Follow the Rio

Today we arrived in La Ventana, Baja California Sur after driving around 1,800 miles South over 10 days. We were excited to get to the warmth, and every day we went South we could feel the temperatures rising. La Ventana and the surrounding towns are also really good for kitesurfing, a definite motivating factor. We are looking forward to settling into truck life here for a little while, spending the days on the beach and water and experiencing the Mexican style of holidays. Rio is also looking forward to running on the beach all day instead of sleeping and chewing on her toy octopus in the car.

The drive through Baja was dynamic because the highway 1 – the main road going North to South – has parts paralleling the Pacific, long stretches through the desert, and other sections following the Sea of Cortez. On the other hand, as Mitch pointed out, the desert landscape seemed almost identical from the top of Baja to close to the tip where we are now. We camped the first night on the Pacific coast, the second in the middle of the desert, and the third on the Sea of Cortez side; all three were beautiful in their own way. The sunset on the Pacific was beautiful and the beach huge and deserted. The desert had a crazy fog over it in the early morning that was super eerie, and the sunrise over the marina we camped at on the East coast was striking.

Yesterday we had our first sight of the Sea of Cortez rounding a pass over the desert mountains, and the bright aquamarine color is incredible. We took our first swims at lunch and Rio of course had her first frisbee game on the white shell-filled beach. Everyone we have met on this trip so far has been really nice, from the locals who wave at our truck all the time to the fellow travelers camping near us. I knew Baja had plenty of winter travelers who drive here, but it still amazes me that we have seen license plates from Oregon, California, Utah, Idaho, Canada and more.

Happy Holidays & Feliz Navidad from down South!

Zea, Mitch & Rio