Trip Report: From Todos Santos to Tecate in 3 easy days
Whenever driving the entire peninsula its helpful to have the follow
ingredients: Lots of Daylight, A helpful co-pilot, A plan, Good weather,
and good luck...I humbly submit this trip report to our fellow nomad
readership with everybit of gratitude and respect to all the truckers who
stayed on their side of the white line...It always impresses me how very
little it would take to be absolutely...actually, i don't even want to go there...,
we made a safe and pleasant trip home and I'm here to tell ya about it...
First of all, it was non-adventurous...it was not a drive-a-thon, nor did we
take any funky 4 x 4 back roads which cost us time, flat tires, and getting lost.
We bailed out of Todos Santos after a leisurely minor morning
pack job, most of our baja gear stored at in a friend's bodega, truck lightly loaded, gassed up, ice block purchased and in the cooler,
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches pre-made, waters in the kleen kanteens,
cliff bars at the ready and it was wagons ho, northbound...left at around
10:30 am with destination of Santa Rosalia, Hotel El Morro by sundown...
La Paz check point fine and dandy, AC, Toyota Tacoma 2003 feeling good,
I-Pod plugged in playing an interesting array of podcasts, really digging this
one called RadioLab from NYC (kinda science and society, values and technol-
ogy all wrapped into one), music, chatting with the wife, just easy 55 to 50
miles per hour, cruising up the baja on a sunny, not too windy day...
Stopped in Ciudad Constitution for the mandatory ice-cream...wife loves her
ice-cream...and gassed up again - they have 4 gas stations on the north
side of CC now, yes, like 4 almost in a row! Ice cream flavors- cappacino
and fresa with cream...right...and back into the vehicle to head to the
east side...
Got to the coast with the sun still up high in the sky...travelling this time
of year is Soooo much easier cuz the sun is out sooooo much longer per day...
I've made many a trip in Jan and Feb and had the winter's lack of sun be
a big driving bummer...on those trips there's no lagging around, its 7 to 5 and
shut 'er down with the sun down...but this time year...the chariot of the sun
marches on and on across the sky for hours and hours...making for easier, unhurried travels...
anyways, yah, hit the coast and wouldn't ya know it, the road on that side, well, they are a fixing it! good for them! I took a trip right after
hurricane John, that
one that blasted the Mulege area two summers back and that eastern seaboard
around Juncalito to Loreto was pretty hacked - big drop outs of road and no
markers as to where the damage was and all of that...yah, so road there is fixed
and easy travelling..Hit Loreto and ate a cliff bar, kept driving, just cruising...
now from Loreto to that Cereso prison place i must say there was a serious speed trap...the signs say 60 kph and they want it kept at that pace cuz
the yellow and black policia dodge trucks were on the lookout for folks driving too fast there...i chilled out and drove even mellower than usual and
kept it pinned on the dot a
mild 60 kph following directions and avoiding problemas...
rolled into Santa Rosalia, hotel el morro at around 7:40 with tons of sunlight to spare...took a stroll around the premises and ya know what, they
fixed the pool! yep, that's right, that old decrepid pool has been retiled and fixed and has warm water in it, well, warm enough, and its clean and
swimmable...that hotel has some of the best palm trees in the whole baja...walled parking too, some rooms suck for sure, but somehow, we didn't even
get a crappy room! we did ask for a queen bed (390 pesos) and they gave us a beaut complete with an eye watering smell of pine sol cleanliness to
prove their point that they really clean it well...
didn't bother with the restuarant at hotel el morro...despite their cantina and restaurant having a breathtaking view of the sea of cortez, we
missioned on into the Santa Rosalia town for a bit of dinner...went to El Muelle, near the iglesia santa barabara (the one eifel designed) and had a
very enjoyable meal on that Friday night of Memorial Day weekend...Town was hopping, girls wearing cute mexi-townish gear, dudes smiling in friday
night kind of way, cars and trucks moving about playing music...the Friday night town vibe adding to the meal...back to the hotel and to sleep...
next day, relaxed start, but promptish at around 7:30 am, shoved-off with destination Palomar hotel in Santo Tomas way up there by San Vicente, just
south of Maneandro and Ensenada...Wife fed me pre-cut papaya with lime, pb and jelly sandwiches, pretty much a solid pretty day of driving, without
the nasty wind, thank goodness!, Stopped off in San Iggy's at Gary and Terry's Canadian Oasis of Hospitality Yurt Outpost named the Hot Springs Resort
or something - the yurt place and enjoyed Terry's fabulous breakfast and ate so much canadian bacon and fresh bread and all of that...great
stuff...basically drove all day and crossed the big stretch from Guerrero Negro to El Rosario without any drama...Before the big desert stretch we
stopped in Villa Jesus Maria for gas, i guess they have great tamales at the little shop there, but we were all set so we didn't bother with 'em, but
yah...just cruised and got to El Rosario with no worries...Gassed up there of course and being that it was late Saturday afternoon there was a women's
softball game happening at the stadium there, lots of cars parked all around, quite festive really but we kept moving along the road anyway.
after about 3 more RadioLab podcasts and some music breaks we
made it to the palomar motel and parked up top, out of sight of the main road, and got a fun funky room on the top level with a view of the eucalptus
trees across the street...did you know there's a pool and a park and palapas and tables and benches and all kinds of good relaxing stuff across the
street right there...not to mention the palomar hotel has gas too...talk about one-stop shopping! the restaurant prices are a bit high and since they
don't cook all the time i don't bother with the food there but the ambiance of the joint is pretty sweet...so many random collections of coins and
beer cans and photos and stuff...like a kitch museum or something...but anyways, now it was saturday night and we ate leftovers out of our cooler and
the music blared from across the street and
the wife and i were so exhausted we just slept like babies anyways...
next morning the plan was to hit ensenada fish market, hit the shops a bit, give the guy tony ortiz at the mexican folk art gallery our wedding
pictures for him to give to the gals who make the awesome dia de los muertos characters so they could make characters of us..., eat some fish tacos
and jam out of town around noon, drive to Tecate and get on back home to southern california...well, that's pretty much what we did...First stop, Fish
Market- Yellow tail Fish was just laying there all dead and yummy looking and sure enough Jesus and Allejandro sliced it up for us...got good fish
from them as always...they are the stand in the market with all the netting and decorations on their booth...old school good guys with great fresh
selections....also from them we got cabrilla small filets for ceviche and or tacos, got opa steaks for the bbq...from other vendors we got corbina,
abalone, halibut and smoked marlin...yeah, we spent about 50 bucks but that fish will have us laughing with fish for the next few months. yeah,
shopping and passed the photos to Tony and chatted with him for a bit, and ate a Navolato fish cart on the main road across from the bronze
heads...such good mariscos and tacos and ceviche..forget about it!!! Navolato is a fish place to be reckoned with...yummy! remember its across from
the bronze heads in the port of ensenada - go there!
Anyways, yeah took the Ruta de Vino on hwy 3 to Tecate...so easy and charming. Beautiful road. I know this one soul cat from Colorado who was saying
that's some of the prettiest terrain in all of baja and he' s right...its amazing there...vineyards and rolling hills and random boulders and
stuff...it looks like a sprawling San Luis Obisbo county kind of country...seriously amazing place...yeah, so got Tecate, drove through the town, got
lost briefly and figured it out after asking some dude in the car next to us...basically follow the signs to mexicali and then you'll see an option
for the border...waited about 45 mins in line and crossed about 3pm-ish...no worries...
Met up with my folks for dinner...BBQed the Opa steaks...mom had some aspargus ready for the grill too so chucked that on the bbq and the wife updated
the folks about the trip home...then after dinner i lavished on the floor and chatted with the folks as the wife did the dishes...That was sunday
night of memorial day weekend..we planned to get home on sunday so monday we could get ourselves back together and get back to work on tuesday...
Anyways, fellow nomad, easy trip, good times, really liking the May drive as
opposed to the jan / feb limited daylight deal...hope you enjoyed the story, long winded as it maybe, i know, but just wanted to share a pleasant
experience with you...
take care fellow nomads and always be aware on those roads...
vivaloha
Baja California can be a heaven or hell experience - often the determining factor is your AWARENESS in the moment.
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