FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BAJA, MEXICO

welcome to [Music] [Music] Baja we've spent the last two weeks driving this new to us region of Mexico and today we're sharing all that we love about this incredibly beautiful place so far [Music] but first we need to catch you up to speed last time we left off we were crossing the border from California into Mexico to begin our open-ended journey of driving from the USA to usua at the very tip of Argentina this is our first international border crossing in our truck camper and it was certainly a learning curve that was met with equal parts nerves and excitement for the fun and Adventures that awaited us on the other side of the Border oh and you can't forget about the tacos it took us less than a mile over the border into Mexico before we found a taco stand and we stopped for the first of I'm sure many delicious tacos during our months in Mexico we entered our first day in Mexico on a beach in San Felipe which is where we're picking back up today so in case you're not familiar with Mexico's Baja Peninsula it's a skinny piece of land that juts away from the mainland of Mexico just south of the USA's State of California on the Eastern side of the peninsula you have the Sea of Cortez and on the western side you have the Pacific Ocean the peninsula is divided up into two different states Baja California in the north and Baja California Ser to the South these two states are connected by mountains that run from the north of the peninsula all the way to the southern tip that makes up what feels to be the spine of the Baja Peninsula now while Baja is most famous for its incredible beaches between these two bodies of water is a mountainous desert landscape that is vast and mostly barren [Music] it's getting warm finally I think it's finally 75° outside so we are making smoothies while we pulled over for a few months amongst these giant cactuses cacti cactuses so we have bananas mangoes we just got by the grocery store I got some fresh fruit but I'm trying to use up some the stuff we have it's the best part about being somewhere warm is we just picked up fresh oranges and fresh strawberries but I got to use up what we have first we're use up the mangoes and the bananas and spinach [Music] so we're continuing Our Journey Down south but along the road there are just these gigantic cacti I mean these things are freaking huge look at this thing I mean we're we need to stand beside it for scale I'm going to make Sarah stand beside [Music] it how tall are you 5 five fish I think that thing is 25 or 30t tall if you look at our truck next to our truck is 10 ft tall that's well over 20 ft I think it's closer 30 while the interior of Baja feels most mostly rugged and desolate periodically you can see patches of Green Way off in the distance that look a bit like a mirage these O's in the desert offer refreshment and a change in scenery amongst a never-ending landscape of dust and [Music] cacti to you rolling into these little towns with blush Green Grass and palm trees feels refreshing and cool after being in the shadeless unrelenting desert for so long during our 700 mile drive from s Felipe to laaz we made a couple of overnight stops in small towns and that's where we stumbled in to one of our favorite [Music] stops so we finally have stopped for the night and we were passing on this actually this overpass right here this is cute Camp here we saw that there was a van and we're like oh I wonder if people are camping down there and then we saw this little sign it's at RV Park camp I'm like hey let's just check it out we drove under the overpass went down this dirt road and it was kind of overgrown it was really cool and then all of a sudden we end up in somebody's backyard and I start walking around and I'm like am I allowed to be here and it's just their home it's sort of like a think of it like Harvest host or something like that back in the States but she opened up her backyard it's this little elderly lady and for 200 pesos we can camp here right along the river and even on the river they have this boat that you can take a tour on we're starting to get into the what we wanted to experience to end up in to end up in these weird situations yeah we're going to go off grid yeah we're going to see amazing beautiful places but it's these situations where you get to interact with people and and see life at a different pace um that's what's really beautiful and meaningful to us so we're going to make some dinner call it a night and then tomorrow we'll continue on South we're only staying here at night but it's a really really nice small town here in Baja all right see you in the [Music] morning [Music] like most people we're drawn to Baja for its beaches and with that it's likely becomes good [Music] seafood you know I don't know what it is that swimming at the beach in Mexico just get this natural hunger fish tacis and tacos are largely a breakfast F exico so a lot of taco shops like close around lunchtime but we did find one and they're only open for a few more minutes and it's really close to town but this is a little family Run Place it's like a whole family behind the counter super nice people everybody here is just surprised okay let me let me give you a taco lesson because when we first went to Mexico City I wasn't prepared for this but now we are so when you order fish tacos they give you the taco they give you the fish and it's just a fish taco it just looks like that right then all these restaurants have a bar they have this bar with all the different toppings and so that has Pico and guacamole and lime and all sorts of different things one of our first interactions at a restaurant like this we just kind of ate the fish tacos which is eating the fish without toppings and so many people out of problem with that so we've learned our lesson and we go over to the little bar and we put our toppings and we make it whatever style we want take T which is so so good this is a beautiful site and they even give you a little hard Tara too so snack afterwards all right we're going to dive in I'd rather walk than race my only run is running late I slowly M and my own [Music] pain and from the balcony I hear the buzz of busy bees the noise of fries people hurrying somewhere they'd rather be what's the right I don't know I'm not in there's something about Baja that encourages you to slow down maybe it's because aside from the major towns in the South the Peninsula is sparcely populated which means less noise and fewer crowds or maybe it's because the roads were driving South offer incredible stops all along the Route whatever the reason Baja is the perfect contrast to the busy and bustling State of California that we had found ourselves in just before we crossed the border into Mexico Baja has been a literal breath of fresh salty air that we're soaking in as much as possible we're in the sea of Cortez which means it's a little it's the Gulf of California it's not little it's still huge but the water gets warmer here then hold on believe and it does in the Pacific oh gosh here's another this is so funo I love this this donut enter two was the best $4 we spent in a while enjoying every any of it the days are Sunny the water's warm and to travel fast seems almost like a crime even with many miles to cover each day you still make time throughout the drive to play in the [Music] ocean it's little dolphin [Music] P we're going to wear you out okay get this is sort of a typical scene here in Baja you're driving against the highway and then you see a beach and then you can just pull off like these guys that's one of the amazing things here you can drive on a lot of the beaches and if you see one you're like you know what I kind of want to go there just pull off the highway jump in the water all this look at those Sandy Paws why do we let you do this look at those get an up close shot of those Paws this is what we go through every day at the beach oh my gosh stay on your bed stay on your bed NOP on on the bed on the bed on the bed good boy so I can't have nice things I try so hard to make him stay off the cushions so we don't smell like wet dog all the time so far so good Kramer off the chair no no no I know it's clean and it's dry and you want it but we're not doing that that's fine so we were driving against the highway this a shot on the iPhone right now because we just jumped out we had to see all these pelicans and they're chasing fish we've never seen anything like this before I'm sure it happens here all the time but for us this is something new so we got we went out and we grabbed our big lens look at like a champ don't distract me she's in bird watching mode right now but it's just incredible to watch them go up and dive and get their dinner like I said we're against the highway [Music] [Music] nature [Music] look at this vertebrae like how cool is that just right here you got Coral look at how pretty all these oh it's so pretty just on the side of the road disgusting now while the beaches are incredible and the wildlife is beautiful it's the Mexican people that always draws Us in and makes us fall a little more in love with this country with every [Music] visit so much for a quiet day at the beach earlier this week we were at a campground and we were talking with some locals in like you have to come to this beach there will be nobody [Music] here they weren't accounting that Easter was this week so we did learn something very interesting you have all the foreigners come down and then spring break happens here in Mexico and then on top of that you have Easter this year so they have like two weeks back to back so when you come down you'll notice a bunch of foreigners then they all go home and then that week that the foreigners go home that's like spring break week here in Mexico so it's a bunch of locals and that's why we think this local Beach that the locals gave us is very popular whole city park on the beach but I also kind of love it while I don't necessarily always love crows I love the culture of Mexico and like the family community aspect of it I mean it is just like family on family on family there's kids running there's dogs there's it's just so much on volleyball and Jet Skys and Mari B there just a lot happening but I love that so why we may have wanted quiet earlier we got here and you're like let's go so here we are if you're walking alongside this beach and you listen to each tent or what you know each person each family's place almost every single person here has a radio They're all playing all sorts of different music so it is this like loud chaotic dos are barking so it's this loud chaotic blend of mess that's just beautiful this chaotic mess there's something about being in Mexico during something like this that's just special we've never spent in Easter in Mexico before and we can already tell that this is going to be something special I know we've touched on it in past videos being in Mexico and we've said things like we love how family oriented the Mexican people are she's very much a part of their culture where they're very much the family units just a very big part of who they are and you see that especially at a beach on a holiday weekend it's just fun I love that about them like you have multiple generations and they have their tents lined up and they've got like their you know their awning where they sit under and they have their table and their chairs I mean it's Thursday they will be here through Sunday at least and I just it's so fun the kids are doing their own thing the parents after laughing it's just I love it I love that about Mexico I think Mexico gets a bad rap sometimes as unsafe and then you come here and sure like every place there's place there's parts of Mexico that may be unsafe there are unsafe but then you don't hear often enough how feeling oriented it is and I think that's something that people Overlook and I love that [Music] my [Music] time to put sticker number three on the back box these are if you're not familiar with these a lot of overlanders do these as kind of like stamps and a passport but they're fun to kind of keep track with little postcards like we don't collect souvenirs when we're traveling but these are fun little to kind of see the countries and the places we've been around the world so I done the US and Canada in this rig and now since we are a week into Mexico we're going to go and put txo on there OA it's pretty cool all right next would be le maybe we'll see one at a time all right come on camera let's go get tacos we're in Baja for a while longer and we can't wait to show you more of the Cities beaches food and people that make this place truly unique for behind the scenes and extra content you can head on over to our patreon community otherwise be sure to follow on Instagram or like And subscribe here it really helps creators like [Music] us

Channel: Chris and Sara

Views: 26,641

Keywords: mexico travel, baja california, baja california sur, van life mexico, van life, la paz, san jose del cabo, cabo san lucas, los cabos, baja van life, van life baja mexico, world travel, adventure travel, travel vlog 2024, overland, overlanding, overlanding overlanding, chris and sara, travel couple, international overland, international travel, kara and nate

Id: qdtau-9T3zA

Length: 18min 41sec (1121 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 31 2024