Yesterday we crossed the border at Mexicali. We had spent the night in the desert near Yuma. It was blowing a bit as we set up to go to bed. So we decided to try sleeping in the Nissan. Not in the boat under the tarp. Never again. Tim thought we could just lay our paco pads over top of all the stuff and slide in on top. I was dubious as the remaining vacant area was all of about a foot, kind of too much like a sarcophagus. But I bravely tried it out. And got stuck half way in. And then had to swivel around, the whole time hollering, "This isn't going to work! This isn't enough room!" Then I started to get claustrophobic. I opened the side door of the car and tried to slide out but figured I'd break my neck if my feet slipped when they hit the ground, since I was face up. I hollered for Tim to help me. Well, if he didn't take his time... He grabbed my legs and dragged me out. Whew! That was bad!
So I started hauling all the stuff out of the car to make room for us. But pretty soon we uncovered the folded seat backs and Tim remembered why he doesn't like sleeping in the Nissan. It's too short. He suggested we just sleep in the lee of the vehicle, on the desert pavement. OK, that was the winner concept. We had to stake down the groundcloth, though, so it wouldn't blow away. And I looped my crocs over my rock hammer, for the same reason.
Well, everything was more or less OK until the wind changed direction and amped up a good bit. It blew like stink all night long. I kept flipping over because of the hard surface, and having to scooch my sleeping bag and liner around to keep the warmth on top of me. And I had the cord yanked tight around my face so I just had a little round window. Oy, it was pretty miserable. I was hugging the dry box to stay in its lee. We got up early (no kidding) and realized it was a full on Baja norther. Oh boy! Whose idea was this?
We shot for the border, past all those sand dunes at Imperial Dunes Recreational Area, thinking, "That's where all the sand went from the desert pavement WE were camped on!" We crossed the border in Mexicali, at the OLD border crossing downtown. It still exists. Last year, I guess we crossed at the new truck crossing. The only problem was we couldn't find that Starbucks! And we were in desperate need of caffeine, especially to make it over La Rumorosa, the incredibly steep road that goes over the mountains to Tijuana. We didn't see anything resembling a decent cafe. Lots of car dealerships, tire repair shops, Sam's Club, a spiffy new Burger King, malls, Chinese restaurants, the whole border town deal. But no coffee. With great foresight, I had stocked up on Trader Joe's cafe lattes in the can. You can say, "Gross!" But when you need coffee, they taste pretty dang good. So we stopped by the side of the road, and I rummaged around in the food boxes for the 'Power Shots' as we call them. Coffee with Aunt Rose's nussenkipfle left over from Christmas. Can't get much better than that. And handfuls of my homemade granola. That kept us going all the way across Laguna Salada and up La Rumorosa.
We got to Tecate, on the toll road, scrambling around to find enough pesos and dollars to pay the tolls. We didn't have much cash on hand. I had to use my Sacajawea dollar I was saving... We had some beta on the Tecate crossing that said there were traffic delays due to construction. But we didn't get the implication that the problem was south of Tecate on Mexico 3 that goes to Ensenada. So I happily suggested we take that road, and Tim happily assented. We set off down Mexico 3 and promptly ran into a detour that took us down an incredibly steep hairpin a gravel truck was straining to get up. A couple of detours later we realized, "Uh oh. This is the construction they were warning us about." We had decided to spend the night in Ensenada because you can either stay there or a LOT farther south in San Quintin, after climbing up and over some more mountains. Tim said, "At least we have the whole day to get to Ensenada." Well, it didn't take that long. And we did get to see some sights. A road crew cutting the grass at the side of the ride with machetes. Another crew shoveling dirt into 5 gallon buckets. A guy filling a cut-off coke bottle with gravel. Huh? This is a highway project? In all fairness, they did have big equipment on the job, too. But it was as if they had all these extra guys who wanted jobs so they told them, "Bring your equipment and come help!" If it's only a machete, you can cut the grass!
We got to Ensenada in the early afternoon. We were kind of trashed after the miserable night before. We checked into Hotel Mision Santa Isabel, where they have guarded parking behind the hotel. Walked the malecon, but couldn't find the sea lions we saw there last year. We stopped at a little restaurant by the water and had fish tacos. They served us four kinds of salsa: jalapeno, chile de arbol, avocado, and mayonnaise. Later we realized they hadn't served us (gringos that we are) the habanero chile salsa. It had the look of melon sherbet. I probably would have scooped a big wad onto my taco. The waitress said, "That's REALLY HOT!" They saved me from myself.
Now we are sipping coffee in a pleasant little internet cafe (using the neighbor's wifi connection, by the admission of the cafe's owner, who is wearing a jaunty blue beret). The connection is slow so I can't upload photos. He should complain to his neighbor. We are leaving now for points south. More updates as we go.
So I started hauling all the stuff out of the car to make room for us. But pretty soon we uncovered the folded seat backs and Tim remembered why he doesn't like sleeping in the Nissan. It's too short. He suggested we just sleep in the lee of the vehicle, on the desert pavement. OK, that was the winner concept. We had to stake down the groundcloth, though, so it wouldn't blow away. And I looped my crocs over my rock hammer, for the same reason.
Well, everything was more or less OK until the wind changed direction and amped up a good bit. It blew like stink all night long. I kept flipping over because of the hard surface, and having to scooch my sleeping bag and liner around to keep the warmth on top of me. And I had the cord yanked tight around my face so I just had a little round window. Oy, it was pretty miserable. I was hugging the dry box to stay in its lee. We got up early (no kidding) and realized it was a full on Baja norther. Oh boy! Whose idea was this?
We shot for the border, past all those sand dunes at Imperial Dunes Recreational Area, thinking, "That's where all the sand went from the desert pavement WE were camped on!" We crossed the border in Mexicali, at the OLD border crossing downtown. It still exists. Last year, I guess we crossed at the new truck crossing. The only problem was we couldn't find that Starbucks! And we were in desperate need of caffeine, especially to make it over La Rumorosa, the incredibly steep road that goes over the mountains to Tijuana. We didn't see anything resembling a decent cafe. Lots of car dealerships, tire repair shops, Sam's Club, a spiffy new Burger King, malls, Chinese restaurants, the whole border town deal. But no coffee. With great foresight, I had stocked up on Trader Joe's cafe lattes in the can. You can say, "Gross!" But when you need coffee, they taste pretty dang good. So we stopped by the side of the road, and I rummaged around in the food boxes for the 'Power Shots' as we call them. Coffee with Aunt Rose's nussenkipfle left over from Christmas. Can't get much better than that. And handfuls of my homemade granola. That kept us going all the way across Laguna Salada and up La Rumorosa.
We got to Tecate, on the toll road, scrambling around to find enough pesos and dollars to pay the tolls. We didn't have much cash on hand. I had to use my Sacajawea dollar I was saving... We had some beta on the Tecate crossing that said there were traffic delays due to construction. But we didn't get the implication that the problem was south of Tecate on Mexico 3 that goes to Ensenada. So I happily suggested we take that road, and Tim happily assented. We set off down Mexico 3 and promptly ran into a detour that took us down an incredibly steep hairpin a gravel truck was straining to get up. A couple of detours later we realized, "Uh oh. This is the construction they were warning us about." We had decided to spend the night in Ensenada because you can either stay there or a LOT farther south in San Quintin, after climbing up and over some more mountains. Tim said, "At least we have the whole day to get to Ensenada." Well, it didn't take that long. And we did get to see some sights. A road crew cutting the grass at the side of the ride with machetes. Another crew shoveling dirt into 5 gallon buckets. A guy filling a cut-off coke bottle with gravel. Huh? This is a highway project? In all fairness, they did have big equipment on the job, too. But it was as if they had all these extra guys who wanted jobs so they told them, "Bring your equipment and come help!" If it's only a machete, you can cut the grass!
We got to Ensenada in the early afternoon. We were kind of trashed after the miserable night before. We checked into Hotel Mision Santa Isabel, where they have guarded parking behind the hotel. Walked the malecon, but couldn't find the sea lions we saw there last year. We stopped at a little restaurant by the water and had fish tacos. They served us four kinds of salsa: jalapeno, chile de arbol, avocado, and mayonnaise. Later we realized they hadn't served us (gringos that we are) the habanero chile salsa. It had the look of melon sherbet. I probably would have scooped a big wad onto my taco. The waitress said, "That's REALLY HOT!" They saved me from myself.
Now we are sipping coffee in a pleasant little internet cafe (using the neighbor's wifi connection, by the admission of the cafe's owner, who is wearing a jaunty blue beret). The connection is slow so I can't upload photos. He should complain to his neighbor. We are leaving now for points south. More updates as we go.
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