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...