Felipe to Puertecitos Jan 8

 Puertecitos is a small off the grid community along the coast that is known

 for the best hot springs in Baja.

Coastline as we drove to Puertecitos

Some of highway 5 is very narrow, you cannot go over the white line on the right at any time. On this stretch of road there is a drain but most of the time it is a drop off with zero tolerance. When meeting the big trucks you make sure your right tires are on top of that white line , the truck does the same and all is good. Less than a foot between the mirrors. The road conditions are really good and the speed limit is usually 60 or 80 kilometers  per hour, after driving in the US in  70 and 75 miles per hour limits (120 klm per hour) this is very relaxing

Hair pin turns , some times with a 30 klm speed limit for the turn

The bay where we camped

It was very wind the family next to us flying a kite

The hot springs by the sea.

The rocks are full of holes and crevices that fill with the warm water. 

 This is the hottest pool , you can see the steam coming of it and the air is  25 degrees. It is too hot to even dip your toe into. The water rises from deep in the earth and comes to the surface through the cracks in the rock with the hottest  pools being the farthest from the sea.  When the tide comes in it fills all of the crevices and pools between the rocks. As the hot water flows to the lower pools closer to the sea the hot water gets cooler.

You move from one pool to the next until you find one that has a temperature that you are comfortable with, or you can go into a very hot one and then cool off in another one. 

This family had arrived in 3 vehicles from San Felipe over an hour away. The grandparents were making tacos with shrimp and vegetables and bringing them down to the pools for the family. While we were in the pool they asked us we  would like a plate, when I offered to pay for it they flat out refused to take any money. They just said, you are our friend.  The world is full of kind and beautiful people.

Brandon and Jasmine are an electrician and  a nurse from California. They sold their house and all of there belongings and committed themselves to a simple life style, and have been living full time on the road for the last 6 months. They have enough money to live for at least a year and then the plan is to work  about one month out of six to fund their travels for the foreseeable future. We sat around the camp fire with them in the evening so when he came back with a nice sea bass the next morning they gave us a meal

This whale skeleton was on the beach about a mike from our campsite

A view of the village from across the bay as we walked to the skeleton.

Day one Mexico Feb 7

Yuma to San Felipe

About and hour and a half to Mexican border at Mexicali

Highway 8 that does to Dan Diego passes through the Imperial Desert in California. Those sandunes on the right are a play ground for 4 wheelers and ATVs . The desert in Arizona always has some scrub brush or growth in it, this is just pure sand for miles. If there were camels you would think you were in the Sahara Desert.

We crossed at the east gate border, there was no line up at all going to Mexico but the line up to the US must have been well over a mile long. The crossing was perfect, the officer asked in Spanish if I spoke Spanish and I smiled and suggested he should try his English first. He asked where we were coming from, where we were going and for how long. Then he stepped inside , opened a bunch of doors to check the cupboards etc, and politely told us we were ready to go. A second officer then approached and asked for our passports , plus our FMM tourist card, took  a look at them and wished us a good holiday.  We were gone in less than 5 minutes. 

Mexicali is city of about a million people and looks like an industrial city, not very prosperous, and not very tidy. In fairness we only passed through it so may be we only saw the poorer part. We were amazed by the amount of garbage along the road.

There were a few large cattle farms along the highway , but not large by Arizona standards

Typical scene as we traveled along highway 5, mountains in the background and farm land in the valley

Desert landscape similar to Arizona  , the mountains are in the center of the peninsula most of the way south.

Highway 5 from Mexicali to San Felipe is a perfect road, great condition with an 80 klm speed limit. After driving with US speed limits for a month we felt like we were almost stopped. Very relaxing drive.  As we approached the Sea of Cortez we drove through food plains that look like they might be flooded daily with the tide.

The white is salt that has settled out from the high tide. 

You would need an aerial photo to show this properly. The white just below the horizon is salt flats 

The entrance to downtown San Felipe, population 20,000

Our first stop, Kiki's RV campsite . Very rich for our blood at $35 per night with full hookups, but we thought we would just go for it as it was on the beach and walking distance to down town.  We haven't been here long enough to develop a feel for boondocking yet.

This is the beach a hundred feet from our campsite

Fishermen in the bay. Later we saw them selling fresh jumbo shrimp, I mean jumbo, on the street in town

This ship was parked way out in the sea

This church or shrine was built on a high point on the coast near center town

Click on this link to get the history of the shrine

Shrine history 

We climbed the 112 steps to get the view of San Felipe

The view of the beach back to where we were camped

overview of the city, with the old fishing boats 

I tried to find out the story of these boats but no luck. I need to learn more Spanish

the down town board walk

Typical down town tourist city, board walk and stores catering to tourists.

The best was a cold Mexican tecta  beer and a fish Tacos for $2.00 us each

First Mexican Photo

Now you know that San Felipe is a tourist city and not a fishing village

On the road again Feb 6

 It has been 10 days since we returned to Yuma, Rose has recovered from her second bout of covid and our feet are getting itchy, so tomorrow we will be crossing the border into Mexico.  Having covid here or at home doesn't make any difference except here she was able to enjoy the warm weather during her recovery. We are ready; Mexican car insurance is bought, $395.00 US for 30 days,$430.00 for 90 days, and under $500.00 for 6 months. We also had to buy a tourist visa for $30.00 per person good for 6 months.  It will be about an hour and a half to the border at Mexicali and then another 2 hours to San Felipe. After a month in the desert , it will be fun to enjoy the sandy beaches along the Sea of Cortez. 

Spending 10 days in one location has been very different for us but very enjoyable as we have made friends that hopefully we will stay in touch with for years to come.

The view from our bunk window every evening

David and Cynthia from Lynhurst Ontario   ( Kingston)

Judes and Josee   
 their address is the world , they live full time on the road, but have a postal address in Ascot Quebec

Lois 
Address the world . She has been living full time on the road , but originally from Cincinnati  Ohio

Ron and Eady  from Kamloops British Columbia on their daily walk

Cooking supper on the outdoor fire for the group

There is always a clown in every crowd

Supper with David and Cynthia

A group of  neighbors enjoying the evening

Taken from the roof of the Gypsy Wagon, an over view of the rest of the area where we were camped

Harvesting the crops Jan 5

When you drive along highway 95 there are miles and miles of fields where vegetables are grown. The main crops are cauliflower, broccoli,, carrots and many kinds of lettuce. Each evening from just after dark until around 10 pm there are low flying planes landing and taking  of from a runway in the center of these farm plots.  They spray the crops buy flying very low with extremely bright lights.  

This entire field is broccoli

This will be ready to pick in about 2 weeks

A crew of Mexicans who cross the border every day thinning the rows

This field is about 16 acres, and there are 35 workers in this crew. They will take around 7 1/2 hours to weed and thin the field.

Three of the 6 rows have been thinned
This is the second time that a crew has cleaned and thinned the field.

A bit difficult to see but the workers walk along in front of this machine to pick and trim of the outside leaves. The first worker cuts the lettuce from the plant , hands it to the second who removed the outside leaved and then then drops it onto the conveyer.  When the lettuce  arrives in the center of the conveyer they are packed into the boxes and are now ready for shipping. We have been told that about 1000 trucks a day leave this area loaded with  vegetables.

6 days a week, 45000 workers almost all from Mexico work these fields.

All of this labor and machinery plus water from the Colorado river and a head of lettuce arrives in our stores for less than 2 dollars. Incredible!!

 

Just Chilling in Yuma Feb 2

 We haven't been posting for the last few days because Rose has not been feeling well. Same symptoms as when she tested positive before we left home. Head aches ,sore back, chills, and just feeling awful. She seems to be feeling better today, but this has lasted 4 or 5 days so we are pretty excited that she is finally on the mend.  If she continues to feel well for the next couple of days, we will be off to Mexico.

It is strange for us to stay in one place for so long but the positive is that we have gotten to know our neighbours, so it is like living in a small village.