. So, we spent a large chunk of the day researching Starlink and trying to understand all the details of it, which are surprisingly difficult to access. Like for example, what does the hardware actually look like? Where can we have it delivered to? Can we get the in-motion hardware delivered in Mexico? Can we talk to a human at the company?

So far, what I know is the following. It's about $600 (or $2500 for in-motion hardware) to get the antenna and modem in the USA. It's about $400 to get the same in Mexico. The service plan is cheaper in Mexico as well. It appears that the in-motion hardware is not available at all in Mexico? But I would love to know with more certainty. If it IS available in Mexico, I'd like to know if it is discounted as well. If anyone knows, please share. It's likely the in-motion hardware will be prohibitively expensive, but we can't know until we have an actual price. Anyway, if we were to just get the standard RV hardware, I'd like to have it permanently mounted so we aren't constantly deploying it and stowing it - plus I'm not sure we have convenient room to store the antenna anyways. But how does flat-mounting affect performance? I don't know, but I'd like to, and I don't know how to find out.

So, mostly it's more questions than answers. It does seem like a convenient solution, although at this time it doesn't work in a lot of the countries we're headed through, so I don't even know if it's ideal. Although hopefully they're just waiting on approvals in those places and maybe they get that before we arrive. Who knows? Anyway, excluding the hardware purchase, we'd net about the same monthly expenses as with unlimited cell data on our phones, which we could get rid of in favor of wifi through Starlink. So it costs about the same for potentially better internet access, provided it's allowed to operate in Central and South America by the time we reach those places. It's tough to decide. But, Google is only going to allow us 3 months of travelling before they shut us off anyways. We have to use our phones in the US for some amount of time before we're allowed to travel again. So I'm not sure how to circumvent that anyways. But that concern would go away with Starlink, which would be nice. Local SIMs are kind of out of the question south of Mexico, because data SIMs are incredibly expensive and limited from what I've seen.

 

[rob cote]

Wednesday, we decided to make moves again. Our batteries were a little low from not driving at all but cooking several times. We needed groceries. We needed fuel. All signs were pointing to "Take a drive". So, we did. We headed to San Jose del Cabo and went to Chedraui Selecto for groceries. Holy cow that store is insane! They have nearly everything. There are appliances and furniture, clothing, groceries, liquor and wine, restaurantS, pharmacy, you name it. They even have a sushi train! There was a whole yogurt department. I was blown away. Look at this selection of dried peppers and know that wasn't even all of it:



We had talked to some other people on the beach who were headed part way to La Paz and were doing a waterfall hike on the way. That sounded awesome, so they invited us to join them. Along the way, Mandy discovered that the hike doesn't allow dogs, so we skipped it. It seemed too hot outside to leave Loki in the van. Instead, we bypassed the trailhead and continued on towards Los Barriles. We found a beautiful beach spot and parked for the afternoon and night. We took a long walk past several hotels. UTVs and ATVs were passing us constantly, driving back and forth along the beach. We sent a message to our new friends about skipping the hike and about the spot we'd found. There was plenty of room for more vehicles, so we gave them a heads up about that. They responded to say they were going to join us when they were done, so that was sweet! It's fun to travel to a new spot with friends.

We had some dinner and relaxed along the beach some more. It may sound like it's getting old but it's really quite nice. The rays were jumping out of the water a lot and we could hear them splash back down on the surface. It sounds just like a tennis ball hitting the court. POP. Anyway, around dusk I heard an engine revving and my eyes were drawn down the beach to where it was coming from. There was a whole bunch of stuff going on over there, a couple hundred yards south of us. A boat had somehow been left on the middle of the beach and a truck was pushing it across the sand into the water. There was an empty trailer in the water, so I don't really understand. I missed the beginning. There was also an Expedition parallel to the water line and just lightly being splashed by the water. I only watched for a minute or so to realize no one was actively driving it away from the water and I immediately grabbed the tow strap and ran over. By the time I got there, the water was entering the driver's door and several guys were scrambling to hook up a Jeep with a chain and a rope to tow it out. Unfortunately, the Jeep had completely bald tires and it was useless to pull the Expedition up the hill. With the additional length of the tow strap, the Jeep was able to pull from flat ground. We let air out of the tires to help prevent it sinking in, and they pulled the Expedition backwards out of the water. It didn't come out without a fight, but they got it.



They were very thankful to be out of that predicament and were eager to share a beer for the help. I accepted because they seemed like a good time. They handed me two, and asked where I'd come from and who I was with. I said my wife and I are in that van over there, and I waved to Mandy and she headed over with Loki. They handed over two hard ciders, too, for Mandy. They turned up the radio in the Jeep and just started having a party right there on the beach. It was a lot of fun, and they all seemed like genuinely great dudes. As we were hanging out, trying to communicate, I noticed that the water was starting to get close to the Expedition again. I pointed it out to Jose, the owner, and he quickly backed it waaay up onto the beach far from the water's edge. We all introduced each other as Mandy and Loki arrived. They loved to pat him, and he liked the attention. We watched the stars and the tiniest sliver of a moon come out as the sun went away and listened to mariachi music drinking beers on the beach. It was awesome.

It started to get chilly, so we said our goodbyes and mucho gustos, and headed back to the van. Everyone else who arrived after us was hanging out in a little van circle, so we rejoined the group. Dylan showed us some video he got with his drone of the rays out in the water. I had no idea there were so many! There were literally thousands of them in a giant school. Is it a school? Are rays fish? I'm not certain. But it actually looked like pixelated video because the whole screen was just tiny squares of color. It was absolutely wild. We hung out outside with our new friends chatting until we all got tired and cold, then we went in to go to bed.

 

[jgaz]

Enjoying your writings. Thank you

 

[rob cote]

Enjoying your writings. Thank you

Thanks so much!! That means a lot.