week 10: baja california sur II

first, here is last week's video:

day 64: san pedrito

Amy: San Pedrito beach is extremely long. It starts out rocky where we're camped on the arroyo, and gradually turns to sand as you walk down towards El Pescadero. During my morning stroll, a few whales were swimming parallel to shore, so I plopped down and watched them breach and spout until they swam away. We spent the rest of the day exploring the rocky coast, watching the surfers at sunset, and eating Costco carrot cake by the campfire!

bill: today we went down the beach to explore some granite around the corner. a lot of the baja is volcanic, but loose, friable rock, so the climbing isn't so great, but there was a patch of granite pouring right onto the beach that looked absolutely bomber. tom put up a toprope with a gear anchor and i put up a new trad line, tom just free solos it every morning up and down, back and forth. nothing hard, like 5.3, but very fun to get out and touch some rock.

i wanted to test-drive riding the bike back and forth down the arroyo before putting amy and the boards on it since the sand is quite loose and deep at points; it is a whole other ballgame compared to dirt and mud and feels very insecure. i almost dumped it a few times when the front tire just decides to stop gripping and fall, maybe we won't use the surfboard rack. we sat around on the beach, met more people and had another fire into the night.

day 65: cerritos

Amy: By chance, one of the folks we're camped with used to be a surf instructor, so she kindly offered to coach a bunch of us at Cerritos beach. Yay for new friends and free surf lessons! We all piled into our new friends' converted shuttle bus and hit the waves! When the surf got too rough, we laid in the sand, ate and drank the day away. The beach is full of vendors selling massive $5 drinks, tacos, coconuts, ice cream, hats - you name it. On our way back to camp we picked up ice cream and a delectable loaf of date bread - similar to banana bread, but sweeter, stickier and caramelized to perfection.

bill: together with all of our new friends we all went down to cerritos to get some surf lessons from steph. amy is now popping up and riding whitewash every time all day and is having a much better time than before. i am working on turning down the line and trying to catch green waves but with limited success. we hung out on the beach, drank micheladas from the beach bar and ate fish tacos from a taco stand on the beach. this is the life. so stoked. i never want to leave the baja.

day 66: san pedrito

bill: i picked up some work so i worked in the van for the morning, then went to surf the beach break at san pedrito at lunch, more mellow than cerritos but very shallow, it essentially breaks in 2 feet of water so you have to be careful where you fall. our friends hannah and corbin decided to make the whole gang po-boys for dinner, i contributed by helping mix up a big, strong batch of pina coladas. mondays aren't so bad when you are working from the beach in mexico.

watching the sun set into the pacific never gets old

Amy: Living on a beach is lovely. I woke up with tea and yoga in the sand, watching the surfers and whales go about their business. We've been eating luxuriously these days - partially because there's more time to cook, and partially because every avocado is absolutely perfect. Who doesn't love a good breakfast burrito every morning? After working up an appetite surfing, we had a delicious potluck-style family meal (thanks new friends!) and got a little tipsy on pina coladas. Not a bad Monday.

day 67: san pedrito

Amy: Today we puttered around, surfed and popped into Todos Santos for dinner. It's a very cute town, so we'll be heading there tomorrow to explore some more in the daylight!

todos

bill: more work in the morning, amy and i surfed cerritos in the pm, then headed over to todos santos to meet up with some friends from earlier in the trip, caught up with them over very good italian food then headed back to camp for movie night - our friends all got together to watch a climbing flick on a projector on the side of a bus. mid movie we got interrupted by someone getting stuck in the sand, it took about 12 people, 2 maxtrax, 2 shovels, and a high jack to get them out, but it was actually pretty fun.

todos

how to use a high jack as a winch

day 68: san pedrito

bill: i had a patient to see today midday so for the morning we went to a local coffee shop for breakfast. after work our friends from last night showed up with an adorable puppy then found wandering the streets of todos santos, seeing if we knew anyone who wanted a dog. it is getting harder and harder to dodge dog-parenthood. we went into todos again to explore in the daylight, it is a very cute town with an artsy vibe, though somewhat flooded with gringo money and a lot more sterile than some of the other towns we have been to. one more fire at san pedrito tonight before we take off for the east cape.

same same but different

Amy: This morning we zoomed out on the motorbike out for breakfast at a very cute local cafe, 'Same same but different', perched atop a hill overlooking Cerritos. Bill had to work, so I walked the beach with some friends and the puppy they found - look how perfect he is!!

In the afternoon, we wandered around Todos Santos and had the BEST crispy avocado and coco-shrimp tacos. The town is a little touristy (it's also referred to as 'Todos Gringos') but we eventually found the old town centre. Everything is so vibrant here - the trees are flowering, the greenery is lush, and murals adorn every wall.

our power steering has been squeaky since we got the van but it failed momentarily the other day while doing a u-turn. turns out the pump isn't failing, it's just a loose belt. fortunately there isn't a serpentine on these old vehicles, just a series of v-belts, so we just loosened the pump and slid it farther away on the frame. problem solved, plus no more belt squealing!

day 69: todos santos to east cape

Amy: A few of us decided to move as a smaller group to East Cape - east of Los Cabos. We said our goodbyes to the Pedrito folks and headed into Cabo to stock up on food, water, beer and gas. We took the motorbike downtown but it was hot, hectic and touristy, and we couldn't find a place to park, so we left. Oh well. After a few wrong turns, we finally made it to Shipwrecks beach where we reunited with our friends over a campfire.

bill: on our way to the east cape we went into cabo san lucas, it was a nightmare. stop signs are a suggestion, lanes don't exist, tourists everywhere, very hot. there isn't even anything cool there since all the beach and land is owned by private resorts.

we took the bike as far down into cabo as we could until the road ran out: the southernmost part of our journey. now there is nowhere to go but to turn back north towards home. crazy. pretty stoked the van has taken us this far.

we continued past through cabo san jose to the east cape to meet up with our friends at shipwreck beach, our home for the next while.

day 70: shipwreck beach

Amy: We've had nothing but sunshine and heat since coming to Mexico - not one single day of rain! It's strange, but who's complaining. I walked and read on the beach, then hit some waves with Bill - we surfed a wave in together! Unfortunately, 3 seconds after catching the wave, Bill cut his foot decently bad, and I had to run and grab our first aid kit. Womp womp. Thankfully, it's nothing a little beer and fun can't fix! It's St. Patrick's day after all. We played on the beach and drank the afternoon away, then watched the sunset and had a big ol bonfire with s'mores, Irish car bomb drinks, and Bill's signature margaritas.

bill: woke in the morning to humpback whales swimming off the shore, we thought this was more of a west cape thing but we saw a mom and her baby this morning. went to surf the very approachable left point/reef break at shipwreck, a much more fun break than cerritos for our level: all green waves, waist high, not too fast. after catching my first wave of the day, i was treading water and my foot hit a piece of coral lightly, turns out coral is super sharp and it sliced my foot open pretty good. i superglued it shut and it's fine but i might have ruined the surfing portion of the next few days if i don't want it to get infected. in the afternoon a family of donkeys wandered right up to our van. very cool. it was st. patty's day so we had a big fire and a party and i made proper margaritas for the gang. we drank a lot.

we really didn't give ourselves enough time down here. 4-5 weeks is barely enough to scrape the surface and the vibe here is just incredible. everybody here is so rad, so friendly, so chill, there are endless things to do. this feels a lot more like how life is supposed to be; spending all day outdoors in the sun, having a close knit community, every night around a campfire with your friends. even working isn't enough to harsh the vibe, because as soon as you finish you are on a beach in the sun living right next to all your friends. we are trying to figure out how we can just keep doing this forever.

here is this week's video: