From Tijuana to El Pabellon

With Tijuana many hours behind us and the town of San Quintin just a mile behind, I realize the sun is really low in the sky and the clouds glow that orangey red signifying sunset. Heeding warnings from Rogue Angel Kelley's of plowing into cows on the road after dark, and although we projected to be camping in El Rosario this evening, I wake up Justin snoring at my side and ask him to find us a new destination. He does:



The next destination he lines up is a place called El Pabellon. A camping destination highly recommended by our book, The Lonely Planet Baja. We pull down the long white-washed rock lined drive as the darkness creeps in. There is a mint condition old Ford Pickup, I want to say 57 era, chrome trim and deep navy blue. Out of the pueblo steps a rustic older Mexican wearing a clean straw cowboy hat. His wrinkles speak for themselves.
He asks us "donde something noches", or how many nights? We say "uno". He says something else in spanish and we recognize he is saying, 'siente', pesos, or ten bucks. I say " Muchas Gracias and Buenos Noches!" with enthusiam and all his wrinkles turn upward. He seemed pleased at my attempt.

We pull into a spot right beside tall thin evergreen trees overlooking the beach. In the dark we walk out and ceremoniously dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean. It's cold and I'm glad I brought my capilene top.


After a few more Tecates and a short tying session we call it a night. Our first night in Mexico.

Tomorrow will be the longest most grueling day of our trip. There are about 400 miles of desert between our remote spot on the Pacific to the Sea of Cortez. The first 200 miles void of any diesel fueling options. We're going to need our rest.

Scenes from our day on the northern coast drive:

If you look closely you can see the large Jesus on the point overlooking the ocean,
Here is the close-up:

Adios Pacific Ocean!