We had agreed many months ago that Santa would not be leaving any stockings for us this year (as we had already spent many years christmas allowances on our yellow vehicle) so there were none of the usual Christmas rituals this morning. Instead we spent the morning strolling on the deserted beach, exploring and photographing the Baja Seasons establishment and catching up on chores.

A short drive south along Mex 1D returned us to the toll booth (where there was no confusion about how much to charge us) and the northern entrance to Ensenada. To our surprise we found a Calimax super market, with an ATM, open and were able to stock up on food and pesos.

A little south of Ensenada centro we stopped at a small beach crowded with people and cars. I spent some time talking to a local family curious about the vehicle while Nina photographed a group of kids learning to ride skate boards.

A little farther south we passed a Walmart, Costco, and Home Depot - I guess this proves we are still enmeshed in North American culture - before taking a turn west to our destination for the night Estero Beach.

We had more reminders today that driving in Mexico is different to the US.

  • More stop signs on every second corner, some of which are so faded that they are unreadable.

  • Speed limits signs that seem to only have decorative value.

  • Random holes in the middle of the road that could swallow a small car. We were a bit slow in our recollection of this phenomena today and were wondering why there was a chair in the middle of the road up ahead when it suddenly dawned on us - obstacle warning

The Estero Beach Resort is another hotel, residential complex with an attached RV park that we found from the Church guide. It is well signposted from Mex 1 and the Church guide gave a good description of how to locate it. The complex is situated on the northern shore of a river mouth and faces both the river estuary and the beach. The RV park (and establishment generally) is in pretty good repair and has all the facilities one would expect from a good American RV park - power, water, dump, toilets, (warm) showers, laundry, swimming pool and wifi if one walks up to the hotel. Also has American prices - $36 for full hook up.


Again we were surprised at how few people are around. There are no other RVs in the park, and from what we can see no more than a handful of guests in the hotel. The Maitre De at the restaurant told us that business and crowds will pick up after Christmas for New Years festivities.