Charlie's Chocolates Towards Baja's Bottom

After a short stint in Mulege, Bridget and I were back on the road heading further south down the Baja peninsula. A local gave us a short ride to the next little beach. It was lined with huts, we walked the short length of it staring out into the bay that broke to the sea, this was someone's paradise, ours at the moment. A year later I’d get a ride hitchhiking in Oregon from a guy who lived in one of those huts, palapa he called it, but that’s another trip, another story.

We hiked our way back to the road, by foot it took us around and up, overlooking the same beach and more of the ocean. From this vantage point the dolphin became visible, swimming and jumping happily along as if the day hadn't been beautiful enough already.

We walked for a good while after that, great views of the ocean which eventually vanished as the road twisted inland back towards the Baja desert. As always though, no matter the wait, our ride finally came.

The driver was ex-military, from the States, now on to his Baja home far in the south. We rode with him all day, eating oranges he got and pushing further and further south. Past the city of La Paz, we'd be back there on the way up, through a valley and ending in Los Barriles, the town where he lived.

We hopped out of the car with thanks and headed for the beach, in search of a place to camp. In the dark we hiked a ways down towards an area with some bushes for a bit of cover. We got a little fire going, cooked up some ramen, some more marshmallows, then faded to sleep with the sound of waves just over the dunes.

In the morning we spent a while carefully choosing what food to stock up on, finally satisfied, we hit the streets for a little wander around the town. We spied a sign that said “free samples” outside Charlies Chocolates shop. We stopped in where we met Charlie himself along with about a dozen or so different types of chocolate covered treats. We talked with him for a minute and happily munched down the sweet samples.

Afterwards we wandered down through a hotel to another section of the beach, Charlie had given us the tip. We sat in the sand and munched on our tortilla and salsa concoction as the wind picked up and started blasting us with grains of sand, enjoyable all the same.

Later on Bridget decided she wanted to talk with Charlie a bit more, so we headed back to the chocolate shop. We all talked for a bit, eventually he offered to let us stash our bags there if we’d like so we could do a bit more wandering without lugging them around.

After our uneventful wander around the town we headed back to Charlies. He had a big stash of books and a side room with a couple couches, I found myself a decent book and plopped down for some reading. Later on he had to make some more chocolates, he was happy to let us back in the kitchen and show us the process. Essentially he had molds where he’d stick a peanut, jalapeno or whatever other treat in, then pour in the chocolate which he’d melted down from blocks he was buying from some place in La Paz. Bridget was overwhelmed with excitement, certainly she was inspired, dreaming up future concoctions of her own.

An amazing sunset turned the sky into artwork, shortly after this we had another couple chocolates and headed back to the beach, a different spot this time, laying down for another night in Mexico.

In the morning Bridget took a swim while I read my new book on the beach. We used the hotel’s pool showers afterwards, no one seemed to notice or care. I snuck over to Charlie’s again after my shower to get a few more chocolates for myself and Bridget on the beach.

Full of chocolate and happiness, we began hiking down the beach, southbound still as we’d been the past couple weeks. Our next destination would be the end of this southern attraction, we’d be hitting the bottom where we could go no further, Cabo San Lucas.