From Los Barilles we head southwest. Marta wants mo’ mountains. Make sure to check out Marta’s trip reports.
Don’t judge, I wish I could be this entertained by a dead cactus Everything in Mexico eats tostados (deep fried corn tortillas). Mexicans have figured out the middle bit of the cattleguard is not necessary Wild figs (probably). I love them, Marta stopped after getting diarrhea. The locals just shook their heads at our interest in eating wild things. What’s wrong with Tostados?Chest freezers are terrible to manage, chest fridges are even worse, but still so much better than not having a fridge.
Watching pigs eat shoulder blades makes me think mobsters who keep pigs know what they are doing. Unsurprisingly, pigs like TostadosRanchers have 12v freezers since rural Mexico runs on solar. I’m surprised there isn’t more grid connected solar in the Baja. Most power comes from huge diesel generators – not cheap.Everyone comes running for TostadasThese big trees are just spectacular. This one is at least 15 meters above the creek, so a huge root system. I LOVE satellite imagery. The road shown here didn’t exist on any mapAs soon as we hit the Pacific, there are whales everywhere you look. Baja is the nursery for several species. We are planning to hike Sierra de La Laguna, the highest peak in Southern Baja, and at the center of a huge park. Some attempt has been made to make a few trails, but the real point of the park is to protect the watershed. Unbelievably the park headquarters is open and staffed.
Getting park permits was the main excuse to drive to the Pacific coast and see Todos Santos. Turns out permits are sold by ranchers at the trailhead.
Last year we met some Baja long-time tourists who had a friend killed in Todos Santos. Not common, but gets your attention.
Except for the capital La Paz, which doesn’t feel like a big city, Baja is empty. Then we pop over the hill, and we are in Los Cabos. These three cruise ships alone have 16,000 people on them. Feedlots for humans.Navigation in Los Cabos is stupid. Wherever we wanted to go was under construction or gated off. Finally, 13.5 months after rolling out of Calgary, we are at the end of the Baja. Almost 60% of the way from calgary to the equator. We do a touristy boat tour. Dozens of boats full of tourists race between the view points. $15 to see 15 of the main attractions, including lovers beach and divorce beach.I expected Cabo to be stupid expensive, I’d heard from people about $800 dinners. Prices look normal to me – keeping in mind this menu is in Pesos.
Mexicans are great. Want to feed a sea lion? Pet it? Swim with them? Someone will make it happen. Risk Management? That’s on you Everything you want. The Mexicans will make it happen. Donkeys also love Tostados. We have to stop feeding animals around our car, makes it hard to get rid of them. Food in Mexico is challenging, especially if you aren’t big on artificial sweeteners. Regular pineapple juice is 33% pineapple, the rest is sucralose/stevia/corn syrup. Read the fine print. Engine developed a squeak, which we tracked down to the harmonic balancer, a big pulley on the front of car engines.
Living in the car and traveling huge distances makes us sensitive to every noise. Actually getting repairs done is challenging for several reasons.
Importing parts into Mexico is difficult – we thought it was easy, and our first attempt was flat-out refused by Mexican customs.
I don’t trust mechanics – I’m very knowledgeable about my machines, and giving up control is hard. Most of the time, mechanics won’t even let you see the work being done.
I especially don’t trust Mexican mechanics. The harmonic balancer replacement was done in San Jose Del Cabo, and the shop flat out refused to source a new bolt, saying replacing the bolt was a capitalist scam. I happen to know that the bolt was the cause of this particular problem…
Mexicans overall are comfortable with cars that aren’t reliable. We were surprised with the number of tire carcasses scattered along the roads. It’s totally normal to drive every tire to destruction, and swap another tire onto the rim when it gives out.
Marta and Chester's Maleficent Adventures 