During the “Polar Vortex of Jan ’24” B-Rod just happened to have vacation. With the added advantage of our flight passes (thanks B-Rod!!!!!) we decided to activate operation “Get the F&*@ Out Of the Cold!” Now, I’ll spare the details of the issues we had getting out, as I realize not everyone has access to these benefits, but for those friends who ARE standby travellers and/or DO work in the airline industry, I have 3 words for you . . . . weather issues (at MOST major airports we were hoping to depart from . . . . not just an “excuse” airlines use for people not getting on flights), and de-icing (including at YLW 🫤).
After a few “trial runs”, false starts AND a ‘4 minute should have gone our way’ moment, we found ourselves barely squeaking on a flight to San José del Cabo on the Baja California peninsula in Mexico.
B-Rod has always wanted to go to Baja. Rocky’s first solo trip and first yoga teacher training experience was in Baja many, many years ago! B-Rod was excited. Rocky was worried it wouldn’t be warm enough for her (yes . . . . she DOES have her drama queen moments!) Both of them ended up being right! The first few days were overcast and sweater weather, but it eventually warmed up and it IS an exciting place to be!
As B-Rod had a vague idea of where and what he was interested in, so the loose plan as we boarded the flight to Cabo was to get directly on a bus from the airport and head to La Paz. When we landed and did a bit of research of where to stay and how to get there, B-Rod found that renting a car was actually an economical option. So, as much as we love public transport travels, we headed over to pick up a rental car and have discovered that for exploring gems in Baja, having our own transport has been the way to go.
As it started to get dark, we decided to spend the first night in Cabo. The accommodation we booked ended up being a bit out of the way and required some navigation skills (ie. a few fails, our first drive through a sand wash and a few turn arounds to find it). When we did pull up to where we wanted to be, we were greeted by an empty dark parking space, a closed fence and either a security guard or police officer that emerged out of the shadows, apologized to us and pointed to a sign on the front door. Our limited Spanish and Google translate had us guessing that the owner of the accommodation is wanted by the law?! 🤷🏽♀️ (Spanish speakers . . . . feel free to back or disprove our theory!)
Either way, our first night was spent finding a new place to stay and calls to the booking site to inform them of our “adventure”
With those hiccups behind us, we set out to exploring areas of Baja. I know I tend to throw around the word ✨MAGIC✨ a lot (it IS one of my fav words!) And though I do associate magic with things like wands and stardust and tingles, I very much became aware this trip that my thing . . . my jam in fact . . . is finding/noticing magic in the everyday. I have seen some pretty amazing things during my travels, and most of them are things that exist every day whether I am there to witness them or not. There is magic in the surreal and mystical, but there is just as much magic (maybe sometimes more so because we may fail to acknowledge parts of our every day) in the mundane.
There is plenty of ✨MAGIC✨ happening on the daily in Baja!
After getting out of Cabo, we found ourselves in La Ribera for a few days. B-Rod had met a lady on the plane who told him to go to La Barriles. I liked the look of one of the places to stay in La Ribera which was close, so we headed in that direction. Our magic started while we were sitting on the beach in La Barriles and looking out over the ocean into the distance to see the “smoke plume” indications of whales . . . . plenty of them. This was followed by the distant sighting of tails and bodies as these same whales plunged down deep into the depths or breached out into the open air. We sat straining our eyes in wonder and commented how even though we couldn’t fully see them and weren’t anywhere near them, it was still so cool just knowing they are there! Little did we know at that time that it was only the beginning of our sightings and interactions with these amazing creatures.
Nature in general is magical, and we experienced so much of this in our few days in La Ribera. We spent time in the crystal clear pools and hot springs (which were visited and appreciated during the initial cold period of our stay) of Santa Rita.
We went to the Sol de Mayo Waterfalls where we had a section of pools all to ourselves, and when we did eventually make our way to the falls, a group of Gen Z’s convinced B-Rod that though we didn’t see anyone else doing it, they had in fact jumped from the top of the falls to the pool below. And, with cheers and shrieks of “YOLO,” they talked B-Rod into doing the same!
We later sat some more at the beach close to our place and watched MORE whale smoke plumes in the distance.
From La Ribera, we marvelled at the vast, open, sometimes lonely and largely untouched scenery and made some random stops when and where we wanted along the 2+ hour long drive to La Paz.
We spent a good chunk of time in this city and really liked it. It could be very touristy, but it could also be simply walking among people living their every day lives depending on where we ended up in the city.
We did something here that I had once had on “a list,” but never got around to doing. I had no idea that now would be the time! Turns out every year from October to May whale sharks migrate to the Sea of Cortez just outside of La Paz. AND, turns out La Paz has some of the strictest rules in the world for taking people out to swim with these animals in order to protect them and ensure they are allowed to roam freely and naturally in their own environment. Do I need to say how magical it was to be in their presence?
We also used La Paz as a base for beach days. It WAS actually a bit chilly for swimming (even B-Rod will attest to this) and often quite windy, but there’s no denying how beautiful the beaches are here. From Playa Balandra which is often included on lists of “Mexico’s Best Beaches” to Dunas del Mogote where we enjoyed a beach backed by sand dunes mostly to ourselves, there was never a shortage of access to sea, salt and sand.
Playa Balandra
Dunas del Mogote
Taking hikes to get up higher and look out into the beauty of this area also seemed to be easily accessible from most of the beaches we visited.
Of course, a big part of our travels is also the food! As always when we’re in Mexico, it was mostly mouthwatering and delicious, but we were quite surprised to find that even the street food has risen to be about the same as the cost of food at home. That hasn’t deterred from our continued exploring and intention to find the most amazing local places with the red plastic chairs though.
At some point along the way, Rocky discovered that it was also the time of year when Gray Whales migrate to the area. Around October, these whales swim 16,000-22,500km from the Arctic to arrive in and be off the coast of Baja from January to March. It was a little bit out of the way, but we felt it would be worth it to make the 3 hour drive to San Carlos to have a chance to see these animals a little bit closer. When we contacted the tour company asking what a boat to ourselves would entail, they gave us the following options for our day: 1. whales, lunch, island, 2. whales, birds, lunch, 3. whales, whales & more whales. Option 3 it was and worth it, it definitely was!!
Baja . . . . . you’re ✨MAGICAL✨!!
