We logged 1157 Miles in 18.5 hours on our drive from Las Vegas to La Paz. The drive to the border was the most agonizing. California had road construction that reduced traffic to one lane, we sat at a standstill multiple times waiting for our pilot car escort. It was a very slow start...
We made it to the border crossing outside Mexicali just before 2pm. It was a mighty good thing, too, little did we know the INM office closed at 2 o'clock. We assumed they kept the same hours as the crossing. We needed to pay for our FMM since we'd be staying longer than 7 days 575 pesos or $30 US. We were thankful we lucked out.
We were unsure of how to access the office from the left lanes (nothing to declare) so we instead entered right and were subject to search. Inspection was brief, and they kindly pointed out the proper set of doors for us to obtain our FMM when we questioned, "Donde es FMM?"
Fortunately, the drive to San Felipe is familiar and it proved to be quick and effortless. We stayed at Frank's uncle's house in El Dorado Ranch. We were enjoying Chiles Gueritos con Camaron at La Vaquita Norte in no time. We followed up with a couple drinks at San Felipe Brewery, which expanded a few months ago to a new location even closer to El Dorado Ranch.
We basked in the moonlight on the roof top terrace, and then woke in enough time to watch the sunrise. Then, we headed out straight away. Our second day of driving was uncharted territory - to us, anyway. We heard the new highway made the drive easier, but we never imagined how nice it would be. Google didn't acknowledge the new route so we continuously shaved off minutes and eventually hours from our drive time. It was fantastic.
We crossed into Baja Sur way earlier than expected and we were delighted that we were able to arrive in Loreto well before sundown. So much so, we even considered making our way all the way to La Paz, but our favorite hotel HBlue was fully booked. We opted to take it as a sign to stay the night and finish the drive in the morning. I made a last minute reservation on booking.com for Hotel 1697. It was a cute boutique hotel with ideal location right near the plaza and walking distance to the malecon.
It was a much better experience than our last accommodations in Loreto. A couple years back, we stayed at Loreto Bay Golf Resort & Spa. On the surface it was nice enough, but in reality it was a bit of disaster. We made several room changes, the gamut included everything from finding crumbs in bed to an air conditioner that apparently identified as an ice maker... At 2AM it started spitting out ice cubes like it was happy hour.
We had dinner at Mi Loreto. We had both of the house specialties: mole and chile rellenos. Neither disappointed. The city was exceptionally quiet. Alcohol was only sold at a few places in attempts to keep crowds at a minimum, The usual cruise along the malecon was only a few cars. The precautions to minimize the spread of coronavirus is no different from upper to lower baja. To gain entry into any business: you must be masked, you step into disinfecting solution, hands are sanitized with antibacterial gel and your temperature is taken. I appreciate consistency in measures taken - It was so different last month when traveling around Southern California. Procedures varied widely between LA, Orange and San Diego counties. It grew tiresome to learn & adjust to each new drill.
Again, we were up at dawn and on the road shortly after. Frank was eager to arrive in La Paz before the NFL games kicked off. The rest of the drive was seamless and we easily coordinated meeting our property manager. We settled right into our new casa well before football was underway.
