Loreto is worth a visit!

---

A siesta a day keeps the doctor away. That has been our motto this week. With 2 weeks to spend in a small fishing village in Baja, we’ve had lots of time of time to walk around, visit shops, schedule excursions, but more importantly RELAX. We have either napped each day or gone to bed early. We have joked that we have now flipped the switch to “old”.

We are staying in a small Airbnb not far from the main square (in Centro). It meets our needs with hot water and a small kitchen. The only bad thing to note is that it does not block any street noises. We’re on a main road and I can hear the music playing from each car as it passes by. Most of the time it’s not a problem but the occasional 80s ballad at 1am as a car rumbles past is jarring.

Besides lounging around, we enjoy walks through beautiful ficus tree arches through town. There are benches scattered and it’s nice to sit and watch people and the occasional clown walk by. On average we’ve been walking 4 miles a day.

Loreto is very safe and easygoing. The tourists are mainly gringos from the west coast. It’s flat so easy for walking and bike riding and in general is a very relaxed environment. The locals are so kind and everyone greets each other as they walk past one another, even buenos días/tardes to gringos.

Loreto is small. We have run into the same people multiple times while walking around the city. It’s easy to find what you’re looking for and it’s a tight knit community. Everyone feels like a neighbor and we’ve had great conversations with people and it’s nice to see them again while out and about.
We have booked a few excursions to explore more outside of Centro. We visited the second mission created in the Californias. (This is an excellent time to recommend that you start following us on insta! We post photos there in between blog posts). The mission is called San Javier and it’s up in the mountains about 45 minutes away from the town. It is still completely original and intact from its first construction. We stopped by the farmers market also happening just outside the mission and ate lunch at La Palapa. We bought organic green beans that look like magic because they’re the largest green beans we have ever seen! We also bought more organic wine and other pastries. Our guide from Sea & Land Tours was very knowledgeable about the history, sights, and fauna throughout the 5 hour trip.

We are booked for a few boat rides later this week which will hopefully let us snorkel with sea lions and dolphins and sting rays, oh my!

We’ve eaten out a few times but have been trying to also cook so we can stick to our budget (the gringo prices are cheap but not that cheap!) We went out to the marina to try and buy a yellowtail off a boat coming in for the afternoon. The first boat was a no and the second boat looked promising with a handful of fisherman offloading supplies and rods. Tammy practiced in her head what she was going to say but then led with “queremos comprar un pescador.” Everyone got a good chuckle as we wanted to buy a fish, not a fisherman!! We left empty handed, but we have been able to fill our stomachs with good finds from the local farmers market.

We usually prefer corn tortillas, but when flour is freshly-made, they are outstanding. Many booths sell their own, which appear to be made with whole-wheat flour. We fill these with combinations of farm eggs, local cheese, avocado, and flank steak. Or just a quesadilla as a snack.