BajaNomad

WA to Bahia Asuncion

BajaLuna - 11-18-2013 at 02:53 PM

We have spent a lot of time in Rosarito and Ensenada, and also flown into Loreto and driven from there over to Bahia Asuncion but this was the first time that we have driven down the Baja from the border to Central Baja. It was a trip full of discovery and wonder of the beauty of Baja and it's people! Stopped at Discover Baja and got our Temp visa. And with our Ford truck packed full like the Clampett's, we got lucky and slid right through at Otay, whewww! But then missed the exit/turn for Highway 2000, so a bit of confusion there but managed to get back where we needed to be! Not sure what we did wrong or how to avoid this mistake next time...I think the exit/turn off for that highway was just so soon after going through the border? Anyways, we stopped at La Toya's Café in Ensenada, and picked up Sirena and Izaak. You must try the croissant sandwiches and great espressos too, and convenient location right on the highway! Buzzing from those latte's, we drove pretty much straight through with a stop in Jesus Maria for dinner at Taqueria Kassandra's, next door to the Pemex station, I highly recommend this place, GREAT good, GREAT people! Ok so after reading these boards for a year about the truckers, the cows in the road, the narrow roads etc etc, it is ALL true, wow do those trucks haul buns on skinny roads! And cows everywhere at night! The drive down took a lot longer than we thought (typical for a road trip for us), but we finally arrived about 10 that night. As a food grower and hobby farmer myself, I really enjoyed seeing all the farming that is going on in Baja, of course a lot of it I'm sure is BIG Agri-Corp and probably from U.S. companies, but there sure is a lot going on there! And I was glad to see food at least being grown on the same continent so we don't have to buy from China (political rant)! And then coming through the area I named "Bedrock" because it reminded me of the Flintstones, was so breathtakingly beautiful too. And everywhere we went the people were so nice and very helpful and our limited Spanish wasn't too much of a problem, we found that when we tried to speak in our broken Spanish, they met us half way, and were really patient! This trip for us was more of a working vacation, trying to get our new house set up, and taking care of business, and we did do a lot of work, but kept a good balance of fun and exploration too! We met many of our neighbors who were so gracious and so welcoming and so helpful out of the goodness of their hearts and who walked us through a lot of things that us as newbies needed to know! Such as how do we get to the dump, how and where do we recycle, where do we go to pay the bills, where do we buy propane etc. So many people played an integral part of making our transition more smooth. Baja is not only about fun and sun, and exploring, it is also very much about people, it is about relationships, sharing with each other, helping one another, it is about connecting with neighbors, friends and fellow travelers! We love being a part of a "WE" village as it meshes with our belief system of community, and Bahia Asuncion hands down is a WE village! People are helpful and heart-centered! We were so grateful for the help we received, it can be a bit overwhelming and challenging at times when you move to a new place and trying to get aquainted with their systems, and being that we are new there we needed some guidance and the welcome wagon greeted us! I was excited to take a tour of Jean and Ed's Bahia Asuncion B&B, I have been seeing it up the hill from our house and have been in awe of the beauty of it, and what an awesome chef Ed is, we are still talking about the awesome dinner he made for us! It was so cool, people would stop by our place for a visit and introduce themselves and ask "how can we help"! Viva Baja!!! And we're really excited there will be/is a community garden and so many other great programs going on there! We didn't see any whales there, although I was watching for them as several people told us they had already seen a few come through last week!! We will be there next month for Christmas, so hopefully we will see some! So being the dummies we are, we forgot all about the Baja1000 going on when we picked the dates to go to Baja, this posed some challenges for us, but also was very fun. We decided driving straight through to Bahia Asuncion was just wayyy too much, so on the way back we decided to stop half way. Except that most all the hotels were booked, yikes! Luckily the night before we left, our neighbors in BA gave us a list of hotels and good directions how to get to them, thank goodness for community!!! It was fun stopping at some eateries and running into the Baja pre-runners, and every Pemex station was full of them! And of course seeing all the eye-candy of those vehicles! We are "live in the moment" type of people and our mantra is "don't sweat it it will all work out", but no vacancy just about everywhere we tried, we were now tossing around the idea of sleeping in our truck somewhere on the beach, no problemo we were both game! It's now approaching dusk, and all of a sudden our truck light goes on, "low tire pressure" we have a dang flat tire, but I guess if ya gotta get one San Quintin is a good place, eh! We had a spare, we had an air pump, tire repair kit...we read all the boards on these forums on what ya need when ya travel Baja (thanks be to all of you), but I wasn't willing to travel the rest of the way without a spare that's for sure! We pump up the tire, and head on to the next hotel but after being sent to other hotels by hotels who were full, 2 of them didn't take a dog, but we finally found an awesome pet-friendly hotel "la Villa" on the main boulevard there! I highly recommend this place, a little pricey vs other hotels in the area, but they have 2 buildings, one for those with pets, and one for those without pets, and the hotel is practically brand new. I will mention though, it was a 200.00 USD pet deposit, OUCH! The owner is a very nice man who tends beautiful gardens there, fruits, vegetables too, and such a friendly guy! His son runs the restaurant in front of the hotel "La Villa restaurant", and the food is very good, lots of pasta dishes, be sure and order the potato pablano soup it is to die for! We were really tired after going from hotel to hotel, so we checked in to the hotel and parked and just then the tire started going flat again and we both said "manana". Got the tire fixed across the street the next morning and headed out. Decided to meander through downtown Ensenada on our way, OH BOY what a cluster F%&* (yes we're crazy!) because of the race, so shopping was out, parking was a joke, but a lot of hoopla going on there and it was fun to see all the trucks and buggies! I don't care what people say about Ensenada, or the bad rap it sometimes get, I LOVE Ensenada! All in all it was a great trip, no bummers until Southern Oregon when we had to take off our shorts and flip-flops and put on pants and socks, UGH! We learned a lot on our first trip down the Baja, it's best to do the trip down to Bahia Asuncion in 2 days, what's the rush, Baja is about stopping along the way and taking in the beauty, talking to people along the way, supporting the local businesses, and enjoying the journey not just the destination! Next month we fly into San Diego and drive down from there, and I already have hotel reservations in San Quintin LOL! It was so nice doing the trip up the Baja in 2 days, we made many stops along the way and were really able to take in the Baja magic of slow down and take in the moment! I would like to add that we diligently searched for Gary Patton in our travels, and saw a flyer in El Rosario and Catavina in the store there. I will post later on that forum! Thanks to everyone on these boards who share such valuable info, and thanks to the people in BA who were such a big help! And thanks to Diane and John for leaving the house full of great stuff we can use and for being so helpful!! And a special thanks to Sirena for being our tour guide down the Baja, and Izaak at 3 years old is a good Spanish teacher too! If you're on the fence about Baja, if you're on the fence about buying or renting there, if you're on the fence about making a change for the better, JUST DO IT!!!!! Baja is magical!! So if you're ever in Bahia Asuncion when we are there, stop by, we love visitors, mi casa es su casa!!! This was the craziest thing we ever did buy a house in Baja in a place we had never been to before we bought this house, but sometimes you just gotta go with your gut feeling and take the leap...and thankfully the stars aligned as it is by far the best thing we ever did! For us being in Baja also allows a great base place for us to explore the SOC side too, and other parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Panama etc. Let the adventures begin!!!!

mulegemichael - 11-18-2013 at 03:35 PM

luna...where in washington do you live?....we live in sequim when we aren't down south in mulege....mike and roz.

shari - 11-18-2013 at 03:47 PM

great report Ms.Luna and we are so glad you had a great experience on your first time in your new home. We look forward to spending the holidays together.

...one tiny suggestion is that you break your posts up into shorter paragraphs so it's easier to read...it makes a huge difference.

BajaLuna - 11-18-2013 at 03:58 PM

Mike, we are in Snohomish County!

Hope to visit with you one of these days when we come to Mulege!!!!

DianaT - 11-18-2013 at 09:55 PM

Really good to hear that everything went so well. We hope our lists were understandable and helpful. The only furniture we miss are the tables that Jamie built. Enjoy them. :yes:

And we have heard so much about the new community garden, we are really looking forward to seeing it. That group is doing so much that is good. Besides, the garden is located behind a very special home. :yes:

We miss our home there, and even more, we miss our friends, so it is wonderful to hear that someone else is going to love that little house and become friends with our friends and understand why.

We also never intended to buy a home in Baja and it turned out to be six great years and we left there with friends who will be with us always.

ENJOY

[Edited on 11-29-2013 by DianaT]

BajaLuna - 11-18-2013 at 11:32 PM

thanks Shari! Now if I could only figure out how to live there fulltime now rather than later, then everything would be peachy!

BajaLuna - 11-19-2013 at 12:14 AM

I love to cook too, but boy oh boy I need to up my game to keep up with Ed and Jean's cooking talents!!

Oh yes, your lists were most helpful, and I printed out everything you emailed us on the how-tos about the house and took it down with us and we were so glad we did!

Jaime IS a very talented woodworker and he is currently building upper kitchen cabinets for us!

Being a food gardener myself, I am realllllly looking forward to contributing to the community garden, I have been involved in one here where I live up here in the PNW and find it so much fun!! I also grow for the food bank here, plant a row for the hungry program. I'm very passionate about community gardens, so this is right up my alley! I have a lot to learn about growing food in Baja though! Bringing some heirloom seeds with me in Dec.

I had never seen a fig tree before except of course in pictures, and as soon as someone identified for me that the one in the side yard was indeed a fig tree, we picked 3 figs and ate them and they were delicious! Can't wait to have enough to make jam!

Oh yes Diane, we love the house, it will be well taken care of, well loved and enjoyed to the fullest!

BajaBlanca - 11-19-2013 at 08:50 AM

wow, how fun to hear of dreams coming true!

DianaT - 11-19-2013 at 09:36 AM

That fig tree really struggled, but it great to hear it is finally producing some fruit! Salty wind is not the friend of many plants.

Glad the lists worked --- I live by lists and without them I am lost. :biggrin:

It is a great community, but like in all communities, there are a few who will take from you over and over and use you until they can't get anymore out of you, but you will figure that out and learn to say no.

And I like you nickname for Cataviña --- Bedrock. :yes:

BajaLuna - 11-19-2013 at 11:16 AM

Thanks Blanca! We look forward to taking the drive down to your place one of these days!

Yes, dreams do come true!

BajaLuna - 11-19-2013 at 11:31 AM

Diane....I'm not sure about fruit trees in Baja, but it is my experience with the fruit trees I have here that they don't get up to full speed in maturity to produce fruit for 3 years. I'll give it a good dose of compost! How old is that fig tree? And the other tree close to it, is some kind of citrus tree? Key Lime? It has thorns on it.

DianaT - 11-19-2013 at 07:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaLuna
Diane....I'm not sure about fruit trees in Baja, but it is my experience with the fruit trees I have here that they don't get up to full speed in maturity to produce fruit for 3 years. I'll give it a good dose of compost! How old is that fig tree? And the other tree close to it, is some kind of citrus tree? Key Lime? It has thorns on it.


The fig was planted in 2007 and has been moved twice to get it more out of the wind --- lots of Mesquite dirt was used, but maybe it is now happy. I have no idea what the citrus tree is. I know we planted a lime and the it did not work as the salty wind killed it, so we replaced it and I think that is a struggling lemon.

We had great luck with tomatoes in several places, but not much with other veggies. Then again, we never built any wind breaks.

BajaLuna - 11-19-2013 at 11:34 PM

Oops, I forgot Elide told me it was a lemon tree. I was confused when I saw it and that's why I asked her what kind of tree it was because it had long thorns on it, and I had never seen a lemon tree with thorns on it. I just googled that and apparently lemon trees DO have thorns to protect themselves from predators but loose them as they get older, Hmmm I guess I've only seen old lemon trees. Well that's good to know they loose the thorns because those were some wicked long thorns! The lemon tree appears to be doing very well, not struggling at all!

Thanks for your help!