The Baja peninsula is about 760 miles long from just south of San Diego, California, to Cabo San Lucas at the tip; one of the longest peninsulas in the world. It is a vast, often wild frontier, even today, in much of the area between the two points. We will be concentrating on the area around La Paz, the capital of Baja Sur, the southern State of the two on the peninsula, and where the desert meets the Sea...
La Paz is a working town, and has not embraced tourism fully, until just recently. It always has been a fishing mecca, and years ago, known for pearls. Today, it is starting to have wonderful restaurants (fresh seafood!!), the people are friendly, the town is situated on a beautiful protected bay inside the Sea of Cortez, and there is a lot to do, mostly focusing on Nature!
I lived in La Paz for several years, and Miguel was born there; it is one of our very favorite places, and we are thrilled to introduce it to you!
La Paz is a working town, and has not embraced tourism fully, until just recently. It always has been a fishing mecca, and years ago, known for pearls. Today, it is starting to have wonderful restaurants (fresh seafood!!), the people are friendly, the town is situated on a beautiful protected bay inside the Sea of Cortez, and there is a lot to do, mostly focusing on Nature!
I lived in La Paz for several years, and Miguel was born there; it is one of our very favorite places, and we are thrilled to introduce it to you!
The city has a stunning 3.5 mile long Malecon along the Sea, designed for walkers, joggers, skate boarders, and cyclists. It is flat, safe to walk on, and is frequented by everyone ~ you can often see three generational families walking together, eating ice cream, and admiring the artwork.
There are also bars, and restaurants, and often music. There are palapas (palm roofed sunshades) in the sand for anyone to sit.
There are also bars, and restaurants, and often music. There are palapas (palm roofed sunshades) in the sand for anyone to sit.
Our first full day, we will take a boat to the spectacular island of Espiritu Santo for a picnic lunch. The island is uninhabited, but was targeted for a huge casino development in the 1990's. Tim Means, who founded the first eco-tourism company in the area in 1974, organized a group to block the sale and purchased the island, then donating it to the government so that it will never be built on.
There is another island next to it called Partido, where we will snorkel around the rocks with friendly sea lions!
There is another island next to it called Partido, where we will snorkel around the rocks with friendly sea lions!
One day, we'll drive to the town of La Ventana, a fishing village an hour from La Paz, for a great surprise! We've found a wonderful place where we will truly escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life while experiencing the great outdoors in luxurious comfort. We'll be glamping, each with our own tent (double occupancy) furnished with beds and bathrooms, right on the white sand beach! La Ventana has become known worldwide for wind-surfing and we'll be there just at the start of the season (October through April) so should be able to watch the action!
On the way back from our glamping adventure, we will go through the mountains along some of the old silver mining route. We will stop at El Triunfo, where gold and silver were discovered in 1862, and was home to 10,000 miners. It's a uniquely beautiful old town. It (and its 1500 ft. high smokestack believed to have been designed by Eiffel) is the best preserved mining town in North America. We will visit the new Silver Mining Route museum which is interactive and really gives a sense of the times. We'll walk a few blocks into the old mining area. We'll also visit the new Cowboy Museum ~ the Californios in this area were the very first cowboys in North America and descendants of the Spanish who arrived in the late 1600's. Some of them still reside in the isolated mountains north of Loreto....but that's a story for another time...
Although we will be doing a lot of things in La Paz, we will be staying in my favorite neighborhood, right across from the old Cathedral, where there are wonderful restaurants, museums, and parks that are great fun to explore, in your free time.
Price: $1495 USD per person/double occupancy. Includes: all lodging, some meals, ground transportation, entrance fees, professional guides. Not included: airfare, tips, most meals. Or, if you are traveling solo, there is a single supplement of $300 USD for a private room the entire week. To reserve your space please click the green button below which will take you to a secure site.