A European Tale

Baja July 29-August 14, 1999:

1. The genesis of a Dream

Francesca and I met last year and, among other things we had in common, it came out we would have liked to have a holiday with the loved one in a place where you could find turquoise water, white beaches, desert roads to drive along, a lot of romance and a bit of adventure. In one word: Baja.

The pieces of the puzzle started to fit together when she gave me Lonely Planet's "Baja California" as a birthday gift at the end of 1998, so you can say it took a good seven months for us to plan our trip. Having read about high summer temperatures and tropical storms, we had thought to organise it by X-mas '99 since it would have been nice to escape cold Europe and see the whales. Then we realised that: 1) Summer is generally speaking Baja's low season (good for us); 2) not even Baja would have been safe from the Y2K. We felt that, with the help of the air-conditioning, we were doing the right thing choosing summer.

2. Top-down and bottom-up planning.

Although we are both from Italy, Francesca lives in Milan and I live in southern France: internet and email have played a major role in our planning, to say the least. In January 1999, with Lonely Planet's guide ("The Bible" for us) in one hand and the mouse in the other one, we started to go through countless internet sites: thanks to the fact North Americans are in love with Baja.

Looking for information became a giant recursive exercise. The book gave hints for topics to look for on the Net and there you found plenty of ideas to check in other books ... One of the nicest sites was Fred Metcalf's one from the University of Riverside, its "The Traveler's Tales" section helped us a lot. Francesca procured Jack William's "The Magnificent Peninsula" ("The Gospel") through Amazon and we only bought "Baja Almanac Sur" ("The Almanac") once in Cabo San Lucas. Unless you stay in one place, guides and maps will certainly help. Lonely Planet helped a lot with food and lodging, while the Magnificent Peninsula offered advice on "how to get there" - something which in Baja you appreciate!

We found it was worth to complement them with the Baja Almanac (1:250.000). A good reason to have different sources of information is that different authors may look at a hotel or a road in different ways. To put a long story short, we drove our Nissan Tsuru along 2546 Km in 13 days, and we went near everywhere we wanted to go, but sometimes the definition of the road was too optimistic. If you can afford a 4WD go for it.

Anyway, after the initial information digging I drew a first high-level plan and Francesca adjusted it to have it fitting with her detailed plan.

3. Flights, Car, Hotels

Flights. Francesca was in charge of flights (we decided to leave from Milan) and Car (as she found a good bargain with AVIS on the Net). After a lot of investigations Francesca found a good package from Milan to Mexico City, via Madrid (by Iberia), plus a domestic flight from Mexico to San Jose del Cabo (by Mexicana). The Iberia package did include a night in Madrid and our travel agent found a hotel in Mexico City for one night.

Car. Ideally a light 4WD would have been the perfect choice. Depending on the season and the itinerary you have in mind air-conditioning or soft top could be chosen: all in all it would be nice to have a soft top with a/c. Otherwise especially if you are driving around a/c is the best choice: is preferable to protect your luggage and yourself if you happen to stop along the way and leave your car to reach a hidden beach!

Hotels: Since we liked the idea to be free and shop around we only gathered plenty of information about hotels but did not book anything. We broadly agreed on a handful of places for each town we were to stay and that was all.

4. Milan - Madrid - Mexico

29 July. Evening flight MIL-MAD. Night at the Hotel "Colon" (included in the flight fare via the "Madrid Amigo" service), a modern and comfortable hotel. Very good "all you can eat" buffet breakfast.

30 July. The flight to Mexico at noon is scheduled to take more than 11 hours: you get a comfortable seat or you die. We asked for seats in front of one of the walls where the screens are and got them!!! Landed in Mexico in the afternoon, changed 600 out of 1000$ in pesos and bought a taxi ticket in the "E" zone of the airport. The taxi fare for the area #3 (where our hotel was) was 79 pesos and you cannot buy a return ticket. Luggage has to fit in the trunk or the fare doubles. Since it's impossible to get pesos in Europe we had to buy USD and then to exchange them in MXN. We planned to buy USD for an amount of half our budget and than to use ATMs in Baja. Once we bought the taxi ticket and a MXN 100 Adatel phone card, we had a crazy ride to the Regente Hotel.

After a shower we went for a walk to the Zocalo, which was described as "near to the hotel". We walked 20 minutes along the Paseo de la Reforma to find out we were only half-way through ... so we took the underground for a couple of stops: nice, clean and safe ... and we bought our first bottle of water in Mexico: it is better to play it safe [...]

5. Mexico - Los Cabos

Let's touch health issues just once here, as we mentioned bottled water. We never had problems due to food, we were not hit by Montezuma: we decided to wash fresh fruit in a solution of chlorine and water and to drink only bottled water, just a few and simple attentions. In 13 days we had not any problem even with mosquitoes. We had an ice-box, in addition to flasks, where we stored water and fruit for lunch and we saved the ice-elements in the hotel freezer at night.

31 July. We flew from Mexico to SJD via Guadalajara by Mexicana. Very good company, we appreciated its snacks (with fresh fruit salad) and the overall treatment. We had a look at the inflight magazine and found out a wonderful unnamed bay in Baja. Before noon, we approached Baja's southern tip, we see stretches of sand flowing to the sea and we would like to be in the cockpit.

6. Los Cabos

We have to walk under the sun from the aircraft to the airport: shades and caps will be from now on stuck to our head. I have my factor '30' Nivea cream ready and Francesca goes for a factor '16', she will call me the Nivea-man.

The AVIS shuttle is ready to reach their location and by 12:30 we have got an honest Nissan Tsuru with a/c but nothing more: no centralised locking and (we realized later) the loudspeakers had some problems. On the other hand, if we had declared what kind of roads we were going to drive through, they would have never given the car to us I suspect (or maybe they would have done it because they probably know the status of the roads in Baja!!). Anyway, honest and competent people at AVIS-SJD. The access way to AVIS from MEX1 was a sandy road: a clue of what was expecting us.

We had our list of hotels in SJD, as we were aware of the higher prices in CSL. We had aimed at hotels on the beach and after looking at the prices of Fiesta Inn, Aguamarina and Posada Real we understood that: 1) that kind of hotel was well above our average budget; 2) the concept of 'low season' for them did not exist, as well as the concept of 'lower rate' if staying 3 nights or more. 3) those hotels were not exactly the little, cute, characteristic hotels on the beach we had in mind. We ended up at Pueblo la Playa looking for "La Playita". We managed a 45$/420 MXN per night. The Hotel is 2 Km from SJD along East Cape rural road next to the Estero of SJD. Enormous beaches in sight, mission style, palms around the pool, a/c and fan, nice people. Bought a beach umbrella for some 100 pesos - excellent choice! - it will make our trip to the beach a lot more enjoyable.

Trip to CSL to organise trips to Playa del Amor and sunset cruise. Dinner at "La Cenaduria" in SJD (260 Pesos for two): excellent Mexican style ambience (but far loud music not in tune with the place) and food, it was far too much.

1 Aug. Trip to El Arco/Playa del Amor (10$ each) - go to Zaida's desk on the pier. We suspect the little sea-lion was glued to the rock since it did not move when the boat got very near, even if it moved its fin to say 'hello' ... Playa del Amor's side on the Gulf is a pool, while its Pacific side is roaring - fantastic! Bring your own food/drinks (you can buy only beer from a Mexican guy with an ice-box). Shade from the rocks is at a premium. Boats load/unload regularly - Zaida's takes you on board to get back to CSL every hour on the hour. Back to the hotel for a shower and at 17.30 we're back to the pier in CSL for the Sunset Cruise (40$ each). With free drinks and -good- buffet (Mexican). Reach El Arco once again and then, very slowly, sail along the coast, till the Twin Dolphin hotel. Bring a map with the hotels listed down and a binocular and check them out ... on the way back dinner is ready.

2 Aug. Visited some first-class Hotels along the "Corridor", paradise for all the Golf players: Palmilla, Twin Dolphin. Palmilla is included in a giant complex with plenty of houses, even if the hotel itself is indeed a jewel ... as well as its beach! Twin Dolphin is easy to miss on the way to CSL - a little easier to notice its sign going to SJD. Different style, much understatement ... and, in a sense, classier. Next to the Twin Dolphin one of the most beautiful beaches we have seen in Baja: Bahia Santa Maria. Classic cove, close to the rocks, with sizeable sand which does not stick. Three (marvellous) houses for rent at the back of the beach and some locals selling drinks and handcrafts in addition to boats ending up here - but it still is too beautiful. Leave your car in the free (guarded) parking at the end of the dirt road.

In the afternoon we went to CSL to wander around in the Pedregal, a luxury development on the hills overlooking both the Gulf and the Pacific. Leave your ID card at the entrance and proceed slowly to admire the villas. The higher you go, the more beautiful the villas and the views. Those with a double view are the happiest among the happy few. Apparently the biggest and the most beautiful of them all, on the top of the hill, with a stunning view, belongs to Sylvester Stallone. Go down till the beach on the Pacific Ocean: enormous and breath-taking.

7. Todos Santos - Bahia Magdalena

3 Aug. Driven to Todos Santos through the Arid Tropical Forest. Could not manage to reach El Negriņo. Stop at Playa Los Cerritos. A giant beach good for surfers. We reach Todos Santos listening to 'Hotel California' and looking for "the" Hotel California: to my dismay it's shut for refurbishment for the next 5 months!!!! Francesca tells me I look like a 'desperado' now: thousands of kilometres to come here to hear the "Mission bell" and it's shut!!! After recovering, we look for another accommodation (it was the only stop for which we had not a list of other hotels!) and we found a very nice B&B at Las Casitas (Wendy's) for 400 pesos - no a/c but a mobile fan is provided. Colourful small cottages in a wood of Mango trees and a good home-made breakfast in the morning.

We got back to Playa San Pedrito, another large beach, virtually desert, plenty of palms at the back. Excellent place to look at the sunset. Tried to get a simple tacos dinner at Carlo's but we are invited to sit in the patio ... and not at the desk on the road, we have no intention to be treated like tourists! We pay for our tacos and go away, stumbling into Rovcic on MEX19 leaving TS for CSL. A (very) simple stand with 2 tables nearby his house: nice guy and excellent tacos and steak! The guy does not even know how much to ask for a steak and mumbles 25 pesos - a steak like that would not go for less than 6 times that price in Europe... and how tasty it is!!

4 Aug. We are in for a long ride today: from Todos Santos to Puerto San Carlos (around 350/400 Km) Now we are confident in our car: along the straight stretches of Mex19 and Mex1 it's pushed to 120 km/h - with extra care indeed. (If something happens no one is there to help you: you can cross no other cars for Km and Km). Once in the outskirts of La Paz we miss the deviation to Ciudad Constitucion and proceed at 'normal' speed (around 50 Km alike anybody else).

A policeman on a motorcycle flashes at us and there we are: we are going to be fined for speed. When I tell him we are simply looking for the road to C.C. he gets my driving license and tells me to follow him at the Police Station. In reality he "kindly" escorts us on our way to C.C., stops and stands to mumble about a nearly 700 pesos fine, reducible ... since I am not bargaining too much, we make his day (his week?!) with 400 pesos. Probably 200 would have been a fortune anyway. Even more 'kindly' he tells us never to go faster than 30 Km/h in town, which we will do from then on. It is impossible for us to go to Puerto Cancun (30 Km of dirt road at 30 Km/h!) and proceed to Puerto S. Carlos. No great excitement there in summer, no tourism at all, it is hard to imagine this as a crowded place in winter season: few houses along few dirt roads. A pleasant evening at a taco stand in Avenida La Paz (in front of an anonymous low building where people pray). The owner is from Sonora and lectures us on Mexico geography while preparing a steak on the BBQ for 40 pesos and an excellent 'pata' for 30 pesos.

5 Aug. Another stretch of desert and beautiful mesas and canyon brings us to Loreto. Our list of hotel brings us to La Perla (nice) too expensive ($84), Oasis ($125) and Sukasa Bungalows very nice but a little pricey. Next to Sukasa, sea-front we try Baja Outpost B&B, where we'll stay 3 nights at 45$ per night with an excellent breakfast.

Leon, the Brasilian owner, speaks 5 languages, with the most powerful boat in Loreto organises any kind of sea trips and diving ... and most of all he is really a character. After living for several years in Los Angeles the man has found his own heaven. The B&B is right on the Malecon and you can eat under the Palapa looking at the islands over the sea. Leon shares with you his kitchen with water and anything you might need ... wonderful. Some places (to avoid) in our first afternoon: Playa El Juncalito, Nopolo, Puerto Escondido. Dirty beaches (if any) and the absurd dream of development. Nopolo is unreal in its being desert and Puerto Escondido only shows piers around an otherwise beautiful natural port. On the road to Puerto Escondido a beautiful and well-organised camping.

Back to Loreto, a beautiful town (once capital of Baja) with a cute Mission, a refreshing licuado in a big stand along the somewhat pedestrian road: anything that can be pressed to extract juice, it will.

6 Aug. A trip to Bahia Concepcion till the microwave tower (which we don't reach: not a job for our Nissan!): the hot springs in Playa Coyote and Playa Santispac were our favourite beaches. The warmest waters we have found during our whole Baja trip. Clear, calm, relaxing waters. Just floating on the air mattress. We visited El Requeson and its isthmus as well.

7 Aug. Trip to Isla Coronado with Leon's Yemanja - his boat - (45$ each including food and drinks). For the same sum you can experience diving or snorkeling or simply try and find a desert cave next to the busy beach where all boats unload tourists. We found our desert cave just beyond a few rocks - the two of us and one or two flies which would survive our anti mosquitoes lotion. Really white sand, turquoise waters and pelicans (Marco's best friends during the whole vacation): really beautiful. I wonder if it's really desert in winter. The locals told us winter is "cold", which came out to be at least 25 degrees ... instead of the nearly 40 it must have been now in summer!

8 Aug. Heading to La Paz after Francesca has explained to two Americans (father and son) where to look for surf waves in Todos Santos: it's nice to be considered reliable experts after a few days! In La Paz not Posada Engelbert (nice but at the bottom of a sandy road and out of the centre), not Los Arcos: La Perla is going to be our favourite one for 70$ per nights for 3 nights. 1940 building, elegant, excellent view on the bay and the sunset. Pity they charge 30 pesos a day for the small fridge in the room! Dinner at Bismark II where for 440 pesos (for 2) we choose a big lobster and 6 giant shrimps. Rather far from the malecon and targeted at locals too.

9 Aug. Playas: Playa Balandra is our paradise. Around a bay shallow water (1 meter max) there are many white sand beaches which can be reached by walking in the water. Not a place for surf or swimming! Beaches are nearly desert in the morning and the ones far from the parking area are rarely reached by those who still have to undress. The "mushroom stone" is in that bay and we finally recognised the bay on the inflight magazine: it was Balandra!! We reach then the Tecolote (crowded) and proceed to Playa Coyote trough a distant sandy road - too sandy, we decide: from where we are we see the coast and the waters - it's dream. Great dinner at Kiwi on the malecon at sunset time for 350 pesos.

10 Aug. Trip to Ensenada de los Muertos (where access to the best beaches seems to be barred by an RV Park?). Salinas, Punta de Arena (kilometres of white, desert beaches) and finally Las Arenas. There's -so it seems- an empty hotel and access to the beach is possible. Another paradise where we eat our daily "tortillas with queso and tomato" (home-made). We ended our trip reaching La Ventana and El Sargento which have dirty shores but suitable for windsurf and a number of villas among the rocks. We don't like it.

11 Aug. We left La Paz and its beautiful "Coromuel" wind (only in the evening!) to reach Los Barriles. We see El Triunfo and S. Antonio (old mine Town). Stop for a snack in desert Rancho Verde (RV Park freely accessible) where palms and cactus are abundant. The canyon of S. Bartolo is impressive along the highway and then we arrive in Los Barriles and stop at Martin's Verdugo (RV Park and beautiful ocean-front rooms for $43). Afternoon on the beach in Buena Vista, a (American) village out grown by villas - a bit artificial. The villas right on the beach are not really bad though! Dinner at Tio Pablo in Los Barriles which has very nice interiors. This is the night of the falling stars and the sky in Baja is so clear you can see the Milky Way and the shining stars; we sit next to the pool on the beach and stare.

12 Aug. Left Los Barriles for La Ribera and another giant beach. Then try our last off-road trip to Cabo Pulmo (we read about for so long, the surfers Paradise): after the first 16 Km, the road becomes dirt and we decide there's no point in risking much the day before we leave. The car could make it but it's not fun to drive at 30 km/h and less for kilometres. Back to our first hotel in Baja, La Playita in SJD, and the beach between Estero and the Gulf, looking at the fishermen on the beach.

13 Aug. Brought the car back after 2546 Km. The long trip back home begins and when we arrive on the 14th in Milan we are both happy and sad: the holiday is finished but we have our memories, our films to develop, and the hope to go back to enjoy it even more.