Queens may come and go, but queen-makers are a special force to be reckoned with, and Todos Santos horse champion Kaia Thomson has made 14 queens…so far.

Kaia and friends in Todos Santos

In 2005, Kaia was running a 55-acre ranch with 60 horses where she had trained 12 Gymkhana champions and 14 rodeo queens, including Brandy De Jongh, Miss Rodeo America 2000.  She was at the top of her game in the horse world with students, horses in training and competing.  Then she decided to move to Todos Santos. “It was my 50^th birthday and I decided that I just had to move to Mexico with my horses. All my friends thought I was crazy, but I wanted to do something radical. I just had to do it.” So she did. She finished out the year on her ranch and arrived in Todos Santos in December 2005 with 3 horses and the remains of her worldly possessions. It’s now hard to imagine what the town would be like without Kaia and her incredible skills as a teacher, rider, trainer, naturalist and photographer.

Kaia is one of the most down-to-earth people you’re likely to meet in this life. A characteristic that is not explained by the fact that Kaia is a true Hollywood gal who grew up under the Hollywood sign, spent a lot of time on Hollywood Boulevard and had her first horseback riding lesson at the age of 4 at Sunset Ranch Hollywood Stables. She went to Hollywood High School with many (now famous) stars and worked at a tack shop where she regularly rubbed shoulders with the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Sam Shephard, Richard Farnsworth, and Juice Newton.

She worked for Glen Randall who trained Roy Rogers’ horse Trigger (“he said Trigger was the smartest horse he ever met – he could recognize over 100 words and cues”)  as well as with Glen’s protégés Rex Peterson and Bobby Lovegren who trained horses for movies such as Black Beauty, Hidalgo, Zorro, and The Horse Whisperer. She ponied horses for Laz Barrera, renowned trainer of Affirmed (the last horse to win the Triple Crown) and worked alongside many champions on race days at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Del Mar racetracks. She rode a horse named Madrid, a grandson of Bold Ruler – Secretariat’s sire – and trained, competed and won in dressage, jumping and showmanship. She traded a saddle for a mule in the Sierra Nevada’s and competed on mules for over 16 years. She saw a Reined Cowhorse Show in Las Vegas in 1989, and soon became a regular on the National Reined Cow Horse Association circuit. She trained with Teddy Robinson, the world’s greatest Reined Cow Horse champion, and acquired the exceptional horse skills required to rein, cut and work cattle in competition. Kaia thrived on the perfect complement of sportsmanship, connection and discipline that horse competition in all its variety demanded.

Then she fell in love.

Read the rest of Kaia Thompson’s story on the Todos Santos Eco Adventures’ Blog.

“My mother was a free spirit, an egalitarian and a bohemian, and ended up getting sent away to school because she was always running off to work with Diego Rivera on his murals. And all this was when she was just 10 years old.  You know, she never really cared for Frieda Kahlo very much.”

Ana Brilanti, mother and artist

So begins Alejandra Brilanti’s story of her mother Ana Nuñez Basso de Brilanti, the matriarch of the Brilanti family of Todos Santos and renowned silver artisan of Taxco.

While the likes of Eleonor Roosevelt ultimately became fans and customers of Ana’s, and her story is featured prominently in the histories of the silver jewelry industry in Taxco, it can be definitively declared that her artistic success was not her mother’s fault.

When Ana was a little girl one of her sisters died and was laid out in the family parlor for 3 days. Ana thought the scene was beautiful and painted it. Her mother thought the painting was blasphemous and smashed it. These constant struggles over art earned Ana a passage to boarding school where, at the age of 14, she graduated to a teaching position to contribute to the family income.  She worked incredibly hard for the rest of her life, but – despite her mother’s best efforts – she worked doing what she loved most: art.

Get to know the Brilanti family further on the Todos Santos Eco Adventures’ Blog.

The initial call for volunteers to help bring the mural to life

Todos Artes Work-shop

Todos Artes, is a compound for creative activity, established in 2005, at the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico, in the small town of Todos Santos. Todos Santos , designated Pueblo Magico, hosts a vibrant community with a music festival, arts festival, galleries, restaurants, film festival and surfing culture. Developed by Donna Billick , envisioned as a cross-culture, cross- generation, multi-media space for creative activity. The destination workshop, Heaven on Earth, grew out of the Todos Artes compound, designed with multiple studios, living quarters, kitchens, a large palapa, situated in a town with the capacity to accommodate many people in casitas and world class restaurants.   Every year a Dream Team of three professional artist, and twenty students, assemble for an experiential based, hands-on workshop called Heaven on Earth. This, one week, total emersion, of educational sharing, in the community build style of teaching and learning, producing a large scale public artwork, in the compound or out on the walls of the town of Todos Santos. The Todos Artes compound offers artists from many disciplines and media, musicians, ceramicists, painters, photographers, writers, glass artists, the opportunity to harvest our relationships, in a supportive environment.  Todos Artes, is a passionate vision for a retreat, a place where our heads, hands and hearts can join to navigate our imaginations and recognize our creative life force.

Calendario Azteca Community Build

In January 2012, with the hands and support of the local Todos Santos community, Heaven on Earth artists constructed a cement, ceramic, and tile mosaic mural of the Aztec Calendar, the sun stone. Installed in the Theatre Plaza Manuel Márquez de León, the mural is a permanent example of a community build.

Robert Nicholson, Director of Photography for Heaven on Earth, described that “in a two week period the calendar mural was constructed by a team of artists and then installed in the plaza with the tireless hands of the local community.”  He explained that he had his lens “focused on the collaboration between youth and elders, (gringos and latinos), working together to represent this historic symbol and install the mural permanently for all to learn from, and celebrate in the culture.”

The community effort stands in Todos Santos now as a symbol of unity, culture, and spirit.  Nicholson ended his comments at the Festival de Cortos in January–celebrating the unveiling of the mural–with sentiments that he hopes that the exhibit will help continue “the dialogue of communicating across boarders and cultures, the true meaning of community build.”  Nicholson also directed a video which explains the mural-designing and executing process in more detail.

Day 10

It was raining softly when I woke up and the surfers were already pounding the waves. I really wanted to stay for a couple of days—I was both road tired and wanting to explore this inviting place.

Walked down the malecon and had coffee and breakfast and then headed out south towards Puerto Angel, a small fishing village that I had heard about and wanted to see for myself. It turned out to be a little surfing and fishing village with not much in the way of services but lots of For Sale signs. I got out briefly to see the turtle museum and then got back on the highway. I was feeling the call of home and it was time to fly.

I cut up at Salina Cruz and headed over the Oaxaca mountain range towards Minititlan and the Gulf of Mexico.

A couple of hours in, I came upon a huge wind farm. Going up, there must have been over 100 parts being staged for assembly. This was a large valley in the mountains and I have to assume that it blows hard here between the oceans.

I came into a small village in the mountains called Matias Romero. It seemed like a junction for many smaller roads all converging from the countryside and the street merchants were out in force selling everything you could imagine. I even saw several folks selling Parrots just sitting on their arms.

Well this place has had a history of trouble with the cartels and drug smuggling, and I ran into a pretty serious Mexican Army checkpoint where they proceeded to go over my paperwork and car with a fine tooth comb. They were all very polite and then told me to have a safe day and proceed as I pulled away. Literally 100 yards ahead was a Federale checkpoint where the guys acted like we were going to do this all over again in case the Army missed something. I have driven many thousands of miles in Mexico and never seen this before.

The guys were all about checking my VIN numbers to make sure they match my title and car permit paperwork.

Funny thing was, this one cop seemed almost disappointed that it did match, as his partner was opening up a few bags asking me what each item was where had I’d been and was going. One of my bags had several boxes of Trader Joe’s chocolate covered almonds with Sea Salt, and he didn’t seem to understand why I had so many. This isn’t my first rodeo, so I opened one up and offered him a taste. He immediately said no politely, but I insisted and you should have seen the smile come across his face as he chewed on it. Priceless! Wish I had a picture of it! He then said he understood why I had gone to so much trouble and I told him my wife would kill us both if I didn’t show up with these intact. He laughed real hard and said take care and have a nice drive.

The drive over to Minititlan was uneventful until I turned off onto the new highway heading towards Villahermosa. About 5-6 miles down, both lanes on my side came to a halt with everyone out looking down the road. I figured it was an accident which can cause quite a stir, sometimes for hours. Well, all of a sudden, lots of folks further ahead started turning around and heading back and then just ahead I noticed some farm workers cutting an opening into the fence to access the small dirt road running along side of the highway and everyone started taking their turns jumping the dirt mound to get up and over onto the dirt road. I wasn’t so sure if my Honda SRV would clear but what the heck—made it, now what? I hadn’t a clue where we were all heading now and after a mile or so we came to a bridge junction going over the highway in both directions. It seemed that no one knew exactly which way to go so I followed a couple of folks left towards the town off in the distance. A couple of miles of weaving thru the little village and we came to another on ramp back to the highway and we were off again. I never did find out what had happened back there.

The rest of my drive back to Tulum from here bored me, as I have made this drive many times thru the countryside and then the jungles off the Yucatan— home was calling and I picked up the pace considerably now. Traffic flow here was an easy 80-85 mph until you reached a small town. Everyone seemed to be going towards Merida or Cancun up the Yucatan peninsula. Two more Army checkpoints and then home.

In closing, this was a long road trip and I had no choice but to keep up a good pace, but it also opened up a wealth of incredible beauty to explore further on longer trips as I seek to better understand my newly adopted country of Mexico.

She went from managing haute cuisine in Boston to bringing her Bridge-to-English program to local Todos Santos children, and her success shows in the growth of the Palapa Society’s educational and scholarship programs.

Donna Viglione of the Palapa Society is bringing educational opportunities to local children

Donna Viglione was in Boston on Patriot’s Day 1976 explaining to wife of then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, Rosalynn Carter, that her (Rosalynn’s) luggage had been stolen out of her (Donna’s) car while they made a campaign stop on the way to the hotel from the airport. Rosalynn was sad because the bible that Jimmy had given her years before was in the luggage. Donna was sad because she thought this snafu pretty much spelled the end of life as she knew it. She was right.

To help the luggage-less future first lady Donna ran around town and bought Rosalynn all of her favorite beauty products, and Rosalynn was very touched by this act of kindness. So touched that when she and Jimmy moved into the White House she invited Donna to a state dinner in honor of German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Now invitations to state dinners at the White House are traditionally bestowed only on the true elites of the business, political and entertainment worlds, not 26-year-old legal secretaries cum campaign volunteers.

Donna was stunned by this remarkable expression of thanks for a kindness she had rendered, and she took to heart what it means to not only help people when you can, but to express gratitude for the kindnesses you have received. Now, the children of Todos Santos are benefitting greatly from these lessons.

Read the rest of Donna’s story on the Todos Santos Eco Adventures’ Blog.

Day 9

Woke up early and headed out for another long day. My plan was to make Puerto Escondido by nightfall.

I had to pass thru Acapulco as I headed south. I’ve flown into this town before a few years back. We were picked up and taken directly to hotel row back then for a convention so I didn’t drive around at all.

I have never had a bad time driving in this country until today entering Acapulco. The highway is undergoing massive new roadwork with bridges and tunnels that will improve it, I’m sure. The road just comes to a three-way intersection with no signs telling which way to go to stay on the highway. This lead to a two-hour total pain-in-the-ass drive thru town as I had to keep on guessing which way to go. For the most part, I guessed right, but it got to be stressful. It was a welcome sight when I saw the highway signs again leading me south. From here on I just tried to make up time, as I was anxious to get to Puerto Escondido and explore the coastal town.

This wouldn’t be a long day today except for the fact that I was passing thru what seemed like hundreds of small villages or towns and they all had so many topes (Mexico’s dirty little secret to slow you down without stop lights or cops) or wicked speed bumps that can jolt you awake instantly. Scenery was nice as I pass thru the mountains and foothills. In one of the small villages I saw something that just made me laugh.

No matter where you go in Mexico, there’re lots of street dogs just roaming or hanging out. Well, twice I looked over and saw a large a pig running along with the dogs just like he was part of the group. It seemed perfectly normal at the time but was funny as hell.

I got into town around 4pm and drove around looking for a place to eat and was drawn towards the water. I found an old section of town with lots of historic hotels and shops and restaurants.

I stopped to eat dinner at a very old-looking place with lots of folks already there enjoying the sunset. Food was awesome as usual; they had a really large kitchen with a bakery. The smells coming out of that kitchen was truly inspiring. The local Mayor was having a dinner meeting with some business group and they were filming it for local TV while I was there. The person at the end of their table tried to explain to me what was going on. Once again, the Mexicans’ sense of being polite and courtesy is amazing to me. We should all be like this more in our daily lives.

Headed out after dinner towards the main part of the waterfront and found a charming section of the malecon with lots of hotel choices and great food options everywhere. It was threatening to rain and the surfers were out hitting the last waves of the day. This town has a good feel to it, and it might be my number one choice to explore more when I have time.  You have a mix of Cliffside homes, beachside lots and foothills nearby, all providing a wonderful backdrop against the ocean. There’s a real 60s California surfer hippie vibe here along the waterfront, but it feels nice. Lots of Europeans staying here as well in my hotel.

Well, off to sleep. Tomorrow will be a real butt-buster behind the wheel as I try to hump it home to Tulum.

Days 7-8

As I woke up, I was raring to go heading down to Zihuatanejo for my next stop. This would be a very long day and one of the most beautiful, filled with incredible scenery as I drove down the Pacific coast and into the mountains and back onto the coast again.

The drive towards Puerto Vallarta was easy but crowded at 6am. The town is a mix of both old town and new high rises, with many beautiful parts, especially up in the foothills overlooking town. You pass by many of these neighborhoods as you climb out of town and go south. There are too many homes to count with fabulous Cliffside perches looking out on the ocean below and town to the north. These don’t come cheap either.

About a hundred miles into my day, I had my first and only scare needing gas. I knew there was a town ahead and was caught off guard when they told me they were waiting for their delivery truck to show up, but there was a little town ahead about two miles off the main highway, no problem.

As I turned off towards the town, it all seemed good. It was a nice little village with a few thousand people and it was Saturday so the farmers market and weekly crafts and goods sellers were out in full force, the streets were jammed with local folks socializing and shopping.  No gas here—now what? I’ve got maybe 50 miles left but I’m in the mountains and there are no real towns around. I thought about going back towards PV; it was only an hour back and running out wasn’t an option. As I was staring at my map by the side of the highway, a local farmer stopped and tried to ask me if I needed help. Between my Spanglish and hand signals, he was able to point me down the road, telling me there was a gas station and it was close. I trusted him and kept going and sure enough, maybe 2-3 miles away, there was a new station sitting in the middle of nowhere. All gassed up with another 400 miles to go.

I might not have mentioned it before, but I had my I-Pod with over 7,000 songs to keep me company when I wasn’t listening to my Spanish CDs. I went around 3-4 times on that music playlist on this trip. Your Sirius Satellite radio will work here as well if you have it; GPS works too. The roads here are usually well marked and you should have no problem reading the highway signs.

This would be a 12 hour day behind the wheel and I did stop many times to take photos, as it was driving me crazy wanting to explore many of these small roads leading down the water or incredible cliff-side photo opportunities that just kept coming and coming. The long stretch of coast reminded me of California, without the people. There were too many times to count when I had to jerk the car back onto my lane—all of the twisting mountain roads with long distance coastal views were a total distraction, but I loved it. Many places I plan to re-visit along here someday soon I hope.

I passed thru a few larger towns like Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas heading south towards Zihuatanejo.

I pulled into town around 5 pm and was beat from the long day driving. I had made reservations for a place I found on a Google search before I left Sayulita and now pulled out my laptop to review the maps. After 30 minutes, I called and the owner talked me right in. I never would have found it myself. I walked down two flights of stairs to my unit, a fully self-contained mini apartment with Cliffside views. It was a short single flight of stairs’ walk down to the beach. This place felt nice and the sunset with a cocktail made it all the better. After a beachside dinner, I made my way back to my room. Each room has a large patio with several small pools on each level with outdoor bbq and kitchen. I sat down to take in the lights playing out on the many houses and hotels up and down the cliffs above the water.

I realized I had company as a small kitten nuzzled up to me, wanting some attention. The owner has many cats who roam the grounds and my new buddy joined me, realizing he had a sucker to play with. He ended up spending the night with me, making up for my dog Kona who I was missing by now.

Woke up early and headed out for another long day. My plan was to make Puerto Escondido by nightfall—one of the 5 top places in the world for surfing and a location the real estate market has taken notice of.

More on that next time…

Days 4-6

I left Todos Santos around 9 pm, heading to the port outside of LaPaz to catch the midnight ferry across to Los Mochis. The ferry is large ship, which can hold over a hundred passenger cars and many large semi-trucks and other vehicles.

You wait in line for customs as you’re heading into mainland Mexico. Baja has always been treated differently by customs, as they really don’t check much at the TJ border or military checkpoints, their main interest is stopping drugs moving north. Every person or vehicle is stopped and you must show your papers and they ask you what you’re bringing into Mexico. They’re likely to search your car. They give me a light once-over and move me along pretty easy really. The real trip was driving up the ramp with my SUV. They pack all of the trucks and cars like sardines in a can but with very specific weight distribution guidelines. You park and squeeze out and walk up the several flights of stairs and escalators to the main deck. They have two huge dining rooms with TVs everywhere showing movies, soccer, and video games and, of course, a big bar. There’s a scramble to find a good seat for the all night crossing. You can purchase a private berth with a bed and bathroom for another $50. It cost me $170 US for the car and driver. The ship has several topside decks allowing you to move around if you want. Pretty easy crossing in hindsight, but I wish I had gotten a berth. I got real sleepy and most of the good loungers where gone when I got topside and everyone was sprawled out sleeping or resting. The night sky was clear and the crossing was smooth sailing all the way.

As you depart the ferry in Los Mochis, it becomes fast paced, as everyone is raring to go. As you get off you go thru another military checkpoint and I get picked out for another inspection. My papers are good but I was concerned about the fact that the guy who owns the car wasn’t with me and technically he’s supposed to be in the car, as per the Mexican foreign import car permitting. In Mexico, if a local Mexican gets stopped driving a gringo’s car it will most certainly get impounded and you might never see it again, but they usually just wave all gringos thru checkpoints. There has been a very concerted effort by the Mexican Government to try to make moving and buying here a better experience for foreigners; they realize what a huge cash cow we all are to their continued growth. Several US research groups have identified that as many as 26 million baby boomers from the US and Canada will be looking to move to Mexico over the next 20 years seeking a higher standard of living than they can afford up north.

My experience has been that they usually don’t mess with gringos. Sure enough, I get a guy who’s a stickler for rules and he knows he got me dead.  I have a letter of permission from Honda Credit, copies of Joe’s passport & drivers license, the shipping manifest from Hawaii. I should back up here and tell that I’m driving a car just off the boat from Hawaii—the guy who owns it has a New York driver’s license with a title and plates from Hawaii. So you can imagine their curiosity with me and all of my confusing—at least to them—paperwork. Mexico is fighting a big war here on stolen cars from the US, so I must have looked like a potential bad guy with different paperwork.

I do pride myself on being able to talk my way out of most things and this would be a test. Pretty soon, I’m dealing with the Captain and he’s not pleased with me at all. His English is good enough so we can get on with it. I tell again that Joe was with me but he got hurt body surfing in Baja and flew ahead to Cancun as his back was killing him and he couldn’t possibly make the 5-6 days of driving in the car. I had asked Joe ahead of time for just such a letter in case I got stopped, but he never emailed it to me to print off. I understand their mindset about rules and the opportunity to negotiate a fine or mordia. We started off at $1,000 US and they wouldn’t impound the car, which they could have done. After 2 hours we were down to $250, and I promised to fly right home and scold Joe for putting me at risk. It was all pretty civilized and I was at fault. If it hadn’t been such a busy shipping day for commercial trucks, I might have gotten out of there in 20 minutes.

So back on the road heading to Mazatlan, which is 3-4 hours away and a beachside lunch if I push it. Once again the roads are excellent heading south a mixture of toll (cuota) roads and libre (free) or regular highways. The scenery is pleasant and you go thru lots of farmland with occasional glimpses of the ocean. Finding gas anywhere in Mexico now is easy, as there seems to be a Pemex station every few miles; they’re all clean and easy to navigate the buying process, most will accept your credit or debit cards now and it’s all quite secure. There remains the occasional issue about whether the calibration might be off as I once paid for more gas than my car tank could hold and I was standing there the whole time so there was no funny business going on with the gas attendant. Each station is privately owned and most have a toll free number to call if you have any complaints about the service or other issues. For the most part, fraud is disappearing from the whole gas station experience. In the old days, they could switch the handle on and off or pretend to make the wrong change. You still need to pay close attention, but with computerized pumping just like in the states, that has gone away and I believe that Pemex truly wants to stop the bad practices.

Mazatlan is a major shipping port and large city that has a large ex-pat community with lots of waterfront high-rise condos and gringo communities with golf courses up and down the coast. Frankly it’s way too big for my taste.

As I enter the city, I feel like I’m in a big town with the traffic all hurrying around just like you’d expect and I’m ready to stop and have lunch and unwind for a bit before I get back on the road towards Sayulita, my destination for tonight.

This next part of the trip has been highly anticipated and thought out, as I want to go slow as I get to the Riviera Nayarit, which is a 120 mile stretch of coastline of many small towns and villages with dozens of little bays to draw you down to the water. Each one has RV parks, small hotels and local rentals, plenty of local restaurants and of course, beachside restaurants.

This was the area we first fell in love with over 20 years ago on our first trip to Mexico; we stayed at the Marriott in Puerto Vallarta and spent most of our time exploring areas outside the city like Punta Mita and Sayulita which were just starting to take off back then. Somehow, with our many trips to Mexico and buying land we just didn’t get back here. I like the fact that you have foothills and farmland sloping down the beautiful beaches and bays. So you can be in the mountains with jungle or farms or cliffs looking down the coast. After living in Hawaii for 15 years at 3,000-foot elevation, we learned to love being in the hills where it’s cooler and more private. We want to have room to roam, dogs, cats and gardens to die for, I also like to create water features to make my own ocean noises. Here’s the thing, for us we don’t need to wake up to see the water, it’s always around you when you live here just like back in Hawaii.

I split my two nights between Sayulita and Rincon de Guayabitos to see what real estate prices and listings looked like. Sayulita has become a little Aspen of sorts but is still very charming even if over priced for some things. The beach and surf are epic as is the food. The locals are very friendly and outgoing, just as I remembered.

I had one the best breakfasts in my life there at Café El Espresso Sayulita, a local hangout with wifi and great coffee. Incredibly good food; I ordered the Chilaquiles, a simple Mexican breakfast food of flour tortillas chips, cheese, red onions, shredded chicken and lots of fresh herbs, avocado on top with your eggs and the most incredible Verde (green) Chile/Tomatillo sauce I’ve ever had. The flavors and sauces were to die for.

Sayulita has lots of high-end gringo mini mansions with views up and down the coast to choose from. Most are seasonal rentals and the town is pretty busy during high season and as more and more expats retire, the summer season is picking up thru-out Mexico. Summer time is when both expats and Mexican take their family vacations to the mountains or beaches.

I rented a killer 2^nd floor boutique condo right on the beach for $55 a night on a small bay filled mostly with Mexican families on holiday. The water was nice and everyone was smiling and having a great time. I was the only gringo as far as I could tell, but I had no problems ordering food and fitting right in. This is what I love so much about this country—a real sense of family and always smiling and friendly to everyone, even strangers.

As I woke up, I was raring to go heading down to Zihuatanejo for my next stop this would be a very long day and one of the most beautiful, filled with incredible scenery as I drove down the Pacific coast and into the mountains and back onto the coast again.

Day 3

Arriving into Todos Santos brought a familiar sense of comfort, as I’ve been coming here for 7 years now and both know and love this little town. I had called my friend James from just outside La Paz to see if he’d had lunch yet. I was starving and both towns have great taco stands. He said he had a new fish taco place to show me, and that’s all I needed to hear. As I headed to James’ place to pick him up, I could almost taste those fish tacos.

Todos Santos Beach

Todos Santos is a nice small artist town that has been put on the map over the past 20 years.  With Charles Stewart moving there from Taos, now there are many galleries and artists who call Todos home. It has a nice mix of both local Mexican and Gringo artist from all over the world whose works are displayed around town.

Todos Santos received the “Pueblo Magical” designation a few years ago, which brought international recognition and much needed money from the Federal Government to make improvements to the town. Tourists from Cabo and La Paz flock here daily to eat lunch, shop at the many stores and galleries, and walk around the village soaking up the atmosphere. The one thing almost everyone has heard of in town is the Hotel California and, while the 70s era rock band the Eagles claim to have never been in town, the locals don’t believe that for a minute; you might hear the famous song around town in a bar called Tequila Sunrise owned by a friend of mine here who’s a local businessman.

Back to my quest for fish tacos—there are many local street carts or small palapa restaurants around town, all serving up local fresh caught fish and shrimp tacos and tortas plus the usual array of grilled beef, chicken and pork.

James told me Taco Georges had moved to a nicer sitting street side place just off the main street. The second you walk under the thatched palapa roof, your senses come alive with the sights, smells, and sounds of the local street vibe with incredible array of colors and food around you.  Sticking to my plan, I order my usual two Cameron (shrimp) and one fish tacos. They bring over a basket of chips and two cold Pacifico’s and we dive into the fresh Pico de gallo. I could eat this stuff every day and usually do on just about everything I eat, except for cold cereal. If you haven’t tasted fresh pico, you haven’t lived and it’s so simple to make: chop up a few local tomatoes, cilantro, onions, fresh limejuice and salt.

After lunch, I head out to Cerritos Beach to kick back and see how the building boom is doing out there. There has been a slow steady drum of construction now for several years as more and more folks have discovered the area. You’re an hour away from to two major airports yet far enough away that you feel like you’re in old Mexico.

It’s one of the few good swimming beaches in the area as the Pacific is very strong here with currents that demand your respect if you’re not familiar with these waters. The real attraction is surfing and, as always, there’s great beach action to enjoy with another cold Pacifico from the beach bar.  How cool is it to sit in a plush beach chair in the sand under an umbrella and relax away the afternoon while being served cold beer whenever you want it. They even have live music on the weekends. This place is still so laid back—I hope it never changes.

Well it was nice to visit old friends and see my property; we built a bodega a few years back and have been steadily filling it up with stuff from Oregon.  We have accumulated so much stuff: beach chairs, clothes, bbq, towels, etc. that we would have never been able to fly with it all, so this trip was a great chance to reclaim it all.  I emptied out the contents into my car and headed back towards La Paz to catch the midnight ferry across the Sea of Cortez to Los Mochis.

Day two

I got into Mulege after dark and drove around town a little, trying to figure out the lay of the land and the river and bay. It was confusing, as they are in the middle of several road and bridge projects, so traffic was being diverted onto side streets and I got turned around. I headed back towards the highway to find a room. I found a nice clean place for $25 with several crews of the roadworkers staying there long term so I figured it would be both safe and ok for the night.

Woke up at 4:30 am to the melodic sounds of several Ford diesels starting up, which brought a smile to my face as I have owned several of these and wondered if other folks screamed at me when I left in the morning on my many road trips.

It seemed like a good idea to get up and hit the road. I made coffee, added my usual Bailey’s to it, and was off. Quick spin around Mulege to see the river and camping areas in the daylight that I’d seen on other reports.  Definitely want to come back for a better sense of the place; this town always get slammed when hurricanes or big storms pass by and the river floods the town.

Headed out for Loreto and the goal today is to make Todos Santos before 2-3pm. This was a spectacular drive—really hard to keep your eyes on the road with all of the pristine bays or mountain vistas coming at you. As you head south, the road passes along the coast and you get many peaks at the bay and it’s beautiful. Then out into the mountain’s inland somewhat before you pop back along the coast again. The desert here is spectacular with the huge mountains just jutting up all around you.

The road is in good condition and I make excellent time towards Loreto.  The air is crystal clear and the scenery just jumps out at you if you like the desert, giant rock formations, mountains and cactus everywhere.

As you enter Loreto, you see a nice little town set against the mountains for a backdrop and the Sea of Cortez spread out to the east. Loreto appears to be a clean town and has a good-looking golf course as you leave town that’s part of a big development.

The bays and marinas are beautiful and you can see why the sailboats spend so much time here and make this their homeport to sail and dive the incredible beauty that the Sea of Cortez offers. There so many bays to stop at, whether you want to camp or rent a casita. You could spend weeks here before moving on.

It was truly hard to concentrate on my driving here with bay after bay or private beaches everywhere that were drawing me to stop and slow down and take it all in.

There is a large island just offshore that appears to have a development or small village on it. I just found myself wanting to be on one of the many beautiful sailboats out in the bays and go exploring up and down the coast. What a life—I’m jealous!

The drive from Loreto to LaPaz takes you back into the desert across towards the Pacific Ocean thru lush farming land that catches you by surprise; they obviously have plenty of water for irrigation of their fields. This part of the drive is fast and it’s dusty as the winds blows across the arid desert surrounding the farmland entering Villa Insurgentes where the road heads south now towards LaPaz. You’re close now to the Pacific Ocean again with signs advertising whale watching and fishing in the bay. Not this trip but you can go out in season and see hundreds of whales up close just a few feet away as they watch you too.

As you approach LaPaz you are once again on the Sea of Cortez.  There are lots of new condo developments, and signs point to the International airport with flights to California, Oregon and others daily.

It’s been 2 years since I was here and now there are several new shopping centers popping up with a new Home Depot, Wal-Mart and others to meet the growing demand for services. La Paz is a very nice city with one of the prettiest Malicons I’ve ever seen stretching several miles along the waterfront and out of town towards the newer developments up north. Day or night, there is lots of activity here with children playing, people rollerblading, walking or jogging past scores of restaurants. There is a lot of art or sculpture along the waterfront that are focal points for pictures for locals and tourists alike.

As I head out of town towards Todos Santos, I’ve heard about the new 4 lane divided highway that is now complete almost the whole way; it cuts my driving time down to 35 minutes from an hour.

Todos Santos before 1pm.  Not much has changed here. Time to look for a taco stand for lunch and there are many to choose from. I head to Georges, one of my favorites, serving great fresh fish tacos for 20 pesos each and a cold Pacifico.

Todos Santos is often called the Taos, New Mexico of Baja for all of the artists residing here and galleries in town. It really is a nice place and is exactly halfway between Cabo San Lucas and LaPaz, perfect for day trips or longer visits.

I will lay over here for 2 days to check on my property, see a few old friends, and see if the real estate market is improving or not as I want to see off a couple of my lots here in San Sebastian.

In two days I’ll reverse course to catch the night ferry across the Sea of Cortez from LaPaz over to Los Mochis on the Mexican mainland to continue my drive south along the Pacific coast towards Puerto Escondido and then over the mountains to Tulum in the Yucatan and then home.