Deeper into Baja - Part 7

With so many places to explore here in Baja, it can become difficult making decisions on where to go next.  Leaving Aqua Verde we were still undecided on where, next, would be.  Kirby (see previous post) had mentioned the small village of San Jose Comondu which lies in the interior of Baja.  He reported that it was one of the oldest settlements in Baja, was off the beaten path and was worth checking out.  To get there we'd have to go west toward the pacific side and then back to the north before heading up in the foothills of the Sierra La Giganta Range. Having been camped on pristine beach spots for the past few weeks it was decided that a change of scenery was in order.  Our plan was to get to San Jose Comondu and decide if we could then head further north off-road, through the village of San Isidro and end up at Scorpion Bay on the Pacific. Arriving late in Comundu, we parked in front of what was by far the nicest building in town which turned out to be a small recently renovated motel.  A lady was sitting out front and I inquired as to the cost.  Only thing I could get from her was $400 pesos.  Inquiry into whether there were showers couldn't be understood so I finally motioned for her to show me a room.  Pretty nice on the inside, concrete floors (dogs were OK) two single beds and it contained a shower.  For $400 pesos ($23.00 USD) we were not setting up camp as a shower alone was worth the cost.  Comondu is a little village that I would like to go back through.  We kind of blew through there but I think we missed quite a bit.  Had we set up camp we'd of probably ended up staying a few more nights.   It's a quaint little village with cobblestone streets, goats roaming the hillsides, old buildings and a slow pace of life.  Although we only stayed the one night it was a memorable one.  Not wanting to drag the food and cooking stuff out since we weren't camping we began looking for somewhere to eat.  After walking around the village we found nothing.  One small taco stand that was either closed, or out of business entirely, appeared to be the only place to eat in the village.  Back to the hotel lady for some more sign language, grunting and the simulation of shoveling food in my mouth, she grasped that we wanted something to eat.  She simply motioned for me to follow her.  While Wayne stayed back with the dogs I followed as we wound our way over a few blocks and came up to an old house.  With a rap on the door some serious discussion commenced in Spanish.  Only words I picked up from the discussion was "gringo" and "hambre."  The dumb hungry gringo, that would be me, is standing there staring at them like a lost puppy waiting for instructions.  The lady in the house eventually looks my way, smiles and motions for me to come in.  Since Wayne is a few blocks over probably standing around looking like a dumb, hungry gringo himself, I motion to the lady and in my finest Spanish tell her "uno momento", turn and run off to fetch Wayne.  Two complete strangers, we were welcomed into Carlita's home, where she fed us. I find the people of Baja to be some of the most friendly and caring people I've ever met and encounters like this confirm it. Carlita spoke no English, as in zero, but somehow we managed to get by with my limited Spanish or through sign language.  We were able to figure out that her husband was in La Paz working as a stone mason and that she had lived in Comondu her entire life.  We think she also understood where we were from as well but I wouldn't bet on that. She began showing us some statues that appeared to be of a religious origin after we'd eaten.  We wanted to  know more about the statues and how old they were but the language barrier was just too much.   Regardless of our lack of verbal communications, we had a great time dining and hanging out with Carlita.  Upon returning to the room, we discovered there was no power so I went out to the truck to get a headlamp in order that we see something.  As I'm headed back an old Mexican guy is headed across the courtyard towards me, bends over and pulls out a busted up solar landscaping spike that is putting out about as much light as you'd get from a firefly trapped in jar. Points to the power line..."no mas". Points to the landscaping spike....."mo bueno".  This was his solution for our predicament of having no lights in the room. Struck me as funny and I didn't really care because I'd already had a hot shower, with lights, when we had power.  Wayne however, took a nice cold one in the dark.  You snooze you lose.

 From the looks of the wall behind the stove, I'd say Carlita has cooked a few meals here.

 Cobblestone streets.

 Some really old structures are scattered throughout the village.  Some still occupied.

Old cemetery outside of Comondu. I'd hate to be the gravedigger for this place. It'd kill the average man who had to dig a hole in this terrain. 

We made it through the following day to San Juanico after some wrong turns. In short, the road....was crap and has nothing more than a couple of  goat farms along the route. Took us about 6 hours to do one 25 mile section. Definetly requires a four wheel drive rig with ample ground clearance on the section between Comondu and San Isidro.  After that it's basically just a dusty, rocky road until you get back out to pavement near the coast.  Was a fun day and since we were in no hurry we just poked along through the rough stuff.

Climbing up out of Comondu.

Crossing the La Purisma River.

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