February 24th – March 6th
Baja Part 1
Baja California, Mexico
Making our way to the Baja Penninsula. It’s Mexican road trip time!
A few of our stops before entering Mexico.
Making our way
Leaving Tucson we had a few days of easy driving ahead of us to reach Baja California. With no strict timetable, we were free to take in a couple roadside attractions.
This gas station had some nice bathrooms and, of course, giant dinosaur sculptures.
Baby dino!
More yard ornaments than anybody has room for!
Oops! Camrin parked on a cactus.
Sorry pencil cholla cactus, I didn’t see you there.
Saguaro and mountains in the distance.
Gnarly Ocotillo branches.
Spring is finally here in the desert. We haven’t seen many of these leafing out yet.
Laura working on photos in the car. What an elegant desk space.
We passed some crazy “UFO crash site.”
You can rent a flying saucer retrieval truck. Who knew?
Camrin really wanted a date shake so we stopped at Martha’s Gardens date farm in Yuma, AZ!
The date palms seemed to stretch on forever!
The Southern California Sunsets are beautiful!
Casinos let you camp in their lot for free as long as you let the security desk know. We found the Golden Acorn casino to be in a nice location just south of San Diego.
We signed up for a club card and got $10 worth of free plays and all the soda we could drink. It was a nice way to avoid the chilly night air.
Laura found a machine where Betty White tells you dirty jokes as you play.
Went back in the morning for our free coffee.
Found some BLM land near wind turbines to camp at for our last night before Mexico.
This campsite wasn’t too far from the Casino so we had the whole day to finish planning our Mexico trip.
Home for the night. We woke up in the middle of the night and had to put on the rain fly because it started pouring and dripping on Camrin. Wow, was it cold! Luckily the rain stopped before morning.
What?!! The rain didn’t stop it just froze!
Our first snowfall of the trip and we’re only 10 miles from the Mexico border! Time to pack up quick!
It’s so peculiar to see snow-covered cactus.
Luckily we have Wisconsin driving skills to get us out of the mountains and down to where there is no snow.
Time for Mexico!!
Confused as to where we are? We present you with our Part 1 map! Our border crossing and all of the places we stayed are circled brightly so you can see where we’re at.
We decided to cross the Mexican border in Tecate over Tijuana because we heard it’s not as busy and it’s a much nicer city. The internet didn’t lie! Also, it’s home to the Tecate brewery which is a cornerstone of the city’s economy the same way Miller is for Milwaukee. Nothing makes us happier than driving through a beer town.
So we just ended up in Mexico. We took the “nothing to declare” line and it was too easy! Nobody even checked our car or searched us. We had to walk around the block to find the Instituto Nacional de Migración or INM so we could get our FMM or tourist Visas. A lot of people forget this step which can cause you some issues if they ask for it at a Military checkpoint. You’re better off driving in the line for declaring things so you can fill it out in your car. Our Spanish was terrible so we didn’t get any photos in the INM because we were so nervous. The INM officer helping us with our paperwork who was just as bad at English as we were at Spanish offered to sell us some hot sauce which we politely declined. You actually have to walk out of the INM office partway through the process to the banqometer booth so that you can pay for your visa (500 pesos each or about $24) and then bring back the receipt to show the INM officer which gets stapled Now off to drive the Baja Penninsula!
Big wheel in Tecate.
The mountains just south of Tecate are beautiful! Laura is happy!
A little rain on our first day, but at least it’s not snow.
Another bonus to crossing the border at Tecate is you get to drive the Ruta Del Vino or simply Wine Route. This is the Napa Valley of Mexico and it is full of beautiful vineyards. The roads here are great. We had planned to stay in Ensenada but we were making great time, so we decided to keep driving to a secondary camping spot we picked.
We arrived at Cielito Lindo in San Quintín, Baja California. RV park, restaurant, motel, bar, and American ex-Pat retirement community.
When in Mexico…
Got a little rain but it made for a nice rainbow for our first night in Mexico.
One of the American retirees that live at Cielito Lindo has this dog, which Camrin nicknamed Happy because he always looked like he was smiling. He was up for some scratches any time of the day.
Our home for the night! Only 90 pesos (around $5) with free wifi and hot showers! When we unfolded our tent a big pile of snow plopped out. Our camp neighbor told us to pick it up quick because that’s good drinking water!
We took a walk to the nearby beach to collect some sand dollars.
Watching storms roll in from the ocean along the beach dunes.
The next morning we drove through Área Natural Protegida Valle de los Cirios which means Valley of the Candles Protected Natural Area. It is a huge national park which is a mostly high desert. It is recommended that you gas up in El Rosario because there is no gas for the next 250 miles. Don’t confuse it with Rosarito or El Rosario in Baja California Sur or you’ll be purchasing gas out of a 50-gallon drum in one of the tiny towns in the middle of the Natural Area for a steep price. This stretch also has some of the worst potholes we’ve ever seen so drive slow. You also might have to pee behind a cactus on the side of the road.
We did come across a crew working hard in the desert sun to get the roads resurfaced, which was a good sight, but these roads didn’t have the nice wide shoulders that the further north sections of Transpeninsular 1 had. We made the mistake of hitting the first gas station we saw on the other side which was expensive. There is a gas station in Guerrero Negro which is much more reasonable and takes credit cards. Also when you cross 28° north there is an agricultural booth that will spray the underside of your car as you enter the state of Baja California Sur and charge you 3 pesos for it. Luckily we had that in the cup holder. Hold on to that receipt because you may need it on your way back up.
Welcome to Guerrero Negro!
We made it to our campgrounds just outside Guerrero Negro. It even comes with a little cabana because the wind here is pretty crazy. This place is called Laguna Ojo de Liebre Campground which means eye of the jackrabbit lagoon. It is also on a whale sanctuary and there are grey whale tours. A lot of people recommended this place for whale watching but we decided to save our money and that if we really want to, we can come back on our way North and do it. We also drove through the worlds largest salt mine to get here.
“Walk on the path” This is the path to our outhouse!
Tina against the beautiful sunset!
Guerrero Negro is a beautiful place.
An awesome sign leaving the campground the next day.
Grey whale skeleton by the pier for whale watching tours.
This is the Guerrero Negro salt mine which produces seven million tons of salt per year.
Salty evaporation pools.
We stopped at the super mercado in Guerrero Negro so we could get everything in one place rather than going to a bunch of separate stores to restock on food. Really, we liked the “American” feel at this place. We were fish out of water in this country, so we welcomed this tiny comfort. Luckily Camrin is good at reading Spanish and knows food words.
We found a young guy with a fish taco stand. We like to go to stands with tons of locals at it because you know the food will be good and fresh. In Mexico you eat and then you pay when you’re done.
The Baja Penninsula has a lot of Mediterranean and Asian influences in its food. A lot of fish and cabbage slaw. Yum!
Camrin destroying two fish tacos. uno más, por favor!
Onward to San Ignacio!
San Ignacio is an old oasis town. The Misión San Ignacio Kadakaamán sits right on the town square and is a beautiful 18th-century mission.
Here is the inside of the mission. What a beautiful place just saturated with history.
Taking a closer look at the masonry of this incredibly old building.
Look at this awesome hippy van we found parked at the square!
Nothing like a tortilleria! You can get freshly made tortillas by the kilo. THE KILO!!
We stopped in here and got a date cake! Camrin really needed that cake.
More people dining around the town square.
Camrin with her date cake, plotting how to lure the puppies to come with us.
Camrin wanted to take this puppy home but it looks like a domestic fox.
We headed to our campsite a little later just outside of the town square.
Campsite setup under the date palms, next to the lagoon. This is some old lady’s farm where you can camp for 100 pesos a night. the bathroom situation isn’t great but the view is!
Nothing like relaxing in this beautiful place.
Entrance to the RV park.
Camrin is still just sitting there reading. Look at all of the dates on the ground!
This is a friend that Camrin made at the campsite. She fed him dates and named him Pato Lindo (cute duck) even though he’s a Coot.
A nice view of the river from inside of our tent.
Celebrating our beautiful campsite with a little whiskey.
Sunset on the river in a beautiful oasis.
Beautiful Mulegé!
Camrin in front of a vibrantly blooming bougainvillea tree.
The Agua Purificadas are important to note when you’re driving through town. They will take your water jug, wash it, and fill it with purified water. We paid around 14 pesos to fill our five-gallon jug.
We met this guy biking through Mulegé. He is biking the whole Baja Penninsula. Laura took his photo with his camera and then one with her own camera. He’s much braver than we are.
Meat shop!
Stopped into Magos Coffee and Sweets. Free wifi and a cup of caffeine.
Quite a few Americans taking in the free wifi.
Squeezing by on the sidewalk.
This is the street side of Magos. They have the most amazing date cookies We’ve ever eaten!
They are two huge cookies with an amazing date paste slapped between them. Yum!!
We stopped at Asadero Danny for lunch. This place is great!
This place is run by Danny and his wife.
Of course, it’s time for cervezas. On the wall by the CRT tv is a photo of Danny from his boxing days with his championship belts. We chowed down on some awesome fish tacos and enjoyed some cold beers.
Playa Escondida!
Now it’s time to hit up our next campsite. Playa La Escondida is Spanish for hidden beach. There is a huge hill to get in, so this is the only beach with no massive RVs on it. Only 100 pesos a night if you don’t have a cabana.
Exploring the coast line by the beach. The Bahía Concepción or bay of conception in the background.
A little crab in a shell Camrin turned over.
Home sweet home!
That’s no sun! It’s actually the moon shining brightly on the beach.
Time to hike up to the Saint Mary Grotto! You can see it wreathed in blue light in the previous photo.
We made it!
Shrines like this are all over Mexico. This is the first one we saw with solar lights.
We have a great view of the beach from here! you can almost make out a few of the other beaches.
Laura looking majestic after conquering this mountain.
We walked over to the nearby town of Posada Concepcion which has a little restaurant and hostel. This area was hit by a bad hurricane in 2014 so there are still some ruined foundations here and there.
Beautiful murals! The houses here are all pretty.
With the sunshade up the heat isn’t so bad.
Our beach has colorful outhouses.
These are our neighbors from Canada. Their rig is huge!
Walking along the rocks.
Lots of vendors come to the beach to sell to the Americans and Canadians camping on the beach. This couple came all the way from their summer home in Oaxaca where they do the weaving to sell these beautiful rugs.
Adventure vehicle central!
It’s easy to get up for sunrise when it’s this beautiful.
Thanks for checking out the first part of our Mexico trip!
Next up part two of the Mexico trip including La Paz, El Sargento, and Cabo Pulmo!
