The Baldwins go to Baja! Trip Report! (pic heavy)

[thatbaldwinlife]

Baja has been on my list for a long time. Over 20 years ago when my buddies and I were “overlanding” in Jeeps before it was an influencer activity, we wanted to get down to Baja. But I had 4 young kids at home and going on a multiweek trip out of the country was not going to happen. Then dualsport bikes were our hobby but trying to get 4 busy friends in the height of their careers together in Baja was impossible.
Fast forward a few years and Nancy and I have been trying to get to Baja with friends for years now. It never seemed to work out, so we decided to just go by ourselves! We picked a date on the calendar and put in our PTO.
We had about 16 days to get from our house, down to Baja and back. Not a lot of time but that’s what we had. We got our Mexican insurance, packed the Westy and headed south on the night of Feb 15th.
Here is our general route:

We crossed at Mexicali east early on Sunday morning and with no line at all, we had completed our Inspección by the border agents and were in line for our FMM's before we knew it. FMM's in hand, we hit the road to find an OXXO to get a SIM card for Nancy’s phone so we could have some data. We managed to cobble together enough words to ask for the SIM, but the lady behind the counter did not know what we wanted. Luckily, a customer in the store spoke great English and helped us get it done.
Finally headed south, the contrasts of Mexico come to light quickly. The partly finished buildings, trash, decay, and general chaos are the first things you notice. But if you keep looking, you see the creativity, hard work, entrepreneurship, and smiling faces that make up the Mexican people. We loved all of it and were excited for our adventure.
We arrived in San Felipe, crushed some fish tacos, filled up on gas and got our grocery shopping done before heading of to La Palapa RV for the night. It was recommended by a friend who said they had great showers and after 3 days on the road, we were looking for one. We picked a spot overlooking the water, popped the top on the van and popped the top on some cerveza’s.

We wandered down the beach with the three camp dogs in tow. They hung out with us the entire time we were there, even sleeping outside of our van.

The next day we made the drive to Bahía de los Ángeles, looking forward to spending time paddle boarding and relaxing at the beach.

But before camp, tacos!

The area’s most popular place to camp is Punta la Gringa, and as we drove down the sandy road, we could see the Sprinters, RV’s and vans spread out over the beach. Yuck. We veered south and found a lonely spot on the rocky beach all by ourselves. A typical amazing Baja sunset unfolded as we shared some drinks by our beachside campfire.

Before heading on south, we paddle boarded a bit more before the wind picked up and set our sights on Guerrero Negro.

Along the way to GN

So far, the roads in Baja were actually better than ones we experienced in California. That was about to change. A section about 50 miles north of GN has some terrible pitted and broken up sections that even had the crazy Mexican truck drivers crawling along. But overall, the section was short, and we were soon in GN filling up on gas and a few groceries. We got in later than we wanted and didn’t have time to ask about whale watching the next day, so we drove the rough, washboard road out to the abandoned light house to camp for the night.

As soon as our vanlife friends heard we were in Guerrero Negro, they all said we MUST eat at Tony’s Taco truck. So that was the mission for the next day. We soon found Tony and sat down for what was to become the best fish taco’s we had in Baja. If you are in GN, do yourself a favor and look up Tony. The best tacos served by an amazing person.
Tacos El Muelle

Next we keep heading south and meet a ledgend!
_________________
1987 Westy
Insta: @Thatbaldwinlife
Vanagon Adventure and DIY videos:
That Baldwin Life YouTube Channel

[dhaavers]

[E1]

We keep threatening to do this trip.

Well done!!!
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[jimf909]

Another superb trip report on a great trip. But wait! No video?

This could be the cover photo of the book

Put this on the back

Thanks.
_________________
- Jim

[thatbaldwinlife]

[thatbaldwinlife]

Continued....
Route:

We decided to skip whale watching and save it for a future trip and kept on moving down the road. Our next stop was Santa Rosalía to spend some time walking around the old part of the town. After stopping by the famous bakery, El Boleo, we soon were inhaling some Tacos de carne asada at a local street vendor. The rest of the day was spent wandering around this unique town, having various packs of dogs in sweaters follow us around, and watching this little section of Baja just go about their daily lives. We had a blast.

But we needed to find camp for the night, so we left the city and found a small dirt road heading off into the desert. About 2 miles in, we turned off into the cactus fields and found a place to call home for the night. Another beautiful Baja sunset entertained us as we maybe drank too much while listening to music till late in the night.

The Legend
Today was the day we meet up with Sam (Corwyn)! Sam has been leading TheSamba’s Baja trip for years now and it was nice to be able to meet up with him. We were only an hour or so away from Mulegé where Sam was camping at Huerta Don Chano RV park, so we took our time breaking camp and headed his way. First, we stopped in town to get feel and explore a bit and who do we run into? Sam and Jay in Sam’s Westy! He let us know he saved us a spot and before he knew it, we invaded his peaceful camp. The RV park was great as it had showers and laundry, and we were in desperate need of both.

We had a great time at the campfire with Sam and Jay and some other campers who came over. We all exchanged travel stories until it was like 10:00 which is my bed time so I had to go 😊.

The legend himself (next to Nancy) Sorry about cutting half your face off babe! 😊

After leaving Mulegé, our first stop was Mulegé Brewing just south of the city. It was a nice taste of gringo food and the best beers we had in Baja. Nancy was able to get a nice strong 10% stout that was pretty damn amazing. She had a burger, and we ordered a big pizza for lunch and dinner that night.

Pointing the van south to new adventures, we didn’t actually make it very far as we pulled into Playa Santispac to see what the rave was all about. Now this is exactly what we usually don’t do. It was packed with snowbirds in RV’s and travel trailers, but the beach was amazing, and the scenery was gorgeous. We got out of our comfort zone and found and empty spot and popped the top. We actually had a great time there, and it was pretty quiet for how many people were there, but it is not something we see ourselves doing much of in the future. But I am glad we did it anyway.

Next stop was the historic town of Loreto. A neighbor at Playa Santispac told us that Romanita RV park is where its at and he was not wrong. Right in the middle of town, you are surrounded by palm trees and can walk to wherever you need to go. Showers too! Craving some more tacos (you can never have enough), we stumble on Nany’s Tacos in what looked like a Toyota Tercel junkyard on one side but a cute little restaurant on the other. Cuatro tacos de pescado y dos Tecates were ordered and quickly devoured. Soooo good!!!

The rest of the night we spent in the town square, drinking Tecate’s, eating empanadas, and running into our camp mates throughout town. We had so much fun there! We will definitely be going back to Loreto.

From here we decided to head west to see the Misión San Francisco Xavier de Viggé-Biaundó, or better known as San Javier Mission. The Mission was established in 1699 and is one of the best preserved Missions in Baja. The drive is about an hour from Loreto up a twisty mountain road.

We didn't take many photos or much video inside the church as it was Sunday and it had a mix of tourists and locals using. So out of respect, we just admired the architecture quietly.

Side street in San Javier

We also visited the 300-year-old olive tree and had an amazing guide Hector who spent a lot of time with us and loved our Westy. Though he didn’t speak much English, and our Spanish was almost nonexistent, we communicated well and understood all about the olive tree and natural spring in the area. He brought us back to his house to see his Manx buggy and meet his adorable sons. It was one of our favorite parts of our trip, spending time with Hector and his family.

From here, we were going to continue west on the dirt road to check out Rancho Santo Domingo as Hector told us his friend ran the ranch and it wasn’t to be missed but it was 90 degrees out and even though we had plans on camping out in the desert that day, the draw of the cool Sea of Cortez won out and we retreated to the coast. We definitely want to go check it out next time.

Thanks for reading so far! Last part to come soon
nate
_________________
1987 Westy
Insta: @Thatbaldwinlife
Vanagon Adventure and DIY videos:
That Baldwin Life YouTube Channel

[ronL]

Nice post man, I am so jealous! Looks like you guys had a great time...I am getting hungry looking at those Taco pictures !
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1991 Vanagon Westfalia

[Shonandb]

I've done part of that trip down to Punta San Carlos on the Pacific Coast about 4 hours West of El Rosario. Didn't make it any further down the peninsula as it was a surfing and windsurfing focused trip.

Looks like a great trip! Thanks for sharing.
_________________
*******************************
76 Westy with a 2.5L Subaru SOHC + Vanagon (010) Automatic Transaxle
Build & Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758760
Previous 1973 Panel Bus:
Click to view image

[thatbaldwinlife]

Route:

Once back through Loreto, we head north. Our southernly travels are over and we technically head towards home. But we still had lots to see!
Roadside snack back at the beach

We camped in a free site north of Playa el Requeson and within walking distance of a restaurant where we could grab some wifi and dinner. That night we watched a huge full moon rise over the water. Memories.

In the morning, we slowly packed up and made our way north to San Ignacio where we considered staying for the night but ultimately decided to keep moving. Here we saw our camp mate from Loreto in his sweet Land Rover.

We ended up on the Pacific coast for no reason other than we wanted to check it out. The tiny village of Punta Abreojos provided a stunning pacific coast for us to camp on and gather as many shells as Nancy could fit in a few bags.

The next morning, we drove back through town and wanted to shake out our rug from all the sand it had collected. When we pulled over, we both smelled gas outside of the van. Not believing it was us at first, we cleaned out the van. I then looked under the van and saw a small puddle of gasoline. Oh shit it was us. After further investigation, gas was leaking from the connection where the hard plastic line meets the rubber fuel hose outside of the filter. Tightened the clamps a bit and added a third clamp just in case and we set off. We did stop every 10-15 miles for a bit to check on it and it never leaked again.

After another stop in Guerrero Negro to see our man Tony and eat muchos tacos de pescado, we decided to head north on Hwy 1 to see what this side of Baja had to offer. After a beautiful drive through oasis’s and catus fields, we found one of our favorite camps of the trip. Out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by giant cactuses of all kinds. Wildflowers were blooming, birds were out, and the wind was gone. It was paradise.

At this point we had committed to going north up the Pacific side (which we would later regret) and enjoyed the morning and scenery the coast provided.

We had lunch in the Baja famous Mama Espinoza’s in El Rosario, filled up with gas and after that, the day kind of fell apart. Once we got just south of the San Quintin area, our progress slowed immensely. We crawled along through stop lights, stop signs and topes. That and the headwinds were tenacious and tiring. We need to cross the border on Thursday (it was Wednesday) and wanted to get south of Tecate that night. We also had the unfortunate timing of going through Ensenada in rush hour traffic.
Side note: Our OXXO cell phone plan stopped working after 4 days so we put in Nancy’s Verizon SIM card and bought travel passes every day. But for some reason where we had service before, it didn’t work. When we got to Ensenada, we finally had service after three days and received a ton of texts from our kids wondering if we were still alive. We felt bad about worrying them which added to the stress of driving through traffic.
We made it past Ensenada and still had 40 min or so to get to our desired camp. But it was getting dark. And we all know the first rule of Mexico, DO NOT DRIVE IN THE DARK! It was dusk and we were making our way north on Mex 3, trying to avoid potholes, dogs and drivers with no headlights. We finally pulled off the main road just as it was getting dark. A few miles down the road past the vineyards we were able to find camp by a small river. Whew, beer earned.

The next morning, we drove the 40 min to the Tecate border and after a short wait and a thorough inspection by the border agent, we were back in the US. We exchanged out Peso’s back to Dollars and took a deep breath.
We did it. We went to Mexico by ourselves and loved every minute of it. People said we should be scared. They said it was dangerous. They questioned us camping by ourselves in the middle of nowhere. Yes, Mexico can be dangerous, but it can be dangerous anywhere you travel. Experience life for yourself, not through someone else’s fears.
Already making plans to go back….

Thanks for reading.
nate
_________________
1987 Westy
Insta: @Thatbaldwinlife
Vanagon Adventure and DIY videos:
That Baldwin Life YouTube Channel

[dobryan]

Awesome trip! I loved my trip in 2020 and will be back!
_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[dhaavers]

Another great report! Congrats & thanks!

- Dave
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[steve244]

Bookmarked for future destination. How much per night was the beachfront RV place? Was it noisy?
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[Love My Westy]

We did our first Baja trip in 1992. We only had 11 days from Salt Lake City so we only made it as far as Santaspac where we just camped for 5 days. I hope you ate at Anna's restrauant on the beach there. We were there the week of Christmas and New Years and one of my favorite memories was the Cheeseburgers they were serving on New Years Eve to the music of "Cheesburgers in Paradise". The last time I was there (2020) Anna's grand daughter was running the place as Anna had passed away.

Our next trip was 1994 and then again in 1996 (the last in our VW). We ended up making 23 trips to Baja and explored all over. (back when there were still deserted beaches). I ended up buying a boat that I could beach launch and spending two to three months every winter down there fishing.

The fish tacos are even better when you catch the fish that morning.

Glad to hear you did the trip yourselves. It's an adventure as soon as you cross the border. I'm also glad you got the cultural experience of driving through all those small towns up north seeing the roadside markets, and smelling the wood fire in the mornings. That experience is something a lot of people miss
since Hwy 5 was finished.

[Abscate]

Fear of Mexico is surrogate fear of Brown people. There are dangerous places everywhere but Baja isn’t one of them.

Good Sit Awareness with the nose saved a fuel fire, well done
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.ssS!

[livethevanlife]

Looks like a great trip, glad you enjoyed yourselves. Let me know if you ever make it down to La Paz.
_________________
www.LiveTheVanLife.com
www.VentureLibre.com
https://www.PeaceVans.com/baja
1991 Syncro Triple Knob Westfalia "Miki" 2.2WBX
1992 Syncro Triple Knob Tintop "Schnitzel" 1.9AAZ
1990 Syncro Rear Locker Doka Subi 2.2
1974 VW Thing 1835cc
1989 VW Carat

[mikemtnbike]

Hey were the tacos any good? I'm really not sure from your report, unclear.

Best trip report on here in a while IMO- thanks so much for posting. I LOVE the the closer last Pacific side campsite picture- you should submit it. Captures the spring desert spirit perfectly.
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[thatbaldwinlife]

[thatbaldwinlife]

[thatbaldwinlife]

[thatbaldwinlife]