Back in the USA

We are in San Diego and Carol is cleaning the dust of the Baja from the inside of the RV and I need to get some work done on the exterior and to get the grit off our undercarriage. We are also reflecting on our time down in Mexico. We saw so much investment in infrastructure, so much work done on hotels, RV parks, restaurants, marinas, tourist information centres, beach buildings and roadside rest areas but to no avail, nothing was working. Everywhere we went we saw abandoned facilities and dilapidation. It is not clear what went wrong but I guess the “Norteamericanos” stopped coming south. We looked at an idyllic housing development on a long sand spit just south of Ensenada. Beautiful houses in a fantastic beach location with a good landscaping and a strong security presence but nearly all were empty and many had for sale signs on the doors.

Most of these facilities had no evidence of vandalism or graffiti and quite often there was a caretaker doing some kind of minimal maintenance, usually without getting paid, but nothing would work and nothing was earning money. What a contrast to the USA, here everything works and earns money.

On several occaisions we stayed in a beatiful location, in a well designed RV park
with a water tap, electricity outlet and sewer connection and a campground building with a cafe, showers and loos, NONE OF WHICH WOULD WORK. Some nights some one would turn up to collect a few pesos but mostly there was no one.

We spent yesterday getting a culture fix in San Diego’s Balboa Park. 13 museums and lots of proper grass. Charro got a good walk on the green stuff for a change.

We parked at a fairground park last night in Del Mar just north of San Diego and found a dog show by accident. Guess where we are going this afternoon.