For the next 50 miles northward the road parallels the Pacific, sometimes within view of the water, sometimes well inland. This section of the road is about the worst you'll encounter on this trip.
At El Pescadero the worst of the road is behind you. From here it is about 8 miles to Todos Santos, a village surrounded by a verdant valley close to the sea. Tall mango trees, light green and shinyleafed, line the roadway. Sugar fields and towering palm trees mark fertile lands.
The primitive sugar cane mill attracts visitors. The cane, delivered by donkey cart, is crushed to produce a liquid. This liquid simmers and later thickens in a great wooden vat; then it hardens in hollowed out forms. The blow of a mallet knocks the cone shaped pieces of candylike panocha (raw sugar) from the forms, ready to be packed in shipping cases woven of palo de arco branches.
The mission (founded in 1732, rebuilt in 1840, and remodeled in 1941) retains evidences of age in its hand carved doors and hand hewn benches; a bellringing rope hangs down from the high tower to within reach of your hand.
Todos Santos is about 50 miles from La Paz or a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive over paved road. It is a pretty route in spring and after the summer rains. The desert glows with yellow clouds of Palo verde flowers, pink blossoms come out on the cholla, and the wands of the Palo adan, relative of the ocotillo, are tipped with red flowers.
A few miles from Todos Santos on the Pacific side of Baja is San Pedrito, a languorous beach with dangerous waves swim here with caution.This is the ideal place for surfing.
