Camping off the beaten path
Trip Start
Dec 22, 2006
1
19
97
Trip End
Feb 10, 2008
Puerto Lopez Mateos,
Mexico
Friday, January 26, 2007
Our map showed a road leading around the south end of the bay and we decided to take a chance. Random roads are rarely marked, however we were able to use the water as a reference point. Within two minutes of turning off the highway, we were passing through some old guys ranch. He was not bothered in the least and put us back on track to the beach. The rough road lead directly through the grazing area for his cows. We couldn't resist taking a few window shots of the bulls. The beach was only a few kilometres from the main highway and we made it there is short order. Once we arrived, we were faced with a pack of horses and one mule. I am not sure they knew what to make of us pulling up on their turf. We turned the van toward them, and the stampede started. The horses were off in a split second, however the mule lagged a bit behind. We laughed out loud at the poor mule frantically trying to keep up.
There was a pretty prime area along the beach where the rancher's road took us. We checked it out and noticed a ready made fire pit ...not too shabby. The main downfall was that it was awful windy, so we decided to head to the east side of the bay. While pulling out of the first camp area, poor 'Nilla (the Big 'Ill) got herself stuck in the sand. With a bit of a giggle we located our shovel and began to trench under the back tires. The ready made fire pit we saw earlier was a circle of concrete slabs, which proved to be instrumental in our escape from the sand. With trenches dug and concrete in place we gave 'Nilla some gas and vrooooom, we were off again. The whole ordeal was well orchestrated and only took about 10 minutes.
Back on the random sandy, rocky and seashell covered "road" we headed east. It took us about 30 minutes to travel 5 kilometres. The drive was worth it as we found a nice secluded spot on the beach out of the wind. We watched the gulls dive into the water as the sun set. Chillin!
Mike woke up very early and decided to head outside and capture a sunrise. Our camp was nestled in between low lying mountains and a valley filled with massive cacti. The sky was still full of stars that were fading fast. The sun was rising behind the mountains and the once cacti silhouettes began to take on a green hue. The colours of the sky were brilliant shades of blue, orange and yellow. It was cool to see half of the sky filled with morning colours while the moon and stars lingered on the other. Once awake, it was time to hit the pavement and get further south....still in search of warmer weather.
The highway was filled with beautiful views of the Sea of Cortez from the edges of the water and from the higher elevations in the mountains. The first stop of the day was the town of Loreto. Like most towns in the Baja, it was founded around a mission. The mission in Loreto was built in 1697. We toured the town square and quickly looked in the church. It was evident that tourism was the main industry as the town square was littered with shops peddling Mexican blankets, sombreros and silver jewellery. The boardwalk at the end of town is great. It is slightly elevated above the water and the waves hit the rocky shore below. There were a plethora of restaurants, taco stands, hotels, motels and swanky pads along the boardwalk strip. One of the main reasons many tourists flock to Loreto is due to the fact that it is a water sportsmans paradise. Anything aquatic can be done here. In fact the young couple we ran into from Calgary were down for a three week sailing course. We swapped some travel stories with them and chatted about the weather before getting back on the road.
We traveled a fair distance today following the promises in our guide book that more free camping could be found on the wind sheltered shores of Puerto Lopez Mateos. We pulled into town around 'siesta' time and there was not much happening, so we followed the signs to the ocean. The waterfront of this tiny town was one big construction zone. There were new roads being laid down and buildings half erected all over the place. Apparently, this place is going to take off....or the locals think so at least.
Within seconds of parking our vehicle at the market area, we were approached by an older guy named Marcos from Vancouver who was pleased to see some fellow Canadians. Given that Puerto Lopez Mateos is a bit off the beaten path, there were not many tourists here. Marcos has been living in the Baja for 23 years and had a wealth of travel tips. He talked about how he was working with the natives to construct an ecological sanctuary and invited us to his whale observatory in the morning. Marcos provided us with some directions to a local free camping area.
In any event, we headed down another random dusty road just outside of town and found a nice, quiet beach front campsite. The place resembled a bird sanctuary with lush vegetation around small lake like bodies of water. We did veer a bit off course trying to find a campsite, but the locals we encountered on the back roads were kind enough to guide us back. Thus far, the people in Mexico have been nothing short of spectacular.
The weather was nice when we woke up so we decided to take the day and chill out at our makeshift camp and inspect the van and tend to any minor repairs. The day was a success in that fixed a few things, however we have found that the link rods at the rear stabilizer bar (shop talk) need to be replaced....if we can find the parts. Everything is still functioning, it is just a bit of a loose ride. We took frequent breaks from the van to enjoy the sunshine and at one point we saw about 30 cows had walked up and were surrounding the van. They were as curious about us as we were about them. They passed in time and continued grazing further along. The cows left an impression and after the work was done we fired up the grill and had ourselves a "carne asada".....mmmmm....beef BBQ, with some seasoned yams on the side. Sorry cows, we come from Alberta and like our beef.
We are planning to hike the sand dunes in the morning to reach the Pacific Ocean, where with any luck we will be able to see grey whales along the shore. We will need to catch a boat ride across the inlet to the sand dunes, so we are hoping the locals will cooperate without charging us the standard whale watching rates to ride in their boat. We'll see.
Check out the photos:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=16xvaj2z.bkai3pxr&Uy=9bylyg&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0
