January 3, Sunday – San Quintin to Guerrero Negro
I wake around 7:00 A.M. dress in as many layers of clothing as possible and slip out of our hotel room. Art, John ad Will are still sleeping. I sit in the courtyard just outside our room and check e-mail and send some photos to family and friends. It is a chilly morning and my exposed fingers become numb, typing on the cold keyboard. An hour later, I tiptoe back into the room and find Art awake and dressed. We walk to the lobby and help ourselves to weak but hot coffee and stroll the lush grounds of Hotel Jardines.
It’s just after 9:00 A.M. when we leave the oasis Hotel Jardines in San Quintin for our drive to Catavina. I drive the first leg of the trip to El Rosario.The paved ribbon of highway is much too narrow and I white knuckle it past semi-trucks rushing at us head on. In most stretches of the two lane highway, there is no shoulder and a significant drop off to the right. The highway is well maintained but I understand all too well why there are memorial cross markers in so many places along the road.
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| El Rosario Restaurant |
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| Breakfast at El Rosario |
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| El Rosario Restaurant |
El Rosario is a small town and we stop for breakfast at Mi Casa Restaurant. It is on the left hand side of the road between a tire center and the police station. It is painted a cheerful orange, the outdoor patio edged with cacti and we sit outside and order coffee and breakfast. There are no prices on the menu so Art asks, and a less than charming waitress tells us that each breakfast is 95 pesos. My Mexican eggs, scrambled with tomatoes, onions and chiles is reasonably good and the homemade salsa is excellent.
As we head out of El Rosario, Art sees a sign warning us that the next gas is 318 kilometers away. With just half a tank of gas, we turn around and fill up at the Pemex station a couple of miles back.
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| Desert Vista and the Ribbon of Highway |
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| John, Marty, Cardon Cactus |
The road takes us up into the high desert with breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains. It is a painted desert of red, orange and sage green. There are pockets of large cardon cactus, nopale cactus and a type of Joshua Tree. Dr Suess like Foquiera plants dot the landscape, each topped with whimsical flowery tufts. We pull off at a high ridge and are happy to have this 4 runner as Art drives a barley discernible dirt road, alongside the highway. We get out to stretch our legs and Will, a botanist, takes off downhill to examine the plants in the area. I inhale the remarkable beauty of this desert and think of my father, wishing that he could be with us on this Baja road trip and grateful that he and my mother, taught me to appreciate nature and geology.
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| Catavina Landscape |
As we near Catavina, the expansive vistas morph into a rocky landscape. Plateaus rise in the distance and there are mountains of rounded boulders much like those at California’s Joshua Tree National Park. We pull over and the boys scramble and climb the boulder ridden landscape. Unfortunately, many of the boulders are sprayed with graffiti. It’s roughly 2:00 P.M. when we arrive in Cativina, barely a dot on the map. Our plans were to spend the night so we stop at El President Hotel to inquire the prices as well as the Santa Ynez Rancho, several arroyo’s further on. The tiny rancho is deserted and the boys seem anxious to drive onto Guerrero Negro for the night. Before driving on, I re-read Dave’s instructions and we back track to the last wet arroyo where I hoped we could hike up the canyon and anoint ourselves with desert spring water. Unfortunately, since we don’t have a hotel room to stash our valuables, someone must to stay with the car since we have Art’s new bicycle and my computer aboard. I volunteer to stay and settle down with my computer to write while the three boys start up the canyon. Art returns grinning a few minutes later, puts our Toyota into 4 wheel drive and we drive up the sandy wash as far as possible. It’s great fun to have this vehicle and I think the good times I had as a young girl, 4 wheeling up sandy washes with my father.
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| Catavina Graffiti |
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| Catavina Cactus Landscape |
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| Catavina Wash |
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| Will, Catavina |
We drive on to Guerrero Negro for the night and check into the Malarrimo Motel. Although it is a recommended option in the guide book the rooms are rather shabby. We have two rooms for tonight, each with two queen beds crowned with brightly painted and crudely carved whale motif headboards. Our fish dinner at the Malarrimo hotel restaurant, is reasonably good and afterwards we migrate into the bar where we visit with another family who are going on a whale watching tour with us in the morning. Art, John and Will play pool but Art and I retire early to our room leaving the boys to be boys.
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| Pool at La Malarimmo Hotel Bar |
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| Pool at La Malarimmo Hotel Bar |
