Overland Adventure Excursions

We headed down Highway 1 and turned off on the road to Cabo Pulmo. We had been recommended this place by Arnold in La Paz as well as some friends of Kathy’s. We looked on the iOverlander map to see about camping and there was one place north of town that might work, but since Cabo Pulmo was a marine preserve, no beach camping was allowed. The road was paved and pretty good until all of a sudden it was not. The pavement ended and a dusty, washboarded, and rocky road replaced it. We bumped along for 30 minutes or so until we made it into Cabo Pulmo.

This town is busy and full with snorkeling, scuba, and wildlife tour groups. There are lots of cabanas to house the divers and only one campground that was charging $60 per night to stay. We looked at the free spot north of the town but it was filled with long term campers already, so we took the pups on a walk along the beach, and then had lunch at the local taco shop. The food was ok, and the place was pretty busy. It was really windy and the waves were pretty bad, so snorkeling was out for the rest of the day. We decided to head ot another cove south of there to see about camping, but when we got there, the place looked like a junk yard and the noted price of $100 pesos per person to camp in their lot was actually $210, meaning $25 USD to camp in essentially a small parking lot. We opted to continue on as we did not feel great about this place.

We found a nice beach at the bottom of the park called Los Frailes Fishing Camp that had good reviews and apparently had a seal colony that lived at the rock outcropping. We set up camp about 50 yards away from campers on each side of us and took a walk along the beach. The wind was still high and there were tons of campers out here, but it seemed a nice place. But as we walked back to Howie, I noticed a beat up truck right behind us, literally 10 feet from our back door. As we approached, this old Ford Escape, beat to hell, had a big pit bull tied to its bumper, and looked as if the contents of the vehicle had spilled everywhere, including undergarments draped over some logs, was parked right at our back end, not 5-10 feet from our camper. I was astounded that someone would set up so close with so much room out here. I should have snapped a picture, because my description probably lacks how close and nasty his setup was.

And then this short, scrawny, little dude came up dragging more stuff from the beach and said, “I’m Daveed and this is my family”. I said something to to the effect that they were camping a bit close and he said he was off taking a shower and had been there for a month, like it was us that camped on top of him. Likely he may have been there, but not likely given his lack of gear/indicators someone was or had camped there. What I do know is that setting up in someone else’s camp is pretty rude no matter where you are from. If this was his month-long camp, there was nothing left at the site when we pulled up, and nothing at all indicating someone was there for a long period, so I know I did not invade. I was going to move a little down the beach, but decided to just leave instead to find something a bit more remote. Another strange feeling at this beach, so we left.

We found a nice remote spot next to a property called “Los Dunas” in Santa Barbara. We camped at the effluence of a wash right off the beach. There was some traffic here, as this was an access point to the beach, but it was relatively quiet for the two nights we stayed here. There is a big dune just past the big house that had some turtle nests at its base. We still haven’t seen any turtles, but lots of egg shells. The moon rises here are spectacular, as are the sunrises. I did get to try out the new snorkeling mask and snorkel at this site. I enjoyed swimming several times at this site. I can’t wait to get to a reef where more fish are.

The beach sand is always interesting to me, especially here with the wind erasing the previous day’s visitors’ tracks. We saw tons of these little tracks here, as well as at some of the past beaches, and I was trying to figure out what they might be. A quick Google search revealed they are hermit crab tracks. Now when I say tracks, they are everywhere and these little guys do several hundred yards each in a night. The second night we were here I got the flood light out and started my hunt. It took about 5 minutes to find one. We then collected about 7 of them in a bowl, took some pictures and movies, and then set them off. I wonder what makes them pick the direction they go. Two went west toward the wash and the rest headed east back toward the ocean.

It was fun at night with the flood light to see all the little tracks. I even found the tracks of some snake out here that crossed from the bushes next to the truck across the wash. Kathy and I tried to track it but lost it at the other side of the wash with the snake never revealing itself. In the mornings I can find lots of little critter tracks including what I think are rabbits.

We have a couple of friends headed down to meet us in Cabo in a few days. We will break camp here and head south. We are about 2 hours by dirt road from San Jose del Cabo, so we will stop at this little surfer village called Nine Palms.

Note on house next to the camp: I was intrigued by the collapsing structure at the edge of the arroyo and it seemed it could be part of this massive house behind, or it could be separate. I opened Google Earth and investigated over the past 25 years of satellite photos. The structure used to have a palapa at the top and a small building to the north. It looks like the house was started in 2003-2005 time frame. Some more research on Los Dunas and I found that is is for sale for $12M. The house is part of an eventual subdivision, but the entire property is 72 acres (or maybe hectares). I found the MLS listing if anyone is interested, where they say it is only 31 miles from San Jose Los Cabos but fail to mention that it is 31 miles of rough dirt road to get here with nothing at all nearby. I guess if that is what you are looking for. Here is the MLS listing. The house is stunning.

We traveled down to the town of Los Barriles, or the lost barrels, which only took an hour or so from our last camp in the mountains. There was a water station on the way so we stopped by and purchased 25 gallons for $80 Pesos (about $5) and then headed in to find a camp spot. We had looked on iOverlander and there was not much for free camping in an around this town that was close enough to shopping, etc., so we headed to a campground in the center that had reasonably good rates. They were full, but had two overflow spots, which turned out to be really nice as they still had power and water and were 10 meters from the pool, showers, laundry and bathrooms. They charged $30 USD per day, but with showers and a pool in the center of town, we were all in.

We took the pups for a walk around the campground to get our bearings while Kathy headed out to the street to start looking at the shops. Once the dogs were walked, I met her along her parusing and then we set out for something to eat. The street that the campground was on was very busy and narrow with people parking on one side or the other. The traffic worked its way in and out and for the most part the drivers found ways through the congestion. We walked along the sidewalks, checked out one of the local grocery stores and several more curio stores. We eventually found our way to Smokies, a bar and restaurant about a quarter of a mile south, where we learned how to make proper margaritas. The food was good too and our spanish is much better as we can now pretty much read the menus. We headed back to the campground and hung out for the afternoon and then took the pups on a long walk along the beach, which they thoroughly enjoyed. We enjoyed a nice dinner at another place just up from the campground and talked with some long-termers and bartenders before heading back to camp.

It was now New Year’s eve and we found out the town had two places that were celebrating. We ended up again at Smokies for our lunch and margaritas and then headed back to camp. I took the pups for another long walk along the beach and saw one of the venues, where some areal spotlights were dancing in the mists and some reggae music was playing. It was a bit crowded with cars running along the beach, so the pups and I headed back to camp. A couple of fireworks blasted off around 8PM and of course the pups were a bit nervous, so they took some pills and we all just watched movies for the night. The fireworks at midnight were nonexistent, which we were thankful for (for the dogs).

The next morning I got up a bit later and took the pups for a really long walk, rather unplanned, along the southern beach. We passed one of the exits and I thought there was another a block or two further, but everything was blocked. I ended up walking them through a resort to get back to the street. Maggie had her tongue out so far it was half the size of her head. Zuzu was loving the 2.5 mile walk, but Maggie lagged a bit and was carried for a bit of it. Needless to say, the pups slept the afternoon away in comfort.

We ended up at Smokies again for lunch, and then headed further into town to find a bank to get some more Pesos. It was about 3/4 of a mile down the road and up the hill, but we enjoyed the afternoon walk. We found the big grocery store and I left Kathy there to browse while I walked the 100M further to the bank. When I got back, she had a handful of things already. We ended up with a basket half filled and had to purchase a bag to carry the load back to the camp. We spent one last night in Los Barriles and then pointed Howie south on Highway 1 for some free beach camping. We did not take many photos in Los Barriles. I can tell when the scenery hasn’t changed much as we don’t take as many photos. LOL.

Kathy and I spent three nights here at Jimmy and Yuda’s Hotel and RV park in El Triunfo. The town is a short distance from the RV park and it is very quiet other than the chickens and the cows and horses with bells on roaming the forest. We spent the first day there doing laundry and just hanging out. We did head in to town to look around and ended up having lunch at this really beautiful restaurant. We got there a bit early for their Paella, which the cook was in the process of making. It was fun watching him put the ingredients together into the large pan over the coals. By the time our food came out, I could have just ordered the paella. Maybe next time. It was Sunday, and we asked if they make it on Monday, and of course it was a no. Oh well.

I had the Pork ribs, and yes they were delicious, but not as good as the ones my dad and brother make. They were slow roasted over a fire and had a nice flavor. The BBQ sauce was a bit different than I am used to and they were not as tender as I am used to, which is probably why Dad’s still win. Kathy had a cranberry and pecan salad that she enjoyed very much. We strolled around the building, took in some of the exhibits and the artistry in the courtyards, and just enjoyed the early afternoon. It was all really beautiful. But laundry was in process, so we headed back to get another load in the washer.

I did get a bit of work done in the afternoon on the Palapa covered kitchen and patio area. I was a bit far from the Starlink so the internet was a bit slow, but I did manage to get posts updated on the website and get some of the security bits updated as well. I am still working on the contact forms, comment forms, etc that just aren’t connecting to the email services. We retired toward the pool a little after 5 in hopes of some adult interactions, but the weather had cooled and the owners retreated to the indoors; although we did manage to order a Margarita. We did find a nice indoor common area where we could get out of the cold wind, and we ended up ordering a pizza from Yudy. Kathy had befriended a couple from New Mexico and talked them into coming down for a chat. We enjoyed exchanging stories of travel with the. This is their 4th time down in Mexico and the third in Baja and had lots of advice and reassurances for us for the mainland.

The second day we were there, we wandered through the town on a couple of hour walk with the pups. The streets are a mixture of pavement, cobblestone, and dirt in this old mining village. There is a huge museum and mining tour (including the underground) and quite a lot of the old buildings have been restored. Part of it is because of the town’s history and partly because it is said the land surrounding the town is owned by Sam Walton’s daughter and she has a vested interest in the area. Either way it is really nice.

We relaxed the rest of the day, mostly inside as the weather had dropped to the low 60’s and it was a bit cold. I worked on some of the mapping issues I am trying to work out for the website and got a bit more reading done in the book that Kathy had picked up in la Paz. We decided to take it easy on the budget and make lunch and dinner, so Kathy made her famous bean dip and I made that Olive Garden parmesan chicken slow cooker recipe with rice. Both were delicious. Looking out the back of the camper at the campsite is a beautiful site.

Ok, now some nerd stuff. I am typing this to download my brain a bit, so skip this portion if it bores you. Here are some photos of the past few days:

https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20251227-30-el-truinfo

I am still working out the power patterns on the solar panels. In this camp we are dry-camping, meaning no water, no sewer, and no electricity. Generally we start the morning with 60% power in the battery, meaning we have used approximately 1500W of power in the past 24 hours (not counting what is used when it is charging). With a full day of sun, I can barely get the batteries from 60% to 100% this time of the year at the angle of the sun. In La Ventana, I pointed the camper south and we seemed to get enough sun to charge it up. But add in clouds and a different angle, and it will not charge completely. It intrigues me with 600W of power on the roof, we should be able to get it done. With the panels in parallel, 3x200W, assuming 85% efficiency, we should be seeing 18A coming in @28V, but it rarely gets to 12A. Maybe I need to assume 50% efficiency, because that seems to be where the current is: getting only 300W from the 600W panels. So in El Truinfo, we were facing southwest and that seemed to be nearly the same as facing south. I am not sure if a tilt would be better when we are stopped. To make it worse, I use a DCDC/MPPT converter that “prioritizes renewable energy”, meaning when the truck is running, it is fully capable of pulling 50A from the truck and using it to charge at 50A into the battery, but it never seems to get above 35A, and usually runs about 25-30A. It seems that the solar is killing the alternator current. Generally we need 5 hours to charge the battery when driving, which seems the case. As long as I park in the sun and make sure solar is charging, it will still fill the battery, in full sun, no clouds. I might just disconnect the solar one of these drive days to see if I can get more power from the alternator source.

I need to go back to the calculations to see what I should be getting with this setup versus what I am actually getting. I thought about getting more batteries during the stop back in AZ in November, but that would just get us several more days out of the battery use, but it would also take longer to charge. On the 5th wheel trailer, the same 3 solar panels are in series and push 10 amps (@115V), which ends up 50+ amps charging. Plus we have 7.2KW of storage compared to 3.6KW in Howie. I am thinking I might need to use a DC/DC charger direct from the alternator without the solar, and get something that will push up to 70A to charge. That would fill the battery in 2 hours of driving. I need to put this in a diagram and the calculations on paper to figure this out. I don’t want to be down in Central America needing to use the AC to keep it cool in the hot hours and not being able to keep the batteries charged.

We spent the day after leaving La Paz driving on some narrow sandy roads to find a camp spot to enjoy Christmas and several more days. I had found a place on iOverlander called the Biosphere, which was a property set up by a young couple with some tents and a place to put a van or two. After missing the road and heading to the beach, we found a nice spot near a tidal pool, but it was quite a ways from town and I apparently was not ready to park yet. We headed back on the road, which was in this large flood plain area that looked like it would be nasty when it was wet. I almost got Howie stuck while turning on to one of the tracks and the surface broke and the mud underneath bulged through. I quickly put it in 4wd Hi and rocked it out. Kathy laughed when looking at the tires since they were all caked with the mud and coated with sand on top.

I did manage to find the biosphere camp but they had three large, pretty aggressive dogs, and we felt that would be a hazard to our little pups. So we turned around, headed back up the dirt road and back toward the highway. We drove into the town of La Ventana, a busy and dusty place filled with winter tourists. There were three campgrounds that I had noted, but after driving by them, they were all packed to the gills, and I did not want to deal with the people and the crowded area with the dogs. I had seen a road at the start of town that said something about “beach community” so I pulled up the satellite imagery on Google and found the roads to the beach. We found a great spot on the top of a dune overlooking the bay. It was not totally remote with mountain bikers, ATV’s and vehicles passing every hour or two, but it was definitely great for swimming and beach combing.

The nights are beautiful as the wind calms down and we can see the town of La Ventana several miles in the distance. The morning sunrises are stunning as well. We have camped here two nights already and will probably stay one or two more. I’ve been getting a lot of reading done with a book Kathy picked up at Arnold’s place called “Monkeys on the Road” by a first-time van-lifer Mary Hollendoner. It is quick reading and gives a good overview of traveling down Baja and into Central and South America.

We opened Christmas presents from my parents yesterday. Kathy and I both got a bit teary-eyed with two of the ornaments my parents give. My mom likes Hallmark ornaments and finds themes that fit each of her kids. This year she got us a compass ornament that is inscribed “On to new adventures – 2025”, which fits our new journey. And the second ornament was one of a dog’s paw and collar with Oscar’s picture in it that said “In our hearts to stay”. We miss that little guy.

We got to FaceTime with Kathy’s sister, niece, and her parents; my family (Rick, Terry, David, Leslie, Seth, Phoebe, and Mom and Dad); and my son Riley in South Dakota. We miss being with family and friends over the holidays; one of the down-sides of the travel life; but it was great seeing them live on camera. Kudos to Starlink and it’s worldwide network access.

Merry Christmas everyone.

It only took a couple of hours to get to La Paz. It is a pretty big city of about 300K in the area. We looked to find a campground or a place to park and there were only a couple of places. One was a considerable distance from town and the other was just off the Malecon. The Malecon place was listed for shorter vans and was primarily a biker hostel. Kathy found anohter place in the center that had good ratings, so we pointed Howie in that direction.

The campground is a walled lot about 6 blocks up from the beach and close to grocery stores AND an ACE Ferreteria (Hardware). The cost was kind of steep at 600 pesos for hookup, and 500 for dry. We chose the dry, but should have just paid for the hookup. When we left, he has good purified drinking water for $200 pesos and charges $300 to dump. We ran the AC a bit in the afternoon to cool things down and should have just paid the extra $5 for the electricity. But the place was secure, had easy access to the gate, and stores. We did manage to find the toilet pods at ACE, so we bought two bags, which should last us 6 months.

While in La Paz, we headed to the malecon to get some food and to look around. At night it becomes a cruising location and both sides of the road are congested with cars taking in the atmosphere. I got a burger and beer deal at a place and Kathy went for the camerone tacos. We did have a nice discussion between us on the feelings we are having over the holidays, with travel, etc. Travel is not the two week vacation you take to a resort or attraction. It is living on the road, with different places to sleep throughout the week, and a lack of home. We did get the house rented, and that has also added a bit more uncertainty since we don’t have a home base to come back to.

But with all this, we used La Paz as a big city. I looked for a water filter to put on a hose so we can get water at campgrounds. Most of the water is city water, and drinking it is sometimes questionable. The city water is treated, but the infrastructure and pressures are not always consistent and most places have a rotopax storage container or a cistern that they pump the city water in to and then pull it from there and pressurize it for use at the properties. Its just one of those things that we kind of take foregranted in the USA.

We did sit down and get some travel advice from our camp host, Arnold. He grew up and had a business in the Yucatan penninsula. He retired several years ago, bought a used RV and drove it across Mexico to La Paz. He loved La Paz for its dry heat, and leased a lot and started an RV lot business. We want to do the loop around southern Baja to Cabo and back up the Pacific side before we cross to Mazatlan, and he pointed out great places and great campgrounds where he knows folks and will provide a great experience. We are actually camped at one in La Ventanna (its a remote beach he recommended. Arnold gave us some information on places to see in Mexico as well and we circled them on the maps we had.

We invited Arnold for some snacks of guacamole and a lobster salad we purchased in Loreto and we had an interesting discussion. He has issues with the current administration and is frustrated with the ongoing narrative that bashes Mexico. We agreed on some of the topics, and on others, not so much. He really enjoys having Europeans and Canadians visit his camp and is frustrated at a lack of patrons this year. Last year was his first with his RV lot and he was always full in the winter season. This year it is about 1/2 full. We did note that as costs have risen in the past two-4 years, it is tightening up the travel folks a bit. We have definitely felt that. He’s a funny guy that has survived prostrate cancer and is loving life. He has some great signs in his bathroom.

It looks like some friends will be flying down here to visit for a few days in January so we are getting a place in the Cabo area to house us all. More on that later. On our way out of town we stopped at Home Depot to see about a water filter. I did not find that, but I did find the 1/2 handle shovel I wanted to get before we left. And instead of $26, it was only $11 USD. Now Kathy has a shovel to dig shells and I have one in case I do something stupid in the mud or sand. LOL. We stopped at Walmart as well and actually found Dr. Pepper Zero for Kathy. We bought all 7 bottles we could find.

As we headed out of La Paz, our batteries had gotten to the lowest level since I think Denali. We were just under 30%. I had added another solar panel, but it does not seem to be increasing the charge rate by 1/3. And since we are saving on fuel this time around, the drive time and charging from the alternator needs does not fill it. We arrived at camp at 70% last night after 3-4 hours of engine time. That’s not going to cut it. I am not sure if I need 2-3 separate solar chargers to get the current up to 40 AMPs but so far with solar we are lucky to get 20-25. We can get 40A with the alternator, but only when the battery is lower than 70% and then the charger reduces the charge. I may just calculate the wattage of the block charger and get an alternator system set up to plug that in at 110V. If I added two more batteries, it would give us longer for charging, but it also takes longer to charge the batteries. Solar is not very efficient from what I have seen. I might have been better off pulling two DC/DC chargers from the two alternators I have in the truck and getting 60A into the battery. In the meantime, it seems that if we get low and solar is not cutting it, I need to drive 8 hours to charge, or find a camp with power to plug in to top it off.

We were planning to stay another few nights at Bahia de Conception, more on the southern shores, but when we drove by where the road was supposed to be, there was a fence with a lock, so we kept on driving. We were heading to Loreto anyway and had heard great things about the town, so a few more days there would not be an issue. I missed the turn into town and fortunately it put us right on path to a propane dealer, which we needed. I wrangled the propane tank out of Howie and filled it for $15USD. We stopped and tried to find a spot on iOverlander. We checked out two RV parks with one being very expensive and another on the edge of town outside of walking distance. We ended up in a free parking spot at the end of the Malecon for the night.

The street camping was nice but we wanted to stay for a couple of nights and didn’t want to wear out our welcome, so I did some more research. I found a couple of spots in town and decided to check them out while walking the pups. The first was already full but another down the street had spots, so I went back and after Kathy finished up packing, we moved Howie and then headed to breakfast. The campgrounds in the bigger cities in Mexico are kind of interesting. They may have 20 spots, but generally folks will get a lease on a spot and some will build houses on them, paying the lease to the owner over many years. I presume eventually these places are all filled up with homes on a permanent rental lot. Check out this huge hotel/apartment building at the front of the property!!!

Anyway, the campground is one block from the malecon and one block from the pedestrian area and has restrooms and a laundry. We stayed for two nights.

The pedestrian area of Loreto is very pretty. Some of the restored hotels are just EXCEPTIONALLY STUNNING. (Check out the Loreto gallery for additional photos). There are tons of little shops and bars and restaurants along the route. We wandered around and found some great Talavera and trinkets. We had left the pups for a couple of hours at this point and needed to get back and let them out.

Day 3 in Loreto we decided to go to the local mercado (in search of the rare Dr. Pepper Zero) and check out some more of the town. We wandered the pedestrian area and found a number of shops were now open, so we perused the trinkets and the art galleries. There was one area that had tons of raised metal wall art that was beautifully painted and talked how some of it would be great to decorate with. I did a bit of fishing while there as well.

We found the grocery store, but not the coveted drink, and then wandered into the more normal shops and restaurants. We walked several miles through the streets and found an electronics store where we purchased a bluetooth speaker and then another shop where we found our travel sticker. We ended up at the Zopilote Brewery to rehydrate and replenish, which we did with some water, margaritas, a delicious IPA, and some guacamole. We headed back to the campground to relieve the pups, and I took them on a long walk to wear them out.

That evening, Kathy and I walked to the Malecon to watch the parade we had been hearing about, but did not see anything, so we stopped for dinner at a great little place. I had the chicken with Mole sauce over rice and Kathy had scallops in cream sauce. Both were fabulous. I wanted to walk the pedestrian area at night to check out the decorations, which were mostly lit (obviously some of the connections were bad, or had blown something, LOL), and low and behold we heard the Bombaders (firetrucks), so we watched the parade on the side street. Santa was there, as was The Grinch. We got a pretty good night sleep with a bit of a quieter night in Loreto. We are headed down Highway 1 today and will stop at Puerto San Carlos for a night or two and then head down to La Paz for Christmas.

Here is a link to the photos we took in and around Loreto, BCS.

https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/202512-18-21-loreto

The poor pups were still having gastrointestinal problems and poor us were taking them out every hour or so throughout the night. Fortunately Maggie was good about whining and woke us up most all of the times. We put a pad out and she used that when I was sleeping too deeply. After two nights at the spit at Mulege, we headed into town to get some more chicken for the pups, some diesel for the truck, and to stop by the vet on the way out of town. There is a rescue/vet in the area open Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, so we stopped there and got a quick checkup. Both pups are healthy for their ages (13), and we noted that Zuzu has lost 3 lbs and Maggie 1 lb and they are still sick intestinally. The Dr prescribed some antibiotics for them for the next 5 days. And we gladly “donated” to the puppy causes.

On the way to the vet I found the Mulege Brewery and decided we’d have lunch there. Their IPA was fabulous and their margarita was a 8/10 for Kathy. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and Kathy got the Cobb salad; and the food was EXCELLENT. While we were eating, we were noticing some properties for sale, and one was a house we looked at while on our walk the previous day. As we were chatting, Kathy noticed this lady walking up and said, “Hey, you’re the agent on the ad”. We introduced ourselves and asked about the property. She gave us some information and asked if we wanted to go see it. We made an appointment later for Thursday morning… more on that later. It amazed me Kathy picked her out from her professional headshot. It turns out she owns the brewery as well.

We had decided to stay at one of the beaches along Bahia Conception, and found a place called Playa el Reception that was to our liking. It was $250MX ($14) for the night and we paid for two nights. The site was flat with a palapa, about 30 feet from the sea, and quiet. There were flush toilets and vendors stopping buy to sell fish, shirts, coffee cups, etc. Really cool and laid-back place.

The second day we hiked several times, with one of those times I crossed the sandy beach to the island (accessible in low tide) and hiked the perimeter. On the playa side, I began to walk across the little lagoon and it turned out it was only about knee deep all the way across. Kathy found more than a dozen starfish and a bunch of cool sea creatures like starfish and hermit crabs. We tried to get the clams to open, but they did not seem to want to play. We enjoyed two very peaceful and quiet nights at this cool camp before heading back to Mulege to meet Anne and look at the house.

The house was pretty nice and we thought it might be a good fit. There was another house in the same “corporation” for sale for $25K less, so we took a look. Anne had three other properties across the river that were up for sale and we headed over there to look. Those were all really neat little bungalows with 1 BR, 2 BA and a loft. Two had carports with a raised patio above and the other had a double lot with a small workshop. It is funny how on our travels we find these little places that we’d love to live, and we have only just begun the journey. Anne called later to check on us and the owner of the first house dropped the prive another $30K to try and get us to buy, but we just don’t feel we are ready to take that on at this point.

Either way, we are on to Loreto for the next few days. Here are some photos of the Mulege area.

https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20251217-18-playa-el-reception

We made the drive across the peninsula toward Santa Rosalia to see about camping there. The drive was across the desert and around some volcanoes and volcanic debris fields. The desert was pretty abundant and sections would all of a sudden become flush with cactus and trees and then give way to grasslands. The final few miles into San Rosalia was a bit barren and passed through a large mining area that appeared to still be somewhat operational with a large dock with pipes from the mine extending to the end. San Rosalia had an old refining plant that sits rusty and forbidding behind some newer shops near the middle of town.

We stopped at the local Birria to get some pulled pork tacos and chicharronies. The tacos were fantastic, but the fried pork fat was a bit overdone, though the pups liked it. We researched Santa Rosario later and apparently it was founded by a French company in 1884, was a company town, and has become somewhat of a tourist destination these days. Apparently the El Bolio mine was open until 1954 and then the Mexican government took it over to try and save the town and operation. It finally closed in the 1980’s until in the early 2000’s it was again opened by Canadian and Korean investors since the mine has about 0.6% copper and zinc and lower concentrations of cobalt and manganese. A Korean company now has development and operations for this mine after the first set of investors blew through $1.2 billion in development. Apparently it has 530 million tons of ore at the mine, which translates to about 33 billion in copper at today’s prices if they can keep operation costs down.

We walked around the main park and some of the old buildings and streets. The pups enjoyed the walk. We took some pictures, and checked out a couple of shops and then decided to take the multiple recommendations and head an hour south to Mulege. We did note that there was a vet there in case the pups needed it, but they were closed on Sunday and Monday. We down to the north end of Bahia de Conception to Heroic Mulege. This place has a great reputation for camping, sea kayaking, fishing, etc. We scouted a couple of places and then decided to stay at the end of the town on a free camping spot. There were free palapas and a partially sandy beach filled with shells; a favorite of Kathy’s.

The pups are still suffering from the bowel infection from the mussels. We spent the first night aiding them every hour or so as they walked down our steps to the beach and found a place to poop. We had started to give them chicken and rice, but Maggie was not eating or drinking at all at the end of the day. We were pretty worried about her. Zuzu was feeling better and was eating everything she could get her mouth on and started to show signs of regular bowel movements. We decided to take Maggie to the vet on the 15th if she did not show improvement. Fortunately in the morning I cooked up some sweet potatoes and rice and both of them ate a good amount plus some of the pork we had leftover and used for breakfast. They were both doing better so Kathy and I decided to leave them in Howie and walk to town to check out a vet that was listed there.

The walk was about 2 miles. It was my birthday and my parents called and we spoke to them as we walked. Mom and Dad sounded good and we caught them up on our travels and they caught us up on their medical adventures that has taken over their lives. Dad had his knee replaced in July and has had a really hard time with recovery and is still working to get his mobility back. Love them tons and are praying for them every day.

The town of Mulege is kind of cool. Several one-way streets and a mixture of older and newer and dilapidated buildings. We found a little taco shop with a Banos and had a couple of shrimp tacos, some beers and a soda. The little town had lots of puppies to delight Kathy as well as a number of shops. She found a shirt and a sticker she liked and a really neat store with lots of Talavera items. She even found a store with Dr. Pepper Zero, which apparently they bring in from Costco all the way north in Mexicali. Lots of the stores here have Costco items, broken down into single sale items. They even have TP and Paper towels from Costco. They sell the paper towels for $65 Pesos per roll ($3.50) and a bag of mixed nuts for $485 Pesos ($29). The mark-up is HUGE.

The town is cool and there are lots of restaurants and bars. Its slow here now, but will pick up after the first of the year. We walked back to the campsite on the beach, walked the pups, and then walked over to the local taco stand and had a beer and a couple more shrimp tacos. Kathy and I took a long beach coast walk around the lighthouse and found some old communist propaganda painted on the rocks. Here are some additional photos of the past few days in Santa Rosalia and Mulege.

https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20251214-16-santa-rosalia-and-mulege