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Serenity at |
A hiatus in the hometown – Our journey South begins.
The hiatus in San Francisco passes by in a flurry of activity. We buy things, we make calls. The Northern trip exposed logistic gaps that we take care of. The FJ goes to one shop to get new lights installed; I go to another to get a haircut. We meet friends. Normal, mundane things of everyday life; mixed in with the unusual enquiries like how long we can keep the car out of the country before it is considered exported. (The answer is as long as we like, as long as it stays registered).
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First stop at Pacific Grove |
We are hosted by our good friends Fred and Ada whose lives get invaded by us and our chores which they graciously help with. Shreesh’s parents arrive from Minneapolis to join us in our Baja adventure. We leave on the 15th, on schedule but having, sadly, discarded our idea of taking our bikes with us.
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FJ on Route 1 |
The FJ is packed to the hilt but is surprisingly easy to load and unload. We are armed with cautionary and blood chilling tales of Baja. The books, TV, friends – all tell us to beware of banditos which Tijuana is apparently crawling with. So we are really happy when absolutely no-one stops us at the border. In fact, we are so relieved that we sail through and keep driving without looking back. We get to Ensenada and stay in a lovely spa on the beach. Our serenity is shattered when we find out that we had to get our tourist cards at the border as well as a “temporary import permit for the car”. oops! After multiple unhelpful inquiries, we are almost ready to go back to Tijuana, when the Banjercito (these are the people that KNOW) informs us that we can get the import permit in La Paz and the tourist cards here for a small fee. Hope he is right.
The bright side is, the margaritas are simply amazing!
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Sunset in Baja |
What a sunset!
i think it is San Franciscan haircut that is protecting you from banditos 🙂
Margaritas? In front of parents? ayyooo, ayyooo…
madhuri.
You’re on your way! Too bad about the bikes . . . you can always rent ’em. Your old pal Jorge is in town – too bad you aren’t here to talk about the good ol’ days on Ama Dablam 😉 See you in Oaxaca!
Hope you are having a lot of fun in Baja. I love Baja. It is so refreshingly chilled out.
Hello!
We are in Muleje now…however not really chilling out… We seem to be constantly driving – we really need a chaneg in the formula…
Yeah, take a break and hang with the pina coladas
Hola,
You were all the highlight of our stay in Muleje. Enjoyed talking & sharing. Hope my words help your MamaCita with her worries. Did all go well with the ferry at La Paz? Pat & I look forward to your further adventures.
Hi Bev,
Your sage advice was useful, at least in the short term 🙂
Everything went smoothly with the ferry arrangements in La Paz – we’re all set to go to Mazatlan on the 25th of January. It is an 18 hour trip so we will arrive the next morning. It cost 4,195 pesos for us, the car, and a small cabin for the night. Hopefully we will see some sea-life on the way…
What an outstanding sunset! Hope all is well!