Southern Baja
On the map, Baja California doesn’t really look very big. But sitting in La Paz, a city of about 200 000 people, and trying to make plans for the last 7-8-9 days on the peninsula, you realize that it is quite big after all. You could probably explore this place for years and years, and never run out of new, interesting, and beautiful places to visit. We, the four vehicles you have seen on the latest pictures, decided to head south along the east coast towards Cabo Pulmo.
The drive in from Mex 1 was long and slow. The two 4x4s had of course no issues with the rough gravel road, but the VW and the Chevrolet wasn’t really enjoying the washboards. When we finally got there it was already dark, and it never stops puzzling me how much harder everything gets when it is dark. Finding a camp spot in an area you don’t know in the dark can definitely give you some surprises when you wake up the next morning. Like finding out that you’ve camped in the middle of a small fishing village…
The coast around Cabo Pulmo is nice, but it looks like it is too late for us overland travellers looking for a free beach to stay for a couple of days. Most of the road going south along this coast has barb wire fences and huge posters with “propriedad privado”. We did find a couple of “holes” in the fence, but unfortunately, the weather wouldn’t cooperate with us, and we ended up running away from strong winds and rough sea. The roof tent makes a lot of noise (especially the rain cover) in strong wind, and I have to admit that sometimes it would be nice with a hard shell camper…
To get away from the winds we decided to go inland for a day or two. The next stop on our route was the springs at Aqua Caliente. The spring is in what is now a small dam, so when the waterlevel is high, the spring is “gone”. But once a day the locals open the valves to send water downstream to the villages, and when the water level go down, the spring becomes separated from the dam. And if anyone is planning to go there to check out the place, remember to follow a trail up along the river from the dam (it is on the right side of the river) to some beautiful pools higher up. The locals refer to the place as “the waterfallls”, and it is an excellent playground for swimming and jumping.
And eventually, we found our beach some 15 kilometers east of San Jose del Cabo. It was a public beach, but we hardly saw a soul there during the 3 days we camped at the beach.
From here we went on to Cabo San Lucas “just to have a look”. It is a touristy place, but compared to some of the Mediteranian tourist places, it wasn’t too bad. And after a week without any “facilities” it was okay to find a campground with a restaurant, car wash, internet, power, water, hot showers, etc…
Land’s End, the southernmost rock on Baja
Too many tourists??? Noooooo...
On our way north from Cabo San Lucas to Todos Santos we saw several big big whales (we guess grey whales) driving along the coast. Unfortunately, they were too far away from us for any good pictures.
In Todos Santos we stopped at a hotel where a band once found inspiration for a song you’ve probably heard a couple of times… Guesses anyone?
Final stop on Baja California: The ferry terminal. After some dealing we decided to go to Mazatlan on a TMC ferry. They are not as nice as the Baja Ferries, but cheaper, and they would let us stay in the vehicles during the crossing. So as it was an overnight crossing, we popped the roof tent and climbed in. Slept like babies…
Next post: Pacific coast on mainland Mexico!
E&M