We were planning to stay another few nights at Bahia de Conception, more on the southern shores, but when we drove by where the road was supposed to be, there was a fence with a lock, so we kept on driving. We were heading to Loreto anyway and had heard great things about the town, so a few more days there would not be an issue. I missed the turn into town and fortunately it put us right on path to a propane dealer, which we needed. I wrangled the propane tank out of Howie and filled it for $15USD. We stopped and tried to find a spot on iOverlander. We checked out two RV parks with one being very expensive and another on the edge of town outside of walking distance. We ended up in a free parking spot at the end of the Malecon for the night.
The street camping was nice but we wanted to stay for a couple of nights and didn’t want to wear out our welcome, so I did some more research. I found a couple of spots in town and decided to check them out while walking the pups. The first was already full but another down the street had spots, so I went back and after Kathy finished up packing, we moved Howie and then headed to breakfast. The campgrounds in the bigger cities in Mexico are kind of interesting. They may have 20 spots, but generally folks will get a lease on a spot and some will build houses on them, paying the lease to the owner over many years. I presume eventually these places are all filled up with homes on a permanent rental lot. Check out this huge hotel/apartment building at the front of the property!!!
Anyway, the campground is one block from the malecon and one block from the pedestrian area and has restrooms and a laundry. We stayed for two nights.
The pedestrian area of Loreto is very pretty. Some of the restored hotels are just EXCEPTIONALLY STUNNING. (Check out the Loreto gallery for additional photos). There are tons of little shops and bars and restaurants along the route. We wandered around and found some great Talavera and trinkets. We had left the pups for a couple of hours at this point and needed to get back and let them out.
Day 3 in Loreto we decided to go to the local mercado (in search of the rare Dr. Pepper Zero) and check out some more of the town. We wandered the pedestrian area and found a number of shops were now open, so we perused the trinkets and the art galleries. There was one area that had tons of raised metal wall art that was beautifully painted and talked how some of it would be great to decorate with. I did a bit of fishing while there as well.
We found the grocery store, but not the coveted drink, and then wandered into the more normal shops and restaurants. We walked several miles through the streets and found an electronics store where we purchased a bluetooth speaker and then another shop where we found our travel sticker. We ended up at the Zopilote Brewery to rehydrate and replenish, which we did with some water, margaritas, a delicious IPA, and some guacamole. We headed back to the campground to relieve the pups, and I took them on a long walk to wear them out.
That evening, Kathy and I walked to the Malecon to watch the parade we had been hearing about, but did not see anything, so we stopped for dinner at a great little place. I had the chicken with Mole sauce over rice and Kathy had scallops in cream sauce. Both were fabulous. I wanted to walk the pedestrian area at night to check out the decorations, which were mostly lit (obviously some of the connections were bad, or had blown something, LOL), and low and behold we heard the Bombaders (firetrucks), so we watched the parade on the side street. Santa was there, as was The Grinch. We got a pretty good night sleep with a bit of a quieter night in Loreto. We are headed down Highway 1 today and will stop at Puerto San Carlos for a night or two and then head down to La Paz for Christmas.
Here is a link to the photos we took in and around Loreto, BCS.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/202512-18-21-loreto