Click on a photo to enlarge it.
After chatting to some Canadian neighbours, whose wet dog kept jumping up us and made us stink, we drove the short
distance to Mulege and found a new RV park to stay for the night. Then we walked along the river and went around the
town. We'd heard that Mulege was supposed to be really nice but we weren't that impressed. Perhaps we've got too used
to Baja and have seen better!
We wanted to do our washing and write the computer diary, but we kept getting power cuts! After Helen had walked back
over to the laundry after each power cut several times to switch the dryer back on, and we'd given up and put the
computer away, there were no more power cuts!! So we got the computer out again and managed to make some headway on
our website.
On Tuesday 24th February, we had breakfast at the RV parks restaurant - bacon, eggs and pancakes! Then we drove into
Mulege to go to the internet café and Helen had to disappear for a few minutes to try and find something for Kirstens
birthday present! Then we drove north and turned off onto a very bumpy road that took us over an hour to do the 11
miles to Punta Chivato. We had a look around a very posh hotel - the sister hotel of the one in Loreto. Overlooking the sea with a pool
and restaurant, it had an ideal location. But, there weren't any guests!! It had obviously just been built but maybe the
condition of the road to it puts people off. On the other hand, if you can afford the prices ($260 per night) then you
can afford to be flown in to the private airport next door! We had been thinking of going to the restaurant for a meal
for Kirstens birthday but that was out of our range aswell!
We found the free beach but would've got stuck in the sand if we'd tried to drive onto it. So we parked up on solid ground
nearby. Great view of the bay, the sea which was a beautiful deep blue, and the hilly coastline leading down to perfect sandy
beaches. It is certainly idyllic here! At midnight, Helen and our collection of stuffed toys sung Happy Birthday to Kirsten
and she was handed her birthday present - a whale bookmark! There wasn't anywhere that sold wrapping paper so the solution
was the bookmark, sandwiched between a folded piece of cardboard and tied with one of our colourful luggage straps in a bow!!
Kirsten was amazed that Helen had managed to come up with such a good idea! And the gift wrapping won't be forgotten in a
hurry either!
The next morning the birthday girl got a coffee and cinnamon roll in bed and then we went for a 3 hour walk along the beach,
up over the hills and back to the hotel where we sat on two sun loungers lying around on a small patio all alone! Later, Kirsten
built us a shower cubicle so we could have a shower in private - super! Except it was a bit too cold outside for a shower!
Then we built a fire to have vegetables steamed in parcels. Unfortunately our fire building skills need refining, as we had to
remake it when Helen tried her parcel and found it was still raw! Kirstens was fine! Well it was her birthday! We also decided
to use our onboard toilet for the first time and check it out over the next few days. What luxury! All in all, a very memorable
birthday!
The next day we drove back along the bumpy road and after stopping off for supplies, drove over the hills to San Ignacio. When
we stopped for petrol we couldn't fill up - again! It's only been two weeks since it happened the last time and is now becoming
a pain in the old preverbial! We went to Rice and Beans RV park, where we stopped last time we were here and reserved a place.
Then we drove back to try one of the many suggestions we've picked up along the way, i.e. putting the petrol nozzle in upside down.
That didn't work because there wasn't enough room to get it in upside down! Then the petrol pump assistant came to the rescue and
simply pulled the air vent connection away from the petrol pipe! We spilled about a litre of petrol over the forecourt, but we
could at least fill up. The problem was that without the air vent attached, the pump doesn't click off, with the result that we
spilled more petrol over the forecourt! At least we are getting closer to a solution which is probably replacing the metal part
where the nozzle goes in as we think that the valve to the air vent is faulty and is letting petrol seep in. We can't get Toyota
parts in Mexico so that will have to wait until we´re back in America.
That night we ate at the very good restaurant at Rice and Beans and watched a video of the grey whales that the owner put on.
Unfortunately, it costs $150 just for a taxi for the 40 mile trip to go whale watching which costs another $45 on top! So no more
whale watching for us. Besides, it probably couldn't beat the boat trip with Barry at Puerto Lopez Mateos nearly 2 weeks ago.
The next morning, we found that our neighbours standard poodle had pee'd up our front tyre! Then we drove over the hills and back
to Ojo de Liebre. Unfortunately we scraped Winnie getting off onto the dirt track and didn't realise how badly until the next day,
when Kirsten noticed that our exhaust pipe was hanging off!! So that was the next thing to be repaired. She put her handiwork
skills to the test by pulling it off, getting rid of a few jagged bits, turning it around and sticking it back into the other end.
She attached it with duct tape and a few plastic cable binders. Well, at least it held! Then we went for a walk further along the bay
and took a look at all the other camping spots and decided that, if we come back we will park further down the road next time.
The next day, we managed to get back onto the main highway without any more damage! We filled up with petrol as we were about to
drive through the "gas gap" and had to do 215 miles on a petrol tank that averages 210 miles! We'd barely made it going south (one
quarter of a gallon left!), but we had a strong head wind going north so we really had to drive to conserve petrol. On the way, we
could hear something clunking on the front right. We'd had a squeaking noise in our front right tyre for days. When we spoke to some
of the other RV people at San Ignacio, someone had suggested something might be stuck inside the hub cap. So, Kirsten had taken it
off but couldn't see anything. At least we weren't getting the squeaking anymore, but now something was knocking!
So we pulled over, and found that, not only had we lost the hub cap (we now only have one!!), but our canoe had come loose at the
back!!! We fixed it back on properly and laughed about the thought of being overtaken by our own canoe!!! Thank God we'd pulled over
and fixed it!
We managed to get to Cataviña without any more incidents and immediately put pepper over all of our tyres to stop any more dogs
peeing up them!! We´re certainly becoming more experienced RV ers as we go along. At the rate we´re going, it won't be long before
we´re experts!
