Pancho!

Road heading south out of Bahia de Los Angeles.

I don't think the real Baja begins until one gets south of San Felipe which is a few  hours south of the border and I was anxious to get there.  San Felipe is full of ex-pats and still close enough to the border where one feels like you haven't quite made it to Baja just yet. I made contact with the group of Overlanders again after spending a night in Bahia De Los Angeles. While camped out on the spit at the mouth of the bay I watched as they rolled in lost after dark.  The line of rigs drove out on the other side of the marsh where I was set up missing the turn off for the spit, turned around and went back into town to find an established campground.  I tried signaling them but as I was doing so I kept asking myself, do I really want them to come out and camp where I'm at?  I had a beautiful spot all to myself and the thought of 8 other rigs setting up next to me was.....not so good.  I stopped signaling and watched their tail lights disappear back to the south.  At least, I made the attempt. Following morning,  I left Bahia De Los Angeles and headed south along the coast.  Once leaving the Bay of LA area it's dirt and some four wheeling  for about the next 125 miles or so until you pop back out on pavement just south of Guerrero Negro.  Destination out of Bay of LA was a little fish camp called San Rafael(some drone footage at the end of this posting).  I had been on this road as far south as the fish camp previously when down with a group of friends on motorcycles many years ago and wanted to stop and spend some time there before moving further south to San Francisquito.  Although San Rafael is depicted on the map it's really nothing more than a beautiful beach with a plywood hut where a character by the name of Pancho lives.  There are times when fisherman use the beach to launch their Ponga's but no village or town. It's located about 30 miles down a dirt road south of Bahia De Los Angeles. Pancho has lived here for the past thirty-one years and hasn't been to town for the past 5 years. As you can imagine he leads a very simple lifestyle out here with no electricity or running water.  He does have a solar set up which provides him with some lighting.  I ended up spending a few days here, one of which was New Years Eve. Dining and drinking with Pancho was a New Years I won't forget.  The locals call him "Correcaminos" which translates to RoadRunner.  Everything he does is done at double speed.  He scampers around just like one. I enjoyed the few days I spent here hanging out with Pancho.  He's a character and if you're ever down this way stop stop in.  Great beach, good campsite and hanging out with Pancho is worth the trip alone.  If you bring him some Tequila or dog food, you'll be a friend for life.

Of course, before leaving town I had to stop for some fish taco's.

Drone view of Poncho's place.  

Camp at Poncho's place.  A beach that goes on for miles with no one on it.

The man, the legend.....Pancho.

Morning coffee with Pancho.

Pancho preparing a little dinner for the New Year celebration. Some tostada's, tequila and cold beer.

Pancho outside his bedroom.  He told me that he spent 2 days holed up in the old camper during the last big hurricane that came through a few years ago.  Stated he didn't think he was going to make it as he was sure he was going to end up in the ocean. He had it tied down with some old nylon rope.

A short walk from camp back into the desert.

Bumped into another bike traveler, Ian, who had ridden down from Canada and was headed down to the tip.

Whale bone washed up on the beach just below camp.

Petey was glad for a few days rest and the weather was really starting to warm up.  The warmer the better for Petey.  

 Estuary near camp that had a lot of birds.

Met a guy from California who was flying a very nice drone set up and he was nice enough to give me a couple of clips that he shot one morning while I was camped at Poncho's.  Thought I had written his name somewhere but can't seem to find it. Click on the links below to view.

Drone footage at Pancho's

Drone Footage at Pancho's Part II

More to come................................................................................