The quick VL update:
- We are NOT in La Paz anymore.
- Rusty made it out of the shoppe!
- I am now the proud auntie of THREE nephews!!! Baby Ira is here.
- BELOW: our run in with the Mexican Police
- Livestream classes continue from Mexico, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Drop-in online or Receive the replay if you are not an ALTAR digital member. Learn more below
- The blog is back up on my website. Peruse and Read about Van-life, Baja travel, yoga, meditation, breath-work and living life filled with vitality and inspiration.
With love, Heather
STORY TIME
Living out of Rusty, for me, means we need to follow the fair weather. Our decision to leave the gorgeous El Burro was based on two things: the wind that was on its way and the pull to continue to explore more of Baja. We were impressed with ourselves the morning we left, we were packed up and on the road before 8am!! Packing Rusty usually takes about an hour. Generally it goes a little something like this: wake up and hydrate, feed and water the pups, brush teeth and wash face, decide on clothes for the day, fold up the bed, place all items that were stored in pop-top space on top of folded up bed, bring in outdoor items like chairs, cooler, starlink etc., put down the pop-top, place the dog blanket on backseat for pups, take pups on a quick walk, strap pups in, check for trash, strap in humans and off we go.
It was a VERY windy day as we left El Burro, which made the morning drive a little stressful. We decided to make a pit stop in Loreto because we heard it was cute and we were ready for something tasty.
It was cute, and unfortunately we did not get to the tasty part because the police were called on us! And, guess what?! Our run in with the law (not to mention anything funky up to this point) has had nothing to do with locals. We have felt very safe and have had welcoming experiences with the locals. This scenario was with a group of gringos.
The situation was silly. In a nutshell: we were trying to park, a crew of men would not get out of the way in order for us to park, tensions began to run high. The people in the neighborhood began to take notice of the tense situation, the group finally moves out of the way so we can park, we park and walk to cool off and see the plaza, we walk back to Rusty and the police are pulling up. One of the men called the Police on us. From what we could decipher from the little Spanish we know, “aggressive behavior” instigated the call. If you know Peter, you know he is pretty much the complete opposite of aggressive.
Anywho, the cops could see at that point nothing was going on and we were not parked illegally, so they took Peter’s name and just told us to go find another place to park.
With our nerves a little fried, we decided to go for a long walk on the beach. We replayed how we could have handled that situation differently. I see how we could have got out and talked to the men instead of talking/shouting from the van. I could have asked questions rather than assumed that these men were trying to be “insert your choice of nasty words here.” We also could have driven away and just parked somewhere else!
Have you had an recent scenarios that when replayed you would do a little differently?
Here is an interesting tidbit about driving south through Baja: you have to cross west to east and east to west a number of times in order to get to the southern tip! There is not one straight road down.
At this point in our journey it was our 4th time crossing Baja California. Our next stop was Ciudad Constitucion. We found a little oasis in the middle of the desert called Rancho El Clandestino. We ended up staying a few nights longer than expected for a few reasons. 1) The weather was fabulous. 2) We could ride our bikes into town and get tacos and ice-cream. 3) We had the whole camp ground to ourselves. 4) There was a pool for swimming. 5) Starlink worked great which meant work went smoothly. Here is a pic of the pool:
Although Ciudad Constitucion is not on many Baja travelers lists, we are happy we stayed here. It is place you can fill up on all the essentials like water, groceries, propane, pharmacy needs. Plus, where we camped had a great outdoor covered platform where yoga and movement classes were offered. Love it!
Join me TUESDAYS + WEDNESDAYS. LIVE classes or receive the REPLAY.
Tuesday. 8am pST. Flow based Movement.
Wednesday. 10am pST. Chair Yoga
How it works:
- Send your donation using one of the above methods. Click for Paypal or Venmo above.
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