Presunto: the salsa verde, green salsa was probably a tomatillo based salsa.
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Thanks, Foodhunter. I just came back from breakfast and ate all the green salsa that came with the food. It must be a standard condiment.
Tomato, then you must absolutely make the trip. After 11 whale tours in 2 different places in the course of 2 weeks I understand why people return year after year after year.
Check out BBC’s latest nature documentary series called “Seven worlds, one planet”. Just mind-boggling how they got all those incredible footages. I think one of the episodes where they were in Magdalena Bay telling the story of grey whales and how they first approached fishermen back in 1972. And that’s how the whale watching business started.
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Breakfast at a local restaurant in the neighbourhood, serving “cocina economica” kind of food. Cheap, simple and there’s nothing wrong with it.
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Many times I only want the vegs but it’s rarely possible. The beans are almost in liquid form. At home I would leave my beans whole.
We like queso fresco. Here you get a taste of it. At home I make it a whole meal. I also notice they use a different word for scrambled eggs here. In Spain the term is “huevos revueltos”.
They are open from 8am, we were there at 8am. During peak meal times the place is full.
In the afternoon we hired a taxi for an excursion to San Javier mission, about 34km from Loreto. A beautiful drive to inland Loreto. It’s too hot to go hiking.
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A local sets up a table in the garden of the mission selling homemade wine and fruit pastes. I tried some wine, tasted like strong port. Bought his mango membrillo to eat with tortillas. I asked how he would eat the paste and he said with cheese and tortillas.
After the mission we went to a beach restaurant before heading back to Loreto. 7km outside the town.
They ran out of clams. They call themselves a clam shack. But they made this earlier in the day. I forgot the name of it but it’s not ceviche.
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Steamed fish with poblano pepper
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Then directly back to my favourite restaurant for the clams.
There are 2 tortilla makers on my street. This package is half kilo (1+ lbs) for 10 pesos. Just off the press and were still hot. We like to eat them with avocado and membrillo. An easy snack without cooking or washing up to do. Corn tortillas are standard (like in the photo) but they also make flour kind. Some people don’t like corn tortillas because apparently in Mexico they are all made using US GM corn.
There must be enough food here because it’s a success story for these chicken-like vultures.
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Again great mouth watering photos . You know you are ruined for life eating Mexican food . All these great places that you have shown. You’ll sit down at your local Mexican restaurant and go …
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Tomatillos are vigorous plant that grows in my garden every year as volunteers from the original planting 12 years ago. Roast the tomatillos over an open fire blend with chopped up habaneros and you’re off to a good start on a salsa verde. The beans sometimes referred to as refried beans are basically beans, lard and salt with seasonings. And knowing even that sometimes they’re just too dang good to resist. Presunto can you find a tortilla press back home? We love our homemade tortillas when we are back up north.
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I see tortilla presses everywhere here in Baja Sur. I’m rubbish at making the dough, though.
Last night we went to eat with the guesthouse owners again bringing our own yellowtail. The Mexican wife asked the restaurant about the green salsa. They said grill (bbq’ed) serrano chillies, peel charred bits, puree with tomatoes and onions.
I’m going to do the same with my dried chillies. Half my rucksack is dried chillies I’ve picked up along the way.
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In La Paz now. Just got here this afternoon after 5 1/2 hours in the bus from Loreto. Big city, many cars, high temperatures, food costs twice as much, portion is only half, quality is not Loreto level. Glad I gorged on the clams and seafood tacos in Loreto and Guerrero Negro.
The other day in Loreto we did a (blue) whale tour. Saw a blue whale from some distance away and several humpback whales. In Loreto boats cannot chase whales and must keep a distance, something like 100 metres. After watching whales in 2 other places it’s frustrating to see them from far away. That’s why people from all over the world come to 3 specific places in Baja Sur for the most amazing whale experience.
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There were hundreds upon hundreds of dolphins feasting on anchovies all round us. The boat driver said he had never seen this many dolphins before. The whales, dolphins and sea birds were all going at it at the same time.
We stopped here for a quick break.
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Every town has this design with the town’s name
Lunch after the whale tour
Prawn aguachile. So delicious.
I’ve asked the guest house owners to ask the cook for me what spices and chillies he uses in this aguachile. It’s spicy enough to make one sniff.
Doing a whale shark excursion tomorrow and then I go home the day after. Woohoo!
Yeah, that’s right, avid fly fisherman. I never had real Mexican food before and now only want to eat it here. Need to revise my holiday plans now 'cuz I want to see the whales again and eat Mexican food in Me-hi-co.
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I rub shoulders with a LOT of turkey vultures. I had to “share the road” with one on the way home from work today.
In all the years in Baja I have never eaten or seen green tomato salsa. Learn something new every day. Corn tortillas are easy to make with a press. The flour tortillas are harder because of the gluten and lard. while you’re in la Paz if you get a chance to see photos of the sea mounds it’s one of the most unbelievable underwater ecosystems I have ever seen. Dove them back in the late 90s. When you drop in you desend through hundreds of schooling hammer head sharks. You go Presunto! Enjoy your last days!
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As mentioned in one of the replies upthread I made my fishing dream come true. The sky when we left.
I caught a dozen small mackerel first which were all used as bait fish. At first I thought “nice, we’ll have grilled mackerel for lunch today” and was ready to head back (only 30 minutes into the trip). But then we went way way far out to open ocean. Of course this is where you do some real fishing. The partner caught this guy before we went to the open ocean.
I caught the first yellowtail, the partner caught the next 2. I have an injured wrist and was struggling with reeling and holding the rod steady. It’s like trying to push a car with no energy whatsoever. The partner helped me and we helped each other with the other 2 yellowtail.
These guys already landed on the boat and we were only pulling in and drifting towards the dock. Saw a blue yatch anchored just outside the harbour and 2 very fancy boats were trying to dock as we were pulling in. I asked the guest house owners if they had heard something about celebrities being in town today. They said it was Steven Spielberg. And a month ago it was the Obama’s. Loreto is visited by celebs, rich and famous people.
Like whale watching boats, my fishing boat goes directly onto a trailer and a truck pulls it out of the water. The owner takes the boat back and parks it in his garden or a rental boat parking place like a car park.
Clams again. Glad I ate them every day in Loreto. They are expensive here in La Paz and fresh kind is not always available.
The fishing guide kept 1 yellowtail, the small unknown fish and all the mackerel. Gave 1 and 1/2 yellowtail to my guest house owner. We ate with them twice. This is the first of it.
Took half the fish to a restaurant in the neighbourhood to be cooked for us. Cooked “a la plancha” with garlic and chillies. 4 of us couldn’t finish this plate. The fishing guide told us after 2 fish were gutted by his family, weighed 20kg (for both). We went out eating the yellowtail with the guest house owners again 2 days later, photos to come.
No hammerheads yet but it’ high time for whale sharks. I swam alongside them twice today. Having seen them in the aquarium in Okinawa and now swimming alongside them is just in.cre.di.ble! They are so gentle and calm. “Lovely shark”, hears one never. Well, it exists. What a fantastic way to end my last day in Mexico.
Very hard to record and swim at the same time (not to mention keeping a safe distance) so this is the best I could do.
Btw, Foodhunter, we had planned for market visits but the whale shark tour took all afternoon. By the time we got back we went straight to eat and then to the craft beer bar. Next time we will stay 3 days to get more things done.
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Beautiful pics . Fantastic food . The fish and seafood look out of this world .
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Presunto: you’re probably not going to see hammerheads unless you’re scuba diving. The sea mounds where they were schooling is quite a ways offshore the top of the mound is at 60 feet. I made a career out of scuba diving with underwater video equipment. We did about six segments in the sea of Cortez back in the mid to late 90s.
You have one on me Presunto I have never dove with whale sharks I’ve only dove with the second largest shark in the world the basking shark. I can tell you a lot of people have tried to do everything you have done on this trip and they’re usually lucky to get one of them accomplished congratulations.
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Took a thick and huge piece of yellowtail to my favourite restaurant. I said to the chef to make aguachile with green sauce but he made red sauce.
People at the next table immediately asked the chef what it was and if they could order it.
The rest of the yellowtail was cooked a la plancha with chillies for tacos.
Last plate of clams because the next day was my last day in Loreto, which was also the restaurant’s only rest day.
Guest house owners say this restaurant is very popular with locals. At Mexican meal time, which is not the same as tourists’, there are parked cars in a long row outside the restaurant. We were probably the only ones who took a 15 walk here (every day).
Went for a hour walk to the end of the beach and back on the last day in Loreto.
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Dropped off my sad-looking 15 year old shoes at the repair shop and picked them up the next day. A lot of work was needed to fix them. I was so pleased with the result I gave the repairman a tip as much as the price we had agreed upon the previous day. I came 15 minutes early to watch him work on my shoes and it was hard work. He was visible happy with the tip. That’s a big tip but he needs it more than I do. My shoes could last another 15 years so I see it as a bargain. I get to keep wearing my shoes, they can’t be bought anymore for any price.
You can see the before and after photos side by side:
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Just got home 15 hours ago, to everything the opposite of Mexico… sun, blue sky, warm-friendly-kind people, good food, lower costs.
Foodhunter, have you been to Yonaguni? Many divers have, for the hammerheads and peculiar underwater rock formation. Saw lots of divers when I was there (not for the diving, but for the marlin sashimi).
Oh yes, thanks, I made several dreams come true on this trip. Let’s see… fishing, seeing whales, eating Mexican food, swimming with whale sharks.
Thanks, @emglow101
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Amazing photos and experiences, thank you very much for sharing! Have started trying to persuade family members to go on a similar trip.
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Typical Mexican breakfast
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“A la Mexicana” eggs has peppers and onions. Almost everything has onions, it seems, but rarely garlic. I’d rather garlic but never remembered to ask.
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Lunch at a cheap local restaurant we have been to before. Wanted to eat fish tacos at El Rey for the last time but he was closed the whole week we were in town. Saw him again, as he was getting ready to open, on the way to bus station the day we left. I asked if he was closed the whole week, and that I checked every day. He said “yes. I’m open now.” I told him I’d come eat his fish tacos again, maybe next year. The guest house owners confirmed my theory. El Rey opens whenever he feels like it, probably only when he needs money. Whenever he’s open people come. That’s the kind of reputation he/his business has.
At “Mana”, cocina economica. Their printed menu also has English but nobody speaks it. Just point to order, or learn some Spanish.
Part of the set lunch. Meat and bone broth but the soup contains no actual meat.
I ate all the corn. It’s a type of corn that is white and the kernels are very big.
We could only manage to finish 1 piece of meat. Not used to eating so much meat anymore.
Brought another big piece of yellowtail we caught to a restaurant. The guest house owners joined us again.
Half the fish was cooked “Veracruz” style. Looks soupy here.
Aguachile really does this fish justice.
Borrowed this 4 pint “growler” from the guest house owners. Drank so much beer every day. “Cryohop” IPA in the big bottle.
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Thanks, GretchenS! Really do hope them/you can make the trip!
I’ve been to both ends***** of this amazing planet and about 40 countries between them, and the first Mexico trip is probably the most incredible thus far. Nothing can top the whale encounters . So glad I didn’t go to NZ or Australia. Probably never will after having done this trip because I think Mexico has a lot of potential to enrich my life.
I still need to make a trip to see my other Number One favourite animal but not sure yet when that will happen. Then I’ll know, when I die I will die happy.
(*****) As close to the poles as I possibly could go by boat and commercial flights: Spitzbergen, Norwegian high arctic and Antarctica.
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Presunto: I hope you had a comfortable and safe trip home. Off hand I don’t know about yonaguni. I don’t scuba dive anymore after logging thousands of dives putting tanks on just doesn’t move me anymore. Now free diving and spear fishing that’s another thing.
One thing that you might consider is flying into the tip Cabo San Jose renting a vehicle that you could camp out of or travel from hotel to hotel that would give you more freedom to search out other great finds in Baja.
Besides the baja the one place if someone asked me where I would go for a food adventure in Mexico would be Oaxaca. The food scene is off the hook there.
otherwise you could spend years coming back to Baja to discover all of its beautiful places and fresh seafood.
Thanks again for sharing your adventure with us!
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I never can figure out where “home” is for you.
In the EU.
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Thanks! I think that narrows it down. 
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Already decided to visit Oaxaca on future trips during my research for Baja. 
But I think Baja Sur will always be half of the trip.
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