12/15/24-Sunday-Day 9 “Sanctuary in Loreto?”

After enduring the wind yesterday afternoon the first thing we checked this morning was the forecast, specifically for the wind speed and direction, it wasn’t looking good, at least not for the afternoon. After delighting in a simultaneous sunrise and moonset we took advantage of the calm morning, taking our time packing up with a few of the group even enjoying a swim in the bay. By the time that I dropped the top on our camper the wind had started to pick up and by the time that we were driving by the south end of the bay it was starting to roll white caps, it looks like we made the right call in moving. It’s a bit of a rule for us in Baja that you drive on windy days so that you can sit still to enjoy the calm ones, today is a windy day!

With no real refuge on the map we decided that it might be best to head towards the city of Loreto, hoping to find cover amongst the buildings. Loreto is a decent sized city and a popular stop for passing cruise ships, but not today. The town was quite sleepy on a Sunday afternoon. After setting up our campers in what is basically nothing more than a cramped hotel parking lot we all walked into the town square to enjoy a drink and to see what our options were for dinner. Unfortunately our first choice, Orlando’s had closed early today. We ended up at Marisco’s El Caloron for some cheap fish tacos and a margarita. After another trip through the square to see the lights at dark we returned to our parking lot camp for the evening. 

Soon after we climbed into bed for the night the sleepy town that we spent our evening walking through decided to wake up. Seemingly almost immediately after the mission bells rang nine o’clock, a block party or parade of some sort kicked off with speakers blasting fiesta music, continuous car horns honking and locals shouting and celebrating well into the night. It appears we traded sanctuary from the wind for a blaring celebration. I believe the festivities ended sometime around midnight and we were finally able to drift off to sleep.