The Surreal Atmospheres of Baja California

WEDNESDAY 24/12/2008 MILAN-NEW YORK-LOS ANGELES

The time of our departure arrives: 1st flight at 11:30 with expected arrival after about 8.30 hours of flight. A quiet and on-time flight. We have been told that once in New York we must collect our backpacks and clear them through customs and then board them again for the next flight, without however having to check in again... We quickly get through the entry procedures into the United States with the relevant fingerprints and photos... right afterwards we find the backpacks and re-check them... after an hour we are on the DELTA plane headed to Los Angeles, flight time about six hours and thirty... We sleep, or at least I manage to sleep quite well; Diego, on the other hand, has fun with his personal screen, which also has some films in Italian, and he watches 2 of them. The time difference has hit me hard...

even though they tell us it's five in the afternoon, my body knows very well that it's the middle of the night and doesn't want to hear about changing habits. Let's hope we manage to fool it as quickly as possible and don't repeat the negative experience with the time difference heading west that I had in 2005 when we were in Mexico: for two whole weeks I would crash from sleep at six in the evening and be awake and lively at three-four in the morning... I guarantee you that you risk exhaustion... and you enjoy half of what you then see because your physical resistance runs out immediately.. At the end of my diary we will all know how it went. We are in terminal one of Los Angeles airport where we have an eight-hour wait for the flight we later booked that will take us as far as Los Cabos.

Officially we spend the whole night there; the flight is at 6:30 and it wasn't worth going to a hotel for only about five hours... we tell our body to sleep but it knows that in Italy it's morning and while the hands of our watch show 2:51 AM our body says it's 11:51 and that lunch is coming soon... I'm sitting in a waiting room passing the time; our wait is distracted by the arrest of a slightly suspicious guy... he was pacing up and down making strange insinuations to Diego (like follow me..) and it wasn't clear what his goal was... a worried girl called security and within five minutes ten or more of them arrived, armed, and at his attempt to flee, they caught him and handcuffed him... taken inside and I think also searched although we didn't see anything, only heard his moans... then they came out with him handcuffed... but at the moment I don't know the rest of the story...

also because I don't speak a word of English and Diego has discovered that his English is Asian and that he doesn't understand a thing of American English... thank goodness we're not stopping but going where they speak Spanish. As on every trip I read a multitude of travel accounts from all those who came before us and I collect them in a personalized file of mine... what to see, where to eat, where to sleep, which excursion to do and not to do... etc., a falsified version of the legendary Lonely Planet... If you want I can send it to you... just ask me: didodandan@fastwebnet.it By reading and collecting info we understood that our idea of going down from Los Angeles to Los Cabos and then coming back up by bus and sometimes renting a car... was not very feasible due to the very little time available.

So we decided to book a flight that would take us directly down to Los Cabos and then use the ten, eleven days we have only for the trip back up to Los Angeles... We found an acceptable price on Edreams considering that the advance notice was practically nonexistent: booking a flight in early December for 25 December, you can't expect a very low price. We fly with US-AIRWAYS and we pay 381€ for the two of us... we didn't pay a fortune and, most importantly, we really saved a huge amount of time. Diego was approached by a single fifty-year-old woman who has an incredible desire to talk and tell about everything she saw on a previous trip to Europe... at least he gets a bit of English practice, I just limit myself to smiling.

THURSDAY 25/12/2008 LOS ANGELES-CABO SAN LUCAS

At four thirty we start queuing to check in; the flight is about an hour late... it's not like we haven't been waiting long anyway, and waiting ten or eleven hours doesn't make much difference... This airline charges us 15$ each for the backpacks... we're in it now and we dance to it... Our flight is not a direct one but makes a stop in Arizona in Phoenix after about an hour and thirty of flight; we land, disembark and re-board, all in about thirty minutes; at least they're very quick and our domestic flight has turned international... we fill out the entry form and by 12:30 we land in Mexico. We have been on the go for exactly 36 hours and are starting to be a bit tired and to feel the need to say we've arrived at this part of the trip... now we glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel.

As soon as we step off the stairs, a warm air enters our bones and cheers us up: we're in the warmth, finally! We queue for passport control and it takes us about thirty minutes until it's our turn, all ok, we find our backpacks waiting for us and another smile fills my heart... On every flight I always have the phobia of not finding the backpacks... this time too we were lucky... We hand in the form to clear the backpacks through customs and Diego presses the button of the traffic light which stays green, how nice, we avoid the baggage check. We are free and by now we have arrived!!! Outside the airport there is a row of all the minivans (which they call collectivos) and they ask 15$ each to take us in front of our hotel... Ok, done, as long as we leave as soon as possible... It takes about 45' to reach Cabo san Lucas.

From Italy we booked the first night at the HOTEL MAR DE CORTEZ

4info@mardecortez.com

831-663-5803 fax 831-663-1904

One night without breakfast costs 61$ (44€)

It is located in an excellent position, central, it seemed close to everything but at the same time far from the mega hotels or the American chaos... all of it, as well as the beach, reachable with a ten-minute walk... They are equipped to answer any question or request, for an excursion or for renting a car... Our room is spacious, clean enough, with air conditioning, the pool a few steps away and on the veranda there are a small table and chairs to pass the time... There is a massage center, a small shop and the restaurant. We had lunch there as soon as we arrived and then breakfast the next day... Fast service, abundant dishes and mid-range prices... We can easily recommend it to you: we paid 61$ excluding breakfast. It is about four in the afternoon but our body tells us it's already midnight and it would be better to go to bed...

we want to resist and force ourselves to go out, take a walk and gather all the necessary info for the following days... We go to the marina area and fortunately we don't find all that chaos we expected, many shops are closed and there's no crowd... surely the fact that today is Christmas plays in our favor... It's full of venues and shops and restaurants; at the dock it's almost difficult to see the sea, there are so many boats or yachts "parked"... It's a big American contrivance, but we were prepared for that, and besides, tomorrow we leave... We gather information to see the arch; another agency offers us the possibility of going out to see the whales, they guarantee success... it's two hours and costs 70$ each... We aim to see the whales further north and in the ocean... of course they explain to us that it's in February, March that the sea almost fills with whales...

in December they are arriving... in March they have all arrived and have already given birth... and have increased in number. We choose the short excursion to see the arch. In a little stall just outside the marina there is a tourist office; we get acquainted with Gustavo who illustrates the most interesting points of Baja Sur and phones various agencies that rent cars for us. We want one starting tomorrow for a week and that we can then leave in Guerrero Negro... THRIFTY (it's the agency that has cars available and doesn't ask a fortune if you don't return the car to the same place where you picked it up, has its own support point in a hotel called Me Cabo.. we arrive just as they are closing, we talk and set an appointment for tomorrow morning.

After a night walk on the beach, we start to be really tired, we don't want to hear about eating and at nineteen hundred Mexican time, but three in the morning Italian time, we give in to the first sleep since we left and go to bed. We both crash within a literal two minutes.

FRIDAY 26/12/2008 CABO SAN LUCAS – CABO PULMO

After about ten hours of sleep we become aware of the reality around us... We have breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then go to the dock and take the 45' excursion to see the ARCH and the beach of love and divorce... It costs 12$ each, very beautiful and it is enough to give you an idea; if one has more time one can also get dropped off at the beach of love and have yourself picked up after a few hours... The sea is very beautiful thanks to the sun that makes the colors shine. Usually the excursions start at nine in the morning and repeat every hour until five in the afternoon.

At about ten thirty we leave the room headed to the hotel where the car rental agency is based; last night we went to ask for information and they confirmed the car for today. We arrive and after the usual misunderstandings they confirm everything. The people at THRIFTY ask us, with insurance all included, 77$ per day and the payment of 60$ extra to be able to pick up the car in Los Cabos and leave it after 4 days in La Paz, since in Guerriero they don't have offices. Ok!!! We are eager to leave all the American tourism and start seeing the real Mexico... We are headed to CABO PULMO and, thanks to the help of the tourist agency of the Me Cabo (a desk with a computer and telephone) we confirm two dives for tomorrow morning with the local diving center; we don't even have the phobia of having to arrive very early to ask for info and run the risk of getting there and there being no space...

there are too few days and we can't afford to spend days on the beach doing nothing... There is a beautiful sun and very pleasant warmth, considering that back home it's almost polar cold, our senses are filled with joy We enter the only road that exists, the A1, and after more than thirty minutes, past the airport, we are out of this world... only rock and cactus... we follow the road... It's lunchtime and we turn off following the signs for the little villages that are indicated to us with the goal of finding a little place to have lunch... the first village is Miraflores... ok, getting away from mass tourism and not expecting much.. but we couldn't even find a place to eat... We get back on the road and go on to the next village, Santiago, we take a few photos of the village church, typical and colorful... and then we ask where we can have lunch... they tell us about the Palomar...

There are tables scattered in the garden and everything is very tidy and quiet.. we hope to eat well... We ate very well with excellent service... average prices; if you pass through those parts we feel we can recommend it. We continue toward our final destination, also because it's almost three in the afternoon and we have no idea where we will sleep tonight... We arrive at Las Cuevas and take the right fork for the Cabo Pulmo marine park... after a short while the paved road ends and the dirt road begins: having read a lot of accounts we were prepared for the worst and the road doesn't catch us unprepared. Of course you can't go more than 40, there are too many potholes, but we find ourselves in the middle of nowhere; unfortunately the sky is clouding over and doesn't allow us to appreciate as we should the colors of the sea when we find it in front of us...

Let's hope tomorrow is better, since we're diving... We arrive after about an hour of dirt road in Cabo Pulmo; it's really small and I don't know how it manages to be classified as a village and have a place on the maps. Many in the forums I read asked whether a 4X4 is needed to get to Cabo Pulmo: now from personal experience I can confirm what others have written: NO! an ordinary car manages it very well, you just have to go with the right caution and not leave the dirt road; to reach the beaches, on the sand instead you need a 4x4, but you get there safely and at most you take a walk to reach the other beaches before and after Cabo Pulmo... Now we have to find somewhere to sleep: from my information there are only three places, one very expensive, the other mid-range and Nancy's which is very spartan...

We try Baja bungalows which is the mid-price one: it has only one room available and doesn't know if for two nights... we ask to see it: it's really small: just the double bed and half a meter to move around it... the bathroom is outside, shared... price: 45$... ok we'll think about it... We go as a second choice to the very expensive one, the CABO PULMO RESORT where there is also the diving center...( info@cabopulmo.com) They too have only one room available, with bathroom, and they ask 55$... we look at the room: it's spacious with the double bed and a half bed plus the large bathroom... very clean and very tidy, it has the outdoor garden with a small table and two chairs.. in short, for ten dollars more it offers us a beautiful room. We accept, also because we booked the dives with them as well... One thing surprises us..

in all the trips we've made it's the first time this has happened to us: the woman at the reception warns us that they don't have keys to the doors... that everything is open and nothing has ever happened... We remain a bit taken aback, but we don't have much choice other than to leave as few things in sight as possible and trust our neighbor. We take a look at the sea... by now the sun is setting behind us and the colors of the sea don't stand out very much... but it has a very long and solitary beach... I think it's a true paradise for those who have enough days to enjoy the peace that exists in this place far from everything. We have dinner in the resort restaurant... nothing very special, we were in the enclosed part because of the wind, but we came out smelling of food because the kitchen is in the same room... Very tired, we immediately crash from sleep.

SATURDAY 27/12/2008 DIVING IN CABO PULMO

We wake up very calmly even though we hear the wind whistling outside and this doesn't bode well for the dives we have to do... with the sun everything is more beautiful both above and below! Never mind, we can't change the weather. At nine we have to go to the diving center to get ready for the dives; it's eight and we want to eat... the resort restaurant is closed and asking the guard he tells us it opens around ten... Where can we go? In this group of houses we haven't seen many alternatives: he points us to the area restaurant: EL CABALLEROS. Incredible, there's even a restaurant... They have just opened and with much calm we manage to have an excellent breakfast. At nine we are in front of the diving center: it's full of people and everyone is in a flurry; we, mainly I, have a moment of bewilderment: the kilos are not kilos but pounds.. and you don't know how many they put on you...

The air in the tanks is not in bar but in another unit that I don't remember, and logically the depth indicator doesn't show meters but feet... thank goodness we have the computers... After a good hour of preparation for all the various groups, the time comes to go out... The wind is quite strong and as a consequence the sea is sufficiently rough... The current is strong so you have to dive quickly and all together... Ok...1,2,3, everyone down.... we descend, I follow the guide... after a few minutes underwater she signals us to go back up, I don't know for what reason, but I then understand it's because we're not in the right spot... UGH!!! We go back up to the boat while the current doesn't make all the various operations easy... keep in mind that I also suffer from seasickness... I hold on... The captain positions himself in the right spot and again 1,2,3...

one doesn't manage to jump in with the group and we in the water have to wait for him.. and again the seasickness makes itself felt... I dive with a feeling of nausea and a slight dizziness... Below there is poor visibility and a lot of suspended matter... there are many fish and I had never seen so many pufferfish all together... we see for the first time the guitarfish... and groups of fish of different varieties and colors... But it's a normal dive, nothing special... Suddenly the woman tells us to go back up... everyone up... As soon as I get on the boat all my indisposition comes out and I give my breakfast to the fish... Like yawns, nausea is also contagious and even the diver in front of me copies me... between the rough sea and us feeling awful, it's decided to give up the second dive.

Did we do right? Did we do wrong? I don't know, I only know that at the moment I couldn't wait to get back on dry land. The price of the dive is divided as follows: DIVING: 1 DIVE 55$ EQUIPMENT 20$ 2nd DIVE 20$

TOTAL 2 DIVES 95$

A restorative hot shower and a little nap to regain strength... Then we set off in search of a place to have lunch... there isn't a huge amount of choice but we're curious to see and try Nancy's, which we find by following the signs of the establishment... It's as described by those who came before us.... very simple and spartan... but the prices are no lower than the other places as far as food goes... we eat tacos and then take the car to visit the beaches of Cabo Pulmo since a little sun is coming out... We take photos of the various cacti we encounter and of the condors or various birds of prey similar to hawks... The landscape is truly Mexican... but all of Baja apart from Los Cabos is very Mexican and not very touristy fortunately. We return and very quickly crash from sleep.

SUNDAY 28/12/2008 CABO PULMO -

I wake up at dawn, I don't know if it's because of the time difference or because I went to bed anyway at five in the afternoon due to a headache... at four I'm wide awake. I open the door and find myself in front of an incredible starry sky, like a box of Baci Perugina... in this place there is no light pollution, so the starry sky is truly starry. I even start photographing it and I can guarantee you that some came out really well, fantastic!!! Then I start writing the draft for the email to send to my friends as soon as we find a place to connect, and I write a few lines of the diary... then I settle down again for another hour... Packed the backpacks, we are ready for departure toward La Paz at seven thirty; having not had dinner we are both quite hungry, but everything is closed; we decide to set off, certain that we will find something along the road...

We stop to photograph the landscape, the cacti and the various birds we see around... Today the weather seems better, there's a beautiful sun but a chilly wind spoils what would be an ideal climate... Around nine we arrive in a village called RIBERA... we stop at a typical Mexican little restaurant and ask for breakfast, no problem! We sit down… they don't have juices and not even eggs to scramble, but only a cake with tomatoes and onion and other stuff that's inedible given the time of day... The very kind man explains to us that the specialty is "carnita" and takes care to show us a piece in case it wasn't clear... but we understood perfectly... The look is however very inviting, we accept the challenge... go with the carnita: it is then pork boiled in large pots and then sautéed once cut on a grill to roast it a little. Excellent!We get half a kilo between the two of us.

They also bring us all the various hot sauces, chilies and guacamole... but I refuse... The man, again very kind, also brings us a taste of his specialties: little pieces of skin, stomach and liver... A delicacy for them, Diego tries to taste, I don't want to give it back to him and just laugh... I can only tell you that we didn't touch solid food again until nine in the evening... Forget the time difference, soon my stomach won't know anymore when it's time for breakfast or lunch! Anyway it would have been an excellent place to have lunch if it had been the right time... Happy to have won this little mental challenge too, we set off again... We arrive in LOS BARRILES and stop for a coffee break in a bar run by an American family, right at the entrance of the village in a sort of commercial plaza...

the espresso is good, the biscuits excellent, then we also get them to make us a mochaccino which is nothing other than milk and coffee... Everything helps to digest the carnita we ate. We continue on the road through mountains and arid woods, a landscape that doesn't present major surprises... and around one in the afternoon we enter La Paz. It takes us a moment to orient ourselves and understand where the two hotels we chose from the many recommended and tried by those before us are located. La Paz is full of life, lots of people; I think it's normal since it's Sunday... The first hotel is the: JENKA HOTEL and it's located right in the center on a street parallel to the malecon... we pass in front of it but the various signs saying marijuana free make us lose the desire even just to ask... we go directly to the second..

the posada LUNASOL We find it easily by studying the map for a moment and it appeals to us right away: it's slightly outside the center but with a ten, fifteen minute walk you're already on the malecon and where all the restaurants or shops of the center are. They have two rooms free and we ask to view the cheaper one... It's really beautiful and large, the whole posada is beautiful and well cared for: it's arranged on two floors, with the reception and the guarded car parking on the ground floor.

Posada LunaSol / Mar Y Aventuras #564 Topete, E/5 de Febrero y Navarro La Paz, BCS, Mexico

It costs us 168$ for three nights, 56$ per night without breakfast. The room would be perfect but I want to be precise for anyone who might choose this accommodation thanks also to my report: the room is perfect, but the bathroom has only a small window and perhaps the sewers don't drain well; in any case a smell of sewage hangs in the room... after the first ten minutes you get used to it and it isn't very bothersome, also because in the room there are two nice windows and we manage to air it out well... I have no idea whether the same problem occurred in all the rooms or only in ours, or whether it was due to a temporary problem... If we come back to the area, we will certainly stay with them again... They are kind, available for any need and there is always someone at reception 24 hours a day....

Having solved the accommodation problem, we want to organize a dive for tomorrow; if we like it we have time to do it again... Near the posada there is a diving center, they seem prepared and equipped; we ask for info to then have a basis for a final choice... I had read of people who recommended the diving center located in the hotel CANTAMAR ( info@clubcantamar.com) and also the Circolo del Mare, where we got our certification, recommended by personal experience that we go with them... They have a small office in the center of La Paz, on the malecon, but when we pass by they are closed... perhaps because of the time or because it's Sunday... we decide to look for the Cantamar specifically... It's really out of the way; you have to take the road toward the beaches... right after the ferry boat, there's a fork, just before the beach of PICHILINQUE...

if at the fork you keep left at the end you will find the whole CANTAMAR residential complex with the diving center attached. We talk to the guy at the reception; he doesn't know much, he only tells us "no problem, come here tomorrow at eight and do everything." Ok, deal done... since we're on the right road we decide to visit all the beaches on this side of La Paz. The most beautiful, as all of you who came before me had made quite clear to me, is undoubtedly PLAYA BALANDRA. There are lots of people and thanks to the low tide we even manage to get right under the mushroom, a rock formation, and take some nice photos... a shame not to have our swimsuit.. although honestly there's also a light breeze that makes you appreciate having a dress on. We return and for dinner, from the accounts I had read, the KIWI stood out in a positive sense...

We find it slightly chilly; they serve us really good nachos and an even better fish cream... The positive comments were justified... we are full of hope... but the kitchen falls spectacularly flat on the meat: I had ordered a New York-style steak and Diego a T-Bone; what arrives is practically a two-finger-thick ciabatta and a shoe sole, hard in an indescribable way and inedible. Perhaps by choosing fish we would have been luckier? We'll never know, also because in the following days we won't give it a second chance. We pay and go to sleep; tomorrow will be an intense day of activities.

MONDAY 29-12-2008

We go out with one thought: where to have breakfast before the dives? It's seven thirty and everything is closed; we only find a café on the malecon that also offers creamy, puffy cakes which we avoid… we hope to have enough time to eat something at the diving hotel. We arrive on time and talk to Jonathan; he is the one who organizes and manages the diving center: yesterday's guy didn't know a thing and so we learn what the day's plans are: 2 dives, location to be decided based on the sea, and around two we will return to the bay to go in search of the whale shark; you pay an extra 25$ for the ultralight that takes off in flight to locate them: in theory after that they move with certainty. We accept everything and swipe the credit card. Fortunately every time we've used it we haven't had to pay a commission.

We try and prepare the equipment and shortly afterwards everyone is ready to leave; there's no time to go to the restaurant for breakfast; Jonathan reassures us by telling us he'll give us some biscuits on the boat. We don't have many demands, just to put something in our stomach. The boat is really big, it's practically on three levels: the lower one under deck, where we put our stuff and clothes and everything is safe and protected; the level where all the equipment is and which after each dive becomes a lake; and an upper level where you can then sit and enjoy the sun and the journey. We spend a good hour of sailing before arriving at the site of the first dive; there's a lot of wind but I find shelter behind the captain's cabin and manage to have a fairly calm trip.

Aside from a few stretches where the current is strong and the sea consequently rough, for the rest of the trip the sea is like a table. We skirt Isla Espiritu santo: the sun makes the color of the sea and the white of its beaches stand out; surely in summer lying for a few hours on these beaches can't be too bad, on the contrary... We dive at LOS ISLOTES where a colony of 350-400 sea lions lives. There are about ten or so of us divers but many dive on their own and in the end the two dive masters split the remaining divers and we find ourselves alone with another Spanish guy. These are the dives I dream of: big boat, very few people, calm sea and diving as in this case to five meters and then reaching the desired depth gradually. Everything perfect.

As soon as we dive a sea lion dives with us; they are fairly large animals but they don't scare me; they swim with us but don't particularly care about our intrusion. We reach seventeen meters of depth. The visibility is not the best, barely ten meters, and the suspended matter is considerable. Perhaps some big fish or a turtle even passes near us but we can't see them... a shame... but in any case we swam with lots of fish, in some cases we were right inside their "cloud". On the way up we do the five-meter stop and around us the sea lions are still swimming; unfortunately not very many specimens but enough to remain amazed at seeing with what grace they swim in the water. We could have, instead of going straight back up to the boat, gone snorkeling with the sea lions while we waited for all the divers who were with us...

but we thought of it afterwards and it will remain among the classic moments of if we had said or done. But next time I'll be more alert. We resume sailing headed to the second dive site: La Partida we descend following the anchor line directly to the maximum depth of 18 meters and in this case too we don't make any very special encounters but it is in any case a calm dive and with lots of fish and very colorful starfish. On the boat they serve us lunch with meat tacos and fresh fruit... we're in the middle of the sea and we make do. We return to the dock to pick up those who paid only for snorkeling with the whale shark. We set off again; they confirm to us that the diving center's ultralight has spotted them, they even speak of about ten, but to us it seems more like a mockery than reality... We'd even settle for just one.

After about forty minutes we slow down and begin scanning the sea in search of some sign; logically it's the diving center men who spot the first shark: they divide us into two groups of about six people and after the very justified recommendations not to touch the shark they give us the go-ahead to dive in. Honestly I don't have much desire to dive into the slightly cold water and I say: "but I can see it well from above the boat too..." then my brain quickly runs through all the info available of the type: it's a special experience, it doesn't happen every day, there are people who would want to be in my place, divers I know who organized trips just to be able to see it and didn't see it... you paid to see it...

and so right after the others I threw myself in; unfortunately I immediately lost the mouthpiece of the snorkel, so I put the plastic tube in directly, even though I felt a bit penalized. I guarantee you that seeing it from above and finding yourself with this animal of five-six meters (a baby) at half a meter of distance is a whole other effect. We all know it's a very good and not at all dangerous animal, but given the poor visibility on one occasion I found it in front of me with its mouth open and I got slightly scared, it was so big but at the same time wonderful. We had already encountered the whale shark just after getting certified in Mozambique but back then I had seen it from above the rubber dinghy and glimpsed it underwater... this time we saw it very well; we even thought it would move us somewhere with its tail...

While we were busy with one shark the second group dived in to follow another one... as soon as we lost contact with the shark we went back up on the boat to spot another one or to get closer and then dive in again. I, partly out of fear and partly because of the damaged snorkel, went back up to not dive anymore, same for Diego but he because of his poor swimming ability and the cramp that caught him right away... in any case we had at least 5 encounters with the big creatures! Diving in the end doesn't require a very special physical shape, although it is certainly an extra safeguard in case of unfavorable conditions or current; on the contrary, snorkeling with the whale shark DOES.... you have to swim with it at its pace in the middle of the sea; if you slow down a moment it's already gone...

We then limited ourselves but it was beautiful to see them from above and indeed there were about ten of them... you heard exclamations continuously as they spotted one on every part of the ship. Beautiful!!! Some passed alongside the boat and we regretted so much not having the video camera with us to immortalize it all, but we didn't know we would be looking for the shark and even more so the conditions of the boat; often when you do dives there are no protected areas and everything gets wet so you leave everything at home to not take unnecessary risks; in this case everything would have been possible. Compliments to the Cantamar diving center for their organization, preparation and attention to making everything, especially the dives, as safe and calm as possible. We pay for the day for two 309.59$ (220€) Each: 2 DIVES + SNORKELING 105$ EQUIPMENT RENTAL 23$ PLANE FOR WHALE SHARK 25$

We return tired but very happy. Dinner in the restaurant recommended by Jonatan, the: Bismarkito is specialized in fish: we eat well, abundant portions, including Diego's first oysters… and last ones too!

TUESDAY 30-12-2008 LA PAZ

We are getting used to sleeping ten hours and more per night... at nine we crash from sleep and at eight we struggle to wake up... of course yesterday's day tired us out well. Today there is a splendid sun and the

WEDNESDAY 31-12-2008 LA PAZ - LORETO

We wake up even before dawn; at seven we have the bus that will take us from La Paz to Loreto. We go downstairs and the young man from the posada who did the night shift immediately calls us a taxi. In less than ten minutes we're at the AGUILA bus station. The ticket to Loreto costs 410 pesos each; we wait and wait and figure out on our own that there's a delay...at a quarter to eight they tell us the trip has been cancelled and that we have to take the nine o'clock one. They reprint our tickets with the right time. How nice to have woken up before six and then wait more than two hours on a bench.

But this is part of traveling too, and of its unforeseen events!!! The arrival in Loreto scheduled for noon is pushed to two in the afternoon...let's hope!!! We leave on time and quickly leave La Paz behind...in the middle of nowhere the bus, like all other vehicles, is stopped at a checkpoint; they make us all get off and a soldier with his dog checks and searches all the luggage. After the dog has jumped all over the luggage, they also do the "dog test," that is, they hide a little "white" bag among the suitcases and let the dog loose.

Honestly it seems a bit inept to me (but I don't know anything about these things); I see the soldier several times pointing out to it where to search...in the end the dog locates the package and sits down in front of the incriminated suitcase...as a reward a "red toy" that the dog enjoys clamping in its mouth and the guy takes it and throws it among the suitcases..the whole thing is repeated four or five times...It jumps on my backpack more than once, as long as it doesn't pee on it.... We're all clean and can set off again, thanks!! Now we're on the bus; it's already noon and outside it's a beautiful sunny day...In Loreto we booked by email one night at Leon's Baja Outpost...everyone in the various accounts has spoken very highly of it, we'll see..( outpost@bajaoutpost.com ) We arrived on time; it took us a little over six hours.

The areas we crossed are very typical and classic in terms of landscapes, mountains, ravines with car carcasses and cacti at the bottom, and every now and then out of nowhere a little village pops up...the road in certain stretches offers some beautiful views and if we'd had the car we would have been very happy to take photos...Traveling by bus also means this: losing the freedom to stop when you want... We're becoming more and more aware of how the Baja should be experienced: as so many travelers before us have already done: first, with much more time available, and second, in full freedom and independence, modifying and changing the plan based on desires and the feelings of the moment. Getting off the bus, we're immediately approached by a taxi driver: ok, 40 pesos to take us to LEON'S BAJA OUTPOST: it's on the Loreto malecón, a short walk and you're in the center.

They're doing expansion work and we immediately meet Leon, who is on the roof of a building directing the work with his workers...He doesn't have much time but kindly takes us to our deluxe cabana...$86 a night with breakfast...I had read about him in various accounts and we didn't look for anything else...I knew he did both diving and trips to the various islands...but now he explains that it's not a good time for diving and they've suspended everything to do the various expansion works, and that from January 15 the season starts for seeing blue whales, which are arriving in the Sea of Cortez...ugh, we're early...let's hope things go well for us at Guerrero Negro.

Lonely Planet, describing Leon's lodgings, says: "although it's just a few steps from the malecón, within a few hours you'll feel as if you're in the jungle." It was a phrase I found hard to understand; now that I'm inside I understand...The cabanas are all made of straw, dried palm leaves and wood, and are similar in shape to African huts, though inside they're equipped with every comfort. On one hand they're very romantic, although personally a nice hotel room relaxes me much more than being outdoors anyway... It's a matter of taste. Another very nice but strange detail is that here too, as in Cabo Pulmo, they don't have keys for the doors...He explains clearly that in fifteen years nothing has ever happened, just not to leave passports on the tables but in the backpacks and everything's fine.

Then he explains not to lock up because he doesn't have spare keys anyway and there's only one locksmith in town who has the tools to open the doors... It's incredible to think about anyway: in a world full of crime you have to trust completely people you don't know and leave computers and cameras and all your personal belongings just like that in an open room where anyone can enter because there's no reception or control over who comes in or out...I'm happy for them if they still live in a little corner of paradise, but I'd like to know if he too, in his own house, doesn't have keys and leaves everything open.... After these brief reflections we went out to eat and managed to book two dives for tomorrow morning at another dive shop, DIVING DOLPHIN...

( In the afternoon we strolled through the small town center and peeked into the various little local handicraft shops: the thing is, once you've seen one it's like you've seen them all. Anyway, I didn't find anything that particularly struck me, so I saved a little money... We asked for confirmation of the bus times to Guerrero and once again our plans were turned upside down: we had decided to sleep two nights in Loreto and leave early Friday morning..and the next day do the whale excursion...but the buses leave until four in the morning, then have a break until noon...

What to do? Honestly, here in Loreto, if you don't enjoy the sea with diving or snorkeling, or don't have your own car and go around seeing other beaches or the nearby mission, there's really nothing at all to do...We have to decide..we're certain that in Guerrero, once you've seen the whales, there's even less to do than here in Loreto...so it's just as well to move everything up and stay an extra day in Los Angeles and see a bit more...It's stressful anyway to finish the dives and then leave right away, but it doesn't make sense either to stay in this little village an extra day with nothing to do...I think if we can, we'll leave with the 3:30 PM bus and after six hours we should have arrived. We're tired enough and after dinner we crash immediately...in the distance we hear people celebrating 2009, but after a moment we're back in dreamland.

THURSDAY 01-01-2009 LORETO – GUERRERO NEGRO

Leon's cabana may be nice and romantic, but I can guarantee you it's chilly at night. With the wool blanket you sleep very well, but the head that stays out occasionally freezes a little...Surely in August the straw walls are much cooler and more ventilated, but now the temperature is a bit lower...we're fine anyway. We wake up with no desire to dive and leave all wet, so we notify the dive shop of our change of plans...no problem, they tell us that the other couple who was supposed to dive with us has also bailed! At eight-thirty Leon's children start playing and calling to each other...if you wanted to sleep a little, this certainly isn't the moment...

We meet Leon, who in good Italian explains where to have breakfast and that he has currently suspended diving so as not to ruin his reputation...visibility is poor and if you don't have a good dive you won't come back...in theory he only works when he's sure of a good outcome. He says that in August there's 40 meters of visibility and you find two thousand, three thousand dolphins and a thousand manta rays all together.... I'll be happy to organize a trip for a future August...

Breakfast is served practically next to the construction site where they're working...everything is chaos; to get there we have to walk on wobbly wooden planks...the cats climb on the tables and lick what's on your plate...so much for the Grand Hotel! I imagine, or at least want to hope, that in August the atmosphere changes slightly; certainly family-friendly stays family-friendly...the three- and five-year-olds play with you and ask about what you're drinking...and last but not least I woke up with a cockroach of at least 3 cm on the headboard of the bed, practically next to my pillow... I don't feel like advising against it because so many travelers before us speak very highly of it, but at the moment if we were to return to Loreto I don't think we'd go back to Leon's, although I think we happened to be there during the place's renovation..but my $86 were still perfectly good money.

After breakfast, given the splendid sun, we have a little internal struggle (we're sorry we didn't dive, maybe we would have seen wonderful things; but at the same time we're happy we didn't and that we relaxed) over the missed dives...we take a nice walk along the malecón. We go as far as the little harbor where the boat owners offer us the chance to go for a trip to the nearby islands...we watch the hundreds of pelicans fish: they circle high in the sky and when they see a fish they go perfectly vertical and dive into the water...they're beautiful to watch. We head to the small town center where, sitting on a little wall, we find free wireless internet and manage to send a few emails... At eleven we take a taxi and now we're waiting for the bus to Guerrero...in six hours we should arrive. The ticket costs 477 pesos each.

We start the journey...the driver drives a bit like a madman and between the mountains and the various curves it makes life slightly difficult for me, since I get carsick...every now and then we hit straight stretches and then he grants me the luxury of stabilizing. We come across another checkpoint; the soldiers tell us to get off and start checking the suitcases, though not all of them—my backpack, for example, they don't touch...but this time they don't have the dog and they search by feeling around inside the suitcase...I don't think it produces many results: at least with a dog it could have made sense...but like this...they don't check personal bags or the inside of the bus where someone could have hidden anything before getting off... I'm certain anyway that in theory they know their stuff, something I completely ignore.

We set off again and around two in the afternoon we stop in the middle of the desert where, however, there's a cluster of three or four houses with a small restaurant: the stop lasts a good thirty minutes to let everyone have lunch in peace. On the road again...we see beautiful landscapes; among the various mountains and cacti, every now and then the intense blue of the sea peeks out in the distance... Around five we're at Sant'Ignacio, where we find yet another military checkpoint...(we start thinking about when we'll make the trip toward Tijuana at night and that while we sleep peacefully (hopefully) we'll be woken every so often and made to get off in the cold. But that's another day and we'll think about it when it comes. This time they check Diego's backpack too and all the personal bags before letting us back on the bus...we're clean and set off again.

We have the honor of witnessing the sunset over the desert among the mountains. The sky colored red in an indescribable way and the shadows of the various cacti stood out even more. We hope the photos taken through the glass came out! At seven-thirty we arrive at our destination: GUERRERO NEGRO. We don't see much of the town; we immediately look for a taxi to the HOTEL MALARRIMO where we had booked tomorrow night, but having moved everything up by a day, we hope they have a room. They're full, but we book the tour to see the whales, tomorrow at eleven. They tell us to try the HOTEL IL MORRO.

We trust them and go without consulting my guidebook or Lonely Planet...More than a hotel it looks like a motel in classic American style...It has some free rooms and we accept; we don't feel much like wandering around and secondly I don't think in this little village, famous only for the whales, there's much choice anyway, and it's only for one night. Checking Lonely Planet afterward, it says it offers simple but comfortable rooms...specifying that I'm not sure they're all the same: ours (number 10) is certainly simple but also fairly spartan, or in "slight" decline. The floor is all half peeling and the bathroom bears the marks of all the water it's taken; it's a bit sad but at least the sheets seem clean and maybe I won't have the cockroach I had in Leon's luxury cabana...The room costs as much as a dinner, 320 pesos, about €18, so everything is accepted.

We go out for dinner, following the directions contained in a little slip of paper the hotel-motel guy gave us earlier: it entitles us to a 10% discount on food but not on drinks. The restaurant isn't very far and seems a "truly luxurious" place considering where we are...they pour water into your glass, they open the door for you and other little gestures that let you know they've studied a bit of class. We eat well and spend a normal amount, as much as a night in the rundown room. We go back and after reading a bit we crash from sleep. We have no stamina; we don't do all that much but we always sleep...better..because the night in these places would be too long...

FRIDAY 02-01-2009 GUERRERO NEGRO - TIJUANA

Today is the big day; we hope our expectations won't be disappointed: we're going to see the whales. A very relaxed awakening in the squalid motel, a shower with a trickle of water, and off we go straight to the agency ECO-TOURS MALARRIMO info@malarrimo.com we pay 1070 PESOS for two (€60)

Departure is scheduled for eleven; just enough time for a relaxed breakfast, also taking advantage of the free internet connection we manage to send a few emails... There are about twenty of us who will then be divided onto two boats... During the trip, which lasts about thirty minutes, a young man acts as guide and tells us the history of the town, which we discover isn't as small as we thought (it has forty-three thousand inhabitants in total); he tells us about the salt flats and the life of the whales. Once we arrive, we set off with the two boats and try to find where the whales are...suddenly one surprises us with its typical spout...it's very big...it appears and disappears...

We go on and a kind of ritual begins: dolphins appear, jumping very close to our boat too, and right after that the whales reappear...in the end we see several, though you never know whether the one you see in another spot is the same one or another...One thing's certain, we even see three or four at once...They're enormous!!! We also find one that's particularly eager for cuddles: one at a time it surfaces alongside our boat or the other one with its snout to be petted. It's something incredible and moving. This beautiful and enormous animal passes under our little boat and pokes its snout up with a delicacy that can't be explained; it could easily capsize us if it wanted, but instead it just wants caresses...

It's impressive; at one point our boats are kind of facing each other and while on the outer side I see the whale's very long tail, those on the other boat are petting its snout or its flank. Every now and then we even got washed, to the delight of the cameras, by the whale's spray, it was so close. Fantastic. Even the many dolphins we saw will stay in my heart; I had already seen some in other places but never for so long and so close to the boat...they're beautiful and wonderfully elegant. It was also a beautiful sunny day that made everything even better...when we thought we were done, the whale said goodbye to us with two tail slaps that would have made an incredible photo; too bad it all caught us by surprise and we didn't manage to photograph or film anything, and then to mock us once again it popped out its snout jumping out of the water.

With that in our eyes we headed back, stopped to see the nest a fishing eagle had made on a pole in the middle of the sea, photograph a boat carrying salt, and finally photograph about twenty sea lions all piled up on an enormous buoy, resembling a barrel, in the middle of the sea...they were fantastic even though they stink of dried shrimp in a way that's mind-blowing...at least when you get close to them snorkeling you don't smell it. The tour is organized perfectly and at the set time we return. We have lunch again at the Malarrimo restaurant with some tacos and head to the hotel...for 150 pesos they let us keep the room until the time the bus leaves, around six or seven this evening. The journey is drawing to a close; I'm sorry we wasted a day in Loreto; it turned out wasted because we didn't dive, but that we certainly couldn't have predicted.

But it would have been a day we could have used to stop at another bay, like Magdalena Bay, to see the whales again...just for the fact that even if we come back (I'm certain we'll come back sooner or later: we left out too many things...) we'll never again be in the Baja in this period, the whale period...so maybe we should have focused a little more..even though in both La Paz and Loreto the season wasn't open yet: we arrived early. Today, to our joy, we saw them, and well too, so you also have to know how to be satisfied, right? Around four-thirty and five, out of caution, we decide to confirm the bus time again: they tell us there are a huge number of people and a waiting list has formed; we're number 26 and 27.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!! Creating false hopes for ourselves, at six-thirty we show up in the waiting room where in no time a ton of people arrive...they talk, argue a bit agitatedly... We understand little; a young man speaking more slowly explains that the 7:30 bus is already full so no one else will get on..we all move onto the list for the 10:30 and 1:00 ones; they're anyway seeing whether to create an extra bus.... A little inner depression begins, mixed with resignation: everything sooner or later comes to an end, it's just that you don't know the time; we console ourselves with some meat tacos we get outside the bus station, just to kill time.

The seven-thirty one comes and goes...then around ten they inform us that the other one is full too but that we'll certainly leave with the midnight one: I think it's the extra one because the time doesn't match any of the announced ones; all the better, a round of applause to whoever manages all this. Around eleven we check in our luggage, we hand it over on the other side of the counter and they attach a claim number to it...a number that no one asks you for when you pick it up. At least they try to do things in an orderly way...Meanwhile we pay for the ticket partly in dollars and partly in pesos, 480 pesos each. With an hour's delay the ten-thirty bus also arrives...ours, on the other hand, arrives and leaves right on time: 00:15...Tired as we are, we fall asleep immediately.

SATURDAY 03-01-2009 TIJUANA – LOS ANGELES

After a little more than an hour of travel we're woken by the checkpoint; this time they don't force us to get off, they only check the suitcases, but since the compartments of our backpacks are closed with a padlock we're forced to get off, open them, take out the backpacks, and witness a very ridiculous, purely pro-forma search, but they're very nice; they even help us put everything back the way they found it. Around dawn we'd be stopped again by another checkpoint but they let us through right away, perhaps because they know we've already been checked. Between one sleep and another and various drowsy states, we arrive in Tijuana right on time; it's about eleven... We barely have time to get off the bus before a woman points us to where to go to catch the bus to Los Angeles...

It's $22 each...There's the bus for international departures and the one with the Greyhound sign...we don't know the difference but later we'll make our guesses... We're happy not to have had to venture into the chaos of the hundreds of people inside the waiting room...we follow the woman's directions. The driver accompanies us to the border, then hands us our suitcases and tells us to follow the crowd that has quickly formed a line; the bus is waiting for us on the other side: that's at least what we think we understood... It's raining and for a stretch we're even out in the open; there's a line of a hundred people and maybe more.. ahead of us and behind us. Anyway, in no time we're at passport and baggage control and we get through quickly. There are no signs about where we'll find the bus; we follow the crowd.

There's a lot of chaos and no one giving information; after half an hour of waiting we understand that we have to reconfirm the ticket in a little office around the corner, another long line...we get divided among various buses and finally we leave. It takes us about three hours to reach Los Angeles. They drop us off in an unknown area near Downtown and for $50 an unlicensed taxi driver takes us to our hotel. Anyway, farewell Mexico and welcome to the United States.

REFLECTIONS ON THE BAJA:

We liked it; I had no doubt it would be that way because of all the accounts I read, I found only one that was 100% negative and another slightly more objective but still negative; all the others were in love with the Baja or at least happy to have come once in their lives. Excluding the opportunity to see the whales, which is only in winter, both Diego and I agree that the best period is surely summer, although I imagine you'd die of heat; I say August because the beauty of Baja California is the sea and its beaches. When it's hot outside, diving into a sea with beautiful colors makes everything even more wonderful than when it's cold outside and the water is only twenty degrees.

Surely the inland landscapes too, its desert, its cacti and the birds of prey that inhabit it make it special, and also the fact that in many places you find the real Mexico, not the one tailor-made for tourists—all this makes the Baja still worthy of being seen. But the beauty of the Baja is the sea and its creatures, so you have to set out already with the idea of either diving or touring the various beaches and snorkeling...if you have enough time you can save some money by finding yourself a boatman and not doing the things organized by agencies. We, with few days, between one thing and another, spent a fair amount anyway...but our motto is: if I have to save money or tighten my belt, I certainly don't do it on a trip, depriving myself of some excursion—I do it at home in everyday life.

The second thing that both Diego and I agree on is that the Baja should be toured by car, in total independence and freedom, and that you need to have a good number of days available; in our case ten days were really too few; we had to give up visiting many places that were flagged as interesting or beautiful to see. Oh well, we'll surely come back sooner or later...and it will be in August with at least two or three weeks available. One last note: we didn't find the Baja particularly cheap, perhaps because due to the little time we often couldn't weigh more than one alternative...but we're happy to have seen it, even if only in part. We hope to return one day....