Goodbye Mexico, We Will Be Back.💛🌵

We finished out our days at Los Barilles with morning shore fishing, which filled Gibson’s bucket, as he got a new rod for Christmas, and some biking, which made Wyatt happy. With everyones having some time to do things they liked, everyone was in good spirits. We filled the tanks and water, ready to be self sufficient for a few beach days at El Pescadero, mainly Los Cerritos beach.

Los Cerritos is worth all the hype. It has epic surf set in an awesome setting!Perfect for boogie boarding and surfing alike. The only sad part was that it was SO busy. So busy that you did have the fear of getting hit with someone elses board, which did happen to me. The day we spent there was sensational. It was full of sun, lots of sand, in every place imaginable, and we were happily tired from battling the waves. Would have loved to do more days there, but with how tired and sunned out we were, we decided that we would move on. We explored Todos Santos for a day and got to release baby turtles to round out our last day in the area. Todos Santos is so artsy and inviting, I will definitely come back to explore more.

We learned lots about the little turtles. They release them at dusk after the sun goes down to stop the birds from getting them on shore, and once in the water, they don’t create a shadow and get eaten right away by fish. Also, we learned that the temerature determines the sex of the turtle. So, to help the procreation along, in the winter these non profits put the eggs in a green house like facility to allow the eggs to produce more female turtles. The reason they have to make their way along the sand to the water, is that this is how they get the “gps coordinates” for the beach so that once they are ready to return to lay their eggs, usually around 12 years later, they know where to come. They always return to the same location. So cool!

We are now making the trek back up North to make it to the USA by mid January. From Todos Santos we motored up to La Paz for New Years, then a stop over in Loreto, with Super Burro on our minds. Sadly, we didn’t remember that it was New Year’s day, and they would be closed. Insert sad face. We then made the cross pennisula trek from Loreto, on the Sea of Cortez side, to the Pacific side, staying near Punta Abreojos. The place we are camping at is called Campo Rene. This is such a hidden gem! I am thankful to a couple who mentioned it to us in passing when we were both camping in Ensenada. Here we stayed 5 nights and it wasn’t enough.

I don’t know if I can fully describe this place, but I will do my best. Here there is a lagoon where the water comes in and out with the tide but the it is sheltered from the harsh Pacific waves, leaving it a haven for widlife/birds/fishing/oysters/etc. Sadly, this place was ravished by a hurricane in the early months last year and it left this camping resort desolate. They were able to rebuild the bathrooms, restuarant and have 4 camping spots (unlike about 20 from before). They lost many palapas, and little huts. The locals told us that the waves were 3 meters above the land from the Pacific side going right into the lagoon. On most days, even with king tides the water does not usually make it across the pennisula. So that was saying something! You can see all the destruction with the broken bits of concrete walls, and debris. We were able to get one of the 4 spots. Here, life slowed down and we were enjoying all it had to offer. There was daily treasure hunting on the beach. The shells there are amazing, whole and perfect in the sand. We always found something. Gibson tells me it is one of his favorite things to do, treasure hunting! And boy is he good at it.

We got our bikes out and could bike all along this pennisula. We biked to our favorite fishing spot, and the fishing there was great. We could do it from shore! Yay, this makes me feel much better. We had two lovely neighbours who were so kind. The couple from Australia/US gave us some lures to try, and they did not disappoint. I caught a 5/6 pound Corvina, which was good eating. Gibson caught flounder fish, and rock fish and even a sting ray (we put it back). Adam caught a good tasting fish that looked like a mini tuna, but we were unsure of the name. Days are passing too fast here.

The other neighbours were from BC and she was so knowledgeable about shells. We are going to the hardware store in town tomorrow to get some muriatic acid to see if we can clean some of the shells for home. Not sure if they will allow me to cross the border with them, but here’s hoping.

There is a world class oyster farm here, but the shack where they deal with the oysters looks like a tear down. Maybe it’s because of the hurricane, but I don’t think so. No big processing plant here, just mother nature doing all the work, while we harvest the products. From here they get shipped all over the world- USA, Japan and who knows where else. After the clams in Ensenada, the boys didn’t really want to try the oysters. I feel like when in Rome, you got to try…. So I am working myself up to trying them before we need to move on. Cross your fingers.

I feel that the Baja is a slower placed, warm weather, northern town. Everyone waves and says hello to one another, and is not too busy to carry on a conversation with you if you sart one. They are eager to help you, and the populations are not like our big cities at home. Growing up in Northern BC, I think that’s why I love this place so much, because it feels like it a bit.

Mexico was a learning experience for all of us. Learning to navigate without cell service, using bathrooms where toilet paper is to be thrown in the waste basket, cold showers, very infrequent laundry and living without clean clothes, no potable water (so having to find water stations to fill up at on the regular) and tacos for at least one meal a day. ‘Gringo’ food is too expensive here, so we are eating like locals, at least most of the time. Kids are learning exchange rates and dealing with pesos. Sadly, we did not learn as much Spanish as I was hoping, but I do think we will try and take lessons in the future. I know we will be back to Mexico and I want to work on speaking with the locals more. Between travellers and most local's minimal english, we rarely got to speak in Spanish, besides the pleasantries. Side note; we found the most AH- MAZING taco joint while here, Super Burro was now demoted to second place with Carlito's Birrieria being #1. We loved it so much we went back twice in 24 hrs. Juan Carlos and Roberto, you are the best! If ever going thru Guerrero Negro, hit them up, you won't regret it!

We finished our last week in the Baja with a trip to the Bay of LA. Here we parked at La Gringa beach, which was right on the water, and a real treat. Love waking up to the ocean beside you. Here we explored the expansive beach, littered with starfish, and luminescent organisms that glowed in the dark while you walked. The travellers on the beach were so lovely, as always, and helpful with hints of places to explore. We biked, fished and beach combed. We even found a local fisherman’s trapline (for Octopus), which had caught one. The wildlife of birds was as diverse as Campo Rene, and we loved watching the pelicans and cranes get food while we chilled on the beach. The only downside to this place was the wind! On our last night there, the winds were so fierce that gusts up to 40 Kts were rocking the whole motorhome. No one slept, plus I kept dreaming about the tide + the waves coming up high enough to sweep us away. A little far fetched, but not out of the realm of possibility. When we woke up the tide was only 8 feet from the motorhome. Eeek. Being that there was about 15 other campers on the beach, I felt safety in numbers.