Baja Trip of a Lifetime! Viva México!

Vamos a México!

When hungry - what else could you possibly want - but FUD?  The nearby Rancho Santa Ynez RV Park only charges $8/night.  Get yourself to Baja!  You simply cannot find more warm-hearted people this close to home.

We endlessly enjoy our son, Newel and his family, and thank them and thank them for letting us tag along on yet another foray into México...this time to the Sea of Cortés side of Baja California.
The sun was setting after we crossed the border and a mystical fog softly settled over us so it was like driving into a forbidden land.  Newel had Arden turn off his light in the van because we didn't want to draw attention to the fact gringos were on the highway "alone".  There's probably only a risk near the border because (like aways) we felt perfectly safe ...once we were 20 or 30 miles from the border.   The Mexicans themselves seem more than tired of the violence among the traficantes de drogas.  Any Mexican we talked to about the drug wars said they would not got near border towns themselves...and they seemed much more disturbed by the violence than anyone in the U.S.

Arden wanted a picture showing how the cactus clung to the stairway at our hotel, "El Rey Sol".  This is a great place to stay in Ensenada if you want to walk to everything.  Our first and favorite thing to do is to walk the streets and discover all of the delicious things to see and do...and to eat!

WARNING:  A trip to the fish market always results in a helpless, hopeless craving for "Feesh Tacos".  Even though it was dark and the streets were empty, our senses led us straight to the best fish in town.

Soon every dish was empty and we had to order more!

Then it was time to roam the streets to experience everything we could about this country we love so much.  Our next quest was for elote, Mexican corn on the cob   Read more: How to make Mexican corn on the cob.  Another street and beach favorite is Mexican Ceviche.  Click here for a recipe.

Ok...so we love the food...but the ultimate treat was the perfect breakfast that we had the next morning at El Rey Sol Restaurant.  The interior was plush, elegant and filled with Spanish antiques.  The dining area on the street is more suited for energized kids, including myself.  I tried to take pictures of the food, but it was such a perfect dining experience that even our frequent glowing description of the moment did not convey the pure pleasure of this gift of premium food in a premium location.  México, baby.

Fresh squeezed...and naturally sweet....ummmmm-yum. 

It's time to go in search of new territory:  San Felipe...!  The I-pad knows where it's at and anything else you'd like to know.  I asked the internet about the geology.  My nerd stuff:  Here's a hint of what it took to create the place many San Felipeños think of as Paradise.

The Paleozoic Era - Among the several tectonic plates forming Earth's surface, the eastward moving Pacific and westward moving Continental plates collided in such a manner that the smaller Caribbean and Cocos plates were sandwiched between them causing the formation of southern Mexico and Central America and, ultimately, causing a change in the direction the Pacific plate was moving. Subsequently, as a direct result of this collision, the Pacific began a counterclockwise rotation largely responsible a) for the distribution of the Hawaiian Islands; b) for the creation of the San Andreas Fault; and c) the creation of the Baja California peninsula (a splinter of the Continental plate now attached to the Pacific plate and extending as far north as Point Reyes (north of San Francisco).

The Mesozoic Era - During the creation of southern Mexico and Central America, volcanic islands appeared in what may be called the ancient sea. At least one of those islands is visible today at the southern edge of Baja California's Laguna Salada. Colored black by an estimated 200 million years of exposure to the sun, the remains of a once proud volcano stand along the east side of the highway where it connects to the land after crossing the Laguna. Another part of that same ancient volcano can be seen about a mile west of the same highway. Judging by these remnants, it is fair to estimate a volcano somewhat more than twenty miles in diameter.

The Cenozoic Era - The San Andreas Fault tore through the stalled Cocos Plate resulting in a portion of that plate becoming permanently attached to the Pacific Plate. We now call the most visible portion of the Cocos "Baja California.".

The pre-batholithic sediments were intruded by at least two periods of batholithic emplacement, with the later being the mid-Cretaceous emplacement of the Peninsular Range Batholith, which was the more extensive of the two. Post-batholithic strata range in age from Paleocene (?) to Recent. Paleocene (?) strata are only locally exposed and consist of clastic deposits derived from local granitic and metamorphic terrains, and a single andesite flow dated by the potassium-argon method. Eocene conglomerate at a single locality in the Sierra San Felipe-Sierra Santa Rosa basin contains clasts that resemble Eocene conglomerates and gravels from the Sierra Juarez to the west. Sedimentary rocks of volcanic derivation (post-Eocene conglomerate) may be of Oligocene age as they predate the oldest Miocene volcanics in the northwestern part of the study area. The Miocene Epoch has the most diverse representation of strata. Basic, intermediate, and acidic volcanic flows and volcanically derived clastic deposits from the bulk of the Miocene strata; however, a sequence of marine strata of late Miocene age are exposed in the south-central part of the study area. The Pliocene Epoch is represented by a widespread fanglomerate unit, locally intertongued with marine deposits containing locally well-preserved molluscan faunas. Various Quaternary units were also differentiated. The Quaternary deposits include fanglomerate, marine strata, older alluvium, beach ridges, lacustrine strata, dune sands, and alluvium. Four periods of faulting were recognized as occurring in the Paleocene (?), late Miocene, late Pliocene, and Quaternary. Three periods of folding were determined to be Eocene to pre-Miocene volcanics, late Miocene, and late Pliocene to early Pleistocene (?). In conclusion, geologic evidence indicates the regional paleo-slope was generally westward through the Eocene Epoch. Extensive vulcanism and tensional faulting during the Miocene Epoch suggests the beginning of dilation of the Gulf of California. The sedimentary evidence of eastward transportation of coarse clastic sediments indicates that depression accompanied dilation. During the late Miocene (ten to seven million years ago) the Gulf of California opened to the south with normal marine circulation as evidenced by fossiliferous marine strata.

Generally, the geological history of the Baja Peninsula is a Wagnerian opera-- full of Precambrian mountainous low tones, oceanic high notes, lots of heat, pressure, violence and finally separation.

Science tells us Baja California will eventually become an island. And then this slow moving boat of stone and sand will head north to Alaska, where a trench leads the Pacific Plate back into the Earth’s mantle. At the present rate of movement, we won’t get there for tens of millions of years. The movement of the plate, however, tickles many faults, creating numerous small and large earthquakes in the Californias.

If you read this far....I love you...you are a nerd!

Honestly...despite the drug wars, we never felt uncomfortable in Mexico.  We jogged alone, wandered the beach at night, did fireworks...  Hey, it was all good.