February 13, 2015 - Playa Norte, Los Barriles to Playa Tecolote

Today definitely started out as Friday the 13th! Tobey went to fill the RV with water and the PVC pipe coming out of the ground cracked as he was starting to screw the hose on. Water started spewing everywhere but into the hose! He found the main shutoff, but that shut all the water off to the RVs along our row. He went down to tell Cathy and Richard who are wintering here and they called the RV park manager, but they also told us that it happens often! Geez. Anyway, we had to leave with less than a full tank of fresh water. We were able to dump our tanks and Jose turned the water on long enough for us to rinse the hoses. What a nightmare!

We headed north to El Triunfo, a small mountain, mining community which is located in one of Baja’s most historic areas. In 1862, silver and gold were found there. The population is now less than 300 people, but in 1862 it was the largest community in the southern peninsula with were more than 10,000 people!

We parked the RV on the highway and walked up the hill to see the ruins of the old smelter. The smokestacks can be seen from the road, but you had to walk up to see the old equipment. We went here 10 years ago, but Tobey didn’t remember it. I will show him the pictures when we get home!!!

 

They are doing a lot to restore many of the buildings in town, and it was really fun to see.


When we got back to the highway, we also chuckled over the cow walking down the middle of the road. This one seemed to know EXACTLY where it was heading and ended up stopping on the sidewalk where there was a small tuft of grass on which to graze!
You might notice all of the RVs parked along the road in the picture. This was an RV caravan – mostly all Germans, who are traveling for about 6 weeks through the Baja as a group.


 

We backtracked about five miles to catch the road to La Ventana, an area popular for wind and kite surfing. We had planned to camp there for a couple nights. At La Ventana Campground we were shocked at how full it was – and most of the people are there for the entire winter season. There were a couple places along the outside wall near the highway, but this just didn’t appeal to either of us! Almost every RV, camper, or tent had these canopy enclosures around them. It was definitely a place for sports enthusiasts, not us!

We checked at the two other RV parking places in town and they were full, also. On top of that, it was cloudy and cool, and no wind! There wasn’t a single person in the water, and the forecast was no wind for a couple days.

Not to worry, we went with Plan B and headed further north to La Paz, then continued northeast to Playa Tecolote. We found a great spot on the beach and will spend a couple nights here before going back to La Paz for Carnival. There are a couple restaurants out here and we will probably have lunch at one of them tomorrow.

We walked a bit on the beach which is kind of rocky near the shore, but not bad. There were some locals families whose children were playing in the water, and another that was flying kites.

The sunset was actually behind us, but the reflection over the water was really pretty.Not a bad way to end the day – and it’s free!

GPS: 24.33719N, 110.31031W