We still had a few more days before we were due back in Antigua, but the weekends crowds had ruined the relaxing atmosphere of the beach side towns. It had only been a few days, but we already craved the cool tranquility of the mountains.
When your brakes fail, it might as well be on a winding mountain pass with sheer drop offs and hairpin bends. Even better if it is a pass that climbs from near to sea level up to almost 3000m, before dropping back down to below 1500m. (That’s pushing 10,000′ before returning to less than 5000′ for those of you who have not gleefully embraced the metric system.)
We were starting to feel like we didn’t really like the Pacific Coast of Baja. I know that sounds a bit rough, I mean we live on the Pacific Coast of New Zealand, you think we’d have a soft spot for its sister coast in Mexico. Perhaps it wasn’t that we disliked the Pacific Coast, it was just that the peace and tranquility of the Sea of Cortez side of the Peninsula was too tempting to ignore.
After a brief stint on the narrow and shoulderless Highway 1, we took our first opportunity to get back to the peaceful coast of the Sea of Cortez—via Bahía De Los Ángeles. It was here that we spotted our first roof dogs of the trip and started to really feel like we were in Mexico.