November 7, 2025 Day 1 Mexico
Travel day from Potrero RV Park in Potrero, CA.
Adventure begins.
We are starting our blog with our forty-day trip to Mexico with our RV caravan Baja Amigos. The plan is to travel as a group from the top of Baja and all the way down to the southern tip, Cabo San Lucas. There are nine of us altogether, including Chris and Lindsay our wagon masters.
Yesterday we drove the 12 miles from our camp in California to the Mexican border, where we duly received the needed visas, walked around the block and drove back to the good ole USA. Our first taste of Mexico was very brief, and nothing to note as we didn’t stop anywhere. The town is spread out over surrounding hills and is bustling with people, traffic, shops, sidewalk entrepreneurs, and the odd dog. Apparently, they roam around everywhere. Thank God for Chris, our wagon-master, who told us exactly what we needed and what to expect. Since we don’t speak Spanish and the border guy in the office didn’t have much English, we would not have understood we had to cross the street with the papers they issued to us, walk into the bank, which just looks like another office building, pay for the visas, and bring their paper back to the first guy to stamp. It took a little bit of time! Chris told us that when we come back today to actually cross; they would likely not even ask us for the paperwork we were issued, but only the passports and insurance info. He stressed that they were mainly interested to know if we carried weapons or drugs. He told us under no circumstances were we to have anything resembling a gun—even a water gun or a traffic emergency flare! Apparently, he had heard of a guard who went ballistic when the someone was found with a flare; I think they even detained him. He told us to even put our normal kitchen knives out of sight.
We crossed without incident: we had a female guard who came into the coach and wanted the VIN of our motorhome. She never asked about anything else and told us to have a good trip.
We have walkie-talkies to keep in communication as we travel down the highway, so we are alerted about possible problems: large trucks approaching, dips in the road, and other hazards that may or may not be announced by a road-sign. Then there are the Mexican driving idiosyncrasies, like not using your left signal to turn left. That signal tells a driver behind you that they are free to pass you! Imagine signalling to turn left and halfway into the turn, you get shmucked by a driver trying to pass! Instead, you are to stop and wait for there to be no oncoming traffic before turning. Also there are parts of the highway which are a little wider and they are for moving over to the side while oncoming traffic does the same, and a fellow can pass right up the centre line. Easy-peasy. Again, these are valuable tips we appreciate receiving, courtesy of our Baja Amigos tour leaders.
Passing through Tecate was interesting. You can see by the pictures how diverse and fascinating the town is. At least, it is fascinating to me to see a place vibrant with life of all kinds. People walking everywhere, continuous traffic, shanty shacks rubbing shoulders not far from beautiful modern homes or the occasional hotel surrounded by manicured gardens and palms. Spanish-only signs mingle alongside English ones or those with both languages. Tacos or burritos stalls where the food is cooked and served beckons by the roadside. Clothes on racks, tourist tidbits for sale; so many things to see and experience. We saw a pack of dogs gambling down the main street, chasing a guy playing a flute. One of my favourites was a little shop sporting a Costco sign that made you believe they were a Costco branch. A variety of wares were displayed on the sidewalk out front, featuring a large quantity of dog-food packages. It’s good to know where we can get Purina dog chow in Mexico, right?
We arrive in the Guadalupe region and pull into our lovely RV camp. It is just off the highway, with trees planted between each wide spot. The weather is very warm in the sun but it cools down towards dusk. We have full service, so we can use our air and microwave. Across the highway in the hills are these funny little buildings on legs that look too small for a one bedroom condo. We learn they are part of the hotel up there but they look only large enough for a bed, if that. There are others that have been built into the brown hills and rocks that blend so well, you would not see them unless you looked very close.
We had a little siesta, a little lunch and then a driver picked us all up in his large van and took us to a well-know winery: Domecq. Here we were treated to a complimentary tour and wine tasting. I relaxed with in a comfortable chair overlooking the vineyards and gardens, while Theo joined the rest of the group. The pictures show the amazing scenes in the cellar.
Then it was off to a second winery where we bought local olive oil, fresh bread, and jams from the store.
We feasted on trays of cheese, bread, olives, spreads, crackers, prosciutto wrapped cheese: courtesy of our hosts Chris and Lindsay. I sampled Sangria for the first time, and it’s a hit with me. I didn’t realize that was coming and had ordered a dinner plate made up with homemade pasta, very fresh tomatoes, zucchini, onion, garlic, broccoli, cheese, bread and olive oil. So good! Naturally, we could not finish everything, so we brought the rest home to have for dinner the next day.
Chris says, “Midnight in Baja is nine o’clock.” He is not wrong. It gets completely dark so early, you think it is later and your body certainly adjusts to early to bed and early to rise. We were knackered on our first day in Mexico and went to bed early.