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Published: January 21st 2018
Fishing boats (pangas) in Mulege
Fishermen will take these up to 30 miles offshore!Hello folks, and thanks for visiting our blog site. It just occurred to Fi and me that our last proper blog entry was over two weeks ago, when we were still in Mulege. Fi posted a tribute to Goldie last week (we greatly appreciate the kind words that many of you sent us!) but it’s been a while since we actually let anyone know where we’ve been lately. Since our last post from Mulege, on the Baja peninsula, we’ve travelled to and through Loreto, south to La Paz, and across the Sea of Cortez via car ferry to the bustling, seaside tourist destination of Mazatlan. We’re currently about 50 miles south of Mazatlan at a nearly deserted campground right on the beach. This place has a fantastic pool, is very serene, and even has clean bathrooms and showers (something that has often eluded us in Mexico and that we’ve really come to appreciate). At $13US/night, it’s not a bad deal! We’ve met some really decent and adventurous folks during our travels, including Gavin and Jen from Leeds, in the U.K., who are a really fun, down-to-earth couple winding down a two-year expedition in their Land Rover that’s taken them through North
Fi and Goldie in Mulege
Fi trying to coax Goldie for a swim without much luck. and South America, and even Antarctica… now that I think about it, they may be running from the police. We spent the evening with them a couple of nights ago at a campground in Mazatlan where they recounted some of their trip’s highlights in Mexico, including swimming with whale sharks, and seeing other elusive wildlife such as numerous humpback and/or grey whales, dolphins, etc. “So many that we stopped counting,” I think is how Gavin may have described it. Fi and I later reflected that we’ve met scores of others who have similarly witnessed nature’s majestic creatures during their Baja travels… except us! We tallied up the not-so-impressive array of wildlife that we’ve encountered during our month-long Baja journey to realize that the entire list includes a bunch of stray dogs, a few semi-feral cats, plenty of bugs, and the tail end of a small, frightened salamander hiding in a pile of firewood. Our luck seemed to have changed a bit this morning, however as Fi was sitting outside with a cup of coffee, intently watching pods of dolphin swimming and playing along the beach, just past the waves. Still no whales though!
So anyway, things have
Rancho Verde, south of La Paz
Beautiful bougainvillea, deep blue skies. been getting back on track since the loss of Goldie, and we’re starting to enjoy our travels once more. Backtracking a bit, we said goodbye to Mulege and headed down along the Bahia de Concepcion to Loreto, which was a decent stopover for a couple of days with plenty of restaurants and a laid-back liveliness to it. South of Loreto, the coastal route revealed jagged mountains and beautiful, white sand and turquoise water bays. La Paz boasted a vibrant seaside/malecon atmosphere, however, we were in the thick of it with Goldie in her final days, so didn’t really experience much of what the city had to offer. We did, however, find a great little ranch campground about 50 miles south of La Paz where we spent a few days in total serenity after parting with Goldie – just what we needed. We met Gary and Kate, a warm and kind-hearted couple from Oregon whom we enjoyed spending an evening with by the camp fire, along with their friendly dog Silas. Back through La Paz, we caught the overnight car ferry to Mazatlan, sleeping in Tortuga on the cargo deck and arriving in Mazatlan on Thursday morning. Fi was extremely concerned
Los Barriles, Baja
Fi, doing the hokie pokie dance, or something about seasickness and that our truck would slide off the deck into the open sea, but by the time three Dramamine tablets had kicked in, she didn’t seem to care if the ship were to sink entirely, or if her head were to fall off; hence, I got some sleep. Once we arrived, we enjoyed a couple of days exploring Mazatlan, including the historic center with its cobbled streets, brightly painted buildings and botanical central plaza. Mazatlan is also a big snowbird destination for U.S. & Canadian retirees, as well as a cruise ship port of call. Not surprisingly, there’s just as much English as Spanish being spoken in certain areas, and the Walmarts here (there are more than one) do a thriving trade filling expats’ cravings for cereal, peanut butter, etc. (ourselves included). The beaches remind me of a slightly dirtier, but vastly cheaper, version of Honolulu: still very nice though, and I’ve enjoyed being able to finally swim in water warm enough upon entry to keep me from screeching like a 12-year old girl.
We left Mazatlan yesterday, driving to this seaside campround. Along the way we filled up with gasoline in a hot, rat-nest
Rancho Verde campground
South of La Paz, this is where we stayed for a few days after we put Goldie down. It was very serene and peaceful. of a dust bowl town when a forty-something American (or maybe Canadian) guy who kind of looked like Willie Nelson (as Willie Nelson currently looks) approached me, mumbling, “Could I read you some poetry in exchange for some money?” or something like that. At first, I thought he was kidding. Little did he know that I, like most people, don’t understand and consequently loathe poetry. Sadly, I'd probably opt to watch Caddyshack rather than see Shakespeare himself recite his sonnets. It’s also important to note that we had just days earlier seen a Mexican guy at a stop light in La Paz riding a 6-foot tall unicycle backwards while juggling (now that was a show!), so the bar was already set pretty high. We happily coughed up some cash for that guy's effort. Fighting the primal urge to tell the poetry guy to go to hell, I simply said,“Not today; thanks anyway.” If he were smart, he would have asked for money to NOT read us any poetry, and then just start yammering away until sufficiently paid off to go away. Had he framed his pitch that way, I would’ve been hard pressed to say no. Or he could learn
Rancho Verde campground
Mountains adjacent to the ranch. to juggle on a unicycle.
Our next stop is Lake Chapala, about 30 miles south of Guadalajara. We were checking out camping options there on iOverlander.com near Guadalajara and found one spot that a previous visitor had described as nice-enough apart from the sporadic sound of gunfire at night. I think we’ll avoid that one. Driving through Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico, in a full-sized pick-up truck and camper should be fun… by fun I mean like the way a root canal, or a tax audit, or a good old-fashioned kick in the nuts is fun. Hopefully we’ll live to tell the tale. Thanks for checking us out. Attached are a bunch of photos over the last couple of weeks; several of them are stuck on to the bottom of this web page. - Ken
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Gayle
non-member comment
It's snowing here.......
There is even a blizzard warning out, but we haven't had any wind....I wanted Fi to know what she was missing in Pagosa....the skiing will be good......once I get past my client's court case Tuesday.....and the crown preparation at the dentist Thursday........Mazatlan looks gorgeous.......