Mexico - Baja California

Welcome back to Mexico where we want to escape from the cold and stay for the winter. We drive to Puerto Penasco and rest a few days before we continue our journey down to Guaymas. 

We go to the RV park in San Carlos where we’ve been already last year when we moved North. From there we want to take the ferry to the Baja California but it’s very windy and so we must wait a couple of days. There is not much to see in this area and we spend most of the time relaxing and eating Mexican food in the various restaurants near-by. 

After almost a week of waiting we take the ferry to Santa Rosalia on Baja California. The Island spreads 1300km from the border in Tijuana down to the south end in Cabo San Lucas is a very dry and hot region with uncounted cactus and endless beaches. Before boarding the military does a very intensive drug control. Even our gasoline tank was explored with a camera. The journey lasts 10 hours and we spend a calm night in our cabin. At 8am we reach our destination and have once again a drug control. However we finally made it. We go on a campground in Mulege and spend Christmas with a few other German couples. 

With multiple overnight stops on various beaches on our way we drive to Loreto. The little town has a nice city center and a mission founded in 1647. We spend a few days there before we move on to another nice beach where we stay for New Years Eve. With two other German couples we have an outstanding dinner with 2kg of fresh shrimps.   

A few days later we change the beach and met three other German couples also with expedition mobile homes. The four trucks on the beach look really impressive and we get a lot of attention. 

Meanwhile our friends Manfred & Rosita which we first met 2013 in South America should be around and so we drive around and find them on one of the beaches. This is certainly worth a Prosecco which we have reserved for special events. Together we go the beach of Juancalito and spend a week of relaxing and swimming. In the evening we sit on the camp fire and can watch a very spectacular nature phenomenon. Microorganism reflect in the waves and produce a blue lightning.  

We move on via Puerto San Carlos on the Pacific Coast and from there 200km thru a desert landscape with nothing but cactus before we reach La Paz where we go on a campground to do internet and laundry. Close to La Paz is the beach of Tecolote where we spend more than a week and meet a lot of other travelers.

The Baja is a paradise for overlanders who like to waste time on lonely beaches without any infrastructure. You can move endlessly from beach to beach, watch the whales, buy fresh fish and shrimps and let time go by while adjusting the sunbed in the right direction. 

But at some point in time it’s enough with “doing nothing” and we go on to explore the South part of the Baja. Our first stop is Todo Santos a picturesque village with uncounted galleries and the hotel California named after the song of the Eagles. The town is nice for strolling around for some hours and a good lunch or dinner but that’s about it. We stay overnight at the turtle rescue station and help the young turtles to reach the ocean. 

At the very South of the Baja is Cabo San Lucas, one out of five Mega Tourist Centers in Mexico. Certainly, a nice place for all-inclusive holiday but nothing for overlanders. So we pass by quickly and choose a nice beach not far away where we are almost alone. Unfortunately, we underestimated the stability of the sand and got stuck up to the axles. With the help of six Mexicans it took 3 hours to get us out and we went back to the place where we have been before we had the excellent idea to move closer to the water. Now we need a rest for a few days. 

After Cabo San Lucas and the sister town San Jose del Cabo the paved street end and a very rough road leads around the Southern tip of the Baja. Here you can find lonely beaches and many beautiful places where you can watch the whales from a camping chair. Also, Cabo San Lucas is on the way which is the only pacific coral reef at the gulf of California and all of a sudden there is booming tourist activity in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately its too windy and the boats don’t go out. So we cannot tell you whether it really looks like on the pictures. 

After 70 km of potholes and sand we are back on asphalt and drive to the mountains where we go to a nice RV park at a ranch. We spend some days at this place until we pick up our son Felix from the airport. But this is then part of our next blog. Until then enjoy reading an watching the pictures. Hasta Luego.