March 10, 2015 - Fidel’s El Pabellon Beach to Ensenada

We started our day off with a trip down memory lane … funny what our memories do to us when we get older! Ten years ago we went to the Old Mill Hotel area and since it is only 5 miles off the highway we decided to check it out again.

Here’s the history of the Old Mill area:
In the 1880s, a British land company with plans for a wheat empire purchased much of the San Quintín area from the US–based International Land Company. In response to promises of agricultural wealth, around a hundred English colonists purchased subdivided land tracts from the parent company, planted wheat, and constructed a gristmill. The English built a pier on the inner Bahiá San Quintín and began constructing a railway to link up with the Southern Pacific to the north in California in order to transport flour. Thirty kilometers of track were laid, including a rail causeway from the west bank of inner Bahiá San Quintín, before the colony failed. A 17-ton, six-wheeled locomotive still lies underwater at the mouth of the bay, the remains of a loading accident for the aborted railway.

Then, a drought devastated one of the first wheat harvests, and by 1900 all the colonists abandoned San Quintín. Remnants of the gristmill, the railroad causeway, the pier, and an English cemetery still stand along the perimeter of the inner bay.

SO, … fast forward to this morning. The road was a mess – all five miles of it. There has been quite a bit of rain recently in addition to deep ruts filled with water, there were miles of washboard dirt and low-hanging electrical wires! When we got there and parked, the museum was closed – didn’t open until noon. The area was built up quite a bit with more restaurants and special event venues, as well as catering to sport fishermen, so you really couldn’t see much of the “historic” value.


We didn’t see any sharks while we were there – this was a new addition to the dock area since we were last here. The best thing about the trip in was watching this sea lion catching fish. The birds were chasing him, trying to get the fish away from him.
Tobey told me that no matter what he says the next time we return to Baja Mexico, if he wants to go see the Old Mill, JUST SAY NO!! Soon we were back in the RV and retracing the 5 mile road back to the highway.

The area near San Quintin is still mostly agricultural with lots of farms and vineyards. We passed several fields of strawberries, radishes, and prickly pear cactus. The cactus are sold in groceries stores all over Mexico. I’m not sure how they prepare them, but we have seen the produce clerks cutting the “prickles” off the cactus and stacking them in the bins.



We followed three big Coca-Cola trucks for several miles. They certainly have a much larger footprint in Mexico than Pepsi.

 I am a Coke-Zero drinker at our house and Tobey is a Pepsi drinker, so I usually win when we go out to eat here in Mexico. (although it is usually Coca-Light). We were talking about how unfair it was for him when we immediately passed a restaurant advertising Pepsi. It was the first one we have seen!

Not much further down the road there was a HUGE group of motorcycles getting ready for a ride south. The had a lead vehicle and they were unloading some of the bikes from a trailer at the end of the group.

“Topes” are speed bumps in Mexico – and there are LOTS of them. We have often seen groups collecting donations at topes for different charities like these girls collecting for the local hospital.
 

We finally arrived in Ensenada around 1pm and stopped to have fish tacos. We went to the Malecon area and found a place that was pretty good and the tacos were $17 pesos each ($1.20USD) The better deal was our ice cream stop after lunch – $45 pesos for 10 scoops!!! ($3.25USD) We shared part of it before placing the rest in our RV freezer for desserts later.

We have finally found the answer to the age-old question of “Where’s Waldo?” Ensenada, Mexico! They are a discount store here!
Tonight we are “street camping” in Ensenada because it was getting late and we didn’t want to drive in the dark. Also, thinking of home we decided to get a take out pizza from Papa Johns and settle in for the night!

 
GPS: 31.86134N, 116.58478W
RV CAMPING – BAJA CALIFORNIA