Archive for February, 2010
Posted on February 15, 2010 by jason
After leaving The Bay of L.A. we headed down more back roads towards Misión San Francisco de Borja. The desert landscape was verdantly dense with varying cacti and boojum. The boojum is one of the more unique looking plants I’ve seen and looks like an upside-down spiked green carrot – sometimes with a yellow bloom on the top.
A few hours later we arrived at the mission and were greeted by the dogs first (as usual.) There are only a few people out here and one guy pushing a wheelbarrow stopped to talk and gave us quick tour of the church. There are still services here every Sunday, but I can’t imagine where people come from to attend.
There’s a small hot springs here too, but we decided to bag it and head back down the long road to the main highway. We immediately made a wrong turn (no signs out here) and ended up in some sort of bone yard. Cow skulls and fat vultures everywhere. Fortunately, we could still see the mission and headed back and corrected our course. The roads were an occasional challenge, but a few hours later we were back to sweet sweet asphalt.
Posted on February 14, 2010 by jason
Posted on February 12, 2010 by jason
The Baja 200 is not a big deal – most gringos have probably never heard of it – it’s only two years old. Bahia de los Angeles is a tiny little town, so when it’s race time, it’s a big deal.
The night before the race is a big party on the main square. Vendors selling race stuff, parts, and lot’s of showing off and drinking beer. The moto-cross riders were in full regalia, as if the race were starting in minutes. It was a scene. A small one, but still a scene. The teenagers were clutching their cell phones waiting for important texts and such. Smaller kids (and Bode) were jumping in the inflatable jumpy house and all over the playground. Adults were drinking, eating, and bragging. We may have been the only gringos – it was very cool.
The dirt bikes started at 7 am sharp the next day, so we completely missed it. Everyone else started at 10 am, where I was introduced to the joys of pineapple tamales.
No gringos in the race – except one 65 year old woman who was really a local. She was complaining about how they had merged some of the classes and she would be racing against some of the big boys. Speaking of the big boys, L.A.’s local boy won the big race last year – The Baja 1000. That’s his red/white/blue truck.
At 10 am everyone fired up their engines and the green flag started waving. There were 30-second staggered starts and about 60 cars, but the order didn’t make much sense to me. I would have thought the faster cars would go first, but it seemed pretty random. It must have made for an interesting race once they all got out in the mountains.
The cars ripped through town and got to skid around a few paved corners before hitting the dirt out near the cemetery. A few of the bigger vehicles were already breathing down the necks of the smaller guys before they were even out of sight. There were clearly some local favorites, who were greeting with honking and cheering from the scattered crowd. My favorite was a little white bug – almost Herbie-like – but much much sadder. The finish line was somewhere up in the hills, so we didn’t stick around or head up to find it, but I can practically guarantee Herbie didn’t win this time.
Posted on February 11, 2010 by angela
After our visit with Coco, we continued on the unpaved roads for a couple more hours. The landscape here is like something from science fiction. We finally hit pavement, and decided to continue on to Bahia de Los Angeles. We planned to stay one night, but it’s already turning into more.
A newish highway takes you right to this small See of Cortez town. The view from the mountains before you travel down to the town at sea level is amazing. The past few beach days have been overcast, but today was clear and the color of the water is an indescribable blue. The photos don’t do it justice.
We pulled into our beach campsite near 2 other Volkswagens. We have a theory that 2 buses usually attracts a 3rd. The next night, when one bus left, another pulled in a few hours later.
Our neighbor, Fred was a great guy. He’d pulled in about a month ago, and decided to stay through April. He has been staying in Baja for many years, going home to Las Vegas twice a year for his bi-annual doctor visits and haircut. Jason helped with a few projects on his van, and he was kind enough to give us a bottle of wine and the fresh catch of the day.
There are several regulars, some camping in their rigs and some building a semi-permanent structure to go along with their RVs and 5th wheels. It seems to be a real community. Some of the guys go fishing every day and hand out their bounty to the campers. Bode was intrigued when they pulled in and watched Baja Mike clean the fish. He also loved to eat the spotted sea bass. The trigger fish wasn’t his favorite.
Baja Mike is a pretty interesting guy. He spends several months a year down here with his dog and just fishes, drinks and whittles. He carves walking sticks that tell stories about things he remembers from the 60′s. The top of each stick has the date – this one was ’67. Wine, pot leaves, VW’s, ladies, pot leaves, etc. Good times. Did I mention that he’s married and his wife stays home while he’s down here goofing off?
There was supposed to be a turtle rescue at the camp next to us, so Bode and I walked down there. Turns out it was 4 turtles in a small pool. Perhaps they had been rescued, but the person running the place wasn’t there and there was a big communication gap with the couple there that was doing handiwork on his house.
The camp owners grand-kids were around some days, and Bode made fast friends. They knew a little English, and loved to play with Bode’s toys. For the most part, he loved to share them.
The town of Bahia de Los Angeles is pretty small. We found a woman to do some of our laundry, ate out a few times (we recommend the torta at the loncheria near the main square,) and picked up some limited groceries at the mini-marts. Fruits, vegetables and meat seem to be hard to get in these parts. This made us even more thankful for the fresh fish.
A produce guy drives his truck full of fruits and veggies to camp every week. Bode loved this and climbed on the back of his truck to look in at every stop he made around the camp. We stocked up with lots, and later remembered that the next day we were going to be crossing the 28th parallel. At this point there is an agriculture stop and you must not cross with any fruits or vegetables. So, we ate it all.
Bode and I went out at low tide and found hermit crabs and minnows. One morning we even saw whales spouting in the distance. Lots and lots of whales spouting. Very cool.
You can go clamming on the beach right out front too. It’s even better a little farther north at La Gringa, but we just never got around to it. The sunrise here is stellar – it makes you want to get up early. This is one of those places where time just seems to get away from you.
Posted on February 10, 2010 by angela
We tried to get gas at the Pemex again, but no gas today either. Again, something we’d been warned about so we topped off the tank at the little store from the back of someone’s pickup truck. The teenager siphoned the gas with his mouth and poured 20 liters into our tank. It costs a bit more, of course, but there is no other gas station for hours.
Another 2 hours, another 22 miles through the desert. We had a pack of coyotes run along side us for a bit and it was very cool.
Final destination: Coco’s Corner.
Well known in these parts, Coco’s Corner is another in-the-middle-of-nowhere labor of love that is hard to miss. Coco is a super friendly guy who loves to dispense his knowledge of these parts. Get out of your car and you’ll be greeted by a loud “Hola, amigo!” from somewhere on the compound. He decorated his little patch of land with thousands of beer cans, underpants and miscellany. It’s on the maps, it’s in the guidebooks, it is a true experience.
Coco moved here 20 years, 2 months and 5 days ago (or something like that) after he lost a leg in an accident. He’s since lost his other leg from diabetes (or bad circulation.) He is walks around on his leather-padded knees, and seems to be struggling with some discomfort and exhaustion. Nevertheless, he jokes and has an amazing personality, and warns us of the washed out road ahead. He seemed to be a little worried about the planned paving of the road, afraid no one will stop by to visit him when the new highway moves 5 miles behind his land.
Grab your own beer or soda, 20 pesos each.
If you sign his guestbook, he sketches a picture of your vehicle (and colors it in later.) Red Beard by Coco.
I don’t know how many books there are, but he says the last dusty old book had 80,000 entries. It was a true piece of art. We’re honored to be in the next edition.
Posted on February 9, 2010 by angela
The next morning we got up and headed out for the rough ride ahead. There are a few more miles of new pavement south of Puertocitas, but after that it just ends. “Fin” is written on the road where it turns to dirt.
Jason loved the drive. It was bumpy and we never made it out of second gear, but I think it was easier than a paved highway full of potholes. There were actually lots of paths weaving on and off the ‘main’ path and you just choose the one the looks the best – they all meet up. Sometimes we picked the best route and sometimes we didn’t. We only bottomed-out once.
There was another military checkpoint just before Bahia de Gonzaga. They insisted on a half-hearted vehicle inspection and this time they recorded our names and license plate. This time, Bode noticed the military guys in the van. He thought it was pretty cool.
Our day’s drive was about 40 miles in about 4 hours. Faster than expected.
There in the desert, four hours in either direction to any other paved road is a Mini market with everything. Even soy milk for 20 pesos ($1.60). There’s a gas station here too, but they were out of fuel and they didn’t know when they’d get it. The market also rents palapas by the beach ($10), so we stayed on the beach again. Still no running water, but even the outhouses had a great view.
Besides the mini-mart, Gonzaga Bay has an dirt runway and 2 restaurants. It has about 20 “houses” on the beach and some aging RVs that are in various stages of being converting into more permanent housing. The houses all have boats, jet skis and ATVs, and all have U.S. license plates.
Bode and I went searching for seashells and came back with quite a collection.
Posted on February 8, 2010 by angela
There have been questions as to whether a road is open almost every day so far in Mexico. The recent rains have washed out bridges on the major highways, and the locals don’t know about the conditions of the smaller dirt roads that run along the Sea of Cortez. For that information, you have to ask a gringo. Apparently, they are the only fools that would bother driving for hours through wash out and washboard dirt/gravel/rock roads.
Fortunately, the road to Puertocitas was paved recently and was in great condition. No problema. Things get a little more interesting further down the road.
As we arrived in Puertocitas and decided to pull into the first place we saw – Cow Patties. It turns out it is the only place and we found a cantina full of Americans. Most lived here. We met Jim (oops?) and Larry who had put together the most tricked out Baja buggy imaginable. Jason oohed and awed over their Veedub on steroids. They gave us a ton of great tips on Baja – they’ve been coming out here for 20 years. They were sure to convince us of Baja Rule #1 – fill up with gas at EVERY opportunity. Just because a town has a gas station doesn’t mean they have gas.
They pointed us in the direction of an abandoned campground owned by their friend Javier, whom they couldn’t seem to locate in a year. Stay there for free, they said, it’s safe. And if anyone asks, you’re a friend of Javier.
They also gave us the go ahead on the dirt road heading south to Gonzaga Bay. Rough, but doable. It’s a strange thing, to go somewhere and have to wait until you’re almost there to see if you can go further or turn around.
We headed to Puertocitas proper to check it out before dark and as we were warned, there were ‘private property’ signs plastered all over and a woman demanding $10 to enter the town. The folks at Cow Patties indicated there was a fair bit of controversy over this. There’s a hot springs right on the beach here, so we considered paying it, but it’s only accessible at low-tide and it was not quite the right time. We made the U-ey and went to find Javier’s.
The campsite was a palapa on the beach, but no running water. There were fisherman milling about on either side of the campground and a few of them took notice that we were there. One guy in particular seemed to be keeping an eye on us. Like we figured, about a half hour later, he came sheepishly wandering over and started talking to Jason. All in Spanish, of course. He was clearly not in charge but still wanted $10 (a subsequently recurring amount) from us to camp there.
Jason started in English and tried to tell the guy we were friends of Javier and we could camp for free. “Friends of Javier. Free camping!” and acting like a dumb gringo didn’t quite work, so he switched to “Amigo de Javier. El campo gratis” followed by a bold “Donde esta Javier? Javier aqui?” It worked like magic – his bluff was called. “No problema” was the response. He was quick to change the topic and continued talking about fishing and all sorts of other stuff Jason didn’t quite intiendo. A handshake later, he went out to check his nets and panga and we were alone for the night.
Boondocking on the beach is exactly the sort of thing we never really intended to do and have been warned about by numerous well-traveled folks, but things just seemed to fall in place this time. We got a local tip, we sort of made friendly with the guy on the scene, and things just felt right. And, we’re amigos of Javier.
Thanks Javier!
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