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| This is my 100 series Toyota Land Cruiser "there are many like it, but this one is mine".... |
As you all know you can only lock down so much before you start getting antsy. La Paz has been a stroke of good fortune, safe, inexpensive, centrally located plus the abundance of places too explore. Mostly on foot until you just get that urge to take a drive and widen your bandwidth testing the boundaries of a state wide lock down during a global pandemic.
In the mean time I have been trying my hand at baking although a bit challenging using only a Black & Decker, EvenToast Toast-R-Oven. I had to locate the basics, a pan that could fit, measuring spoons and cups plus the absents of a mixer, as I try to find the proper ingredients all labeled in Spanish and called something else entirely. "Huston, we have a problemo!!" With the help of Google translator I was able to find what I needed while pointing a lot to my cellphone's screen when inquiring.
But success would have it as I turned out some good ole standard baked goods, biscuits, banana bread, pineapple upside down cake both fresh from scratch or from a box even pina con coco bread, which tasted more like pineapple bread pudding, not a bad thing.
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| All food items pictured above were shared by surrounding neighbors and not entirely consumed by yours truly... |
With my confidence soaring in my Toast-R-Oven skills I started baking a no knead crusty bread and on the 3rd try, success! Much better than expected, not your local Boulangerie, but hey! "Got Plugra','Viva la Toast-R-Oven". Now I had fresh baked crusty bread to make sandwiches for lunch to go on a day trip.
My first adventure was in a area called
Pichilingue north of
La Paz and the ferry terminal I wanted to see if I could get to one of the many peninsula beaches
Playa El Tecolote. It was great to get the rig loaded for a day trip to the beach. I had my hopes high as I cruised north on
MEX11. I was about 3km before any turn-offs to the beaches when my hopes were dashed as I ran into a road blockade. Feeling caged I turned around and headed back. Spying a dirt turn off a couple k's down the road I was determined to get my wheels dirty.
Going over some woop-ti-doos I followed the track to a locked gate, no worries there was a large dirt berm so I decided to take some glam flex pics (almost felt like a Jeep owner). Enough of that I headed back on the blacktop to a turn-out overlooking a colorful bay were I parked chilled and thought, what next.
Looking at the map I wanted to take the back way into
La Paz, once I did I saw signs to
El Coyote and
El Saltito. Seeking adventure I took the turn and headed north. This area was mountainous and beautiful, deep sandy arroyos with palm trees and cacti. The sign for
Punta los Muertos was in sight and I followed it to a compact winding mountain range, traversing on a narrow blacktop road with gutters and traffic circles, funny not a single structure insight. Getting to the top of a 800ft summit you could see the coastal make up laid out.
The black top ends and you drop down towards the beach on a slippery sandy trail like driving downhill on ice. This place was just what I was looking for, remote, soft sandy beach, refreshing water temp and no one around. Twelve foot visibility made snorkeling extremely good lots of coral, rocks and fish. My new favorite chill spot about 45min away from my digs.
Excited to return I loaded up the rig after the weekend and headed out to
Punta los Muertos with lunch in tow. Following the turnoff to
El Coyote I was stopped in my tracks by a new road closure, Damn! Lock downs were creeping further out of the city. Checking my map once again not giving up I headed for
El Sargento and
La Ventana a couple of small wind surfing beaches 42km east on
286. I was thinking of the east cape dirt trail south to
Los Barriles about 11km past the
La Ventana, El Sargento junction.
A rugged narrow steep dirt track overlooking some of the best mountainous coastline
Baja has to offer. I was in heaven and
FRED was diggin-it shifting into
4wd Hi/Lo. Lots of single track off cambered drops, crazy climbs, loose large rock slides and blind narrow hairpins. Last time I was here I was navigating from the south to the north, doing the opposite was even way cooler,
(see 2019 post La Paz The Capital, BCS).
Numerous epic spots for remote camping and after 1hr of white knuckling I pulled into secluded
Boca de Alamo. Tailgate lunch, a swim and chilling on a remote deserted stretch of pristine beach forgetting the confines of lock down.
EAST-CAPE!!
The trip from home base is under 2hrs with many other places to explore along the way like
Ensenada de los Muertos or Bahia de los Suenos two little villages at the north end of
286 both promise great snorkeling.
Hope to see you on the Trail!!..
🚙.......
In the mean time I have been trying my hand at baking although a bit challenging using only a Black & Decker, EvenToast Toast-R-Oven. I had to locate the basics, a pan that could fit, measuring spoons and cups plus the absents of a mixer, as I try to find the proper ingredients all labeled in Spanish and called something else entirely. "Huston, we have a problemo!!" With the help of Google translator I was able to find what I needed while pointing a lot to my cellphone's screen when inquiring. 
But success would have it as I turned out some good ole standard baked goods, biscuits, banana bread, pineapple upside down cake both fresh from scratch or from a box even pina con coco bread, which tasted more like pineapple bread pudding, not a bad thing. 
