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El Pabellon Beach south of Ensanada

....Barb and Jake parked with us for the night

....an old palapa

....an old boat that has been abandoned

....fishermen getting ready to launch their boat

....fishermen parking lot

....a great beach

....tracks tell a story

....view of ocean, Japan is in the distance

Catavina

Catavina is a small town between Guerrero Negro and El Rosario where we usually camp over night. There is not much at Catavina however, it is one of the most interesting spots in Baja. There are huge boulder fields and many interesting arroyos full of strange plants and interesting cactus. It is a photographers paradise. One can see the blue fan palms and Catavina's own cactus, the "boojum tree".

When you click the link above to view the RV Park and surrounding terrain, you will see an area just on the north edge of the RV Park Field. We love to hike this area. Feel free to zoom in and move the map around. To the left you come to the highway and you can see the small town. A few kilometers to the north of the town is the Blue arroyo where many blue palms grow. There are also many petroglyphs here. To the West of the town, just west of the La Pinta Hotel is a scrub area where we found the strange rock formations.

....parked at Santa Inez RV park on the North side with the arroyo behind us.

....Century plant....This unique native plant has a tall, thin stalk from 10 to 14 feet high that grows from a thick basal rosette of gray-green leaves. The leaves are 10 to 18 inches long with long, sharp, terminal spines and shorter spines along the edges. The stalk can be up to 4 inches in diameter.

Members of the Amaryllis Family, century plants take many years to flower, although not a century. The Century Plant provided Native Americans with a source of soap, food, fiber, medicine and weapons.

....The Boojum tree has bell-shaped cream to yellow tubular flowers borne in 16 inches panicles (40 cm), in late summer, on trees that are taller than 6 feet (1.8 m) The Idria columnaris is propagated by seeds. The seedlings don't go dormant for a couple of year, they need to be protected against cold and drought. They still grow excessively slowly.

....this interesting looking cactus, red flower, petroglyph and the sky view of a cactus were photographed in the "blue arroyo" north of Catavina.

....Betty will now take you to her collection of wierd rocks.

....and now the sun is setting, last chance for some sunset photos.

Santispac beach in the Bay of Conception

Santispac beach is about a 20 minute drive south of the town of Muluge in southern Baja. It faces south thus putting your back to the prevailing winds in the winter. The beach still allows RV parking, in 2008 the fees were $7 per night. There is no power or water available but it does have a dump station and an excellent restaurant.

anyone know what this is?

Small town Baja (between San Felipe and Ensenada)

Our 2007 winter trip to Baja started with four couples trying to cross the border at Tecate. Not! The border was closed due to the bush fires in Southern California. We ended up crossing into Mexico at Mexicali and thought, hey, while we are on this side why not head down the Sea of Cortez to explore and hopefully spend the night at San Felipe. That decision did not pan out. San Felipe, as is the case for most of Baja, is caught up in the building boom. Most of the RV parks on the north end were closed and the ones available were not that appealing so we all decided to head back up the road and head west over to Ensenada. Realizing that it would be dark by the time we arrive in Ensenada we decided to overnight at a truck stop at a tiny village about 3 hours east of Ensenada. What a hoot that was. The owner thought she had died and gone to Heaven. We asked her if it was okay and safe to park out in front of her restaurant. The eight of us had supper there. After supper we played cards. The enjoyment of the whole evening was when a small group of village children showed up in costumes....it was Halloween. So off to our rigs to gather up some treats for them. Even the moms lined up with their t-shirts pulled out to catch their share of the treats. We had breakfast there the next morning before heading for Ensenada and on down to Playa El Pabellon. And, no, we are not going to mention that the leader of the caravan got lost going through Ensenada. Thank goodness for walkie-talkies. And thank you guys for waiting for us at the other end of town!

This very tired looking horse was hitched to the bumper of an old truck outside the restaurant. The horse waited very patiently while its owner had some liquid refreshment after a long hot day working in the fields.

stay tuned for more....

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