Baja: Still Truckin
April 2005
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This post covers the events from February 23rd through present since we have fallen so far behind. Here is the list of where we have been traveling in order: El Cardon, Bahia De Los Angeles, Alejandros, Bahia Asuncion, Punta Abreojos, Mulege, San Juanico (Scorpion Bay), San Jose De Comundu (for Easter), Agua Verde, Loreto, Punta Conejo, San Juan De La Costa (Bahia Coyote) San Evaristo, La Paz, Cabo Pulmo (Los Arbolitos), Nine Palms (near Vinorama), San Jose Del Cabo/Cabo San Luca, and finally Todos Santos where we are writing this post. Here’s a brief rundown of all of these wonderful places, people we met along the way and experiences we have been lucky enough to enjoy.
El Cardon: We spent about a week camping in this beautiful area north of the town of Santa Rosalillita on the Pacific coast of Baja. We camped in the stone foundation of a house with a garden of desert vegetation planted by a former American who lived on the beach for about 20 years (or so the not-so-urban legend goes). We met a great bunch of surfing travelers and had some amazing surf sessions. We spent time exploring north and found some other places to surf and visit someday.
Bahia De Los Angeles: This is a mellow place where we spent a few days on the Sea of Cortez side of Baja when the swell went flat at El Cardon. Met more cool traveling folks from Canada, California and even Arizona. We enjoyed having our own little palapa to camp under and riding our bikes through the small town here. We rode into town one day to grab some Coca Colas, check email and find out when we could snorkel with the Tiburon Ballenas (Whale Sharks) – gentle filter feeders that reside in the Bay of L.A. from May through December. Needless to say, we want to go back on our way up to the states in June.
Alejandros: After getting some mellow fun in the sun at Bay of L.A. we went back to the Pacific coast and stayed at Punta Andres, known as Tres Alejandros to the surf world. We were stopped at night by a military checkpoint on the way into the spot. During the inspection one of the guys found what he thought was the mother load of tourist drug busts – our Tupperware containers of flower and sugar. Eric did his best not to laugh as he explained that the containers were filled with harina y azucar por cocina. A few days after we got to Alejandro’s, the military guys showed up and camped. We made friends with them by offering lighter fluid and our hatchet when they wanted to cook up an octopus they caught. The next day they dug up clams on the beach, leaving their pants and boots above water line and digging them up in their underwear and shirts, with guns still slung over their shoulders. They gave us a bag and showed us how to dig them and eat them raw (little hot pepper, little hot sauce, onion and a dash of salt). YUM!. We practiced our Spanish with the crew and the owners of the property and helped one of the officers, Ontoniel, with his English (he loved the words “shell fish”). The entire campground had a little potluck. For the next week, the waves were almost as good as all of the cool people we met while we camped there. The waves got as big as we have seen while here and definitely gave us some excitement.
Bahia Asuncion/Punta Abreojos: Although people told us that we probably would not get good surf in this area in the late winter, we decided to explore anyway. We found some really neat functioning fishing villages, reefs for surfing when the swell comes out of the right direction (with names like Hamburgesas and Razors there was no chance Sarah was paddling out). Luckily the swell wasn’t right so we didn’t prove the namesakes correct. A special note about most of this road: if Dante had been a surfer who traveled on this road he surely would have written about the washboard dirt road level of Hell. But oh the glory of coming upon the salt flats that make for a truly amazing Mexican highway! On our way back to the main road we ran into some more military guys. They were actually looking for someone to give a young soldier a ride out to San Bruno (South of Santa Rosalia). We went to lunch with our guest in San Ignacio before dropping him off at his house.
Mulege: After talking to some people we met we decided to treat ourselves to a couple of nights at “The Orchard”, an RV park with hot showers for 5 dollars per night. While we were there we wandered around this historic town, did our laundry and visited with our friends Mike and Sherry from California who camped next to us. Since Mike and Sherry were interested in going to San Juanico just like us, we decided to partner and bog the mountains straight west from Mulege to La Ballena. We took a couple days and stopped to see some cool cave paintings, authentic ranches and beautiful scenery.
San Juanico (Scorpion Bay): The south swells hadn’t yet started so the waves were not really happening. Despite the weather, we camped and explored the windy beach to the north of town for a couple days, spending lots of time reading when needing shelter from the wind. We plan on heading back here when the swells are working and spending at least a couple weeks surfing.
San Jose de Comundu: This is a small town that not many people seem to visit, judging by the curious but welcoming looks we got from the locals. The town used to be on the original highway 1 through Mexico when it was just a dirt road. We spent Easter at the famous, and still working, mission and met lots of kind locals. Mike and Sherry left us the day before Easter so that they could go to Mulege for the services at the Mission there. We had experienced an amazing time with them and were sad to see them go. Before they left, they loaded us up with lots of goodies from Trader Joe’s (thanks for the fix, guys!).
Agua Verde: After hearing about Agua Verde from some fellow travelers, we decided to bog out to this small village on the Sea of Cortez south of Loreto. The road getting there was very interesting, especially coming in at night. Put it this way: if this road existed in the U.S. there would be a million warning signs, guardrails etc. In Baja… just dirt and rusted old cars that had at some time fallen from the precarious road. Agua Verde was so beautiful, completely free and except for one other couple from Canada camping down the beach and the sailboats anchored off the beach, totally void of campers. The snorkeling was amazing and the views of the sea equally majestic. We paddled our boards around for a workout, Sarah practiced popping up on flat water and Eric even managed to ride a wind wave for about 40 yards. A rare feat that far north on the Sea of Cortez.
Loreto: We needed to do laundry so we stayed at an R.V. park in Loreto so that we could take showers and wash the dust out of our clothes. Loreto is a cool old town. We really enjoyed walking around the old parts of town, dining out at a nice restaurant ($20) and eating chocolate clams on the half shell from a little roadside stand.
Punta Conejo: We had come through this surf spot on the Pacific coast north of La Paz and decided to head there for a night. As with a lot of spots in Baja, one night stretched to three as it often does down here. We had a great couple of nights chatting with Nardo, the Mexican guy who manages the campsite for the rancher who owns the land, and met a really nice surfer from Jackson, Wyoming named Jay. Nardo brought us langostas (lobster) that he had caught during the day and we had fun hanging out with Jay while eating the langosta and drinking some wine that Mike and Sherry had given us in Comandu as the sun set. The next day we read, Eric and Jay surfed some and we cooked up some oysters in garlic and butter that Jay had collected that day. The next day we traded some books with Jay and headed out for La Paz to resupply and move on to San Juan De La Costa (Bahia Coyote) San Evaristo.
San Juan De La Costa (Bahia Coyote) to San Evaristo: After supplying in La Paz and calling Eric’s mom for her birthday, we headed out on the road to San Evaristo. Mike and Sherry had recommended the drive to us when we were traveling with them, and it far exceeded our hopes. We drove for a couple of hours along the Sea of Cortez opposite the bay on which La Paz sits. A few miles after we passed the mining town of San Juan De La Costa we found a nice arroyo about a mile south of the fishing viallage of Bahia Coyote. The sun shone, the breeze blew, Sarah found too many seashells to fit in the van, Bruce romped in the water and we both read the better part of a book or two during the two days we stayed at this spot. On the third day we packed up the van and headed out on the road to San Evaristo. Mike and Sherry had said the road was pretty rough, as with many of the roads on which the Baja 1000 runs, but someone had graded it recently and we found it smooth. San Evaristo sits at the end of the road that follows along this section of the sea; a lovely fishing village with a great bay for sailboat anchorage. There weren’t many camping options on the bay, so we kept moving over the mountains and found ourselves back on the 1 before dusk. At that point we were only ten miles or so from the turnoff to Conejo, so we stopped for some beers at a little tienda (six pack for us and one for our friend, Jay) and then headed back in to Conejo for the night.
Conejo Round Two: We cruised into the camp spot, handed Jay the beers and hung out chatting most of the night. The next day we met a great couple from Squamish, B.C., Canada. They had come up from the East Cape and gave us some good tips for camping and surfing along the road from Cabo Pulmo to San Jose Del Cabo/Cabo San Lucas. We were stoked to hear that they stopped in for a night with Eric’s brother James and our friend, Dan, on their way back up to B.C.
La Paz: Our Mexican Camping guidebook tipped us off to a good R.V. Park in La Paz where we could get hot showers and do laundry. A lot of folks seem to avoid La Paz, but we had heard rave reviews from some and found the city a fun, easily walked and safe place. We found a couple of great restaurants where we got our first taste of real Mexican Mole sauce (thanks, Jon and Kar) and Eric located a great place for Carne Asada Tacos and Tortas (like a panini, Mexican style). We walked from our campsite all the way along the Malecon (waterfront boardwalk) and looked at sailboats, drank cocas and some cervezas, checked email and got a bit of sunburn. Yes, just another fine day in Mexico. We got to know a fellow traveler, Lynn, who was camped next to us and was awaiting his wife’s arrival in Cabo. Thanks for the vacuum, Lynn!
Cabo Pulmo (Los Arbolitos): We moved on from La Paz to a small beach just south of Cabo Pulmo that some fellow travelers we met in Rosalillita on our second round had recommended. When we pulled up we saw an amazing sunset and only two other campers on the beach. One of them was owned by a couple we had met in Mulege and had seen again in Loreto. Over the next week we swam, hiked, read, beach-combed and snorkeled in the warm, blue water. Bruce loved the spot and took himself swimming when we were too tired to keep throwing the ball. Yeah, Bruce! People kept commenting on how much he loves the water and we told them how much we love him! We met and ran into lots of fellow travelers and Lynn showed up a couple of days before we left with his wife, Pam. The wind came up and we decided that it was time to move on and see if we could hook up some south swell surfing.
Nine Palms (near Vinorama): For the next week or so we would keep running into a lot of folks that we have met along our trip. Cara and Matt, a couple from Tahoe that we met at Los Arbolitos, showed up and camped next to us on this beautiful, free, surfing beach. We also met fellow van travelers, also from Tahoe, Jesse, Matt and Monica and Dugan, Jesse’s yellow lab. We surfed together, shared stories and had a great time. This spot was the first spot where we could surf in trunks and rash guards. Ahh, you gotta love that warm water. Alas, all good things must come to an end. The wind came up and blew the waves and us out of the spot a few days later.
San Jose Del Cabo/Cabo San Lucas: We pulled out of Nine Palms with Jesse and crew, headed into San Jose Del Cabo and grabbed lunch and supplies. Monica was flying out the next day, so Jesse, Matt and Monica decided to get a hotel room at the Cabo Surf Hotel so they could get hot showers and try for some good waves at Costa Azul the next morning. We opted to camp in Boca El Tule, the same riverbed we had camped in with Ryan and Lisa back in January. My, how time flies. We sat and watched the full moon rise over the ocean with cold beers in hand and Bruce at our feet. To the East, fireworks went off and to the West some Mexican families broke into song. Children cried out “Mira, mira!” (Look, look!). We felt truly grateful to be alive and exploring this big, blue ball called Earth.
Todos Santos: The next morning we stopped for breakfast (mmm, huevos rancheros) and headed for, of all places, Costco. Believe it or not, there is a Costco in Cabo. Kind of creepy how the parking lot, the Costco hotdogs and even the layout of the aisles of warehouse-sized goods made us feel like we were somehow teleported back to the States for an hour. We picked up industrial sized gum, a huge bag of pine nuts (available in Northern Baja, but strangely absent in Baja Sur), a beach towel and a smaller-than-the-usual-Costco-jug-but-huge-for-Baja jar of peanut butter. We headed to San Pedrito and met up with Jesse, Matt and Dugan. The next day we checked out the Pescadero Surf Camp and the skate park down the street. Eric and Matt skated the park while Jesse and Sarah cheered on with a beer in hand. Afterwards, we went for a swim at the surf camp and headed back for a nice fire at our beachfront camp spot. Now we are in Todos Santos to update the website, check out the town and get in touch with family. We are debating whether to head back to Nine Palms and try the warm water surfing out again before heading north to San Juanico (Scorpion Bay), or head straight to San Juanico to catch this epic spot for as long as we can take it.
That just about sums things up. We hope everyone reading this is doing well and that you are reading this in good health and spirits. We miss all of our family and friends, both new and old, and look forward to seeing everyone in the future.