BAJA – The parallel Universe.
On September 30th our Overlander friends
Ernesto and Taisha arrived and we enjoyed another hot day in San Filipe. In the
evening we celebrated Ernesto’s birthday, exchanged travel stories along with
some beer and rum. We took a nice midnight swim and went to bed.
On October 1st. We woke up with a little
hangover. Must have been the heat J.
We packed up and decided to travel together for a while so our next destination
was Gonzaga Bay. The road Mex 5 was pretty nice so we were able to get to our
destination in only a couple hours. Well not quiet, around noon we got hungry
and looked for a place to eat. All of the sudden we see a place, called “Copatty”
with lots of cars in front of it. In that part of the country it is rather
unusual so we decided to stop. We were greeted by American Expats who
celebrated a grand opening of a bar with free food and drinks. We got invited
and enjoyed homemade cooking and free Margaritas. We had some interesting
conversations and almost forgot that we still had to drive a bit. We arrived at
Gonzago Bay and searched for a Campground. We looked at 2 of them and decided
to one right on the beach with a nice view http://www.papafernandez.com/.
We skipped dinner and went early to bed.
On October 2nd We wanted to leave early but
Ernesto had an issue with his second battery. It was mounted very poorly and
got loose so he took it apart and we bolted the mount down. We continued our
trip down on Mex 5 towards Mex 1. The last 40 miles on Mex 5 is a dirt road in
rather bad condition so it took several hours but half way we stopped at Coco’s
corner. Coco is a 78 year old man who has a really cool place and sells ice
cold beer to travelers. He shared some of his stories while we tried to stay
cool with beer. We signed his guest book made some pictures and continued out
journey to San Rosaliita on the Pacific Ocean side http://www.allaboutbaja.com/santarosalillita.htm.
We were told by fellow travelers that you can get cheap Lobster in that fisher
town. We arrived and asked the first people we met if they sell Lobster and
they did. 5 nice Lobsters for 200 Peso ( 13$ ) and they were good. We cooked
them in salt water for about 10 minutes and ate them with garlic butter. It was
a feast. We stayed close to the pacific all by ourselves until another traveler
joined us who had a flat tire.
Cocos corner and Santa Rosaliita:
On October 3rd we had breakfast, talked to our
fellow traveler after he fixed his flat and wanted to continue south. That was
the moment when I realized that one of my back tires was also flat. I was able
to inflate it so we continued to Guerrero Negro. At a gas station the tire has
lost 20 psi so I had to find a service station soon. We went through a military
checkpoint which was easy and crossed the border to Baja sur. They wanted 20
Peso to disinfect the bottom of the car. Of course our vehicles are too high so
the spraying device on the ground never reached the truck. Oh well …. It’s
Mexico. At 1 pm we arrived and found a nice campground in town with shower and
internet http://malarrimo.com/ and looked for a place to fix the
tire. I thought it would take us all afternoon but was pleasantly surprised
when after 20 min everything was fixed and I only had to pay 100 Peso ( 6$).
That was amazing and I was very impressed. We then had a nice late lunch with
fish/ seafood, bought supplies and went back to the camp. At night we wanted to
explore the night live but had to realize that no night live was present so
after 2 beers in a pub we went to bed (at 2 am in the morning).
Baja California Sur/ Guerrero Negro:
On October 4th we packed up and continued to San
Ignacio but not before we had some awesome fish tacos on the street in Guerrero
Negro. The drive was easy and we arrived around 2pm in San Ignacio. We did some
sightseeing had an ice cream and went to our campground / Hotel ( Rice and
Beans ) near the city http://www.goodsamclub.com/travel/campgroundsandrvparks/generalinfo.aspx?cgid=201202291.
It is a necessity for every biker and offroad fan to stop there. Ernesto was
sick and went to bed and we eat at the restaurant and enjoyed some evil
Margaritas J
In the evening several groups of offroad fans with their bikes and RTV’s came
and spent the night. It was a noisy night.
Impressions from the road and San Ignacio:
On October 5th Ernesto got better and we
continued on. Our next destination was Bahia Conception where we wanted to stay
at a beach that we discovered 5 years ago. On the way I saw an old Mercedes Van
with Berlin license plate so we stopped him and to our surprise our new german
speaking friend Jose who was spanish We had a chat and continued not knowing
that we see him again. We stopped in Santa Rosalia, an old mining town on the
Sea the Cortez side, to replenish our supplies and look at the nice downtown
area where you will find a church which was designed by the same person as the
Eifel Tower. The church got there by mistake. You can read the story on
Wikipedia. We grabbed some Pulpo and Shrimp Tacos which were really good and
continued to the beach.
On the way we stopped in Mulege and looked at town. There
was not much to see so we got some Diesel and ….. no yet, we got screwed for
the first time at a gas station. First I was not quick enough to look if the
reader says zero and then the service guy let the diesel run on the ground. You
think not possible but if you put a pet into the mechanism because it’s broken
the diesel will run on the ground. After some nasty discussions we paid and
left. Don’t get me wrong, we only met the nicest people but these jokers were
certifiable assholes.
It was time to arrive at the beach where we would spend the
following 3 days. http://www.ontheroadin.com/playa-santispac-bahia-conception-baja-california-sur/
On the road to Santa Rosalia y Mulege:
October 6th to 8th : We had some
awesome beach days at a perfect spot with perfect weather and perfect people.
There was Jose we met earlier, Ramon from Switzerland traveling with Pau from
Spain, Ollie and Sarah from Australia and Scotland, Chris and Shelly from the
California (with Baja, a dog that loves bananas and looks like a small black
fox ), Chris and Kendra from Canada on their way to Nicaragua where they want
to settle, John who lives there all year long and let us use his kayaks and the
4 of us. We rented a boat to go snorkeling and try fresh clams (almejas de la
Reina) right from the sea. It was delicious. In the evening we made a fire and
exchanged our life and travel stories. We had a lot of fun. After 3 days we
said our good bye’s and everyone was sad that it was already time to move on.
We will never forget this experience and realized that paradise is not only a
place but a moment in your life that you can share with others.
Oh yes, one more thing: when you go swimming at night the
water around you starts to glow like a million stars which we had never seen
before. Unbelievable ! ( Present people still laugh that I behaved like a child
seeing it the first time J
)
One more thing: 5 years ago we saw a German Overland
Unimog at that beach and the dream of this trip was born J
Enjoying Bahia Concepcion:
October 9th Ernesto and Taisha decided to go
to La Paz while we wanted to stay another day. They want to meet a friend in
Cabos on Saturday. I am sure we will see them again soon. We already miss them.
We will continue to see our beach that
we found 5 years ago at the pacific tomorrow. In the evening we got in touch
with Chris and Shelly we met in Gonzaga for dinner in town and listened a while
to the Bohemian night music at the plaza. On the way home the road to our
campground was closed. Happens that the thunderstorms in the afternoon had
filled the riverbed (mostly dry and people drive through) with water from the
mountains. So we decided to take our shoes off and walk through it…. To the
amusement of the locals standing there watching J.
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