Hotel Las Hamacas, lodging with a sea view, in Bahia de Los Angeles...

Late Wednesday afternoon, October 3, 2007, I finally arrived in Bahia de Los Angeles, after a long drive from my previous destination, the fabulous Meling Ranch, and I was looking for a place to spend a couple of nights. Normally I prefer to make reservations in advance, but on this trip, advance reservations were impossible to make, so I made the long drive to Bahia de Los Angeles on blind faith, hoping to find an available motel room, in a small town that I'd never had the pleasure to visit. After entering town, and turning south at the traffic circle, I stopped at the first motel that came into view, Las Hamacas, which was only a block or so into town, and appeared to be clean and decent, and judging from the bare parking lot, had ample rooms to rent.

Photo: Entrance to Hotel Las Hamacas, with the paved, unnamed main street in the foreground.

Bahia de Los Angeles is a small town, with a population under 2000 folks, and it offers several motels, and several large RV parks, and lots of de facto camping near the Sea of Cortez. Entering town, I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but I did know that it was late in the day, and I wanted time to explore before the sun set, and that I needed to get into a motel as soon as possible. Las Hamacas appeared to be clean and decent, and the location was outstanding, as it is within walking distance of everything that the town has to offer. My style is to find a motel, park the car, and explore the town on foot.

Left: Owners José and Delia Estrada, lounging outside the motel office during quiet times. Right: Room number 5, just to the right of my Camry.

Motel Las Hamacas is owned and operated by a very friendly and entrepreneurial couple, José and Delia Estrada, as in addition to the motel, they own a bar, and the nearby restaurant, Restaurant Las Hamaca's, where I had the pleasure of enjoying breakfast the next morning. Besides offering lodging, food and drinks, at least when the bar is open, the Estradas also offer a taxi service, around town and to the town's airstrip, and excursions to local attractions, such as Mission San Borja. They advertise that their rooms are air conditioned, and feature color TV with HBO! HBO in Mexico, especially in a remote town such as Bahia de Los Angeles? Wow! Oh yes, the bar is located in the restuarant, so that means that you have to do your drinking early, as the restaurant and the bar close at 9:00 PM. Hey, this isn't Tijuana!

Left: Note the "creative" wiring that powers the air conditioner, and the fact that its mounted very crooked. Right: This is a ceiling plug, in a U.S. $100.00 a night motel.

As I walked into the office, José was behind the counter, and Delia was lounging nearby, watching a Mexican soap opera on TV. I told José that I wanted a room for two nights, and he smiled and said "bien," and gave me the minimal paperwork to fill out, as per the custom in Mexico. I didn't even to bother asking the price, as I was tired, time was tight, and I was eager to explore the town. Bahia de Los Angeles is very remote, as it's a 3-hour drive to the nearest town of any size, Guerro Negro, which is actually in a different Mexican state, the state of Baja California del Sur. The locals sort of have you over a barrel, so to speak, for commodities such as rooms, that are not regulated by the government, and they are free to charge what the traffic will bear, in the spirit of true capitalism. So after completing the paperwork, I reached into my billfold, and pulled out a couple of MEX $500.00 bills, as I just knew that it would be expensive to stay at Las Hamacas, and set the bills on the counter. José sort of looked at me and said "dos mil," and I just sort of looked at him said, "huh?" "Dos mil." Then it sunk into my head, MEX $2000 for two nights! I hadn't heard the expression "dos mil" since high school Spanish, 30+ years ago, and it took a moment for it to sink in. My head was spinning as I did some fast calculations, as I factored in such things as the fact that I was tired, that I'd traveled hundreds of miles to visit Bahia de Los Angeles, and that I really didn't feel like dragging around town to view other options. I knew that I was being advantage of, but I plunked down my MEX $2000, and received the key to room number 5.

Photo: Ahhh, but you linger on the veranda, and you look to the east, and you get a view of Isla Angel de la Guarda, dark in the background. The hotel room may rent for $100.00 a night, but you get million dollar views at sunset and sunrise.

What is a $95.00, in U.S. funds, motel room like in the town of Bahia de Los Angeles? Absolutely, nothing special. The room was spacious, clean, featured two double beds, ample storage, tile floors, and a funky, ceiling-mounted TV, that actually received three, very garbled, channels, with no hint of HBO. I'd compare this to a slightly larger-than-life Motel 6, at best... Well, I didn't really care that much about television or my accomodations, as I had other plans than to sit in a motel room and watch television.

Las Hamacas is clean, quite comfortable, operated by a very charming couple, and it's centrally located to everything in Bahia de Los Angeles, but the motel is way overpriced... well then again, maybe it's not. Considering the fact that Bahia de Los Angeles is many hours away from everything, considering that from the motel you can walk to everything, and considering that you have a to-die-for view of the Sea of Cortez, and that you can stick your toes in the water after a walk of only about 100 yards, maybe the motel isn't that overpriced. How much would you pay for a motel, with a similar location, in Carmel, Monterey, or San Diego? Hundreds of dollars more per night, I guess, so perhaps Las Hamacas is worth the money, which is very high by Mexican standards. I suppose that I have been used to paying MEX $200.00 per night, such as I paid in the motel that I stayed at in San Vicente, so I had been spoiled by low prices.

Photo: Wide-angle view taken from the doorway of room number 5, with my Camry in the foreground, and the beautiful Sea of Cortez in the background.

Las Hamacas is located on the unnamed main street of town. To reach the motel, turn right, (south) at the traffic circle monument, as you enter town. The motel is located on the right hand side of the street, about a block past the monument, just past Restaurant las Hamacas. Their telephone number is 01 200 124 9114.

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