This coconut thread has got me nostalgic for something I’ve never experienced (never mind how that’s even possible). Suppose I’m tired of the daily pixel manipulation and want to take a drive down 101 from SF to LA and points beyond, to try some of that exotic green fruit and swim in warmish water… Does anyone have recommendations or experiences of Mexico to share? Do coconuts have a season? Should I hold off a few months if I don’t really like crowds and sunburn easily?
I had the opportunity to drive all the way down to Cabo San Lucas to see a total eclipse of the sun in 1991. It was one of the most sublime experiences in my life. Baja has grown considerably but the spirit is probably the same. I’d blow off Tijuana and stop in Rosarito and have a margarita at the Rosarito Beach Hotel. It used to be a casino during Prohibition and was a popular hangout for Hollywood stars. If you are young and want to hang out with coeds from San Diego, drink to excess at Papas and Beers. Rosarito is very much an American college hangout and everyone speaks English.
Start eating fish tacos here and don’t stop until you leave Mexico. Have a lobster dinner (lobster burritos with butter, beans and rice, delicious!) in Puerto Nuevo. La Fonda is a cool hotel that perched on the side of a cliff. Great place for a sunset dinner, plus a nice beach. Stop in Ensenada, a real fishing town, and eat more seafood. Check out the fish market. If you want to be touristy, go to Hussong’s and slug down a bunch more beer and tequila.
Next stop in San Quintin and camp on the beach, whilst chowing down on huge plates of crab claws at the hotel there.
OK, now things are going to get a little mixed up because my memory is a little fuzzy. The road goes up through a 10000 foot mountain range. It’s actually very temperate with pine forests. There are wineries that are supposedly quite good, but I haven’t been to any of them. Towns start getting smaller and further apart. Make sure you get gas whenever you can.
About halfway down there is Scammon’s Lagoon, a California Gray Whale spawning ground. You can be taken out on boats and actually pet whales!
Next, road crosses over to the Sea of Cortez and you can hang out in Mulege, a funky palm oasis. There’s a town called Santa Rosalia which was settled by the French, so there is a distinctively fair skinned attractive population (Mexicans are very attractive, but the population here is much more Frenchy). There’s an iron church there that was designed by Eiffel. Next is the city of La Paz, a stunning resort town with a beautiful promenade. Lots of Americans here, with killer sportsfishing and golf courses.
South of La Paz is probably my favorite spot, a lightly developed stretch of beautiful beaches and great snorkeling. Next you will end up in San Jose Del Cabo and then Cabo San Lucas, where you should party like a rock star at Cabo Wabo (Sammy Hagar’s place) and the Giggling Marlin. It is American style expensive though.
Great stuff, **Darryl Lict ** – thanks! My interest in coeds is rather low, being both a girl and a bit of a loner, but the mountains, beaches, and food recommendations are just what I’m looking for!
Tip for Ensenada: The best dinner we ever had was basically walking up to one of the street vendors, handing him a $20, and telling him to keep the Carta Blancas and fish tacos coming until it ran out.
DO NOT have a Bloody Mary at the Rosarita Beach Hotel. We forgot this basic rule once. Once. Stick to beer.
Past Rosarita you get into interesting territory. Very nice.
Try Tres Equis beer. Utter swill, but uber-cheap and it requires a friend to drink. The twist-off tops are razor-sharp, but there is an opener cast into the bottom of each bottle. Simply insert and twist. But it means you can never buy just one. Better get it by the case, just to be sure.
Cabo is a tourist trap, and not cheap. Stay a bit further north and you can live like a queen on not much dinero.
Heh, well there’s men down there also.
You also need to buy mandatory Mexican Auto Insurance for what used to be about $8 a day, cheaper for the long term. You can get it at any number of stands at the border in San Diego. Your American insurance will not cover you. Police are notoriously corrupt and will usually accept bribes. My experience is that $30 (very out of date) will get you out of a ticket.
It is very hot during the summer. I went during August, and it was FREAKIN’ caliente! Air conditioning will come in very handy. Check up on average monthly temperatures. There is a wet season where it can be dangerous due to flash floods. I suggest you research these items. The main highway is quite good, but don’t expect American style freeways. There are parts of the highway with a shoulder that drops off two feet, so make sure you do not slip off the road. Once you are past Tijuana, the traffic is quite tolerable. Be prepared for third world type batshit insane driving while passing through TJ. Although it is much cooler, it is not recommended to drive at night when south of Ensenada due to poor visibility (very few reflectors and NO Botts Dots) and meandering cows. One really great thing about the highway is that there is a free road service called the Green Angels that supposedly pass every point on the highway twice every 24 hours. Supposedly, they are ace mechanics.
For a short trip, you might want to cross over the peninsula at the previously mentioned mountain pass (looks like it might be north of San Quintin) and go to San Felipe, another popular tourist town which is at the northern end of the Sea of Cortez. It’s strange because the tide goes in and out about a mile or so. Eat lots of shrimp tacos while you are there!
I’ve heard good things about Bahia de Los Angeles (about a third of the way down) on the Sea of Cortez and Todos Santos, a surfing town northwest of Cabo.
And by the way, I love just going for a quick jaunt down to Rosarito/Ensenada for the weekend. It’s easy and it really is a foreign country. Coming back through the border can be a real bitch and you should time your crossing outside of rush hour when it can easily take 3 hours.
I second the Rosarito Beach Hotel. It should be beautiful there this time of year.
A little further on between Rosarito Beach and Ensenada is La Calafia, an interesting hotel on a cliff where they say the whole chain of California missions got it start, and not San Diego as they teach California schoolkids in the U.S. Have some lobster and feed some to the little cat that always wanders around the dining area.
You can say that again. That’s actually the reason I once asked here if it had ever been to travel into Mexico by train.
Thanks, guys.
But does this mean that nobody’s got any advice for getting my mitts on some delicious green gelatinous coconuts?
You can definitely get coconuts down there. I’m just not that huge a fan so I don’t really notice where you can start getting them. I’m pretty damn sure that you can get them in Mulege, which like I said was a huge palm oasis. I’m quite sure they’re available in Cabo San Lucas, I seem to recall that there were coconut palms at the hotel I stayed at. I see that they grow them in Todos Santos.
I’ve never seen them growing in San Diego, so I suspect that you have to go fairly far south so that the climate is favorable. I don’t remember whether or not they are in San Felipe, which is very hot and humid and I would think would be compatible weather wise. Perhaps it has something to do with how close you are to the tropics.
If you are dying for coconuts, hop on a plane to Hawaii. I’ve stayed at the Coco Palms in Kauai, the hotel where they filmed Blue Hawaii with Elvis. It’s like a coconut plantation.
OK, Wiki says that coconuts grow south of Bradenton, Florida, which is about the same latitude as Mulege.
If time and distance aren’t a factor, forget Baja and come over to the mainland part of México. Fresh coconuts are available throughout the tropics. The trees I just removed are from some property on the coast of Jalisco. There are plenty of coconut palms here and some of the nicest beaches in the world. And the water is warm.
I just got back from three months in Oaxaca, and right now you would be able to bury yourself in all kinds of exotic fruit if you so wished (although I waited forever for the damn pomegranates to ripen, and never actually did get to eat them).
There were tons of coconuts, mangoes, and pineapples for just a few cents. At least, they were when they were in season. Everything is really cheap in Oaxaca right now. I was told that the state really relies on tourism, but it that industry still hasn’t recovered from the riots last year.
It’s quite safe, I assure you, and while all those other wimps are too afraid to go there, anyone who does visit will have people rolling out the red carpet in an effort to attract some business.