Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

First rule of driving in Baja is don’t drive at night. The reason behind that rule is not banditos, but livestock which might be taking a nap on the warm asphalt. But livestock doesn’t only need to be minded in the dark because there is danger even during the day. As we were leaving Bahia de Concepcion heading south towards Loreto, we had to gently slam on our brakes to avoid colliding with these wandering goats.

There is nothing fast about driving roads in Baja. Narrow two lane highways with semis taking up every inch of their lane and no shoulders to speak of make for long driving days, whatever the distance may actually be. I’m always stressed when we drive but I am soooo thankful we didn’t decide to drag the Airstream with us. The thought of taking up our entire lane with our 8.5 foot wide trailer and then having a semi pass us going the opposite direction makes we want to puke.

As soon as we got to Loreto, we found a pizza place in the main area in town and waited. And then waited some more. It turned out that the chef didn’t show up to work and the staff was scrambling to make pizzas for 10 people with only one oven. The kids were going nuts (and the parents too). But we eventually filled our tummies and headed towards to an actual campground in town.

The dudes needed internet, us ladies needed laundry and the kids needed a playground. The campground Riviera del Mar solved all of our problems. We weren’t the only ones with this bright idea. During our week stay here, so many different campers, full-timers, adventurers and/or overlanders (pick your label) ended up rotating in and out of here.

And look what we found stuck to a table near the playground. Oh, Bodeswell! You guys get around 🙂

For those of you wondering about our 13 year old cat, Yoda, she is going well. Grumpy as usual and she loves sitting and staring at the outside world thru our truck camper door.

I’m almost out of our favorite soaps and there is no Target around. What to do, what to do!

We are still on our daily eating together routine for lunch. This time we added Michelle & Peter, our Airstreaming friends from Montreal whom we met in San Felipe, and new friends, the Burly Dirty Hippy crew who travel in a 4×4 super van, to the mix. Table for 14 please! Haha.

This is downtown Loreto, a settlement that is one of the oldest on the Baja penninsula.

This is the Mission of our Lady of Loreto which is at the start of historic El Camino Real. “The Royal Road” follows north along the ancient route of the Spanish missions, to its ending in Sonoma, California.

You could read more about it but….

We visit a lot of old buildings, forgotten ghost towns and crumbling churches during our travels. The kids have never been spooked by old churches… until today.

So far so good.

Nothing scary here.

Oooh. Pretty balloons!

Look. A pretty angel. See not scary.

And then Mila get this look on her face.

And then this one.

These realistic looking statues were not her favorite.

Mila’s face was enough to make all the kids slowly take a few steps backwards to the safety of the outside world.

Something in this room sealed the deal. The girls refused to step another foot inside the church. And Luka? He was all “Pick me up! I wanna look at the dead guy and all that blood!”

It’s been weeks since our visit and this memory is still alive in their minds. The girls don’t want to visit Mexican churches anymore and Luka runs inside of them to see as much gore as he can. Oh boy!

The nice thing about our campground is that is was easy walking distance to do alone with the kids. Dan could stay back and work while I explored alone with the kids.

And sometimes “exploring” meant going to the coffee shop for treats.

We weren’t the only ones with that idea today. Look who I caught doing the same thing. Coffee time!

As the week went on, our new friends from Playa Perla, the Vagabroads, showed up as did Kerri & Tim in Big Blue.

Seeing a silver butt still makes me smile.

We also got to meet the Gypsy Roads family. The girls hit it off with their boy right away.

Kids out. Smiles out.

Hello, Winter.

Hello, reading time.

Before heading to our next stop, we have to stop by a water purification shop to fill up on drinkable water. We have a 20-gallon fresh water tank that we fill with an occasional hose but most of the time with bottles that Dan lifts over his head and pours it into our tank.

Alright. The work week is done. Now let’s see what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into on the weekend.

Thanks for reading,
Marlene