I met a local girl, Citlali, who has been a tour guide in Baja for years and knew all of the great hikes, climbing crags, snorkel spots, and delicious eats in La Paz. On low-wind days I would travel from La Ventana, over the mountain to La Paz, and explore these other activities. On one of my trips, we hiked around the famous Balandra Bay and then snorkeled near an old fishing camp. There were some feral cats that greeted us and Citlali named one tabby cat ‘Sunshine’ and debated taking him home.
I also got these sweet drone shots:
That was the highlight! But the snorkeling was pretty neat as well:
Amanda and Josh drove down to join Citlali and I for some climbing in El Cajoncito, a dry arroyo near La Paz. The crag had a few bolted routes which was offered easy, medium and hard climbs. Afterwards, I found a cow skull that I wanted to mount to the hood of my car.
After climbing we then went into town to catch the 3D English showing of Avatar 2 but, unfortunately, it was sold out. As we were leaving the mall we saw a go kart track that was tossed up in the parking lot: $3 for five laps… YES PLEASE! No speed limiters, no rules, and very flimsy walls to prevent you from hitting parked cars. Good old fashioned Mexican go karts. That was fun.
And these were the highlights for this blurb. I finally got in somewhat of a routine with camping in La Ventana which is one of the greatest kite boarding spots in the entire world. The cactus forest and desert of create a heat thermal that pulls wind from the north and it is funneled between the main land and Isla Ceralvo which yields very consistent winds. From 11am - 4pm almost every day there are perfect conditions for kiting.
Many days involved yoga at sunrise on a palapa, doing some remote work, kiting in that 11-4 window, and then playing beach volleyball from when the wind died down until dark:
Citlali and I took a trip to Punta Arenas to snorkel around their amazing reef. There is also an abandoned hotel right there that got caught up in drug smuggling with the cartels and was busted in the 1990’s then has been sitting vacant ever since. There was some nice scenes under the water and during one dive I made to get a closer shot of a sea turtle, my GoPro fell off of my stick! It was about 8m (26ft) deep which is further than I was able to dive. Luckily, Citlali is somewhat of a mermaid and retrieved it from the depths.
And in case you aren’t sick of snorkel videos, here is some more from near my home base of La Ventana: