I completed the trip to the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. Here's a day by day report for the trip. It was a very fun enjoyable trip. Everything in Mexico, especially in the non-tourist areas is extremely cheap. I did the trip alone, and once again found Mexico to be a safe country to drive around in. My main rules for travel in Mexico are to stick to federal and state highways, and to drive during daylight hours. Topes (large speed bumps) and las vacas (cows) in the roadways are the two biggest things you have to watch out for, along with Alto (Stop) signs in towns that can sometimes be hidden.
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Day 1: Tecate - El Rosario de Arriba
I got my Mexican auto insurance in Tecate, CA and exchanged my currency at the same place (Baja Mex Ins). Then I crossed the border and for the first time received a green light. I drove around the block and walked back to the POE to get my FMM Visa card that cost slighly over 600 Pesos ($30 USD). Apparently paying for it in pesos is less complex than dollars, so I paid in pesos. Afterwards I headed south to Ensenada and stopped at the mirador as you first enter the city and took some good photos of the Pacific.
I recommend getting a good Garmin GPS that works in Mexico. The signs in some of these cities are non-existent. It helped me a lot and my phone's talk and text worked, but I discovered that I don't get data in Mexico with my AT&T phone. So offline maps with a GPS was great. Once I got south of Lazaro Card##as things got a lot better. Before that it was 60 km/h town after 60 km/h town. I filled up my car somewhere around Vicente Guerrero at a Pemex. At El Rosario I stopped for the night at the Hotel Sinai. No AC, but the weather was cool and the room was clean. It was only $450 ($22.50 USD).
Day 2: ""-Guerrero Negro
I stopped at the Lake Chapala restaurant and ate breakfast. Nice little restaurant out in the middle of nowhere. A military caravan pulled into the lot while I was there. I think they were walking their dogs, reorganizing, and one of the soldiers came into the restaurant to use the restroom. Later I pulled off and hiked not to far into the desert and took some photos of the large cacti which I had never seen before that day. Filled up in some small town called Jesus Villa Maria. I stopped for the night at the Motel La Espinita on the north side of GN. It was clean, had wifi, and was $500 (25 USD) for the night. One warning is that there are two dogs there and one of them was pretty friendly, but the other one didn't seem to be, so don't get too close to that one.
Day 3: ""-Mulege
For breakfast I stopped at a restaurant / hotel in San Ignacio called Beans and Rice. It was a nice little place in an oasis with big palm trees. Then I drove to Playa Santispac, rented a kayak, and swam in the water for quite a few hours. $200 to enter and $200 to rent a kayak (or 20 USD total). The water is very clear, which surprised me. I'm sure some of you are laughing, because it turns out it's like that all over the place in Baja. Filled up on the south side of Mulege at a Pemex with a large gravel lot. Stayed the night in Mulege and walked around town. The hotel was La Noria and was $500.
Day 4: ""-Los Barriles
Longest day of driving while I was in Baja. Filled up at Cd Constitucion on the north side of town at a Pemex and filled up at Los Barriles at Repsol. MAde a wrong turn in La Paz somehow, but thankfully I had my GPS that got me through town. The police checkpoints on both sides of town were unmanned. For the night I stayed at the Hotel Calafia. It had a balcony where you could see the Sea of Cortez. It was only $600 (30 USD). I walked to the beach that night and ate at a small pizza place called Chino's. I think it was the best pizza I've ever had and highly recommend it.
Day 5: ""- Cd Constitucion via Los Cabos
I drove past the Tropico of Cancer which was pretty cool. I crossed it when drove to Mazatlan when I drove there 4 years ago, so this was my 2nd visit south of the tropics. Then I visited the beach at Chileno. Highly recommend it. Free parking, showers, and just a beautiful beach. I was there early in the day so it wasn't very busy. Saw some crabs on the rocks (I'd never seen crabs before in the wild). After that I picked up some souvenirs at Walmart and got some American food at Carl's Jr's. Left town and headed north towards Cd Constitucion. The south LP checkpoint was closed but the north one (or west) was open. The Guardia Nacional was curious about a lack of front license plate, but when they saw I had an Indiana plate on the back they sent me on my way without any issues. I think they might have thought I didn't have one at all. A lot of Mexican cars don't, or if they do they only have one on the back, rather than on both sides. For the night I stayed at Hotel Mumai which looked like it had been recently renovated. Very nice and had a garage for the car. $500 + $100 deposit and was easily the nicest place I stayed at the entire trip. I also filled up at the gas station down the street from the hotel.
Day 6: ""- Guerrero Negro
Drove north through Cd C. Apparently stop signs don't mean much to most drivers, but I still stopped at them (or came very close). Every intersection had a municipal policeman (on foot) so I wasn't blowing stop signs. Th truck driver behind me wasn't too happy and tooted his horn. The cops kind of gave him a WTF look. I stopped at Playa Los Cocos south of Mulege a little ways for a 1 hour swim. Normally you have to pay $150 to get in, but it was unmanned with nothing blocking the entrance, so I got in for free. Before I got to GN there was some sort of Mexican version of the DEA/FBI checkpoint blocking off traffic. They were way more serious and investigatory about searching for drugs and whatnot than the military checkpoints. After an extremely thorough search of looking through my stuff, knocking on various parts of my car, and looking under my passenger side floorboard; I was sent on my way. The good thing is that they put everything back the exact way they found it and didn't just tear through my stuff (cough cough US customs in Laredo, TX). Mexican authorities seem to be really good about this though. I ate at a restaurant in GN called Las Cazuelas as you first enter town from the big Y intersection. Good food and they had an interesting sea food type soup that I liked, that they brought out with the chips and salsa. I attempted to stay at the La Espinita again, but the guy that ran it apparently wasn't there this time, so I had to pay $20 MXN to go back into BCS and stayed at the Terra Sal which was $650 (32.50 USD) for the night.
Day 7: ""-Guadalupe Victoria
The Terra Sal had a good little restaurant on site, which was nice. Afterwards I filled up at Villa Jesus Maria again at the Pemex. I then drove on the new Mexico 5 highway to San Felipe. Such a beautiful drive and way more relaxing than 1 coming down from Tecate and Ensenada. I was going to stay the night in San Felipe, but all of the hotels were full which I wasn't prepared for. I filled up at an Arco in San Felipe. My plan was to cross back into the USA at Lukeville, so I decided to try the short cut that avoids Mexicali and SLRC. I got lucky and found a little motel just south of Guadalupe Victoria on the shortcut called Motel Del Valle. It was $500 (25 USD) for the night and they had plenty of rooms available.
Day 8: ""-Lukeville, AZ
Woke up and headed out. Not to far down the road was maybe the most southern bridge over the Colorado River before it completely disappears for irrigation. In a little town down the road I went under the Bienvenidos a Sonora sign, which was the 9th Mexican estado I've vistited. Later I took the SLRC bypass (which is free) and made first sight of the wall at the Hwy 2 intersection. I drove by the wall for about 1.5-2 hours before making it to Sonoyta. Drivers beware, because it is true that Sonoyta is a big speed trap. I knew in advance and slowed way down to the 40 km/h speed limit. The trucker behind me even backed off. Municipal Policias everywhere, but I was not bothered by them. They did have some other folks pulled over though, so make sure you follow the road laws when you drive through there. Most of Mexico seemed like they don't enforce the road laws much, but Sonoyta onviously sees it as a money maker like a lot of American towns of similar size. Filled up my car at the 76 before crossing back into the US which saved me some money. I was able to park my car before the POE and return my FMM visa with no issues. Getting past US Customs was very painless surprisingly.
