Los Barriles

We arrived back from Tijuana mostly on time, grabbed our truck from B&B Casa Juarez and delivered a decent bottle of wine from the duty free store to our most gracious host Silvana.  Then we picked Ted up, and he TALKED to us when he saw us – straight up TALKED – and for a while too.  Pretty sure he was scolding us for letting him believe we’d abandoned him in Mexico and simultaneously practically weeping with joy that we’d come back.  The travel family reunited, we headed down to Los Barriles.

We met our new friend Chris at El Gecko Beach resort for dinner. He was hosting a set of friends who were leaving the following day, but still we didn’t feel like we were crashing the party.  Rather, we felt welcomed by Chris who is from Colorado, but spends half the year in Los Barriles on a property he built up over the years to be semi-perminent living in response to unchecked development.  It has 3 Airstream trailers, a couple of outdoor bathrooms, a barn and several tents to host whomever decides to drop in, listen to his own brand of philosophy, and spend time getting to know the region.

The town is swimming with snowbirds and ex-pats. There are countless shops and restaurants that the average Mexican would never be able to afford. This lends to the charm of the place as Americanized creature comforts are not hard to find. There’s a huge kite boarding population here. We were told that as the season starts, a whole Burning Man-style campground springs up and stays for quite some time.

And so it is a place of opposites, like many of the places in Mexico. There’s constant development for tourism, and also a huge ecological agenda. There’s plenty of local flavor, but it is in-between the constant draw of your standard tourist traps.

We saw baby turtles being hatched one morning right next to the El Gecko Resort.  FYI, baby turtles are the cutest things in the entire world.

Another day we drove an hour to Cabo Pulmo Marine Preserve for snorkeling in the morning and paddle boarding in the afternoon at Arborito National Park.  We went on 2 big hikes into nearby canyons including Aguascalientes, an emerald-pooled highlight.  Note that dogs are not allowed at Aguascalientes – we had to sneak Ted past the guy who mans the gate and collects the entrance fee.

We bought food from the local market and cooked in Chris’ outdoor kitchen, but we also drank beers on the beach and ate pasta in the evening with other gringos driving around in their souped-up 4 wheelers and getting drunk and rowdy.

To our frustration but in line with Chris’ prediction, our truck parts still did not arrive on that Friday.  We decided to head back to La Paz on Sunday with fingers crossed that Monday would finally be the lucky day.

TIP:  Watching the baby turtles:

Drive down Datil St., the fourth from either arroyo, and park. (You can also find the El Gecko Beach resort and walk south on the beach). The turtle nests are in a tennis court sized area with a fence and hard to miss. Every morning during the season at 7:30 AM, they are released usually 300-400 at a time. Only 1/1000 are expected to survive, but Omar has been helping every last one make it into the ocean for four years.