November 23rd 2013. Our Mexican experiences on this day were mixed: good, some bad, and some very ugly.
Our Goal today was to drive from Los Barriles to Puerto San Carlos on the Bahia Magdalena on the Pacific Ocean to see if the Grey Whales would be there already, and calving in the bay.
We left Catherine and Lorne after breakfast. We had a wonderful visit, thank you so much!
It was the third time we drove through the Sierra La Laguna on highway # 1 between Los Barriles and La Paz. Each time it was different. This time it was glorious. The weather was superb.
We stopped again in El Triunfo for coffee, and to see if the friendly artist still had that nice woven Taco basket. No, sorry, she sold it.
Some guy showed us his place he is renovating for the last 10 plus years. He was off the wall. He thinks he is building a resort, it is simply bad. We were glad to get out of there.
El Triunfo was a gold and silver mining town in the 19th century. But after a hurricane flooded the mines, they soon closed down. All what is left for the local people of the glorious days of mining is polluted and unsafe water. But the coffee shop in the side alley makes good coffee ( using bottled water ), and they serve wonderful fresh baked goods.
Close to La Paz, we all of a sudden had the police stopping us. Four police officers surrounded us, casually showing their machine guns and handguns. One came to talk to us, while the other three kept us in check. They accused us of reckless driving. The traffic was heavy, but Anders certainly did not do anything wrong. Anyway the police talking to us said that he will have to give us a ticket, and pulled his ticket book out.
Thanks to Vagabundos del Mar's Travel advice, we asked where we would have to pay this ticket. He said in the police station downtown. We gave him a paper and pen and ask for the exact address.
He went to his boss in the back, this guy threw his arms up in the air. And his helper came back, saying that they got a call for another accident, and would not give us a ticket. Their trick to get bribe money out of us did not work. That was a very ugly Mexican experience.
On the way from La Paz to Ciudad Consstitucion, in the small village of Las Pocitas we had a wonderful Mexican experience. Driving by, we saw some furniture and stuff for sale at the side of the road. We stopped and had a look.
Of all things, Anders fell in love with a handmade knife ( he owns already several ). I looked through everything, and attempted to chat with the old man in my broken Spanish. He had this handmade deerskin coat for sale which looked good on me.
We negotiated for about 10 minutes for a good price for the knife and the coat. He, writing his price in the sand with his cane, and us, crossing it out until we came to an agreement. We all hugged each-other before leaving. I know, I will probably never wear the coat, but it is the best souvenir we bought on our Mexican trip.
We were happy, we had nice dry weather coming closer to Ciudad Constitucion The road work was still not finished, but this time the 10km stretch we had to drive in the ditch was fine and not under a foot of muddy water like on our way down.
The road west from Ciudad Constiticion to Puerto San Carlos is quite flat. We arrived early evening in San Carlos. We were just looking for a motel, when a guy in a truck pulled up beside us, asking if he could help. He said there were no calving whales yet, sorry. But his EcoHotel and restaurant would be the best in town. We followed him, and stayed the night.
We were the only guests. The food prepared by Carlos, the chef was very good. The palapa cabin on the beach looked very nice at first glance. Too late we discovered that we had bugs under the mattress. It was dark out and too late to drive anywhere else. So we sprayed everything, and made the bed with our bedding. We survived, but it was ugly.
Our Goal today was to drive from Los Barriles to Puerto San Carlos on the Bahia Magdalena on the Pacific Ocean to see if the Grey Whales would be there already, and calving in the bay.
We left Catherine and Lorne after breakfast. We had a wonderful visit, thank you so much!
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| Sierra La Laguna |
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| From Los Barriles toward La Paz |
We stopped again in El Triunfo for coffee, and to see if the friendly artist still had that nice woven Taco basket. No, sorry, she sold it.
Some guy showed us his place he is renovating for the last 10 plus years. He was off the wall. He thinks he is building a resort, it is simply bad. We were glad to get out of there.
 |
| Remnants of the mine in El Triunfo |
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| Cafe El Triunfo |
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| El Triunfo Today |
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| Pretty Town El Triunfo |
Close to La Paz, we all of a sudden had the police stopping us. Four police officers surrounded us, casually showing their machine guns and handguns. One came to talk to us, while the other three kept us in check. They accused us of reckless driving. The traffic was heavy, but Anders certainly did not do anything wrong. Anyway the police talking to us said that he will have to give us a ticket, and pulled his ticket book out.
Thanks to Vagabundos del Mar's Travel advice, we asked where we would have to pay this ticket. He said in the police station downtown. We gave him a paper and pen and ask for the exact address.
He went to his boss in the back, this guy threw his arms up in the air. And his helper came back, saying that they got a call for another accident, and would not give us a ticket. Their trick to get bribe money out of us did not work. That was a very ugly Mexican experience.
 |
| On our Way to Ciudad Constitucion |
On the way from La Paz to Ciudad Consstitucion, in the small village of Las Pocitas we had a wonderful Mexican experience. Driving by, we saw some furniture and stuff for sale at the side of the road. We stopped and had a look.
Of all things, Anders fell in love with a handmade knife ( he owns already several ). I looked through everything, and attempted to chat with the old man in my broken Spanish. He had this handmade deerskin coat for sale which looked good on me.
We negotiated for about 10 minutes for a good price for the knife and the coat. He, writing his price in the sand with his cane, and us, crossing it out until we came to an agreement. We all hugged each-other before leaving. I know, I will probably never wear the coat, but it is the best souvenir we bought on our Mexican trip.
 |
| We had beautiful Weather Driving west |
We were happy, we had nice dry weather coming closer to Ciudad Constitucion The road work was still not finished, but this time the 10km stretch we had to drive in the ditch was fine and not under a foot of muddy water like on our way down.
 |
| Road toward Puerta San Carlos |
The road west from Ciudad Constiticion to Puerto San Carlos is quite flat. We arrived early evening in San Carlos. We were just looking for a motel, when a guy in a truck pulled up beside us, asking if he could help. He said there were no calving whales yet, sorry. But his EcoHotel and restaurant would be the best in town. We followed him, and stayed the night.
 |
| At the EcoHotel |
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| Puerta San Carlos |
We were the only guests. The food prepared by Carlos, the chef was very good. The palapa cabin on the beach looked very nice at first glance. Too late we discovered that we had bugs under the mattress. It was dark out and too late to drive anywhere else. So we sprayed everything, and made the bed with our bedding. We survived, but it was ugly.
 |
| Sunset over the Bahia Magdalena |
For more pictures from this part of our trip, please go to our Web Album
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