Baja is a wrap and on to Mainland Mexico

(quick disclaimer - This blogging software sucks for formatting, so cut me a little slack.  I'll try to get it figured out better.)

After leaving Bahia del Cangrejo de los Muertos, Gordon and I headed off Loreto.  We were pleasantly surprised to find our travel family excitedly waving us down on the malecón.  Not sure which of us is stalking the other.  After checking in to our Airbnb (yes, a night out of the van!), we wandered downtown to watch our Airbnb hostess (Penelope) sing.  She was quite good!  We then settled in to a nice dinner with Justin, Amanda, Everett, and Madison to celebrate their 10^th anniversary.  A very nice evening indeed!

Roadside shrine out in the middle of nowhere

Loreto AirBnB

Random pipe sticking up in the middle of the road.

Rumored to be Spielberg's yacht with Obama and Tom Hanks on board.

Happy 10 Anniversary Justin & Amanda!

Tequila nightcap.
















Next day, it got real for me.  I’m a solo traveler now after dropping Gordon off at the airport.  It felt very lonely until I made my way to a stunningly beautiful beach that had my travel family waiting for me.  This place turned into a 3 night stay and could have easily been more except I do need to get to Costa Rica by a set date to pick up Joan at the airport!  The paddle board got a lot of use here.  First morning started with a 2.5 hour paddle.  It was fantastic.  I followed a sea turtle and spotted ray around for a while.

The days at this beach just kind of slipped away.  Some good hikes, more paddling, a walk to a local ranch to buy fresh produce pulled straight from the garden, more paddling, a few beers and couple sips of tequila.  This is what I had envisioned Baja to be.

I finally left my travel family (the_adventures_of_m_and_e (.com or on IG)) to head to Agua Verde.  I wasn’t sure I’d see them again, so it was again a little sad to be on my own again.  I think I’ll have this feeling every time I leave new friends.

Hoping I eventually find cheap fuel.  It's California expensive here.

It was a haul into Agua Verde.  Started with beautiful paved road, then old paved road, then rough graded road, then steep narrow washed out mountain side roads.  About 1:45 or so to make my way all the way in off the main road.  At one point there was a crew trying to lay concrete on a steep narrow section.  After a request from the main guy for cigarettes, he waved me on through the wet cement.  That was repeated on the way out a couple days later.  I guess they just smooth it over until the next car comes by and so on (job security).

Made my way to a place on iOverlander stating it was located in palms at a lagoon.  After a lot of false turns and significant additional pinstriping to the van, I finally found it.  In the light of the next morning, it proved to be a very cool spot.

Before leaving the area I wanted to check out the small village of Agua Verde.  As happens, one thing leads to another and I spent the night there after making some new Canadian friends.  We spent a long time talking over lunch then a hike up the mountain adjacent to the beach.  Lots of time spent watching the pelicans group dive bomb.  It’s mesmerizing to watch.

 

At the recommendations of another couple on the beach (Sean & Gina – IG: sean.gina.adventures), I headed to my first night on a Pacific beach being convinced it was stunning.  They were right!  Soft sand, not another soul in sight, and the roar of the Pacific surf.  A great night spent there.

I really had to get to La Paz and figure out the ferry to mainland, so I was off early the next day.  A few texts later I discovered my travel family was in La Paz so I went straight to their camp to say hi.  We spent the day together around La Paz and camped in the dunes that night after a lot of sand driving and airing down.

The next day was a “work day”.  Fill up on water, quick stop to Home Depot to find a part for my air compressor system, fuel up, and most important, figure out how to get to mainland.

The process at the ferry terminal was a little chaotic (at least for me with my limited Spanish speaking skills).  Was told I had to go through immigration to get to the Baja Ferry office.  Had to explain to immigration officer that I wasn’t leaving today and the van didn’t need to be searched.  Then to the office.  They seemed confused on what to make of my van so had me go get it weighed and measured.  They broke the line of semi-trucks to let me in.  Length was 6.8 meters (which is good as price jumps up a lot at 7 meters) and weight was almost 11,700 lbs.  I thought I was closer to 11,000 lbs.  Poor van is going to be tired after this trip.

I brought the paperwork back to the office.  After a bit of calculations and confirmation that I wanted a cabin, my grand total came to $408 US.  Not bad.  Now the hard part.  How do I get out of the ferry terminal?  After a lot of driving in circles I followed a semi that ended up at a military checkpoint.  These guys were not comprehending what I was doing there and finally just waved me through more out of frustration.

After enjoying a lunch of octopus tacos and cerveza, I met up with my travel family again and off to Playa El Tecolote for my last night in Baja.  The final Baja sunset did not disappoint!  After a nice hike the next morning, I said my goodbyes (probably for a very long time this time) and off to the ferry terminal.

Much to my surprise, they had me weighed and measured again before they would give me my ticket.  Then off to get in que to get on the ship.  I was first up after the semi-trucks backed in (I think the guy in front of me was his first time backing his truck up.  He had to take several tries at it and the dock workers were getting very frustrated with him.)  Then into the ship for me, up the ramp to next level and back into my spot.  Just as I locked the van, a guy came over and said I had to move it to the other side of the ship.  I guess because I have such a fat ass van and would have caused the ship to list had I stayed where I was??

At reception I was shown personally to my cabin (much better service than expected).  After walking around the ship a bit, talked to yet more new friends, and I had my included dinner.  The food wasn’t much to write home about (as with breakfast).  I watched a bit of the live singing act.  They were actually pretty good, but I wasn’t going to spend the night with what was mostly truck drivers seeing how much Tecate they could drink.  Off to a rocky night of sleep on the high seas. 

We docked in Mazatlán between 8 and 9 in the morning.  I spent a few hours seeing the sights then headed for the mountains.  For some reason, I felt like a break from beaches so headed to Mexiquilla that I had seen on other traveler’s posts.  I took the free road instead of the new toll road.  My thinking is I’d rather go slow and see the sights than just fly along on a big highway.  The free road was MUCH slower.  Extremely windy and much longer, but beautiful scenery and interesting going through all the small towns.  It makes me wonder what happened to these towns economy when the traffic stopped.  I bet I can count on one hand the number of cars I passed in about 4 hours of driving.

I eventually climbed to my camping elevation of 8,400’.  Much colder up there!  Camped at a small lake in the park, ate, and passed out from a long day.

 

Next day revealed what the park was all about.  First the bad … it’s really sad all the garbage I’ve seen on this trip.  This park had toilet paper everywhere, bottles, and other garbage.  Just sad for me.

Now the good … I headed to the falls that were supposed to be outstanding.  Well, they were OK.  I think the water flow is a bit low now.  Then I headed down the trail hoping to find the train tunnels I had read about.  Turns out the trail was the old rail route and I finally started going through tunnels.  It was very cool!  This rail line was never completed but was intended to be a rail line connecting Mazatlán to Durango.  The longest tunnel was 1.5km long.  It was very rough and slow going with a good portion of it never being finished off with huge boards bolted to the ceiling to help hold it up.  I’ll admit I felt a little anxious being in the middle of this tunnel.  I hiked around a bit when I decided I had driven far enough walking through a few more tunnels.  This route is on the side of a very steep mountain and the views were stunning.

Finally headed out of the park and decided to go towards Durango to see what it is about.  First had to do a little diagnosis work on the van to find out why it is throwing a code.  I think I found the problem and will work to resolve in a few days when I’m where it is warmer.  Spent the night at Parque Ecológico El Tecúan.  Nothing really special about it but for ~$2.50 it felt like a safe place to spend the night.  Secluded in the pines and VERY COLD.  The morning outside temp was 15 deg F and 30 deg F inside.  I really need to get back to the beach!

 

I saw the heard of elk (I think) on the way out of the park.

In Durango I headed to the town center.  Parking was near impossible but finally found a spot several blocks away.  There are several squares (parks) in this area of town, the buildings were all very clean and colorful.  The Cathedral Basilica Minor of the Immaculate Conception was impressive.  Constructed between 1695 & 1787 it is said to be the most important building in the city and state of Durango. 

 

I wandered around town some more, grabbed some street tacos and hit the road.

I ended up taking Route 23 back to the coast.  This turned out to be a very long and windy haul with stunning scenery.  3,000 to 4,000 foot elevation swings all day long and the most winding roads I think I’ve ever been on.  This was a paved road, but was littered with boulders, rocks, holes, cows, horses, donkeys, pigs, goats, dogs, etc the entire way.  As I watched the sun get lower, I tried to find a place to call home for the night.  This proved very difficult and eventually the headlights came on.  I broke my number 1 rule for the first time and was driving at night.  After wandering through the bustling town of Jesus Maria, I noticed a nice level lot next to a small store / house right before leaving town.  I stopped and asked the girl in the store if it would be OK to park there for the night.  She eventually said yes.  I moved the van over and soon met Julio whose house and store it is.  Luckily, he spoke pretty good English and confirmed it was fine for me to spend the night there.  He and his wife (Paloma) came by later to chat.  They are an extremely nice couple and I’m very grateful for their generosity.

For some reason the local rooster started crowing around 3AM, then the donkey was braying, then a goat with a bell was walking around.  Lots of animal noises around town.  A little closer to sunrise there was a lot of high pitched goat noises.  I later found out there were nine 1-day old kids making all the racket.  Paloma gathered them up and stuck them under upside down wood crates.

Paloma and I tried to have a conversation for a bit but I’m afraid my Spanish really needs improving to hold a real dialogue.  She ended up writing me a very nice letter (I translated after I left) thanking me for my visit and inviting me back to partake in the Judea Cora cultural festival.  In her letter she also invited me back with my wife next time.  Can you imagine this kind of generosity in the states?  I can’t. 

Paloma, if you get internet access and see this, you and Julio always have a place to stay if you find yourselves in the San Francisco Bay Area region.  Thank you again!

The next day it was time to get to the beach.  I got up and on the road fairly early and eventually wound my way to a resort where I will spend a couple days with my brother Mike.  Hope I don’t get too spoiled to get back in the van again!

A few additional things I’ve learned:

• Scorpions like to live in dried dead wood and fire drives them out.
• Only fill the fresh water part of the porta-potty half full at a time so it doesn’t keep coming out the vent on bumpy roads / trails.
• Trust in the kindness of strangers.
• Resorts are nice, but I love “real Mexico”.  I didn’t see another gringo between leaving Mazatlán until going through the gates to the resort area of Nuevo Vallarta.
• I really need to take a Spanish emersion course!  Many people have recommended Antigua, Guatemala.  I’ll look into that.
• Leave the van heater on around 40 deg when it’s going to be really cold at night otherwise my water lines freeze.

Until next time ….