The magnificent and magical Baja peninsula!

Being in Baja is simply magical. I am deeply in love and have taken thousands of photos already.  Which leads me to being totally overwhelmed when it comes to curating/sharing.  Bear with me if there are many posts of simply driving the peninsula - it is something I ardently want to share. 

I realized I never really explained where in the world we were going.  (Or if I did, please feel free to skip this part.)  Max, Luca, and I have a piece of property in a town called Plutarco Elias Calles in Baja California Sur, Mexico. We bought it back in the mid 90s (pre-Luca) when we were coming to Baja a lot in our 28' converter schoolbus.  We built a small palapa house on it that looks out over the crashing Pacific Ocean and gorgeous soft sand beach.  We once ran a successful renewable energy company here, and then a much needed satellite internet/communication business.  Then we decided to move to the US for a while but have been needing to deal with immigration issues and finally decided to just plan a trip and come.  Hence this wild + beautiful, crooked + steep journey.

We went to bed late and then got up at 2:30 am to cross the border. This rooster, and dozens of others, were sure to let us know it was time to get it in gear already!

 By the time we made it past Mexicali we were all in need of second doses of coffee and Toby took his copiloting to a pull over very seriously.  

The sunrise on the rocks showed off all their magnificent reds and golds.

This is definitely a road I want to follow!

Made it through our first of many military checkpoints without a hitch.  The most popular question we were asked: why are you traveling with a fully dressed, life sized skeleton at your table?

Yes, I know what Soy Kids means, but isn't it more fun to get a childish chuckle out of imagining little vegan, possibly non-GMO, hopefully organic, kiddos on offer here?

At this point I was practically hyperventilating in my need to get.in.that.water.  

Pretty sweet bathroom break spot.  Actually, in that area there were so few pull offs and none of them marked, so one really had to anticipate a need to stop well in advance.  I was quite pleased this one was so picturesque!

So, I kinda dropped the ball in my role as navigator and led us down a broken and lumpy road that dead ended at this grand international airport with the world's smallest control tower.

Horses.  Meandering across the airport parking lot. Followed by some feral cats.  We had a picnic and went in search of the main highway.  

The views make me think of movie sets.  It is hard to wrap my brain around such beauty.  

I just love it!  Don't you?

Yes, the drive was long, and occasionally made me question my sanity.  But c'mon.  Look at that.  

And this.

Luca was cracking up at the size of these bean pods!

Down by us, the ocotillo seem to always be gray and spiny - it was fun to see them so lush and green for much of the north.

The main highway, for most of the 1,000 miles, has barely any shoulder, is more narrow in places than the huge semi trucks, and has cows and goats that graze along its narrow margins.  Fun times! :)

I'm guessing I have more photos to share from Baja California Norte (and share I will in a future post, because I can't resist), but our goal was to make it to Baja California Sur before stopping for the night.  There was actually less of a checkpoint here than we expected, but we still had to pay a few dollars and drive over a misting machine that sprayed us for any bugs we may be carrying from the north.  Agriculture is big business in Baja and needs to be protected.  Of course, I managed to breathe in some of the spray and will probably have 3 heads by the time we drive north, so there is that.

Luca and me.  Before the mutations begin.