Livin' Loreto

Earlier this spring, my 71 year old Aunt and I set out to paddle 

more than 100 miles from Loreto to La Paz.  

Here's what happened.

March 26, Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico, 0 miles paddled

We arrived in Loreto, Mexico on March 23rd to the Posada de las Flores, a charming hotel right on the town plaza. The Posada, as we liked to call it, felt authentic and warm with its sun-burnt pink walls stretching from roof to floor and its gorgeous Mexican architecture. Brightly colored tiles, glazed ceramics, and tables, well-worn and made of iron, welcomed us home each night after a day of exploring. The Posada was the perfect place to land, and we felt lucky that we booked it all those months ago without really having any idea about it, Loreto, or even Mexico! 

It also made for a good practice spot to set up one's tent.

(By the way, when you can set a tent up in the hallway of a boutique hotel, consider it a sign you've got a very small tent!)

But the tent could wait. We had almost four days to prepare for our kayak trip and explore Loreto, and explore we did. Each day we walked the laid-back town to fetch bottled water, scout the two grocery stores, visit the local shops, find the lavenderia, check conditions on the Sea of Cortez, and find yummy restaurants. Vacation already seemed to mean something different this trip, and we embraced it all.

Checking the conditions on the water became a fun and important task. El Norte was blowing and had us checking the wind's direction and strength on the sea throughout the day. These gusty winds from the north can blow in the 30 knot range for days at a time. 

Checking conditions.

El Norte was on our minds, but out of our hands. Ha, no. We didn't believe that. Not for a second. We were about to hold a paddle hours at a time for days. The wind would totally be in our hands. But somehow, we still smiled!

Conditions look good at 5:50 in the morning!

We loved practicing "Spanish" at local restaurants and shops like this one. All I can say is how kind Mexicans are. Also, how good-humored. 

On our last night in Loreto before the paddle south, I lay in bed going over our menu for like the 100th time. Patty and I were responsible for one breakfast, two lunches, and a dinner for our group of 14 people. I approached it from a backpacking perspective (focusing on ease and weight) and came up with a hot couscous dish for breakfast, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with chips and veggies for one lunch and curry tuna on tortillas with veggies and fruit for the other, and gnocchi with pesto for our dinner. I felt pretty good about the menu and hoped everyone would like what we chose. I also hoped we'd have enough water to boil couscous and gnocchi for 14 people. I mean, we were about to paddle into the backcountry of the Baja Desert, an area of the world that receives less than 10 inches of rain per year. Would we be using dowsing sticks to find water out among the cacti and desert shrubs?

Dowsing stick or not, I fell asleep looking forward to tomorrow. Loreto was a ton of fun, but I found myself stare more and more to the south, where the mountains and the sea were calling....

Did we find water? Did El Norte continue to blow? 

Did anybody like our PBJs? Stay tuned for the next installment of Loreto to La Paz!