Previous pages were from San Felipe to Loreto/Juncalito.

2/14 Saturday, Ciudad Insurgentes,PUERTO LOPEZ MATEOS, Festival of the Ballenes 2009

XVI Festival International de la Ballena Gris 2009	An excited group who have seen the whales

Over the mighty Sierra de la Gigantis mountain range they have a good 2-lane highway but with many curves. On the way into town we noticed that the electric company had built many high nests for the Osprey every 10 poles (approximately every mile) and they were inhabited. We were fortunate enough to reach Ciudad Insurgentes and land in the little town of Puerto Lopez Mateos on this weekend. We found the pier area where they were setting up the stage for the evenings performance. They had concession stands of foods and souveniers just waiting for us. Then in the evening, on the stage they had a Karaoke type of entertainment which lasted from 4 p.m to 4 a.m..(no kidding).

Ciudad Constitucion, very, very impressive	Although much construction underway.

2/15 Now on to CIUDAD CONSTITUCION but we did not go out to San Carlos at this time. We just continued on to Santa Rita where Mel remembered they had an arroya washout years back. Around Las Pocitis we noticed the Josua Trees and Cardons predominated the landscape.The map shows a straight road but in fact there were many curves and hills as we traversed these mountains .

La Paz, Pichlingue Ferry Terminal	Coming into Pichlingue Ferry Terminal

Finally we came into La Paz. It was getting late and we particularly wanted to see Pichlingue where the cruise ships depart for the Mexican mainland. La Paz is not considered a tourist town. With a 200,000 population it is more of a mexican people town. There were many streets without street names. The roads were tight and the RV park we stayed at was difficult to find and to get in and out of.. To tell you the truth we did not really like La Paz from a tourist's point of view.

Santiago Beach	Parasail on the beach

2/.16 In the morning we were off again: Small towns such as El Triunfo, San Antonio and Los Barriles were buried in the mountains down to the Sea of Cortez side once again. We continued on to SANTIAGO. Tired and hungry we found a vacant beach which suited us just fine. The weather was perfect, the water calm, and very little breeze. Suddenly we spotted a parasail coming right at us. What fun. We decided a campfire and BBQ would be just the ticket before we called it a night.

2/17Another day: Heading down just past Santiago we enjoyed seeing the little monument they have set up to signify the spot where the TROPIC OF CANCER crosses the Baja.. It's not much, but a topic of conversation only. The little shrine has been well maintained and interestingly decorated inside.

Tropic of Cancer:: imitation of the globe	This is a large shrine, the highlite of the memorial

On we travel. The scenery on Highway 1was mostly scrub trees with the might Cardon everywhere.

We made it into San José Del Cabo where they were doing much road-construction out at the Puerto Los Cabos. Coming into town we found another Palm forest. They do have a 4-lane highway around which the town is growing impressively. High rises and Hotels are very visible in the town center, to the left of the highway.

Decided we wanted to reach our goal of Cabo San Lucas before quitting for the night.