There are a few towns that we did stop at on our way down to La Paz, and at each one, the inevitable comparison was made – how does this place stack up against La Paz? Can we see ourselves spending more than a few days here? A month? A winter? A lifetime? La Paz is the only place we have spent time in since our retirement where we could actually say, “I could easily live here forever”. Of course, there is the little caveat that we have not spent a summer in the heat of La Paz, so we may never want to spend the entire year here, but gosh, it sure is tempting to try and we have met a lot of folks who have moved here permanently from both Canada and the States. But I digress. Before extolling the wonders of this city that has so obviously captured our hearts, what about those other places. Might one of them replace La Paz? Join me on this review and see.
First up, San Felipe. Of course, we didn’t spend as much time here as we might have, but we did get a little of the flavour of it and there are many who choose to spend their winters here. To it’s advantage, it is a lot closer to the border than any of the other places we stopped at, and it is still on the Sea of Cortez, so there’s the opportunity to engage in fishing, swimming, paddle boarding and snorkelling (although having not gone in, we cannot attest to the quality of the snorkelling here). If you come down with your 4 wheel drive rig, there are also lots of places to go off roading around Felipe. In fact, when we stayed at Kiki’s Campground, probably half of the people staying there were all geared up to either drive their dune buggies or their dirt bikes on the trails here. We stopped in at the Valley of the Giants, a popular off roading spot where you could wander through giant cactus. Of course, with the van, we had to park and walk, but we did enjoy checking out both the enormous cacti and some of the smaller flowering plants in the area. There seemed to be plenty of trails that would have been fun to explore with the proper vehicle – maybe next time?
When we arrived, it was on the eve of the shrimp festival, so there were booths being set up along the Malecon and on our last evening, we were able to sample some pretty tasty bacon-wrapped shrimp, which was being offered up pretty much everywhere – so yummy! The Malecon itself is pretty small, compared to La Paz, but then San Felipe is pretty small itself, so that makes sense. It is charming, with the same little shops and restaurants that we like so much along the waterfront in La Paz. We arrived a few months after a hurricane had hit the region and you could really see some of the damage it caused when walking along the beach. The people were busy with machinery and shovels, working to repair and shore up the waterfront homes and you sure have to admire their tenacity! We met some folks who were clearly here for the winter, having scored the best palapas at Kiki’s and they looked like they have been doing this for a long time, having a group of friends who clearly knew their way around and felt entirely comfortable here.
Before leaving San Felipe, we had one important stop to make. If you recall, we had that tortuous detour through LA to Orange. Our purpose there was to pick up medical supplies, which we were then going to transport across the border to donate to an ambulance service in San Felipe. We first learned about Not Just a Tourist last year. In La Paz, the Pro Paramedicos are a self funded group of volunteers who are trained as paramedics and have now 3 ambulances which are deployed around the Baja. Unlike in Canada and the States, there are not enough paramedics and ambulances here to serve the needs of the public and so private organizations such as this try to fill the gaps. But the funding comes from private donations and they often go without the medical supplies that they need. One way of getting supplies is through Not Just a Tourist, which began when a couple from Canada were visiting Cuba and saw first hand the huge gap in need and supplies. They began by asking friends to take supplies to donate with them to their vacations in Cuba. From there, 30 years ago, sprang an organization that has donated over 10,000 suitcases of medical supplies all over the world. We were delighted to be able to fit a suitcase into our van for the trip down and the ambulance service in San Felipe was very happy to receive the donation. If you want to know more about this excellent organization, you can find them at njt.net – please note there are other Not Just Tourist web sites, so make sure you pay attention to the ending – .net. A really wonderful cause!
Ok, on to the next possible contender to replace La Paz in our affections, Mulege. This small city if located a little more than halfway down the Baja and again, on the Sea of Cortez side. An even smaller town than San Felipe, we squeezed into a very busy campground near the mouth of a river that empties out into the north end of Bahia Concepcion. Again, we found that there were many campers here who were making this their winter home and considering how close the town is to the many beautiful beaches on Bahia C, I can see why one might choose to stay here. There are opportunities to go out on fishing boats from here, possible paddle boarding up the quiet river and historical places to explore.
We had heard about the ancient cave painting that can be seen near Mulege from our good friend, Nadya, who very kindly found a tour guide for us for this adventure. Of course, if you read my previous entry, you will remember that it was here in Mulege that we discovered all of the banks were closed and there were not cash machines. Lucky for us, our intrepid tour guide, Salvador, took us to a grocery store where the clerk assured him that when we returned at the end of the day, there would be enough cash for us to purchase to pay him – that’s pretty trusting, don’t you think? We took off in Salvador’s very well worn 4 wheel drive vehicle, to hit the back roads around Mulege. Our first stop was to check out some oranges at a farm just outside of the town where we sampled some of their fruit and he bought some oranges to go with our lunch, which he was providing as part of our day with him. From here, we drove along some VERY rocky terrain, crossing several times over a dry river bed that had been created when a dam broke several years ago and flooded the area. We were sure glad that he was driving and not us! We stopped along the way to check out cacti and other plant life and all the time, Salvador explained what the local uses were for the many plants that we saw, as well as some of the interesting history of this region.
Eventually we reached out destination, a private ranch about an hour’s drive from town. There is another location for viewing cave paintings in Mulege, but due to damage from the hurricane, the road there was closed. We parked at the ranch and proceeded on foot up and around more rocks and across the now dry river bed, viewing the place where the original dam had been before finally climbing up to where we could see the cave paintings. It was so interesting to see them and hear the history of this group from Salvador. It was particularly interesting for us, having seen similar paintings at a park in Texas a few years ago. We had to wonder if this group was an offshoot of that one, having continued migrating down from the north to here. What an amazing thing to have this private tour with such a knowledgeable guide! Truly worth every penny!
We finished our tour with lunch, provided by Salvador and eaten at a table in the cool shade of the ranch before once more jumping into Salvador’s vehicle and braving the long, rocky and dusty road back to Mulege. Once there, we stopped in at the store and sure enough, were able to purchase enough cash to pay Salvador for this most wonderful day. If you ever get the chance, we highly recommend taking a day out of your travels to go back in time and learn more about the history of this area!
As I said, Mulege is close to the beaches of Bahia Concepcion and lots of the people who were wintering over here spent their days out at these beaches. We chose to keep on driving, stopping in at once such beach along the way to spend a couple of quiet nights. It was pretty amazing, I have to say, but enough to put Mulege ahead of La Paz? For us, no, but as a stopping point along the way down the Baja, Mulege is definitely as must!
The last town that we stayed at for more than a night was Loreto, and here again, we met a lot of North Americans who were making this their winter destination. Apparently you can fly straight here from Calgary, which does make it very appealing. In addition, there is a lovely old part of Loreto that is very enjoyable to walk around and explore. Lots of shops and good restaurants as well, catering to the needs and wants of the tourists that flock here every winter make Loreto a fun place to hang out. Our lovely hotel stay was supplemented by another night at an RV park we discovered that is right in the centre of town! We very much enjoyed wandering in and out of the little shops, stopping for iced coffee and finding new places for dinner in the evening. As well, there is a Malecon in Loreto, but here, for us, is where they have totally missed the boat. The waterfront is beautiful for walking along, but most the property across from it is privately owned. No shops, very few restaurants means not a lot of action, which is really part of the appeal of the Malecon in La Paz. However, the location of Loreto, right near a huge national marine park means some really fantastic opportunities to get out and snorkel, dive or fish. Of course, here do do any of these activities, you need to go on a boat, which adds to the expense, unless you have a boat of your own of course! On the days we were here, it was quite windy, so we were not tempted to go out. We did find one restaurant on the waterfront where we could sit inside and watch the huge waves being churned up by the wind and in fact, watched with both horror and fascination as a couple in a small dinghy rode out to their sailboat and unloaded their supplies to the boat before climbing aboard and pulling up their anchor to head out to calmer waters. The waves were huge and we truly feared that one of them would end up in the water, but these two obviously knew what they were doing and managed the complicated maneuver like the pros they were. If we ever had any notion that we should take up sailing, I think watching that little glimpse into the realities of life onboard a sailboat totally dissuaded us!
Loreto, with all its charm and amenities, certainly came close to La Paz, but in our hearts, we knew that our first love here on the Baja was going to still be our choice for spending time. And so it was, that we left Loreto and drove down to La Paz a few days earlier than planned. Rolling into town, we parked near our old stomping grounds from last year, revelling in the joy of being in our familiar well-loved part of town. We stopped in at Pan D’Les, one of our favourite little coffee shops, happily sitting outside and soaking up what we now knew to be the air of our favourite city in the Baja. Of course, we couldn’t move into our rental apartment for another two weeks, but that is for another post. So there you have it. I know what our favourite place is, but as I said, at every stop along the way, we met folks who were equally happy to stay where they were, be it San Felipe, Mulege or Loreto. I guess it all depends on what you are looking for in your winter vacation spot!
