honda tom - 6-4-2014 at 08:12 PM
did a nice little 4 day run out of san felipe. headed down through Gonzaga and the road construction is on full blast. the bridge about 2 miles south
of rancho grande is going to take some time, but there were plenty of people working on it.
sat with coco a while then headed out to the hyw and down to villa jesus maria. fueled up and headed east through the ranchos then south east to el
arco and up to san francisquito. purchased 5 gallons of fuel at one of the ranches. we were treated well at san fran..... a lot different than the
treatment a couple years ago when they made it obvious they wanted us to stay at Betos across the bay.
hit the road south from san fran about 830 the next morning on the no wimps trail. all the best of Baja on this thing! Lots of pangas and divers when
we made the coast. broke a u-joint (plenty of spares) back on our way. great help from TW on the faint trails you had to find (no wrong turns). made
san Ignacio around 430 and found a campsite along the lagoon. had dinner with ricardo at rice and beans and talked a bit about the plans he has for
the punta Trinidad area, very interesting stuff.... he now uses the area often, but oh those roads.
headed down to Bahia san Ignacio the next morning to purchase scallops.... and have lunch by the bay. returned back to san Ignacio and headed north to
san Francisco de la sierra.
the 23 mile trip uphill was very cool. Ive driven by this turnoff some 50 times and always thought "wonder what its like up there". now I know. we
happened to be there during a sat. celebration at a large outdoor covered church. music was playing from a 4 man band, chicken hindquarters were fried
in a large stainless pot, people were well dressed and very hospitable. they invited us to eat and we walked around for a while. couldn't catch
everything that was going on but thought they might be seventh day Adventist? most were from Viscaino and had cameup for the day.
we continued to Rosarito and stayed at the Cactus hotel... 300 pesos. clean... hot water... nice restaurant, sat night and the restaurant packed out
at 830 with locals, good seafood menu.
Sun drove through the fog for an hour or so, made the drive into cocos. Sat with coco for an hour or so. he seems to think the road will go by about
5km west from his current location.
had a nice lunch of shrimp tacos at rancho grande and back to san felipe for a couple days.
of roads that are not cool and churches that are not churches
susaninlapaz - 6-5-2014 at 02:33 PM
Great trip report--you inspire me to write more of my own. HOWEVER, it's people like you who get people like me in trouble! If you like, you can go
find my post about driving that road for the first and last time in my 1979 motor home...and the large outdoor "church" is actually a community
activity space (the church is the orange building on your right as you enter town), and i will eat your hat if a 7th Day-er lives up there! Had the
pleasure of 3 weeks in May there, including a community-wide fiesta to celebrate Mothers Day...
honda tom - 6-5-2014 at 10:55 PM
you are correct about the actual church being aside from this community building as you called it. but the function on this day was a religious based
event. the music and singing was all religious. my friend (speaking better Spanish than I) believed that this group was seventh dayr's.
the road up was not that big of a deal for any vehicle that a nomad would have down this far from the border. I would think that a rational person in
a motorhome might stop and think twice about continuing on when the asphalt ended and the road narrowed..... I would not have continued in a 35 year
old motorhome.
TMW - 6-9-2014 at 09:45 AM
That's a fun trip for sure. Thanks for the report.
David K - 6-9-2014 at 12:28 PM
Cactus hotel in Rosarito and restaurant? Can you give more detail please? It almost sounds like Baja Cactus in El Rosario, but no restaurant there.
Just Mama Espinoza's next door.
honda tom - 6-9-2014 at 02:02 PM
Resturant is called Mauricio. it is on google earth (with pictures) north of the big sweeping left in Rosarito, next to the auto parts store. The
hotel was clean with nice bathrooms.... maybe 8 rooms... 300 pesos. painted on the wall surrounding the hotel parking lot was "cactus hotel" it does
not show as built yet on my GE.
David K - 6-9-2014 at 05:49 PM
Okay... thanks for clarifying... Rosarito between Punta Prieta and Villa Jesus Maria (sometimes known as Nuevo Rosarito so not to be confused with the
famous one just south of Tijuana).
Wonder if the owner got the name idea from Baja Cactus?
4baja - 6-10-2014 at 04:22 AM
tom, did you eat at the restaurant with the brick trim up and around the door? me and bo used to go there and then backtrack back to rosalaita just
because the scallops soup was so dam good. great trip report.
honda tom - 6-11-2014 at 10:04 AM
Steve.... right?
that's the one. The seafood menu was extensive. I ate tacos at a favorite stand in Guerrero Negro.... so I watched my buddy eat garlic butter fish.