The bus to Loreto, our next place of interest is 5 hours north and in the middle of the Baja region. It’s on the Pacific coast nestled between two mountain ranges the guidebook claims. Not a big place but worth a look. As always we’ll stop a night and see if it warrants more. Again we have a hostel in mind – The Iguana Inn, which is a bit of a walk from the centre but everything is as the bus station is on the edge of town.
Before going for the bus we get a Wi-Fi fix, have a Skype chat with Steve M and send an email we forgot to send yesterday to Philly back in Bolivia. Stupidly we forget to grab some snacks for the journey and the bus only stops once, where there’s very little close by in the way of snack bars and we end up with dry rolls and sweet empanada’s for lunch.
About half an hour before arriving, we have a downpour. The first rain we’ve seen since the overnight showers we had not long after leaving Panama. All the locals on the bus get pretty excited, we’re guessing it’s a long time since any of them have seen any either!!! Or the bus for that matter, it leaks like a sieve.
Loreto seems a bit more upmarket than La Paz or Todos Santos and there are a healthy number of people around so we´re out of vampire country too… we hope. The accommodation we find is a lovely property with 4 self-contained cottages outback sat around a fountain and courtyard. It´s lovely, if a little more expensive than we´d like to pay. But we decide to treat ourselves for a couple of nights, if we stay longer we´ll re-assess the plan. The owners are Mike and Julie and they are really welcoming.
After settling in we do our usual wander around the town to work out where everything is and get a feel for the place. Mike and Julie direct us to a few places including a bar on the prom for happy hour, which inevitably is where we end up. It´s American run too and called Augies. We happen past just after the happy hour finishes but they extend it for us on the QT anyway.
Then needing food, The Laughing Dolphin – another recommendation, is our next port of call. The food is good but Bernice realises all too quickly that we´re back in Mosquito territory as she gets a dozen bites within minutes of sitting down. Ouch! The only other customers are a family who it turns out are staying at the same place as us. We have a quick chat and then leave them to enjoy their dinner as we retreat to our room for a nightcap.
On their return – Bill, Marina, and kids Naomi and Henri – invite us to join them on the patio for some rum. As tequila is already flowing we join them but turn down the rum. Bill is quite a talker and it’s obvious that the rest of the family don’t even try to interject when he´s in full flow. We finally go to bed thankful that they are leaving in the morning….zzzzz