Baja Road Trip – Loreto through La Paz to Todo Santos

Thursday, January 7th, Loreto through La Paz to Todo Santos

We have breakfast burritos at a nearby restaurant and start off for the longish drive to La Paz. 

The highway takes us along the Sea of Cortez and Isla Carmen where one day, before I am too old, I hope to kayak among this multitude of islands. It is late morning and the sun is magically blinding, the islands striking and starkly silhouetted.

The road cuts inland and the desert unfolds and I notice Alien pods of vegetation clinging to the phone wires. I point these out to Will, our traveling botanist, and he tells me they are Tillandsia recurvata. It’s good to have a botanist and a marine biologist along on this road trip. We stop in the middle of nowhere, at an family owned woodworking shop and restaurant and have a truly authentic lunch of machac burritos, stuffed with a shredded beef. I take a delicious bite of the machaca burrito, but order a plain quesadilla for myself. 

We power along the highway with plans to stop at La Paz for the night but there is still daylight and we decide to drive on to Todo Santos. John drives us into Todo Santos and we arrive just after 4:00 P.M. The town is crowded and I am worried that we won’t be able to find accommodations but we inquire in the bare bones hotel across from Hotel California. They have a room available with two queen beds for 500 pesos, about $30. It is less than charming but we take the room, moments before a backpacking couple takes the last available room.  

With our accommodations secured we wander along the main street popping into a few tourist arcades. Naturally, the all the salesmen do their best to entice us into their shop and when asked, I always tell them that I am looking for loose opals. Four years ago, I purchased a stunning Mexican Fire Opal here and look for the same shop. In one shop, I find some opals of interest but the very best one is in a gold pendant setting. I show Edwardo my card and he begins to take me seriously and offer me realistic prices instead of inflated tourist prices. Eventually we settle on a price for the opal without the gold setting and he leaves to go to the workshop and remove the stone from the mounting. In the meantime, another sales man enters the shop, not knowing that I have already purchased an opal and  assesses me as a good catch. He is fat and obnoxious and repeatedly calls me “My Queen” as he pulls inferior stones from the showcase. My salesman, Edwardo is gone nearly 30 minutes and I must suffer the other man’s offensive sales pressure. I want to tell him that I am definitely not “His Queen,” but do not.  Edwardo is my man!  The 7.5 carat opal is gorgeous and I leave with the golden treasure tucked securely in my bag.