The Baja road – Mexican 1 – is
quite a unique experience. It is wide enough for two cars and barely
wide enough for a truck and an RV to pass each other. I'm glad we
have a van. The road itself wouldn't be too bad except there are no
shoulders and miles of steep drop off. When I read that online, I
thought they meant that there are cliffs with no guardrails and steep
drop offs. But that wasn't it. Instead, the road is built up –
so it sits maybe 4 feet above the surrounding ground. The asphalt
sits inches above that; so you can't drive off the road for breaks,
emergencies, or to escape an on-coming car. You basically have to stay on the road. Speed limits are set
around 80 kph (50mph) and are a good limit if people kept to it.
Unfortunately, most people don't. You find yourself having to be
very attentive while driving, as you cannot relax too much, as if you did, there's a good chance your car could flip as the drop off is so great. The
good news is, the road is generally in very good condition with minimal traffic. This is why there is advice not to drive at night. It's much more hazardous if you stray. So, you drive closer to the middle of the whole
road until you confront another car. The roads seem somewhat better,
with more gradual tapering of the sides of the road in Baja Sur.
Past El Rosario, you turn inland. The
desert here is uninhabited and very stunning. There are acres of
various cacti, including the odd circio cactus and an area of huge
boulders mixed in with the cactus. Finally no broken glass and just
the stark beauty of a natural landscape.Driving onwards we crossed the desert until we saw the Sea of Cortez. The blue you see is just amazing! It's such a contrast to the desert you've been in for the last day or two and is a welcoming site. We went on near the Bahia de Conception and I felt like we were in St. Thomas, Caribbean. The drive south from there had gorgeous bays, islands and cactus – with crystal clear waters. You'd see rows of RVs parked along the water's edge. We met people from Canada who had lived there for the winter, and who had come to this area every year for 9 years. We later learned that that isn't all that unusual. Many people make the drive in Nov or so and stay until May. We asked at one park; they charged $1500 for one year, no matter if you stayed six months or twelve. Their nightly rate was about $8.
We stopped in La Paz. We walked the
malecon and were quite impressed with the cleanliness and layout of the city. We decided to stay Friday night to check out the dancing and
night life there. That evening, we heard this solo guitar player at
a restaurant/bar play and sing – and he started off with “No Se
Tu” - a Luis Miguel favorite of ours – and just commanded the
song. We were hooked. His playing and spin on songs were creative
and masterful. When he sang, “Imagine”, we got up to dance in
the middle of a courtyard – and ended up getting an ovation from
the crowd. These two guys from the States complimented us, and we
ended up moving to their table and exchanging stories. Turns out
they both graduated in 1969 (same as Bob) and both had the same
motorcycle as Bob did; and are all the same age (well, not me). The
one guy, Dennis, sailed his 36' sailboat from the mainland Mexico
last week and offered to take us sailing. We met up with them the
following day, made our arrangements for next week and plan to go out
on their boat for a 3-5 day sailing excursion of the islands near La
Paz. This is a dream come true – the best diving is around these
islands, with schools of whales, sharks (the nicer kinds), seals and
dolphins all around. We are really excited about this trip next
week! Wow! All from one dance!
But this week, we are in La Ventana –
about a half hour drive out of La Paz. This is a famous
windsurfing/kiteboarding (sailors) area. From the small dot on the
map, we assumed it was a small nothing town. Wow – were we
surprised. The “Campground” has sailors that live here for
months at a time. Once again, they drive their rigs down in Nov or
so, and stay here, camp out, windsurf or kite for months – then
leave and head to the Columbia River Gorge in the summer.
Professional bums? Or what? I don't know – people living cheaply,
really LIVING – doing what they love. There are restaurants here,
gas stations, mini supermarkets, etc., so you can get your supplies
as needed. The water is nice – right out your front
door; and everyone is friendly and ready to lend a hand. It's
eye-opening. To camp here is from $3-$12/night, depending on the
amenities. You forget you are in Mexico; there are Mexican restaurants and Mexican workers, but everyone else around are American or Canadian.
Must tell about our experience with
the police. We had entered the town of Cuidad Insurgente. The sign
showed a left to take to head towards La Paz. We took that left.
Well, turns out that right there, that left was a one-way, so as soon
as we realized it, we righted ourselves. The proper left was the
NEXT left. Well, the police were waiting for Gingros like us to make
that mistake and pulled us over. “Ticket, you!” to Bob. He says
that'll be $200 or $100 if we pay them now and we can go on our way.
We say, “$200 USD?” Si, senorita. We tell them we will go to the
station and pay there. We insist on that – and they take Bob's
license and tell us to follow them to the station. At some point,
maybe a mile later, on a side street, they pull over – so we do.
He comes back and says, “$70 at station; $50 now”. We say no –
we'll go to the station. Take us there. He says something about us
having to wait until 8am tomorrow. We say “Fine – give us
directions to it, we'll go in the morning”. We pull out some paper
for him to write on. He scribbles a little, shows us on a map that
the station is supposedly 25km north opposite of where we were headed
in some other smaller town and again mentions the money. We say,
we'll go to station in the morning – where is it – address,
Senor? He tries to get us to speak Spanish, (we could pick up very
little really of what he said, plus his English was tough to
understand as well), goes to his squad car, talks to his buddy, comes
back, hands us our license and says, “Goodbye – you can go”.
What'd we learn? Play dumb. Insist on going to the station. They
want you to feel inconvenienced so you will pay the bribe and get on
your way. There was no ticket.
Generally tho, the military checkpoints
(of which there have been half a dozen) are of no consequence.
Mostly we are waved through after we mention where we are headed and
“vacation”. That is the magic word.
A tip for those traveling from North
Baja to Baja Sur tho. There is a vegetable/agricultural stop at the
border here. You must turn over all your fruits and possibly
vegetables to them, even ones you bough in North Baja. We learned of
this the night before after buying fruit and ended up gorging on what we had purchased
for one week in two meals. 4 oranges, 3 avocados, 5 apples, a
cantelope, half a papaya and two bananas – Wow! But didn't want to
throw it away. Next time we'll know!
Nice start Mary - love the photos. The cacti sure look amazing. Keep the blog entries coming!
ReplyDeletePretty cool. Gosh you gringos, already squeaking out of police confrontations! =D
ReplyDeleteNice second article about the sailing trip - you are definitely becoming a blogger (or is that a blogess?). Keep the articles & photos coming!
ReplyDelete