Mulege – Roaming About

Tag: Mulege

Back in Baja (Kind of) – A Week of Dunes, Drives & Decisions

It might not have been obvious in my previous blog posts, but Mark and I were antsy about returning to the Baja California peninsula of Mexico this winter, because we had a great time here last spring, meeting like-minded travelers and taking a welcome break after publishing a book. On this subsequent visit, we hoped to hang out with friends, explore this 1,000-mile narrow stretch of land a bit more, and relax on its many beaches. Our initial goal was to arrive in early December and stay until sometime in April.

Shell Beach vista

After multiple delays – trying to find jobs in Arizona, going to the dentist in Los Algodones, more camper projects in the desert, and a few important phone calls while still in the US with good cell service, we finally crossed the border into Baja on January 12th, six weeks later than planned. It was a good day! We had arrived back in Mexico and we could feel the stress and anxiety leave our bodies. Yet, we realized it would take a while to fully adjust to the life we intend to have: one of plenty adventures with a good balance between work and leisure, and plenty of walks for Maya.

On the access road to Shell Beach, 4WD is recommended

Parked at the end of the dirt road. We didn’t feel comfortable driving and camping on the soft-sand beach

Now that we have a 4WD vehicle (as opposed to our campervan Zesty, last year), more remote campsites are accessible and we feel that’s what a lot of Baja California is about: reaching peace and solitude surrounded by nature and the sea. One thing we noticed from the start, though, is that it’s much busier than last year. We were spoiled in 2021, when rarely a soul crossed into Mexico, and we often camped by ourselves.

A big shell!

Walking Maya on the pretty beach

Half an hour south of San Felipe is “Shell Beach” along the Sea of Cortez. This was our first stop and an awesome one. Miles and miles of empty beach, low dunes, gorgeous sunrises, clear night skies, and oh-so-quiet.

Sunrise on Shell Beach (Photo courtesy of Mark Kilty)

The empty beach runs for miles

The mountainous backdrop of our camping spot

Small dunes along the beach

A huge flock of pelicans on a sand spit at low tide

Huge sand spit

Missed Opportunities in Baja – Busy Behind the Scenes

April 28, 2021 / Liesbet / 67 Comments

If you have been following my blog, you know that Mark, Maya, and I recently spent two months in Baja California, Mexico, traveling around in our campervan, Zesty. So far, I have been sharing the fun experiences and why we love the Mulegé (and Bahia Concepcion) area so much. Just how much will become clear in this post. While it appears that we just bummed around beaches, watched whales, and explored a couple of towns, most of our time in Baja was dedicated to other, unexpected pursuits.

Maya relaxing at the beach

The dogfood saga

Before we left the US, Mark and I had bought one 30-pound bag of dogfood for Maya, as always. It’s not that we could have carried more in our well-stocked and filled-to-the-brim 19ft home on wheels. We had no idea how long we’d be in Mexico and were fully aware of her food potentially running out. We will find decent dogfood somewhere on the peninsula, we thought.

Tale of Two Towns – Mulegé & Loreto in Baja California Sur

April 15, 2021 / Liesbet / 50 Comments

Mark, Maya, and I entered Baja California, Mexico, on February 1^st 2021 in Zesty, without much of a plan. No surprise there! The main reason for our decision to cross the border was threefold: we needed a break from the US and its chaos, politics, and atmosphere, we aimed to find warmer weather, and we were both ready for a little “vacation” after all the hard work on my travel memoir Plunge.

Baja California, Mexico

Mulege & Loreto, Baja, Mexico

Other than that, we’d drive until we found 1) warmth or 2) an area that spoke to us. Number two came first in the form of Mulegé, a town off the beaten tourist track about 2/3 down the Baja peninsula on the Sea of Cortez side.

Why Mulegé?

Sometimes, when you find a place that touches your heart, it’s difficult to describe why. Mark and I drove through and stayed in this town – actually in the exact same campground – fifteen years ago on our journey south (which brought us all the way to Panama and back) in a truck camper with our dogs Kali and Darwin. But it didn’t leave an impression. Also, we had different goals of sightseeing and exploring back then, not hanging out and immersing ourselves.