Hosts: Edgardo Cortés Nares and Josey Hastings
When: Almost anytime
Length of tour: Can range from one day to two weeks depending on your interests.
Number of guests: 1 to 12.
Fee charged (as of 2005): Overnight, multi-day trips cost US$95 per person/day and include a bilingual guide familiar with local flora and fauna, camping equipment, meals, snacks, drinks, first aid kit, and support vehicle for bike trips.
Day trips cost US$60 per person and include a bilingual guide familiar with local flora and fauna, lunch, beverages, bike rental, first aid kit, and support vehicle. The prices of day and overnight trips do not include transportation to and from Huerta Los Mangos. We do, however, offer this service for an extra fee.
Languages: Spanish, English, and French.
Our Mission:
Our mission is to be a positive presence in our community and natural environment and to offer our guests the chance to learn from and enjoy this remarkable area.
What you can do here during your stay:
There are many ways to shape your stay with us at Huerta Los Mangos, the small mango and avocado orchard where our camping facilities and home are located. You can choose from and combine five primary offerings:
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These are only some of the many activities and sight seeing options that are in store for you at the Sierra de la Laguna.
Hiking and Biking
Hiking and biking trips leaving from Huerta Los Mangos allow you to explore the area's mountain trails and scenic back roads. These trips will take you to granite canyons, hot springs, swimming holes, and past farmland mixed with desert landscape.
You are likely to see roadrunners, several lizard species, bluebirds, and possibly the bright red flash of a cardinal. You will also probably cross paths with the peaceful cows and donkeys who roam free here much of the time.
The physical intensity of these trips is determined by your comfort level.
Nature Excursions
If you prefer a more leisurely pace and are particularly interested in the flora and fauna of the region, we can take you on nature excursions to explore different canyons in the area, while learning the names and uses of some of the local plants. The Sierra de la Laguna is known for its biodiversity and many plant, bird, and reptile species, in particular, can be seen here.
Pottery workshops
We offer pottery workshops that allow you to learn the traditional, local ways of working with clay.
Until recently in this part of Baja, clay dishes were common in every kitchen and were made by women called trasteras. You will see where clay is taken out of the hills (according to local belief it can only be extracted during the full moon) and will grind it between stones and sift it to make clay suitable for dishes.
You will learn to make two traditional dish forms - the cazuela, a shallow dish designed primarily for cooking rice, and the olla, a pot used for cooking beans or soups. You can also work creatively to make any dish or sculpture that you wish.
Once the dishes are formed, we will smooth them with sea stones and, after letting them dry for a few days, we will fire them in an open fire made from lomboy, a wood that we will gather from the desert.
Spanish Lessons
If you are interested in learning Spanish or improving upon your knowledge, we can offer anything from daily, hour-long lessons to Spanish immersion. The intensity and level of instruction depends on your interest and knowledge. Edgardo is a native speaker and Josey, who is fluent in Spanish, has spent time teaching foreign languages at the university and high school levels.
Local Culture
If you spend time at Huerta Los Mangos, you are bound to catch a glimpse of how people here lead their lives. However, if you are interested in learning a little more about the culture, part of your trip can include a visit to the home of a local couple, both artisans, who make woodcarvings and pottery.
SAMPLE DAYS
The following sample itineraries are meant to give you an idea of how you can combine different offerings to create a customized trip that meets your needs and interests. You may also want to spend some time reading, meditating or lying in a hammock listening to the birds overhead. You choose the level of intensity and the combination of activities. All activities in these sample days are led by a guide or teacher, but you can also explore the area around Huerta Los Mangos on your own if you like.
Sample Day 1:** After a breakfast made largely from fresh, local ingredients, we will take you out on a biking and hiking trip to La Zorra Canyon. We will ride beautiful back roads from Huerta Los Mangos to the canyon, passing by farmland mixed with desert landscape. Arriving at La Zorra canyon, we will scramble down to the area's largest waterfall, enjoy its swimming hole, and sun on the granite rocks. After having lunch at the water's edge, we can hike further up into the canyon or return to Huerta Los Mangos by bike or in the support vehicle.
** If you speak some Spanish, but would like to improve it, another way to do so is to create any itinerary and simply ask for everything to be in Spanish. For speakers with a basic foundation in the language, this sort of immersion increases proficiency by providing a comfortable place to practice, make mistakes, hear the language as it is spoken, and learn new words. Immersion helps students learn to use what they know and increases their comfort in speaking.
Sample Day 2: After breakfast, take a trip to a nearby ridge where you will see where clay is dug from the hills for pottery making. Return to Huerta Los Mangos by bike, enjoying the views of the blue, jagged Sierra de la Laguna mountains on your way.
Once back, grind, sift, and moisten the clay to prepare it for use. Learn a traditional dish form - such as an olla or cazuela - or use your imagination to sculpt anything you wish.
Take a break for lunch - perhaps tamales made by local women - and then continue work on your clay piece. In the late afternoon, walk to the local springs and relax in the hot water.
After dinner, look for constellations before going to bed to the sound of the crickets.
Sample Day 3: After breakfast, hike through the foothills of the Sierra de la Laguna, following old paths used by local rancheros, and arrive for lunch in Santa Rita. Hike Santa Rita's granite canyon and swim in its cold pools and hot springs. Observe desert wildlife and learn about local plants and their uses. Bike from Santa Rita to Huerta Los Mangos on scenic back roads, passing through the small village of San Jorge on your way. Upon returning, enjoy a cold limonada in the shade and relax.
Sample Day 4: In the morning, bike to the home of local artisans. Visit with them and learn about their work and their lives. Before returning back to Huerta Los Mangos, take a short walk to the top of a nearby ridge, passing the village cemetery on the way.
Have lunch at Huerta Los Mangos and then take an afternoon hike into a nearby canyon and stop at a refreshing swimming hole on your way back.
About the Sierra de la Laguna
The Sierra de la Laguna Biosphere Reserve is a granite mountain range known as a unique natural paradise. It is home to a large diversity of endemic flora and fauna species, canyons, swimming holes, hot springs and a rich farm culture.
Years of isolation led to the evolution of many unique species in this mountain range, which has been described as an "ecological treasure-house". Its unique and fragile ecosystem inspired the creation of the Sierra de la Laguna Biosphere Reserve in 1994 by the Mexican government, which has helped to protect the area.
In its lower elevations, where Huerta Los Mangos is located, the sierra's tropical dry forest is home to cacti, palms, oaks, wild fig, ironwood and many other forms of vegetation. Mango trees can even be found in some of its canyons where mountain streams form pristine pools under towering granite boulders. Many animal species also inhabit this rugged, sparsely populated terrain. The area is particularly attractive to bird species and it is common to see cardinals, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, herons, ducks, doves and others.
The weather in the Sierra de la Laguna is often more mild than in other parts of the Baja peninsula where the heat can be quite intense. Temperatures generally average around 74F in January and 88F in August.
Camping Facilities
Huerta Los Mangos is a small, organic orchard with camp sites in the shade of mango, avocado and grapefruit trees. It is located just outside of a small town in the foothills of the Sierra de La Laguna. It has an open air kitchen with a solar-powered light, hammocks, a solar shower, and a self-composting toilet.
Farm Fresh Meals
Part of the goal of Baja Sierra Adventures is to offer a great experience to our guests, while also supporting our local community. For that reason, the meals offered on our trips are made from as many fresh, local ingredients as possible and our menu changes according to the season. This gives you the opportunity not only to enjoy fresh food, but also to taste regional dishes - ranging from candied papaya to quesadillas made from fresh cheese and homemade tortillas (with avocadoes from our orchard in the fall).
Our Goals
We are part of a small town, whose strong community and agricultural heritage are threatened by economic pressures and demographic changes. As it becomes increasingly difficult to make a living from farming, younger members of the community are leaving to look for work in the cities. At the same time, people from outside the community seek to buy farmland for second homes or other forms of development that will not benefit the community over the long-term.
Because we see both its value and its fragility, and because we love the people here, our goal is to help protect this town's rich culture and strong community from the out-migration and invasion that threaten it. We believe that, by partnering with members of the community to make eco-tourism a positive economic option, we can offer an alternative to urban migration by creating a low-impact, local source of income. Our goal, therefore, is to work together with members of the community to attract small groups of tourists to this beautiful part of Mexico, without leaving a permanent mark on it.
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