Baja California part two
San Quintin to Guererro Negro, Baja Sur
Monday Feb 2nd
We left our camp at 7:30 this morning and traveled through desert with many kinds of cactus that we had never seen before. We made just a few roadside stops, one at a onyx shop where a Mexican artist cuts the stone into animal figures. Some of our group stopped at a famous restaurant, MAMA ESPINOSA”S. Motorcyclists on the Baja 1000, stop to have her famous lobster burritos It was to early when we passed there but we hope to catch it on the way North.
We traveled over a mountain range and through the Catavina boulder fields with huge boulders strewn around many cacti. They were quite impressive
Just north of our campsite is the 28 parallel, marked by a large Mexican flag and a statue of an eagle. When we cross into Baja Sur our clocks must be turned ahead 1 hour as Baja Sur is on Mountain Time. We are staying at Mario’s tours, restaurant and campground. Mario will take us out on a boat tomorrow to whale watch.
Feb 3rd
Our whale tour was a Whale of a success!! We split into 2 groups and Norm and I got the afternoon tour of 24 people in two boats. The whales come to these shallow Lagoons to mate one year and give birth the next. At one point they came around our boats and just stayed there going under the boat and even rubbing the bottom gently to remove barnacles. Several people in our boat touched them as they went by. Unfortunately when the boat idled I got rather sea sick on the fumes and didn’t bother to try to touch them. We have 2 more whale trips scheduled so I will buy something for seasickness.
After we got back Norm went on a tour of the salt works, a large solar-evaporative operation company owned 51% by the government and 49% by Mitsubishi. The plant employs 1500 people and along with the whale watching tourist trade is the local economy. There is 70 sq mile of diked ponds that take in seawater and the sun evaporates the water in about 6 months leaving salt that is scraped up and barged to a port where it is shipped to the Mexican Mainland, Japan, US and Canada.
Feb 4th
Today is Norm’s mothers 95th birthday, and she is doing great. Jim emailed me a picture taken at her birthday party. We wish we could have been there with her but we are there in spirit. We are traveling today to Santaspec beach, near Mulege. On the way we stopped at Santa Rosalita where we hired a taxi to take us to town to see the Eiffel designed church. The French came in 1885 when they acquired mineral rights to the Copper found here in1868. Most of them left in 1954 when the copper mines closed, but they left behind a French bakery (which we found), it was mostly Mexican but I did get a good loaf of bread.
Our campsite is like a travel picture in a magazine! We are pulled in looking at the clear blue water of the Sea of Cortez with small hilly islands in it. There is another caravan parked here also but they are around a bend and we don’t even see them.
Feb 5th
Today we are having a cookout on the beach so the cookout committee of 4 couples will stick around the beach today while most of the rest of us go into town , some to do laundry and shop. We have the washer on board so we shopped for a while then went exploring, we found the mission with it beautiful views of the town and the palm lined river below. This is the first river we’ve seen in the Baja and it is lined with thousands of palms. Norm ask in town if there was a massage therapist and was directed to a restaurant where she worked. We found the place outside of town but it was closed, but from there he was told where she lived, which was the second house from the tower on the hill. These are all dirt roads, we never did find her but we had an adventure driving around, we came on a dirt air strip and a quant little fishing spot. Personally I was glad to get back to the main road. Who knows what that airstrip was used for! Cook out was great and a mariachi band came after we are and played for about 2 hours.We ended with a roaring fire.
Feb 6th
Three vans picked us up for a tour of the Mulege area. We went to the Mission, the lighthouse and the old prison, ending in town at lunch at a nice restaurant.
We returned and walked the beach. I had read that there was a hot spring close by. It wasn’t much, just a mud hole at low tide, but there is a nicer one that you need a boat to get to. The other RV group were clamming and getting a lot of clams, but they were very small and they will work for every bite. There are locals coming around with things to sell every day. So far we bought shrimp, scallops, and halibut. They are also selling blankets jewelry, dishes and wood carvings. “ALMOST FREE”
Feb 7th
Today would have been my mothers105th birthday. If she could only see us living in this way!
We had an optional tour today to view some very old cave drawings. Our first stop was at an orchard with oranges tangerines and limons (sweet lemons). They were kind of bland, like a sick grapefruit. Next we stopped in the desert where our guide identified cactus and told how they were used for remedies. We rode for about an hour on very rough sandy roads and ended up at Ranch La Trinidad where our guide led us on a ½ hour hike across a stream and climbing over rocks to see these ancient cave paintings. When we got back to the ranch house our guides wife, who was also our driver, had prepared a lunch for us of bean and cheese burritos, and coke. It was quite an interesting day. The ranch had cattle and grew oats and sorghum to feed them. These folks only get to town about 1 time per month and take candies made from cactus and cheese to trade for supplies. What a hard life most of these people have! Before we were allowed to go to the caves we had to stop by the local government building to sign a book and pay a fee to take a camera. The rancher also got a fee for letting us cross his ranch. There are only a few guides allowed to go to the caves. While in the government building we saw how the prisoners are treated. There are cells around a courtyard and we were told they did not feed them. Someone had to like you enough to bring you food or you starved! There was only one prisoner there at the time and he was yelling at us to give him a cigarette. No one in our group smoked and we were afraid if we gave him something we could end up in the same place.
Feb 8th
We traveled 164 miles today over some majestic mountains with beautiful sea views, arriving at Ciudad Constitucion around 2:15PM. Dinner was furnished and there was wonderful entertainment from a local university. We had a group of students doing folk dancing and then a chorus of men and one girl with guitars. The music was great and they are a proud people and seemed so glad to share their history with us.
That’s all for now, hope everyone is well.
Lois