We didn’t know it but Baja was exactly what we needed. After 2.5 weeks of hopping from one parking spot to the next in San Diego, we had gotten into a bit of a rut. We started this journey with the intention of letting the road take us where it will. Our prayers were simply “Keep our hearts open to all experiences, people, and places we encounter along the way.” We had hopes that perhaps we’d find somewhere that felt like a good place to someday make our home. And while we’ve seen a lot of beautiful places and experienced some great cities, nowhere has felt quite like our corner of the globe yet. Not even beautiful San Diego.
I think in both our hearts we know that our place is not here in the U.S.A. and perhaps not even over in Europe. Which made our extended stay in San Diego more draining than anything. Not knowing when we’d be free to roam again weighed on us. Driving down to Baja was like a bucket of cold water over the head, at first shocking and not so friendly ( bit of a rough start getting over the border). But after we got past Tijuana we saw the coastline again, it stretched on for miles, fruit and taco stands along the highway beckoned, and the smog of the city faded away. The tension in my stomach began to fade away and in it’s place burned excitement for the days ahead. 10+ days in MEXICO!!
Thank goodness Luca speaks enough Spanish to get us around because my attempts at anything came out sprinkled with german and french. I think the only accurate and perfectly pronounced thing I said the entire trip was what sealed our fate at the border. After being misunderstood repeatedly when it came to paying a visa tariff, we asked the supervisor if we would receive the fee back if in fact we ended up not needing the visa for our stay. “Claro que NO” he said, and like on auto pilot I heard myself shoot back in a mocking retort “Claro que Si!”. GAWD I could’ve died…horrified at what had just escaped my lips I immediately put my palms in the air and started apologizing like a robber coming out of a burning bank. Too late. I had offended the head honcho who promptly said “That’s it!” sent me to the corner to sit in a chair and wait.
Luca was told to go get the car and pick me up on the American side. He could come back to Mexico, but I was not allowed in. Devastated, I sat in that measly corner, crossed my fingers and prayed for that officer to change his mind. Luckily he did. But only because his assistant; a young woman, who spoke good english, understood that the situation had escalated out of our hands very quickly and in reality we meant no harm. She came out to instruct me what to do next and then added, “Yes, this sort of thing is a very big deal.” Phew, what a relief. I was shaking as we walked/sprinted out of there. It took me a while to settle down and appreciate the rest of the drive.
Our first destination was Casa Mediodia. A cute bed & breakfast perched high up in the hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean, about an hour south of Ensenada, just outside a coastal village called La Bufadora. Our hosts, the Noons, were a lovely American couple both had retired from their jobs in medical laboratories to buy, build, and run this bed and breakfast. Each morning they prepared delicious, vegetarian, breakfasts for all of us to enjoy in their pretty kitchen overlooking the sparkly, blue water of Alligator Bay below.
Hike down to Alligator Cove 
Admiring the turquoise blue tide pools. 
Market day 
Fruit and hot sauce? 
Lunch like a local 
Delicious! 
View of La Bufadora 
Zucchini flowers, what a treat! 
4th of July 
Beach all to ourselves 
Well perhaps this is why…you have to rappell down to enjoy. 
Saturday in La Bufadora 
Cacao beans & delicious figs! 
Our market haul all for under $20. 
After one too many tamales we were in need of some real veggies.
We spent 4 nights with the Noons. During the days we hiked along the cliffs and down onto beautiful beaches that we usually had all to ourselves. Being out in nature again was literally soul-soothing and with so little people around it truly felt like we were on a deserted island sometimes. We checked out a weekly market one of the days and finally got the movie night we’d been craving for a while, Avatar yes!
After July 4th, the Noons had a full house so we had to find elsewhere to stay. We moved right up the hill to another small community called Puerta Escondido. This place was a true gem! Our host Janika was lovely and has a gorgeous home right on the cliff overlooking a blue lagoon. Her house kinda reminded me of a jungle tree house. Round, with a veranda wrapping around its entire back half. Her art studio was built a bit farther down on the cliff and seemed like the perfect place for an artist to work. We stayed in the portion above and behind her main house, our own lovely Casita.
It took a few days to unwind and truly come to appreciate the pace and beauty of our surroundings in Baja. Traveling in the van comes with it’s own set of stressors. Luca and I both enjoy doing lots of the same things which is conveneint when you’re living on top of each other and you only have 1 van as means of transportation. But everyone needs “me” time, and we were in severe need of exactly that. We both needed space to be with our own thoughts, intentions, and some time to let our creative spirits breathe. Janika’s little cliffside Casita was the perfect spot for all of those things. The space itself breathed creativity and life! Bright & colorful paintings dotted the walls and sunlight flooded onto the earthy tile floor sunrise to sunset. Luca was able to take some time to go fishing and I enjoyed hiking along the cliffs and morning yoga & meditation.
Luca and our neighborhood friends. 
oh yes!! 
Noah and his sidekick 
Fresh caught! 
Lazy beach days 
Yoga at our Casita 
Dinner friends in La Bufadora
We drove up to the Wine route one day and wow who knew Mexican wine is so delicious! We visited 3 wineries, Vinicola JC Bravo, Finca La Carrodilla and learned a lot about the history of winemaking in Mexico. If you’re interested this article does a great job of summing it all up
http://www.mauricescru.com/category/around-the-world/mexican-wines/
Lunch friend! 
Finca de Altozano 
Vinicula JC Bravo- charming small family vineyard 
Finca la Carrodilla-ecofriendly vineyard 
The most interesting Rose I’ve ever tasted…like toast? 
Luca after just 1 tasting
Oh and we finally got to meet Janika’s cats on our last day. By the end of the day, the little one had won herself a new name, Luca’s little jewel. She followed him around the garden like a little puppy and came promptly whenever he called. So sweet.
There she is! 
on the prowl… 
so majestic
Roaming Geckos 