The drive along this beautiful coastline offered us many scenic viewpoints

Our plan was to catch the overnight ferry from La Paz to Mazatlan to start our journey on the Mexican ‘mainland’.  We had survived Christmas, Julie’s birthday and New Year’s Eve all in Baja and had enjoyed every moment but we had one more important place to visit before catching the ferry.  A good friend of ours had spent many seasons in one of the world’s most recognisable kite boarding meccas – Las Barriles – which is on the eastern shores on the tip of the Baja peninsula.  So of course we had to go check it out for ourselves.

But not so fast. To get there we followed a rough dirt track from the south along the desert coastline, stopping frequently to admire the rugged shores and beautiful little protected beaches.  The road suffered from frequent wash outs, erosions and sharp rocky sections but scattered along the coast perched up high on the slopes were beautiful huge homes, all owned by ex-pats who come down in their winter months to escape the cold.  And escape they do as the sun shined bright and hard, even on the first day of the new year.

How about this for your winter home? Great weather, stunning views, complete isolation.

This is the sort of drive Tramp and his passengers revel in

There were some sections away from the coastline but that gave us another taste of the Baja desert

Eventually we made Las Barriles, a modern town with a good vibe and very few tacky tourist shops or touts selling their wares.  This is a serious town for people who are serious about kite boarding and we went down to the beach to watch the amazing spectacle of people racing back and forth along the shoreline in their brightly coloured kites, skimming across the water or even above it in these new high-tech kite boards. (Note that the terms kite surfing and kite boarding seem somewhat interchangeable – we couldn’t figure it out.)

A kite boarder doing a nice pirouette turn on his high tech board

Pretty to watch – tandem kite boarders

And everyone around town – and on the beach – used ATV’s of various sizes to get around.  If you don’t have a kite and an ATV you don’t rate in Las Barriles.  Despite not rating we finished the day in the nearby campground watching the pink full moon rise over the ocean at the same time the sun was setting behind the mountains beyond us.

Essential equipment for everyone at Las Barriles – you drive your ATV or VW onto the beach

Moon rise over the Sea of Cortez

The next morning we drove up and over the rugged and spectacular mountains to the central plains and stopped to see the old churches in the small towns of San Antonio and El Triunfo.  Then it was on to La Paz for a final stroll along their lovely malecon (waterfront promenade) before driving out to see two beaches on the tip of the peninsula.  The tide was out but that made Playa Balandra unique in that people had to carry their towels and eskies around the rocky outcrops and across the sand flats to the shallow water.  On nearby Tecolote Beach the mood was different with a small surf, bars and restaurants on the sandy edge, campers down on the beach.  All very cool.

Julie and I have become very fond of these old churches – this one is in the small village of San Antonio and dates back to the 18th century

The beach shades are a long way from the water when tide is out at Playa Balandra

Being in a mariachi band is hard work and sometimes you need a little siesta in the middle of the day

Then it was back to the port where we passed through a light customs check, paid an unexpected port fee, offloaded Julie and then drove onto the large Baja ferry for the overnight trip to Mazatlan.  The 13 hour ferry ride was the full Mexican experience, a very ordinary dinner of rice and beans plus a choice of chicken or beef, very good live music in the restaurant/bar and exceptionally uncomfortable chairs for sleeping, even if you could ignore the loud movies they played most of the night.  By the next sparkling morning we were in the large town of Mazatlan and drove off the ship to the next stage of our adventure.

Driving on to our large Baja ferry for the overnight trip to Mazatlan

Our first view of Mazatlan the following morning – sparkling and ready to be explored by the Follow the Sun team

Perhaps one final comment should be made about travel in Baja.  This is an amazing place, full of subtle little gems for those who are willing to look for them, and we hope to come back.  In the two weeks we were there we did not have any security or safety problems or trouble of any kind, in fact quite the opposite.  Mexicans – at least here in Baja – have been friendly, helpful and welcoming, absolutely nothing less.  We’ve enjoyed every interaction.

And as to the security, it appears pretty good.  There appears to be four levels of law enforcement – City, State, Federal and Military.  We have been through probably a dozen security checks along the roads, almost always just waved through or perhaps a simple question or two.  They are usually the military security posts, a little more intimidating because of the machine guns, but everyone is friendly and reasonable.  Hey, let’s face it, Mexico does have problems but they seem to be trying to address them in various ways and roadside checks are one of them.  It’s a little bit of a hassle and a couple of small stress moments each day but that’s the way it is.

The most common road sign in Baja is the speed bump which either shows these large bumps or simply says ‘Topes’ which loosely means ‘if you don’t slow down you will soon be airborne’

But that was Baja, a little remote and protected from the rest of Mexico, and now we’re about to see what the rest of this amazing country has to offer.  From the frying pan into the fire, you might say.