Tim took a beach walk while I worked on pictures. After posting the blog, we sat outside in the sunshine watching the water. We went into town and found a street vendor selling sweet corn tamales.
We enjoyed them for our lunch with a little Mexican orange fudge for dessert. The fudge is made of milk, sugar, and orange rinds. It’s very sweet and very orangy!
This afternoon, we took a Jeep ride in the arroyo near the campground.
We began to see a trickle of water and then a stream running in the wash. I remembered that there was a waterfall nearby, accessible only with 4WD…Kyle and Allison, are you interested??? I love to find surprises on our adventures!
We drove as far as we could and then walked in the water between the rocks to the waterfall.
We saw a bunch of caracaras. They looked smaller and less vibrantly white…maybe juveniles?!?
This lizard blended in so well with the sand, I only spotted him because he moved so quickly.
We saw wild burros…a mom and two foals. The babies hid behind mother when I tried to take their picture.
We enjoyed happy hour this evening with Carol and Brian. Salsa and chips and crab dip and crackers. A nice way to end our day.
Our Jeep ride today took us to the north of Los Barriles. This was my favorite ride so far in Baja!!! We traveled on a road along the coast.
We passed many gorgeous homes along the water’s edge.
Most of the time, we were more than 100 feet above the water and our views were spectacular.
We stopped several times to walk along the beach.
Our lunch spot.
I’m not sure why this still surprises me…but it does!
The road took a 90 degree turn here, inland. We traveled over the mountains and ended up in the town of Los Planes. Here we circled back on paved roads to San Antonio, through San Bartolo and into Los Barriles.
Tim found an open barbershop. His haircut was 75 pesos…less than $4.00!
We got back to the RV and walked next door to El Gecko for Happy Hour. We enjoyed 2 for 1 drinks and handmade guacamole.
Tim tried to get a haircut this morning. He was at Jim’s Barbershop and Bar at 9am. The woman next door told him that the barber would be there at 10 am. Tim went back at 10. He waited until after 10:30. Still no barber!
We drove the Jeep in the arroyo or the wash 10 miles all the way to the town of San Bartolo. In the dry season there is no water here. During the rainy season or during a bad storm, this wash can quickly fill with water. We followed the sandy, well worn trail.
As we got closer to town, we crossed running water and the vegetation began to be dense and green with bamboo-like grasses and tall date palms.
At the end, the path became too narrow for us to pass through.
We found an alternate route to the highway and drove into town.
We found this small roadside restaurant. We ate savory empanadas for lunch and then bought mango empanadas, and some other treats.
We stopped at the ice cream shop for an afternoon snack.
We stopped again to purchase oranges. It is orange season here and they have been juicy and sweet!
We took the highway back to town. The pictures show the wash far below.
Tim tried the barbershop on the way back to the campground…and he tried again at about 4 pm…It must be closed on Thursdays!
It was windy again today and perfect for the kite boarders and windsurfers!
I prepared sweet potato and fish cakes after finding a recipe online. They were similar to some we ate the other night in Todos Santos. Something different!!
Day 2 Playa Norte RV Park Los Barriles BCS, Mexico
Good Morning!! We are on the bayside now and we were able to see part of the sunrise.
We took the Jeep south today on a sandy road that ran along the coast of the Sea of Cortez.
We took several roads toward the beach. It was really windy but sunny and warm. The watery hues of green and blue and the rocky coastline were breathtaking.
Cormorants resting on the rocks.
Some impressive homes on the ridge, in the middle of nowhere!
We crossed the mountains back to the paved road, Mexico 1. We love to go exploring and we took the road today as far as we could without getting into the city of Cabo San Lucas. We have seen almost as much of the Baja Peninsula as we can. We feel kind of disappointed to have run out of land! There are still a few towns and back roads to explore…
Carol and Brian asked us to join them for dinner tonight. We ate at Beans and Rice. Great food and great company!
We left Todos Santos this morning. It is rare for us to stay in one place for a whole week…that should be testimony to how much we enjoyed this area. It was however, time to move on. We are still researching the very best places in the southern portion of Baja to take Kyle and Allison. Today we drove east, over the Sierra La Laguna to Los Barriles. The road was wiggly and at times steeply graded. It was a beautiful ride even though today was mostly cloudy.
This campground was recommended by Brian and Carol who have settled here for the month of February. We were able to negotiate a lesser rate if we stayed for the week and so…we will use this campground as our base to explore. We got a full hookup site on the beach!
This afternoon, the water was teeming with manta rays. We could see them launching and “flying” through the air. We saw dozens.
There seems to be lots to see and we could not wait to begin. Today we went into town and walked along the streets, peeking into all of the shops.
We got directions to the post office…we are still trying to mail those postcards…
We found it…but it closed at 3…
Tonight, we visited La Playa for dinner. We had excellent food on a table outside. The manta rays continued to be active in the Sea of Cortez.
After doing some laundry, we packed our cooler and went for a drive. We tried the Todos Santos Post Office again, but it was closed. We took the paved road north of town and out onto a sandy road. This road is called Calle Las Playitas or Street of Small Beaches.
There are several beach access roads. The first two took us to surfing “communities.”
We overheard the surfers talking…they were waiting for the tide to go out and for the wind to die down. We did see a couple of guys get good waves.
We drove further north and found our lunch spot. We were on a secluded beach…no one in sight for miles. We did see whales again today.
We drove even further north and again found ourselves on a long expanse of deserted beach. We sat in the sand. I was mesmerized. I watched the endless cycle of the waves…the swells building and building and then cresting and curling and crashing into the sand. I was filled with an intense feeling of serenity and peace. I hope that you have had that experience and been somewhere so beautiful that your heart feels full.
There was one piece of trash on the beach…we took it with us.
We passed several small ranches and farms along our way. These ladies and gentlemen were out for lunch!
We ate leftovers for dinner and then went back to the beach for sunset. It was fairly cloudy but still pretty.
We decided to take our picnic and go back to “our” beach. It was so lovely there and we knew we would never find anyplace prettier. When we arrived there were several other Mexican families enjoying the day. Men were fishing, women had fires waiting, children were playing. It has been our observation that Sundays here are family day. It was nice to see everyone loves this little beach as much as we have!
The grey whales seemed to be particularly close today. Maybe because of the tide or maybe because of our position on the beach and our own perception. Although the water was calm, the surf was pounding and you could see the powerful undertow. The beaches here on the Pacific side are NOT swimming beaches!
Again there were too many whales to count!! We also saw one sea lion.
The cows came down to the edge of the vegetation and stayed all afternoon.
We left the beach and took a road toward the mountains for a few kilometers. The sky grew dark but the storm clouds seemed to be hovering over the mountaintops. The sky above the ocean was still bright.
This evening we went to town to the Todos Santos Brewing Company.
Tim had a beer called All Snakes Swim, an Irish stout.
There was live music tonight. The first guy to play was one of the owners. He was good and we enjoyed listening to him.
The second guy was the main show, Mike Torres, Jr. was a fabulous musician. We had a great time singing along, drinking beer/wine, and sampling appetizers. What a fun evening!!
We packed a cooler and headed to the beach. Tim had seen a promising road to the shore as we passed the other day.
The road had washed during the last storm but that was no problem for our Jeep!
When we arrived, there was a camper van parked at the closer end. We moved further down the beach. The van left soon after and we had a one half mile stretch of beautiful beach to ourselves…we found a jewel!!
The grey whales were swimming so close that we could occasionally hear their spray!! I took these pictures from my beach chair and without zoom…the whales were right there!!
The humpbacks seem to swim further out but we watched them breaching. The breach…
…and the splash!!!
And the fluke as he goes down for a dive!
We also saw a sea lion swimming in toward the rocks and lots of skates skipping across the waves and smacking into the water!
Some other sightings…
Sea turtle shell
There was this really cool circle of rock with an opening to the ocean.
A walk to the other end of “our” beach.
When we go to the beach I always pack a book and I usually read. Today I spent those four hours on the beach fully present…watching, walking, and enjoying the day.
When we left, we drove through the town of Pescadero. We found “Carnitas Machin,” an outdoor restaurant. We stopped and bought carnitas for our dinner.
Our campsite.
The sunset at the campground this evening, a perfect ending to a perfect day.
We started our day with laundry…not such a chore when you can wait by the pool.
Now that we know that we don’t want to travel into Cabo to camp, we have decided to stay put here for another 4 nights. The RV Park is very nice, the beaches nearby are even nicer, and we really like the little town of Todos Santos. We drove into town. This is the mission church.
We walked in the more residential neighborhood and visited the small grocery stores, produce markets and the pescadaria or fish market. We were in search of a post office to mail postcards to the boys. We spoke to 3 different people who gave us 3 different sets of directions…all minus street names…We walked for a long time and realized that we should go and get the Jeep and search!
We finally found the post office but the woman who works there was eating her lunch. The post office was now closed for the day but would reopen tomorrow.
We take so many things for granted back in Maryland…trash service, clean water, mailboxes. It is very different here. The priorities are different. Time definitely doesn’t mean the same thing. We are so accustomed to getting things done immediately…getting our check when we ask, getting our meals in speedy manner, getting things delivered to our house with Amazon Prime, having continuous access to cell service and WiFi. All of those things seem very nice…but there is absolutely something important to be learned from a simpler life and a slower pace. It is not backward here…just different and we are really appreciating the differences. We want to be exposed to the culture and wander the small towns, and eat the street food and talk to the people. Everyone we have met has been so kind and gracious.
We purchased shrimp and asparagus and strawberries from vendors on the street out of the back of pickup trucks. We have found this is the best way to get the freshest stuff. We know that there is always room for negotiation…but we pay the price that is asked…these people need to feed their families…we don’t have the heart to argue for a better deal. These people are of such humble means and we have everything we could ever want…
We got some pastries from a man pedaling his bicycle with a giant basket on the front. Everything looked tasty and fresh.
We did stop at the beach bar for our daily whale fix. We are captivated by these marine giants. Today we saw a humpback slap the water with his tail 16 times in succession. The splashing was tremendous and we could hear the thumping even above the noisy crash of the waves. Scientists are not sure why humpbacks slap their tails in this way….maybe a mating call, maybe a social communication, maybe for no reason at all…it was spectacular to watch! We also saw a whale very far away, breaching again and again. His head was high above the horizon and it looked very cool.
We cooked our shrimp and asparagus and had our strawberries and pastries for dessert. Again at the end of this day, we are so thankful!
When we read about camping options in Cabo San Lucas, we were not sure that there was anything that really could accommodate our rig. We decided to take the Jeep to the city and go on a fact finding mission before we decided where to go next. I navigated as Tim made his way through the narrow and very busy city streets. As we approached the water and some possible camping spots, Tim was certain that he did not want to drive the RV in Cabo. We went to Walmart to stock up on supplies while we were in town. As we left, we stopped to pick up some chicken enchiladas and we drove to the Jeep north of Cabo San Lucas.
We ate our lunch and watched the whales. There were grey whales swimming about 150 feet from the shore. We saw a pair of humpbacks breaching together three times in succession. As we sat there, there was a steady stream of whales traveling south. It was an amazing sight to see!!
I walked to the end of the beach.
Looking through the binoculars, we thought we could see movement on the top of this rock. I walked all the way to the point and I was still too far away to tell what might be there…but with the zoom on my camera, I was able to capture this pair of sea lions.
A cool bird…not sure what it is…
We returned to the RV for awhile this afternoon.
We took our dinner of roasted chicken, fresh bread and butter, and papaya and blueberries….and of course a little sangria…and went back to the beach. The whales were active again. This was the 5th trip to the beach in the 3 days that we have been here and we have seen whales every single time.
We had a small fire and watched the sunset. It was another great day…except for the city part…we just aren’t city people! AS you look at the pictures, you will notice that I failed to take a single picture in Cabo…
