You could say we were woken up by the sun but we were really raised by the heat. By 7am, it was way too hot to stick around in the car anymore so we were out. Neither of our bowels were really playing ball so it was necessary to get out and do our morning shits without much hanging around. Because of the warmth, I was keen for a swim and Dan thought so too. I donned my bikini and met him at the water’s edge. The water was perfectly clear, so much so that we saw a stingray swim by only meters from our feet. Okay, not going swimming. I had me a fresh water shower instead, put on a dress and we were off, figuring we’d get breakfast somewhere on the way.
We drove away from El Rosarío and continued our journey south. We would be staying on the east coast but not really seeing the beach until we hit the few towns on our way. We hadn’t been on the road ten minutes when we came to a couple of cop cars stopping people in the middle of the highway. It just seemed to be another random inspection. Dan already had his spiel ready, explaining in Spanish that we were on vacation, heading to Cabo San Lucas for the surf. The cop nodded his head and politely explained that we should pull over because he was giving us a ticket since Dan wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. Bugger!
The policia wanted to see our registration and insurance and Dan’s license, which we handed over as Dan tried to talk his way out of it, saying we’d just pulled onto the road and he hadn’t put the belt on yet. No dice, Dan had to get out of the car and follow the policia man to his car. I saw the exchange and from the body language, it didn’t look like it was going well. When I saw a smile on Dan’s face and watching him pat the cop on the arm, it looked like it had turned around. After fumbling around with his papers, Dan bid the cop adios and walked back towards the car.
The cop had laid out the terms of the fine, saying it was 1,050 Pesos ($55) and that we’d have to go back to the police station in the city to pay it. When Dan explained we had little money, he sort of raised his hands and spoke a bit of Spanish that Dan understood to mean he was looking for a bribe. While he didn’t set out an amount, he gave Dan a piece of small book to put the money inside of, with the intention of keeping it hidden from prying eyes. He walked away and dealt with his next customer as Dan folded 300 Pesos ($15) into the book. It all went to shit when the cop took the money and dropped it on the ground, but he dismissed Dan, telling him to Vamos!
Woo, back on the road, we continued on our way. Just before coming into the town of Mulegé, Dan took a corner and my water container that had been sitting on the table fell to the floor and broke, just as it had done when Kevin was with me. It meant eight litres of water went all over the floor. That fake wood flooring was really worth it! We pulled over to try and clean it up but we couldn’t really do much. It hadn’t gone near the battery terminals and no other electronics or critical things had gotten wet so we carried on. Within minutes, the whole floor was dry it was that hot. We started thinking that we’d gotten bad karma instead of good when we gave water to the homeless man yesterday. We should have given him our clean water.
We stopped in Mulegé seeking breakfast. We’d stopped at a convenience store off the highway earlier to get a cold drink and a banana, but we needed proper sustenance. We navigated the narrow dirt streets until we hit the town square. Not as large or nice as San Ignacio, it still had its own local charm. From the valley of the town square, we could see houses (or shacks really) nestled into the hills. We found us a fish taco stand and ordered quattro pescados tacos from the friendly vendor who had been sitting with his mate at his one chair and tables before we came around. They were the usual price of 20 pesos a pop but this time we had a seat to enjoy them from! There wasn’t much comings and goings to watch as we ate, the town was quiet this early in the morning (10am).
The tacos were yummy, but the Tijuana place still took the cake. We thanked our vendor and hit the supermarket before heading off. We replenished our water supply and I bought some yoghurt and granola to serve as a cold treat on these hot, humid days. Back on the road, Dan still driving, we didn’t plan to stop again for another hour or so. More desert, more heat, we marvelled at the isolation of this place. We were happy when we came to our first view of the Bay of Concepcion. It was a narrow u-shaped inlet of the Sea of Cortez and the Moon book rumoured it to have beaches with white sand and turquoise water. It certainly looked that way from a distance!
As we got closer, it was obvious that it was true. Of the many beaches we had to choose from, we went for the first and most popular, called Playa Santispac. We followed a white rental car in, driving only a short distance down a dirt road before we were on the beach. We crawled up to an entrance gate, expecting to have to pay a fee to get in, but when the rental car stopped, then crept forward through the gate and I had a feeble attempt at translating the sign, we just rolled on in after them.
We parked up away from the tiki huts that sat by the campsites on the beach and pretty much had the run of the place. There was hardly anyone down there and it was absolutely gorgeous. The huge expanse of desert highway that we’d travelled over the last couple of days has been referred to as the gateway to the real Baja and I can see why. This was just stunning. It was the cleanest place we’d seen to, with hardly any rubbish to be found anyway.
We barely had time to take it all in before a guy in an Astro van pulled up and we thought we’d been sprung with paying the entrance fee, but he just got out and opened his side door to show us his expanse of wares. Mexican blankets! Hammocks! Hats! Dresses! Ha ha, any way to make a quick buck. We were a little interested in the Mexican blankets, but not for the price he was quoting. When he pulled out the hats, Dan managed to talk him down to $5 and he had himself a broad Mexican hat which I’m sure will fall apart in a matter of days. No sooner had Mr. Astro left when another truck pulled up to sell his wares. When he brandished a bag of shrimp, I turned my nose up, but he snagged a sale from Dan when he offered a pollo tomale. We hadn’t had one of these yet and Dan was keen to give it a try. I had a couple of bites and it was delicious and the right price at 20 Pesos ($1).
When the rental car pulled up near us, we noticed it was the same people we’d seen in the town of Mulegé getting tacos from the same stand as us. After asking them if they were following us, I we all started chatting. They were an out-of-shape retired couple on a three week trip to Baja. They’d flown in from Oregon and had based themselves out of Mulegé. She was a lively talkative person while he was the silent partner, but we had good banter.
Unable to resist any longer, when another Astro van vendor rocked up, we took our opportunity to get into the water. Lathered up in sunscreen, we hit the perfectly clear water that turned to green and turquoise the further it stretched out in front of us. When Dan got in before me and announced the water was like bath water, I didn’t believe him for a minute, but he wasn’t far wrong. Instead of the freezing cold sting of The Pacific, the water was only just cool, making it perfectly refreshing. We couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces as we walked out into the Bay of Concepcion. We didn’t walk too far before a man and his tiny Chihuahua motored up on his small boat offering us a tour out to the islands. No thank you, but he didn’t require too much telling no before he went off to find another customer.
We had the water completely to ourselves and were probably fifty meters out and still touching the sand between our toes. I carried on past a small patch of corral, swimming out to a place where I could no longer touch the bottom. When I was out there treading water, I had one of those “Oh, shit!” moments, wondering just how I could be so lucky to have ended up here, water lapping at my ears, the most beautiful scene in front of me, just floating.
I swam back to Dan and we played a not-very-successful game of water football with an empty beer can for a while before heading back to the sand. The whole time we’d been in the water, the lady from the rental car had been right into it with one of the Astro vendors, taking a good look at most of his wares. Dan overheard one of their exchanges and she’d bought a necklace for $100, which is probably enough to feed the vendor’s family for a week and a complete rip off for the lady but she didn’t seem to mind.
While Dan had a shower, I wandered off to the bushes for another shit then blogged a while on the sand until the bathroom was free. I had my shower and needed to retreat out of the sun immediately after. It was scorching hot and having the beautiful water of the bay nearby just made me want to jump in again. We packed up and waved to our rental car friends before heading off.
As we drove around the rest of the bay, we resisted the temptation to stop at every other beach but instead enjoyed the different views of the beautiful pool of water from the car. The road had gotten much better too, we hadn’t really come across many potholes since leaving El Rosario.
An hour later, we were in Loreto, a town on a bay that served as a pretty big tourist hub thanks to the major airport nearby. It was about 3pm, which meant school had just got out. We saw kids all over the streets with their backpacks and most had an icecream in hand. The vendors had their customers pegged, parking up right outside the school to be attacked by a huge swarm of little bodies in white shirts and dark slacks. It was nice to see the policia out in force directing traffic to protect all the kiddies. If we hadn’t been waved forward by one such member of the community, we probably wouldn’t have driven straight through the main square over the terracotta coloured pavers.
We parked in the centre of town and went for a wander. The first thing I noticed was the string of Astro taxis lining the streets. It was absurd how many of these wonderful cars were in Mexico and to be used as taxis! It was Astro heaven.
Cleo was overheating big time so was keen to get out of the car but her poor feet were burning from the hot pavers on the sidewalk. After lingering in the main square a while, we followed the path laid out by the beautiful arched green trees that lead to the ocean.
We were very quick to understand that this was a touristy town. It was squeaky clean and not like the Mexico we’d come to know. At the water’s edge, the streets were lined with well-trimmed palms and hotels that just looked out of place to us because of their fanciness. We could see some typical tourists enjoying a soak in their fancy pool, sipping on fancy drinks, lying on fancy chairs, getting a completely different impression of Mexico than us.
Cleo got a cool down when we found a pit of clean water and we went to sit by the waterside to relax a bit. We’d only been there a few minutes, watching the comings and goings of the crabs on the rocks below when a local came up to chat with us. He told us all about his life in the town and asked about our travels. We used a mixture of Spanish and English to communicate and it was refreshing to talk to a Mexican who wasn’t trying to sell us something. He explained that he tried to speak English every day to practice and we told him he was doing a great job. When I explained the word “bugger” to him he was impressed. It was great to get his local perspective and he even told us where to go for some cheap fish tacos. When our tummies started grumbling, we said goodbye and found out we’d been talking to Daniel!
We walked back along the waterfront in the direction Daniel had told us and he ended up meeting us there on his bike. He’d ridden on to scout it out and found out it was closed. Esta bien (all good) we carried on walking the streets in search of our usual sustenance. We ended up back at the main square and quickly discovered we were in a ghost town. There seemed to be so much infrastructure to support hundreds of tourists, but this was obviously the slow season. Daniel surprised us again riding up to us on his bike and pointed out a fish taco place in front of us. Thanks Daniel, and goodbye for the third time! I’m glad he lead us to the place because we’d found a strip of food joints and wouldn’t have known which to pick otherwise. Turns out, he lead us to our new favourite tacos.
I balked at the price of 25 Pesos ($1.25) a taco but it was to be expected since we were in a tourist town. We sat at the front of the open restaurant and watched the hustle and bustle of the town as we waited for our food. Every local car that drove past sounded like it was on its last legs for all different reasons, it was very entertaining. When we got our tacos we piled them high with salads and sauce, washing it all down with a beer for Dan and a refreshing lemonade for me. I savoured the taste while Dan hoofed his down. After a minor debate, we decided that these were the new benchmark. Despite the price difference, the fish was crispy, the tortillas delicious and the toppings superb. Muy bien (very good)!
Full, we were now looking for a pair of pina coladas. We stopped by the mission on our way back to the main square, finding that it is the oldest in all of Baja and California combined with the first mass held there in 1657. Damn. The outside architecture was pretty, but too well reconstructed for my liking.
The chapels inside were modest but suited the building. More arched trees lead us back to the square which was now completely dead since all the school children had made it home. We’d seen a sign somewhere advertising 2 for 1 cocktails which we were trying to relocate. When a bar owner heckled us to come in for 2 for 1 margaritas, we asked if he could make it 2 for 1 pina coladas. After initially declining, he said, “for you, my friends, for you I will do it”.
All touristy now, we sat at a table looking out over the square, feeling a bit weird to be sitting down at a table with a fancy tablecloth. The pina coladas looked brilliant and tasted the same. Perfectly coconutty with plenty of pineapple and rum. I discovered that the town had some free Wifi so we spent a while try to find out who had won the Baja 500 but soon gave up thanks to stupid websites making our lives difficult. We really were enjoying being disconnected from the world. No need for the phone anymore, when the bar owner came back out to us with some chips and guacamole, we got talking to him and didn’t stop until we’d finished our drinks. He did some hustling while chatting and we did our best to look like happy customers, which we were, but he had no success. I think we might have been his only business all afternoon. Just as my phone battery dipped to 3%, I managed to get a call through to Dad. Having not spoken to any family or friends since coming to this country, it was nice to talk to him. They were back at the farm now after their trip across the country and he told me some bad news about his mini’s paint job. I quickly updated him on the Baja 500, which upon hearing he sounded suitably jealous. Only a quick catch up, when I was done, we head back to the car to find a nearby camp.
Thinking we’d only have a quick stop in Loreto, it was nice to have spent the whole afternoon. We’d gotten a tip from the bar owner about the beach we’d seen jutting out into the bay just south of town and he said we’d be alright to park out there. First we sussed out the beach closest to town but found that you couldn’t drive down to it. While Dan went to the bathroom in the bushes, me and Cleo walked on the beach, looking at the temporary huts that had been built a while ago to film a soap opera. Must have been a pretty simple show, the huts weren’t too elaborate in their design.
When Dan joined us again, he’d brought a buddy with him, a hermit crab. He’d been scuttling around his shit spot and so Dan thought he’d do him a favor taking him to the shore. After putting him down, he didn’t seem to like it so we took him back to his home.
We moved on to the next beach over, stopping at a convenience store for more beer. We found the beach the locals used as a boat ramp easily enough, but due to the heat, we parked a little ways back in the shade for a reprieve from the heat. It was well past 5pm but the sun still had a force behind it. We watched the world go by in the form of friends gathering by the beach and fishermen taking their boats out to the water. While drinking our beers and relaxing, we did some braiding, strengthening Dan’s pitiful string to that it could properly hold up his rear door tables without risk of breaking.
By 6pm, we thought it safe enough to drive out onto the beach to find camp since the sun was nearly behind the mountains. There were only a few cars out on the flat so we found a spot and backed our car to the water. We initially turned our noses up at the fishy smell of camp thanks to the many fish carcass that lay around everywhere. It seemed as though the fishermen filleted their catches and left the remnants on the shores to decompose. Ewww, but we figured we’d get used to the smell after being around it a while. It only took a few minutes of sitting around before I got restless and got the fishing pole out. I could see the schools of fish making ripples on the water near us so I thought we’d have a chance to catch something, just for the fun of it.
We rigged up a lure and I took first cast. I reeled in slowly, feeling for any nibbles and when the lure was close enough for us to see it, we could see what looked like a crab biting at the bait. When it swam away, we figured it must have been a fish. I had been so close! We continued casting out after the sun went down, having a few dozen tries, even using a cube of beef stock as bait to better our chances. Not a single bite. Fishing is stupid.
When we went to pack the pole away, we decided we wouldn’t get used to the fishy smell so decided to move camp. Before we left, we watched a couple of local fisherman get their boat out of the water after an evening of fishing. They, like all locals, were very friendly, asking if we had any luck. They’d had better than us, catching a few tigerfish. The two men muscled with the boat to get it onto their trailer, eventually asking Dan to operate the winch as they lined it up. Dan muscled it up and the boat was on the trailer. Buenos noches (good night) was wished all round.
We drove back towards the first beach and camped up on the road where we could face the back doors to the water and have them open for the night. The heat had subsided with the sun to be replaced with a cool breeze, making the conditions perfect. The moon was almost full too so we had perfect mood lighting. We sat in our chairs facing the water, me writing and Dan looking up at the stars. In the space of an hour, he saw no less than five satellites fly overhead and one shooting star. We were both very happy to retreat into bed, where Cleo had been ever since we parked up. Doors open, we weren’t plagued by bugs or any type of smell, just the cool wind coming off the Gulf of California.
