La Espinita – A Welcome Oasis
Day 7 – La Espinita, Baja California Norte
4:20 pm, November 22, 2014
It was a surprise to me that Vern planned for us to stay at La Espinita. I thought we would stay in Guerrero Negro which is just south of the border between Baja north and Baja South. As we hadn’t crossed the border yet, I thought we were stopping merely to shop for a few vegetables and fruit. I took a picture of the place as we came up to it but it is not quite as good as the link below to the Google map image. You can see my image above.
You may wish to see how it compares with this map image of La Espinita – just north of the border between Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur.
My close-up image of the motel and restaurant:
And, the map image below shows a more colorful image taken when the bougainvillea was blooming.
Close up: La Espinita. Store on left, small garden area in center, and restaurant on right.
The store is small but packed with items that the locals might want and many items for visitors and patrons of the motel. You can always find a cold beer of choice in these little stores across Mexico.
La Espinita’s Talented Owners
The motel and restaurant are owned and operated by a mother and son, Lupita and Francisco. Lupita keeps the motel units clean and decorated with fresh items, including her own paintings, while Francisco keeps the restaurant side of the business. The dining area is decorated with interesting memorabilia, pictures, paintings, and maps. It is like walking into a museum of the area’s history. Francisco himself has just completed his bachelor’s degree in Alternative Tourism and has a wealth of information on the local area and the indigenous people. In the picture below Francisco, with local friend, is returning from his daily shopping for tonight’s dinner. His specials are always fresh.
Lupita’s Paintings
Lupita has completed a number of paintings that she had just sitting in their gallery/lounge area where I used my laptop. I loved the barrel cactus paintings and, if I had not been riding a motorcycle would have bought one or two of her works.
Lupita has also done a few things to improve the dry look of the motel. She has planted bougainvillea and a number of cacti in an attempt to make the place look more lush and inviting. It is almost impossible to keep plants in this dry, wind-swept area but she has made a great start.
We stayed in unit #1 (doorway hidden under the stairs) and enjoyed the very clean and spacious room. There were three other visitors of the motel, all women, who told us they would never stay anywhere else in the Geurrero Negro area.
The 5-Star Dinners at La Espinita
The white fish special we had for dinner the first night was a delightful surprise. Francisco served it with perfectly cooked rice with red peppers and the crispest salad I have had in a long time. The light corn and cucumber soup that started the meal was scrumptious and the lightly seasoned freshly baked garlic bread was wonderful. The entire meal was outstanding and for the reasonable price of $25 for the two of us.
Day 8 – La Espinita, Baja California Norte
7:15 am, November 23, 2014
Sand Dunes Home to one of the Largest Concentrations of Ospreys in the World
We awoke to the sounds of Reveille the next morning at 7:15. It was from the military barracks just south of La Espinita. We had decided to see the area today so waking up at this time was pleasant. We rode to the famous sand dunes just north of our motel. It was hot – so not as many layers of clothes were required. We needed a hat, light top and shorts when walking around, but when riding the motorcycle we added a light jacket and long pants. Because of the wind it’s easy to get sunburned and not know it when riding a bike.
The dunes are enormous. We rode the bike to the base of one (bottom right in the photo) then climbed to the top, awed by the panoramic view of sand dunes and ocean. This conservation area is considered a wetland of hemispheric importance. We could see what we believed to be osprey, in the distance, the main purpose of the protected area. It was a magnificent sight.
By dinner time we were hungry and looking forward to one of Francisco’s outstanding meals. Tonight his specialty was prawns. Once again, a fabulous meal! His meals are not just good they are outstandingly good. We highly recommend La Espinita for dinner.
Next: Guerrero Negro – Whale Watching and World’s Largest Salt Flats
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