Saturday 2 August 2014

0069 1st Aug Colonet to Santa Rosarito

It was hazy and quite cold this morning when I got up about 6 am – I even put a pair of long jeans on to keep warm !   Slow pack up over breakfast, and as no one had rolled up at the restaurant yet, I hit the road by about 9 am.  Most of the first part was through built up villages, so lots of Altos and Topes to keep an eye out for.  Also quite a lot of traffic lights.  I noticed that most of the traffic is local – it is always overtaking you at great speed, then turning off up a side road !  Early excitement was provided when I saw a whole lot of people riding horses at the side of the road, so I was snapping away, when suddenly the green ford with bags on the roof in front of me decided it knew someone on a horse, and suddenly traffic was going everywhere as the Ford slammed on its brakes and turned left across the traffic without any indication.  That woke me up for the day !!!

We cross lots of very dry creek beds – Have seen no water in any of them yet. Also, along this bit of coast, lots of Marisco or seafood restaurants. Quality varied from ones I might possibly have stopped at, to ones I would definitely not stop at for any reason !!

The first couple of hours was spent winding down beside the Pacific – Sand dunes, little vegetation, and still quite cool.  Then after a couple of hours we started climbing – Only up to about 500 metres, but we basically then stayed at about 500 meters for the next 6 hours or more, and despite the lack of altitude, it was pretty impressive and varied scenery.

But first off, at the top of our first steep climb, there was our first (and what turned out later to be our only) Military Checkpoint for the day.   And very pleasant he was too – Just a joke about my steering wheel being on the wrong side, and I was on my way.   I am noticing that the younger soldiers inspect everything, whereas the older ones know what / who they are looking for, and wave most touristy looking people straight through.  Interesting that one sign for the checkpoint was in metres, and the next was in miles !!!!

Then it was winding down the other side, and by now the day was warming up.  We came into a little town called El Rasario and it was really a nice little town – At least, compared to most of the others.  Reasonably clean – But lots of topes !!!   After El Rosario there was a lot of flat farming country, with green crops of something (sorry, not good at working out the different crops, unless it’s obvious, like pineapples or something !!) and after that there was very little habitation or farming or anything for the rest of the day.  After El Rosario the road went out in a southeasterly direction into the middle of Baja, then down through the centre before eventually turning back towards the pacific coast.  And the this middle bit was dry, and with virtually no places to pull off the road at all.  Road was pretty narry, and in places rough, so difficult driving at times when big trucks were passing you, of locals doing 100 miles an hour. 

But the scenery was stunning – Quite different from anything I have seen anywhere else.  Obviously very arid, but it alternated between enormous plains, then a mountain pass, then another plain, another pass, and so on – but all between about 300 – 500 metres.  I stopped to make my lunch at the top of one pass and even though we were still only at 500 metres, it felt like we were on top of the world – An amazing view for miles in every direction. Put my shorts back on to as it was up in the 30’s again now !!    Then the scenery also kept varying between sandy scrubland, sections with LOTS of cactus’ (where I also saw the hawk perched up in one cactus and stopped to take some pics), and then into the Valle De Los Cirios.  I haven’t found out what Cirios means yet, but it was a kind of national park, and certainly had some dramatic scenery.  (Later - Cirios is Long horned sheep ???)   After a section of flat topped mesa shaped formations, we got into a rocky section which was really weird – Where had all these rocks suddenly come from ?  Then just as we thought we had left the rocks behind, there was an enormous hill of rocks right in front of us – Like some giant had collected them from the surrounding countryside and piled them up there. Weird.

After that it was back to sand plains, and a couple of major willy willys / minor tornadoes depending on scales – Whatever, I was glad they were off in the sandy areas away from the road. It was also starting to look very grey and ominous cloud wise, although as we came back closer to the coast, the temps dropped quite dramatically and it fined up again.

I had picked a little town called Santa Rosarita as my stopping point and got here at about 4 pm.  It was 15 kms off the main highway, but I was pooped, so went in after it had said there was camping.  When I got to the village it was just just a collection of shacks and houses near the beach, and not exactly an “RV Park” in sight !!  So I went into a little shop and enquired in my best phrasebook spanish as to the availability of camping, and they said Si Si and pointed down the beach.  So I drove a little way down towards the beach, and still saw nothing, so asked again, and got the same Si Si and pointing at the beach.  So I drove out onto the lovely little beach where all the fishermen were with their boats and mending their nets, and asked them also, and they all said Si Si too, and pointed anywhere.  So tonight I am on a beach, the only gringo within 100 kms, and got a lovely spot watching pelicans diving for fish off the beach.

Almost as soon as I parked half a dozen kids came over and started chatting and talking about soccer and World Cup when they saw “Rio de Janeiro” written on my car.  They all politely introduced themselves, and wanted to shake hands, and we had good fun for a few minutes, so I took their picture, and then gave them all a sweet, and they went off back to their soccer ball on the beach.

Later, while I was cooking my spaghetti for supper, just at sunset, a BIG 4 WD came down the beach with those big spotlights on the roof all lit up, like you see in the movies.  He parked in the dunes behind me, and when this big guy came over, I went out and said “Buenos Noches” etc, and he said it was fine I was camping on the beach, but he would be driving around all night to prevent theft of or from the fishing boats !!  Okay !!! Not sure if he is a cop of just a vigilante, but  since it got dark, there have been quite a few cars and bikes tearing around on the beach, and every so often the big guy goes off, and they others all disappear !!  Could be an interesting night !!

 But a lovely camping spot – Albeit with no showers or toilets here so will be using my “in house” facilities !!

Pics are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0070ColonetToSantaRosalita?authkey=Gv1sRgCKWI0dTM89zrKQ#

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