The Adventure Begins December 1st.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

La Paz to Todos Santos

We just spent a full week at an awesome Airbnb in La Paz.

 For $38 a night we had our own studio and private yard. It was at the top of a pretty steep hill about a mile from the center of town. There was a great kitchen so we were able to spend about 650 pesos to last us the week in groceries. We went out to eat some delicious sushi one night, went paddle boarding on Friday morning, and Nick was finally able to find an IPA beer by the end of the week. 

The sunsets were incredible across the bay. I didn't actually make it out of bed to see the sun come up though sadly! 

The blue dot is Todos Santos. We're almost at the bottom of the peninsula!

We packed and cleaned up today and are now on our way to Todos Santos where a big surf competition is going on as well as a music festival. We're going back to camping on the beach, Jackson is most excited about that! 


One thing that we have seen that is really troublesome is how much garbage and unfinished real estate there is everywhere. I hadn't taken any pictures of it, because who wants to remember that? But my sister asked for photos so she can get a better feeling for what it REALLY looks like, not just beautiful sunsets and warm beaches. So here are a few photos from last night. I'll be sure to include some more as we go. 
A beautiful sunset watching spot, covered with garbage and broken glass.
Unfinished buildings lining the street. 


Sunday, January 10, 2016

Bahia Concepcion

Anna here! We are posted up underneath an awesome Palapa on the beach for the next two nights. We are back on the east coast of Baja Sur on the Sea of Cortez. We are in the Bay of Conception (where the fish come to do their breeding) and the water is calm and beautiful. 

Last night while I tried to (unsuccessfully) sleep in the hammock, I could hear dolphins breaching and birds diving for fish. This is why people drive down the Baja. It's calm, beautiful, and the people are very nice. 

A recap: The last few days have involved a lot of driving. We left San Felipe and headed west towards Ensenada last Tuesday and stayed in a hotel because El NiƱo was on the rise. Wednesday we left and headed south on Mex 1 and stayed at Fidel's campground in San Quintin. Thursday involved wet tents and a long drive south to Guerro Negro, through the border crossing into Baja Sur from Baja California. We slept in the car at an RV park in Guerro Negro, and thank goodness because it ended up raining all night long again. But there was a beautiful double rainbow the next morning. 

Friday morning was an easy drive back east towards Mulege (still on Mex 1) where we had an excellent lunch of tacos and beer. All tacos are deep fried and so yummy. We drove another half an hour to where we ended up here on the beach for two nights, star gazing and laying in hammocks. 
Tomorrow we head for La Paz for at least a week. We could easily stay here longer, but we made reservations there already. We fully plan on staying here on the way back up though!! 



Dad, Check out Mex 1 on the map and watch how it goes from the west side to the east side and back west. This is the one main road through Baja. They are furiously paving more and more roads here to make smaller towns more accessible, but the Prius can only handle so much on the dirt roads. So we are primarily driving on Mex 1, which in some places is still totally covered in potholes, mudslides in the rain, and isn't even paved every once in a while!! 

Nick here...

In short we have finally made it to the paradise we were looking for. Warmer weather, beautiful beaches, Jackson is in heaven and most important, no rain. 



Just South of San Quintin, Mexico

After yoga, we left our cushy trailer on the beach in San Felipe on Tuesday morning.

 We spent the night in Ensenada in a "Eco-friendly" hotel, but I'm not exactly sure what that meant since we still haven't found anywhere that recycles. Apparently the liquor stores there have alarms that go off all night long... 

It started raining soon after we left San Felipe and didn't stop until Wednesday morning. We walked across the street to have breakfast, and Nick ordered something he couldn't pronounce and it ended up being amazing! Basically a big plate of Fritos covered in cheese, refried beans, and salsa. Every boys dream. Everyone is so infatuated with Jackson and refer to him only as Lassie. We ended up being quite a sight at breakfast as every waiter came out to oogle him. 

Then we headed south 3 hours to find camping. We had our first experience with how crazy the main road can be, but luckily they were already fixing and cleaning them off by time we drove through. The rocks create landslides in the rain and will just cover the road with rocks! 

We had a few different campsites on the list, but they are all about a mile off the main road on dirt roads. We skipped the first two because they had roads like this: 


Finally we decided on Fidel's because the road seemed passible, and honestly it was the last one... We made it 3/4 of the way before the Prius got stuck, but luckily two awesome Mexican guys and Fidel himself came to the rescue. And now we ended up here! 

Thanks for getting muddy for the Prius Nick. 



Saturday, January 2, 2016

San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico

We made it! Nick's dream of driving the Prius down into Mexico has finally become a reality. Crossing the border was a breeze. In fact, it was so easy that we were unprepared once we were in Mexicali and couldn't find the immegration office. I really thought there would be a sign or arrow pointing to the building, but even if there was we wouldn't have know because everything is in Spanish! 
We drove two hours south of the border and landed in San Felipe. We are staying in an awesome vrbo (still too cold to tent camp). It is a refurbished trailer that is perfect for the two of us. The people that are hosting us are two of the absolutely most amazing people and have really helped us out. They showed us around when we first arrived and this morning took us on an awesome hike. 
We are starting to pick up more and more Spanish and love all the new experiences. Like taking money out of an atm (1000 pesos feels like so much money!! Turns out it's about 58 dolores)
Getting gas was even more hilarious as the attendant asked how much money we wanted to put in to the tank, and Nick kept responding with "87!". We ended up getting 200 pesos worth, however much that is, since gas is in liters and I have no idea how to convert that to gallons. 
There is music playing so loud from someone's house or the bar 3 streets away that you can hear it right through the walls of the trailer and it might be driving us crazy. It's like the happiest repetitive polka and it really belongs at a carnival. Did I mention that it plays until 3am? This is real life. 

But Jackson absolutely loves it here. It's nice and cold in the breeze and the beaches are wonderful. 

We were invited to stay until next week, so we might stay in San Felipe until next Tuesday or Wednesday. ¡Buenos noches!

 View of our beach from the top of the beach access stairs
Ocotillo cactus on our hike this morning 
Selfie on our hike. Nick was gifted that walking stick from the people hosting us! 
This was an old nudest colony back in the 60s and 70s. They built some amazing structures and had to travel on a seriously crazy dirt road to get any supplies. 
New friends 
So far down!
Nicks only friend...
So much love
Family photo
This place was killer 
Gail and her real Mexican chihuahua! Check out that bedazzled collar! 

Gail and Mike are hosting us. They are some of the coolest people ever. Can't wait for more adventures!!