Trip Report to Loreto Mexico September 2013

Mike and Leah’s Trip to Loreto September 2013

Sept 20th:  Son drove us to Spokane airport in the evening, spent the night at the Ramada at the airport for early flight next am. $55 plus tax “Name your own price” on Priceline. Had Wendy’s for dinner.

Sept 21st: Walked across the street to the airport, flew out on Delta at 6:30 am. Spent the night at LAX Radisson, $80 +tax. Sat by the pool, dinner from Subway, $5 Footlongs, ate half, saved the rest for bkfst the next day.

Sept22nd: Flew out on a Bombardier prop plane from LAX at 10 AM, free beer/wine! I had black tea with cream and sugar! Arrived at Loreto at 1:15, blast furnace of heat! Very tiny airport, only 2 airlines fly in here, Alaska and can’t remember the other one,  but nice and brand new. The man stamping passports couldn’t stop smiling! Picked up our rental car at Alamo, a new red Chevy Aveo, bright red with a big Alamo sticker slapped on the back, if that doesn’t say “tourist” I don’t what does! ($59/week plus Mexican insurance: $178 total/week.) Drove off  into town, and looked for a place to eat, hungry by now!! Found a place attached to a tourist hotel, trying to look like a 50’s diner but not succeeding. Mike had 2 hot dogs (“horrible and cold“) and I had a burrito, really good, prices were for tourists. Went off to find our hotel, Posada del Cortez, $50/night, brand new with beautiful green and blue tiled shower, the owner was very nice, brought us 2 ice cold beers after we checked in. Just 1 block to the beach and a beautiful roof top patio with an incredible view of town, mountains and a little of the beach.  Found the Mission and town square, walked around a bit, Sunday so very quiet, then off to the grocery store to buy breakfast and sandwich items and bottled water etc. Had PBJ sandwiches in our room for dinner.

Sept 23 I climbed the thin spiral staircase in the morning and had coffee looking out over everything, watched the sunrise. Went for breakfast at the Oasis Hotel, right on the beach, no one was there, had an omelet with potatoes, really good potatoes!! The omelet was interesting as they had not mixed the egg first so was white or yolk. Spent the driving about town looking at a few RV parks and for a fishing pole/reel etc. Finally found a fishing pole/reel but not much for bait. Went to the Marina on the malecon, after several inquiries at the office figured out that no license is needed to fish off the rocks. Mike fished and I watched from the shade. Had to pay 5 pesos to use the restroom, sketchy experience, the man was nice to knock on the door and hand me the toilet paper!!

Sept 24 Back to the rooftop for coffee in the AM. Toast and peanut butter for bkfst. Drove to an RV park “Loreto Shores” and looked around. Went back the Oasis Hotel for lunch, best tacos! Drove around Loreto some more then off to Mulege! Drove up Mex 1, lots of pink flowers everywhere, went through 1 military checkpoint, no problems, stopped at Buenaventura beach, small restaurant, had a cold beverage and spoke with the owners for a while, then off to Burro Beach, Mike fished and I sat in the shade,  next stop Santispac beach, almost no one there, I got my swim suit on (in the car!) and swam then snorkeled, first time ever snorkeling!! Saw hermit crab, baby rays, lots of silvery fish. Spent a few hours there, then off to Mulege, got into town late afternoon, tired and done for the day, pulled up to first motel we saw “Hotel Mulege” and got a room for $28 USD/night, (no English spoken) with modern air conditioning, English TV and a nice courtyard.  I walked around the corner, about a block, and found a nice pizza place, run by an American, visited with a couple from Virginia, there for a week, renting a house for $500/week! The pizza was really good!
Sept 25: Drove around Mulege, went to a small tortilla factory and a grocery store, lots of odd things for sale, had a moth fly at me that was as big as a bat! Looked around a few more RV parks then back South on Mex 1, lots of washouts on this road, and road construction, men mixing concrete in wheelbarrows by  hand. Stopped at Playa Santispac for a few more hours of fishing/snorkeling, bought a blanket from a man with a tienda in his truck.
Back into Loreto to stock up on groceries before heading to the resort, Villa Del Palmar. Got there around 4 pm, impressive! At check in they bring you a chilled rolled washcloth (nice) and a warm virgin pina colada. (ick)  Our room was on the 6th floor, what a view of the bay! Had sandwiches in our room for dinner.
Sept 26: Free breakfast buffet as part of our Timeshare sales pitch, our sales lady was from Boston,  did not buy a time share! Went to restaurant by the beach, had pizza with prosciutto ham, which we picked off to use for bait. Sat in the hot tub. Later, when it cooled off we went to the beach and Mike fished from shore, caught a small muhara, that’s what the attendant called it.
Sept 27: Breakfast in our room, cereal and milk. Managed to buy a 5 gallon bucket from the kitchen after much hand gesturing and phone calls, put our fishing/snorkeling in the bucket and went off down the beach from the resort, spent the day there fishing and snorkeling, saw so many hundreds of fish, some prehistoric, like the 4 foot long silver stick fish! Mike caught all sorts of small fish, none really big enough to take back to eat. They sure liked that prosciutto! (the bucket was for him to sit on)  Dinner was sandwiches and fries on the beach.
Sept 28 Slept in, had cereal in our room. Took a walk around the grounds. Had late lunch in the nicer restaurant, shrimp and rice, spendy but good. That afternoon went swimming in the huge pool, had all to myself! Then went to the fiesta/show, great dancing and comedy!
Sept 29: packed up and checked out. Stopped by at the marina to get gas on the way, huge yachts! Made our way to the airport, the car rental lady comes out and says “there’s no plane”. Alaska airlines agent then arranged for us all to get on shuttle to Loreto, to La Mision hotel on the malecon, our room was right on the pool, not a bad extended 1 day vacation, once I got ahold of the kids etc. They had a buffet for us stranded passengers, really tasty. Best margaritas of the whole trip!
Sept 30: Flew out of Loreto, to LAX, cleared customs no problem, back on plane to Seattle, then to Spokane, got in at 10PM. Back to work on October 1st!