Adiós Baja

It was Halloween, the day before my birthday, and I had come back from going to the bathroom amongst the sand dunes with my shovel and baby wipes for the 3rd day in a row. Over it, I pleaded to Zach, “can the next place we go please have a toilet?” Little did I know he had booked us a hotel for 3 nights on Playa de Cerritos in El Pescadero where we would spend the weekend of my birthday as well as Dia de Muertos.  What a sweet husband :)  We headed over to the Pacific and checked into our beach bungalow where, for the next 72 hours, we had unlimited access to showers, wifi, and of course- a toilet.  It’s really incredible how these simple things have become such luxuries to us since we moved into a van. I’m curious if I’ll ever take things things for granted again? And on top of these modern luxuries, we even had a pool and were right on the beach- paradise!

Morning snuggles before we headed to the hotel.

We took every advantage of being at the hotel- backing up our devices, downloading new books and movies and podcasts, swimming in the pool for hours each day, FaceTiming with friends, and Zach even took his very first surf lesson! He even got up nearly every time on his beginner board- though I personally didn’t witness it so the jury is still out. And I even got a massage on the beach; though, mostly out of necessity because I had done something to my back making it nearly impossible to get comfortable in any position. That and a Chiropractic adjustment in Cabo San Lucas a few days later did the trick :)

Pool side & 2 for 1 margaritas :)

Miles licking off all the pool water from Zach's head.

Birthday pancakes :)

Zach practicing hopping up on to his imaginary board.

Cutting up all of the fruit on our festive countertop.

FaceTime double date with Catthew.

Sunset swim.

Sunset swim selfie.

El Cerritos Beach.

After we left the hotel we met up with some friends we had met in Bahia Concepcion who are from Argentina and Brazil.  This is their second time doing this trip- they flew to Seattle, WA, USA, bought an RV, and started heading south, back to their home in Argentina. On their first trip, they ended up getting pregnant about half way through and this time, they have their now two year old with them- precious Valentin :) We really clicked with them and had a ton of fun swapping stories, getting to know them. We also met some new friends from the UK who also have a Ford Transit, just a right hand drive versus a left! They shipped their van from the UK to Veracruz, MX, and are planning to travel through Central America and South America as well! Each day, the picture that was painted to us- that we would be meeting so many other travelers doing a very similar trip as ourselves- was becoming more and more clear and we loved it!

Lucas, Leidiane, Jordyn, Bernadette, Zach, & Daniel. Valentin was being shy :)

Until he wasn't. He kept saying "foto" :)

Sweet Valentin

Zach and his yerba mate, courtesy of our new Argentinian friend- Lucas.

That evening, my back still wasn’t doing so great- even after the massage, so I booked the appointment for a chiropractor I had mentioned previously for the following day in Cabo.  And I was completely devastated because not only did I have to limit my time visiting with our new found friends while I lied in bed to rest my back, I had to miss the releasing of the turtles!! Just down the beach, a local woman was single handedly harvesting turtle eggs until they hatched and then releasing them each evening at sunset. This gave the babies the best possible chance of survival until they made it to the deep where they’d stay until they grew a bit more. So Zach went down the beach with Leidiane, Lucas, Bernadette, Daniel, and baby Valentin and was able to release several baby turtles to sea! Apparently, the turtles have about three days worth of food in their stomach to survive for their journey to the deep. It’s so incredible to me how these creatures are born with these instincts and the minute they hit the sand- they just know what to do and where to go.  Such an incredible experience- and I’m enjoying the photos!

We said goodbye to our friends somewhat early the next morning as my chiropractor appointment was at 10am and we had about an hour drive to get there. However, the universe had other plans for us.  We knew at some point we would get stuck in the sand in Baja. It’s almost like a right of passage-no one drives down to the beach without sinking into the sand at some point. And that morning- it was our turn :) Luckily, we had some incredible people with us and a couple hours later (we were REALLY stuck)- we were out! That just meant that we got to spend extra time with our friends and celebrate with beers at 10:30 in the morning :) And that evening, after rescheduling my appointment twice, my back was starting to feel a million times better.

Daniel and Zach digging a trench underneath Fran because we had completely bottomed out.  This way the van wouldn't be "stuck" on the spare tire underneath.

Bernadette feeding everyone snacks as we worked.

Our final destination before taking the ferry over to mainland and saying farewell to Baja was Cabo Pulmo. We had heard great things from people we met on the road so we took the extremely treacherous drive to get there.  Located on the south-eastern most tip of the peninsula, Cabo Pulmo is a national park and is supposed to have some of the most incredible beaches and snorkeling in all of Mexico.  And it really WAS incredible.  Hilariously enough (or maybe not), when we arrived to our campsite- we got stuck in the sand AGAIN. This time we were able to get out a little easier and also had some help from a couple fellow Americans vacationing for a birthday.  After that, we vowed to be done with parking in the sand for a little while :)

Cabo Pulmo was extremely breathtaking. We spent 3 days hiking around the area, swimming, reading, relaxing, etc.  Unfortunately, the wind was too strong while we were there so snorkeling wasn’t so good, but it didn’t stop us at all from enjoying ourselves. I’d say that Cabo Pulmo is a close 2nd to Bahia Concepcion as our favorite place in all of Baja.

Hiking in Cabo Pulmo to find hidden beaches nestled in coves.

Sunrise yoga- back feeling a little better!

Sweet pup doing tricks for snacks.

Found a new beach!

Outdoor showers at the campground.

Hiking around Cabo Pulmo.

Tiny Zach on the coast.

In route to La Paz to purchase our ferry tickets and get on our way, we stumbled upon this INCREDIBLE spot for lunch. It was super crowded with locals and looked good enough from the highway, so we parked our van and walked inside.  We ended up ordering 1/2kg of carnitas that came with salsas, fresh made tortillas, and everything we needed to make tacos; and all for a total of $10USD with a coca-cola, beer, and tip.  This was easily my favorite meal of the entirety of Baja and the left over carnitas and tortillas we took to-go even made for a delicious breakfast and dinner the following day.

Delicious!

Happy Zach.

Other errands on the way to La Paz- groceries.

All this, $16USD.

Back in La Paz, we found the ferry terminal and navigated our way through the process.  It's a little cumbersome- especially with a language barrier, but overall an extremely easy way to get over to mainland MX.  There are two companies that operate ferries over to mainland, Baja Ferries and TMC. On Baja Ferries, we wouldn't be able to stay in our vehicle (read: sleep in our comfortable bed for the overnight trip), and Miles would have to be kenneled and ride in a completely different area of the ferry apart from us.  So we opted to take TMC- who we had heard rumors that they were no longer taking tourist vehicles and only commercial vehicles across. Additionally, they aren't running to Mazatlan currently, only to Los Mochis which is certainly not where we wanted to go (would mean more driving through Sinaloa- a state we were hoping to mostly avoid due to cartel activity and  the most recent tragedy in a town we would have to drive through), but it was our only option.  Once we got through initial inspection, it was time to get measured and weigh our vehicle which would ultimately determine the price of our ticket. Can you believe that our van weighs just under 8000lbs?! Insane. From there, we went over to talk to someone at the ticket counter and luckily they were willing to let us on, despite being a tourist vehicle. We purchased a ticket over to Los Mochis for that evening, which would dock on the other side the following morning, and waited for them to load us on. We were lucky to meet 2 other groups of travelers on our ship and planned to caravan the next day once we docked to get to a campground together- making the idea of driving through Sinaloa a little less nerve wrecking. One of them has even done the same route as us since Montreal, QC, Canada (where they are from), and plans to travel to Argentina as well! Loading us on was quite the process and they basically had us drive on to a giant lift along with a semi, rose us up to the top deck, and wedged us into a corner of the ship. We had an ocean view and were only slightly paranoid that we were going to tumble over deck at some point during the night!

Fran right up against the edge.

View from the back.

Baja completely exceeded our expectations and I cannot wait to return one day.  I was a little sad to be leaving and have a hard time believing any part of our trip is going to top our month in Baja.  But I also can't wait to be wrong on that :) Mainland Mexico is next and I don't know why I never realized just how MASSIVE the country is! But I'm excited to spend the next 6-ish weeks exploring it!!