April 2019 Baja Adventures
During our Winter in the Baja, we will update this page periodically with the activities and fun things we are doing. Below are the updates from April.
Selling The Peninsula Condo
If you have not heard, we sold the Peninsula Condo!
We had the condo listed for sale about 2 years ago, had lookers, but no bites. So this season we planned to try and sell it on our own without using a real estate so we could save the 10% commission (sorry to all of our realtor family and friends - smile). Before advertising, we were contemplating a kitchen remodel and selling some of the larger furniture to make it look bigger.
Long story short...in December as I was walking back from the gym, I passed two gals who were coming into our complex (real estate agent and her client). A casual conversation then turned into me showing them our condo. Craig was in Boise and the place was a mess with laundry all over, cleaning, etc. With the gals I talked about us selling the condo "as is" for this price, a kitchen remodel at this price, and with an agent at this price. By 9pm that evening we had a full price cash offer "as is" with no remodel! The buyer would take care of her agent's commission. We didn't want to close until mid April and neither did the buyer, so...it was PERFECT! When I called Craig that evening and told him "I sold the condo" he thought I was joking : ) Nope....We closed on April 12, 2019.
We have enjoyed this season in the condo having family and friends come to visit us. All the while knowing that it was our first and last season : ( We have made some good friends with our Peninsula neighbors and we will miss them, the condo (especially the pool), and our life style in San Jose. We have loved being able to walk or bicycle to everything and we rarely drive the truck. However, it is time for a new chapter in the Baja!
THANKS TO ALL OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS who helped us make great memories this season!
Misc Activities For April
Since we are getting ready to drive out of the Baja we spent most of April, planning the route for the next leg of our adventure (making reservations, lining up gigs to volunteer at along the way, etc.), prepping the trailer, and prepping the condo.
Of course we did our fair share of going to the movies, eating awesome food, riding bicycles, swimming and lazing at the pool. Below are misc pictures from San Jose del Cabo.
Movie Theatre in Cabo. We saw Dumbo with our friends/neighbors Andy and Laura. Notice the plush reclining seats and...we had dinner delivered to our seat!
Craig doing his 'Nacho Libre' pose in old town San Jose - too sexy...
I 'think' the sombrero is just a little too small for him...This is Mega (La Comer) in San Jose
One of our favorite places to eat in San Jose Taqueria El Fogon. This is Tacos Al Pastor (pork with pineapple) = YUM. Notice the Coke with fresh lime... we usually don't drink pop, however with tacos... : )
We discovered The Hunger Park (Thanks Andy and Laura) with is a truck vendor eating area. Craig had a loaded hot dog and Holly had a burrito. You can see the DJ spinning his tunes on top of the one food vendor. Pretty cool place.
When we walked to Old Town San Jose, we would get dessert. Craig is getting Churros with chocolate and caramel sauce. I ate these or got a fresh frozen pineapple popsicle.
One of our regular meals at home...avocado toast - YUMMMMM
On April 12 (after the condo closed), we moved out the Los Barriles and the trailer for the remainder of our time in the Baja. Below are the pictures from that area.
Holly eating dinner and watching the sunset. One of many gorgeous sunsets!
Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a huge celebration in Mexico. Schools are closed for the week and many businesses close early in the week. Everyone comes to the beach and camps for a few days.
One of our local cows that comes every evening for 'snacks'. Her markings are so cool and she is getting big with her little unborn calf. We save our fruit and veggie peels (banana, orange, jicama, lime, etc.) to give them and they scarf everything down. They are all so friendly and basically eat out of your hand.
One of the many ways I spend my time...reading books in the hammock. If I was not doing this, I was moving all of the cacti, agave, and aloe vera I had planted around the lot up on the hillside so it would be out of the way of construction.
Our first scorpion! This guy was about 1.5" long. I thought he was big until...I saw another one that had a 2" body and 2" tail! HE WAS BIG! We killed both of them with spray we got from our friend/neighbor Cindy. THANKS CINDY! Craig actually had to chop the bigger one in 1/2 because he would not die - eewww
Lunch with Manolo at El Turro Guero in La Paz. We had a cameron (shrimp) dish that had all types of camerons. It was AMAZING!
Our FAVORITE ice cream place in the Baja, Zopilotes which is in San Bartolo (only 10 miles from Los Barriles). Sheila's Chocolate Cherry and Chocolate Extreme are AWESOME!!! Notice our clothes are different? Ya...we went there a few times : ) Unfortunately, we missed stopping here on our way out of the Baja because it was too early in the morning : (
Thanks Sheila for GREAT ice cream and conversations!
Our FAVORITE tacos in the Baja, El Viejo in Los Barriles. They have the BEST PESCADO (FISH) TACOS IN ALL OF BAJA and believe me...I've been trying fish tacos everywhere! The pollo (chicken) and cameron (shrimp) are killer also. Not only is the flavor great, the quantity, quality, and salsa bar is PERFECT! And...they are the best value also. So...all around you cannot beat them!
Three Dog Corner in Los Barriles. We split a hamburger (HUGE) and a carna asada stuffed potato. YUM!
Our friends/neighbors Wes and Cindy gave us some fresh fish that Wes caught. Red Snapper and Dog Tooth Snapper.
Craig is cleaning the fish on the back of the truck and my two favorite cows are watching over the fence. I think they believe he is going to give them some fish. No...he did not.
Craig laid the fish on a bed of onion and stuffed the fish with garlic, thyme, oregano, and dill. OMG...it was awesome! We had leftovers which I turned into fish tacos the next day : )
THANKS WES AND CINDY !!!
Once we moved out to the trailer in the middle of April, Craig started working on the solar, adding USB and other electrical outlets to the trailer that would run off the solar. He could not get all of the parts he needed in Los Barriles or San Jose, so he will finish the job once we get to Scottsdale.
The design and plan
Getting all of the proper tools out the begin the project
Running wires and installing the inverter.
El Cardonal Over Nighter
When we attended the New Creations Orphanage Fund Raiser, we bid/won a nights stay at Las Terrazes in El Cardonal. So we took a day and headed that way. El Cardonal is about 20 miles from Los Barriles so it was a nice afternoon/evening outing.
Las Terrazes outside grounds
View from the roof of Las Terrazes
Hanging out at the pool. It was a little cooler and cloudy so we didn't get in the water too much
Went for a walk into town and along the beach. Of course, I am 'shopping' for rocks : )
We crossed the border into the Baja on November 15 and it is amazing how much you can spread out once you are settled into a place for a while. We had moved a lot of items into the condo for the season and once we moved it all back, we discovered that we had accumulated additional items. As we began our packing of the trailer, we started setting items aside that we will ship home once we get Stateside again.
Our season in the Baja was AWESOME! We loved the culture, food, activities, and friends that we made. Once we are done with our travels across the US and Canada, we cannot wait to live the snowbird lifestyles between Boise, Idaho and Los Barriles, Baja.