Yesterday morning we left and it was 33 degrees before 10 AM on the highway! But that changed dramatically as we headed north and back to the Pacific side of the peninsula. It was very beautiful in the interior highlands with alpine-like flowers carpeting the land and was only 19 degrees at 3 PM as we left MX 1 for Playa Esmeralda for the night. We reached the remote fishing camp after 5 km of treacherous pitted dirt road. Thank heaven for Andrew's driving skills and a 4X4 truck!
With a bunch of pangas and ramshackle fisherman cabins, it wasn't the most picturesque beach but Coco and I certainly appreciated the cooler temperature. And the landscape did feature some unusual rock formations, interesting plants, and a long hard-packed black sand beach. The hillsides shone red in the sun covered with bright magenta low-lying succulents and clumps of fiery orange lichen.
In the morning we shared coffee with Bill, a veteran fisherman from Vancouver Island who has lived and worked in Baja for the past 15 years. He has a business harvesting the geoduck offshore and selling them to Hong Kong. The are caught from the ocean floor by divers at depths up to 120 feet! Apparently they are big business and even Mexican cartels are involved in the industry! The things you learn...!
Now we are continuing north and should reach the upper third of Baja around San Quintin by tonight. We are currently driving through the "Valley of the Cirrios"- a type of cactus also known as the boojum tree that looks like super-skinny tall Christmas trees. The landscape also features Joshua trees, large cardon cacti, and the famous boulder fields of Catavina, all amid the spring flowers - quite a magical drive! Sadly, the road here is very narrow and in poor condition so Andrew has to concentrate and has less opportunity to enjoy the view.
Coco is a great passenger, calmly sitting and napping on her bed on the console between us.
Orange "floss" and red hills:
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