Viva Mexico! Part Dos.

Brian thought he would get all techy and mount our Go-Pro camera to the dash of the Van, so it could take a stream of pictures every minute or so and we could do a time lapse of where we are going. I have to share with you the-rare-as-a-lightning-strike photo of the two of us, camera turned facing into the Van, the dynamic duo caught in a double nose pick. Please don't think any less of us. 

A once in a million shot somewhere between Tijuana and Ensenada. 

Flash back a few months. Brian and I debated. Every happy hour, every fabulous Portland brunch, almost every night our heads on our pillows, our voices hushed even though no one else was there, we debated. We discussed round and round if we should drive through Mexico and central America, or instead ship the van directly to Columbia. The pros and cons lists were drawn, with many valid reasons that both routes were the superior one. In the end, we decided to drive through. The main deciding factor was that we loved Mexico. Seriously, we love Mexico. 

The way to our heart may just be through the stomach!

Boojum tree! Only found in the Baja. We call them Dr. Suess trees! So strange. 

Hey look ma, Im a cactus!

So just to clarify...

The Baja California is just the way to rekindle a love affair with Mexico. We are finding ourselves in some familiar areas; El Rosario, where we volunteered with the Flying Samaritans and our amazing Aunt and Uncle, Judy and Wally, Daggett’s beach camp in Bahia de Los Angeles, with the barely there trickle of hot water showers and palapa camping right on the Sea of Cortez. 

Mama Espinosa turned 108 years old this October!! 

Working hard at Dagget's Beach in Bahia de Los Angeles

 

Surfers off Miguel Point. Wishing we brought our boards, but the campsite was great!

Though trying to find new places to explore is not difficult at all in this strange stretch of land. We found ourselves in the middle of the desert, deep in the Parque Natural del Desierto Central de Baja California searching for old petroglyphs described in the Baja Adventure book, about 30 years old but sworn by many to be “the best guide book” in the Baja. The guide book described the mile marker to turn off of, then look towards the boulders forming the skyline at 359 degrees. We hiked in that direction for a few hours, seeing lots of interesting animals, plants and desert attractions, but no petroglyphs.  We were losing our daylight and had an hour or so left of driving, so we decided to move along down the road towards our destination for the night. About 3 miles further on the highway we saw a sign for the petroglyphs! After laughing at our futile search in the totally wrong area, we walked through the well signed park, complete with little yellow arrows leading all the way to the petroglyphs. The ancient graffitied grotto was totally worth it, but so was our desert nature hike! Deserts are so cool! 

Sweet deserted desert dome we found after tromping around looking for  petroglyphs

Found them! 

Some desert exploring!


We have been meeting a couple different families and single people doing a similar trip down the Baja and some even with the goal of Patagonia! We met an Austrian couple, Nici and Philip who are doing the whole ride on the bicycles! We also passed a guy on a 50cc scooter, who we bought a beer for when he arrived to the same campground an hour or so after us. People like these guys make us feel like sissies living a life of luxury in the van! It is inspiring though, meeting all these like minded adventure junkies just like us.

World traveling bicyclists! Bien Viaje!