We were on the road by 9am and faced a comfortable 322Km driving day, about four hours without stops.
We drove through Santa Rosalía which boasts a French influence, particularly in its architecture. The French company founded the town in 1884 and exploited its copper mines there until they closed in 1954.
Unlike many other mining sites, the industrial facilities which are located in the very middle of the town, were never dismantled. Of particular interest are the furnace and converter. Although they are currently not accessible by the public due to safety concerns. Old structures, mining equipment and machinery are visible everywhere.
We continued south and passed the beautiful entrance to the small town of Mulege, making note to come back for a visit once we had set up camp on the beach.
After leaving the the Pacific side of the Baja and driving through dry desert, it was a reward to see the stunning views over Bahia Concepcion.
We continued along the winding road, following the white sandy beaches and turquoise water to our next camp site at El Requesón. We were greeted by a white sandy beach with a narrow spit. We parked 10 feet from the hight tide line overlooking a shallow bay of crystal clear water. We couldn’t expect a better location in our wildest dreams.
Steve and Lisa pulled in and set up camp next to us. After the Guerrero Negro street meat incident, we still felt drained. I drank lots of black tea and ate toast. Steve was also recovering slowly. I guess we were building up our immunity to enjoy other street meat.
Every morning we were woken by golden light streaming into the trailer, welcoming another day – the best alarm clock ever. A number of other campers stopped in and stayed a few nights on the spit. On one occasion, we met two modern day vagabonds Gary and Monika, on their road to adventure. They have an amazing story and you can find more on their website.
The following day, our friends Chris and Kelly in their Schoolie, then Kirsten and Darrell all arrived on the spit. Our evenings sitting around with new friends were enjoyable and we learned from each others adventure.
We explored the bay, snorkeled out to the island, enjoyed or swims with Chloe in the warm water, and just sat around. At one point, Susan posed for the camera and pointed to the only clouds we had – which she share with her “seester” Claire in West Kelowna. For this cruel act, Susan was eaten alive by sand fleas.
Each morning, different vendors came to the beach, selling hot loaves of jalapeno bread, fresh fish, and colourful Mexican apparel. As the days passed, I kept an eye on the level gauges of the grey and black tanks which we couldn’t until our next campground. The levels slowly crept up like a count down timer.
We took a day trip into the quaint town of Mulege, and walked up and down a few streets. They were preparing for a local festival. The streets were decorated, the square was filling up with people, and the music began to call others to join in.
On the way back to our beach camp, we filled our two 5 gallon portable water tanks and siphoned them into our fresh water tank.
We wanted to stay longer in paradise, but the black and grey tanks were at 100% capacity and near overflowing. Sadly, it was time to move on.
During our last night, we had a heavy rain fall that washed the dust and salt off everything.