After leaving Bahía de Los Angeles we headed south for Bahía Concepción. We stopped in San Ignacio to see the mission church there and have lunch. The town was pleasant with a small, clean central square.
Mission San Ignacio
We arrived in Mulegé early in the afternoon and after doing a bit of grocery shopping we decided to eat out for lunch. It was there that we discovered that Quinn loves tacos! Jen and I enjoyed ours too. The best part is the plate of 3 or 4 different kinds of salsas and pickled onions that is typically served to adorn the tacos.
Mmmm tacos
Two thumbs up!
After spending the night in a campground just outside of Mulegé, we continued south and found a campground on Bahía Concepción. “Campground” is a bit generous; it was really just a beach with a couple of pit toilets. There wasn’t even anyone there to collect money from us.
There were 3 cars on the beach when we arrived. There was a sea kayaking guide and his wife from British Columbia who were scoping out possible kayaking expeditions. In the other camper was a man who we didn’t actually talk to until we were packing up to leave two days later. He rarely left his camper, but starting at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, he would play his harp or his violin, providing a fantastic musical accompaniment to a very peaceful and quiet beach setting.
We enjoyed two days of amazing stars, campfires and roasting marshmallows on the beach, and general relaxation before continuing south to Loreto.
Sunset on the beach
Turkey vultures keep watch from atop their thorny perch
The road south led through some nice hilly country
We made a side trip into mountains to San Javier to visit the mission there. The road to the mission was paved, but it was obvious that the mountainous terrain made maintaining the road difficult at best. There were many places where the road had been washed away and was in the process of being repaired.
We found a tiny playground for Quinn in the village of San Javier
We spent one night in Loreto, enjoying the company of Josh and Shannon from Steamboat Springs, also on their way to South America. We joined them for a walk into the central part of town for dinner.
The next day we drove to Lopez Mateos hoping again to see whales, but we are still a couple of weeks too early. The town seems to open up only for whale season, and the campground listed in our guide book wasn’t open for the season yet. Instead we paid for a room at a hotel (which cost half as much as the RV park we stayed in at Disneyland!) where we were able to park the van in the courtyard. We slept in the van, but used the shower and bathrooms in the room.
This tiny dog joined us for dinner at the hotel in Lopez Mateos
