Christmas 2013 - a memorable one in Baja

Christmas eve consisted on candles in paper bags all along the beach followed by private fireworks provided by one of the snowbirds.  A smaller event than the Sydney fireworks but as memorable.

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Christmas hats along the beach on Christmas morning.

Pot luck Xmas dinner on the beach.  There were 75 people in attendance ranging in nationalities.  The dishes ranged from delicious to exquisite.

Someone took photos and gave people a postcard of the photo.  Too precious to post I am afraid.  I am keeping this postcard to remind me of our wonderful 2013 Christmas on the beach at El Coyote.

With Patty and Tom from Vancouver and naughty Max the rescue dog.  They are one of the many friends we have made on this wonderful Baja visit with invitations to come and visit when we are in Canada and the US next year on the next leg of our trip.   We have met many wonderful people and we look forward to catching up with them again and to reminisce about El Coyote and Baja.

My Mexican red dress.  I did not wear it to the pot luck but I am modelling it on the sand dunes.  It is in two layers and it can be worn in 8 different styles.

Red hills on the Pacific side of Baja on the way back to mainland US.  We have covered 4,000 kms on this round Baja trip.  Every inch of it was worth it.

Here is a map of the Baja peninsula.  It is 1700 kms from top to toe, that is from Tijuana (in our case a little further, actually from Tecate) to the southernmost tip Cabo San Lucas.  We drove down, across and up again.  The map unfortunately is not detailed enough to mark the spots we visited.

And a wonderful sunset to end this wonderful journey to Mexico.

More of beautiful Baja

La Paz malecon.

La Giganta - the range of lovely hills south of Loreto.

The first glimpse of the Sea of Cortez when among La Giganta.

The hills around Puerto Escondido.

Turkey vultures on the cacti.

A glimpse of the Bay of Concepcion when driving from Loreto to Mulege.

This is more of interest that of beauty - we are getting water in Loreto.  The spaces where one needs to squeeze in at towns can be challenging.

Beaches, beaches everywhere

Baja has many wonderful beaches where people camp.  Drop toilets are provided and maintained and people stay for the duration of the northern winter.  These are some of our favourites, among favourites.  

Hotel at Los Cerritos beach.

And the overview of the whole beach.

Playa Tekalote, north of La Paz.

The waters along the Bay of Concepcion are the most tranquil and we like these the best.  

El Requeson beach in the Bay of Concepcion.  A wonderful situation with a strip of sand connecting the main beach to an island some time during the day.

Overlooking the beaches of El Burro and El Coyote.

And the favourite of favourites - El Coyote.  We spent a week here, longer than we have spent in any one place, ever.

The company at these beaches is also very good, people are friendly and there are happy hours many times a week, book exchanges, pilates on the beach, hikes and visits to nearby restaurants with dinner and movie some evenings.  People are here for a long time and they make themselves comfortable.  At El Coyote one of the people provides wi-fi between 8:00-9:00am every morning for anyone who wants to use it.

The beach house where we played bridge with some snow birds from Oregon who come down for the entire winter.

Andrew indulging in a little water sports accompanied by a pelican.

The beaches south of La Paz

The beaches below La Paz and above the cabos are on the open sea part of the Sea of Cortez and unlike the sheltered Bay of Concepcion, these are windlbown and favourite places for sea kiters who are both young and old.  They flock to these beaches and spend the winter pursuing this amazing looking sport.  You have to be fit and strong to do this.

Tiger at the beach at Los Barilles.

                                                        Kite surfers and Ventana beach.

Just look at what these guys bring with them.  Sails for all sorts of conditions.  These snowbirds come to this beach for the duration of the winter and kite surf every day.  And they are not all young guys either.  There are many fit looking men in their sixties.


We are constantly being advised where to go and what to see and we are following all suggestions.  The foothill villages inland at the Sierra de la Laguna provide access to the interior mountain range.  We took a 26 mile dirt road, full of overhanging branches to visit what was described as hot springs accessed by the tranquil small town of Santiago and Agua Caliente.  Here I am bathing in not very hot water at all - in that it was a disappointment.

Cafe Trifuno was recommended to us as well.  It is the brainchild of a Hells Angels biker from the US who wanted to learn to make bread and he went to Provence in France to learn.  His cafe makes a wonderful wood fired pizza and his bread and cakes are fabulous.  This was not a disappointment.

A friendly house at El Pescadero

Gillian Herbert is "the Baja lady".  Originally English, a Canadian citizen and a Baja regular of many many years.  She puts out a dvd showing people how and where to travel in Baja in an rv.  We visited her and she made us very welcome at the house where she is house sitting.  Here are some photos of the lovely house.  It is owned by Californians who come here for a few months of the year.

The house has a wonderful thatched roof on the outside wrap around verendah.  It is beutifully cool and quite waterproof.

Andrew and Gillian relaxing with Dolly and Lucy the extra friendly rottweilers.

The upstairs terrace.  The house reminded us of a Moroccan house with the strong Moorish influence evident here in Mexico also.

Note the lovely ceramic tiles on the sides of the stairs.

One of the shower recesses with the wonderful green tiling.  The downstairs shower is identical in shape with yellow tiling - quite spectacular.

It is margharita time.  Nikki and Gillian toasting each other with this wonderful refreshing drink on this marvellous terrace.  How good can life get?

Giant fig on the roadside.

Andrew handling his email correspondence at the friendly Cafelix in Todos Santos where they have wi-fi and lovely chicken or shrimp quesedillas.  Very tasty and reasonable priced especially compared to the upmarket and more pricey Hotel California restaurant just up the road.  But the HC is still worth a visit.

Our Mexican rug made from native dyed wool in Oaxaca from the mainland.   Andrew is standing outside the stylish bathrooms at the Hotel California.

We were invited to Gillian's birthday party held at the beautiful boutique Hotel Bentley.

The musicians who played at the party.

The most sociable beach in Baja

We finally made it to one of the lovely beach rv camps between Mulege and Loreto.  We chose Playa El Coyote because we had already met a couple who were staying there.  The beach is full of long staying gringos, for some reason mainly from British Columbia, escaping the long harsh winter on the mainland.  It is very much as the people do in WA where they flock to Broome and Barn Hill for the winter even though it is not nearly as harsh as the winters are in Canada and parts of the US. 

This is more rustic and the setting is marvellous.  The people there are the friendliest crowd we have come across anywhere.

The coastline along the eastern coast along the Bay of Conception of the Sea of Cortez reminds us of the Croatian coast but this is more accessible and welcoming and less rocky and stark.  Also, what makes these beach rv camps so special and enjoyable is that while it is private and isolated here, at the same time it is only 20 minutes to drive to nearby Mulege for shopping.  For those that don’t want to go shopping, Mexican vendors come almost daily offering seafood, vegetable and some cooked food as well as water for sale.

The toilets are worth a paragraph and a few photos of their own.  Basic drop toilet cabins are provided and maintained by the council but they are a little pungent.  There is however, one toilet among the 8 or so others that stands out.  It is freshly painted with a good door and a welcome mat. 

  

Erected by a couple from BC who are winter time regulars. 

Can you appreciate the difference between these two banyos?  One is nice to look at and not at all malodorous.  

 The “owner” on the left has been dubbed Banio Bill.











Shell collecting is a must activity on these beaches.  Women make all sorts of things from the variety of beautiful shells around.  Below is a small part of Patty's collection.