Crossing Into Baja Sur

After spending the last of our cash in Bahía de los Ángeles, we headed back west to the 1, which led us south across the 28th parallel and into Guerrero Negro. We immediately went to the bank to get more cash, filled up on gas, then headed back out of town to check out Laguna Ojo de Liebre.

We’d read that Laguna Ojo de Liebre offered beach camping and whale watching, so we drove out through the huge salt mining area to the lagoon. While we didn’t go out on any of the whale tour boats, we set up camp on what seemed like our own private beach. The only downside was the wind, which seemed to never let up.

SAN IGNACIO

After a windy night at Ojo de Liebre, we drove back to Guerrero Negro to do laundry and stock up on groceries before moving on. Unfortunately, we ended up staying an extra night at an RV park behind a restaurant in town due to an accidental bear spray discharge incident (note to anyone carrying bear spray: keep an eye on the plastic safety clip every once in a while, if it comes off and you inadvertently bump the trigger, it’s not a pleasant experience for anyone in the car. That said, we can now confidently say bear spray would be a great form of self defense).

A day later than planned, we set off for San Ignacio, an unexpected palm oasis in the middle of the peninsula. We’d heard about the cave paintings in this area, so we checked out the town square and asked about getting permits to take a tour of Cueva del Ratón, near San Francisco de la Sierra. The next day, we drove an hour up into the mountains and met our guide (most cave painting sites require permits and guides), who showed us around the incredible area.

Our campsite in San Ignacio was so relaxing that we ended up sticking around a few days longer than expected, reading, fishing, swimming, and lounging in hammocks under the palms next to the river.

MULEGÉ

We packed up camp in San Ignacio and continued east towards the Sea of Cortez, where we stopped and camped just before Mulegé. The next morning, we continued into town and spent the day milling around, stopping by the mission and old jail, and then finally the dive shop to pick up some snorkel gear.

The clerk here was quiet at first, but by the end of the transaction he was lively and telling us stories about his grandmother and Frida Khalo. Apparently his abuela wasn’t a fan.

After that, with snorkel gear and new memories in tow, we headed out to find a campsite at Bahía Concepción.

BAHÍA CONCEPCIÓN

This was one of the spots we’d been looking forward to since crossing into Mexico. We’d read about the numerous beaches heading south along the bay, and decided to pick one that would hopefully be less crowded, Playa Escondida.

We spent four days here surrounded by the surreal desert, beach landscape and met a charming young family, excited new retirees and rambling Brits with a new puppy.

One of the biggest highlights was the food. Every morning a friendly guy came to sell fish, scallops, shrimp and tamales to us gringos along the beach. The seafood was fresh and delicious, but the tamales were by far our favorite.

LORETO

After some relaxing beach days, we headed south to Loreto to spend some time exploring the town, the Misión San Francisco Javier de Viggé-Biaundó, and to see about getting our rig looked at by a mechanic we found on iOverlander, Fili.

While it was running fine, the check engine light kept coming on and we didn’t want to let any issue fester. Our code reader gave us an idea as to what the problem was, but we knew that getting OEM parts would be difficult, so we thought a mechanic might be able to help us out.

Unfortunately when we showed up to the shop it was the week before Semana Santa, so they were slammed and going to be closed for the next two weeks for the Easter Holiday. Seeing our disappointment, they generously agreed to take a look and spent spent a few hours tinkering, but as soon as we drove away the same lights popped on. We ended up trying to resolve the problem ourselves by replacing a few coil packs and spark plugs, but the light and same codes popped back up as soon as we left town.