Mexico – Page 5 – MacKenzies on the Road

January 29, 2020January 7, 2020

Welcoming

Many people told us we shouldn’t go to Mexico. It is scary. It is dangerous. The people are unfriendly, or will rob you. We heard all of the stereotypical phrases you can imagine.

We crossed into Baja excited, but with a bit of trepidation. Were these people correct? Were we making a huge mistake? We couldn’t help thinking about the things we had been told (even though a fair number of people told us the exact opposite). Who should we have listened to?

After almost a month in Baja, we are glad we didn’t listen to the nay sayers. We have found the people to be incredibly friendly, kind and welcoming. One example is Christmas Eve.

We are in Agua Verde sitting in our little screen room making dinner when two of the local young people we say hello to every day on the beach walk up to the Wee Rover. They wanted to wish us a Merry Christmas and to invite us to their family’s Christmas Dinner later that evening. Well, it wasn’t quite as simple as that! We used our simple Spanish, and Google translate, and 15 minutes later we figured out they were inviting us to the family dinner. We didn’t want to impose on their family time, but it seemed like they really wanted us to come, so we said we would stop by to say hello.

Well, a few hours later we had eaten a second dinner, played with the kids and the dogs, showed everyone photos of Vermont and our travel route map, and taken photos together. All with very little actual communication! They even invited us to come back in the morning to open presents with them.

Such a welcoming family and place…we felt lucky to be a part of their family, if only for a short while. We are extremely glad we didn’t let the fear dampen our adventure! Onward and upward…well actually onward and southward. On to the next adventure!

Esperanza and her son Miguel. We saw Miguel most days on the beach walking or running. We always said hello to each other and it was he, and a friend, who invited us to dinner.

Our host, Ismael, and our Quebec friend, Pierre, who luckily spoke Spanish!

Darrin and the guys. Diana in the background is in Agua Verde practicing to be a Veterinarian. She is living with Ismael and his family.

Esperanza and her family were more than welcoming. We didn’t speak the same language, but some how we made it work and had a great evening.

Tidbit: We have not only met amazing locals during our time in Baja, we have met many other travelers. Most we only spend a few days with and say adiós, but a few turn into good friends we hope we will meet again somewhere down the road.

We were lucky enough to meet Kirsten and Will when they sailed their boat into the bay and joined us for fish tacos at Maria’s on Christmas Day.

January 28, 2020January 7, 2020

Agua Verde

Agua Verde is a tiny little town in a cove on the Bay of Cortez, far from the main route south. It is accessed by a 25 mile twisty steep dirt road, or by boat.

We aren’t really beach people, but we decided it was far enough away from the beaten path, and the hordes of RVs lining the easily accessible beaches, to be just our kind of place. It took a couple of hours down the rough dirt track to get there, but wow was it worth it!

Swimming, snorkeling, stars at night and a siesta during the day, fresh fish tacos at Maria’s tiny little restaurant, Brisa del Mar, just down the beach, and a great little general store that supplies the 200 or so residents of the village, and us, with everything we needed, or all the junk food we didn’t need.

I think we may be turning into beach bums!

Tidbit: We are from Vermont, which is French for Green Mountain (vert mont), and since we were far from home we thought it was serendipitous that we ended up in Agua Verde, or Green Water, Baja

January 27, 2020January 7, 2020

The Secret Lagoon

While in Utah, we found our secret canyon. On the Bay of Cortez, we found our secret lagoon.

We were looking for a spot to pull in for the night, when we saw a couple of faint tracks in the sand leading off into the bush near a small rock cairn.

As usual, we turned in…

Shortly, the tracks dumped us in the front yard of a tiny cinder block house. In front of the house, a woman was hanging up her wash as a little boy played peekaboo through the slat fence. We hopped out, said hello and pantomined falling asleep while pointing toward the beach. She noded that it was ok to sleep futher down the track…and that is where we found our Secret Lagoon with our own little tiki bar right out of Robinson Crusoe!

We ended up spending 5 days walking the beach, looking for hermit crabs and collecting sea shells. Beach life isn’t too bad.

January 24, 2020January 7, 2020

Stow Away

Look who I found curled up in my seat. I thought I heard an “I call shotgun!” Bobbie decided we were a back-up plan, or perhaps the Wee Rover was just a nice quiet place to nap away from all the camp dogs.

She wasn’t quite as happy with this arrangement.

She does make a very cute hood ornament. She isn’t amused.

And she is safely tucked back in her new basket on the front of Sven’s bike. They are off on their next adventure. Perhaps we will see them again somewhere down the road.

January 22, 2020January 7, 2020

Loreto

A bit more Cabo. A bit more trendy. A lot more touristy. A bit more city than we usually do, but everyone said we should go, so in we went to a campground right in town. It ended up being a really nice stop. We met up with other travellers, made a few new friends, saw a wedding in the old mission, ate great food, visited a street fair, and enjoyed the constant live music. We had a really nice couple of days…and we got to meet Santa!!!!

Another beautiful mission. The architecture is exquisite outside…

And enjoyed right at the counter. We are eating with Sven who we first met (with his kittie Bobbie) in San Ignacio. We enjoyed spending a few more days together in Loreto. Can you find Santa in this picture.

Baja is vibrant with bright colors and constant music.

Another lunch with new friends Keith, Lydia and Michel.

Keith is actually Santa incognito! Shhhhhhh….

January 21, 2020January 7, 2020

Another “We Couldn’t Find a Box Story!”

So, we are walking around Mulege, Baja, a town day of running errands. We need to find a local sim data card for our Wi-Fi box, a stomach antibiotic for when, or if, we get ‘Montezuma’s Revenge’ and some groceries. Along the way to get the sim card, we pass the local bakery. We drool over the pastries but decide to wait for the goodies until after we find a card. An hour or so later, sim card in hand, we are back at the bakery and ordering up sweets. We plan to sit at the street side counter so we can watch the world go by, but the young lady motions us inside to a table. We walk in and a woman sitting at another table gives us a funny look while her husband chats on the phone. I look at her and we both realize that we know each other! It’s overlanding friends, Marilee and Rob. Over a year ago, we camped next to each other at Boice-Cope County Park in Oregon and struck up a friendship. What a strange world…Who would have thought, that we would have met up in a small bakery in Baja over a year later. If we hadn’t waited for our cookie, or the owner hadn’t motioned for us to have a seat inside we would have passed right by each other.

The nice phone lady who was very patient with our broken Spanish. A local data card allows us to use our magic wi-fi box to research places, download books, and upload our blog.

In Mexico you can buy antibiotics, and other medicines, right over the counter, no prescription needed. We are now prepared for ‘Montezuma’s Revenge’ (aka the trots, Dehli Belly, travelers stomach…)

January 20, 2020January 7, 2020

Mulege

Another small oasis amid the desert.

This wonderful smiling lady and her husband made us some yummy tacos for lunch. We always eat at the street vendors (our one rule when choosing a place to eat is that we can watch them prepare our food so we know it is fresh).

Baja is full of dogs. Some are strays looking for some attention or a morsel, and some, like this one, are well loved and fed, but roam around town at their leisure. This sweet boy belonged to the owner across the street. He had wandered over to the sunny side of the street for his afternoon siesta.

Mission Santa Rosalia sits on the hill above town. We hiked up to have a look.

The mission is usual closed, but there happened to be a young man there who showed us the inside.

On the opposite hillside from the mission was the town prison.

That’s the mission over yonder across the river.

A very similar structure to the mission. Both trying to redeem souls?

This unique prison opened its door during the day. The inmates could leave for the day to work and see family as long as they were back at a certain time for the night. Mulege, until recently, was isolated…no where for the prisoners to go.

We loved our time in Mulege, wandering the streets and visiting the sights. The small town and friendly people were just our speed.

January 17, 2020January 7, 2020

A Hardscrabble Life

An old copper mining town, Santa Rosalia has the feel of a hardscrabble industrial town not meant for the prying eyes of tourists. The narrow roads, minimal parking and lack of campgrounds keeps tourists in RVs or even large vans away, but not the Wee Rover. The small town reminded us of many we have passed through on this adventure, just everyday people living their lives, raising families, going to work and buying bags or boxes of tomatoes.

Two stops drew us to Santa Rosalia. The first was a prefabricated church designed by A.G. Eiffel (the same guy who built that big tower in Paris) made entirely of stamped metal squares painted white. It was constructed at Paris’ 1889 World’s Fair, after which it was taken apart and put on a ship for Africa. Instead, it found its way around Cape Horn and to the east side of Baja and Santa Rosalia where it is still in use today. The second stop was a French style bakery with homemade bread, cookies and donuts. How could we pass that up?

Right on the bay, Santa Rosalia has a busy port, railway and mine.

And inside. We loved the purple light from the stain glass windows.

A peak in the back room where racks of bread are cooling.

The town square decorated for Christmas with a hopping tomato market. The truck on the left came into town (not sure how since the roads are extremely narrow) with a load of fresh tomatoes. People were buying them by the box and bag full.

January 16, 2020January 7, 2020

An Oasis in the Desert⁶

We have made it to San Ignacio, population 700! It is pretty much the dead center of Baja and it a great spot to rest and recuperate from our trip south, so far. The village is centered around a mission and a spring fed lagoon that is surrounded by date palms.

An oasis in the middle of the desert.

The little town square and mission from the 1700’s is just what one would picture of a small Mexican village, at least the one we grew up seeing in westerns. The people here have been friendly and welcoming and very understanding of our broken Spanish. We have been swimming in the lagoon just steps from our campsite (for $5 US per night we have a spot right on the lagoon with pit toilets and a short walk to town). We have been eating fresh dates from the trees, and homemade Mexican food from the street vendors near by. We have also made new traveling friends from the US, Canada and oversees. We may not leave for a while.

The mission right on the town square. The Wee Rover couldn’t miss the photo opportunity.

Gorgeous inside, and as you can see still in use today.

Outside steps to the balcony. Space saving or for a select population?

On Sunday morning, we listened to the church bells call the town to worship.

Our little oasis. A spring fed lagoon for swimming and lots of shade for lounging.

And from the other direction. Very hard to take…harder to leave.

Street vendor right off the square. Yummy food and a bit of wi-fi.

Sam and Sarah from Minnesota in their Wee Schoolie. When we left, they were debating whether to stay a few more days or another week or two.

Ron from Idaho and his slightly larger schoolie. He is making jewelry to sell.

Ivana and Pavlo from Slovakia. They are 8 months into a 2 year trip.

Sven from Germany and his adopted kitten, Bobbie. We have been leapfrogging with him for several days. We finally got to meet him here.

*We had a nice small community of like minded travelers here.* It was a nice change from boondocking on our own so much.

January 15, 2020January 7, 2020

Don’t Forget Gravel Pits

While in the Arctic we often made use of abandoned gravel pits for campsites. Well, we got caught out a bit when coming out from Mission San Borja because our planned campsite was a bust. We had to think quick because it was getting dusky and traveling on Baja roads after dark is not wise, so we found the nearest gravel pit on the map and headed off. The only thing was that this gravel pit was actually the top of a small mountain! We snuck in behind a pile of rocks and had a nice quiet night. The sunset was great, and the view the next morning was beautiful.