Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We spent two nights at Guerrero Negro and went for a walk to a bird sanctuary area. Then we met another German, Dirk,
in an internet café. He was travelling alone and had only been travelling for 4 days. We took him with us out to the
pier later to see a not so impressive sunset. But he was glad to come with us anyway.
The next day, after doing the laundry, checking the internet and filling up with drinking water, we gave Dirk a lift
with us down to Ojo de Liebre to see the whales. We had to go looking for him in Guerrero Negro as he didn´t realise
that his watch should have been put forward an hour!
We drove about 10 miles south on highway 1 and then turned right onto a sand road to drive 17 miles to the bay to go
whale watching. The road - if you can call it that - was quite bad in places and took us over an hour to drive the 17
miles. At one point we had a steep bank to drive down. Kirsten got out and went ahead to look at it, then Helen drove
down. At one point, Winnies front right tyre was 2 feet above the ground and Kirsten screamed - she thought Winnie
was going to topple over. Well he very nearly did!! At the most critical point, Helen didn´t have any control over
Winnie who took over and got himself back onto his 6 wheels!! The question was - would we get back! Well it was too
late to think about that now! But Kirsten and Helen have enough experience of building bridges for the overland
trucks we've been on, that it didn't really bother us. But the latest shock took Kirsten quite a while to get over!
Helen told her off for not having the video camera with her, which didn't help!! Poor Kirsten!
We finally got to the bay and paid $3 to stay on the beach. Then we went to the brand new restaurant which was
obviously having some kind of inspection from various officials whilst we were there. We also met 2 other Germans -
Ingo and Marika. Ingo is quite famous in Germany - took part in the qualifications for the para-olympics in Barcelona
in 1992, is well travelled and has featured in all sorts of newspaper and TV reports for example husky sled riding
in Finland in -40° C amongst other things. The German "Bild" newspaper described him as the "Reinhold Messner of the
East" as he´s from Dresden in what used to be Eastern Germany. (By the way, Reinhold Messner was the first person to
climb Mount Everest without oxygen, the first to climb all summits over 8000 metres and walked to the South Pole -
amongst other things!) So, there we were, sitting having coffee with such famous people!
Ingo and his wife Marika, have built there own unique 4 wheel drive Mercedes called "Ursinus" and are travelling
around the world for the next 3-4 years in it. Ingo is a freelance photographer and journalist and you can visit
their website of the world trip under: www.ingo-engemann.de.
Ingo and Marika are a super couple and we had a lot of fun with them over the next few days. They shipped "Ursinus"
over to Canada last July for the first leg of their world trip and we gave them a few tips for South America. Dirk
was quite overwhelmed with all the travel stories we exchanged but he also learned a huge amount seeing as this is
his first trip.
For the next 2 days we cooked for 5 people and sat around a campfire. Kirsten did a great job getting a reduced
price for all of us for the whale watching tour (Marika and Dirk got childrens rates!) and we spent about 2 hours
taking photos of the grey whales and their new born babies. The grey whales are famous for poking their huge mouths
vertically out of the water and we managed to get shots of them. One whale even swam directly under our boat with
her calf!
Great whale watching tour.
Unfortunately, Kirstens camera lost a couple of screws at the end of the boat trip and now has its zoom lens fixed
on full zoom and can't focus anymore! The bits are lying around Winnie at the moment, never to be put in their
correct place. An absolute disaster for Kirsten who feels as though her hands have been cut off! We now have to buy
a new camera and make do with taking photos with the video camera which can only take up to 20 photos before the chip
is full! If there is anyone out there who would like to sponsor us for a new camera we will be eternally grateful!
Please send us an email!
Seeing as Kirsten couldn't take any more photos and was really P ... off, Helen gave her a much needed hair cut! At
least it took her mind off the catastrophe! Marika was also impressed with Helen's hairdressing abilities and also
wanted a hair cut which was duly promised for the next day.
On Thursday 15th January, we all packed up and Ingo and Marika followed us along the sand road to the place where
the steep bank was. Fortunately, there was a different way to drive through it without having to build a bridge.
Winnie has grown quite fond of Ursinus over the last couple of days but he just can't keep up with a 4 wheel drive.
So Winnie drove at his own pace to San Ignacio, a picturesque little village in the hills and we met up with Ingo,
Marika and Dirk at an RV park there. Kirsten got us a good rate for the 5 of us and then Marika got her hair cut!
And Helen got her finger cut!! So much for her hairdressing abilities!
Helen cutting Marika's hair.
That evening, we all went to the restaurant at the RV park for a really good meal together. The next morning, we
said fond farewells to Ingo and Marika, and we took Dirk with us to see the old mission church in San Ignacio.
Kirsten immediately spotted Benito who had the same camera and asked him how she could get hers repaired or where
to buy a new one here. Not much chance of either in Baja California!
Then we drove through the mountains and canyons over to the East side of Baja and into Santa Rosalia where we were
due to drop Dirk off. Before we got to the town, we drove through an awful industrial area and Dirk did not want to
stay there. But once we'd driven into the town itself, we found that it was really quite a nice place to stay. After
going for lunch together and checking the internet, we dropped Dirk off at a motel and said another fond farewell.
At the same time we witnessed a near fight between 2 European cyclists and a Mexican driver. We didn't see what
caused the problem, just that they nearly came to blows!
By now it was 4-40pm and we needed to find somewhere for the night. We drove further south and found a place for $7
on the beach at Santispac. As we searched for the non-existent toilets and showers, we were invited in by some
Americans who'd bought their spot on the beach, were building a beach house, and had been staying there for 17 years!
Not surprising, the view over the bay across to the islands was absolutely idyllic. Unfortunately, Kirsten got a
migraine and was quite ill that night.
The next day (Sat 17th) we drove a short way south (25km) and drove down to El Requeson beach - a really beautiful
sandy beach which connected to an island via a sandy promontory. We spent two nights there relaxing in the sun. We
even bought vegetables from the back of a car on the beach and later used them to make food parcels to put on a camp
fire.
