The road less travelled

Having spent five days in Cabo San Lucas it was time to get away from all the tourists and head for the beaches on the south east coast. We left highway 1 and the tarmac road just outside of San Jose del Cabo and found the rutted, dirt coastal road. Mark wanted to try out his offroad driving skills and this certainly put them to the test.

 (Mark making sure there was a way through)

We camped for a couple of nights on the beach at Cabo Pulmo national park, and had it (almost) to ourselves on the Friday.

Mark cooking breakfast

Of course the peace and tranquillity didn't last as a large group of friends from the mainland arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning (they missed the turn and drove on for another few hours), played their music at high volume all day and then treated everyone else to a tequila-fuelled karaoke late into the night (reminiscent of a few nights out with my mates :-) ) Add to that the other families and day-trippers that came to enjoy the beach and snorkelling, meant we had to share with them. We had fun watching the pelicans feed - circling overhead, spotting their prey then diving at speed into the shallows. We had visions of their long beaks getting stuck in the sand, but no, they were much cleverer than that. Later on we sat out under the starry skies watching the shooting stars and it was magical.

We've now been in La Paz since Sunday evening for carnival (see other posts) and went snorkelling with whales sharks yesterday afternoon. Such beautiful creatures and something we've wanted to do for many, many years 

 (Photos courtesy of On Board Baja).

Tomorrow night (Thursday) we make the 13 hour ferry crossing to Mazatlan on the mainland.

Carnival floats

As expected, here are a few photos of the carnival floats taken last night

and here they are in the cold light of day, looking quite good...

Observations on carnaval

I know I am the last person who should throw stones, but the cynical/sarcastic inner child can't help thinking the following......

"Jazz dance club" means no two kids are actually doing the same routine at the same time...

No mexican wannabe boy band is complete without a euphonium player....

Land of enchantment and wonder is the literal translation of the theme this year. In reality it seems to be a lot of pirates and badly stuck on glitter. Or for some reason short robes - sort of jesuit/Spanish inquisition monk meets dressing gown. Or 1970s Dr Who amphibious villains.....

Drugs are allegedly cheap and widely available in Mexico. This could account for a lot of float design. Or maybe it's the fantasy after all, but I'm sceptical....

Tortilla-fed mexican girls dancing can be energetic. Make sure your truck float suspension is up to the job. Or make them dance behind the float...

Still,  beats the hell out of Chelmsford carnival.....and not a white shoe in sight

We walked past all the floats in daylight earlier and they did actually look much better and well made in daylight than they did under streetlights. Experience of nightclubs makes me think  the same may not be true of some of the performers.

There be whales here!

We decided to spend a couple of days camping along the shores of Laguna Ojo de Liebre, a UNESCO world heritage site and where the grey whales migrate from Alaska to raise their calves. Tourism is closely monitored now and small boats only go to a number of sites in order not to disturb the whales. At one point we were completely surrounded and I lost count of how many creatures were there. There must have been at least 50, both near and far.  One came right up to the boat then nudged it as it swam underneath. (I did not need to zoom in to take these photos!)

We pitched our tent inside the palapa (an open-sided structure with a thatched roof made of dried palm leaves) and were glad to have this for the shade and once the wind picked up in the evening.

That night we saw the super blue-blood moon rising. Unfortunately we missed the lunar eclipse as hadn't checked on timings beforehand and with no cell phone service, were unable to find out. More planning needed in future

Tijuana to Cabo San Lucas...

and all points in between. It has been an interesting week and driving appears to be a competitive sport here, so Mark feels right at home. Horns going if you're too slow, in the way, saying hi to friends along the way or just to say 'I'm here'. That was Tijuana. As we headed further south there were less horns but driving is still as manic as ever. And the roads! Potholes that could swallow a smart car and speed humps that will have you airborne if you hit them at 80kph. Having said that, the scenery has been pretty spectacular from beaches to deserts and mountains.

From Tijuana we headed down Highway 1 to Ensenada where we spent a couple of nights, then down to El Rosario before heading inland across the mountains then crossing into Baja Sur just before Guerrero Negro. Baja California (the northern part) is very sparsely populated once you get out of the capital TJ and second town, Ensenada.  We didn't realise that it wasn't until around 1973 that the government gave out land grants to anyone that could bring in money and boost the economy.

We spent a couple of days camping along the shores at Laguna Ojo de Liebre (see other blog) before heading across to the east coast and the town of Loreto. The town was founded in 1697 by Jesuit missionaries and was the first Spanish colonial settlement of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. 

Loreto was the capital of the province of Las Californias (the US state of California and Baja California) until 1777 when it moved to Monterey.   

From Loreto we continued our way down highway 1 to the capital, La Paz. 

We'll be returning to the capital next week for Carnival and to experience a real fiesta.

We called in at Todos Santos, a small town on the Pacific coast, popular with artists and for the number of galleries. It is an urban legend (even though some of the lyrics do fit) that The Eagles song 'Hotel California' is based on the hotel in this town. 

Now we're in Cabo San Lucas and chilling out after the 1,625km roadtrip. Even the local sea lions hitch a ride here...