- Quick facts
- Total days on the road: 586
- Currently in: USA
- Miles Driven: 36821
- Countries Visited: 17
- Days Camping: 389
- Days Indoors: 202
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Mulege to Los Barriles
Start: Saturday November 12, Playa Santispec
Finish: Wednesday November 23, Los Barriles
White Sandy Beaches: 3
Crazy Three-Day Mexican Festivals: 1
Rainy Days: 1
Fish Caught and Eaten: 3
It's been a while since our last trip update, apologies to friends, family and those living vicariously through our travels. We've been hopping from beach to beach, enjoying the sun, a bit of fishing and a few surprises.
The past two weeks have taken us through the towns of Mulege, Loreto and Los Barriles along the east coast of southern Baja. We're currently in Cabo San Lucas at a beach-front resort (thanks Dad!) enjoying some down time and sorting out the next few weeks.
As opposed to our previous few weeks, we encountered some authentic white sandy beaches along the Bahia Concepcion. We spent three nights camped on Playa Santispec, a picture-perfect beach just south of the town of Mulege.
Click the above for a full-sized panorama of our beachfront campsite. Despite the clouds, our first night on the beach was awesome.
The next day was not so great. It rained that evening and off-and-on through most of the next day. Jessica voiced her displeasure by drawing a frowny face in the sand.
That night I cooked us up some chicken mole for dinner. It wasn't the best and would definitely come back to haunt Kobus later.
Thankfully, our last day in Playa Santispec brought much-improved weather. After an hour or two of fishing with lures, I gave up. Kobus diligently started hunting for some real bait. The shrimp salesman refused to sell us anything less than a kilo, so matters got drastic. The shallow beach water contained thousands of tiny bait fish. Kobus' relentless efforts were not without reward. 'Twas a monster fish.
It was tough to leave once the weather got nice, but the next day was a work day. We headed into town to scope out hotel and internet options.
We drove a short fifteen minutes back into Mulege and ended up at the Las Casitas hotel. We spent two nights there, our first time in a Mexican hotel this trip. It was quite enjoyable, the restaurant had good food, cheap beer, and it was nice to sleep on a mattress.
Las Casitas's restaurant and bar had a relaxing patio area, surrounded by plants, stray cats and fountains. A perfect place to chill out for a day and get some work done. Unfortunately Jared's chicken mole came back to haunt Kobus in all sorts of bad ways. He spent the better part of the next two days taking cipro like a mad man and trying to rehydrate.
Sadly leaving our comfy hotel in Mulege, we drove down the road to Loreto. It was a short drive, about two hours, and very scenic. Forests of 30 foot tall cacti and some of the biggest mountains we've seen in Mexico.
Loreto is a nice sized town with welcome amenities like a super market, cafes and a fishing pier. Above is a shot down the main walking path through the old town with the mission cathedral in the background.
The mission in Loreto was the first built in Baja and was used as a staging point for Jesuit expansion throughout the peninsula. The best part was the conveniently placed cafe where Jessica could get a bonafide cappuccino.
Kobus and I spent our last afternoon in Loreto fishing off the pier. We were seriously upstaged by the local kids who were pulling in rooster fish after rooster fish, small halibut, sea bass, needle fish, a pelican, and half a dozen ducks...
From Loreto it was a long six hour drive to Los Barriles, a small town south of La Paz. We camped at an RV resort/hotel on the beach and ended up liking it so much we stayed a week.
When we arrived on Friday a neighbor told us that there was a festival planned for the weekend celebrating the start of the Mexican revolution. The street outside the RV park was named 20 Noviembre (20th of November) in honor of the date, which happened to be that Sunday. Good timing for us.
Aside from parties lasting into the wee hours of the night, and a carnival of sorts, there was a parade Sunday morning.
Lots of school children, police, military and crazy photo happy gringos. Regardless of the fact we waited longer for the parade to start than it lasted, it was a good show.
Fishing was the main reason to go to Los Barriles. The water is deep just offshore and full of giant fish. We saw a spear fisherman bring in a 76 pound wahoo. Kobus and I landed three edible fish and caught many more, enough for a few lunches and a dinner. Meanwhile, Jessica got some serious laptop'n done with the free wi-fi and even managed a few hours to work on her tan.
Up next, a week in Cabo and an overnight ferry from La Paz to the mainland.
Comments
We are going to publish an article on our Mexico campground in a few days (I know only 18 months late!) If you can't wait that long pick up a copy of the Mexico Camping book mby Mike and Terri Church. It's the best resource. There are plenty of places to stay in Baja, no need to drive it in a day for sure.
Cheers
Great to know you're doing well.