Some days bring rain...but it's the rainbows I will always remember.
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Not all days are sunny in Baja.
We've been lucky enough to experience beautiful weather most days since we arrived, but there are the occasional rain storms. Those days are hot and humid, and all the bugs come out to party. But when the rain stops, the occasional rainbow arrives with a little peace offering.
Not all days are sunny, but there is beauty in them all!
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100 Days!
We’ve been on the road for 100 days. That’s 100 days of cooking within a 3’x 3’ space; 100 days of showering (or not) in a space more suited as a broom closet than a place for a grown adult to stand; and 100 days of removing sand, and dirt from our floors, beds and every other imaginable place.
We couldn't be happier!
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We've had our ups and downs!
The first few months have certainly had their challenges. We've been stuck in the sand in Utah, spending the night in the middle of the road, surrounded by nothing but stars. We've broken down in Las Vegas rush hour traffic (due to a yet another mechanical error made by a previously trusted mechanic) and discovered there are still honest, caring people out there willing to offer help. We’ve camped along the ocean as wildfires burned all around us, cutting off our paths to safety, and been witness to neighbors helping neighbors protect their homes.
We’ve also fallen asleep to the waves crashing along the beach after witnessing the most majestic of sunsets and awoken to sunrises that take your breath away. We’ve paddled with dolphin, watched sea turtles hatch on the beach and snorkeled with whale sharks and sea lions.
We’ve had a lifetime of experiences...in just 100 days.
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Living in an RV...every 10-year-old's dream
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Well, I’d love to say Noah is thrilled to be living in an RV with nothing but his parents, his dog and his thoughts, but it’s a little less poetic than that.
He’s already plowed through at least 12 books, some of them twice, and isn't as keen as his parents to just relax and enjoy the solitude. A kid needs his friends and his WIFI...and maybe 100 less mosquito bites!
Although there are many families traveling throughout the Baja, we haven't found as many as we thought we might. We did happen upon a French family, also out traveling for a year, and our time together resulted in Noah speaking a little French, which is sadly more than the Spanish he has been using since we arrived. Sorry Dillon Valley Elementary! We'll be heading towards more immersion soon. Luckily, the dogs of Baja are plentiful and Noah has made friends with them all!
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OK, so where have we been?
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After spending some time up North along the Pacific coastline, we meandered our way south, eventually ending up in
Bahia de Los Angeles
, along the Sea of Cortez. It's a bit of a detour off the main highway, but it was well worth the extra miles in La Tortuga. In the Bay of LA, our time was all about meeting new friends, paddling with dolphin, releasing baby sea turtles, and swimming with amazing creatures in the sea.
Read all about our adventures in Bahia de Los Angeles, and our first "must-return-to" places, on the blog
here
.
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When you drive the Baja, you spend a lot of time zig-zagging back and forth from the West to the East, North to South or vice-versa. One might think it's a ploy to sell more petrol and tires; after all there is a Llantera (tire shop) about every 100 kilometers throughout Baja. Hmm...I wonder if it has anything to do with the road conditions? But, regardless of the reason, the main route, the Mex 1, takes you through some pretty magical places, even if they aren't on the edge of the sea. San Ignacio and
Mulegé
are a few of those places. Unfortunately, due to the time of day, we had to skip San Ignacio and headed for our final destination of
Mulegé
; a true oasis in the desert. The town sits beneath giant date palms and is home to the
Rio Mulegé
, one of only two real rivers that flow through southern Baja. Learn more about this beautiful little town
here
.
We camped at
Don Chano's RV Park
, about a five minute walk from town, and nestled La Tortuga between the banana plants that grow on property...along with the orange trees, the papayas trees, the lime trees and so much more. With so many different plants surrounding us, our time here prompted Noah to decide on a new profession: farmer!
Stay tuned on the blog for more about our time in
Mulegé.
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Twenty minutes South of
Mulegé
sits the
Bahía Conceptión
, and home to bay after bay of tranquil waters. And here you get to choose between complete gringo immersion or complete isolation, depending on your travel style. The first bay, most recommended to us by several other travelers, was
Satispac
, but after pulling in, we found the mud parking lot and numerous restaurants to be a bit too busy for us. We opted instead for
Coyote Bay
, several bays further down the coast, which offered parking right along the water, your own palapa and a local book swap, set up by the local gringos who occupy a third of the beach.
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The most charming part of this beach was the fact that the road to the best camping spots looked more like a bicycle single track than a real road, although we were assured by the gringo in the first palapa that La Tortuga would easily make it. The best part was the road was covered in water every morning at high tide, making it impossible to leave before noon. Seemed like the perfect spot for us!
The bays of Conception offer the most beautiful paddling opportunities, where you can SUP and kayak to numerous other bays as well as islands just offshore. But unfortunately for us, this is where we ran into our stint of bad weather and experienced several wet days and windy afternoons. It is also where La Tortuga learned the following lesson:
La Torguga Lesson #5:
Do not park your RV under huge, low-hanging palm trees just so you can have the more swanky palapa! Well, unless you like the entire inside of your RV covered in ants!
One full day in Coyote Bay consisted of me walking throughout the RV with a dust buster in one hand and a broom in the other.
The highlight of the time here was actually the families and kids we met, who, although a little younger than Noah, gave him some much-needed "kid" time. One family was visiting for the week on their Thanksgiving holiday and the other was out and about for roughly a year with their two boys and two dogs. They all paddled, fished, fished some more and even set up their own palapa for a kids-only night out! Such fun! But we opted to head out on Thanksgiving morning to find our home for the holiday...right after the road dried out!
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All in all, I'd highly recommend the
Bahía Conceptión for the perfect relaxing getaway
. Just stay away from the palms!
Next stop...lovely Loreto!
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