Baja California, Mexico 2012

Baja California, Mexico: October 1st - October 21st

Baja Norte:

October 1st: We spent the night at Octilla Wells, CA, a good preparation for the heat to come; it was so hot I don't think it went below 90 degrees all night! Anyway, so we got up and decided that today would be the day that we cross into Mexico.  It felt unreal because we have been talking about going to Baja before we left for our trip; so it was long deserved.  However, I have not spent much time preparing and planning and felt like I didn't know enough to go.  We spent a few days prior buying some guide books and maps and planning a rough guide.  How much do you really need to know, and can you ever be fully prepared for traveling abroad into a foreign country; specifically a third world country?  I read the guide books from front to back and got a basic idea of what we were in for. 
We drove for a few hours and before we knew it we were at the border, we were in Mexico! We didn't wait in line; we drove right up to the gate, received the green light and passed on through. Bam! We were in Mexico!

No big flashing lights saying "Welcome to Mexico" or no signs in English telling us where the "hell" to go.  "Holy shit! We are in Mexico!" We couldn't get that out of our heads. Driving into Mexico is a lot different than flying in and taking a taxi cab to the nearest resort (Driving is way better for the full experience!) Ok, so we are really here and we need to get our tourist cards, get it together! So we drive around looking for a parking spot and finally find one.  Paranoid (specifically Sabrina) after reading about all the horrible danger that occurs in border cities in Mexico, we locked everything up and walked towards the border looking behind our backs and walking with a quick step.  We walked several times up and down the road unable to figure it out, finally I got out my Spanish speaking guide and asked a border guard where Immigration was, he directed us to the building and I was thrilled by my new vocabulary. Wow do I wish that I spoke Spanish, it would have made everything a lot easier.  However, we both got by with our bits  and pieces and in our attempt to speak we received a lot of encouragement and smiles!  So we get our tourist cards and now we have to pay for them, however we didn't bring enough money with us so we trek back to our truck and get more money and then trek back to the immigration office, I can only imagine what the locals who stood on the street corners were saying.  Deep breath, we get our tourist cards paid for and back to the truck.  We didn't feel like exploring this new town of Tecate, we mainly wanted to head out of the city and slowly immerse ourselves into this new culture.  Prior to getting to the truck we went to a bank to get money.  We stood in a long line at the Banamex (we didn't know where the ATM was), finally a nice lady who worked at the bank was able to lead us to the ATM; once again we were proud of our attempt to communicate.  We make such a good team, Ples is behind me nodding in agreeance and I have a blank stare on my face trying to thumble through my dictionary.  Anyway, it works and we get better as the time goes by.  

Time to get out of the city of Tecate. Ples drives with confidence through the congested narrow streets with several distractions; while I thumb through my guide book and dictionary trying to read road signs and figure out where we are going; by the end of the day I was mentally exhausted.

 





This was one of our favorite signs, it means Vado: water crossing.
We liked to call it "mustache sign"





 

I was also on high alert for "banditos and corrupt police" due to the stories I read prior to entering into Mexico.  I wish I knew at the beginning of the trip what I learned throughout the trip in Baja.  I had no need to be paranoid and I feel somewhat ashamed.  Not once did we get harassed by "corrupt police" or any police in that matter. We never saw banditos and the military check points were easy.  Once we knew a few more words in Spanish and met more "Baja Americans" and learned that there were seldom any problems we (I) was able to relax.
Camp for the night was in La Bufadora for $7 at a place called Campo 5.  We picked this place from the recommendation in "Camping Mexico's Baja" by Mike & Terri Church (great guide book).  We knocked on the office door with no answer.  We park in the campground and looked around.  This camp was located on top of a sea cliff and basically just a big parking lot.  I checked out the bathrooms, the first thing that I learned was that all toilet paper goes into the waste basket, most of the bathrooms didn't even have toilet paper so sometimes it wasn't an issue. Anyway, it was a real toilet in a cement box, the toilet did not flush and there was no running water (more toilet experiences to come!).  So, the owner comes out with a Tecate can in his hand with blood shot eyes; he speaks perfect English and we end up having a good conversation with him. He wants to show us around his camp so we all pile into the truck and drive down a steep rough road to a huge open area with a great view.  We help him pick up trash and drive him back up to the office.  I gave him some ibuprofen because he sprained his knee and it was swollen. I taught him RICE and felt like I was able to help him. We hiked around and took in the beautiful scenery.



10/2/12: Not a bad way to wake up; beautiful sunrise and the sound of the ocean below us.  For some reason I got up with the sun, not a usual thing for us, but it was awesome.  I let Ples sleep and I made some coffee and sat outside and watched the sunrise.  I did some journaling and meditated and did some yoga.  It was a great start to a fun day.  We drove around the campground and took in some more views:

 

We drove to La Bufadora, a small peninsula west of Ensenada on the Pacific Ocean. La Bufadora is known for their "blowhole". This is where "incoming swells push seawater into an underground canyon and out through a hole in the rocks. The resulting explosion of water and spray reaches heights of 25-30 meters" (Moon).  We stayed there for at least 30 minutes watching the water spray onto the rocks and laughing at the amount and gusto of the water as it launched into the sky spraying water onto the rocks and the mist spraying us.  We cheered and clapped with the group of tourists that just arrived every time the blowhole blew!

 We walked away smiling and excited to see more!  We drove south through our first military check point.  I was nervous at first; it is intimidating to see young military boys with assault rifles. All they wanted to know was where we were coming from, where we are going and if we have any guns or drugs with us.  After clumsily speaking we were able to pass through without any problem.  From that point on I was excited when we got to a military check point.  I got my book out and practiced speaking, and they usually smiled and laughed at our awesome tourist skills!  We never had any difficulty and I realized that they were there to protect us and were only looking for drugs and guns and they didn't want to harass the tourists.  We only had two inspections on our way back and it was fun to open our camper for them and show them how we were living.  They asked a bunch of questions and were curious about our bikes. 
Our next adventure was getting gas; in the books I read they said that it was common to get schemed at the gas pump, to not give you correct change back, to change the amount, etc.  So once again I was on high alert and once again I was left feeling silly because there was absolutely no issue and they were very nice.  The gas here is so much cheaper and since it is owned by the government all the prices are the same.
We decided that we would take a detour from Mex 1 and head into Central Baja and check out their mountains.  It took us one and a half hours to go 84 km.  We drove to the National Park of Sierra San Pedro Martir. The road was narrow and steep and we drove up to 8,000 ft.  The big accomplishment for the day was being able to communicate to the rangers on camping and paying to get into the park.  We were the only ones in the park and we felt like we were in Colorado again; pine trees and big boulders.  We found a camp spot and settled in for the night.  The ironic thing was that an hour prior we were extremely hot in the desert and now we were both in our down jackets, long underwear and hats!  We sat at the picnic table planning the next days travels.  This happened to be a regular thing that we would do every night, we would lay out our maps and guide books and talk about what we wanted to do, the plans weren't specific because we liked to be spontaneous and leave things open for options.

These are the bracelets that you had
to wear that showed that you paid
to enter the park.

 

10/3/12



Antonio & Betty
Camp Archulon

Let the adventure begin!  We got a good start on the day, woke up to coyotes howling.  We headed back the same way and headed south on Mex 1.  Our planned destination for the day was to camp north of Guerro Negro at a beach camp, but once again life took us on another detour.  We stopped in St. Quintin and had amazing fish tacos (per rec. of Moon guidebook). We filled up on gas and headed across the desert.  Soon into the lonely, baron hot desert we see an elderly gentleman with a broken down car.  Ples pulls up next to them and feeling safe he gets out and helps the man fix his broken belt on his car.  The gentleman and his wife were so excited that we helped that he wanted us to come and stay at his camp in Bahia de Los Angeles for free!  We took him up on the offer, we were going to go there anyway, so why not now.  We also find out that this guy and his wife are marine biologists and own a turtle conservation camp.  Very interesting people, we were very glad that we helped them.  So off we go on a caravan through the desert.  Shortly after we left the man's car breaks again; we pull over and Ples once again fixes it.  We ensure Antonio and Betty that we will just follow them and make sure they get home safe.  Shortly back on the road we stop to see a motorcycle on the road with a dead guy wrapped in the guard rail.  A pile up of cars stop and try to help, we check the man and he is definitely dead so we tell Antonio and he tells some trucks to radio in some help.  There was no reception and nothing else we could do.  Driving away helpless we continued our trek. Antonio broke down one more time, we were able to fix it again and it allowed him to go a few more miles to a car place.  They were able to fix his car for good and off we went to his camp.  Antonio and Betty took us out to dinner because they wanted to thank us.  We went out to eat at their local hangout and had some great Mexican food.  We met some more of their friends and spent the night talking, drinking and eating great food!

10/4/12:  First day to shower since in Baja and well deserved.  It was a rustic building with running water, the showers were not hot but I didn't care to have a hot shower, it was so hot that the cold water was refreshing!  Today was nice because we were able to just chill, explore and not drive.  We sunbathed, read and relaxed.  We then went for a walk down the beach to the lighthouse.  We explored so much life in the Sea of Cortez.  My favorite part was watching the fish jump out of the water and watching the pelicans dive down and make a huge splash in the water and gulp down the fish.



 On the way back from the lighthouse we decide to get into the water.  We are both not much of water people and I am kinda scared of what lurks in the water.  Anyway, so we are in the water and I am trying to get Ples wet when I step down hard on a sting ray and bam!  I jump out of the water screaming in pain.  Ples thought I was just joking until he saw all the blood coming from my foot.  Ples put pressure on it to stop the bleeding, it took a while for the bleeding to stop.  The pain was so bad, it was one of the worse pains that I have ever experienced.  Numbing, stabbing, aching and now I had to walk all the way back to camp.  Ples kept me focused and reminded me that I wasn't going to die or loose my foot:)  We get back to camp and asked Antonio what to do for it (being a marine biologist and all).  He told us to soak it in the hottest water possible.  I did that and it was the only thing that helped, the toxin slowly came out and it took a good two hours.  The pain was strong the entire time.  All of a sudden the pain went away and I was good to go.  You think I was scared to go in the water before now I was really scared and had no desire to go into the ocean for a while!


Antonio takes us out for a tour of the town and to fill up our water tanks.  He took us to the medical clinic because he knew were both in the medical field.  We spoke to the English speaking doctor and got to ask her a bunch of questions about health care.  They have one ambulance for the town and if the pt needs to go to a hospital a local fisherman without any medical experience volunteers to drive the ambulance to the nearest hospital about an hour away! Crazy!
We got some tacos and took them back to camp to enjoy on the beach.  We enjoyed the evening at Antonio and Betty's home with two other American couples that just arrived there, and that is where we met Paul and Gayle who we end up staying with later.

10/5/12
We say our goodbyes to Antonio and Betty and off we go.  I forgot to mention that we met another man who stayed in one of the palapas next to us whose name was Bob.  He was an elderly man who travels to Baja every year.  He had a bike with him and he rides it all the time, he rode one of the yearly bike races, it took him 5 hours!  It made Ples and I feel so wimpy for not riding our bikes more often.   However, we did decide if we come back we will need baja bikes (hardtail, single speed bikes that we can cruise around town in and ride trails if we choose).  Our bikes now are just too much, so they sit and collect salted rust and look cool!  Anyway, Bob was a cool guy and he shared a lot of stories of Baja and made some great recommendations.

Baja Sur:

Off to Baja Sur!  In order to enter into to Baja Sur you have to cross an agricultural crossing, they ask you if you have an fruits then spray the bottom of your vehicle, they charged us 20 pesos.  Guerro Negro is the first city you get to and we were ready to camp for the night.  We camped in a campground per Bob's recommendation.  We camped in another big parking lot behind a restaurant/hotel and paid $14 for one night that included electricity, wifi and a "hot" shower.  Guerro Negro is a dirty, crowded city and known for salt mining.

 We walked down and up the streets and then came back for dinner at the restaurant that we were parked behind.  The restaurant was known to "be the best  around", it was pricey but delicious.  I had shrimp and scallops and Ples had broiled shrimp.  We paid around $38 with tip for two seafood dinners, 1 glass of wine, 1 soda, and it came with soup and bread.  Everything here is so much cheaper and you get more for what you pay for.

10/6/12:  The main struggle I had with Baja was the noise at night.  It seemed like there was never silence and it was a challenge to sleep at times.  Well, last night was one of those nights.  We were practically in the middle of the city so all night we heard dogs barking, chickens squawking, music and loud speakers that announced advertisements.  Ples said it reminded him of "Mad Max". The only thing you can do is try to stay out of the cities.   

Another chill morning as we leisurely went through our morning routines.  Ples makes me a wonderful cup of french pressed coffee and I slowly arouse and make us some breakfast.  Inspired by being in Mexico I made a breakfast with beans, eggs, veggies and salsa.  Ples washes the dishes and then goes outside and does "man" things and I finish inside mainly pruning and cleaning and then Ples comes and we put the kitchen away and close up our home.  We have it down to a science right now.  To tell you the truth I really had my doubts on how I was going to live in this small space with another person for so long, but it has worked out exceptionally well and knowing that we can live like this I know we can live together in any situation.  I can't wait to marry this man!  We got engaged on September 15th in Death Valley, funny huh (see post for this sometime in the future).  We thought it would be nice to get married in Baja but it seemed too hard to work out the logistics and we were to busy exploring and enjoying ourselves, but it will happen in the near future, we may come back here and do it but for now we just enjoy each other and look forward to spending the future together. 

All packed up and we drive to the East, Sea of Cortez.  We spent the night at Playa El Coyote in Bahia de Concepcion, South of Mulege.  We picked this specific spot because a lot of famous pictures are taken here along the turquoise waters, white sand and palm trees.

 



We got brave and took a dip in the shallow, clear warm water and enjoyed every minute of it. We wish that we had something to do in the water, next time we plan on bringing a stand up paddle board and a kayak with some snorkeling gear.  We buy a sun hat, sombrero, and a Mexican blanket from a vendor and I spend the afternoon soaking up the sun and doing absolutely nothing but enjoying the moment.  Being here in October is a great time if you want the beaches to yourselves and solitude.

10/7/12: I am getting used to not sleeping but it does get annoying and I really wish I could just have one really good night of sleep.  Last night it was so hot with tons of bugs and then the winds started picking up and the wind blew the tent all night long and the sound of "flap flap flap" in my ear.  I wake up irritable and say "I want to go home!"  But then after my cup of coffee and sitting in the chair with my feet in the sand and taking in the beauty around me I soon forget the annoyances.  We have the beach to ourselves and we are literally camped on the beach! Where else can you do that?  We walk into the small town and have lunch at Martha's Pollos. We each had 1/2 of a chicken with slaw and 4 cokes for $16! 



 

10/8/12:  Status Quo for the nights sleep.  What should we do today Brain? (Something we say everyday to each other). So many options, well first lets start off with that nice cup of coffee!  The couple that we met earlier lives in the small village right next to where we were camped so we went off in that area and shortly found their house.  It was the only purple house! Paul and Gayle were so excited to see us, they invited us into their home and we stayed and chatted for a while.  They wanted us to camp in their front yard so we did. While setting up camp, Ples picked up a rock and found a scorpion!

 They very kindly let us borrow their 2 kayaks and snorkeling gear and we went on a tour of the Coyote island.  We paddled to the island and there we snorkeled for about 2 hours.  We had so much fun!  The water was so nice and clear and we saw so much life.  Ples was so excited, it was his first time snorkeling, he was like a little kid.  It made me so happy to see him so excited about life and the unknown.  We saw sting rays, schools of fish, clown fish and so much more.  We paddled back and made dinner. 

 Paul and Gayle invited us to go out and get a drink with them.  We had some margarita's, laughed, and enjoyed each others company.  We got back to their house and went up to their balcony and looked up at the stars.  It was actually quiet!  There is a rule that all generators have to be turned off by 10 pm.  We were absolutely off the grid there, no electricity, no cell phone service; it was awesome!  Paul and Gayle communicate with radios with their neighbors and they all help each other out.  It's a real community and life seems so easy.  The less we have the easier it is.

 

10/9/12:  Yeah I slept amazing!  woohoo, man does that feel good!  We showered in their trailer and headed out.  Next destination, Loreto.  It was a beautiful drive along the coast.  We stayed at Riviera Del Mar for $16 and got wifi, real hot showers, electricity, shade and a public covered sitting area.  Being this time of year not much is going on, it is still off-season; which is good for camping and getting prime spots but less things to do.  We chilled after a long drive and just relaxed.  We walked into town to get groceries.  This was a great experience and a good way to learn the language.  The strangest thing for us was seeing the eggs in the produce section not refrigerated in a big open crate.  We only wanted a dozed but didn't know how to do it, we stayed there for a while with a blank stare hoping that someone else would show us how it was done.  Finally we just decided to take what we needed and found an empty carton.

 

We dropped off groceries and toured the city, what a beautiful city with lots of history.

 We went to dinner at the "giggling dolphin", yeah a bit touristy and Americanized but the food was authentic and the owner was super friendly.  We also got serenaded to... for 50 pesos.  We walked back in the dark to our home and had no issues.  Once again felt safe and secure.

10/10/12: Another loud city night, dogs, chickens and music.  I reached a bit of a breaking point and really wanted to go now.  Ples wanting to do anything that made me happy decided that we start heading our way back north.  First we did some errands.  We easily went through town, buying doughnuts at the bakery, tortillas for the tortilla factory, water, gas and bug spray from the pharmacy.  I was really enjoying exploring the towns and being able to communicate a few things to get what we needed.  I could really see us living somewhere like this to learn the language and explore more of Baja.  The day was looking better and now we decided to take a detour down to a small village called Agua Verde.  We drove down a dirt, narrow, steep road for 40 km, it took us 1.5 hours to get to the village.  I can't believe people live down there, with a good rain the road would be totally washed out.  The small village seemed to rely on ranching and the water for a living.  We ended up buying a necklace from a local villager.  I was glad to give her money, I was so impressed by the way they live.  We were never able to find the road to the camping area, it was high tide so we couldn't get too far out on the beach.  The place was beautiful though, absolutely amazing!

We head back up the road and found camp at Juncalito Playa for free for two nights.  We stayed on the beach next to a palapa.  We met a guy who was there for the winter to fish, he was also from Vail, Colorado and we knew some mutual people, such a small world.  I slept really good and another fresh outlook. 

10/11/12: What should we do today brain?  I don't know, we can go for a swim or go for a walk on the beach or we could sun bathe and read?  So many options, life is so rough down here.  So I opted for the sunbathing part and sunbathed all day.  I have a great tan going on for the first time in a long time.  Then all of a sudden the slight breeze stopped and it was so calm, almost suffocating calm. The bugs now found a perfect playground to play in; there were millions of gnats, mosquitoes and flies.  You couldn't open your mouth and the gnats loved going into your eyes. RRRRRrrrrrr! I hate bugs!  So I found peace of mind in our tent and stayed there for the night.  I made our home a relaxing haven and lit candles, played soft relaxing music and settled in for the night.

 10/12/12: Day 12 in Baja!  We woke up to the Norte Winds, it was very windy, but no bugs.  We decided to go south, we spent time going through the pros and cons and it pretty much came down to why not?  We have time and the money and we are here and there is so much more to explore.  So here we go again, let the adventure continue!  We drove to La Paz, capitol of Baja Sur.  We couldn't find the campground we were looking for so we stayed in a little town north of La Paz for 100 pesos.  There was a coffee cafe here and I was so excited, this was the first one I have seen since we got to Baja.  So of course I had to get a coffee!  We also went and bought a floaty so we would have something to do in the water.

10/13/12:  We got up and took a glorious cold shower, Ples is even learning to enjoy or "tolerate" them.  We head towards the beach, the first beach we went to was called Balandra Bay.  It was absolutely beautiful! The water was so clear and so shallow.  You could walk out forever and the water barely reached my knees.  Ples got stung by a sting ray on the toe, it wasn't bad and it didn't break the skin but it was enough for me to get out of the water.  Ples floated on the floaty for a while while I sunbathed.

We then drove to Telcolte Beach and made home for the night for free on public beach right next to the ocean.  We walked along the beach and had dinner on the beach at a restaurant.

We had to be strategic with positioning of the truck and tent due to the strong north winds.  The wind actually stopped during the night, but then it was really hot; geeez never happy:)

 



10/14/12: Drove to La Ventana and camped at Playa Mirima for 100 pesos a night, not knowing that this would be our home for the next four days!  This place is knows for kite boarding and their strong winds.  The campground is huge and full of RV'ers and their garage of kite boards where they stay for 6 months.  I have never seen such a thing, it was amazing!  In the parking lot we ended up parking next to this couple that we saw on the road in California in the Mohave desert.  Ples recognized their Toyota Land Cruiser and that it wasn't from the states.  We ended up befriending them.  Monika and Fritz from Austria (Fritz was actually home in Austria taking care of business for a few days).  We chatted about travel and checked out each others rigs.

 

10/15/12: Hurricane Paul was leaving its track and we got about 2 inches of rain and winds.  So we just hung out all day in the rain.  We found a cool place that was a kite school, restaurant, bakery and bar.  We hung out there for a few meals and used their Internet and hung out somewhere dry.  It rained all night.



10/16/12: Dry day; mattress was soaked, well everything was wet.  The truck smelled wet and musty.  The bugs and gnats are loving the new wetness and are intolerable!  So what else to do in a hurricane? We decide to go on a bike ride with one of the fellow campers who is a local and has built one of the trails.  We had so much fun, I laughed the entire way saying "we are riding our bikes in a hurricane!"  It felt good to be back on our bikes. 

 The weather wasn't too bad, it was pretty clear the entire time we were on our bikes, it just started to blow and rain at the end.

10/17/12:
Official dry out day, hurricane has passed and the sun is out!  We take everything out of the truck and dry it out.  We hand wash some items and hang them out to dry.  We decide to spend the day drying out and tomorrow we would either go further south or go home.  I take a long walk along the beach and when I get back Ples told me that our stove bit the dust.  So now we only have a pocket rocket stove and no sink, so we decided it was time to head home.  Ples and I took our floaty out for a nice float amongst the waves and laughed and laughed!
10/18/12:  We decided to finish the loop south, mainly due to the reason that roads were closed from the destruction of the hurricane.  We drove to Cabo and it was everything we thought it would be; tons of traffic, congestion, multi-million dollar homes and hotels, golf courses and beaches you can't access.  We left the Americanized city and headed to the west side of the cape and then ended back in La Paz and Telcolote beach.  There we met a lovely couple (Joe and Dana) who were also overlanding Baja.  We shared stories and once again checked out each other's rigs.  It was nice meeting another couple, and we would definitely like to caravan next time with some friends and be able to go to places that you shouldn't go by yourselves.

10/19/12:  Drove to Bahia De Conception and camped at Santispac for 80 pesos.  During our drive North we watched tons of overlanding vehicles pass, this is definitely the time that these trips start.  There was also a lot of damage done to parts of Mex 1, where half the road was missing from the hurricane.

On Santispac we met some interesting people.  The young couple next to us was driving a sweet Toyota that Ples got to check out.  They were driving to Patagonia.  Another couple was about to take off on a kayak trip for a week and another guy was traveling by bike.  The biker was named Albert from Germany.   We invited him to have dinner with us and we shared stories and we heard about all the travels that he did by bike.  He definitely made it sound awesome and a great way to see the country and for little money, (maybe next time!)  We have met some great people on this trip, that is what traveling is all about.  There is so much out there to do and see and people to meet!

10/20/12: I sunbathed for the last day, bought some tamales and veggies from a local vendor and headed north.  We drove all day and camped in Catavina for the night.  The weather started getting colder and we actually needed to wear our sweatshirts.

10/21: 7 hour drive to get to Tecate.  We stopped for our last fish tacos, so sad!  I had 3 just to make it last!  This time in Tecate we acted like pros.  We found the immigration office right away and returned our cards and got our exit stamp in our passports.  Now we wait for 4 hours to cross the border, bad idea to cross on Sunday night!  We had to go to agricultural inspection because we had eggs and avocados, but it was no big deal.  We crossed the border around 9, found home for the night in a city park campground for $27, welcome back to the US!

Dear Baja,

You wake me up with your bright glorious sunrise

You tease me with your constant taco stands that make me leave wanting more.

Your cold "hot" water showers are surprisingly refreshing after a hard day on your soft white beaches and clear turquoise, green waters.

You have beloved fans from all walks of the earth that come to live your lifestyle:

A happy, content, simple adventurous life that most dream of but rarely achieve.

A place full of the unknown full of travelers who seek to reap your full potential.

I love you for opening my eyes to another world and reminding me of my blessings and comforts.

I curse you for the bugs when your gentle breeze comes to a halt.

I really cursed you when you let that vicious sting ray attack my ignorant foot, but thankful for you kind Antonio.

You have been accused of being unsafe and full of bad things, but thank you for giving me the chance to see your real beauty.

Your people work hard, they have little but are resourceful and happy.  They drink and eat well and love their god and do the best in welcoming us foreigners.

Baja, you have left a place in my heart and can't wait to visit you again!

Mucho Gusto my friend!

Adios!