After finally getting my van back after too much time in Cabo San Lucas, I left town, and headed north to another Cabo, Cabo Pulmo.  This place along the east Cape is a national park, and a great snorkeling, and diving destination.  Cabo Pulmo has one of the few coral reefs on the western coast of the Americas, and while the water can be rough if it is windy, this place is definitely worth a visit.  I camped south of the town of Cabo Pulmo, at Playa Los Arrolitos, a very low key camping area.  They have bucket flush toilets, showers (which can be almost warm late in the afternoon), a small restaurant, and a beautiful beach, all for only $60 pesos per night.  This is not a place for big rigs, or anyone pulling a trailer, as the parking/camping area has some areas with soft sand and it is easy to get into trouble, as I almost did.  But if you can handle the road to Cabo Pulmo and Playa Los Arrolitos (which is bad at some points, washboard, soft sand, and even a rock or two), this is a great place to chill.  I snorkeled right off the beach adjacent to where I camped in my van, and while the water could be rough, and you have to watch the tides, it was fun.  I saw lots of fish, though not as much coral as I had hoped to see.  The beach was great, but there is also a mostly rocky shoreline (shorelines which are always beautiful), and a trail along the bluffs, just great.  I stayed two nights, and loved it, wonderful place to visit, snorkel, hike, and even just catch rays on the beach.  Get to the other Cabo if you can, even a day trip is possible, just don't miss it.  Oh and by the way, I really loved trying to photograph the crabs, beautiful little animals.

While stuck in Cabo, without my van, I was "forced" to eat out every night, and that meant, Tacos!  I love tacos, really love almost anything in a tortilla, corn or flour, though I have yet to eat a flour tortilla in the Baja.  So, pretty much every night while in Cabo, I would head out into the evening in search of the best tacos, fish or otherwise, in Cabo.  Now understand, to really accomplish this goal, to find the best tacos in Cabo, would take, oh, maybe two to three, months, there are that many taquerias, and restaurants with tacos on the menu (which is uh, every restaurant in Cabo, and the Baja in general) in Cabo.   I had eight nights, so my search would be a short one, but nonetheless, I would work hard.  I had tacos seven nights (took a break for some ceviche, which I also love), and the best, were not even fish tacos, something for which the Baja is known.  The best tacos were from Las Guacamayas, which has two locations, one away from the center of insanity along the marina in Cabo, eight blocks or so from the Cabo Inn where I was staying, and one in the busy part of Cabo along the marina, etc.  I loved the tacos at Taqueria Las Guacamayas, the whole experience was great.  When I look for a place to eat in the Baja, and especially in Cabo, I look for a local place, with plastic, usually red table cloth, white plastic tables, and plastic chairs, often with a beer logo on the back of the chair.  I also look for a place with locals, a few gringos are ok, but if a place is dominated by tourists, I look elsewhere.  Las Guacamayas had no tourists the night I visited, the service was great, as was the ambiance, and of course, the tacos were the best I had.  The restaurant is an open-air place, though there are tables in the back.  The meal starts with bean soup, which was great, and then they bring out the accompaniments, and condiments.  This included two plates/platters, with red sauce (potentially very dangerous), green sauce (more my style, but caution still required), sometimes another red sauce (often chipotles), fresh salsa, and the most wonderful of all, creamed avocado, which they call guacamole.  Las Guacamayas also included a platter with flame roasted onions and jalapenos, plus lime wedges and cucumbers.  I usually stick to a few drops of red sauce, a little green sauce, maybe a bit of grilled onion, salsa, topped with the creamed avocado,  messy, but wonderful.  I had two tacos, one chorizo, and one bistec (steak), as they had no fish, or shrimp that day, with corn tortillas, as always.  And I washed it down with a Pacifico, or two, con limon, ice cold.  It was all fantastic, the beer, soup, tacos, service, the best tacos in Cabo, all for $124 pesos.  If you are in Cabo, check out Las Guacamayas, you will not be disappointed.

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I am not sure what to say about life in Cabo, after being essentially stranded here for 8 days now.  There is actually a lot to do, it just all costs lots of money, at least it seems like a lot of money for someone who has been exploring the Baja in a van.  There are boat rides of every sort, dinner cruises, booze cruises, cruises on pirate ships, or just a water taxi ride out to Playa La Amor like I did.  There are a million shops, a million bars, and a million restaurants and taquerias.  Two-for-one drink deals are everywhere (it is actually time for spring break for college students now), and the main drag along the marina, busy place, loud, just nuts.  I have been offered to buy lots of stuff, blankets, jewelry, Cuban cigars, hats of all sorts, and drugs.  I have eaten lots of tacos, and drank more than a couple of Pacificos.  I don't think I will be back here any time soon, but, between the Cabo Inn, the beach, and the best tacos in the world (outside of Mexico City as I have been told), I have basically enjoyed my stay.  Time to move on, but I will leave you would a few images of Cabo.  I wish I could include the sounds of Cabo as well, is a very loud place.

As anyone who travels a lot by vehicle knows, especially those of us who travel in older, well-traveled vehicles, sometimes things don't go as planned.  Well, I had planned on traveling down to Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of the Baja, maybe spend a couple of nights in a small hotel (there is really no camping in Cabo), check out the scene, then move on.  Well, unfortunately, I have already been in Cabo a week, and I still do not know for sure when I will be able to leave.  You see, my van is in the shop, bearings went bad in the differential, and while this is a pain, and potentially expensive, the real problem has been getting the parts.  The "problem" began on the run down to La Paz, or at least that is when I thought that I might have to have my van checked out.  I had started to hear a little more noise while driving than I am used to hearing, and as I have spent many hours driving in my van, I am pretty tuned in.  I left La Paz, and headed to La Ventana, and again, I heard more noise coming from the rear end than I was used to hearing, and while the van was running great, there obviously was a potential issue.  I had chatted a couple of times with a Canadian and his wife, folks in the Sprinter/Winnebago I first met at Playa Santispac.  We talked about maintenance issues with the Sprinter, and he definitely seemed to know more about them than I did.  Anyway, he said that if I needed anything checked out that I should go to Camiones Vence in Cabo, they work on lots of Sprinters.  So, after leaving La Ventana, I spent one night in Todos Santos, great little town, pretty beat campground, before getting to Cabo.  I dropped off my van, struggled to communicate as nobody really spoke any English, and again, my Spanish is bad, then left them to diagnose the problem.  I hopped on my bike and road down into the center of Cabo, checked out some hotels, explored a bit, and gave them time to figure out what might be causing the noise (which by the way was really just a humming, or whining, especially evident when climbing).  I got back around 4:30 pm, and they first gave me the bad news, then more news to make the initial bad news even worse.  First, they said the bearings in my differential were bad, and needed to be replaced.  At least it wasn't my transmission, something I tend to worry more about.  The estimated cost, $16,000 pesos (or about $840US, depending on the exchange rate).  That was not good news, and then they told me it would take one to two weeks to get the park.  Again, talk about making bad news even worse.  It was already going to cost me a bunch to get the differential fixed, but then I would also have to stay in a hotel, in Cabo, for up to two weeks.  I was bummed.  But what could I do, except try and make the best of it.  I had found a great little hotel, the Cabo Inn, eclectic little place, more like a motel with small rooms all off of a central, open-area courtyard-like areas, with a table, small kitchen, even a large flat-screen TV.  The place is colorful, with lots of plants, everywhere, and even a roof-top deck and sitting area.  The Cabo Inn would become my "home", at least for the immediate future.  So, I became a captive, stuck in Cabo for who knows how long.  I guess there are much worse places to be stuck, especially in the Baja, so guess I should consider myself lucky.  Oh, and did I mention, the first of three weeks of college Spring Breakers visiting began this week, which adds a whole interesting dynamic to life in Cabo, which I think is a pretty crazy place to begin with.
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I am spending almost every night in van, until lately (more on that later), that is why I bought my Sprinter and converted it to a camper van.  And things are working out great with my van (until recently), with a couple of exceptions which I will get to in a minute.  First, I have not "wild camped" once since I got into Mexico, it has just not felt right.  Even though there are many spots listed on iOverlander, I have not felt comfortable simply pulling off the main highway, and driving down some random dirt or sandy road to camp on the beach.  First of all, the roads suck, and my van is not a 4x4, so getting stuck in the sand is a real possibility if I am not careful.  And second, I just do not think it would be safe to simply drive down some road and camp.  This is not to say that it is unsafe here in Mexico, that is totally not true.  Mexico gets a bad rap about crime, drugs, guns, etc. (just ask our President, who is convinced that everyone who crosses the border into the USA from Mexico is a drug dealer, criminal, a generally bad person), but I have felt totally safe during my travels.  I like the Mexicans, they are great people.  The Baja is totally safe, probably safer than many parts of the US, though you do need to be smart, be sensible, be logical.  Safety in numbers is the rule for camping in the Baja, and so far, I have camped at campos, campgrounds, and I have not had any problems.  And actually, the only report I have gotten about bandidos, and I heard of this event from more than one person: people camping by themselves on the beach were robbed at gunpoint.  This event took place only a couple of beaches away from where I was camping at El Requeson along Bahia Concepcion.  Nobody was hurt, and the folks were apparently camping alone.  I never camp alone, and if there are no other campers at a particular spot, unless it is a developed campground, with workers around, a fence, a gate, I do not camp.  Be smart, stay safe, and you will really enjoy your camping experience in the Baja.

Ok, the only two issues I have had camping in my van during this trip, are related, related to the wind.  I have had to cook in my van way too much, even making coffee in the morning.  I can cook in my van, but I prefer not to unless I have no choice.  During this trip, I often have had no choice, it has just been too windy to use the two-burner outdoors, even in lee of my van.  And pretty much every time I make use my stove, in my van, even to simply make coffee in the morning, I set off the smoke alarm.  Good to know that it works, but how annoying, to me, and anyone within earshot.  I realize that it is expected to be windy at the beach, but man, it has been really windy most days, evenings, just tough to cook outside.  And the second issue on this trip is that I have had to spend way too much time hanging out in my van, just too windy most evenings, and even too cold, to chill outside after the sun goes down (well I actually do "chill" outside, just not the right kind of "chilling").  I have really begun to suffer from RV-envy, really would like to have a tad bit more living space in the van.  I still really like my layout, design, I just would like to have a bit more room to move around when confined to the fan virtually every night because of the wind.  Things are fine, I can still work on the computer, download images from my various cameras, write, etc., it is just that I would enjoy a bit more space.  Maybe next time.

Since I crossed the border into Mexicali and began my journey south in the Baja, starting in San Felipe, and now in Cabo San Lucas, I have camped at all kinds of campgrounds, at a bunch of different campsites, some with great facilities, some without any facilities.  The costs have ranged from $100 pesos per night, to $500 pesos.  Some have had nice bathroom facilities, flush toilets and hot showers, other places have had no facilities.  Some campsites have had just amazing views, while at others, I have looked out of my van to see a concrete wall.  Some have been campsites on the beach with nothing between me and the water except sand, others have been in a town.  And some campgrounds are filled with semi-permanent residents (mostly from Canada) who stay put in their often huge RVs for the winter, while other places are filled with vagabonds like me, just passing through on that search for the perfect beach.  People are generally friendly, such is the nature of these folks, people you meet in campgrounds in general, though many kind of keep to themselves.  As I suggested above, many of the folks I run into at campgrounds here are Canadians, mostly from BC and Alberta, and I am totally ok with that, I like Canadians.  There are many from the US here as well, mostly from western states such as California, Arizona, and even up to Idaho and Washington state, all generally nice people, some even interesting people.  Regardless of the situation, the nature of different campgrounds and sites, it has been interesting journey, well worth every minute.  Below is a slide show of most of the places where I have stayed during my Baja adventure, starting in the north, and moving south.  I hope this gives you a sense of what it is like, to Camp the Baja.

La Ventana, east of La Paz, and only 45 km away, is all about the wind, the consistent and persistent winter winds out of the north.  La Ventana is one of, if not the, premier kiteboarding and wind surfing spot in all of the Baja, and maybe one of the best locations in the world.  La Ventana is all about the wind, and the bay was packed with kiteboarders and wind surfers when I arrived, it was quite a sight.  But  there is more to La Ventana than just water sports, as there are some of the best mountain biking trails in the Baja as well.  I was there to ride, and not to play with the wind, so I stayed two nights, and it was worth it.

It was a quick trip from La Paz to La Ventana, and I camped at La Ventana, the main campground populated by kiteboarders and wind surfers.  This place was different, had a much more interesting mix of people, from the younger crowd, to older retired folks, all there for the same reason, the wind.  One night I went to an amateur film festival at Baja Joe's bar, interesting, though rude folks who came late and figured they could just stand in front of anyone (including me), who came early to snag a decent spot to watch the videos, spoiled it for me.  I only stayed for half of the videos, as 3 kids (have to wonder why they are not in school, somewhere) stood 10 feet in front of me, even though I got there early to scout out a spot to sit, and watch.  But, even with the rude kids in front of me, it was an interesting night, and the videos, well, more were pretty "amateur", almost like 'home movies of my vacation', though it was still fun.  The place was packed, and this event is now an annual thing, and the whole community, kiteboarders, wind surfers, and others, all showed up.  What a mix of people, young and old, dirtbags and the rich, interesting night at Baja Joe's.

I was not at La Vantana to wind surf, or kiteboard, I was there to bike, and it was totally worth it, even if I avoided the really challenging rides a bit north of town.  There is a great app called TrailForks, and this really helps to find the trails, and trailheads, and to navigate what can be a maze of trails.  I road for over 2 hours two days in a row, and it was fantastic.  It was basically flat, no climbing, but the trails weaved in and around cacti, including some monsters.  The trail surface was great, packed sand, though you had to be careful as soft sand, and a prickly landing awaited if you strayed even a few centimeters off the single track.  This was some of the most amazing trails I have ridden, not for the technical nature of the trails, but because of the beauty of the vegetation adjacent to the trail, it was just beautiful.  The folks who designed and cut the trails did a great job, winding around and under huge cacti, just wonderful.  There are more difficult trails north of town, more technical, with lots of climbing, but I enjoyed the ones I rode, closer to town, and just great rides.  Forget about the wind and water, bring your mountain bike to La Ventana, and ride.

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I left Lopez Mateos early, drove the 59 km back to Ciudad Constitucion, then headed for La Paz, 210 km away.  I am not a "big city" guy, and La Paz is basically as big as it gets in the Baja, with a population of over 220,000.  But I was headed to La Ventana, and La Paz was on the way, might as well stop.  I only spent one night in La Paz, camped at Aquamarina RV Park, essentially right in town, and within easy biking distance of the malecon and a ton of bars, restaurants and shops along the Bahia de la Paz.  The Park was expensive, at $500 pesos per night, but the bathrooms were great, flush toilets, hot showers, and very clean.  But again, the Wifi was real iffy, and I little luck connecting.  But I did get in a couple of bike rides, into the center of action and along the malecon, nice to get moving.  And, during one of my rides, I happened upon Mena and Dori again, walking their dog along the malecon.  It was so funny to just randomly run across them while I was biking, exchange more information, catch up on what was going on.  They were staying all week, as Carnival was taking place in La Paz the end of the week, and weekend, and they really wanted to experience that event.  I was off to La Ventana, so I would not be around for Carnival, but I did enjoy my brief visit to La Paz, and it was great to run into them again.

After leaving El Requeson, I continued to head south, and my destination was Lopez Mateos, and the whales of Bahia Magdalena, along the Pacific coast of Baja.  Whale watching along the central Pacific coast is one of the main reasons many visit the Baja, and I would be no exception.  Along the Pacific coast, and the lagoons and small bays of Bahia Magdalena serve as nurseries for gray whale calves.  The gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) are the only species of whales in the Family Eschrichtiidae, one of the families of baleen whales.  This species can grow up to 15 m in length, and individuals tend to stay close to shore, preferring to feed, and give birth in shallow water.  This makes this species one of the best species of whales for ecotourism, as they are very accessible, especially in the Bahia Magdalena.  This species has only two populations, Asian (or western Pacific) and eastern Pacific populations.  These large marine mammals annually migrate from the cold, and food-rich waters of the Northern Pacific south to warmer and more protected waters along the Baja (the eastern population) to calve.  The western population is considered to be critically endangered, while the eastern population appears to be relatively stable (20,000 - 22,000 individuals).  The locals often call these animals "the friendly ones", as they are easily approached, and they actually seem to enjoy interacting with us, even allowing touching and petting.  They are beautiful, impressive animals.

There are number of places where you can easily see, and approach these animals, on the Pacific side of the Baja, from Guerrero Negro and Laguna Ojo de Liebre in the north, to Puerto San Carlos in the south.  I chose Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos on the recommendations of a few I had met during my travels south, and I was not disappointed.  Lopez Mateos is a great little village, clean, safe, and the dock facilities are great.  I would highly recommend a visit here during the winter whale-watching season if you want to see whales, and enjoy some good Mexican hospitality.

After leaving El Requeson, I headed south, through Loreto, then Puerto Escondido, up and over the Sierra Giganta to Ciudad Insurgentes, and then south to Ciudad Constitucion, where I spent the night.  I spent one night at Campestre La Pila Balneario and Trailer Park ($200 pesos, flush toilets but no hot showers, though they said there was hot water, and no Wifi), where I was alone for the night, before backtracking to head west to Lopez Mateos.  I spent two night in a great little hotel ($500 pesos per night), Hotel Villajaimez, with hot showers, good Wifi, and a short bike ride to the embarcadero, where there are many pangas at the dock waiting to take you out to check out the whales.  They charge $1500 to $1800 pesos per hour per boat, so you get together with others to fill up a boat (6 people maximum, at least in most boats), and split the cost.  I only paid $600 pesos (plus tip) for 2 hours, and our captain, Fernando, was great.  I made sure to be out there early, as it was high tide, and there were supposed to be more whales in the lagoon in the morning.  It was fantastic, we saw whales blowing all over the place.  It was great fun, even if the photography was challenging.  In addition to being on a small boat, bouncing around with the swells coming in from the ocean, the whales often did not cooperate.  Even with camera at the ready, they were challenging to photograph as you would first see them blow, and then you would just see their backs as they slid back into the water.  I shot about a hundred photos of their backs, just not that interesting.  So instead, I focused on photographing their tails, as they sometimes were exposed as they submerged after a blow.  I got some good photos of tails, but  only one breach.  We saw a few whales breach, but they always seemed to be off in the distance, and it was just luck, and a very quick click of the shutter, to get a photograph of an individual breaching.  We also got up-close and personal, and I photographed a woman in another boat petting one whale, though we never got that opportunity.  It got a bit crazy out there as we approached out 2 hour limit, many other boats were arriving, we were no longer only one of a few boats like it was early (we left the dock just before 8:00 am).  We bought an extra half hour for another $225 pesos, saw a bunch of additional whales, including at least a few mothers with their calves.  We also had a great group of people on the boat, fun folks, and really fired up about seeing whales.  It was a fantastic morning, the gray whales of Bahia Magdalena, Lopez Mateos. 

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It was time for more beach camping, and I would find lots of it along the Bahia Concepcion, back on the east coast of the Baja.  After I left San Lucas, I ended up at Playa Santispac, the first of many campgrounds along Bahia Concepcion, a large, shallow bay off the Gulfo California.  I drove through the town of Mulege on the way south, a town I heard really good things about.  And, the place is a total oasis in the desert that is the Baja, complete with palm trees, lots of green, and, water, a river runs through town.  I only stopped for supplies, looked around a bit, before heading off to the beach, but Mulege did seem like an interesting place.

My first stop was Playa Santispac, and while I would later learn it was not as busy these days as it used to be 10 or more years ago, I thought it was pretty crazy.  Big RVs lined the beach, each associated with a small palapa.  The pit toilets were totally gross, and there were no showers, no amenities of any kind really, except the existence of two restaurants, one of which had a live "band" the evening I was there.  I did not eat at the restaurant, but I did end up drinking a few beers there, as I again ran into people I had met previously in during my trip, the couple from Colorado with the big Ford van.  They had picked up an Israeli on his bike since I last saw them at Bahia de los Angeles, I guy I think I remember passing south of Coco's Corner on the brutal Rt. 5 south of Puertecitos.  We chatted a bunch, as they were heading to South America, the guy from Colorado (no girlfriend), and the biker from Israel, though not together.  And as I spent a lot of time in South America, at least in Chile and southern Argentina, they had lots of questions.  Again, it is fun to keep running into the same people as we all wander south in the Baja.  I only stayed one night at Santispac, just too much for me.  I can't imagine RVs 3-deep lined up along the beach like you would have seen ten years ago.

I headed 22 km south along Mex 1 to the campground at El Requeson, which turned out to be great, except for the wind.  This camping area (can't really call it a campground as there are no amenities of any kind), is really low key, and on a spit of sand, which at low tide, connects with a nearby island.  I drove as far out as I dared, to the end of the spit, at least the end at high tide.  I liked this place, and while not my perfect beach, it was great, except for the wind.  Oh, did I mention the wind?  Anyway, later in the afternoon a guy came around to collect $150 pesos, same as at Santispac, but without the restaurants, and live music.  The sun was out, and even with the wind, it was a great afternoon, especially after the tide went out and I could explore the island, take a few photographs, and simply enjoy the day.  I stayed two nights here, biked and paddled the one full day I had here, though by mid-afternoon, the wind made it chilly, even in the sun.  I chatted with some interesting folks from California (involved in the off-road racing which is so important in the Baja), tried to stay out of the wind, and relaxed along the beach.  This was a nice place to hang, a few RVs camped for the season, a few transients like me who would wander in for a day or two, and, the vendors which visit, locals who would visit all of the beaches along the Bahia Concepcion.  I bought a couple of tamales one evening, and a particularly persistent guy plied me with cold Pacificos until I bought a small table cloth and a blanket.  But trust me, I got a good deal, even a cold beer was not enough to get me to overpay for some blanket probably made in a huge factory in China.  What I didn't get was a deal on the scallops, couldn't even buy one.  A friend of the blanket vendor was out there at low tide harvesting scallops in a huge fan-shaped shell, and he wouldn't sell me any, he did not harvest enough to sell, they were for his family.  I drank a Pacifico with him as well.  It was great to get back to a real beach, a Baja beach, even with the wind.  I would consider stopping back at El Requeson on my way back north.

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