Heaven on earth

Living in Baja has been quite the experience. After being used to a big city such as Mexico City or even Detroit, living in a "quiet" town definately makes you widen your perspective on life. What I did not expect in the Baja, being that it is mostly a desert, was to find a little piece of heaven! Granted is not a forest, actually, this place seems a bit dryer than the lower half of the peninsula but at least the feelings that I experienced in this "pueblo" are the type that you get to experience only once in a life time.

Compare it to a dinner at Charley Trotters´ about 10 years ago! The first words I muttered after leaving the restaurant where " Man, I could die by being run over by a dog right now, and I wouldn´t care". Well, in this case, I know now where my funeral will be!

The small town of Loreto, located about 8 hrs driving time from Los Cabos, would transform the soul of anyone that went there. It is in the middle of nowhere and that´s where all the beauty starts. I really didn´t know there where places that had scaped the hand of man until now. To get there, you need a bit of nerves of steel, specially if it´s the first time you are driving towards. The road goes through the Sierra de la Giganta (Sierra of the Giants) and there is an incredible amount of tight turns, enough to make you dizzy.

The arrival to the town through the mountain is probably the most amazing site of all. You come in directly into the bay through a fishing village called Ligüi. You´ll be about 100 ft on top of the mountain and hang on, beacuse you´ll drop them in only about 1/4 mile of steep downhill. The bay is like a mirror. Think of lake Geneva, though salty and about 10 times bigger!!!!

There is a large island in the outer banks of the bay and a few smaller islands. Once you get into town, you might get mixed feelings, because at least architecturaly, there is quite a mix of styles. This, you can forgoe, because once you get past a light and into the downtown area, the transformation will begin.

The city is sprawled around the oldest mission in Baja, being built in the 15th century. The city square is built in the spanish Barroque style, just like most small towns in central México. Now, what these other ones don´t have is the amazing tranquility that you will feel when you walk the streets.

The food itself is quite varied. We had good food, regular food and average food. Definatley there is room for growth culinary wise (People that know me might now where "Carlito´s" might be opening!)

We did have two great experiences, one in a small marisqueria (Seafood Restaurant), and another one, of all things in a local pizzeria. The seafood place, from which I don´t remember the name was quite the "fresh experience" specially because I had never had raw clams that tasted this good. To put in a picture, the clams where arriving in a bucket of ocean water, shucked, and served. A bit of lime juice fresh squeezed, a drop of guajillo salsa, local ocean salt, and badabim badabum!!!!!!!! Now... the best part, was the service, which I could almost compare to my fruitfull experience at Ed Debebbicks in Chicago! Obviously, you sit yourself, but this time around we got intercepted by the waiter.

-Hi guys!..... mmmmhhhhhh, okay, I´m not gonna lie to you, If you want to eat, it´s gonna take a while!!! As you can see, we´re in the weeds (in culinary terms, this means busy, not smoking pot!). So, it´s up to you... if you sit down, you can´t get upset!!!

Taken, they where busy, we later found out that the local baseball team was eating there, reason enough for the only waiter and the two cooks to be freaking out! Still, we were not in a rush! After all, we where on vacation and we didn´t have anywhere else to go. We ordered ceviche, one of the best ones I´ve ever had, sweet, tangy, spicy, man....give this guy a medal will ya!

After about half an hour, we got our baja style fish tacos. Only a good night of sex would compare! After a couple of beers, a few laughs with the waiter and good conversation with two Loretanos, we got under way.

The following night, we went to have dinner at a pizzeria, of all things and with the funniest scenario. The cook, was from Oaxaca, the waitress from Argentina, and we had a "Flamenco" pizza. You can´t say you´re not in an international crowd in Loreto!!! The pizza was great, with anchovies, chistorra, sundried tomatoes, manchego cheese, kalamata olives. In the absence of wine, well, we got another round of beers! It was so good, that we ate the whole thing, unfortunately leaving us without any space to try the Limoncello dessert. We´ll try it next time!

We didn´t want to leave. But as all good things in life, it had to end, with the promise of coming back for more tranquility in the near future.

So to celebrate our recent trip to Loreto, I will be posting a ceviche recipe of my own, to the hopefull delight of the gut. Unfortunately, I can´t include the ambience to complete the experience, but you could place some ocean wave sounds and close your eyes while you chow down!!!