Update #5 Loreto to El Receson, Bahia Concepcion

Buenos Dias Everyone;

Our next stop was Loreto. This is a smaller city with about 12,000 people living here. It is considered to be the oldest settlement on the Baja with a history that goes back 12,000 years. It is also where the first European settlement was established.

The Jesuits came here in 1697 and founded the Mision Nuestra Senora de Loreto. This was the base for expansion of the mission system up and down the Baja Peninsula and also into Alta California. Loreto is also the beginning of the Camino Real.

There's a ship is port here for 2 days so the place has been very busy. Policemen at all the pedestrian crossings to make sure everybody gets across the road safely.

The good news for us is that there was music and folkloric dancing in the square. There were also some dancers from a Polynesian Dance School. I even got a chance to do some dancing at the end when they chose 6 people to dance with them. The ship left, the policemen left and the pedestrian mall is now open to cars. The malecon is extremely quiet.

One day we drove up to the San Javier Mission which is back up in the mountains about 35 kms from Loreto. It is a paved road and the sign calls it a “camino sinuoso” and that pretty much describes it. 

I should also tell you that this area of Baja had torrential downpours last summer and there's a lot of evidence with road washouts, bridge washouts and piles of gravel everywhere. The Southern Alberta folks should be able to identify with this. This mission was built in 1699 as an offshoot of the mission in Loreto. There was a source of water here and they put in irrigation and grew crops. 

 An olive tree was planted in 1699 and it's still alive today. It's a twisted and gnarled thing. The missionaries did everything in the name of the King of Spain but received no money from the crown. They had sponsors who would give them money yearly to support the missions.

We also spent a day exploring the beaches south of Loreto. Ensenada Blanca is a beautiful beach and bay with a hotel on it. Ligui is a dry camping beach. Then is was Puerto Escondido which is a marina (Porto Bello) that someone is trying to develop with condos and homes along the water where you can moor your boat. There's also a hotel and RV Park here away from the water.

Then we stopped at El Juncalito which has a permanent section on one end and a boon docking section on the other. The road to the boon docking beach was washed out last summer so it was pretty quiet with only a few tents and vans here. 

Then we visited Nopolo which is a huge home/condo/golf course development.

Our next stop was El Requeson on Bahia Conception. This is a boon docking (that means no services) campground right on the beach. We managed to get sites facing the beach with a palapa. At low tide there's a sand spit that goes out to an island. This gave us very good views of the bay.

We went north along the bay and checked out several other sites. We stopped at Buenaventure for coffee and e-mail. 

El Coyote Beach is mostly folks set up for the winter. Which begs the question what do they do with the grey and black water??? Burro Beach is permanents with palapas that are much more elaborate. Walls made of plywood and other assorted materials. Some are even for sale. All you're buying is the structure and the next hurricane/storm could take it out. Santispac is the next beach and it's quite large, quite busy and aimed at a more transient crowd. Most caravans stop here. 

As this is Valentine's Day we went back to the campground for a candlelight dinner on the beach. Beef, camirones, (shrimp), asparagus, red wine and chocolates were on the menu. What more could a girl ask for!!!!

 One of the other campers, Sunny, took us out on his boat to see a huge pod of dolphins that had come into the bay. They swam with the boat and it's amazing that none got hit.

Each morning we were treated to a sunrise from the beach ...... so we will leave you with this beautiful morning greeting! 

Adios till next time. Drew and Donna.

Update #4 - Los Barriles to Loreto

Buenos Dias Everyone;

All too soon it was time to leave Los Barriles and head to Cabo San Lucas. We stopped at the Tropic of Cancer. This is the first time in Mexico that the Tropic of Cancer has been well marked and with some signs and some shops of course. We're officially in the Tropics. There's only 1 RV Park left in Cabo and it was just about full. I think the Mexican running the place was a bit overwhelmed and to top it off his English wasn't very good. He had 3 spots with sewer and water but the electric wasn't working. We said OK and decided to leave the next day and make our way up the coast. Of course after the fact he seemed to have some spots with the electric working that we could have had but by then I was already fed up with the place and just wanted to get out. Probably the closest I've come to a losing it on this trip.  We made a Costco and Wal-Mart run and were out of there early the next morning.

Our next stop was Todos Santos. SURPRISE!! The road was 4 lane all the way!! What a treat!! We found an RV Park right in town and we all fit in. The mission in Todos Santos was founded in 1723 but nearly destroyed by the Pericu (indigenous people) in 1734. The town limped along til 1840 when it was abandoned. Sugar cane became the dominant crop in the late 19^th century and town rose again to process the sugar cane. Sugar cane production uses a lot of water and eventually the aquifers were depleted and production stopped.

The town is now home to many artists and their galleries, both Mexican and American. It's also home to “Hotel California”, claiming to be the hotel that inspired the Eagles song “Hotel California”. It seems to me we've been somewhere else where that same claim was made so we're not sure.

We walked out to the beach from our campground. We started out on the dirt road that became a more narrow dirt road that became a trail that became a mountain trail. The beach is a beautiful wide sandy beach with huge surf. It is not a swimming beach. We walked down the beach and were able to see whales far out. After lunch we decided to walk back through town as we thought we might get some shade.  Didn't quite work out that way but it was a nice walk through town. It is really amazing that this area is an oasis in the true sense that it have palm trees and lots of little streams flowing through town.  

The next day we drove down to Cerritos Beach which is a surfer beach. The waves were HUGE today because of some “swell”. Right at the water line it looked like a wall of water coming towards you. 

Sometimes it was hard to tell before the wave broke, if it was a wall of water or the flat ocean. After lunch we drove back to the beach at Todos Santos to check on the waves. The waves were definitely more spectacular. Ann calculated that we watched waves for about 5 hours that day.

Then it was the short drive to La Paz also on a 4 laner. La Paz is a port and this is the truck route for goods going to Cabo San Lucas and points in between. La Paz is the capital of the southern Baja and the largest city. Cortes did establish an outpost near here but it was unsuccessful and it wasn't till 1811 that a permanent settlement was established. We spent an afternoon walking the malecon with a detour to the church and square. The malecon is about 3 kms long with an extension being worked on. There are many statues along the way celebrating the coast and fishing industry.

From the malecon we could see some condos on a spit of land. Twice we tried to find these condos and were unsuccessful but did have 2 good walks on the beach. The first time we drove too far and just decided to pull over and walk the beach. The 2^nd time we took the first and only paved road off the main road but that led to a research station.

The next road was dirt, divided but dirt, and that went for quite a ways. We finally gave up and stopped at some sand dunes that were next to the beach. I decided that if these condos are occupied, there must be a water taxi from town.

We drove up to Tecolote Beach which is where the boon dockers go. It's a very pretty beach and the water is shallow and warm for swimming. Unfortunately when the tide is out the beach becomes a mud flat. We noticed that at several beaches on our way back to town. We stopped at Pichilingue for lunch and this seemed to be the only beach that didn't become a mud flat at low tide.

We also did a drive down to La Ventana Beach which is a kite surfing beach. Unfortunately the day we were there, the wind was light so only 2 kite surfers were out. The campground was interesting. Didn't seem to have electric so everyone had banks of solar panels.

There were water taps but we weren't sure about sewer. Probably going into the ground. Everyone seemed to have a “garage” for all their equipment. There was a large building with a store and coffee shop and places to sit.

We left La Paz and drove to Ciudad Constitucion. This city is a large agricultual hub and really not on the tourist map. Amazingly there were 4 or 5 upscale coffee shops on the main street.

We drove out to Los Mateos on the coast and it was a disappointment. There is whale watching here but otherwise it's a dirty, dusty beach town with no redeeming features. The whale festival had been on the weekend so it was time to take the carnival down, get the garbage out and generally clean up. It's a lagoon here so the Moms and babies come into the lagoon at high tide. We didn't realize it was a whale watching area and I for one was not prepared as it was cool down at the water. We are planning to go whale watching further north.

We're now in Loreto. The weather has been good and warm the whole time. Had some rain in La Paz but only enough to glue the sand and dirt to the vechicles. The roads continue to be interesting. The scenery is fabulous.

Adios for now. Drew and Donna.