An uneventful trip northward to La Paz, and Campestre Maranatha. Cindy greets us and shows off her newly renovated RV Park. New look, new power, new gravel, plants everywhere: it’s a very pleasant place usually, but now it’s first rate in every way. Thanks Cindy!
The gate is open for us, and the crew demonstrates the ease of setup that I’ve come to appreciate. Lunch and then off to town for a quick look around the malecon and the sights.
Las Magueyes is our dinner spot for this evening, and we arrive to a bustling restaurant, with live music, and happy friendly staff who help out with the menus and deliver another great meal. Thanks Liz!
Flam Flambe was enjoyed by everyone and another evening meal exceeded my expectations.
The next day it’s off to Ibarra’s Pottery for a tour of the shop by Vicki. Many packages later we are heading for the Market for the walking tour of the visit. Lots to see here. It’s a nice day and the afternoon culminates in the photo at the chrome pearl on the malecon.
Off to the RV Park, and it’s soon Happy Hours.
Next, its the drive up to Puerto Escondido, a breezy day which slows us down a bit, but soon enough the steep road down to the sea finds us at the parking lot that is to be our home for the night. The cruisers are hunkering down in the harbours, as they are expecting heavy winds for the next 3 days. I’ve not seen this many boats in the main and outer harbour before.
Too windy for the outside happy hour festivities, so we adjourned to the massiveness of Bob’s barn for the event. Thanks Bob&Jane!
Moolahay is just up the street, and soon we are sitting in Hotel Serenidad for 2 days. It’s a nice town, and we go looking around at the sights. Our friends Jim and Penny have renovated a nice casita very close to the river, and it’s very picturesque indeed. The group invades, and much handshaking ensued. Off to town and a quick look around for everyone to get acquainted with this sleepy little town. Bob wanted to go see the mission, so off we went, bouncing along in the date palm oasis that is so huge here in Mulege.
Las Casitas provides our evening meal, and it’s pretty good. Unfortunately, Javier is not there to greet us with his gentlemanly manner, but it’s another good night out on the town.
Next day we go exploring the lighthouse, get some exercise hiking up there for a lovely panoramic view of Mulege, the river, and the ocean. Today there are 2 sailboats anchored out just off the lighthouse, not seen that before.
Then we go look at the historic Loma Linda hotel, and dream about what was, back in the day when it was a hideout for movie stars escaping from their madding crowds.
Then, it’s la Candil, formerly Scottys (Jim, mentioned above, bought Scotty’s camper when he was packing it all in here in Mulege) Good burgers and fish (A little annoying today, as the waiter took orders for fish that they didn’t have, and only came back later to apologize. Grrrrrrrrr, to say the least). It all worked out, but not the way we had thought.
Back to Hotel Serenidad, and the next phase of margarita testing. So good, so tasty, and (according to Shari) they had no alcohoool in ’em atall. It’s a talent that Roman has; he makes the margaritas sneak up on you, and suddenly, your lips don’t work right anymore. I wonder where he learned that bartending secret???
Some sore heads the next day, but it’s a long drive to Guererro Negro, and off we go at first light, northward bound.
At Viscaino, we were going to lose Jim&Glenda, but they couldn’t stand our sedate pace, and said byebye at San Ignacio, anxious to be at the pacific coast for some R&R after such a tough vacation. We’ll see them again next month, we hope!
GN greets us with a lovely afternoon, and evening. NO WIND! another first here. Mario has made improvements around the RV Park, and the food was completely delicious, as it always is, at Marios. Shell picking paradise, as long as what you want is scallop shells, size XL.
The morning shows us a heavy dew, and much cooler temperatures. 8 degrees, eeeeeeeck!
So, we go off to the seaside again, to Daggets fish camp, where we arrive to the hooting and hollering of seagulls, fishermen, and pelicans. Don has caought a 42lb yellow tail, and he’s filleting it as we drive in. So much fish, that he offered the group some, what a nice guy he is. Thanks Don!!
Later we go for a look around town, and do a bit of shopping, then we learn that Sergio, of bakery/restaurant fame has been located. Off we all go in the van to find him, in his new digs some 5km north of our camp. He’s so happy to see us, and we him. He takes orders for pizza, and promises to come by the Daggets to deliver all his goods the next day. He’s a man of his word, and pizza is another thing that he really excels at making.
Cinnamon buns at 7:30am hit the spot too. Sergio is THE MAN!
The beautiful serene surroundings are not to last however. When we arrived, the water had a serene, placid appearance, and there was NO WIND, but an ominous cloud bank, out in the channel, was the harbinger of not so nice weather. Our second night brought fierce winds blasting down from the west, and rain. The rain let up by morning, but the wind just stayed, and stayed. All day for our longest drive of the tour, the wind battered our brave little caravan as we grimly struggled with the steering wheels, heading for the cold land up north.
At first glance, nothing had changed at the Pemex station where we had stopped for the night on the way down, 3 weeks ago. Still puddled and forlorn, it was a grim reminder of just how much flooding and devastation the locals had endured, and were wtill trying to clean up from. Fidel comes by and tries to entice us to his Pabillon, but we stay firm. It’s COLD for us, it must be warmer further north. Ah Well.
On we go, quite a bit of mud remains on the road at Lazaro Cardenas, San Quentin and our destination, Vicente Guerrero. Thankfully, Cecilia’s yard is high and dry, at least the part we park on is. The entrance looked pretty wet, and the yard in back was a pleasant surprise. Thanks Cecilia!
A quick drive through Ensenada ( the malecon fair was up, so we had to divert). All done in no time, and we’re at Sordo Mudo School, and today’s outing to the LA Cetto Winery for some tasting. It’s a nice time, and again we’re back to the RV Park for, guess what? Happy hour! This one’s special though. It’s our last night together as family, and it feels sad that we are parting company already. FEAR NOT, Jack comes to the rescue with, GUESS WHAT? Magaritas! so does Lorraine, and food appears from others. Suddenly there’s a party going on.
Did I mention that by now only Reimer is still wearing shorts? Even I succumbed to the lure of nice warm denim. It’s tough out there in Baja!
It’s so cold that we get out ALL the propane firepits, (4) and burn approximately $100 of propane that night. But it’s toasty, and fun, and mostly it just feels right.
Bernd&Anjie are leaving us in the morning as they are returning to Ensenada, having said that he’s had enough of this northward trek, and there must be more warmth at San Felipe. I wonder if they found any?
Suddenly we’re all lined up at the border, and we’re collecting radios and swapping papers, and hugging.
Thanks for the memories, our newest Baja Amigos! Adios muchachos! Hasta la vista, baby!
