CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR'S TRIP/ROAD CONDITIONS...& LOTS OF PHOTOS.

I finally had some time to sit down and write a proper trip report depicting our trek from Orange County to La Ribera, our final southern destination. This trip was the first time we decided to take the Kayak strapped down on top of the FJ Cruiser,


In front of Mama Espinoza's in El Rosario

[I must mention that the primary purpose of this outing was to look at the driving conditions/roads with a critical look toward driving our 45’RV while pulling a 26’ enclosed trailer. I.E. which roads are acceptable to drive with a minimum of suspension stress].

A couple of months earlier we purchase our FMMs and insurance through Discover Baja (whom I’ve been a member for 20+ years.) This minimized the entry hassle into Baja.








Lots of beautiful scenery with cacti being in full bloom:

We started on the 18 of December 2011, and our original border crossing south was to be through Mexicali. However, we were half way to Mexicali, and realized I left my cell phone somewhere. After returning home and not finding the phone, (realized it was lost somewhere), I decided to purchase a new one from our provider. This proved to be a daunting task since we had a business account and I had none of my account information with me. After retrieving my account info and now six hours later, we decided to cross at Otay Mesa, where we were pulled over into the declaration lane even tough we got a green light. The officials wanted me to declare the kayak on the roof of the FJ. We went back and forth for two hours with different officials (my Spanish was really helpful). I finally came across the top official and he wrote on the paperwork “PASS”. However, I still had an hour’s wait in line to obtain the proper green sticker.
Consequently…

Our first night was spent at Poco Cielo in La Mision.
Left very early and headed south.

The construction just south of Maneadero was horrendous! I had rained during the night and it was a muddy mess full of giant potholes. Had to follow several trucks all the way to the passing area just south of Santo Thomàs. It was a VERY slow going.

A fresh hit-n-run by a truck the night before




Lots of cattle, burros, horses almost on the road

Our first stop of the day was El Rosario and purchased our first fuel tank there and had lunch at Mama Espinosa. I know there has been some bad press about Mama’s place here on Nomads; however, we had one of the two best Baja meals there. We had the obligatory lobster burritos, and this time we also ordered the crab chile rellenos as well as the crab soup. Absolutely to die for!

The road going south just past the military check point north of Guerrero Negro was also still under construction. Was about 8 miles of good graded dirt. No major delays.

It was almost dark…sooo…

Our first night we spent in Guerrero Negro at the Malarrimo motel because of the security in parking (walled in hotel grounds). We arrived at dusk and needed a place to shower and bed-down. Our experience there was less than stellar. Started with the bad attitude of the desk clerk at check-in, and the attitude followed with the service and food at the restaurant. Won’t stay or eat there again!

After some coffee, (we travel with a brewer and fresh grounds), we left early morning to head to Shari’s place at Bahia Asuncion. Lots of heavy fog therefore the going was slow on the way to Vizcaino. Filled up with gas in Vizcaino and then made the turn toward the Bahia Asuncion turn-off. The road out of Vizcaino has not improved at all. Seemed like thousands of potholes until we got to the BA turn-off.

The butter-smooth road started when we turned left toward BA. About a 40-minute drive later we arrived at one of the most beautiful bays in all of Baja. We spotted Shari’s place right away, but she was not home so we drove around town and got acquainted with all the streets and business establishments. Friendly and cohesive community, absolutely gorgeous! There was a small burrito and torta stand by the beach, next to the boat launch ramp. We introduced ourselves to the owners and bought some of each then headed to the waterfront and had a small picnic. We opened a bottle of wine and had a satisfying lunch.

The christening of our kayak

Sunset from Sari's rock

Great Promotional sign


Breaking out the celebratory beers at Shari's


Unusual ALTO sign in BA

Shari and Juan's place

Burrito/torta stand at the launch ramp

Party central!


Our launch ramp picnic


Room with a view

Our Rock Room at Shari's


Carb and lobster pots @ San Roque

Shari's blow hole

San Roque mission

Shari & us

We later arrived at Shari’s place again. Since this was our first visit to her place, this sort of seemed like we were opening a dream. Seen pictures on Nomads for years, and finally made it here. Shari was this cute little ball of fire and Juan was the perfect gentleman. He could easily be compared to the Mexican Dons and Caballeros. Shari was running around everywhere and stressing out because of her daughter’s wedding the next week.
We unloaded our luggage into the “ROCK ROOM” which I can compare to a cute antique-filled stone cabin. The ocean view was awe-inspiring. We just had to pull up a couple of chairs just so we can soak in the surroundings. AMAZING place. Waves crashing on the cliffs below. The little blowhole puffing away. we opened some beers as well as a new bottle of tequila and soaked in the surroundings.

San Roque was visible from Shari’s porch so we headed out there with the FJ. About 20 minutes later we arrived to the fishing village…Juan’s birthplace. We drove on the beach sand just so we could try out our 4-wheel drive.

After taking Shari out to dinner, we were ready to get to bed, but not before a couple of shooters of tequila.

The next morning we wake up to the brewing of our coffee maker, and an hour later, Shari prepares an egg and lobster breakfast. Really gourmet! Afterwards we rounded up some of Juan’s friends and met them at the co-op launch ramp where we unloaded our kayak. We were going to break a bottle of champagne over the bow but were talked out of the gesture because the people did not want to “waste” the champagne (hard to find within 150 miles), so we just popped the cork and poured it over one of the stabilizers and handed the rest to Shari. Off we went for a magnificent ride to the main island. We returned by 4 p.m. where some locals were there to help us load the kayak on top of the FJ.
After a shower and an early dinner we returned to Shari’s for a party with some local friends.

Next morning we headed out of town and stopped at the local PEMEX at BA’s entrance. This really is a different PEMEX…wood shack with six barrels of gas, and a 12-volt pump that needed to be primed. We filled up anyway after I put some additive in the FJ’s gas tank.

The local PEMEX at BA


The PEMEX attendant at BA

The drive through Santa Rosalia was slow due to the road construction north of town, so we stopped for lunch in Mulegé. The place was overrun by retiree expats. I think there were more Americans than Mexicans in town. Tough place to drive through and park a vehicle. I noticed there was an RV park in the middle of town. Had a chuckle since the drive into the lots would be quite difficult with anything larger than 20’!

Later that day we stopped for gas in Loreto. We were almost on empty and knew of the stingy pumps at this station. Sure enough…they managed to pump the equivalent of 18 gallons into a 16-gallon gas tank that was down to about 4 gallons left in the tank.

Onward through the slow mountain going to Ciudad Insurgentes and Ciudad Constitución where we were prepared for the local cops. Did not see any and we ended up staying at a local motel and left by 7 a.m. (well before the cops were on the road).

La Paz Malecón

The only open parking spot in front of Casa Tuscany

Our room at Casa Tuscany
Free tequila samples at grocery store




We finally make it to La Paz and checked into the CASA TUSCANY Bed & Breakfast, a few hundred feet from the famous Malecón. Afterwards we stopped a taco stand for lunch and went to visit with Wiley (comitan) and John (bajabass).

Comitan and Bajabass, plus our wives



La Paz lavamatica where the attendant did your entire laundry load of 100 pesos!
The next morning we went to Playa Tecolote to launch the kayak for a trip and picnic on Isla Espiritu Santo. Fate was not with us. Southern Baja was in the midst of a 100-year wind event, and the normally calm Tecolote beach was awash with large waves. Undaunted by the waves, we decided to launch through them, and almost made it. We pushed through 4 large waves, but the fifth one was about 6 feet tall and it pushed us straight up and backwards onto the sand where we broke the rudder and one of the stabilizer bolts. The capsize also cased us to lose some parts on top of the kayak as well as Jana’s Ferragamo sunglasses. We managed to find everything at low tide except for the sunglasses. Somewhere on the bay is a sea lion wearing Jana’s glasses.
We still had the picnic but had to settle for the sand on Tecolote beach. That night we tried to eat at Jesse’s place, TRES VIRGENES restaurant, but he was closed for the Christmas weekend.


These bikers came all the way from British Columbia

Our broken kayak

Launch site at Tecolote beach

Picnic at Tecolote beach
Monday morning we headed out to La Ribera, to meet with my buddy George (OSPREY).

The road down south via Mexico 1 from LA Paz was not the best. Lots of slow mountain driving. George later tells me I should have driven on Mexico 286 to San Juan De Los Planes to San Antonio (all latest maps show this road to be gravel, but the road is indeed paved and paved very well).

Personable character I met at San Antonio


George Osprey, wife Lynda and ourselves
My encounter with George and wife Lynda was one of the two highlights of our trip. He made us one of his famous Bloody Marys and after a few hours of trading life stories and writing anecdotes it was time for us to leave. We planned on spending more time visiting when we fly to SJD on Southwest later in the year.

It was almost dark by the time we arrived in La Paz again so we stayed at another La Paz motel near Centenario.

Early morning we headed back to Ciudad Constitución and managed to see only one cop on the opposite side that was ticketing (or extorting) another American in a pick up.



Mulege loncheria

Loncheria menu

Made it to Mulege in time for lunch. This time we stopped at a local eatery that served goat birria, pozole, and goat head broth. This stand was across the street from the well-frequented and loud gringo hangout. After this delicious meal we headed to San Bruno for a visit with Jim (PERSCADOR). We stayed longer than planned because of the wealth of information about fishing that Jim possessed. Jim also possessed the largest collection of fishing rods this side of a Bass Pro store.

Jim as well as myself
This man possesses the largest wealth of information on Baja fishing. Then we finally made to San Ignacio and the famous Ignacio Inn B&B. This time we got lucky and stayed at one of the two yurts next to the river. This was a life-altering experience to sleep right besides the roosting local birds and their soothing sounds.

Breakfast at the yurts

Parking was tight!



Yurts

The next morning we feasted on a breakfast of Gary’s homemade sausages, potatoes, eggs and a variety of salsas. We were going to visit KUYIMÀ’s camp at the Laguna, but after stopping at their office cross from the San Ignacio mission, we were told that there was only one whale in the lagoon. Not worth making the trip. So we headed to Laguna Ojo De Libre where there were about a dozen whales so we purchased a panga ticket (500 Pesos) for the three-hour boat ride. We saw two tails, three breaches, two eyeballs and many humps. Well worth the money!


Informational at whale building
Whale boat at Ojo De Libre


Whales at Ojo De Libre

For the evening we stayed at the Cowboy motel. Just as secure as the Malarrimo, but much more helpful people as compared to Malarrimo.

Mario's palapa restaurant:


Dinner was at Mario’s restaurant, about a mile north of the town in a round palapa-looking building. There we had one of the two best meals in Baja. The margaritas were extremely powerful and literally could not be fully downed without staggering out of the place. Jana only had about two sips. I don’t know what they put in them, but they were WILD!

Early morning we headed back north again.






We saw the turn-off to Santa Rosalillita and made the turn. OH MY GOD! What a gorgeous (I can not find a better description) bay! No facilities, and maybe 40 houses there. This place is as much a dream as Bahia Asunción is. We drove around the surrounding roads and forgot about the gas in our tank, and the lack of gas stations while headed to El Rosario. We coasted on most of the down hills and made it to Baja Cactus literally on fumes. Very nice lunch again at Mama Espinoza’s of crab soup, a crab relleno and a lobster relleno.

Mama's Menu

The crab soup

Crab Chile rellenos

On the way into San Quintín we decided to head for the beach and spent about two hours driving the sand dunes and collecting giant sand dollars near the water.
Stayed at Jardines who also had great food and margaritas.

Sunset on the bay near Jardines

By now it is December 30th and we had reservations at Poco Cielo again. When we checked in, several Nomads were headed south and spotted our FJ with the kayak on top, and sent us u2u’s to let us know we were spotted. Saturday, the 30th, we had lunch with Terry (bajaguy) in Ensenada. His knowledge of the local businesses helped me find a talabteria (leather shop) that would custom-make me a bandolero to carry some tequila shot glasses. The belts were a perfect fit! Thanks for your help, Terry!

New year’s eve was spent at Poco Cielo. We spent it in the Polynesian room and had a local troubadour sing for us for a couple of hours, and drank Dom Perignon champagne. I did not know (and did not find out until later that Woody was having dinner at the restaurant below).

We left Monday the second of January and crossed at Tecate where we were the third car in line. NICE!


The portable CAR WASH person in Ensenada

road conditions for RV

Way cool trip ... great to see the faces too... thanks much

That may have even been my rig you saw heading down the malecon in years past but I have found my best fishing out of Muertos so now I head straight up Colosio and over the mountain. Its always a pain launching and retrieveing without a dock but the fishing makes it well worth the effort and it is better than a 50 mile run to get to that area if I launched in LP.

I'm not sure about that comment of a tight U turn I obviously need to scout that out on foot before I commit. I am sorry about the service you received at Malarrimos. I have stayed there on numerous ocassions in the past and have always been treated extremely well. I'll probably give it another try and just hope you happened to stop on a off night and it will only be for one night anyway

[Edited on 1-24-2012 by Alan]

[Edited on 1-24-2012 by Alan]

Water pressure and mattress

Now that is what I call inside information, thanks much...

by the way .... you guys cheer up HUH !!!

[Edited on 1-25-2012 by wessongroup]

great trip. can't wait to go there myself

Best!

Nice update but was curious what rankled you about the retirees in Mulege? Did you get a chance to talk with any as Mulege is one of my favorite places to visit! Hard to find any towns w/o retired expats. Los Barriles is crawling with old Gringos and where I live in Todos Santos it has lots of gray hairs/ pensioneers! Even Asuncion has a growing expat community. Might even find a poker game or meet a Baja Nomad? Tio

Udo, Thanks for the report and all the pictures.

Quote:

Originally posted by tiotomasbcs Nice update but was curious what rankled you about the retirees in Mulege? Tio

Quote:

Originally posted by Udo What bugged me about the expats, is that they were loud, and smokers. And the american barkeep only waited on his favorite people. The waitress was also the same. She did not wait on customers in order of appearance. She waited on them in order of regularity. Mulege IS a gorgeous town, man, but when you can't move around or find a place to park...it's gotten too crowded. Los Barriles is another place where Americans try to influence their lifestyle into the local community. Quote: Originally posted by tiotomasbcs Nice update but was curious what rankled you about the retirees in Mulege? Tio

That bar reminded me a visiting a personal care home at tea time.

El Candil (aka Scotty's)

I think this is the place you were referring to.