Baja California Road Trip Week 3: LaPaz and the land of gringo campers

It didn’t take long for me to start contemplating how and when we could make the trip back to Baja next winter.  We now had a taste of what was here and that wasn’t something we would soon, if ever, forget.  The beaches and climate are what drew us in, the food, the people, the slower pace, the lower cost of living, are what have made us feel right at home.

With two and a half weeks left in this trip though, I had to refrain from wasting energy on plotting future trips.  The first time you ever do something only happens once, I didn’t want to miss the magic of that.  So I let the when and how of a future trip go to the back of my brain, knowing for certain that, one way or another, we’ll be back.

We kicked off week 3 on a quiet, picturesque beach South of Loreto.  When we woke, the water was calm and inviting so the kayaks finally came out.  Mark & I spent a few hours on the water, paddling about 4 miles roundtrip.  Between the calm water, the clean beach, the beautiful surroundings, and the fact that we had cell signal, I couldn’t help but wonder if we’d found the holy grail of Baja beaches.

The next day we were ready to log some miles and make the push to LaPaz. 

Our first destination in LaPaz was Maranatha RV Park for a laundry day.  The park was clean and convenient and hopping with gringos, the most we’d seen since crossing the border.  It appeared many lived here for the winter, and also, many were staging here for the huge vanlife/overlanding gathering we’d heard about from other campers.

There was a huge variety of rigs, vans of every shape and size, Class A’s, trailers, skoolies, a unimog, an earth roamer, custom builds, and more. We happened to find ourselves in the company of two other Four Wheel Campers, a couple from California and another couple from Colorado with a 30 year old FWC. I couldn’t help but think, I hope that’s Mark & I in another 20 years.

It turned out an estimated two to three hundred overlanding rigs and vans were meeting up for an event at the beach we were planning to head next. Camping alongside hundreds of others isn’t really our thing so we hesitated to stick with our plan. We decided to give it a shot and see if our usual protocol of simply driving a little farther down the road than everyone else would pan out the way it usually does. It worked out beautifully and we found a little slice of paradise to call our own.

If there’s one area where the Four Wheel Camper doesn’t shine its in high wind. The canvas walls flap loudly making it nearly impossible to sleep. Our second night at this beach, that had previously appeared to be paradise, consisted of 40-50mph gusts all night long. Come sunrise, with no sign of it letting up, we packed up and sought shelter at a restaurant in LaPaz. What turned out to be one of the best meals of the trip at Maria California made up for the sleepless night.

On this windy day the beaches held no appeal so we returned to Maranatha RV park for the night. We arrived to find that we’d forgotten to set one of our 7 gallon water jugs on the floor, it fell in transit and leaked all 7 gallons in to the camper. We spent the next few hours cleaning up and drying out.

It’s amazing what a solid night’s sleep will do for morale. We woke the next day feeling fully recuperated from the wind and were ready to hit the road in search of another beach to call home.

After spending the week between the RV park and the buzz of all the gringos gathering for the overlanding event, it was glorious spending a few days on this remote beach with hardly anyone around. How we continue to find beaches even more beautiful than the last is beyond me. This peninsula is absolutely spectacular.

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By michele

About

Hi!  We’re Mark & Michele, a couple of modern-day nomads perfecting the art of slow, perpetual travel.  Our tiny home on wheels and slow-paced travel style allows us maximum freedom at minimal expense.  This blog is where we share our travels as well as our insights in to this lifestyle that we absolutely love.  Thanks so much for being here.

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