Baja Blog: Fri, Apr 10 - Back to Arizona

 

Katy - We were ready to go to breakfast at 7 when the dining room opened.  Breakfast was  as good as last night's dinner.  I had green chiliquiles, Bob had scrambled eggs mixed with machaca and a fried tortilla cone filled with beans, and Hil had panqueques.  Our waiter laboriously squeezed a ton of oranges for our juice.   A great last meal in Mexico!

A fab breakfast!

We set off north at 8 AM through desert with very little vegetation, but colorful mountains to our left and turquoise water  to our right with scatterings of small villages and campers along the shore.  Bob was able to spot the national observatory atop the Sierra San Pedro Martir where we were so many days ago.  After 30 miles the water disappeared, replaced by salt flats of the Colorado River delta.

 

 

A friendly farewell!

Jolly vendors while we wait to cross the border

We approached Mexicali about 11 AM and turned east on Hwy 2D that runs along the border, then angles down  towards the San Luis Rio Colorado border crossing.  We entered the town, full of dentists for cheap, but supposedly high quality, dental work popular with US citizens, turned north towards the Wall, and got in line to cross into the US.  DJT’s Wall is truly ugly, 20’ high and  covered with razor wire with yet another even higher wall 75' north draped with more wire. 

The infamous Wall (doubled!)

In between the two walls yet more coils of concertina barbed wire on the ground!   We crept along for 30 minutes. Since there is NO signage, we weren’t sure if we were in the correct lane or not.   Finally we reached multiple entry booths, drove into one and handed over our passports.  The guard handed them back and that was it!

We took 195 up to Interstate 8, stopping at Dateland  for one more delicious shake. It may be our last visit as we saw even more Trump items for sale  (Trump chocolate bars!), and started the final slog past Tucson and into Green Valley arriving at 5 PM.

A last dateshake

A lot of driving, but a wonderful trip full of missions,  amazing plants and great food!  80 bird species seen,  approximately 1600 miles driven.

 

Thanks for coming along!

Mon, Apr 13 - Miss Mitsy's home!

A few notes:

 

-Hygiene has greatly improved in the last decades.  We ate salads, fresh fruit, ice cream.  No more tummy trouble than traveling anywhere.  Always drank purified water.

 

-We had plenty of pesos, but credit cards were accepted everywhere for gas, snacks, lodging.  Rancho Meling was the only place that preferred cash.

 

-The US State Dept has a Level 3 warning about travel in Baja: "Level 3 (Reconsider Travel): Baja California", but we never felt in any danger here or on our last trip driving to Mazatlán in 2024.

 

- Recommended Books:  “Baja California Land of Missions” by David Kier

  “Plant Guide Maritime Succulent Scrub Region” by Jim Riley, et al

  “Baja California Plant Field Guide” by Jon Rebman & Norman Roberts

Baja Blog: Thurs, April 9 - Guerrero Negro to San Felipe

Hilary - 

Last night and tonight are our only single night hotel stays as we are making our way north and home.  We met for breakfast at 7 - the lights weren’t on in the restaurant yet but as we walked in the lobby the staff arrived including our nice waiter from last night.  We ate, packed up the car and headed for the 100+ miles of Route 1 that we have already driven going south to join the intersection with the new road of Route 5 which takes you east and north along the Sea of Cortez.  Traffic was light and the trucks were almost all headed south so pretty easy driving.  As we got fairly close to the intersection, Bob and Katy wanted to pull over to get a better look at the wide variety of plants in this part of the desert.  I had been speeding - relatively - along heading for the new road passing slow RVs and cars with campers but finally found a good spot to pull over.  It turned out to be a really good spot as there were a few plants we didn’t know and hadn’t seen before. There was one that reminded me of the paper bag bush we saw in Cataviña but the “bags” were open.  

View from our stopping spot

Love the spiral growth on the boojum 
tree trunk

I did get a small piece of some cactus stuck in the side of my shoe and suddenly realized that a very long thin thorn was in my foot.  It came out pretty easily but it doesn’t take much in that terrain.  

Slipper Plant, Euphorbia lomelii

Slipper plant flower

 

Beautiful bloom on a Red-Spine 
Barrel Cactus

Hilary next to  a Boojum

    

Reminded me of the Paperbag bush

Mammillaria in a rock

I got back on the road and we soon made the turn onto 5 - new road for everyone.  Route 5 was an unpaved track when Katy and Bob did their trip 50 years ago.  It was paved in pieces, but we don’t think the whole road was completed until the last 10 years or less.

 

The desert changed as we came out on the east side of the central mountains, the plants weren’t as numerous or interesting but the geology was.  Rocks and mountain sides were brown, grey, purple and combinations of these, sort of a "painted desert."  As we got close to the coast again, we started to see lots of  RV camps and little communities.  Back in December we had considered staying at a hotel in Gonzaga Bay but the hotel “rules” were weird and not convenient so we opted not to do that.  It also had some unattractively bad reviews.  Once we saw where the hotel is located we were  glad of our decision as it is next to a very long strip of RVs along the beach.  We had thought it was more remote.  I tried to drive down to it so we could at least see what it was like close up but there was a guarded entry that just didn't seem worth dealing with.  

 

The coastline of the Sea of Cortez is very pretty in that the water color is beautifully blue in many places.  There are various islands off shore.  Most of the islands do not look approachable as they are rocky and high with no place to land.  Some beaches were sandy but others were rocky.  There are no huge resorts along this coast which in one sense is pretty remarkable with so much open coastline but it is not the easiest place to get to so it remains mostly unspoiled. 

 

No selfie stick but admiring the islands off shore

Looks like a big seal

                                

Islands that sometimes looked as if they were just 
floating over the water

We reached San Felipe and made our way to the hotel.  I had first put the address that was in my reservation in the GPS, but this led us to a strange neighborhood well away from the water.  I switched to the name of the hotel and that at least led us to the right place.  What I had forgotten  was that we had a hard time finding a hotel in San Felipe. Most everything that showed up as an option was an apartment.  Our hotel - Hotel Las Palmas - is a couple of blocks from the beach up a dusty hill and the approach is not particularly attractive.  It is really a motel with car cars parked in front of the individual rooms Our reservation had instructions that we would have to provide a $200 damage deposit in US dollars cash at check in!  Our rooms were already paid for and one of the most expensive of the trip.  We aren’t quite sure why they are so expensive as they are okay but not exceptional, but this is an area with lots of American and Canadian tourists and they have been very busy over the last couple of weeks with a motorcycle race and Easter.  We are guessing that they jack up the prices because they can.  We weren’t ecstatic about the place but Katy and I went to check in.  The woman found our reservations but she never mentioned the cash deposit and we certainly didn’t, so we figured that we were considered harmless!  Both rooms were still being cleaned, but we eventually unloaded everything into my room so Katy and I could take a quick walk down to the beach and find the malecón.  

 

San Felipe beach along the malecón

We walked down the hill and along an intermittent sidewalk. For a few blocks there was no indication of any tourism at all.  We saw empty buildings, some businesses, some houses for rent near the beach, an RV campground on the beach - but they all had limited access.  We finally found a touristy market and the start of the malecón.  There were lots of people on the beach, a few jet skis in the water though they did seem to have an area from roped off from the swimming areas.  It wasn’t nearly as nice as Loreto’s malecón.  San Felipe is definitely serving an English speaking market - very different from any of the other places we’ve visited on this trip.  

On the malecón

We found our way back pretty hot by this time.  It was really nice in the shade with a breeze but hot walking in the sun. 

I sat out by the pool to cool off and we met up at 5 for dinner having decided to try the Italian restaurant, Alfredo's, right here.  We ate outside and picked up two more trip birds in the process.  The originator of the restaurant is the “inventor” of Alfredo sauce and started at his restaurant in Mexico City.  The food was surprisingly good and the waiter was excellent, in a much nicer setting than we had anticipated.  This was the last dinner of our Baja redux trip as we head to my house tomorrow.

Not very attractive drive of our hotel

Birding at dinner

Lovely wall mural in my room

 

Baja Blog: Wed, Apr 8 - North to Guerrero Negro

 Katy -  We had one last chance to see Belding’s Yellowthroat, a warbler that is endemic to Baja California  and that Bob needs for his life list.   So we got up at 5 AM, packed the car, said goodbye to the lovely Iguana Inn, and started the trip back north to Arizona.   We were headed back to the Mission at Mulegé.  It had been over 100 degrees there two days ago when we last looked for the bird and we figured by getting there very early, before the heat set in, we would have a chance.

 Hilary drove the 80 miles to Mulegé, parked by the Mission and we walked around the grounds.   We climbed a steep stone staircase to an overlook with a view of the palm forest that lines the permanent Mulegé river that runs by the mission.  There were a lot of birds and we saw a pair of Phainopeplas among others in the pleasantly cool early morning hours.  We walked down a  rough stone slope to a wide dam that partially blocks the river and walked out on it as ebird had reports of the Belding's from that location..  

Bob on the dam

 On the far side of the dam, we saw a flash of yellow and a male Belding’s briefly appeared.   Too quick to be photographed, but definitely the bird: bright yellow with a black face pattern!

Village of Mulege

It was about ten by then, and we figured we deserved brunch so we drove into the town and found a small restaurant.  They only had a buffet set up for breakfast, the usual eggs and beans, but also a delicious rice pudding and we could sit outside in their plant- and parakeet-filled garden, so it worked out.

 

Hilary drove us along beautiful beaches, a few covered with tents and campers, but many totally empty, for another 50 miles north to Santa Rosalia, the town we had found unattractive and industrial when we had passed though it earlier.  

Metal church designed by G. Eiffel

I had since read that it had been designated a Pueblo Mágico by the Mexican government a few years ago  (Who paid for that one?  RRZ) so we figured we owed it a second chance and drove around the plaza and main streets.   It does have some appeal, although we couldn’t detect the French charm from its original settlers.  Anyway, it’s better than we had first judged!

 

Through San Ignacio and  137 miles more across the peninsula west to Guerrero Negro.  We checked into the Halfway Inn, on the boundary between Baja Sur and Baja states.  Guerrero Negro is known for its whale watching tours in the nearby lagoon from January - March, and also for its salt industry ( it produces 9% of the world’s salt!).   It was quite early, 2 PM, so we set off to explore the area.

 

 Bob knew of a bird sanctuary located within the Laguna Ojo de Liebre (formerly Scammon's) lagoons that are part of the El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

We found a sign for the sanctuary and a long palm-lined spit of sand with a lot of birds!  The birds mostly are also found Santa Barbara, but here many were in colorful breeding plumage on their way north.  The road continued on 3-4 miles through pristine salt marsh, thousands of acres of habitat, and a major stopping point for migrating birds.   An incredible sight!

Reddish Egret

 

In the hazy distance we spotted an enormous shimmering white mound of salt resembling a giant iceberg! 

Huge mount of salt

 There  is even a Salt museum, which would be fascinating to visit, if we had time.

We retuned to our hotel for dinner and bed.

Baja Blog: Tue, Apr 7 - Exploring Loreto

Cute Burro

Hilary -  Bob suggested that we head out early this morning to the mission that is about 45 minutes into the mountains thus avoiding some of the heat of the day.  We left Loreto at 6:30 AM with no breakfast but with promises of one later.  The route to Mission San Francisco Javier Vigge Blaundo, #2, was straight forward as we followed the quite curvy 2-lane road up and down and around corners including a true hairpin turn.  The road was mostly in excellent shape and paved all the way. We arrived just before 7:30 AM and as we turned into the area leading up to the mission, I was amazed that there was a lovely tree-lined rock paved road with small buildings on both sides.  There is a whole community here as well as a farm and at least 3 restaurants.  The mission is the second one built in the long list of missions established in Baja, Mexico and California.  It was founded in1699.  It remains one of the main sanctuaries of the peninsula demonstrated every December 2 when thousands of pilgrims come from many different parts of Mexico.

The mission

Some of the roses around the 
Mission

The church wasn’t open yet so we wandered behind it and down a slope where there is a 300 year old olive tree and a great vegetable garden being tended by a man with a machete. 
He was using it to remove weeds which seemed to work pretty well.  Bob was hunting for the Belding's Yellowthroat but we saw Hooded Orioles and a Northern Cardinal.  There were great arrays of bougainvillea in many colors, a small water viaduct, a burro, a horse, a nice woman with whom Katy and I spoke when she asked if we were birding and if that was the right term.

Variety of bougainvillea 

Huge roots of 300 year old olive tree

Heading back towards the parking area, we decided to get some breakfast in one of the restaurants where only one table was occupied.  The man who was watering a plant outside and taking chairs from the back of a pickup truck was the man who came and took our orders too.  There were many photos on the walls.  The most impressive one was of a woman who was born in 1808 and died in 1933! 

Two grey haired guys came in in their motorcycle gear to eat as well.  This seems to be a thing as this is the second pair of older guys out on their bike adventures on this trip.  The others were Canadian.  These guys were speaking English but whether American or Canadian, we didn’t ask.  We haven’t notice any young people doing such a trip maybe a retirement thing.

After we ate, the doors to the mission were open so we were able to go in and take some photos. There are stone sculptures decorating doorways, a massive gold wall behind the altar with 8 oil painting inserts and a unique ceiling decoration of an 8 pointed star.  The gardens have roses, orange trees, palms among other plants.

Inside

Ceiling detail

Gold framed oil paintings

We drove back to Loreto easily finding our Inn and a parking space in front.  Katy and I wanted to go see the local Loreto mission and do a bit of shopping so we took our hats and water and went to see what we could find.  Various map programs gave me different locations for the mission which seemed odd but we could tell where it should be and headed that way.  We figured that we would see the bell tower without too much difficulty.  Just a few blocks away, there is a tree line pedestrian walkway that we explored.  We shortly found the mission and went in.  This is the first mission founded (1697) and built in Baja so we especially wanted to see it.  We have now seen 8 missions on this trip. Three of them are just remains of adobe but the others are fully functioning massive stone structures.  One of the things that I find amazing is how large these buildings are for the time when they were built.  They took years to construct but even then it was quite an undertaking.  They aren’t just small rural churches but big buildings.  Some have stone that was quite neatly cut and others used stone that was more crudely cut but fitted together well with some kind of mortar. It is hard to tell, of course, what was built originally and what might have been added or modified later.

Inside the oldest mission -
The one in Loreto

Map of all of the missions founded in Mexico

Interesting construction 
Detail around a window

Every few blocks there was another circle in the street with
Different designs.  The one in front of the mission had bells.

Now was time for a bit of shopping.  I was looking for a t-shirt and Katy wanted a new tortilla holder basket as her one from La Paz (50 years ago) is a bit on the worn side.  We hadn’t seen any touristy shops along the malecón last night but we were now in a tourist shop area.  I passed a few shops with typical t-shirt offerings but then saw one with much more creative designs.  Katy and I both found shirts there and I got a mug as well.  Katy had a recommendation for a shop whose name we could partially remember but we actually found it almost by accident.  The power was going off and on so it got a bit hot in a couple of the shops but Katy got both a spoon rest and a beautiful tortilla holder basket - hand woven at a local ranch from agave.

We wandered towards the water to cool off but first managed to find an ATM - finally - and then a smoothie shop.  We got excellent smoothies for lunch and found a bench in the shade.  We made it back to the edge of the malecón but the wind really picked up so we headed back to the Inn.  Our big decision now is to figure where to go for dinner.

One wall in the restaurant - Mi Loreto

About 5:15, we walked back and showed Bob the pedestrian walkway and then the mission.  There is a restaurant across the street called Mi Loreto and we opted to go there.  It is colorfully decorated with painted chairs, different colored table cloths and napkins and various things on the wall.   The menu turned out to have a number of of items that we hadn’t seen on other ones.  We’ve been finding mostly the same things on many menus.  Katy and Bob had Cuba Libres and I had a traditional Mojito (they had 3 other flavors).  The waitress also brought us an amuse bouche - only the second one of the trip.  Katy ordered tortilla soup and grilled fish.  Bob ordered Arrachera with an aguacate (avocado) sauce and I ordered Mi Loreto enchiladas (3 enchiladas with different sauces - verde, roja and mole.  We all enjoyed what we got but especially Bob as the aguacate sauce was excellent.  He practically licked the plate clean.  We walked back a few blocks taking a moment to go into the lobby of a beautiful hotel at which we had wanted to stay but didn’t since they had no off street parking.  The hotel is the Posada de las Flores and has a stunning lobby.  We made a plan for tomorrow which necessitates an even earlier start than this morning - leaving at 6AM.  Bob wants to go back to the mission in Mulagé as the grounds have many sightings of the key bird he needs.