Two Barons to Baja

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     Two hours later we landed for lunch at Punta San Fransicito, a small, remote and very rustic spot about half way down the Baja peninsula on the Sea of Cortez.  Ours were the only two airplanes on the airstrip that afternoon, and we had the patio overlooking the sea and miles of deserted beach all to ourselves as we enjoyed a delicious fish taco lunch.  The great food and scenery, the warm noonday sun and the excitement of beginning an adventure had our spirits running high. 

After lunch we continued southward another forty-five minutes for an overnight stay at the Hotel Serenidad at Mulege, which is one of the most popular fly-in destinations in Baja.

It is a clean and affordable hotel with its own airstrip.  Most of these small uncontrolled, and usually unpaved, airports in Baja have a contingent of young Mexican Army draftees whose job it is to meet you, record your plane number, your pilots license number and check your flight plan.  This is a result of the airplane drug running days of the past, and their automatic weapons can be intimidating to the uninitiated, but if you are polite and patient you will find them to be the same.  In addition, their twenty-four hour presence gives us some added security for our airplanes while we are off enjoying ourselves.   

     After checking in (rooms start at about $65 U.S.) and relaxing a bit, we decided to have dinner in town, in spite of the fact that the Hotel Serenidad has an excellent dining room and a popular pig roast every Saturday night.  Most of our group had not been to Mulege (pronounced moo-la-hay) before, and wanted to see what it was like.  The historic little town is very pleasant and is an easy two-mile walk along the river estuary or a five-minute cab ride away.  There are several hotels and restaurants in town, and after exploring around a bit we decided to eat at "Los Equipales" and had a great dinner while enjoying the live entertainment provided by a solo guitarist.  The seafood special for $9.95 was awesome!

The next morning we took off for our first in-flight photo session, using the dramatic scenery of the Bahia Conception as our backdrop. 

  If you do air-to-air photographs, be sure the pilot with formation training and experience is flying wingman, and have someone else handle the camera.   Forty- five minutes and four rolls of film later, we landed as a flight of two at Loreto for fuel.  Fuel prices, after converting liters to gallons, pesos to dollars, and adding all the taxes and fees averaged about $2.85 per gallon. This is usually a cash-only transaction in dollars or pesos.  Credit cards are not usually accepted for fuel, although most of the fly-in hotels will take them.  Having exact change helps you in the exchange rate.