February 12, 2019

February 12, 2019

We woke to chilly weather in San Quintin, Baja Mexico. For breakfast I had scrambled eggs with Chorizo sausage. It was delicious. Aimee ate healthy ordering oatmeal.

Back on the road we continued further south down the long narrow Baja California peninsula. We quickly changed terrain, entering the Valle de los Cirios Nature Reserve. Although it is part of the Sonoran Desert, like Tucson, it is distinctive. The coast of California has been sliding north along the San Andreas fault. Many millions of years ago this opened the Gulf of California (aka Sea of Cortez). This separation has caused the vegetation on either side to diverge. The Saguaro cousins here, called Cardons, are larger with more branching and fewer thorns.

The Cirio, a cousin of our Ocotillo is even more strikingly different. Also called the Boojum Tree, it has the same branches of the Ocotillo but they come off a tapered candle-like spine. Maybe we don’t need to go to the Galapagos Islands to see Darwinian evolution in action! We stopped for a nature walk among these distinctive Baja natives. Wildflowers are beginning to bloom adding color. Living and hiking in the desert, we appreciate the differences more than most tourists. It makes the marathon drive down the Baja spine worth the pain.

Later the terrain turns into the boulder Pluton fields we saw as we approached San Diego a few days ago and that we have also seen in Joshua Tree National Park. In the village of Catavina, we stopped and hiked out to some petroglyphs hidden in an overhang of a boulder. They are brightly colored and were drawn by the Cochimi Indians who inhabited the area before the Spanish arrival.

For lunch we had a delicious chicken broth soup flavored with Tortilla chips, lime, avocado, onion and Chipotle (roasted dried Jalapenos). I washed it down with a dark Bohemia beer. We had Mexican candy for dessert. It was Coconut flavored candy in the colors of the Mexican flag: red, white and green.

After lunch we continued the arduous trek south. This region is real desert with no villages, no houses, no cell service, and no indication of humanity. Only our semi-paved road. Surprisingly the desert continues to change the farther we drive. We see less cacti and now more Yucca Trees and stunted Elephant Trees, both endemic to this part of the Sonoran Desert.

After two days and 500 miles of driving we finish in the small town of Guerrero Negro. We have a delicious buffet dinner. This time the beer of choice was a Dos Equis. So far the food in Mexico has been great.