While camped in Loreto, we met a family from Northern California that told us about this dirt road that will take us to a slice of paradise in Baja that most people do not visit. The dirt road is treacherous, they said. The mountains will be like if Sedona met the sea, they said. To get to the road to Puerto Agua Verde, turn left when you see a mule tied to a cactus, they said.

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We found the mule and the scenery got more and more beautiful as the pavement quickly turned into dirt.

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After a few miles, we were treated to this beautiful view.

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And we were also treated to this a downhill stretch of dirt road for many miles too. Wide enough for only one car in most places, praying no one was coming in the opposite direction.

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Getting closer but still not there. That’s not Agua Verde. Still need to go past that awesome sand bar lagoon thing.

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Are we there yet? I wish, kids. I WISH!

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Just as we neared the bottom, two trucks were on their way up. We pulled over near the cliff edge and let them by.

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Once at the bottom, you are NOT there yet. There a few more mountains to climb and descend. Can’t be any worse, right? WRONG.

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Puerto Agua Verde was everything we expected except for the last stretch of the road descending into the village. Carved right into the hillside with boulders and deep ruts and often less than a foot of clearance on either side. In some parts, the roads were so steep we could barely keep our truck from slipping.

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Hello, huge loose pig! We made it here in one piece.

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Hello, turkey vulture! We made it here one piece.

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Not very many vehicles make it all the way out to Puerto Agua Verde. An older couple from Canada showed up shortly after us on Friday and had the same hair-raising experience coming down the hill. Cold cervezas have never tasted so good.

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We took a deep breath when we finally arrived knowing in a couple of days we will need to drive back out on the same road.

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No cell reception. No services. No other campers (besides the Canadians and 5 sailboats in the water).

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Kids went straight to work collecting and throwing rocks into the sea.

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Down the beach to the right is supposed to be a secret beach so our mission this weekend is to find it and explore it.

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Finding dead puffer fish along the way.

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Getting closer to our destination. And look at the gorgeous bird poop rock island with a cactus on it surrounded by the sea. It’s so beautiful. And to top it off, and osprey is nesting on it. GAH!

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No, Mila. I can NOT hold your Barbie. I am admiring bird poop island still. GAH!

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See the osprey now??!?! GAH.

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To get to the secret beach, you must climb through that hole in the mountain.

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Since we are so close to a coral reef and since there are really no visitors that come this way like the other beaches in Baja, we were treated to so many treasures on the beaches of Agua Verde.

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Tide pooling for a bit just beyond the hole in the mountain.

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The sandy part of the secret beach was a little too much of a walk through tide pools for the little ones so we turned around and kept looking for treasures.

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A dead ray, I think. Luka wasn’t really into it so he covered his eyes with a piece of trash he collected.

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Back at camp, the kids laid out all of their treasures on our flimsy but cute folding camp table.

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Luka was all about the coral. Ava was all about shells and rocks. And Mila was all about the bones.

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Those must be dolphin spines.

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This is just what we could carry. There was sooo much more. And no we won’t be taking this all with us.

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The water was cold but that didn’t bother the crazy kids. Luka’s going fishing.

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Hey, Wylder? Have you seen Luka?

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Look up?

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Ahhh. Should have known. Luka loves to get up on top in a VW bus pop-up… especially while playing with someone else’s legos.

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Last night we had a campfire but Dan was determined to cook breakfast this morning and needed more wood.

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The kids were super excited to help. Watch those toes, please!

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It’s not a proper Baja experience unless a random dog shows up and gets named by the kiddos.

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Say hello to Burnt Marshmellow.

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And then before we knew it, it was Sunday morning. It wasn’t the most relaxing weekend knowing how our drive would be getting out of here over our heads the whole time.

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Later, cows.

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It was a quiet morning before we headed out of Puerto Agua Verde. We were worried about Wandrly‘s slow and old VW bus making it up that ragged dusty hill. They were worried about the rocks tumbling out beneath our wide and heavy truck. We all held our breaths and scrambled out of there thankfully with no issues.

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This road pushed us to our limits. Time to find some pavement and exhale.

Thanks for reading,
Marlene

Categories: daily

8 Comments

Catherine Forest · June 6, 2016 at 12:04 pm

Pretty sweet treasures you found! Well worth the adventure!

    marlene · June 6, 2016 at 1:20 pm

    We are all so excited with our findings 🙂

Jessica Meinhofer · June 6, 2016 at 11:40 pm

What an amazing experience! Wow. Thanks for sharing.

sghaua · June 9, 2016 at 1:55 am

Binge watching your You Tube videos… Love them! Thank you for sharing your lives with the rest of us ?????

Daniel Konow · July 6, 2016 at 7:03 pm

Great read and fun times!
We made it to Aqua Verde some 5 years ago and the road was paved until the treacherous downgrade starts…
Anyhow. There is one of the best hot springs ever at San Cosme – which is the rancho right when the road hits the sea for the first time after the downgrade. It is a hot spring at low tide and you are sitting in a pool in the sea! For directions ask the friendly folks at San Cosme.
We will be visiting again this winter and cant wait.
Oh, and the kids in the little ranchos love to play with the traveling kids. It is a real experience for them!
Dan

Rachel Brown · November 7, 2016 at 8:17 pm

We bought an airstream a couple of months ago and our family of four started full timing in it. I was googling other full timers when I ran across your blog. It made me smile to see another family with young kids who feel the same way about life, adventure and education as us. I can’t wait to catch up on your adventure! Thanks for the inspiration!

Jorge Martinez · September 13, 2018 at 12:52 pm

I really enjoy reading these adventures, they are fun, simple and engaging. I’ve been with my wife and my son to La Paz, El Triunfo amd Isla Espiritu Santo Although I’m Mexican it was my first time in Baja and i love it. Looking forward to visit more places over there. Thanks for sharing. Muchas Gracias.

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