LAKE HEMET IN THE SAN JACINTO MOUNTAINS, CALIFORNIA

What a shock to the system - we left San Diego and drove into the mountains to Lake Hemet at 4340 ft. to spend the weekend and the temperature dropped to 12oC - come back Baja heat! 

YUCCA FLOWERS

LAKE HEMET CAMPGROUND

WESTERN BLUEBIRD

A walk round the lake and the wildlife we saw

GREAT BLUE HERON

WHITE PELICANS

After hardly doing any hiking for a month (except to find the margaritas!) we had a great day on the Deer Springs Trail. Sun shone as we did a 6.6 mile round trip hike to Suicide Rock with panoramic views of Idyllwild and Tahqutiz Rock, the hike started at 5600 ft and climbed to 7300 ft.

MANZANITA FLOWERS

HUGE PINE CONE FROM THE COULTER PINE

FAT GREY SQUIRREL

SUICIDE ROCK

TAHQUTIZ ROCK

RETURN TO SAN DIEGO

We breezed into the Baja but not as easy to get out! We queued for 2 hours, then searched for fruits - our lovely Mexican oranges and pears were confiscated. Then we asked about where to hand in the FMM visa which we had to buy coming in and were told that we should have handed it in Mexico! 
Seeing as we never passed through a Mexican customs it was not easy to do. So the customs lady suggested one of us walk back into Mexico and hand them in – Jamie set off and returned saying we all had to go. So we parked up the vehicle and walked back into Mexico, handed it in, got our passports stamped and walked back through US customs – what a crazy system!
We took Jamie and Corinna back to the airport on Monday night - end of a great month, we shall miss their company, their fun and all the meals they have made for us! 
These wonderful photos are Corinna & Jamies! 

FOUR AMIGOS SAY ADIOS TO MEXICO

LA BUFADORA MARKET

LA BUFADORA BLOWHOLE

ROY BEING ADVENTUROUS AT LA BUFADORA

PUNTA BANDA

LA BUFADORA

ROY LOOKING FOR WHALES WHILE WE ARE WATCHING  THE BLOWHOLE

LUNCH TIME 

CARDON CACTUS FLOWER

Jamie & Corinna fancied getting one of these!

ATTACKED BY CACTUS!
On to Punta Banda, a small mountainous peninsula just south of Ensenada famous for what is said to be the world's second-largest marine blowhole - La Bufadora. This tidal blowhole blasts water and foam through a V-shaped notch to the delighted "oohs" and "ahs" of the often soaked audience. It was a Sunday and the world and his wife were here - wall to wall Mexicans. The kids were amazing - chanting at the blowhole and I'm sure that it got bigger the more they shouted. There were endless souvenir stands and food stalls all adding to the atmosphere - food was awesome!

Tomorrow we drive over the mountain road back to Tecate and hopefully over the border to USA. We have had the most amazing time in Mexico with Corinna and Jamie, we would never have seen, it if they had not said they would like to come!

PURE MEXICO! NOTE THE HAIRDRYER TO MELT THE CHEESE

We have been through about ten Military checkpoints along our journey through the Baja, some we have been waved through, some we have been asked to get out of the vehicle and Roy has shown them in the trailer - at one place the Mexican opened the fridge and said "Ah Tecate - cold!" They left with two cans of lager! Yesterday Roy had a stilted conversation about UK football teams and today the couple who got in to look at the trailer asked Roy how much for Jamie's rucsac, our pans and Corinna's wine! Roy smiled and said not for sale. They have all been superb and so very polite. We shall miss this lovely country.

BAHIA DE LOS ANGELES

We continued our journey northwards to the border making a two day detour to Bahia de Los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez, a beautiful road leading down to the coast. Basic campsite on the beach, lovely bay with the Islas del Golfo de California offshore. We spent the morning beach-combing finding lovely shells, a lighthouse, lots of sea birds, a small dead shark, many other types of dead fish, a live starfish and hundreds of fiddler crabs. The afternoon was filled with mending a puncture on Roy's bike, repairing two of our outdoor chairs that had broken, kindle reading, Jamie resorted to doing a bit of clothes washing, then it was wine time!

SAN JAVIER MISION AND SANTISPAC BEACH

Up at 6am and drove the truck 22 miles to Mision San Javier before leaving Loreto, had a great morning visiting one of Baja's most stunning missions. Set in the rugged peaks of the Sierras de la Giganta, founded in 1699 and built of massive volcanic stone blocks – lovely!

Back by lunch, a quick de-camp and along the coast to Santispac Beach – no facilities except a bar – so needless to say margaritas were sampled! These, Corinna and I felt, were not as good as Rice & Beans Campground but they were certainly stronger!

SANTISPAC BEACH RV AND MARGARITAS

Mision San Javier

LOOKING FOR A HUMMINGBIRD

XANTUS'S HUMMINGBIRD

HOODED ORIELE

LORETO

So back to San Ignacio and the best Margaritas in Baja - we ate out - at the restaurant on the campsite called Rice and Beans, had a lovely evening of Mexican food and drink. We are nearing the end of our Baja travels.