Thursday: We drove away from the Yuma area, heading west into California. California welcomed us by confiscating our two grapefruits that had been given to us yesterday. But, I’m sure that the world and California is safer for their brave intervention!
Lots of desert! Lots of border patrol agents! We detoured to Calexico to exchange dollars for pesos and the drove on, moving from flat desert to bolder strewn hills and then, eventually hills with green trees. We found our spot in the Potrero County Park, and began to meet others going on the caravan to Baja, as they parked near us. In all, our little party consists of two related BC couples in 5th wheels, another BC couple in an A, a California couple in an A, a Washington couple in a van-like RV, the wagonmasters (also from BC) that drive a van and pull a trailer, and ourselves.
Friday: Mid-morning we all piled into the wagonmaster’s van and drove to the border to have our Mexico visitor’s pass officially stamped. In the afternoon we had our orientation meeting and a chance to get to know each other better over a well spread hors d’oeuvres table.
Saturday: The official start of the Baja Caravan! We all headed out and drove to the border. Our RV was the only one stopped and inspected. That was not bad at all but meant we now had to find our way through Tecate as there no longer was anyone in sight in front of us to follow.
We successfully re-connected with the others and headed west towards Tijuana. The US border fence could be seen winding its way amongst the hills, looking like a mini-Wall of China. We turned south as we got near the coast.
Mostly a day of easy driving. We made a stop for groceries, lunch, and gas in Ensenada and the drove a little south to Punta Bunda and our campground. Pat and I had a little time for a beach walk and then the group drove over to La Bufadora, a place where the waves hit the cliffs and blows water high into the air. It is also a place where loads of little tourist shops have been set up. We took our pics of the water action and toured some shops and then called it a day, returning to camp.
Manny has satellite TV and so the afternoon was spent by the whole group crowded into his RV watching the Super Bowl and sharing hot dogs and a wide variety of snacks.
Monday: Back up the bumpy road to the highway, and on we go, this time with the highway turning inland and up into the hills. A slow and windy road’s worth of travel that brought us to Catavina and the camp. This is now into an area that is desert, filled with cactus and large boulders. The camp is a huge open area for parking with a few scattered trees.
After lunch, we take a side trip to see a small cave that is covered with brightly colored paintings of numerous designs. The paintings have been dated to around 6,000 – 7,000 years old, a time when the area was believed to be green and watered, not the desert of today. Many other paintings have been found throughout Baja, but these are an easy walk from the highway and have been protected into a park by the government.
Tuesday: We drove on through the central hills and back to the western coast, arriving at Guerrero Negro. Shortly after getting to camp we all went into town to Tony’s taco stand for a lunch of the choice of either fish or shrimp tacos. (Very good!). We did a grocery run (the Mercado was very small) and an ATM run (not working) and returned to camp. Finished the day with a group dinner at the camp’s restaurant. The group was still going strong 2 ½ hours later when Pat & I called it a day and returned to the RV.
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