It only took a couple of hours to get to La Paz. It is a pretty big city of about 300K in the area. We looked to find a campground or a place to park and there were only a couple of places. One was a considerable distance from town and the other was just off the Malecon. The Malecon place was listed for shorter vans and was primarily a biker hostel. Kathy found anohter place in the center that had good ratings, so we pointed Howie in that direction.
The campground is a walled lot about 6 blocks up from the beach and close to grocery stores AND an ACE Ferreteria (Hardware). The cost was kind of steep at 600 pesos for hookup, and 500 for dry. We chose the dry, but should have just paid for the hookup. When we left, he has good purified drinking water for $200 pesos and charges $300 to dump. We ran the AC a bit in the afternoon to cool things down and should have just paid the extra $5 for the electricity. But the place was secure, had easy access to the gate, and stores. We did manage to find the toilet pods at ACE, so we bought two bags, which should last us 6 months.
While in La Paz, we headed to the malecon to get some food and to look around. At night it becomes a cruising location and both sides of the road are congested with cars taking in the atmosphere. I got a burger and beer deal at a place and Kathy went for the camerone tacos. We did have a nice discussion between us on the feelings we are having over the holidays, with travel, etc. Travel is not the two week vacation you take to a resort or attraction. It is living on the road, with different places to sleep throughout the week, and a lack of home. We did get the house rented, and that has also added a bit more uncertainty since we don’t have a home base to come back to.
But with all this, we used La Paz as a big city. I looked for a water filter to put on a hose so we can get water at campgrounds. Most of the water is city water, and drinking it is sometimes questionable. The city water is treated, but the infrastructure and pressures are not always consistent and most places have a rotopax storage container or a cistern that they pump the city water in to and then pull it from there and pressurize it for use at the properties. Its just one of those things that we kind of take foregranted in the USA.
We did sit down and get some travel advice from our camp host, Arnold. He grew up and had a business in the Yucatan penninsula. He retired several years ago, bought a used RV and drove it across Mexico to La Paz. He loved La Paz for its dry heat, and leased a lot and started an RV lot business. We want to do the loop around southern Baja to Cabo and back up the Pacific side before we cross to Mazatlan, and he pointed out great places and great campgrounds where he knows folks and will provide a great experience. We are actually camped at one in La Ventanna (its a remote beach he recommended. Arnold gave us some information on places to see in Mexico as well and we circled them on the maps we had.
We invited Arnold for some snacks of guacamole and a lobster salad we purchased in Loreto and we had an interesting discussion. He has issues with the current administration and is frustrated with the ongoing narrative that bashes Mexico. We agreed on some of the topics, and on others, not so much. He really enjoys having Europeans and Canadians visit his camp and is frustrated at a lack of patrons this year. Last year was his first with his RV lot and he was always full in the winter season. This year it is about 1/2 full. We did note that as costs have risen in the past two-4 years, it is tightening up the travel folks a bit. We have definitely felt that. He’s a funny guy that has survived prostrate cancer and is loving life. He has some great signs in his bathroom.
It looks like some friends will be flying down here to visit for a few days in January so we are getting a place in the Cabo area to house us all. More on that later. On our way out of town we stopped at Home Depot to see about a water filter. I did not find that, but I did find the 1/2 handle shovel I wanted to get before we left. And instead of $26, it was only $11 USD. Now Kathy has a shovel to dig shells and I have one in case I do something stupid in the mud or sand. LOL. We stopped at Walmart as well and actually found Dr. Pepper Zero for Kathy. We bought all 7 bottles we could find.
As we headed out of La Paz, our batteries had gotten to the lowest level since I think Denali. We were just under 30%. I had added another solar panel, but it does not seem to be increasing the charge rate by 1/3. And since we are saving on fuel this time around, the drive time and charging from the alternator needs does not fill it. We arrived at camp at 70% last night after 3-4 hours of engine time. That’s not going to cut it. I am not sure if I need 2-3 separate solar chargers to get the current up to 40 AMPs but so far with solar we are lucky to get 20-25. We can get 40A with the alternator, but only when the battery is lower than 70% and then the charger reduces the charge. I may just calculate the wattage of the block charger and get an alternator system set up to plug that in at 110V. If I added two more batteries, it would give us longer for charging, but it also takes longer to charge the batteries. Solar is not very efficient from what I have seen. I might have been better off pulling two DC/DC chargers from the two alternators I have in the truck and getting 60A into the battery. In the meantime, it seems that if we get low and solar is not cutting it, I need to drive 8 hours to charge, or find a camp with power to plug in to top it off.