Mama Espinoza's to Bahia de Los Angeles
22 April 2015
Fred
We got on the road after breakfast and headed south to Catavina and the Boulder field and cactus preserve. You go through high desert scrub and all of a sudden you come across an area filled with huge granite boulders and cactus. Cardon, ocotillo, chola and Cirio trees which we mistook for Boojums. We are in the Valle de Cirios which is protected. Cirio means wax candle in Spanish and we couldn't quite figure out why until we saw a picture of one and realized it wasn't a Boojums tree. They look like a wax candle and the flower on top the flame, at least to me.
We stopped at the Hotel Mision Catavina for a soft drink and a look around. We were there last year for lunch and this time it looked much better and well tended with some interesting metal sculptures. We were looking for Patch's cabin along the way but didn't know exactly where it was. But here we sit in LA Bay as I write this and Penny is looking at the road map we have and discovered Patchen cabin just a little south of Catavina so we will check it out on the return trip North.
So onward to the turn off to LA Bay and it was a really good paved road with shoulders. The highway we were on was really potholed and narrow, elevated and no shoulders and butt clinching when the big rigs come at you. Our new road had Cirio, Datilillito, and elephant trees around it. Quite pretty. It's a 66 km run to LA Bay and a easy drive with a few washouts but with good smooth detours. I think the washouts are from Hurricane Odile last year. When you first see the Sea of Cortes it is a magical sight that I never tire of. We arrive in town and do a driving tour which took all of 10 minutes. Several restaurants that looked good and not much else. We ended up at Daggetts beach camp and chose a waterfront site with a stick hut and rock BBQ. $350 pesos for two nights. Got camp squared away and read books, took a nap, and I beat Penny at cribbage. It's pretty windy like a Cormorell and hopefully it will calm down.