Baja is just gorgeous. The desert, the mountains, the light—not so much the towns and the littered highway, though.
A few GoPro pics from today’s drive. Forgive the filter, the pictures need it—our GoPro easily ranks as our biggest camera purchase disappointment ever.
The most difficult part of driving in Baja isn’t the crazy truckers, or the potholes, or topes, it’s the lack of a shoulder on the road. At least 90% of the highway is completely devoid of a shoulder. The white paint along the edge marks just that—the edge. If you drift even a foot to the right you’re done. As evidenced by countless car body panels, windshields, and of course, shrines to the dead. Driving it you just can’t believe that they didn’t add even a foot or two to the shoulders. Of course driving Highway 1 up in California you can’t believe they didn’t add that extra foot or two either. Skimping on pavement is not unique to Mexico.
The evening’s campground. When we walked up to the house to pay we met a three year-old girl and her grandmother. The abuela sat contentedly in her rocking chair with a blanket wrapped around her legs and spoke so slowly and with such a simple vocabulary that I was able to have a flawless conversation with her for five minutes. Oh how I wish everyone would talk just like her.
In the morning Ouest picked out a Dora doll and we brought it to the house as a gift for the little girl. Unfortunately the whole family had disappeared early in the morning and we missed her. We wrote a note in the sand and left Dora propped up nearby.
Hours later Ouest asked me, “Do you think she’s home yet?”
It took me a second to realize what she was asking me about. I told her that the little girl was probably home and super happy playing with Dora. Ouest beamed.
Today was a bit of a bore. We had a hundred and fifty miles to cover, which for us is pretty much the outside edge of our range with the kids, while still trying to make life fun for everyone involved. Guerrero Negro is little more than a waypoint en route to points further south. It’s a salt mining town that just happens to sit in a convenient location for a stop.
We spotted these two horses hanging back off the road in the cactus and decided to stop and offer them apples. “Here wild pony, would you like an apple?”
Who could have guessed they would trot off without eating apples out of our hands?
This is how the streets get cleaned in Guerrero Negro. One stern looking lady stands in the intersection and waves off cars while thirty or forty people get after the dirt with brooms. Done.
14 Comments on “Northern Baja”
damn, it! you guys get your mamma espinozas on?
Just drove Highway 1 from Tijuana to La Paz. It is the greenest, lushest I’ve ever seen it in half a dozen trips. The most beautiful I think is Catavinia, in the high desert with nothing but a Desert Inn. In places, the green carpet almost swallowed the road. I’m in La Paz and ensconed on me boat on the hard. See ya.
I am not clever. I am just from India!
These 2 kids are cleaning out, compared with how their peers are mall-raised in the US. Don’t know about you guys though 🙂
However, I wanted to ask you a question about the 2nd boat, as I’m thinking of buying used too. How hard is it to make it livable, did you replace all interiors? From what I’ve seen I assume it’s a pain to do anything down there. I read the cruising forum but most of those guys are hardened sailors who don’t mind a 20 year grime in a crimped place if it rocks them a little:-)
The guys on the cruising forums are hardened sailors? You’re joking right? Please tell me you’re joking.
If you have specific questions feel free to e-mail us, we’d be happy to help out.
We did the Baja back in 2007-2008, and while we enjoyed it, we’ll never go back. Simply found that mainland Mexico has so much more to offer.
We tend to agree. The thing we miss on the mainland is the ability to get off the grid. But the thing we miss on Baja are the interesting towns, and most importantly, the plazas.
Why don’t you like the Go-Pro? Please elaborate just a bit if you would. Might save some others a pricey mistake. Thanks!
I don’t know if ours was just a dud, or what. Quite often it won’t turn on and I have to do a “reboot” by removing the battery, pressing the shutter button down, replacing the battery while the button is held down, then it the power button. It’s always at the most inconvenient times. Photos in anything but perfect light are terrible quality. And the batteries are crap. This is an older GoPro2 though, so maybe things have improved. For us, we could have done much better with our ~$350.
I have had the same experience with my GoPro2.
I had the same issues with my GoPro 2 then it would not charge and they replaced it under warranty. It’s worked flawlessly ever since. You may need to send it in for repair.
I really like the cactus picture
Mark and Cindy
One of my friend and his wife are Baja now with S.V. Misumaru. They are at La Pas now and will stay in Baja till next Feb2015. i wonder if you will stay in Baja for a while, it would be nice to see each other somewhere in Baja.
I agree that the GoPro images need help, but once you’ve got a preset that works it really shines. We took 90% of this summer’s pictures with our Gopro and got shots we would never have been able to get with a different camera. Underwater, in the water, in the sand, in the air, in muddy hands, all handled without complaint.
We use Aperture to fine tune the images.