Los Angeles to Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico

We had a good trip down Baja. The roads were better than we expected. There were several areas of construction that were terrible and about 75% of the roads had no shoulder (they were two lane narrow roads) which made it difficult when semi-trucks passed going the other way (which was frequently), but all in all Baja is doing a good job keeping Highway 1 in pretty good shape. What was a little disconcerting was all the shrines by the side of the road. It seemed like there was one every 3 to 5 miles. In the really bad, high curves there were two or three.

We left Longbeach at 4:00AM on 10/17 and arrived in Catavina about 3PM. Catavinia is about 1/3 of the way down Baja and about half-way between the Pacific and The Sea of Cortez. It's in the middle of a National Desert Park and it was beautiful.

Driving towards Catavina.

Our Hotel in Catavina - it was great to go for a swim.

Sunrise as we left Catavina.

A fog bank rolling in as we approach Guerrero Negro (on the Pacific side)

Heading into Baja California Sur - the state line is just before Guerrero Negro.
This is also where the time changes to Mountain Time.

Lunch stop in Guerrero Negro - Great Carnitas!

One of about six military checkpoints along the way. Sometimes
they searched and sometimes they just asked us some questions.
I don't think we fit the profile for gunrunners!

The next stop was San Ignacio. An Oasis in the middle of the desert.
This is a restored mission which was started in 1728 and completed in 1786.
It was beautifully restored in 1976.

San Ignacio town square.

One of the bad sections of road which is being rebuilt.

It got worse - still under construction.

Then it got better.

This took the prize for the most overloaded vehicle.

Two of the many shrines along the side of the road.

Heading toward Santa Rosalia on the Sea of Cortez.

A long and winding road.

First view of the Sea of Cortez.

Back in Santa Rosalia where we spent about ten days last year.
We stopped to visit with our friends at the marina and
we were going to have a shrimp taco at our favorite taco stand,
but it wasn't there anymore!

We decided to stop in Mulege for the night so we would get to

Puerto Escondido in the morning instead of in the dark.

Dinner at Las Casitas. It is still the "off season" (and early) so we had the place to ourselves.

We got up early, stopped in Loreto for breakfast, and headed for P.E.

Finally off of Highway 1, we headed into PE at 10:00 am on Wednesday, October 19.

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