January 9, 2017 – Happy New Year (Feliz Anos Neuvo) everyone this is my first Blog of 2017 following our fall 38 Day tour.
This year we flew home for Xmas on December 22 which we had not done for some time. Lisa is not a fan of flying but is amazing what can be accomplished with a couple of pills and glasses of wine. We had to leave Lulu behind in a kennel, this actually cost us more than our camping fees, not bad care for a rescued Baja dog. The flight was uneventful and quick, no stops and took us about 3 hours once we got in the air. Danny & Heather picked us up at the airport, unfortunately we drove straight into rush hour, oh well, it was good to be back.
In addition to celebrating Xmas we were going to celebrate our Grandaughter Sophie’s 1st birthday as Kirsty & Jason decided to come down from the Okanagan to Surrey. It definitely felt like the festive season as there was lots of snow around and frigid temperatures. In addition to Christmas Day we had plans to get around and see other family and friends during our short visit as we were returning to San Diego on December 29th. Unfortunately most of our plans were thwarted by illness and weather. I came down with whatever plague was circulating on December 25th, Lisa a couple of days later (which she is still trying to shake) and we had a snow storm on Boxing Day December 26th. Xmas Day was fun as we had the whole family at our house for dinner and a visit from Ken’s friend Maggie and her two sons. It is not often that we are all together so we cherish these moments.
In addition to the usual holiday activities we had a Wine tasting, eight (8) bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, six (6) local and two (2) inexpensive bottles from California, Oak Leaf and Charles Shaw. The local bottles included Township 7, Backyard, Chaberton, Blackwood Lane, Mount Lehman and Mann Farms. Interesting enough the only consensus was everyone liked the either the Oak Leaf ($2.29 USD) or Charles Shaw ($2.49 USD). Chaberton was also popular, but not for everyone. Clearly my Mother-In-Law has expensive taste as she chose Blackwood Lane as her favourite, but also the two inexpensive California brands. Lots of fun for everyone all around. A couple of days later we attended Sophie’s first birthday at a party hosted by Dan & Rose Lamont, Jason’s parents and our friends. Lots of family and friends from both sides attended, and more than enough food to go around. Thank you Dan & Rose for hosting this event, it was very special to us. We also took over the remaining wine from the Xmas Day wine tasting, no point having this go bad! Kirsty gave us a ride back to YVR the next morning (December 29) and we were headed south again. Missing family of course but not the weather. Because of delays we did not arrive at our final destination, the Pio Pico RV Park, until after 11:00 PM. This was a very long day for sure.
The next day we headed over to the Oak Creek RV Park where we had a number of thing we need to do for our short stay, first and most important to pick up Lulu, she was happy to see us again. Our stay included dinner at our favourite Italian restaurant with Jim & Deb. December 31 we said good bye and headed up to the Viejas Restaurant for or New Year’s Buffett and some shopping at the Outlet Mall. This is always a great time for bargains at Eddie Bauer. The next day we were off to Baja, not much traffic as expected. On the way to Punta Banda we stopped at our usual PEMEX station to top up and was surprised to see the price had risen from $13.98 pesos in December to $16.16 pesos as of January 1st 2017. I even remarked to the attendant that this would be hard on locals as normally the gas price only increases at 25 to 40 centavos at a time (100 centavos to $1 peso). At that time we had know idea of what was going to happen. We spent a couple of days at Villarino’s. Adolfo & Belem were kind enough to have us as their guest for a Carne Asada dinner, very tasty indeed. It was great to spend some time with our friends and work on my Spanish with Belem.
January 3 we headed off south, we had planned to stop in El Rosario and check out another RV Park option in the event Fidel’s was flooded out. Both Lisa and I mentioned how much progress they had made with the road construction, also how quiet the traffic was and the absence of Big Rigs and Busses. As we drove thru Colonet we saw a gathering of locals with placards protesting the gas prices, we waived and honked in solidarity as we drove by, they appreciated the gesture. We had no clue as to what was in store for us next as we drove towards Camalu.
As we got close to Camalu we saw a line up of Big rigs and other assorted vehicles. What became apparent quickly is the road up ahead was being blocked by protesters, the issue was the 20% hike in gas prices. Now the penny dropped, we encountered no trucks or busses because the road was blocked south. We met a couple, also heading south, Cindy & Luis, who had a house in Ensenada and in Loreto, they also knew some of our Loreto friends. Luis was a Mexican American, born in Mexico, so as you can imagine, his Spanish was good. Within a couple of hours we sorted out a few things: (1) the road was likely to remain blocked for some time (2) we could not return to Ensenada as the road was now blocked at Colonet (3) we needed to find somewhere better to park, rather than the road. We decided, as did Cindy & Luis, to turn around and head north. We headed back to the nearest gas station, which was still open, filled up and parked. We then learned that the gas stations were all closing as they were the centre of the protests. We collectively decided this may be a bad location to hang out, we found a small motel across the street to park at for the night. Cindy & Luis needed a room, as the trailer they were pulling was load with supplies destined for their Loreto residence.
We parked the trailers and had an impromptu Happy Hour anxious to see what the next day would bring. We made some phone calls and they watched the news, it was apparent the protests were nation wide, mostly all peaceful, some not so much. The next question was how long would this last? We saw trucks and busses on the hwy heading both directions the next morning and we hit the road south bound again. We were stopped again at the Camalu road block, but I was moving. We were permitted to pass, but ran into another blockade at Vicente Guerrero. We were permitted to pass thru that one but then ran into two (2) more in Vicente Guerrero. By this time we decide to make our destination the Baja Fiesta Restaurant, where we had friends, this was a safe and secure location for us.
With Luis’s help we found a backroad route around the blockades, Cindy & Luis continued south, we back tracked to the Baja Fiesta Restaurant and held up there for two nights. We spent lots of time on the internet, on the phone and talking with locals. On Thursday, January 6th we left early before 7am and headed south once again. We were stopped at San Quintin by a blockade, however they let us pass after 30 minutes. From there it was clear sailing, we stopped for fuel at El Rosario and continued on to Guerrero Negro. This was a great drive, no wind and very little traffic. On Friday, January 7th we headed south again arriving in Mulege shortly after lunch getting settled at the Hotel Sereindad. We have since seen Steve (Steve & Dale) and Bruce & Marian.
Now we were focused on getting as much intel as possible for our January RV Caravan tour lead by Jim & Deb who were scheduled to cross at Tecate on Sunday, January 8th. Fortunately our friends Roland & Janice were ahead of them and cold provide us with up to date information in real time. Our other friends Mike & Kelly, also met with Jim & Deb at Potrero and crossed just ahead of them. We were able to tell the Wagon Masters that the blockades had been lifted and the gas stations were open. We are pleased to report that our tour arrived at Villarino’s intact and are headed off to southbound this morning. We shall meet them on the beach at Santispac. We have also learned that they are being followed by two (2) other RV groups, Vagabundos and Baja Winters. Incidentally, other Baja Amigos, Dave & Darlene from Winnipeg, are heading across from Potrero this morning, we are likely to see everyone at some time at Playa Santipac.
We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone, Mexicans, Americans and Canadians alike who have helped us sort thru this challenge. Please know we appreciate the assistance and support.
We promise you will experience two (2) things when RVing on Baja; Fun & Adventure. We also remind folks that it is important to remember these are two (2) different words!
Did you know?
Tres Vírgenes is a complex of volcanoes located Mulegé Municipality in the state of Baja California Sur, on the Baja California Peninsula in northwestern Mexico. It is composed of three volcanoes, aligned northeast-southwest, with El Viejo, the oldest, to the northeast, El Azufre in the middle, and the youngest, El Virgen, to the southwest. Stated another way, three volcanoes, El Viejo, El Azufre, and La Vírgen were constructed along a NE-SW line and are progressively younger to the SW. El Virgen, being by far the most conspicuous of the three, is commonly known as “Las Tres Vírgenes”. The Tres Vírgenes volcanic complex contains the only large stratovolcanoes in Baja California. The roughly 1940M (6563FT) high complex rises above the Gulf of California in the east-central part of the peninsula.
Eruption history
The youngest volcano, La Vírgen, is an andesitic stratovolcano with numerous dacitic lava domes and lava flows on its flanks. A major plinian explosive eruption from a SW-flank vent was radiocarbon dated at about 6500 years ago (3480 BC), but Helium exposure and Uranium-series dates give a late-Pleistocene age for this event. The last eruption of the volcanoes in the complex was of El Virgen, but the date is disputed. A map drawn by the Croatian Jesuit missionary Ferdinand Konščak contains a reference to an eruption (ash plume) in 1746. Radiometric datings, however, do not agree with this. No tephra deposits from such a young eruption have been found, but young undated andesitic lava flows at the summit could potentially be related to this event. Another possible eruption was reported again in 1857. All of the volcanoes are currently considered dormant.
The impressive hulk of Tres Virgenes can be seen from Highway 1, southwest of the mountain at the turnoff for the dirt road leading to the west side. For those interested in climbing the mountain the turnoff is just west of the KM 46 sign. Then drive north 6.8 mi. (11.3 km) on a fair dirt road to the camp spot and starting point for the ascent. Experienced hikers have taken almost 7 hours to climb La Vírgen, take plenty of water. It has been described as a “tough hike” with lots of thorny cactus, loose boulders and pumice. Interesting enough a geothermal plant is located at the northern end of the complex near the margin of the Pleistocene El Aguajito caldera. For those that reach the summit you will find a commorative plaque that was placed in 1968 in memory of miners killed at work in nearby Santa Rosalia.
