We had a genuine Baja adventure yesterday. The kind where you start out not sure where you are going and end up somewhere you’ve never been, doing things you never thought you’d do. The destination was Bahia San Nikolas, and potentially the fishing camp nearby. Heading north on Highway 1, we were anticipating a turn off toward the sea at about 38 km. It was 38 miles. Some web sites just aren’t that clear! From there it’s 17 km of up and over, down and over, up and over…you get the idea, but the pics tell the real story. Check out the road. There is a video to come if I can get it to upload!
Margaret reminded herself she is driving a four-wheel drive,
although I don’t think her BMW X3 is quite what the guide book authors had in
mind when they said 4x4 with high clearance! Seriously though, it’s an
excellent dirt road, mostly passing width, through verdant forests of cactus,
past high mountains and walls of rock, across well-built culverts over arroyos
to a mud flat and the bay. We took the left fork—down a narrow path, through
mud holes, branches scraping the sides of the vehicle until the road opened up
onto the beach. A soft sandy beach. Fishing boats, boots, buckets, lines and nets.
A working fishing cove, with temporary shacks, palapas, and a few permanent
buildings. A fish cleaning station. Is this where last night’s dinner came
from? We hung out with the dogs, took a few photos, and then turned to head
back.
We thought we might be the only people there and on the road until we spotted him, full-sized pack on his back, dirty blond hair pulled into a short pony tail, corduroy pants, green t-shirt. He glanced our way; a thumb moved only slightly suggesting he was looking for a ride. We considered our options quickly, but we hadn’t seen a car on the road the whole way down, and we didn’t expect to see any going back. Oh, why not. Originally from Calgary, now from Vancouver, he’d flown to Le Paz, and was hitchhiking his way up and down the Baja, with a snorkel and mask and fins in his pack. For the price of a ride, we got a great tip on a spot for snorkeling near Puerto Escondido. When we dropped him at Highway 1, he was headed north to Mulagé. I hope he got a ride quickly because he left a stash of food and water in a President’s Choice cloth bag in the back seat. I can’t think when I last picked up a hitchhiker, if ever, and in Mexico? Well, we couldn’t leave him there, could we?
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