Mexico Guide
Baja California and the Pacific Northwest
El Gran Desierto
If the peninsula of Baja California is desolate, the northern part of the state – to Mexicali and beyond into northern Sonora – is infinitely, yet spectacularly, more so. The drive from Tijuana to Mexicali is worthwhile for the views alone, as the mountains suddenly drop away to reveal a huge salt lake and hundreds of miles of desert below. This is El Gran Desierto, and it's a startlingly sudden change from the landscape that precedes it: the western escarpment up from Tijuana through Tecate (the small border town where the famous beer comes from) and beyond is relatively fertile and climbs deceptively gently, but the rains from the Pacific never get as far as the eastern edge, where the land falls away dizzily to the burnt plain and the road teeters between crags seemingly scraped bare by the ferocity of the sun. The heat at the bottom is incredible, the road down terrifying – the danger of its constant precipices proven by the piles of twisted metal at the bottom of so many of them. The more recent addition of the fast toll road has tamed the route somewhat, but it's still a fantastic trip. If you're travelling further into Mexico, you should consider a side trip to San Felipe, the northernmost town on the western coast of the Sea of Cortés, offering a good helping of kayaks and fish tacos.