Marpeg: ENSENADA TO SAN QUINTIN, B.C., MEXICO

After a 7-11 breakfast (yes there are 7-11's in Mexico) we leave Ensenada, the birthplace of the margarita and the starting point of the Baja 1,000 off-road race. At Maneadero we take our first venture off Rt. 1 toward La Bufadora (The Blowhole). Most of the houses are small and trashy. It seems like no matter what your economic status, you have bars on your windows and doors and a closed gate at your fence. Horses continue to be a popular mode of transportation. Sometimes it's hard to tell which is the stable and which is the house. Every unguarded surface is covered in graffiti. It even spills out onto the street. We pass through many acres of tented vegetable plants. We recognize beans and kale.

We climb a steep mountain and down the other side to the blowhole. This place is a big tourist attraction because there are only three in the world. We park and then begin to negotiate two hundred yards of Mexican merchants lining both sides of the road. It's like the midway at the state fair. I come through unscathed but Peggy sports new Mexican fire opal jewelry and a pair of sandals.

Serenaded by Mexican musicians we descend the stairs to the tidewater blowhole. The force of the surf pushing against a chasm in the rock that sends a jet of water up to 90 feet high, drenching cheering onlookers.

Back on Rt. 1 we head south through acres and acres of crops and acres and acres of vineyards. We even see fields of cactus. As night approaches we are rolling down a dusty unnamed road toward a hotel and restaurant that might not even exist. But we find they do and we have another authentic Mexican meal. They also rent us an RV site for six dollars. It seems like everything here is cheaper except for gas, it's $3.60 a gallon.