Although we were having a marvellous time in Mulege we felt it was time to continue north. There isn't a whole lot of places on the Pacific side past Guerrero Negro, other than some small fishing and surfing camps until you put in a few miles. We thought San Quintin would be a reasonable stop. There was, however, one attraction en route that was a must see.
Mama Espinoza's restaurant in El Rosario
The sky became quite grey as we headed west and as we neared San Quintin the periodic sprinkles turned into a fairly heavy rain. Whoever designed the highway system in Mexico ignored the need for drainage, because, of course this is an arid region. When it rains, the dirt that makes up the fertile farm land finds itself crossing the paved road and puddling wherever possible. If it happens to be part of an unpaved road, it suddenly becomes an 8" deep pit suitable for the state fair tractor pull.
The signage in Mexico is almost as good as the drainage. We missed the hotel we were searching for, the first time or two. The sign that said we were in the town that we wanted to be in, was actually placed one town too early. We discovered that the hard way. We finally found San Quintin a couple of miles farther up the road. The hotel was located several blocks into the tractor pull pit. Great place, however.
Wednesday, March 2, 2015
Our plan was to head to Ensenada and stay the night. Lots of fun things and places to visit there.
It had rained overnight and that hadn't helped the slow to non-existent drainage. The 8" tractor pull was now approaching 10-12". The paved roads had puddles and mud flows that could swallow the weak. We pressed on. The showers became periodic but when they fell, they meant business.
We arrived in Ensenada and headed towards La Bufadora to visit the Blow Hole and sample our favourite barbecued clams.
We snuck in a Piña Colada as well. We felt somehow that it might be a sign as the clouds parted as we approached La Bufadora and we had sunny weather for the duration.
Shortly after we left, some serious showers rolled through. When we arrived in Ensenada town proper the showers were frequent and plentiful. The thought of doing touristy stuff in torrents of rain was somehow unattractive. We motored on to Rosarito Beach.
It seems that Rosarito had not been spared from the generous rainfall that has greened the hillsides. Every road that leaves the highway to give access to the beach and the bars that occupy them, looked yet again like the tractor pull pit. No way to get there without muck boots!
After a short discussion, we decided to conclude our Mexican Baja adventure and head back to the States. San Diego is a short distance away and we have a couple of favorite places for dinner there too.
We instructed our trusty electronic guidance system to take us to Otay Mesa, about 18 miles east of Tijuana. I crossed at Tijuana once and thought I would die trying. Not because of any dangers or anything like that, it was because I couldn't find the boarder crossing.
Tijuana is absolutely chaotic and teaming with billions of people, cars, vendors, circus acts and everything else. Otay is much smaller, more easily accessed and not too far out of the way.
The GPS did manage to get revenge for us having taken her across all of those strange dirt excursions however. We have NEXUS which is an equivalent to the Mexican boarder "Ready" system. There are lanes that are defined for each function as you approach the crossing.
The Ready or NEXUS capability allows us to cross without the invasive scrutinisation that the caballero's on burrows normally experience.
Concrete barriers separate the Ready Lane lanes from the Everybody Else lanes. What we, weren't aware of is that those certain lanes are only accessible from some roads and not others. We took the "not others road".
We had plenty of time to watch the Ready lanes buzz through from Mexico to the United States during our one and one half hours that we waited for our opportunity to state that we had "nothing to declare".
Finally! On to San Diego. The land where pesos are not valid currency.
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