FELIZ NAVIDAD

Merry Christmas!!  We wish everybody was here, we really miss you guys.  Its strange to not be at home at Christmas time.  Eat a little extra turkey for us - were thinking about you all!!!!!

Albertos families nativity

Today we had the most wonderful invitation to join a families Christmas Eve festivities.  In Mexico, Christmas Eve is the big celebration with family.  We have been learning so much about how they celebrate this holiday and it was so special to be apart of it.

Loretos center square festivities

pointsetta and santa claus pinata

who knew the north pole was in california

LIFE IS LOVELY IN LORETO

We now know the meaning of relaxed.  Our days are spent drinking mass amounts of coffee in the morning, wandering the streets in the afternoon and eating delicious food at night.  If the wind is not to bad we make our way to the beach which we always have all to ourselves.  This is a very low key town with very few tourists. Everyone is extremely nice here. We've met some special people who have been teaching us all about mexican food and culture, from this region.

this was built in 1795 

cobblestone street to the square

The tiny amount of spanish we know is coming in handy but we definitely foresee school in our near future!  The lack of english spoken has forced that part of our brains to begin to open up, unfortunately french keeps popping out!  A couple of days ago we were talking to two young boys and they were confused by what we were saying. They then corrected us, looking at us like we were crazy!

how many pelicans do you see?

it was fun watching the pelicans fishing

We try new foods every day.  There is so much to choose from, we usually get a recommendation from someone and go from there - fish tacos, fajitas, burritos, sea bass, shrimp - oh my! So many different salsas, chillies, peppers, the list goes on.  We are often in some state of hot flash by the time we are done eating.  It makes us very happy that we are going to be eating like this for the next year!  Today we were told about 'Damiana' - a yum liquor that we had with orange juice.  We liked it so much we headed to the liquor store to buy a bottle "look for the one with the chitties on the front and bummie in the back," we were told.  Later our hotel manager made us a tea from the plant that makes the liquor - Delicioso!!

chitties in the front

fish and shrimp tacos

We are in a great little hotel, people here have been coming in and out of our lives for days now but for the most part we have it all to ourselves.  We have a huge patio, our own bartender/tour guide (aka hotel manager) and secure parking.  This place already feels like home to us.  We had planned on staying two days but it will be a week and a half by the time we leave.  This is our first gem!!

our patio

our bar

our room (#7) with secure parking

our dirt driveway

WHAT PLANET IS THIS?

When we were planning this trip we both had a picture in our minds of what the desert in the Baja would look like - cowboys, rolling tumbleweeds, dust storms and mirages.  But it was so very different.  What we ended up experiencing cannot really be put into words, but what we will say is that it is totally breathtaking and something that we will not soon forget!!

As we drove the terrain kept changing - for a while it would be sand and scrub brush then bizarre looking cactuses and then fields of massive boulders, deposited there by who knows what.  Every time we went over a mountain range the colors would change - you never knew what you were going to see!!

check out the scale - this is not a hill, its a massive pile of rocks

We kept stopping to take pictures and get a closer look at all these plants.  We were VERY cautious of every step we took as there were many holes in the ground that could contain any number of dangerous creatures - snakes, scorpians, spiders etc etc (everything we hate)

This was a really long drive, we were unprepared for this stretch of road. We didn't expect the towns we drove through to have no services or the road to be as long as it was.  Our first mistake was that we left too late in the day, we were glad to have our jerry cans with us as stations had run out of diesel.  As it was, we ended up breaking our golden rule and we drove for an hour in the dark looking for a place to sleep.  Fortunately, our four headlights lit up about a kilometer in front of us and about a hundred feet on either side of the road allowing us to see the cows and horses.  That night we ended up resting our heads at a Pemex gas station with our fellow truckers.  (We now regret not buying foam mats to sleep on in the back of the truck!)  To keep ourselves entertained we watched four episodes of 'Breaking Bad'.

After driving through the desert, we crested our last hill and the Sea of Cortez came into view - amazing!!!

We are now in Loreto, Baja Sur, a nice little town with almost everything we are looking for.  We found a cute hotel and are the only guests.  We need some time to recharge, it has been in total twenty days of driving to get to this point.  Its time to slow down our pace and to start soaking up what Baja has to offer.

WE MADE IT - 4280 KILOMETERS TO MEXICO

driving highway 1d in tijuana

The day started out by sleeping in, destroying our tom tom and running around getting money and insurance.  All in all a good start!  With our day beginning like this we were a little concerned with the trend we had going.  Upon rolling up to gates of the great unknown we saw vehicles with their entire contents out on the street (oh good).  After waiting and getting pointed in numerous directions we ended up with no inspection, no red light green light and a cat and truck that broke the ice with border officials, allowing us to stream through in a record breaking two and a half hours!!

Unfortunately, we had the pleasure to meet a very not nice immigration officer.  It started with him asking us, "Where are your visas?" and telling us there were new rules that Canadians needed a visa to enter Mexico.  The thing was we were already in Mexico!  He then sent us back to red light green light area full of big machine guns with signs that say DO NOT ENTER.  We asked a guy if it was safe to go past the military secure zone to find a different immigration officer and he said, "no problemo".  This new immigration officer proceeded to roll his eyes and call the 'not nice' immigration officer and set him straight.  He then apologized to us for his co-workers wild goose chase he sent us on.  When we walked the kilometer back he took us right to the head of the line and told us "I guess you Canadians don't need visas in Mexico anymore".  (on a side note, we knew we didn't need visas, we always do our homework, I guess this is a lesson that we need to assert ourselves more!!!)  As well, this same guy never stamped our passports, which is required and would cause us problems later.  When we noticed and returned he knew exactly why we were back - (@$$^*!e)

After driving the wide toll roads that carved down the coast we entered Ensenada, with no idea where to go and after a little marital spat, we ended up in a cute but worn hotel well away from the tourist zone.

entering ensenada

It was a long, trying day but still very exciting - and at the end of it, it was time for dos cervezas!!  We are leaving here bright and early tomorrow, we have our sights set on a beach where we will truly begin our adventure!!

no idea what we ordered but it was really good

our home for the night