twogringos - 5-15-2008 at 01:25 PM
We (twogringos and BMG) left La Paz with the intention of going through Insurgentes to La Purisima, then to the Comondus, then back to Francisco Villa
and Insurgentes.
The paved road to La Purisima is in generally good shape with two crews actively patching shallow pot holes. We arrived in Purisima 4 1/2 hours from
La Paz and found the hotel mentioned by baja Steve. Turns out the owners were in La Paz for Mothers Day. Heard of a place to stay in San
Isidro so we drove the 4 Km and asked around. The fellow (Juan) that sells gasoline in San Isidro has several units for rent, two of which are set up
as hotel rooms. The rooms were clean and simple, but hey, there's no phone or TV in the town anyway. At 200p it was a fair price. One tienda at the
other end of town served meals on the back porch, so we had dinner and breakfast covered. The next morning we went back through La Purisima to check
out that hotel. Rooms were large and spartan, but the shared bathroom was outside and around the corner. At our age, we like'em close. Don't miss
the Panteon (cemetary) and don't forget to ask about Blackman.
The oasis of La Purisima/San Isidro is wonderful, but I think this was the wrong time of the year to visit. For one, they had already finished all of
last falls wine, and two, none of the fruit was ripe yet.
We headed east from San Isidro and up the hill towards Comondu. A couple of miles along we passed a truck collecting fire wood and were advised that
the Suburban we were driving wouldn't be able to get to Comondu since the road was no longer maintained. We could take the 61 km road out to Hwy 1
then down to Loreto and back up; we could go back through La Purisima to Francisco Villa and up to Comondu; or we could turn left to Rancho Nuevo and
keep asking at ranches until we go to Comondu the back way. All would take about three hours. We decided it would be best to visit the Comondus in
the fall.
We spent the night in San Carlos and explored the town. It is a very industrial fishing town geared for industrial tourists (bus loads of whale
watchers). It wasn't very pleasant to walk around and we could never get very close to open water. Los Arcos Restaurant on the main street was a
nice find.
I'll attach google earth markers for the two hotels I mentioned.
Attachment: Six rooms in La Purisima.kmz (759B)
This file has been downloaded 326 times
twogringos - 5-15-2008 at 01:28 PM
I guess you can't attach two different files, and it seems you must write at least 50 words or that message won't post. Please bear with me while I
get out the required number of words so I can add the place marker for the hotel in San Isidro.
Attachment: Two room hotel in San Isidro.kmz (809B)
This file has been downloaded 309 times
Cypress - 5-15-2008 at 01:34 PM
twogringos, Thanks for the report.
That area is what you might say, off the
grid. Well worth the visit.
DianaT - 5-15-2008 at 02:07 PM
Thanks a lot for the report. We want to visit La Purisima again and thought about Comondu from there----good to hear about the road conditions.
Hope to see you back here in Asuncion sometime.
Diane
David K - 5-15-2008 at 05:26 PM
Great report... would love photos... ?? Not sure what you are saying about posting 50 words? Let me know if I can assist... or put photos into
photobucket.com and link them here.
Thanks for taking the time to tell us what you found there!
BMG - 5-15-2008 at 05:34 PM
We had a great time. Would have liked to explore Comondu but will have to do that another time.
Ana made a PhotoStory. This is 25 mb wmv file - LARGE FILE!
http://neatitems.com/personal/Videos/La_Purisima.wmv
sd - 5-15-2008 at 05:44 PM
Great photos!
Thank You
BAJACAT - 5-15-2008 at 06:44 PM
BMG, wow, thats a great video,thanks for sharing.
vgabndo - 5-15-2008 at 10:54 PM
Nice slide show Ana! The link to the Google Earth shots proved something I had suspected. There is a Bouganvillia in La Purisima that you can see
from space!!
If you slide the Google image and follow the paved road until all the roads come together at the west end of La Purisima, in the last block you will
clearly see a big purple spot. They sell beer in the white building to the west, and we parked our motorcycles and enjoyed one under that huge flower
bush. You could have parked half a dozen cars under it.
Cool!
lingililingili - 5-16-2008 at 08:57 AM
Vgabndo
Muchas Gracias, it was fun!
twogringos - 5-17-2008 at 10:05 AM
Wow, Ana's photos are great. It's almost like I was there!
Here is a photo of the entrance to hotel in La Purisima as seen from the highway from Insurgentes.
Back From La Purisima Area..
LaTijereta - 6-2-2008 at 04:38 PM
Great location and will post pics in the next few days..
Just like traveling to Baja back in the 70's through these towns and ranches
Road north was lonely.. Usual checkpoints with no major problems.. Enesenda quiet after the race (not many persons came, per the people we talked
to).. Tecate crossing about 20mins around 10am this morning..