Mexico 2010

Tacos

This was such a fun and spontaneous trip! To make this decision over night and then to just pack up our bags and go! Quite fun!

Church in Mexico

On Christmas Day we drove to San Ysidro.  We made great timing since no one was on the road.  We stayed at a crappy hotel and on the following morning we got an oil change for the van, drove to a book store to get the Baja Lonely Planet book...they didn't have it...only 2nd best...some other book. Then we headed to Mexico! How exciting!
This was Sunday, after walking around to find a place to eat...some okay tacos, then we headed off to church.  I love going to church in Mexico...the people are so warm and welcoming...I do miss being part of a Spanish speaking ward.
After church we drove to San Quintin...a farm town.  It was getting late, but we found a hotel to stay at The Desert Inn, but they also had another name, Mision something.

San Quintin beach

We really liked staying there.  Since it wasn't tourist season, we pretty much had the hotel and the beach to ourselves. The following morning we played.  We enjoyed the warmer weather and let the kids enjoy the beach.
It was so relaxing.
I must mention in all of our trips...it is about the food...and I can't rave enough about the food we ate at the hotel's restaurant. It was so yummy and the service was very good.

Collecting shells

I know I have a tendency to write too much, but I just don't want to forget a lot of these details.  I'll try to let the pictures speak for themselves.

This was our second Mexico trip with Grandma and Paka.  I believe they really enjoyed themselves.

After staying here for one night we decided we wanted to keep driving down the Baja California coast...on the following day we packed our bags, loaded the van and headed to Bahia de los Angeles.

Driving through the desert

To get to Bahia de los Angeles, you have to drive through the desert. We were so impressed with the desert.  The cacti were so tall and beautiful.  There was nothing for miles. It was so different from the desert we live in. 
We did get stopped by the National Mexican Army several times, but that's standard and they were very courteous.

Shell collection

Late in the afternoon we arrived to Bahia de los Angeles.  It was a desolate place.We drove around looking for some lodging...there weren't too many places to stay at.  We found a little hotel...Costa del Mar...I think...It was much better than the other place.

In search of fresh fish

We got there kind of late, so we just relaxed and on the following morning we woke up early (we didn't mean to) and then headed to the bay.  We were hoping the water was going to be warmer, it was okay, nevertheless the children enjoyed it.

We didn't stay there very long...we didn't have scuba gear, nor a boat to explore the islands.  We did try to get some fresh fish but they fishermen didn't have anything that good.  It was also a bit chilly. So we packed our bags and headed back to our lovely San Quintin. This was a pretty relaxing trip.  We drove a lot, but we didn't do a ton of stuff, like when we went to Mexico City.

Just the two of us

Too cute!

Desert stop...appreciating the cacti

On our drive through the desert we made a couple of stops. We got out to really appreciate the size of the cacti.  Quite impressive. We also made a quick stop to grab a snack, including my chile con coco...so refreshing...and I didn't even get sick.



We liked the hotel so much we went back to it for a couple more nights.

It really was nice to stay there. One of the days it rained pretty much all day so we couldn't do much, but to hang out in our rooms.  The following day we went to the town to find fresh fish.  We bought some shark and other fish for the restaurant to cook for us...

Exercising between meals

In the hunt for clams

The men also wanted to catch their own clams, so off they went to beach to catch some fresh clams.  Our last dinner at the hotel was a feast with all of that sea food.  Not only was the sea food delicious, so was the tomato salad...I've never had a better tomato slice in my life.

Bufadora

We were sad to leave, but it was time to start heading back to the States.  We headed back to Ensenada and made a few fun stops. First, we stopped at the legendary, yet overrated Bufadora.  A sort of hole by the ocean that splashes water.  It was okay.  What I liked was shopping for souvenirs...especially my vanilla extract...I know, I get excited about weird things.

Fish Tacos!

Ensenada at sun set

Then, we took my in-laws to El Mercado Negro, which is the fish market...If you like fish, this is the place to be.  By the Mercado, there are a ton of food stands selling "fish tacos." We made the mistake of not going to the original stand we went with Craig several years ago and we got some crappy tacos.  So we left that joint and headed to the stand with the yummiest fish and shrimp tacos.  What a delight!

Tecate was great!  Yes, it has that colonial old town feeling...and yes, it has pretty good weather...if you like chilly and cool...but the BEST part of Tecate...no it's not the beer factory...It's the bakery...El Major Pan de Tecate!  Oh My Goodness.  Just thinking about the bread, my mouth begins to water.  I was in heaven...well, bread heaven.

Playing at El Rodeo

Unfortunately, I was so excited about the bread that I forgot to take photos. We ate a lot of bread and packed some to take back home to the States.  Then, we headed back to the border.
It was New Year's Eve and we knew things could get a little crazy. So we parked our van on the US side and crossed the border again into Mexico...grabbed a taxi and headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant...El Rodeo. While we waited to digest some of the bread we ate, we let the kids ride the horses at the restaurant...the restaurant has a western theme and they have horses and a playground with a western feel to it. After a bit of playing, it was time to eat, nay, Feast!  It was the best way to finish our trip to Mexico...eating at El Rodeo.  The salsas, the quesadillas, the meat juice...oh, so yummy.
Anyways, we headed back to the States walking and saw an array of strange looking Americans.

Phoebe snuggling

We were only going to drive for a couple of hours and then find a place to stay...since it was still relatively early when we left Mexico, we drove all they way to Mary's house in Las Vegas and spent the night...another spontaneous moment.  The children got up early and played for a while and they also enjoyed the souvenirs and some of the Mexican bread.  While we were in Ensenada, Newel went grocery shopping and stocked up on Mexican hot chocolate and cookies...very yummy. We also had some hot chocolate. We left the Vegas cousins and headed home to unpack and rest.  What a wonderful trip. We got home safe and happy.