The road south ...... mostly sucked

Ruta 5 just north of Puertecitos.

I was a bit worried about what I might find heading south on Ruta 5, as a number of folks suggested it was bad.  Dori and Mena, Canadians I met at Campo Uno, had started down the road, but turned around, and took the long way around, back north to Ruta 3 and across the mountains to Ensenada and Mex 1, the main highway in Baja.  But Billy from Campo Uno said I would be fine, even if it was slow going at times, so I figured, what the heck, I was in no hurry, my adventure had just begun.  Well, I obviously made it, and while some of the detours around bridges washed out by a recent hurricane were not too bad, the southern-most stretch, south of Coco's Corner and before joining Mex 1 in Laguna Chapala, sucked.  There were short stretches which were actually worse than anything I experienced on the Carretera Austral in southern Chile, South America, and that is saying something.

After a quick stop in town, in San Felipe, more cash, ice and diesel, I heading south.  Initially, the road was great, as actually the worst part was on the southern edge of town.  There were a few detours around bridges washed out by a recent hurricane, and while the damage was often impressive, the short detours were fine.  I would be very concerned if I tried this drive after rains, as the detours were always through the arroyos, or washes, which flooded during the hurricane to cause all the damage in the first place, so they would be impassible if it rained.

Made it easily (well, with a few bumpy and dusty detours) to Puertecitos, which included a stop at a great roadside bar, Cowpatty.  I camped at Octovio's Camp just on the northern edge of town.  The place was pretty deserted, both the campground and town, and I paid $200 pesos for a spot on the beach with a small palapa, pit toilets (which were on the edge of being gross), and nothing else, just me, and a few fishermen.  While the cost is only a little over $10US, this turned out to be expensive, given what you get.  I paid $150 pesos at other campgrounds, and got clean, flush toilets, showers (even hot on occasion), and occasionally WiFi (which generally sucked, but this turned out to be what you get in Baja).   It would be the next day which would be a real challenge, especially after I decided to make a run for Bahia de los Angeles, many kilometers away.  And, had to avoid the one rule everyone repeated, don't drive after dark in the Baja.  It would be a long day.

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