Baja California with the Z's - Day 15: Boondocking on the Beach in BLA

BLA: Bahia de Los Angeles or Bay of the Angels.

We left the overnight camping spot near Laguna Chalapa before 0900 AM today and drove the narrow highway that is Highway 1 down to its junction with Highway 12 which takes one to BLA.

We saw a weird looking cacti that turned out to be a Boojum Tree, a relative of the Ocotillo Cactus:

Boojum Tree

Federal Highway is a narrow two lane road that made for worrisome conditions at times when one was passed by impatient drivers; or when passed by oncoming semi-trailer trucks and large RV caravans.  I believe there's literally just inches to spare sometimes!

photo courtesy of Lori Z.

Still, we made it to the gas station just outside BLA with no issues and tanked up there.  The attendant even let us dump out trash in large 55 gallon cans at that station. I spent 2500 pesos to fill up from just above the halfway mark.  The internet was down so we had to pay with cash.

Next we wandered into town thinking to stay one night at the Archelon Campground in town in order to get our bearings, dump tanks, etc.

Turns out the attendant wasn't sure what to tell us since we didn't have reservations and the owner couldn't be found.  She did point us at a nearby campground for a dump station.  

We left and found La Isla Market and picked up some groceries, my cost was 1018 pesos.  Note: 1 can of spam was 98.5 pesos, not cheap as that's almost $5 but when they're the only source...Ramen was 9 pesos a packet.  We finally found beer by the case and Chris Z. And I each bought a case of 24 for 480 Pesos.

Groceries done, we went and got lunch at Alexandrinas Restaurant.  The bill was 400 pesos and we probably over tipped the waitress with 100 pesos.  The food was good!

After lunch we went to Dagget's campground to dump tanks on Uma. (100 pesos).

We then headed north out of town seeking possible boondocking spots.  After some driving around we ended up on the Playa La Gringa.  There's many RVs here, all lining the shore but so far so good.

We had found a less populated and more secluded spot but there was some doubt in our minds whether we were on private property.  Who knows, if it becomes too crowded here, we might displace or just grin and bear it?

Tonight's sunset was pretty good and I hope it makes for a good omen for our stay here.