Roadtrip: San Diego to San Felipe

This is a continuation of my trip from San Diego to San Felipe, where my friend has a home. We left San Diego in the early afternoon and made an uneventful border crossing at San Ysidro along Interstate 5. We skipped downtown Tijuana altogether and decided to make Rosarito Beach our destination for the night. It's a pretty beach town and not as big or crowded as Tijuana. Then the next day we continued along the picturesque coastline stopping in Puerto Nuevo, Ensenada, and La Bufadora. From there we headed along Highway 3 across the high desert to the Sea of Cortez and then to my friend's place in San Felipe. It's a very pleasant drive on mostly good highways. 

Here are some scenes from our two-day journey.

Typical coastline south of the border...

Downtown Rosarito Beach, a small beach resort south of Tijuana...

The Rosarito Beach Hotel looked very nice, but we stayed in a motel a few blocks away...

 Here's the long pier, definitely worth a visit...

 View from the pier...

  

 It was too early for spring break, so the beaches were not very crowded...

Horses for hire...

 We enjoyed a beer and the sunset on the beach...

After spending the night in Rosarito, we headed to the small fishing town of Puerto Nuevo...

 The main streets are lined with colorful vendors...

 You can eat all the fresh seafood your heart desires...

And drink lots of tequila...

 Here's the view from the coastline along the highway to Ensenada...

The port of Ensenada...

 Near the harbor area...

 

 Painting a sign...

Souvenirs for sale...

 A colorful street scene...

From Ensenada we followed the coastline out to the blow hole...

  Once there, you must first make your way through all the vendors...

 Take your pick...

Then you get to see the blow hole, or la bufadora

The view looking south...

 Musicians for hire...

 Highway 3, which takes you to the other side of Baja...

 

We made it: the beach in front of my friend's home in San Felipe...

Driving around these parts of Baja was very enjoyable. Luckily we didn't encounter too much traffic or encounter any road hazards along the way. The scenery was beautiful and very interesting to look at and many of the small towns dotting the highway were worth exploring. Supposedly crossing the border from the U.S. into Mexico is easy. But the other way around, namely going back into the U.S. can be time-consuming. You never know how long it will take to get through, so you must be prepared to wait a long time in line with all the other travelers trying to cross!

Next stop: San Felipe.