We broke camp and decided to try and explore Malarrimo beach.  The famous J-shaped beach that catches all the flotsam from the Pacific.  This beach is extremely remote, but those that make it there describe a beach with trash from every country in the world.  Not the best mental image, but beach-combing through old stuff like that would be cool.  

As we left camp we had some nice views across Bahia Tortugas with the town of the same name visible on the right.

Once we got to the ocean near the fishcamp called Malarrimo, we had to stop for a while because Marisa got sick.  Something was not setting right with her.  Brian and I thought it was from out of date milk. After a while she was feeling good enough to continue and we decided to see how far we could get in an hour and then decide what we wanted to do.  The only other vehicle we saw was an older Ford Ranger that was stuck in the sand.  An old man was driving and he flagged me down. His name was Geraldo and he was a local fisherman in the area.  He was trying to get some beach access, but got too close to the sand.  I think he had been stuck for a while because he had constructed a make-shift shovel out of wood and was using that to dig out sand.  A quick tug and he was free and very appreciative.  He invited all of us to his camp for some coffee, but we thanked him and told him that we were behind and had to get moving.  We told him we were going to Malarrimo beach and his eyes got big and I could tell from his reaction that getting to the beach is a challenge.  We all shook hands again and took off.

When we reached the fishcamp called Malarrimo, it really became apparent that the weather was turning for the worse.  We still had a while to go to get to the beach we were after.  The area around the beach has sand covered mud flats and people have gotten into really bad stucks in the past, so we were planning on being very cautious.  There were rain storms on the horizon and the winds were really picking up from the west, and they were pretty cold coming off the open ocean.  We had a meeting and we all pretty much agreed that we were over the Pacific winds and we’d rather be on the Sea of Cortez or even the desert than deal with the winds and cold any longer.  I had really wanted to get to this beach, but after getting to the area, I’m not sure I’ll come back.  It wasn’t that big of a deal to me afterall.  The landscape on this side of the Vizcaino desert is really a moonscape.  There is very little vegetation anywhere and the mountains are pretty bare.  It was very cool to see the strange geology and landscape, but I’ll doubt I’ll be back this way unless I make an extended 6-month trip someday.  (which might happen…) 

So, we hit the road hard after lunch. We figured that we could probably make San Borja Mission by nightfall.  An ambitious undertaking, but we had been pushing the trucks for a week now, why slow down now...  We made it back to Vizcaino without any problems and headed north.  We were getting low on gas and planned on filling up in Guerro Negro, but that plan was soon foiled when Guerro Negro was all out of fuel.  One pump was working at one station with limits on how much you could buy and the line was over 50 cars long.  Lots of gringos were stuck in line.  It was comical.  We had our ten gallon reserve, so we went north.  The Pemex at the military camp north of Guerro Negro was also out of fuel. Guerro Negro is a major city and for them to be out of fuel worried me a little.  At this point I added my 10 gallon reserve and we headed north for Villa Jesus Maria.  Along the way, Brian’s ZR2 actually started sputtering, so then he pulled over and added his extra 10 gallons too. 

At Villa Jesus Maria we were pleased to see that they had fuel and we topped everything off.  We probably could have made it to Bahia de Los Angeles, but I’m glad we didn’t have to stress about it. 

At one of the military checkpoints before the turnoff to San Borja, Brian noticed that one of his rear shocks was dangling beneath his truck!  We stopped to check it out in more detail after we got off the highway.  The upper shock mount was broken, probably from us hauling ass on the dirt road back from Tortugas. Brian tied the shock up with a bungee cord out of the way so we could continue on. 

We made good time and it was looking like we would make the mission before dark.  We even had time to stop for a few pictures of the desert.

We pulled in and nobody else was there.  The owner told us to camp at any of the palapas we wanted and the price was 5 buck per person.  There was no wind, the temperature was perfect, birds were singing, and we all looked at each other and agreed that we made the right choice earlier in the day.  This was great!!!!!

We parked and then went to explore the mission as the light was really warm in the late afternoon and would make some great photographs. A young man named Angel came up and offered to show us around the mission.  He was 18 years old and was one of the people working full-time on the renovation of the mission.  Angel and his family are 6th generation here and are descendents of the Cochimi Tribe of Mexico.  Angel gave us a grand tour of the mission, from the back rooms to the upper levels and even on the roof.  He was really proud of the renovation work they had accomplished.  A few days before our arrival there was a large ceremony with church elders from as far away as Tijuana staying at the mission.  Angel told us that they had a packed house for the show with a full musical contingent in the upper deck with musicians and singers.  I would have loved to have seen the show, the acoustics inside the mission are really astounding. For some reason they fenced the mission, which really distracts the eye in the photos.   

This was our guide, Angel, talking to Brian and Marisa.

As the sun was setting, Angel took us on a tour of the gardens and up to the hot springs.  I enjoyed asking Angel about the Spanish names for the birds in the garden.  There were several Gila Woodpeckers in the palm trees and he told me that their name was “La carpentera”.  Makes sense.  ;-)  There were many frogs and toads calling in the springs and wetlands in the area. Brian got a picture of one of the red-spotted toads hopping on the trail.

Back at camp, Angel hung out with us at the campfire for about an hour.  He was really trying hard with his English and I asked him how he got so good and he said from talking to tourists.  I asked if he had any books and he said no, so I got in the truck and pulled out my Spanish – English dictionary and gave it to him.  He was really happy to have it and I knew he’d get a lot more use from it than I would.  I'm such a slacker with my Spanish.

Later that night, around 10pm, we decided to hike back up to the springs and check them out.  They were not that hot, maybe 85-90 degrees, but it was relaxing.  No wind, warm night, sitting in the springs, what a great way to end a long day!