Every Baja drive brings with it new experiences, mysteries and memories, as well as a host of new friendships formed. The more I learn about the Baja Peninsula, the more it amazes me. Even after at least seven drives the full length of this quizzical strip of land, and even after having just recently helped to write the 2008 Fodor’s Los Cabos & Baja Peninsula travel guidebook, I realize I’ve only touched upon the surface of all the experiences it has to offer.

This time, for my southerly drive to deliver an auto from Southern California to Cabo San Lucas, my plans include visits to two disparate “Ranchos,” one in Baja California Norte, Baja’s northern state, and one in Baja Sur, a stay in an eco-camp with the opportunity to see what it’s like to sleep in a yurt and swim with whale sharks, and finally visit a Posada in Todos Santos.

I figured with these disparate stops, I’d have the entire Baja covered, from the north to the south.

Lengthy, multi-day drives are good for people, especially those who wish to take time out to think. Although impressive improvements are being made to this long and winding road, the Baja Transpeninsular Highway, also known simply as Highway 1, is still that very narrow and very lengthy line of blacktop that threads, wends and winds, zigs and zags, back and forth from the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Cortez, and back again the full length of the Baja Peninsula. It’s not for everyone, obviously, with its demanding terrain and ultra-narrow roads, but it’s exciting.But beautiful sights, turquoise vistas, even blastfurnace heat in the summer months do await - and, to be truthful, even the occasional adrenaline-generating moments of close calls are all part and parcel of driving the Baja.

I’m in need of a little “adventure,” and so I leave home in Southern California, jump on the 5 Freeway south, and before long am crossing the border at Tecate, Mexico. Fifteen minutes later, I’ve located, and am entering, the gates at the exclusive Rancho La Puerta.

For many years, since 1940 when Edmond Bordeaux Szekely, a Transylvanian traveler and philologist, and his wife, Barbara, first selected this spot just south of the US-Mexican border to establish their special meeting place, people wishing to cleanse their bodies, minds and souls, and perhaps lose weight while they gain enlightenment have flocked to La Puerta to attend its impressively unique curriculum. La Puerta, located on 3,000 wild acres, became the world’s first destination spa, and continues to impress and win awards, the most recent being the 2008 Crystal Award Winner for the Favorite Spa in Northern California.

While the other visitors to La Puerta will be spending the entire week here, enjoying conditioning programs, the fitness facilities, therapy center, I’ve planned on spending just an afternoon, the night and a bit of the following morning here to get the tiniest of glimpses through La Puerta (la puerta
means “the door” in Spanish) before I move on south.

But I quickly, and finally, understand what it is, precisely, that people come to La Puerta for. At the tasty, low-carbohydrate dinner I share with half a dozen others, I learn that nearly all have been to La Puerta before, some as many as nine, a dozen - and some considerably more visits.

What’s it all about? For instance, during the week of October 4th there are dozens of hikes available, from beginner to challenging - an “Organic Garden Breakfast Hike” and bird hikes - and then numerous Pilates, Yoga, swimming, even breathing classes. There are healthy cooking classes, arts and crafts and many special presentations: “The Magic of the Past,” “The Future of Food,” and “Craniosacral Therapy Revealed,” just to mention a few.

The accommodations are in individual “casitas,” spacious and comfortable, while also being technologically Spartan, e.g. without telephones, televisions, or even radios, and just a CD player/alarm clock. There’s no bar here at La Puerta, and the only alcohol is served later in the week, at a wine tasting.

Those who come here are here for a reason - to get away from the incessant harassments of our modern world, and concurrently back in touch with themselves, if only temporarily. But you have to start somewhere, we all realize.

As much as I’d like to remain and take a number of the classes (the cooking class to learn how to make a “Mayan Chocolate Sorbet” caught my attention during the morning breakfast briefing), and even lose a couple of pounds, and gain insight, here at La Puerta, I sadly check out, making a promise to myself to return to Rancho La Puerta when I can give them a week of my undivided, undistracted attention.

I locate the Baja Highway, down into the Guadalupe Valley, Baja’s Wine Country, and begin my lengthy drive.

I have an appointment to keep hundreds of miles south on the highway, in the little town of Bahía de los Angeles, where I’m planning on swimming and snorkeling with the whale sharks.

I arrive in Bahía de los Angeles, a small fishing village 41 miles west off the main Highway, just after dark. After spending a pleasant night at the Costa del Sol hotel, I locate Guillermo’s Hotel & Restaurant on the Sea of Cortez where I rendezvous with about a dozen other whale shark lovers who arrive in a couple of vans. They’ve just now flown in to Bahía from San Diego on a pair of planes operated by the Baja AirVentures company, located in San Diego.

Baja AirVentures president Kevin Warren had agreed to let me drive in to Bahía de los Angeles, to meet up with the group here, and to sample life at his Las Animas Eco-Camp. I’d been conversing with Warren for a number of years regarding his many, varied Baja programs, and we’d discussed swimming with the whale sharks that frequent this part of the warm, plankton-rich Sea of Cortez for a couple of months each Fall.

Warren has assured me that life at Las Animas isn’t roughing it, not camping out, but that we’d be sleeping in yurts. Although I’ve read about and dreamed of swimming with whale sharks since youth, I’ve only barely heard of “yurts” in passing.

According to my faithful, deskside Webster’s Dictionary, a yurt is “of Turkic origin, a circular domed tent of skins or felt, stretched over a collapsible lattice frame.” Hmm, I thought to myself. Yurts sound cool!

We load our belongings into the Camp’s two 30-foot pangas, and after a scenic 45-minute ride along rugged, untouched Baja coastline and through stunning where-desert-meets-the-Sea of Cortez scenery, we arrive at Las Animas camp.

Located in a silent, crescent bay, the dozen or so orange yurts are set upon the beach, spaced comfortably apart. Pilots/guides Wes and Fred introduce us to the camp’s layout: the largest, main yurt, where we eat meals and generally congregate, is located in the middle of the camp, with three or four smaller yurts flanking the main yurt.

“So,” says Wes, “go ahead and select your yurt.”

A pair of yurts sit high on the hillside overlooking camp, and even though I know it’ll be a climb each time I head back to my “room,” I select the one highest upon the hill, and farthest from the main yurt, knowing it will have the best view.

I grab my gear and make the long trudge along the sand trail past the other nearby yurts, and then up the steep hillside. But once there, at Yurt #8, I gloat. Does it ever have a view!!!

I find the yurt to be spacious, colorfully and tastefully decorated with paintings and photography on the walls, and a large comfortable bed. Even a small loft.

Ah, yurt, sweet yurt!

The bathroom has a composting toilet and the shower consists of large, five gallon bags that we’ll put out into the sun during the day to become solar-heated, and then hoist above ourselves in the shower stall. A bit primitive, but comfortable and functional. Surely not camping, and I tell myself, surely I can get used to this.

But the main reason we are all here is for the whale shark experience - and we are all anxious for the experience. Baja AirVentures’ two pilots are also the camp guides, and Wes and Fred are amiable and perfect for both duties. In the Las Animas camp are also two local, knowledgeable Mexican panga captains, or pangueros, Federico and Loreto, and two cooks, Olga and Chuy.

The next morning’s sunrise is the color of a Mandarin orange, and I’m mesmerized by the view down upon the bay and yurts, rich with color. At 8 a.m. sharp we’re all on the beach, board the pangas for the half-hour ride to Bahía Rincon. Here the whale sharks are known to congregate, due to the high concentration of the plankton in this small bay, and it’s here that these massive, toothless fish gorge themselves. They’re not exactly whales, but rather, they are large sharks that are completely harmless and docile.

The first day we scour Rincon, but locate just one whale shark. Our captains gently pursue the giant, mottled gray, brown and white fish, and goggled and finned swimmers from both boats take their turns at swimming with the whale shark. This small fish, a juvenile, is more intent upon sucking up giant mouthfuls of the plankton than socializing. Continually, we’re left in the proverbial dust, behind in his wake. He’s hungry and shy.

Camp life quickly becomes joyous as the small group, quickly and readily becomes acquainted with one another. We’re all experienced, easy-going, joyful travellers, and delight in the simple, primitive, natural, peaceful surroundings of Las Animas. Lots of travel stories are shared over the excellent meals, cold beers and frosty margaritas.

Again, it’s life without phones, there’s no TV’s, and not even electricity in our rooms, (oops, yurts, sorry) except in the Main Yurt for a couple of hours in the evening. The electricity from a generator is for lights at dinner, to run the camp’s battery charger for all of our digital camera gear, and the guides’ computer. At night, there’s the multitude of gleaming stars to gaze upon. More travel stories to share, and the stimulating conversations take the place of TV-watching.

Day two’s explorations of Bahía Rincon are much more fruitful, and everyone swims at length with at least a couple of whale sharks. They seem to be warming slightly to us, their fervent two-legged, finned, masked and snorkeled followers.

After we’ve swum ourselves happy with the whale sharks, there also is a stop off to swim with a colony of curious, friendly sea lions. In the days to come, there are hikes out to nearby coves, into the surrounding desert, through nearby mangrove forests, and kayaking.

My final night at Las Animas, guide Fred Schmidt, who knows of my Baja drive plans and has been watching the weather on his nightly computer checks, tells me that Hurricane Norberto is spinning northward, off the central coast of Mexico. Initial forecasts are for it to impact Cabo San Lucas, my final destination in just a couple of days’ time, and its date of landfall coincides with my arrival in Cabo. No bueno!

I consider changing my plans, asking if I can extend my stay here at Las Animas another day and night. The answer comes quickly, and as I’d hoped: Sure! Instead of departing the next morning, I’m happily back on the pangas, searching
for whale sharks with the others.

And lucky for me - for it’s a dazzling whale shark experience day. As we approach Bahía Rincon, Federico spots two, four, seven - and more - whale shark fins and tails breaking the surface of the mirror-like water. Absolutely perfect conditions, and there are whale sharks galore, juveniles and larger adults, as well.

The jade green water is thick with the krill, the giant fish feeding voraciously with wide-open mouths sucking in large amounts of water.

And, further, today the whale sharks don’t seem the least bit intimidated by our presence. Instead, it appears they actually enjoy the attention we’re giving them, swimming alongside and above them as they swim and feed in their large, lazy circles.

When we pause, or head back to the boats, the whale sharks actually appear to circle back to us, saying “hey, come back over and play.” Often, we count as many as nine of the large, mottled fishes within 100 yards of the two Las Animas pangas.

“Mission Whale Shark” accomplished, I happily tell myself. The next morning Fred informs me that Hurricane Norberto has again shifted course, staying out to sea and coming further north. The hurricane is now forecast to come ashore at Bahía Magdalena, several hundred miles north of Cabo.

I realize that the time to depart is now - that I need to get driving, and immediately so, if I want to make it far enough south so as not to be caught ABOVE the hurricane’s impact zone.

Hurricanes, with their massive amounts of rainfall, inevitably wash out bridges and roads, often making the Highway impassable for weeks. I can’t risk that. I need to make a run for Cabo San Lucas, and the tip of the Baja.

That morning, and day, then into the night I drive and drive and drive, a man on a serious mission, in one day navigating just about the entire length of peninsula. I don’t stop for anything other than to refuel. I don’t even have time to eat. But, then, as I speed along the Highway, about mid-Peninsula, near the small town of Catavina, I’m treated to a spectacle so inspiring that I can’t pass it up - it’s the rare Cirio trees, and I must stop and walk amongst some of the most curious natural sights I’ve ever seen in Baja. They’re found here, in the Valle de los Cirios, Valley of Cirios, and only here, and I’ve never seen them so GREEN or so rejuvenated.

I’d heard that several weeks ago the desert had received a deluge of rain from one of the passing summer’s tropical storms. And such natural gifts of life make the Baja a very happy, verdant, very GREEN desert.

The confounding Cirios, often not much more that drooping skeletons in the searing summer heat, are today covered with profusions of bright, healthy leaves. Many of the Cirio trees have sprouted extra “arms.”

During this long drive, I log in more than 700 miles, 739 to be precise, and reach Cabo San Lucas late in the night, a ragged mess. I’ve battled 50 mile an hour, pre-Hurricane Norbert winds and rain. Having driven more than six hours through the darkness, I’ve knowingly broken what in my previous “Drive the Baja” article I called one of the most important “Driving the Baja’s Ten Commandments” - don’t drive at night. But I made it through, happily, without incident or accident.

After several recuperative days in Cabo San Lucas, I jump back onto the Baja Highway, this time just for a brief hour-long jaunt north to Todos Santos. The plan is to visit the Posada La Poza, an inn I’d read about several years ago.

Unlike most of Todos Santos’s other hotels, Posada La Poza is literally off the beaten track, out a circuitous path of passable but dirt roads - I just follow the easy to follow signs to La Poza’s tranquil location on the beach. “La Poza” means the place where you find water, and this small, chic, colorful posada with just seven rooms is truly a gem of a find.

Posada La Poza is run by the husband-wife team of Juerg and Lubische Wiesendanger (he’s Swiss, she’s from the Czech Republic). Naturally, La Poza runs like a fine Swiss watch. Formerly a banker, Juerg, takes care of the hotel’s business, and also selects the wines.

Artist Libusche has creatively and colorfully decorated the rooms, and also proudly displays her many paintings throughout the restaurant, lobby and rooms. Beyond that, she also handles the expansive job of landscaping - creating an impressive, verdant oasis in which dozens and dozens
of varieties of palms, cactuses and succulents abound.

After a photo tour of the grounds, I take a cool-off swim in their expansive salt water pool, then watch, at peace, as the sun slides slowly into the sea, creating a brilliant sunset.

It’s “hora feliz,” happy hour, when I walk into El Gusto! and, of course only at Juerg’s encouragement, I sample several selections from their sizable collection of Mexican boutique wines.

Besides being a wine sommelier, Juerg is also the resident chef and describes the El Gusto! fare as “Mexican kitchen with a touch of Swiss flavoring.” In the chic restaurant setting, I sup on “seasoned avocado mousse,” known more commonly to us Mexican travellers as “guacamole,” several sumptuous sizes of local shrimp, and mouth-watering scallops with different sauces. Juerg said his smoked tuna in a deep-fried tortilla, with salads, featured in Bon Appetit Magazine, is a favorite on the lunch menu.

My last stop on this exploration of the Baja Highway is Rancho Las Cruces. For decades, I’d heard tales of the classic Rancho Las Cruces, the Cape’s first hotel, a fly-in ranch getaway built in 1950 by Abelardo “Rod” Rodriguez (see Cabo Living Magazine, Summer/Fall 2006, page 31, for a definitive article on Rod Rodriguez).

Built by Rodriguez, with the help of three American partners, the Rancho was a success from the very beginning - it became a private men’s fishing club, attracting the likes of celebs such as John Wayne and Bing Crosby, Desi Arnaz, Dwight Eisenhower and many others.

Las Cruces is an expansive private ranch and 20-room hotel, located on 10,000 pristine acres about 30 miles southeast of La Paz. It includes six miles of untouched, undeveloped coastline along the Sea of Cortez.

Locating the property isn’t easy for a first-timer (me), and members and/or visitors generally fly in directly to the Rancho’s private airstrip (located just 100 yards from the ranch house), are flown in by shuttle from Cabo San Lucas, or fly by commercial airliner to La Paz Airport, are met there by Rancho staff, and driven in.

Rancho Las Cruces is an assemblage of white-washed ranch-style buildings in Mexican architecture, consisting of the “hotel” which more resembles a large, comfortable, rambling ranch-style casa, surrounded by their 20 seaside cabanas, a small hillside chapel and the ranch’s spacious runway. I’d met Niki Rodriguez, son of Rancho Las Cruces builder Rod Rodriguez, who’s been the ranch’s manager for a number of years, who immediately takes me on a quick introductory tour of the main buildings.

He confirms what seems apparent - that decades ago, this main house was once his family’s home. Not much has changed in the more than 50 years of operation - it’s still the comfortable ranch. A large, airy dining room merges with a comfortable bar area (if this bar could only TALK!), and several game/TV rooms. Outside, a gurgling fountain bubbles in the middle of a large patio, and just steps beyond stretches the tranquil aquamarine Sea of Cortez.

Rodriguez points out works of art scattered throughout the main house, a number of tasteful sculptures, along with several giant tapestries that hang from ceiling to floor. The tapestries, which depict various Spanish conquistador and religious scenes, are said to be three or four hundred years old, and collected by both his father, who was President of Mexico from 1932 to 1934, and also his grandfather.

My seaside room is part of the main house and is airy, spacious, spotless and colorfully decorated. As I explore the Rancho, my room, the architecture and design, even interior design of the ranch house, all reminds me of the original Hotel Palmilla in Cabo San Lucas. And well it should, as Rodriguez also designed and built the ever-popular Hotel Palmilla.

My room is just steps from the gently lapping Sea of Cortez. Between my room’s patio and the Sea of Cortez is a six foot long, rust-encrusted cannon that sits matter-of-factly upon the patio’s wall. It is rusty enough to have been brought over on a Spanish galleon. I wonder at its historical significance, and try to remember to ask Niki about its origin.

Stretching along the northern shoreline is a typical Mexican malecon, or seaside walkway, lined by the Ranch’s rooms and casitas, and ending at the house built by Desi Arnaz, Sr.

I wonder how I’ll have enough time to completely see and photograph Rancho Las Cruces. I jump back into the car and tour and photograph the property. Overlooking the Ranch’s ample runway, on a nearby hillside is the ranch’s small, but gorgeously decorated chapel, with golden Italian religious tiles inside, and a sweeping view of the bay, the crosses (las cruces) from which the ranch received its name and Isla Cerralvo, Cerralvo Island, several dozen miles to the east.

The Ranch’s small marina accommodates half a dozen pangas, and will hold one or two large yachts, should visitors wish to come by sea. Towering high above the marina, on a bluff jutting out over the Sea of Cortez, sit the three giant stone crosses.

It is said that this spot is where Cortez first landed upon the Baja Peninsula and came ashore. Among the beautiful private homes here at Rancho Las Cruces is the Hacienda Santa Cruz, the club and hotel’s villa, which is available for rent to the public.

A tasty twilight dinner of Mexican fare is alfresco on the candlelit seaside tables. Guests are few here at El Rancho this time of year, as summer approaches, so I share a table with a couple, who turn out to also be from Newport Beach, and also photographers. Small world, we muse, but then realize that Baja lovers would naturally congregate here at Rancho Las Cruces. As dessert is served, we survey the stars.

Overhead, upon a clear black velvet sky that is devoid of any trace of light pollution, the Milky Way stretches the length of the sky and is accompanied by millions of lights.

The Ranch offers a wealth of outdoor activities. In addition to the top fishing, there’s kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, horseback riding, tennis, paddle tennis, horse- shoes, and croquet. There’s also a driving range, skeet range and sporting clay range.

Hikers and horseback riders can visit prehistoric cave paintings and the Seven Pools, granite swimming holes found high up in the 4100-foot Las Cruces Mountain Range, on Ranch property.

At breakfast in the sunny dining room, Rodriguez tells me that currently the Ranch has 215 members, and annual dues are ridiculously nominal. When members visit Rancho Las Cruces, they’re given discounts on their rooms. Public visits are also permitted, even encouraged.

The ranch is closed from July 15th through the middle of October due to the summer heat.

Due to ever-increasing upkeep costs for the expansive ranch, the Rodriguez family has realized that additional members are needed, and invites inquiries. If you’re a true Baja lover, and wish to also experience this magical, untouched part of the Baja Peninsula, contact them. (See below). As I leave the gate of Rancho Las Cruces behind, my final stop on this latest Baja drive, I realize I’ve only touched the surface here, too.

Rancho Las Cruces deserves an entire article itself, and will suggest this to the Cabo Living publishers.

As I drive the final 100 miles on the Baja Highway in to San José del Cabo’s Airport, I slow down, take my time. I’m just now getting acclimated to life on this small Baja Highway. I know that in a few hours, upon landing at LAX, I’ll be unceremoniously thrown right back into the middle of the SoCal “fast lane,” literally as well as figuratively!

Here, on the Baja Highway, once again, for the past two weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to live a life less hurried, and more examined.And, I have savored the beauty of the Baja once again!

For more information:
• To get more information on Rancho La Puerta, go to www.rancholapuerta.com, or call (800) 443-7565.

• To get more information on Las Animas Camp, or Baja AirVentures’ many offerings, go to www.bajaairventures.com or call (800) 221-9283, or visit www.bajatravelvacations.com, or call (800) 221-WAVE

• To stay at the chic and colorful Posada La Poza, go to www.posadalapoza.com or call 011 52 (612) 145 0400, in
Todos Santos.

• To learn more about Rancho Las Cruces:
* www.rancholascruces.com   
* www.haciendalascruces.com
* e-mail:  hotel_las_cruces@hotmail.com 
* Tel. From the US - (858) 764-4122

* Local La Paz tel. - 011 52 (612) 125-5639

• To get info for the Baja driver, please visit: www.bajainsider.com