Day Sixteen, Saturday, March 31: Loreto back to Santispac

Today we braved the Semana Santa traffic and returned to “our” beach at Playa Santispac – there was only a little bit more traffic on a Saturday than there was going down on a Wednesday, and the beaches along Bahia Concepcion were not crowded…yet. The weather was clear and beautiful, and we got some nice views of the beaches all along the highway - El Requeson, in particular, looked spectacular, and El Coyote - the smaller camping beach to the south, not the Trailer park, looked nice also. But Santispac still seemed to have the easiest access road for our motorhome, and we enjoyed our stay on the way down so much, it was an easy decision to go back. We even parked in our same "campsite" next to a couple of palapas at the north end of the main beach, with no one else around... again, yet!

To our delight, we could see the sailboats of our new friends Tony and Marquita and Caleb – they had been harboring from the wind here while we were doing the same in Loreto, in a sense. After we set up camp, Tony and Marquita took their little dinghy and motored in to say hi and give us their card with contact information. We had both felt bad that after that nice dinner out on their boat we had not remembered to exchange numbers or emails! We stayed out until sunset then it was time to hurry in before dark. We gave them a “tour” of the motorhome (after they got some ice cream from an ice cream truck, complete with music, which magically appeared on the beach after they arrived!) and they encouraged us to be sure to look them up if we were in the Albuquerque area, where they live in summer – they also have land in southeast Colorado that sounds neat. They are really nice people who seem genuine and fun and very bright – we hope we do see them again! The neat thing about traveling in an RV is that we are more likely to look up people we meet, and extend our network of friends (and “campsites”!) wider and wider! We look forward to this lifestyle, even while we are enjoying it already.

Tony and Marquita introduced us to the saying (printed on their card) that, “A day spent on a sailboat is not deducted from your lifespan” – so, they informed us, our day on their sailboat was a free day in our lives. :) I feel that way when we are traveling in the RV heading out on the road together, toward known and unknown adventures and experiences. In fact, this whole adventure is a bit like sailing - as we pulled up our anchor, we began to slowly drift away from familiar shores. As our old life receded from view, our gaze shifted from backward to forward - out to sea, with the wind in our hair... metaphorically speaking, of course.

When we arrived back at Santispac, we suddenly felt like we were on vacation again. It’s odd – the San Javier day was a wonderful (and a bit exciting at the end) adventure, but yesterday we just hung about the motorhome in the RV park and did some errands in Loreto and updated the blog a bit – not on vacation. Here in Santispac, I’m writing longer and more detailed updates for the blog, Devin is enjoying reading The Log from the Sea of Cortez again, which he says has more meaning read here, looking out at the sea, while we are watching pelicans and osprey and Frigatebirds swoop and dive for fish, herons and egrets wading, gulls begging for scraps, picturesque sailboats moored out in “our” bay between us and “our” island… on the way back we saw the island from farther south and recognized it, and thought how lovely it was to have our own island – ha. Even the sound of the truck Jake brakes echoing in the cove as they descend the hills on the highway above make us feel nostalgic and “home.”

As if to give lie to the thought of this beach being “ours” a very large Mexican family moved in between us and the next campers, started unloading several trucks of gear, stacks of inflated mattresses, set up huge tents in a circle, started cooking and playing – cute young girls with a kite, called a papalote in Spanish, and boys on an ATV – one of the English speaking daughters came over and asked if it was okay if they camped around our RV, and we said yes – this IS Semana Santa, after all – the biggest Mexican holiday, where everyone wants to go camp on the beach with their families – and we are lucky to have a very nice family next to us, I think. No loud music, polite kids, friendly people. They came all the way from Tijuana! I talked to some other folks who came from Ensenada, and I thought that was far! Our new neighbors told me this is their third time here. I think it’s neat we will get a taste of this big family holiday! We already had some quiet time on this beach, now it’s time to have a little fiesta.

Yes, at 9pm all is quiet next door – they had a long drive today! I’m sure they will wake up early tomorrow, so we had better get to bed early ourselves. Here at Santispac, one sleeps to the sound of gentle waves lapping the shore and Jake Brakes blaring from the trucks descending the hills above both sides of the beach! Some are so loud – they seem to echo off the walls of the cove. Luckily there aren’t too many trucks, and especially at night. We were thinking earlier about how rare a place like this is – an idyllic beach you can drive to and camp on – with fishing, swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, birding, etc – and it’s not owned by a big hotel that charges you an arm and a leg just to be here. Or maybe it is, but they haven’t built it yet – we saw a poster of Santispac at the realtor in Loreto with “SOLD” written on it. So the rumors are true… and maybe in a few years there will be a hotel here. In Mexico, all of the beaches up to 50 meters above high tide are public and cannot be owned, but of course, access roads can be owned, and the land above the beach. If they build a hotel, I hope they at least allow beach access for the public, and allow RVs to camp on the beach, and families… it would be una lastima – a shame – if it were closed off to the public.

Devin commented that one of the ways you can still find these types of places is with a boat – little coves that there are no roads, or whose access is private. Maybe someday we’ll get a little sailboat, like Tony and Marquita… even though Devin, as a former boat owner, has acquainted me with the proverb that "the happiest days in a boat owner’s life are the day he buys his boat… and the day he sells it." I think I might like living on a sailboat – at least a nice 34 foot Catalina like the Georges (Tony and Marquita) have! We’ll have to keep playing that lottery!! Ha.

---

Go back to Day One of Baja Trip