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The La Ventana Experience

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Northwest Kiteboarding -> Gorge / Portland / Oregon Coast
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Anthony

Since 07 Oct 2008
362 Posts
Salem
Obsessed

CGKA Member


PostMon Dec 09, 13 12:14 pm    The La Ventana Experience Reply with quote

This is my 4th time to La Ventana each time it gets a little better.

New things I am seeing: Race boards have gone out of favor with hydrofoil race boards replacing them. An incredible light wind machine and with the right person they go up wind like a sailboat.

Flying La Paz or Cabo

There is a flight from Los Angles(LAX) to La Paz(LAP) but only a few days of the week. Cabo(SJD) has flights from all over. I like to arrive in the early afternoon or sooner for safety reasons and save time in the airport, see the Shuttle and Car Rental. I have flown into LAP and SJD twice each. The PDX to SAN to SJD seems to be the ticket for me. This trip on the way down was great, from getting off the airplane to getting outside the airport SJD in less than 20 minutes. I had to wait for my bags. Fly back Thursday. I hope it goes well, SAN does not have the TSA problems that LAX has.

Shuttle and Car Rental.
LAP to La Ventana is a 50 minute drive. SJD to La Ventana is a 2-hour drive. The roadways are narrow 10-11ft( 3.0-3.3m). Cattle, donkeys, horses and dogs can be on the roadway. My shuttle driver on this trip has hit cattle twice in the past. The worst driving is at night with the animals resting on the warm roadway. From LAP to LV is fairly straightforward just check on line maps. From SJD to LV is a beautiful drive through twisting highways. Do not miss the San Antonio turn off. There are two San Antonio turns off, take the second one to the east. You will see several kite business signs at the turn off.

I took the shuttle this time instead of renting a car. My end shuttle cost will be $240 for the round trip, ths includes a grocery stop. My car rental experience is from good to bad. I have rented twice in LAP from Budget with good results tho a little spendy for the insurance. Insurance is a rip off in Mexico, but you have to have it. Typical cost is from $35 - $55 per day for insurance depending upon car cost. For a single person it is not hardly worth it. On my third trip to LV from SJD there was small ding from either a bike cycle peddle or one of those flat carts at Home Depot. I will never really know where. They caught the ding and I thought I had bought the full coverage - no deducible policy. Nope! Most all rental insurance polices have a 10%-15% car value deducible. Up north it would have been a $600 fix, lucky it was only $90.

A rental car can be great for exploring Baja on those non-windy days. Like any rental car, check for jack and spare tire and photograph the body. Also check to be sure the power point (cigarette lighter) works.

LV to La Paz Bus
This a small school bus that does two trips back and forth daily. I was only American on trips. The bus stops about a half mile from the Malecon(water front). It is good to know how to find the bus when going back. The street signing is poor to non-existent. Take a few pics of the area and note the tall building to the south as a reference. Across the street from the bus stop is a market are with restaurants, meats and vegetables. A great place to stop at the end of your day. The one way cost is an a cheap price of 60 pesos($5.00) for an hour trip! I rode the 7:00 bus on the other side of Playa Central. Come back on the 2:00 bus and was dropped near at Baja Joes. A great place to start your day is in one of the Malecon beach front restaurants for breakfast! The bus will pick you and drop you off anywhere on the El Sargento - La Ventana Highway.

La Paz city buses are organized chaos. There is no web site, anything written down you, just have to know it by the locations written on bus and bus numbers. Do take the time to explore, La Paz is a great city and rated one of the safest cities on Latin America.

Places to stay. There are many, just look on line.

Roadway Construction
The roadway from LV to La Paz is under construction. Many of the La Paz city streets are under construction. The roadways are in poor condition with many pot holes and one lane sections.

Groceries and Food.
In La Paz, there is Wal Mart that has a very good selection and Soriana’s which has a great selection you would expect up north. There are several other stores (Mega) through out La Paz.

In SJD just south of the airport is a Soriana’s. In Los Barriles just in town there is a grocery store with ok groceries not much selection. This store is just down the street from the ATM. In La Ventana, Oscarito’s in El Sargento has the basics if that works. There is a fish market (Pescaderia Perla) blue building north of stadium and one block in. You can see it from roadway. They have some of the best shrimp and fish you will ever see and cheap!

ATM’s

You can get better exchange rates with ATM’s at banks in Mexico over rate in US.. It always seem like on every trip there is one debit/ credit card that does not work. This trip was no exception. For this trip I got a fair rate from Bank of America in Oregon for Pesos. They all seem to be charging extra fees. There is an ATM in Los Barriles, be careful several rip offs have happened at that one. I almost got took a year ago.

Websites

http://bestoflaventana.com/

Kite sizes

I use the Slingshot T3's, a good beginner kite tho a little slow in turning. On my last trip, I used the 11m all days except one where I used the 9m. For this trip, I have used the 11m 60% of the time and 14 m the rest. I weight 210 lbs and use a Slingshot Ignition 150. As long as the wind is up I can come back to where I started!

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dangler

Since 26 Feb 2006
1742 Posts
WINDY SPOTS
XTreme Poster



PostMon Dec 09, 13 1:14 pm    Nice Post Reply with quote

We really want to hear about the drunken ragers and waking up in the desert after Burning Bush. They still doing the annual Bongathon?

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Kite Repair? AND LABRADORS Call me.(509) six 37-four five 29

Last edited by dangler on Mon Dec 09, 13 1:45 pm; edited 1 time in total

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quenyaistar

Since 21 Oct 2011
416 Posts
Cougar, WA
Obsessed



PostMon Dec 09, 13 1:38 pm     Reply with quote

http://iowaska.com/ Shocked See the Universe while you are down their.
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