Welcome to Mostly Musing - My Travel Blog

This blog is about our travels to Baja California, Mexico in our Classic 1976 GMC Motorhome. We have traveled there since 2005. I hope any readers enjoy the blog and I appreciate any comments.

This years travels to Baja begin from our Victoria driveway the end of October 23rd, 2013.










Friday, March 28, 2008

Pacific Coast Highway

After spending a few days at Miguel’s again to get our motor home tiddled up we headed for the coast. First night we stayed at Emma Woods camp ground – very nice perched right over the ocean, a few surfers to watch, and good waves, no services. It is really just a stretch of road along the water below the train tracks and the highway. The sound of the crashing waves drowned out any highway noise and the train was not too disruptive. It was worth it for the great view.

Next night we had a reservation at Morro Bay State Park, nice spot on the estuary, great kayaking in sheltered waters and bird watching in the bay. Have to watch the tides or could end up high and dry on the mud flats. There is a golf course right next to it, big group camping spots with superb views and nearby is a museum and a sleepy little town. Definitely want to come back here, a good destination spot. It would be a great place for a family reunion, lots for everyone to do. We stayed two nights.

Stayed at Kirk Creek National forest campground last night – very beautiful. We have been looking at this campground for years and have not been able to stay at it – we have shot on by and missed it or we were in too much of a hurry and it was the wrong time of day to stop. This time we saw it and stopped early, right after lunch! It is on a bluff overlooking the Pacific, most sites have spectacular views! And you can reserve on line or by telephone. There is lots of hiking, a nice trail down to the beach and several other trails around. We had our traditional lunch at Nepenthe in Big Sur, went to the aquarium at Monteray and unable to find a perfect campsite in Carmel we stayed at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Nice large campsites in the trees.

I have now got a full fledged cold that I think may end up being laryngitis. Drag.

The aquarium at Monterey was expensive but amazing and wonderful. The fish looked so peaceful in these massive tanks that I would have preferred to swim with them than to get out my fishing rod.

We have arrived at Santa Rosa in the heart of the Sonoma Valley – Wine country - and are staying at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds for the GMC International Convention. We will be here for a week and then off home. This area is known for its Chardonnay and its Pinot Noir wines – will have to try some.

Reflections

As is our custom, we have spent quite a few days imagining what it would be like to have a house here – we spent a day riding around on the ATVs looking at the different neighborhoods and houses with for sale signs outside, checked the internet, and spent a day with a realtor visiting houses of interest. We have pretty well decided against property and building. The contractors are booking two years out, then once they start it takes about a year if you’re lucky, usually longer, to build, plus there are all kinds of headaches with building in Mexico, not to mention not being fluent in the language and the customs. So – an already built home seems much more attractive, and there are lots of them on the market. Lorne is certain that with the recession in the US er – I mean slow down - there will be more houses available next year and at an even cheaper price. The ones we were most interested in were between 475k and 825k, of course one could spend several million and add on a pool.

We liked:
An old one story on the beach for 825k, four bedrooms, 3 bathrooms 2,480 square feet, on a double lot and on a cliff overlooking the water, includes very old furniture that was once quite nice but old fashioned; would be ok but would need some remodelling. The hollow core exterior doors on the bedrooms leading out to the courtyard would have to be changed….. along with a few other things….

One that’s 5 years old, two stories and one lot off the beach with spectacular views for 475, on a double lot, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms with an outdoor cooking area including an outdoor oven and covered *palo d’arco eating/sitting area, plus a garden, it has a garage and a small *palo d’arco storage area, includes fairly cheap and ugly furniture. It also would need some remodelling. *straight branches from a desert shrub – sort of like willow

The third one is a designer house built in 2002 – very very comfortable, beautifully decorated with high end quality furniture, lighting, and building, felt immediately like home to me. Its two stories with two garages, guest suite with its own garage, kitchen, bathroom and living room/bedroom all beautifully furnished as well. The house is one block off a great beach and has spectacular views, it has a very large master bedroom and a loft bedroom. The main house has one and a half bathrooms and a huge propane fireplace in the living room. It is on a corner lot that is large for this area – 1,456 square meters. The only thing needing to be changed is a more comfy chair for Lorne at the dining room table. Now, if it was only right on the beach…..

Looking at these homes makes us realize that purchasing one of them, or another of similar nature would really mean living here for a substantial part of the year just to ensure maintenance; particularly during hurricaine season when if struck, we would need to be there immediately for clean up to ensure minimum damage following a blast of salt water and high velocity winds. So, we would have to sell our Victoria home to be able to afford any one of them.

So – what happened to the idea of having a lot where we could just put a palapa and maybe a bodega to hold some toys that we could just leave down there? I don’t know.

Do we really want to spend at least 6 months or longer here? I don’t know.

We like:
- the warm weather - its not that warm in January/February, doesn’t really get warm till the end of February – cold is we have to wear a sweater and long pants and in the evenings we would like to sit by a warm fire, really not that bad.
- Kayaking – this area is a destination place for wind surfers and kite boarders in the winter, its usually less windy in the mornings and there are occasional flat water days in the winter. Its usually a week or so of wind followed by 2-3 days of flat water. A predictable breeze in the heat of the day is definitely a plus when it does get hot.
- Fishing – haven’t mastered the art of kayak fishing… yet….
- Cycling – not that great here – but manageable, hard to cycle in the sand, no place to ride on pavement unless we lived in town, then there is a great series of hills – the cut road to Rancho Pescadero to take but it requires determination, strength, and stamina. I wouldn’t say there is a great deal of joy in riding here
- Exploring arroyos and canyons – need an ATV – need to buy one and to have storage for it. The rental was quite expensive – 350 for a week. They are about 5,000 to buy.
- Exploring side roads, small pueblos, and out of the way remote areas – need to have a 4 wheel drive – need to buy one and to have storage for it.
- The people – Mexican and gringos that we have met
-The lifestyle
-The idea of being able to have our family and friends visit us and to be able to offer them a comfortable place to stay

We also like:
- Being involved in the lives of our children and grandchildren and my sister and her husband in Victoria
- Cycling with my sister and Linda
- Having the grandkids for sleepovers
- Being involved in the lives of our friends
- Playing music with Natasha and friends in Victoria
- Spring, summer and fall in Victoria
- September camping at Long Beach
- Travelling and camping in different areas
- Exploring the US and Canada with the motor home

The truth for me is I am happy wherever I am. It is not that I am unhappy in Victoria and want to move away. I do get very lonely for my family and friends when we travel, especially when we are gone for any extended period of time. I do find that three months is a long time to be away. While we both enjoy the sun and sand and are reluctant to leave, as soon as we start to head north we both are eager to get home and start planning what we will do when we get there.

Manta Rays

2008 Baja - Manta Rays
It was quite wonderful paddling with these rays at sunset, too bad I couldn't see them under the water due to the angle of the light. They never did come back so I could - maybe next year.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

March 13 - Zone of Natural Wonder!

So says the road sign just north of Guerrero Negro – the vegetation is low, shrub-like, no taller than a foot high and with very little variety, gradually it begins to change as more and more variety is added so yes it is a zone of natural wonder. The desert is springing into bloom – the side of the road becomes covered with yellow daisy like flowers, along with lower growth pink and purple flowers, then carpets of red interspersed with the grey of what looks like sage but you know has huge spines on it. Green shrubery, green cactus, lots of green spikey yuka, yellow bloom on the elephant trees (tarote) and the occasional tall flower spike of the yuka with its green buds and yellow blush of bloom. The desert sand is a beautiful shade of ocre. This is all very difficult to capture on film, although I have taken many pictures out the window.

We listen to Cramer as we drive through this ever changing beautiful desert. Do you know how obnoxious Cramer is when trying to – study Spanish, read a novel, do a little writing, just admire the scenery? Much more obnoxious than watching him on tv as far as I’m concerned. My mp3 player broke on the trip down, so what can we do… Lorne is the driver and the investor that makes our lives more comfortable and able to take these trips. So – a big bbbbbullion to you!

The curio (bojum) are beginning to show up, the datille and ocotillo abound. Some of the ocotillo are blooming their orange flowers while others sport a blush of green leaf – they don’t usually do both at the same time. Some of the elephant trees are a golden yellow – others wear a rich green coat. I really don’t think I have ever seen so much foliage on the elephant trees. In the midst of this we cross a very green arroyo with lots of water and a few palms have taken up residence! The road is a nightmare, so many potholes we have to drive quite slow. We left from San Lucas Cove this morning and are heading for Catavina before nightfall….. hope the road improves or it will be dark by the time we get there.

Its amazing to watch the transition of this desert as we go north; from the 6 – 12 inches high and of little variety just outside of Guerra Negro gradually changing to taller and taller vegetation and an increase in variety, now 40 km south of the turn off to Bahia de Los Angeles, we see the occasional cardon along with my favourite fusha tipped barrel cactus, the cholo, the old man cactus, and the pataya cactus. We pass a sign that tells us we are now in a zone of lavish nature, and yes we are.

Up and over a very small rise and now we are into cardon big time, as in tall and lots. 20 km later we are in a veritable cardon forest and then just as quickly the cardon are pretty well gone and the ocotillo compete with the boojum. Seconds later the ocotillo are gone and we are in a boojum forest, thinning to allow the datillo. Truly spectacular!

We make it all the way to Catavina and stay at Rancho Santa Ines. This is a ranch in the middle of the desert that has a little restaurant serving dinner and breakfast and has a few rooms to rent. Very lovely people. This is also the place where Lorne almost stepped on a rattlesnake but was saved my his loving wife. We arrived in time for sunset, but not in time for much of a walk. It was a long day of driving.

March 9 - And so we leave

March 9 - And so we leave – with a heavy heart – its so nice here, the weather is now just perfect, warm but not too hot, nice breezes, flat water. However, its time to go, what can we do.

So – Friday we picked up T&T at the airport, brought them home, stayed that night in the GMC and left the next morning for Los Barriles for Saturday night at East Cape RV park and dinner and great music at Otra Vez restaurant. Miguel is a wonderful flaminco guitar player that we have heard a few times before, this year he is playing with a great violin player – together they are really great and hope to release a cd in the near future. They play all sorts of music including a little jazz – he is a wanna be Stephan Grapelli.

We left town Sunday arriving in La Paz in short order, stayed at Casa Blanca RV Park as Aquamarine is closed now – I had to see a dentist on Monday as I am having sensitivity in one of my teeth. He was well recommended by some friends in Los Barriles so made an appointment before we left, then we heard some conflicting stories - ie he said to one of the neighbour’s “a crown is a crown – no need to make an impression” - so she had a crown installed without any impression being made. She also said that one of her friends had to have all the work redone in the US that this dentist did…. Hmmm ….. I’m not going to let him do anything major!

Saw the dentist, he took an xray – he held the film in my mouth and stayed in the room while he did it,….. granted I was between him and the machine… I wonder why Canadian dentists use that lead apron, have the assistant do it, and she leaves the room to press the button?.... He said there was no problem with the tooth, that the sensitivity was not the crown leaking but that I may have some root exposure. So thankfully I can just come home and have my own dentist look at it. I have heard very good things about the dental work here in Mexico, like everywhere one has to do the homework to make sure you get the good one. It was certainly cheap enough - $15.

After the dentist we headed off to the community of La Ventana (the window) and the new development of Ensenada de los Muertos (Bay of the D
ead – renamed by the developer to Bay of Dreams), two very beautiful bays only about an hour from La Paz on a secondary road.

La Ventana is a Mexican town in a beautiful bay with a white sandy beach where the gringos have definitely moved in. It is a great wind and kite surfing area with a wind that blows most every day. Los Muertos is an incredibly beautiful bay where there is a very nice restaurant called the Giggling Marlin – a destination place for boats hired out of Los Barriles, and maybe even Cabo. There is also a new development behind a fence with a guard so we couldn’t see what was there except with binoculars. This development has the most earth moving equipment we have ever seen down here! They are in the immediate process of building a golf course and then will focus on selling and building homes. They are also building a 4 lane road approach to it for several miles. The whole area is known as Los Planes, it is an agricultural area, with several small Mexican towns. We spent one night in La Ventana and are now on our way north, Ciudad Constitution today, hopefully further.

Life at the Casas

Las Barriles 2008
Click on picture to see more pictures....

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

The Sun Rises and Sets in Baja

A few photos ...... click on them to enlarge.