Baja California, Mexico
San Diego
15 - 16 March 2011
| Updated: Monday, 16 April 2012 |
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Mexicali to Rosarito Baja California, Mexico San Diego 15 - 16 March 2011 |
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Oral surgery for a cyst? Nope. Got lucky.
"Just" another root canal. Off to Rosarito Beach. BUT ... by way
of Mexicali, up the steep grade to La Rumorosa and the windmills, through
Tecate and on down the free road to Popotla and northward to Playas de
Rosarito.
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| Google Earth Placemarks |
Fun Facts |
Maps | ||
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 Ever wonder why
Loreto, San Felipé, Los Cabos and other select
Mexican destinations come into being and grow like crazy? It's not luck or
coincidence. It's all very well-planned. Thanks to Fonatur,
the "institution responsible for the planning and development of sustainable tourism projects."
And with respect to the Baja Peninsula specifically, there is
the vision of the Escalera
Nautica, the Nautical Ladder --- a
mega project. As of August 2009, this project was HALTED by the
Mexican federal government.
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 Yippie! The new Baja
Almanac is out! After being out of print for 4 years and
losing both my copies, I ordered 4 to make sure I have a backup and
give two away as gifts.
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| Tuesday,
March 15
Desert Hot Springs past the Salton Sea (where there is an internal CPB checkpoint on Highway 86) to Calexico, then Mexicali to La Rumorosa (engineering marvel up a steep grade), Tecate and Rosarito. |
And a short meeting with Nathen in Salton City for Chryss Protective Services. Driving through Mexicali, I stopped in at an ATM to withdraw a few spending pesos. Only after the dental appointment did realize that I'd left my bank card inside the machine. Luckily no one attempted use the card. Ugh! Good thing I know people in Rosarito that helped me out, like Dr. Avila. |
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| Looking south towards San Felipe across the vast Laguna Hanson salt flats. | 
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| Heading west on
Highway 2, the La Rumorosa grade (engineering marvel) goes up a steep
grade towards Tecate.
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| Several new
windmills in this new
wind-park region being developed by Sempra Energy.
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| In Tecate, I had to get off the toll road, drive through town (and a construction detour) to transition onto the "2000 Road", avoiding Tijuana, and taking you directly into Popotla, south of Rosarito. | 
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| Baja California is spectacularly green in Winter & Spring due to plentiful rainfall; just like her sister Alta California looked 150 years ago. | 
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| Drove all the way down to Splash Bar & Restaurant to see friends & network. A few Margaritas and lots of thoughts & reflections that I wrote down, lost in my own head inside my own little world for a few hours. | 
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| Dr. Avila trusted me to send a check due to the lack of cash and ATM card. Additionally, I learned he has three FREE suites upstairs for patients travel a long distance and needing to stay overnight. | 
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| WOW! So no lodging charges tonight. I may as well get my teeth cleaned in the morning. | 
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| Wednesday, March 16 | ||
| An easy day after teeth cleaning. Hung out at Km-38 with Mario, Jacinto & Juan. No hurries. No worries. And a $4 car wash. The new bridge is finally done! | 
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| Stopped in at El Pescador (Jamie, John, Leon not home) and visited a bit with Gus & Bobbie. | 
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| Having fun in the mid-afternoon border lineup on the way to spend the night at Judy & Lionel's place in San Diego. See journal entry above for details. | 
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| Now THESE are high-tech cameras and security systems! | 
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| Judy & Lionel's place in San Diego. | 
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| Thursday, March 17 | ||
| After a wonderful Irish meal of corned beef the previous night, we all slept well, got up, didn't do much of anything while having a lazy morning before I headed back to Desert Hot Springs at 10:45 am. |
