Baja Road Trips

Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico

Since we were a few days early for the big Loreto Fest celebrations, we filled our time with a couple of day trips...

First was a trip into Loreto, a quaint little town with a rich history.  We shared a taxi with two other people in order to keep the costs down - $350 pesos ($27) each way for the 24 km trip.

We had visited the town before, on our way north last summer.  At that time it was pretty much off-season.  This time the town was quite a bit busier - we were not the only ones in the restaurant for a change.

We took a walk to what was the malecon (walkway along the shore), only to find that it is all under construction; should be quite cool when it is done but a bit inconvenient right now.  Still, the rest of the town is very picturesque.  We picked up a few groceries at the supermarket before returning to the harbour at Escondido.



Looking from the beach at Loreto to the ancient volcano that is Isla Coronados

Our second excursion was a drive to the San Javier Mission, on a windy mountain road that leaves the main highway about 2 miles south of Loreto and travels 37 kms inland, through some spectacular scenery.  This road is just about completely paved now which makes it a pleasant trip - I guess is used to be quite an adventure when it was just dirt (usually restricted to 4WD).  We shared a van with 7 other cruisers, a driver and a local guide.  Again, splitting the cost made it quite economical - total cost for the group was $2700 pesos ($207).

Along the way, we stopped at an interesting tree, showing off its root system (reminiscent of one of the temples we saw around Ankor Wat in Cambodia), then at some cave paintings at an oasis in the hills.  Sometimes it is hard to believe that this stuff exists in what looks so much like a desert everywhere else.

The mission and small village around it made for a spectacular site.  The beautifully restored structure of dark volcanic rock in the Moorish style sits at the bottom of a deep, fertile valley.  The second oldest Jesuit mission on the peninsula, it was founded in 1699 but not completed until 1758.  All of this was done with human and mule power, long before there were any proper roads in the area.

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