San Blas…Strike of the Jejenes

J said caressing my arm was like reading braille…

By the time we felt the “Jejenes” in San Blas it was too late. The no-see-ums didn’t just bite us…we were A feast; chewed up like corn cobs. (We later learned that area is notoriously known for these evil sand savages). Make a note for next time!

Bites swelling, tummies expanding. Does disaster decide to strike all at once? How does that song go? “As your running into first and you feel a sudden burst… diarrhea…diarrhea…”

(There is a light at the end of the tunnel). After a long night of distressing discomfort, feeling MUCH better, we were in for a treat!

I had been to La Tovara when I was younger and couldn’t wait to go back to experience it again and show J.

Scarfing down banana muffins we had just bought on the side of the road, the boat was leaving in 5 minutes…

Stepping into the little barco, we were headed on a three hour jungle boat trip through estuaries, mangroves full of amazing birds, turtles…and CRIKEY…Cocodrilos!!!

The nature preserve spans for acres and acres. Slowly winding through the water ways, everyone “Oo’d” and “Aawwww’d” as our guide, Eduardo, helped us spot all the wildlife.

Big crocs, little crocs, swimming, sunbathing, some eyes just visible above the waters surface, waiting for their prey… It was like being dropped into the story Jungle Book. It’s so wild looking, it almost doesn’t seem real.

Besides the incredible crocodile close-ups, we were lucky enough to see a Lechuza. In Mexico there is a lot of folklore about ‘La Lechuza’… a powerful witch that can take the shape of an owl by night… Seeing one, you can understand why the legends exist. While beautiful, there is an eerie feeling stirred that can raise a few arm hairs…

We stayed two days in San Blas, camping right on the coast line. Days were swimming, relaxing, eating delicious ceviche. It’s not as touristy; more known as a fishing town with its natural, beautiful lagoons and the cocodrilarios.

Next stop: San Pancho.

The Ferry, An Unforgettable Ride

Heavy bass tones infiltrated our eardrums as we boarded the midnight ‘California Star’ ferry from La Paz to Mazatlán…Unce-unce-unce…

After the chaos of getting in all the wrong lines, and being redirected all over the ferry terminal, finally boarding and finding each other, this scene was the last thing we expected ha! Couples all over the dance floor, a live band and DJ.

We were lucky to snag one of the last tables; no one was sleeping anytime soon…

High hopes of getting a private cabin were out the window. Little did we know, there was a huge motorcycle group, Los Halcones, that had just ridden through Baja and were on their way back to Guadalajara. A plethora of leather clad men and motorcycle mamas who were ready to party!

Early hours of the morning, music still blaring, we folded, like others, into little blanket burritos and attempted to sleep on the bar lounge tile floor…Yoga mats barely comforting our bones from the vibrating floors.

Eventually the borrocho slurs faded away, and our bodies gave way to the fatigue and gentle boat rocking… A blur of tosses and turns, only to be awakened in the morning with a 2+ hour comedy show, coffee, tortillas, machaca and chilaquiles.

What an unforgettable ride across the Sea of Cortez! 😉

Giving each other reassuring, your tired, I’m tired, but we did it looks, we docked in Mazatlán…. Hello Mainland!!!

La Paz

Barely missing the ferry, we found ourselves in La Paz for a few days. Not a bad place to ‘kill some time’… (The ferry from La Paz to mainland MX, Mazatlán, only runs every couple days).

Just like its name, La Paz is a very peaceful city, especially for being one of the largest cities and the capital of Baja California Sur.

Downtown was outlined by the famous malecón, sprinkled every few meters with sculptures… The Dove of Peace pictured above.

Amazing seafood, ice cream stands, calm turquoise-blue water, and white sand…

Lazy, lounging days of free beachfront camping, coffee, little hikes and entertaining people watching… our fav was our ‘jolly’ neighbor who would dip in the water, jog a few feet, skip back into the water, then play racquetball against himself, using their large RV as an opponent 😉

He was a friendly fellow, who enjoyed his food and drink. He even brought us a container of homemade ‘chocolate clam’ ceviche he had prepared the night before… Which I have to admit, I didn’t eat, but appreciated the gesture!

After cave dwelling and tide pool hopping, we enjoyed a nice long shower at Hotel Catedral and a finale dinner at a secret garden pizzeria decorated with cafe lights!

Beaches visited:

Playa Tecolote, Playa Tesoro and the best… Playa Balandra, known for “El Hongo” rock formation. (Looks like a giant mushroom), captured on many Pacifico cans…

San Jose del Cabo

San Jose del Cabo evokes many special memories for us …epic surf trips “rip to the tip“, desconocido wave breaks, beaches privadas, burros curiosos and Cabo Ironman…140.6 miles of heart, grit …and sweat… through the incredible peninsula.

Flooded with fond recollections, we decided to treat ourselves to one night in a hotel, right in the colonial area of downtown.

While the ‘party-place’ Cabo commotion has a time and place; we’ve really fallen for the ‘girl next door’, San Jose del Cabo… less crowded, warm and charming cobblestone streets, delicious restaurants… beautiful, comfy and cozy!

Settled in for the evening, J discovered a rad new restaurant, La Lupita Taco y Mezcal, delivering the most mind-blowing gourmet tacos and a much craved margarita!

My fav was the fresh sea bass with miso infused crema….

Riley, The Captain

Don’t drop the soap in the prison shower…

Haha! Okay, okay, I’m exaggerating… BUT balancing on the slippery cement blocks, NAKED, with a slight breeze and cold water… it was a quick rinse.

Shivering at Punta Conejo, after a few days on the road, we were thankful a little bird told us about the hidden shower…

This beach is filled with secrets.. you would blow right past the turn off, if you didn’t know what you were looking for…

Each morning we awoke to a cotton candy filled sky that would satisfy even the sweetest tooth…

The ocean beckoned to us with an empty line up and fun waves.

And, perhaps, the most memorable of all was the campsite host, Riley…. An older, mischievous man… He was a wild cat that had defied and surpassed his 9 lives.

Now, living on the point, he helps manage the area and occasionally visits the campers. A little rugged at times, his heart was in a good place; we learned some of his adventures but the others were kept locked up… perhaps for the próximo vez.

If he wasn’t memorable enough on his own, he had the most lovable dog, Stinky… a Boston Terrier with cerebral palsy…. Yep… Little stick would hobble on up and wiggle around as you gave her some TLC.

Riley had a watch tattoo around his wrist. I didn’t quite catch the hour… but, as the night got later, and the bursts of La Bamba got louder… we guessed it was Tequila time…

“Yo no soy marinero… yo no soy marinero, soy capitán… soy capitán, soy CAPITÁN.. Ba Ba BAMBA!!!!”

And that’s how we’ll remember Riley, the welcoming Captain of Punta Conejo!

We missed him the morning we took off, so we left a few goodies on his doorstep.

Cataviña

Leaving for Mexico…Round 2! Tuvimos ganas to get down South pretty quickly.

Taking off early in the morning (this time), we were on a mission to the border… I mean to VG’s donuts…and then the border 😉

Veins surging with cinnamon twists; we powered through secondary in a few sips of coffee and were gone.

Destination 1: Cataviña. This curious part of the desert is about 7+ hours from Oceanside. Still quite a drive, it was a good goal for the first day. Coffee, coffee, coffee. There was the thermos of hot coffee, then the cooler iced coffees. Zzzzzzzzzz…

Cafeína cross the livestock friendly two lane highways. Cows, horses, goats, coyotes. (Do not drive at night).

Pulling in right at sundown added to the eerie but fascinating landscape. Similar to Mars but with plants fighting through the crusty surface; like alien hands reaching out their skinny, pointy fingers towards the sky…

We were welcomed at Rancho Santa Inès. There are a few campgrounds/RV parks in the area, but this one was the BEST. Just a short drive off the highway, offering spacious sites near a cool riverbed, and palm tree oasis.

After our sunset walkabout, we agreed it was a ‘cup of noodles’ kind of night before lights out.

Greedy Seagulls

Do you ever feel like a greedy seagull while on vacation?

Just indulging in all things outside the ‘normal routine’…

Perusing the skies like a flying garbage disposal…

Take the back seat kale, move over quinoa… Muah-ha-ha… This BURGER is MINE…

Yessss…

ALLLLL the sushi is MINE…

All the wine….. MINE….

(Disclaimer: This is not an ad for Residence Inn Marriott, however, we were quite impressed with the large complimentary breakfast buffet 😉 ha!)

Hmmmmm…Ahhhhh…. No schedules …. No work, no email…No chores… THE WORLD IS MINE!!! …

Rewinding slightly…after enjoying a few lazy days at Las Rocas, outside Rosarito, we made a game plan and limped Pancho back across the border to the US side. A shop in Santee awaited our arrival and got to work on our little van baby.

While the car trouble caught us off guard, we were lucky to be that close to the border, and still have plenty of time to continue our adventure.

Even back where we started, we realized… we’re still on vacation!! (That’s where the greedy seagulls come flying in… “caw-caw” hahaha!)

We’ve never had this much time to do absolutely nothing at home. Some days we slept in till 10:00 am, others …. extended coffee time (with donuts), English Premier League soccer games, camping in Idyllwild, riding beach cruisers, getting caught in the rain while on the beach cruisers…making it to a special family wedding… taking walks, discussing why dogs shouldn’t wear sweaters…

You know, all the important things… 😉

Okay- fast forward–>

Getting Pancho back from the shop has given us a BIG second wind. Re-packing, re-arranging… with some experience under our belt; we’re raring to go and ready for round 2 in Mexico! Woooooot!!

¡Vámonos!

Punta Baja

Thick, juicy, gooey MUD.

Hundreds of earthy suction cups grabbed at Pancho, trying to wrap their tierra tentacles around his svelte body.

We were a sailboat in a distressed dirt sea, dodging Lock Ness Monsters!

The roads were not prepared for all the rain; one wrong turn from El Rosario and we were fishtailing through the country side, in search of Punta Baja.

Mi Capitán pulled it off, slipping, sliding, gliding, he manned our ship through the worst of the storm.

Just as the sun was setting; we successfully anchored at our destination: Punta Baja. Man were we excited to see that light house tower.

Pancho stood strong on the point, his proud chest puffed up in the ocean breeze.

Hallelujah… We cracked a beer and took a moment to exhale and appreciate being capsize-free. That was close!

It was our first time to Punta Baja; while we experienced some chaos getting there, the discovery made up for it!

Those who seek adventure will find it! …

Rhythm of the Ranas

Our time at the Cañón de Guadalupe went by like a sweet song… rhythm of the ranas (frogs) every night and soft symphonies of little birds in the mornings.

This stay was all about ‘catching up on slowing down’ …

Morning swims in the springs, coffee, hiking, reading, (more soaking in the springs), ukulele-ing, relaxing and trying to absorb the beauty in every direction – mountain ranges and the grand ‘trono blanco’ (The White Throne) in one direction and the canyon desert oasis in the other.

3 days and nights of this lifestyle was like a wellness retreat in a “wings suit” … we felt so relaxed…rejuvenated… invigorated…ready to ‘carpe diem’ the hell out of this 3 month trip! Si… ¡FUERTE!

Directionally Challenged

We all have our strengths and weaknesses…Although it’s improved over the years, with life and traveling, I am OK admitting I can be ‘directionally challenged’ … 😉

Just give me a map and cross your fingers; you might find an entirely new destination… haha!

Finally heading South, everything was going smoothly… easy vehicle inspection and border crossing in Tecate…After the guards questioned the insulation hanging out of the back door, we were on our way!

Pulling off onto the marked dirt road, from my first ‘directions interpretation’, the camp was just 7 miles away.

It was a beautiful sunset as we bumped along the path, slowing down as parts of the way began to get a little … rougher.

As we neared the 7 mile mark, it was clear there were no camps in sight. Luckily there were sporadic signs encouraging us along.

Still in phone reception zone, I tried to pull up additional directions and found the following map:

Yea.. it was 7 miles before two roads rejoined together but a healthy total of 35 off road miles to camp… Saying good night to the last of the sun, we just broke the first rule of the trip… “Don’t drive at night”…

I like to think this doesn’t really count because we were just snailing along beside ranches and olive farms.

As the terrain became more … advanced… Pancho sounded like a shelf of fine china during an earthquake… a wiggling tray of teal jello… well you get the idea.

J was able to maneuver around boulders and creek crossings… a true ‘maestro de manejar’! And, Pancho, maybe he really did have four wheel drive…

Just as we feared we may have to turn around, we found the entrance…

Wooo hooo!

A couple emerged from the dark, guiding us to our site. After burning a little rubber, we were IN!

“¡Que aventura!” The stars were so bright, you didn’t even need headlamps.. Even in the dark, it was one of the most incredible campgrounds…

Our very own private hot springs, palapa hut and fire pit! Excited and tired, we went straight into the hot springs before calling it a night! … Buenas noches!!