When we first talked about driving down the Baja after our return last year, we were met with some skepticism.  Why would we drive such a long distance!  Wouldn’t it be dangerous? Everyone had a story to tell of someone they had heard of who were robbed on the dangerous roads in Mexico.  Or had run out of gas in the middle of the desert.  Or had wrecked their car on the horrible roads. Or, or or…  But over the months before leaving, we quietly persisted in our planning.  We made a list of all the extra things we would need for the trip – a spare tire on a rim (which weighs a TON, by the way!), a gas can, lots of water jugs, some special things so we could let air out of the tires and refill them if we got stuck in the sand.  The list was long and Jim was meticulous in reading lots of blogs about driving the Baja.  He joined a few Facebook pages where we could get up to date information about the road conditions.  We watched a lot of YouTube videos extolling life on the road in the Baja.  And all the while, we kept hearing our friends and loved ones voicing their concerns about our safety.  Its good to be loved and to have people worry about you, but sometimes its kind of stifling.  When it was time to go, there was a sense of relief that we were finally on the road to a new adventure.  We would heed the warnings, and not take silly chances of course, but we were determined to enjoy this wonderful opportunity to explore a new place.  

So, once we made it past the border (Oh my, was that not ridiculous?) and arrived in San Felipe, our Baja adventure had truly begun.  In other posts I will write about things we did along the way, but for this one, I just wanted to talk about the actual drive down.  Just in case you might want to try it yourself sometime!  Or, just so you can know that yes, there were some interesting sights to see along the way, and some road conditions to keep in mind, but that we made it and had such a wonderful time all the way to La Paz!  

After a couple of days in San Felipe, we felt ready to hit the road.  Our first stop would be a little side trip to Bahia de Los Angeles, about 300 and 5 1/2 hours away.  This is a big distance for us, as we try to keep our driving days to 4 hours so that we have time to rest, cook and enjoy our surroundings.  So, we compromised and stopped at little place called Papa Fernandez, which was about halfway between the two.  There was supposedly a restaurant here, but we couldn’t tell if it was open or not, so we just drove to the beach and set up camp for the night.  The beach was beautiful and there were only 2 other campers there, but it was very rustic.  With the red rocks surrounding us, it looked like we were camping on Mars!  However, the nearby ocean provided such stunning scenery we didn’t need to spend too much time looking at anything else.  As it was fairly windy for setting up the stove and cooking outdoors, we settled for a cold dinner and enjoyed the gorgeous sunset before retiring for the night to sleep to the sound of waves crashing on the beach – bliss!

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The next day we continued our journey south (after paying our 150 pesos for camping) to BDA.  Along the way, we were to see some of the damage from the most recent hurricane to hit this region just a couple of months ago.  In places the road was single lane and we stopped to have a closer look at how much the roadbed had been eroded during the storm.  We found out later that in this little spot they had been hit with a double whammy – the hurricane with its rain dropped water in the mountains that came rushing through to the sea, and the sea was at an extreme tide, which brought water up and destroyed several homes and campsites.  But, amidst all of this, people just get about their business of living, making it work in whatever way they can.  

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Once in Bahia, we found a campsite that not only had managed to survive the hurricane with just a little damage, but also had a great little cafe with wifi!  Out here we were without any cell reception, so being able to sit in a cafe and enjoy a nice cold beer while catching up on news from home was pretty sweet.  We liked it so much we stayed for a few days – I will write about our stay in more detail in another post.

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Upon leaving BDL, our next destination was Guerrero Negro and it was along this route that we encountered the most road disruption that we would on this trip.  There was a very lengthy section of road that was totally destroyed in the hurricane, so traffic was diverted to a dirt road along side the main road.  It was slow going, rumbling along behind big trucks and dusty as well, but everyone seemed to handle it well and there wasn’t much to do other than just live with it.  When we finally arrived in GN, we stopped for the night at the Halfway Inn (so named, as you might surmise, because of its location halfway between the border and the southern cities of the Baja).  We spent a very pleasant evening here, enjoying someone else’s cooking and having the opportunity to plug in all of our electronics for the night.  For this trip, we had purchased an electric cooler that runs on the car battery when we are driving and then on supplementary batteries when we are stopped.  The batteries can all be charged with solar panels, and when we are stopped for a couple of days on a beach, this system seems to work very well, particularly as the sun shines pretty much all the time in the Baja.  However, when the opportunity to charge everything right up arrives, we take full advantage of it!

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Guerrero Negro sits on the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula right at the dividing line between Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur (North and South Baja).  From here, the highway leads back to the east side and the Gulf of California.  We had thought to stop and spend the night at Santa Rosalia, but were making good time this day and so continued along to Mulege where we wanted to stop for a few days to do some exploring.  This turned out to be both a good and bad decision.  Good, in that we did manage to have a wonderful tour (another entry!) and bad because it turned out that there were no banks open in the town at all!  No bank machines meant no cash for us.  We had last picked up cash when we crossed the border and needed to replenish our supply of pesos.  We managed to pay for our camping and a couple of drinks the first night there before we realized our dilemma.  So, what to do?  Well, as it turns out, the ever-resourceful people of Mulege had come up with a solution for themselves.  At the grocery store we could use our credit card to buy cash.  Not the best solution, but it saved us and allowed us to have a wonderful stay in Mulege. 

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I suppose I should mention how we are managing our money while on this trip.  We are able to withdraw pesos with our bank card, and do that about once a week, taking out what we need for daily groceries, coffee and small purchases (like hats and tops for me, lol!).  For gas and larger purchases, we use our credit card which doesn’t charge a fee for international purchases.  Other that our little blip in Mulege, this system has worked quite well for us.

We left Mulege and made our way to the Bay of Conception where we knew there to be many beautiful beaches to spend a couple of days relaxing at.  We chose a small one called La Perla and enjoyed a few days with no wifi and pretty much no people.  It was a sweet little set up with a palapa and another very rustic outhouse nearby and all of this for only 150 pesos per night. 

We have been finding a great balance for us between very rustic sites with no facilities to speak of and towns with all the amenities.  I think for anyone travelling in this way, you need to find out what works best for you.  Along the way we have met many people traveling this same route. Some stay exclusively in the more remote locations, some only in towns with everything available and then there are those, like us, who choose to experience both.  There is not right or wrong way to travel the Baja, that’s for sure!

From our remote location at La Perla, we drove into the “big city” of Loreto, which really did seem very big after our days out on the beach.  As we drove into town I noticed some hotels and signs to the more touristy old part of the city before we turned and drove out to the RV park we had thought we might stay at.  However, it was pretty far out, and upon reflection, we decided what we really needed was a day or two in an actual room, so back we drove into town to find the most delightful Hotel Plaza Loreto.  Really, you need to sometimes just go without to more fully appreciate the simple things like a bed, running water and lights that turn on with the flip of a switch!  Of course, our room held more that just the basics and we quickly decided to extend our stay for another night.  We truly enjoyed our time in Loreto, finding it quite delightful.  Of course, as we have been travelling, we have been comparing places with La Paz and so far Loreto came the closest to our own La Paz – close but just not quite as magical to us! 

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From Loreto it was about 4 ½ hours to La Paz and so, once we were on our way again we drove straight there.  We had given ourselves a month to drive the Baja, thinking that we would spend a lot more time exploring the places along the way, but in reality, two weeks was more than enough time for us, even at our very slow pace.  With the extra time, we were able to get out and explore some other areas, but I will write about them again in other posts.  For now, I would just like to summarise what driving down the Baja was like for us and address some of the concerns expressed by our loved ones before we left. 

First of all, although the road going south along Highway 5 and then Highway 1 is pretty narrow in places, if you are a careful driver and don’t try to go too fast, it is just fine.  I know that at times in the beginning, Jim felt a little nervous about the width, but within a few days he had become accustomed to them.  Even with the damage in places from the hurricane, we never felt in danger.  We found the drivers, and truck drivers in particular, to be very courteous and careful.  This sentiment was not just our own, but we heard pretty much the same from any of the other drivers we encountered along the way.

Which brings me to the second concern that people had – would we feel safe.  Well, let me say that although we have heard the stories of people having difficulties, we have yet to encounter anyone who was less than kind and gracious to us here in Mexico.  We have felt safe and cared for on the whole length of the Baja.  In addition, at this time of year there are so many Snow Birds heading south, it really is like a long long party going south.  We met people in one place and would see them again in another.  We met couples both young and retired like us – so many from Vancouver Island where we live that we wondered if there was anyone left at home!  Maybe its because we are in a foreign country and language is an issue, but when you see someone who looks like they are English speaking, you just walk up and start talking.  Honestly, we have met more people in our time here in Mexico that we have in the 5 years we have lived on Vancouver Island!  It all adds up to that feeling like you are part of a big party heading down together to enjoy this most beautiful place.

Oh, and all the extra gear we bought?  Haven’t had any reason to use it yet! (knock on wood!)

So, driving the Baja is not for everyone, but it is most definitely not only for adventurers.  It is for anyone who is open to new experiences, open to learning about and sharing such a beautiful place with its wonderful people.  If you take your time and keep an open mind, you too, can drive the Baja!