Well, we did it. After a tumultuous first week or so on the road, we are now at the beach and embracing San Felipe.
After our border crossing(I promise, a post soon!), we headed south to Ensenada but found more rain and chilly weather. A short two nights had us longing for the beach we were dreaming of and we crossed the mountains of Baja headed for the Sea of Cortez. In spite of dire warnings of the state of Highway 3 from some RV’ers in the Walmart parking lot, we found the road to be significantly better than half of the roads we encountered in California!
We headed right for Kiki’s, giving ourselves a stern budget talk en-route. We had splurged in Ensenada at Estero Beach park because we were just done in. We had started our border crossing day filled with excitement to finally get into Mexico. Instead, a long delay in Tijuana getting things sorted out caused a late arrival into Ensenada. After a stop at Walmart to stock up on groceries, we were in little frame of mind to barter and bargain for a camp spot, choosing one with decent facilities that was close to where we were! Not the best idea in any circumstances, but with the wind and rain, we knew we would be hunkered in for a day or so. We might as well have a hot tub too! A day spent streaming movies on netflix, walking the dogs on the beach in between showers, and a relaxing hot tub set our minds right so I’ll just consider Estero Beach a worthwhile expense.
But, the warmer seas of Eastern Baja were calling our name. Determined not to blow budget, we headed into Kiki’s bent on negotiating or heading to an alternate camp. Imagine Jim’s surprise when they immediately quoted us a discounted rate less than we’d planned on asking for. Guess this would be home for five days. Five days backed up to the beach. Five days to further decompress. Five days to do a temporary fix on the camper. Five days to get in the Mexico frame of mind.
It’s still chilly each afternoon when the wind picks up and there is no way in hell we’d consider going for a swim. But we are officially on beach time; eating when hungry, going to sleep when tired, waking with the sun. The malecon is a short 20-minute walk from camp. The campground and those around us mostly empty. A damn good start, or maybe second start, to our time in Baja.
In a couple more days we continue south in search of warmer weather and a new beach. I suspect it will be off the grid and certainly not walking distance to town:) And it, too, will be wonderful.
Thanks Kiki’s for getting us back in our Mexico frame of mind!
Originally published at The Next Big Adventure