Baja California
Thursday 14th July 2005
Ferry via La Paz to El Centenario, 25.6 miles
Arival in (Baja) California
Summary:good roads, hot but nice views. Light traffic
RV park Oasis $8.50
Tacos in La Paz $7.50
Bakery $1.50
Ben and I got a really good night sleep on the boat.We decided to move our matresses out onto the deck though after an unsuccessful attempt to sleep next to a leaking air conditioning system. I think in the end, the bottle of Bordeaux wine Matthieu gave us did the trick. Hopefully Laura and Octavio, who we shared it with, slept just as well.
Inspite of a full boat, the crossing was very smooth and peacefull and we were happy to be back on the road, or at least on the Sea of Cortes.
As soon as we got off the boat we looked back to see a huge ferry standing in beautiful turquoise water. We were tempted to jump straight in. Two Swiss travellers told us that one benefit of cycling was not paying $4 to take the bus to La Paz and, especially, not having to wait for it.
We set off round more turquoise bays to the city which is surprisingly calm and quiet. I went in a department store to use the toilet and realised how long it has been since I have been to a big shop that is not a supermarket or bicicleteria. I must have been victim to some kind of shopping forces though as I walked out with a $2 cooler bag to compliment Ben's mini bar ice cooler.
After expensive tacos and not really finding any great bike shops, let alone bottom brackets, we made the short journey to El Centenario.
A lot of passengers from the boat were staying in LaPaz and I felt slightly jealous as it is a nice place but in the end we found a campsite with a not-too-murkyswimming pool to cool off in, right on the breezy beach.
I was catchingup on writing this journal (and Ben was off getting roast chicken) when a German cyclist Reiner arrived looking pretty exhausted. He had seen the tandem through the gates as he travelled past on a mammoth 200 kilometer day from Constitucion. We were really impressed, especially as we had planned to do the distance in two and a half days.
Reiner decided to camp with us so we bought another chicken and some beers to celebrate his mileage and our ... well, our arrival on the penisula. We sat out until it got dark under the palm trees. Then like three typical cyclists went to bed early, feeling wasted on just two beers.
Friday 15th July 2005
El Centenario to ElCien, 53.75 miles
We Love Headwind!
Summary:slow climb up to 300m, not muchtraffic. Found two trees and a bus stop for shade. Few light hills to El Cien. Restaurants frequent (every 10-20km). Headwind.
Buritos $5
Galon cold water $1.50
After expecting to be cooked alive in our tent at night, we in fact woke up with cold feet and had to get the silk liners. We stuck our heads out just as the sun was coming up and had breakfast with Reiner. Then we prepared our little icebox experiment before saying goodbye and s setting off.
In the morning,I was on a high. Reinerhad reassured us that we probably wouldn'tdie of exposure or rattlesnake attacks and after such a cool night, I felt really psyched up for pedalling. Like a cyclo tourer marine.
All the scenery is dominated by cactus trees. You can't tell which way they are facing so you don't know if they are staring but they are all definetely giving you the finger!
A famous RV passed us on the road and we stopped at a Loncherita to eat torillas and frijoles beans, so with the cacti and the dry hot road I felt we were getting a true Baja experience already. But today the weather was far from "unbeleivably" hot as our guidebook describes it. With the headwind constatly buffering us, we kept refreshed and fairly cool, even though our average speed dropped by 2-3 miles per hour. But it was a good day's cycling and the more we got into it, the more the cactus waved at us, rather than giving us the finger. People were very friendly too and in El Cien we found people offering us water and even a toilet to use. We evenmet little Super Tony who has numerous super powers and bought us some sweets for energy on the bike.
When his mother called him for dinner he shouted that the was "talking to the Gringos!". Super Tony was desperate for us to sleep on his floor and even brought us an alarm clock but we said we preferred the tent.
But our most triumphant moment was opening our "fridge" to find that we still had whole icecubes from 9am right through to almost 6pm. We sat down to enjoy an iced water drink knowing that we might appreciate it ten times more on a hot hard cycling dayin the desert which awaited us.
Saturday 16th July 2005
El Cien to Constitucion, 69 miles
Furry Frogs
Summary:Nice road. more cactus. From Santa Rita veryslight incline and strong headwind. Straight as a poker
Breakfast $8
Drinks $2+$3
Ley Supermarket $4.50
Gallon cold water $1
Super Tony came to wake us up this morning but we were already packing up the tent and after beans for breakfast and saying goodbye, we were off.
We passed through the village of Pocitos after about 15km which also would have been nice for camping. The headwindwas ever present and only the heavyest cactus trees seem unaffected by it.
Twodays ago, onthe way off the ferry, I had seen a really strange creature on the side of the road. I told Ben about it but as Icould only describe it as a cross between a frog and a squirel, I didn'tmake abig deal about it. I thought, after all, I might be going slightly mad. But today we saw lots of furry frogs. The size of a large toad but with gangly frog legs at the back and yet furry bodies and a bushy tail. They even hop as they run away. Theyhaveto bethefunniest animals. At lunchwe just bought drinks and water and ate our own tuna and mayo sandwishes.
The afternoonwas quite difficult with a strong headwind so once Ben had woken up from an executive power nap in his chair at the shop, we set off into the wind. When Ben's water ran out, he decided to go on a commando mission to get as worn out as possible. We made two stops at little roadside shrines with a little shade for a quick rest. But appart from those stops, Ben pedalled like a crazy until we got to Villa Morelos and his hands were shaking and he was hungry and thirsty, runout of energy.
It was a strange thing for a normally sensible Ben to do it but certainly provided us with some entertainment.
As we sat at the shop, with Ben recovering, the men enjoying their afternoon beers were talking about a rodeo that night at 8pm. We couldn't resist and decided to cycle to the bull ring to check it out. When we got there we were told that rodeos were "never on Saturdays", "tomorrow at 12pm" and "not at this time of year". Finally we found a jockey looking Mexican who told us to go to a Ranch at midday tomorrow. This sounded like the closestwe had got to seeing one so we decided to stay in Constitucion for an extra day.
We went to try an RV camp park which we eventually found the entrance to, allthough it was all locked up, except a pedestrian entrance. A sign in the office said if noone was there to park up and pay in the morning, so we did just that, except there was still noone to pay in the morning.
Sunday 17th July 2005
Cuidad Constitucion to Rancho El Chaparal, 3.5 miles
The rodeo
Summary:sandy road out of town into Chaparal neighbourhood
Ice lollies + drinks $5
Rodeo, beers, camping: free!
After anothermorning of asking half a village how to find a rodeo, we eventually got to the ranch. These things seem to be like rave parties in the 80s with a secret location and just a rendez vous point in a carpark where you have to follow a convoy there.
But finally we spotted thecowboyhats andwentover to try our luck. We were very early (arriving at 10:30) as everything would kick off after 2pm. But the chief cowboy said we could camp and we hung around the ranch, backstage as it were, pretending to help out. I was a little nervous about camping after a 1.5 metre snake turned and slithered towards me through the dusty yard. ButIneedn't have worried. A wholeafternoon of cowboys shouting at horses, bulls and eachother was enoughto scare all the reptiles away.
It was a good day as we had absolutely nothing to do but to be entertained. The whole event was really different and probablymore "roots" than the Guadalajara rodeo, allthough most of the cowboys were originally from Jalisco. They were impressed withour tales of cucling from Argentina and so we got in for free, which included, to Ben's delight, a spit roast pig dinner.
Everyone was very friendly and chatty and some people had seen us cycling at some stage or another. I have to be a little carefull though as sometimes my tactics of saying "yes" even when I don't understand can get me in trouble. Ben had to rescue me twice. OnceI was claiming to be able to ride horses and once I nearly inadvertently started betting on a horse race. I will have to remember to oun up in the futureandsay Idon'tunderstand, especially when cowboys are involved!
Eventhough the bulls were very small, the rodeos were good. I don't think I would make a habit of going to these events though as they wind up the beasts until they have crazy red eyes and start shaking. Poor things. The costumes were all traditional: big hats and decorated shirts and all the spectators had glamorous cowboy hats. BenandI wondered if we should put our cycle helmets on the coverour comparatively bare heads but decided against it.
Then later after all the lasoo tricks were over, the races started. One horse against another racing down a 100m stretch of sand, blowing dust curls into the evening sun. It was a really interesting day. But my favorite moment was watching a 7 year old reverse park his Dad's pickup, expertly swinging it round into a space. Impressive stuff. Yeeha!
Monday 18th July 2005
C. Constitucion to Puerto Escondido, 81.5 miles
Nobody goes North
Summary:smooth dual carriageway to Insurgentes. Then very steady climb up into canyon country. Arrive at 450m before downhill to the beach. Very good scenery, some tailwind, no headwind.
All day spent $5 only on drinks and ice
Today was one of our best days of cycling for enjoyment and mileage. After a breakfast at the Ley supermarket at 7:30 am, when it was still pretty chilly, we made our next refill at Villa Insurgentes on ice and juices. The Pemex was playing really really loud music though, two amplifiers which must have got us motivated. After a quick chat with two English tourists heading south we raced off again on a very steady uphill.The only two trees we saw we stopped at.
Our next stop was just outside a tiny house in the middle of what we called canyon country, full of cactus trees. I went to chat to a woman and her two daughters and left with a gift of an embroidery and two bottles of water I pulled out of her well myself. It was the clearest water I've seen on this trip and kept cool 15m underground. She told us to watch out for RVs as last year her daughter counted a convoy of 30 taking most of the road.
We stopped again in 10km for more cold drinks and if by magic, the water seller turned up so we bought our cheapest gallon ever at 50cents.
Shortly after, we reached the top of the hills, breaking a spoke on the way. Ben said I was peddaling like a brute but I claimed that couldn't be true at 5:30pm after such a long day. We both seem to have an incredible amount of energy though. From the top, we sped down into the bay wit the most beautiful views of a clear, sparkling sea and rocky islands jutting out. The hills we had just crossed provided a backdrop to attractive beaches and a reward for weary cyclists.
Tueasday 19th July 2005
Puerto Escondido to Loreto, 21.05 miles
The heat is on
Summary:short but slightly hilly road along the coastline
Icecreams as a treat $3
Camping at El Mora $10
Suncream $10
Tacos (fish,meat and pork) $12
Paletas $1.50 (twice price on mainland)
We woke up this morning to the first hot part of our travels in the Baja. We were on our own little desert island; or at least it felt like it on our little corner of beach. TheRVpark wanted $16 to stay there so they told us about free camping on the beach.
We had a quick swim before packingup, fixingthe spoke and going on anicemission. Inthemorning, until we get on the bike, I do a distrubing amount of sweating, and today was no different.
At the local shop we met Danny the Doctor who we had seen earlier on his motorbike.Hetold us he was going to jumpoff the port into the sea after dropping his bike and sleeping on the road butheonlygot asfar as theice shop. When he told us about hitting speeds of 150mph, we thought to ourselves that we were on the same peninsular but doing totally different trips.
In Loreto, I bought us monster ice creams as a treat and cought up with emails. The town is very pretty as the Spanish arrived here and built the first mission on the Baja. It is pretty tiny though and the high season must be suffocated with tourists. It was also very very hot. At the campsite, the man living over thefence tols us he was water proofing his roof. "Younever knowwhen it might rain next", he toldus. We all lookedup to the cloudless, bright blue sky and agrred with him.
At night it strayed hot too and my husband decided to sleep outside under the stars. To passers by we probablylookes strange: a tandem during the day and separate sides of our camping space at night.
Wednesday 20th July 2005
Loreto to Playa El Requeson, 58.4 miles
Ice Ice Baby
Summary:Hills in the morning. Temperature hit 50 degrees quite early on.
Dried fish burritos $0.50 each
Drinks and water $8
Camping $0 no charge
Ourneighbour on the RV campsite opposite, a retired dentist from the US, gave us a big bottleofice cold sprite this morning. It was a little irresponsible of a dentist but refreshing all the same and we appreciated it.
We love RVers and wave at them like crazy on the road. We saw the biggest one this morning pulling a huge 4X4. Surely it should be the car pulling the caravan? The rest of the day passed nicely with Ben and I cycling happily in near 50 degree heat. Our favourite dentist told us to make sure we carried plenty of water and kept out of direct sun at the hottest part of the day. Good advice for us. Some of the roadworks kept the temperature up though as the surface tarmac is heated to 160 degrees and newly laid road attracts a lot ofsun warmth.
Our last water stop was nice though as we got to talking with a man about Mexican dignitaries insisting on only drinking French mineral water, whilst the rest of the country struggles for potable drinking water. He also told us that until recently, Baja California didn't feature on the national weather map of Mexico on TV so a lot of Mexicans believed it to be part of the USA. Our favourite part of the day though was arriving at Playa El Requeson. It is a beautiful white sand beach which thins out and stretches across to a small island beach in the Bahia Concepcion bay. Out on the stretch of sand you have the sea lapping at both sides. The guardian said we could camp for free amongst the dozen or so cars stretched out on the sand. There were no palm fringed palapas available so we made a shade with our ever-useful blue plastic sheet. That sheet has saved the tent from holes, saved us from rain and also carried us down the highest ski slope in the world! There was however, the most amazing breeze sweeping up the bay so we felt refreshed for the first time that day.
The water was beautiful and turquoise and the sand was tiny pieces of shells so not the type of sand that gets into everything. Two travellers from Zurich confirmed that we were on the best beach they had seen that day from their hire car tour.
Then for the piece de resistence, after our swim we opened our mini bar to pull out an ice cold can of club soda which we drank with freshly-squeezed lemons,a gift from Danny the Doctor. Ben had a chilled gatorade and we still had icecubes for the rest ofour water. That fridge is a miracle. Incidentally, this is lucky as there are no facilities at the beach for water.
We watched the sunset opposite and then the moon rise and then people start to light small fires along the beach. We couldn't help wandering if we were in the most beautiful spot in Mexico. And we felt cool too!
Thursday 21st July 2005
Playa El Requeson to San Lucas Bay, 57.48 miles
Beach Life
Summary:Another day of subtle but definite hills. Beautiful ride along Bahia Concepcion
More dried fish burritos $7
Lotsof water and drinks $10
Camping at RV Park San Lucas $6
A cool night under the moon and stars was a lovely experience. We didn't get to see the phosphoresence lights in the sea that the Doctor had told us about but we were still happy.
Just out of the beach, we managed to find ice on the road, even in a shopwhich only used solar power forlights and electricity. Impressive and refreshing stuff. It seems that where there are fishermen, there is ice.
It was a hot day to Mulege but we continued without any problems right up the coast, almost to Santa Rosalia. We decided to turn off just before to stay at an RV Park in the bay. Ben really liked the villages we passed and people were friendly and waited for youtosay hello to them They seemed very genuine and interested. The RV park is also friendly and most of the residents were fishermen, some from Orange County in California.
From the bay we watched the lightening menace the skies over towards Santa Rosalia. The clouds moved over and I woke up once in the night to strong winds cooling the tent but no rain. The moon rise was also magnificent again. A big orange disc drifting slowly up, illuminating the still water of the bay. In the night a nearby army barracks flooded the bay with their lights and carried out nearly silent manoeuvers in boats. But otherwise, there was no other activity or noise. Another peaceful night.
Friday 22nd July 2005
San Lucas to San Ignacio, 57 miles
A Little Oasis
Summary:Tough climb from Santa Rosalia up Cuesta del Infierno at 300m (in 3km). One village and two ranchs for water. Afternoon dominated by headwind. We barely noticed going down. But due to headwind, muchcooler and fresher.
Camping El Padrino $7.50
Two mega fish suppers $15
4 beers $5
As we arrived in Santa Rosalia, a decidedly non-mexican looking town built by the French, we made a decision to continue on to San Ignacio. After all it looked like the lowest and easiest crossing back to the Pacific Coast of the Baja. This would be our third time pedalling over the mountain range which forms the spinal cord of the peninsula.
But it was far from easy. We climbed 300m in 3 km and probably sweated 3 litres each. At the top, we crossed a valley and then saw a second hill in front of us. As we were decidedly low on water, we volunteered each other to go and ask for water at a ranch. Reluctantly, I ended up going, walking carefully across the scrubland and and looking out for snakes. Luckily for me there weren't any but I did get two litres of chilled water on a stretch where there are not a lot of refreshments.
The afternoon wind zapped the last of our energy as we battled across a valley dotted with hardened lava from Volcano Tres Virgenes. We hardly noticed we were going down.
Eventually we got to SanIgnacio, a little oasis where cool clouds had started to form. Inspite of starting to run out of pesos, we decided on eating fish in the restaurant with two beers each. So we ate, enjoyed the cool evening and let the beer drain the last of the power from our legs.
Saturday 23rd July 2005
San Ignacio Rest Day
Rainy Days
Camping $5
Groceries $10
Something happened today that we never thought we would experience in Baja California. It rained!
And for prettymuch all of the morning. We had already decided to take a day off so the rain helped to convince us to enjoy it. We lazed around, made our tent waterproof and ate dates from the palm trees on the campsite. After a brief trip into the village, we watched the news all afternoon. There had been more bombings around the world recently. Could Baja with its happy policia be the safest place to be right now?
When it was time for bed there was a loud high pitched mosquito noise filling theair. The little buggers musthavemultiplied in the wet weather and were enjoying their new temporary reign over San Ignacio.
Sunday 24th July 2005
San Ignacio to Vizcaino, 45.5 miles
A Fruiy Day
Summary:only downhill and flat. some headwind, very dry and pretty hot. Not many water stops.
Camping Kaadekaman $4 (cheapest yet in Mexico)
There was some talk at the front of the tandem of attempting the full 90 miles to Guererro Negro today. I was inno mood for any heroics though, and when we got to Vizcaino which isn't even on our map, we found a really friendly campsite/motel to relax in for the afternoon. The only exercise I wanted to do was to swipe a few ants with jaws off me as I dozed in the shade.
It had been a very fast morning on the bike. We stopped once to go back and inspect a handbag on the side of the road as I was convinced it was full of riches and pesos. It wasn't.
The scenery was definetely very cactus-themed. There were all varieties of cactus plants stretching out as far as the hilly horizon. Inspite of the dryness, the Vizcaino desert must be home to more snakes, lizards, and furry frogs. Rather sadly we saw a lot of dead barn owls on the side of the road which must have been out hunting small creatures last night. I counted eigth perished.
As soon as we got to the campsite, Ben made his best real lemons lemonade yet. It was delicious and instantly refreshing.
Monday 25th July 2005
Vizcaino to Guerrero Negro, 50.5 miles
The Vizcaino Desert
Summary: probably the flatest day ever. Good average. Headwind but not as bad as we thought.
Internet $10 - so expensive in Baja!
Camping Malarrimo $10
Groceries for next few days $12
According to our guide book (which dates from 1988!), we were pedalling the hottest, driest part of the Baja today. It was certainly pretty dry today. For the second part of the distance, the cactus fields dissapeared leaving just arid brush scrubland. Not immensly exiting scenery.
............
But hot it was not.
Ben and I are getting to love the parts of Baja California where it is fresh and chilly in the morning and evening and warm and sunny during the day. Again today, the wind kept us totally cool on the bike. There is one village on this stretch of road, about half way, with two shops. We suspected that the woman in Vizcaino was fibbing when she told us there was nothing. She just wanted us to stock up in her shop!
Guerrero Negro seemed to linger on the distant horizon for a while this afternoon but in the end we arrived very early, with plenty time to finally withdraw some cash and stock up on food.
A good, straight forward day.
But the night was even better. We were honoured to share the campsites with the biggest pickups ever, boats galore and even a genuine Winnebago. RVing to the max! Best of all, we got our sleeping bags out as it was chilly and had the most sound sleep ever.
Tuesday 26th July 2005
Guerrero Negro to Rosarito 49 miles
Pissing in the Wind
Summary:Headwind all day. Very slow progress. Scenery flat and uninteresting until after 40 miles where old rivers have cut gorges and a slight climb starts.
Burritos at midday $3
Anniversary fish dinner $10
Camping - free
There is not a lot to write about the first part of the day. The wind kept us at a painfully slow pace so morale wasn't at its best in the team. We have to really concentrate on pedalling hard when its windy so we don't talk much in those conditions.
For our two-year wedding anniversary celebration, Ben offered to carry my rucksack for me. It weighs twice as much as his as I have extra water in it, so I was pretty pleased. But my present didn't last long as he gave it back after 5 minutes, saying he was fed up with the weight! Then a ladybird that had been on his arm for 5 miles flew away...that will teach him!
We crossed into Baja California North early on. The huge monument at the border is surrounded by military buildings, so no photos. By mid morning we stopped for a burrito even though we weren't hungry, just to break the monotony. We watched a basket-ball playing dog film with a little girl who kept plying us with free drinks - she definitely cheered us up.
Finally, when we thought we couldn't look at another rusty old car decaying in the desert, or another jigsaw of bright white animal bones on the side of the road, we finally hit the curves and canyons. At last we even twisted out of the wind's evil path too. Our luck changed too and things got much better. We arrived at a café just before the village of Rosarito where we were invited to camp on a kind of desert village green (except it wasn't green of course). It had loos, hoses, palapas, tables and chairs and all next to a rocky cliffcovered in great cactus. Then we ate garlic fish at the restaurant before getting cosy in our sleeping bags. The clocks have gone back an hour here so our anniversary treat was an early night!
Wednesday 27th July 2005
Rosarito to Nueva Chapalla 64.6 miles
Scorchio!!
Summary:Slow hill all the way with two steeper climbs. Wind on the top, pretty good supplies. Ice at Rosarito, cafes and a shop at both Punta Prieta and the turnoff for Bahia Los Angeles. Highest point 750m.
Groceries, ice, water $15
Burritos, water $10
More water and drinks $2.50
Tea $15
From today the holidays are over. No more 50 miles cycle rides between plush RV parks. From today, every kilometer and every drop of water count. Ben and I are going back to Andes-style commando cycling. Except here, it is in 50 degree heat!
The vegetation is totally wacky in this part of the desert. There are mini agave cactus with bright yellow tops. Scores of red, pink and orange blossomed overgrown bonsai-looking trees. And the funniest of all, tall, spindly cactus trees that look like they belong in a Tim Burton movie. They have trunks as wide as a large tree but then reach up to a tiny point 3-4 metres high, with spikes all over and sometimes even green hair. But photographers beware. The plants are all closely guarded by very aggressive, neurotic bees who will do anything to protect their territory, including getting stuck in your hair and stinging your neck. I was actually very brave when I was attacked and only made a slight scene by throwing my helmet and rucksack on the ground and trying to run away shouting: "help me! help me!"
Once Ben had gently pulled the sting out of my neck with his pliers and got the bee out of my hair, she still tried to attack us, even with no barb left. Hopefully my photo will be worth it
We got a second opinion on the time change today, just to confirm that the north was definitely one hour behind. Rather than being confused, we decided to use it to our advantage. If we are tired in the morning, we now have an extra hourin bed. Equally, if we are hungry at 11am, we use the south time to make it midday so we can stop to eat.
Today we had a lunch break at Punta Prieta which is an immaculate little village where everyone is friendly and not a thing is out of place. The café owner told us how many times his daughter had fallen out of her bouncer as she boinged up and down quite frantically. We wondered if maybe it wasn't that safe.
Our next stop was at El Parador, not much further along the road. Again, any electricity is provided by generators or solar power and the water has to be fetched from Rosarito. But people still make a living. The shopowner alsoruns a recovery service and has lived there for 39 years. He told us that not a lot happened there but then in the same breath, he mentioned that the petrol station was burnt down by angry workers and not so long ago a plane crashed, carrying an assignment of cocaine. Eight months later, the drug runners came back to look for their stash. We told him that if we got stuck in the desert, we would phone his breakdown recovery service. He told us, quite seriously, that there were no phones on the desert road and I had to laugh - noone ever gets my jokes around here!
The rest of the afternoon was hard going in the heat but as always, the scenery kept us going. Once we got over the lip of the hills, it was a quick sprint across the valley with the last of our energy to the tiny restaurant at La Chapalla.
Thursday 28th July 2005
Nueva Chapalla to San Luis Gonzaga approx 40 miles
Baja 60
Summary:Offroad. First 10km corrugated but not bad. Then uphills and downhills for 12 km until Los Cocos. Few small hills but mostly very slow downhill. Last 10km very bad - lots of pushing through sand.
Palapa $10
Ice $2
Lots of cold drinks $8
As we ate our breakfast in the café, we looked out across the desert at the road, or rather off-road, ahead of us. We would take it to reach San Felipe, hopefully within a few days. I haven't mentioned much about this road in my journal so far as I have been trying not to get too nervous about the stretch for the past few days, it is something I have been worrying about enough while we're on the bike.
Knowing that it would be 150km of very hot offroad, we have been asking people in the past few villages what they know about it. The information we have started to piece together ranges from: there's nothing at all to, at best, there are a few fishing camps. This great information may help to explain why I was a little worried and why I was wistfully staring out the window wondering what the next few days would bring.
The first part of the road was fine. I was also starting to feel a little reassured, having started the road, rather than just worrying about it. Ben and I were excited to be riding our very own Baja offroad race as this track is part of the Baja 1000.
After 22km, Cocos Corner appeared as a welcome surprise, especially as we had just warmed up a little fixing one of the paniers which had fallen off its rack on the bumpy road. It was a miracle the rack hadn't ripped apart the entire wheel when it got caught in the spokes.
CocosCorner is a café hommage to the Baja 1000 race and looks like something out of Mad Max. We had a cold coke (the choice is coke or beer) underneath an assortment of knickers and underpants. All the walls are covered in Baja 1000 memorabilia and photos of the race. For a moment, only the wind blew through the small café. How peaceful compared to the noise of the tandem rattling along the track. And how cool. Because there was no cold water at the restaurant this morning, let alone ice,our water was already as hot as us and not nice to drink. Before we left Cocos, we were asked to fill in the visitor's book so I left a message requesting help if we got stuck on the way!
As we made slow, steady and very bumpy progress, things just got hotter. We put lemon juice in our hot drinking water to try to make it bearable. I made my face into a human Berber fridge to cool off and we stopped at even the straggliest trees for the slightest bit of shade. After 50km we could slowly see the sea with familiar Sea of Cortes coastline of islands. We could also make outa few settlements below. As a boost we ate a few biscuits each but then found them turning into a gooey mess in our mouths with no water to chew! Yum.
The last few kilometers were a nightmare of sand. We tried a path running parallel to the track but it was worse so I pushed the bike to give Ben a rest. On offroad, he has to concentrate so much that he forgets to talk to me and I get a little lonely, bouncing around at the back. We kept sight of the buildings below us and pushed on.
The rest of the day seemed too good to be true.
When we finally arrived at a shop on the main road, we found ice, cold water and drinks and even chilled chocolate bars and lollies. Needless to say we sat in the shade there for almost two hours looking very dazed and pouring fluids down our necks. This little resort is strangely busy, even though we would see the rest of the coastline sitting empty at this time of year. An American from San Diego was out with his two sons riding mini motorbikes in the desert. Instead of braving the tracks to get to the resort, he flies in with his light plane to a landing strip right on the beach. So you get an idea as to the exclusivity of the place. I bet they were really pleased to have Ben and I arrive covered in sweat and filth and asking to pay 100 pesos for a beach palapa, not 130.
On the beach was our second surprise.
We were going for a swim in the cool sea and thinking about our pot noodle dinner when our German neighbours, Jennifer and Carsten, invited us for a cold beer in real chairs! Then they made us BBQ chicken with an array of food you can only keep in a fridge served on proper crockery plates. For those of us who thought we would end up dehydrated victims of the desert, we couldn't have imagined such a friendly,enjoyable and luxurious end to the day!
Friday 29th July 2005
San Luis Gonzaga to a desert cliff 32.7 miles
Water Thieves
Summary:Offroad. Very, very hard. This is the hardest offroad we have done so far. There are no smooth bits at all.
Burritos and drinks $12 (each burrito $2.50 - most expensive ever)
We would have spent more but there is nothing to buy.
Leaving with ice and cold water this morning made all the difference and in the afternoon, we even cycled forhalf an hour under acloud. Bliss.
But whereas yesterday seemed shorter than we had planned (with 500m of downhill), today was far longer. The road was painfully tricky to negotiate. When its not sandy, the gravel is deep and full of rocks and if you think you can see some flat relief up ahead, it quickly becomes corrugations by the time you get to it.
In the early afternoon, we were starting to get low on water and stopped at a settlement near San Juan del Mar. The taco café was boarded up and there were no pickups parked at the beach front houses. We found no signs of life but we did find several water butts with taps, tempting us to help ourselves. So we have to admit that we did "borrow" a gallon of plastic-tasting water and ran (or rather pedalled away).
A little later, we had slightly more luck finding a café that was open for burritos and cold cans. The café had a huge whale skeleton outside, bleached white by the sun. The owner told us he wasn't usually open during the low season so we were lucky to catch him there. The burritos were quite expensive, especially as they were made with the family leftovers but you wouldn't see us complaining this time. We did ask to fill up our drinking water after we had paid though. This is always the best tactic, just to make sure you don’t pay a premium in the bill. Ben got stung by another bee. They must be thirstier than us.
With still a long stretch to Puertecitos, we did what we could to finish the day and then settled on a cliff to camp in amongst the volcanic-looking stone. We were low on water so we made half a litre stretch to two showers just so we had a better chance at a less sticky night. Looking back, the spot we camped in was very beautiful but we would have appreciated it more with a stocked cool box, a little beer and a steak dinner.
Saturday 30th July 2005
Desert cliff to San Felipe 46.65 miles (including Puertecitos to Las Delicias in the water tanker - 25 miles!)
Running on Empty
Summary:Cliffs and hills with very rocky ground until La Costilla. Smoother until Puertecitos but then instead of the tarmac starting, there is 20 miles of road works. From Las Delicias, it is a brand new tarmac road until San Felipe
Camping palapa $12
Paletas $2
After a very hot night on our desert cliff, we were up before the sun and quickly packed and ready to go. We had about two litres of water each and knew it was roughly 18 miles to Puertecitos. Could we make it?
For the first part of the journey, we had mixed fortunes. There were clouds in the sky to keep the early morning sun from heating us up too much. But the road was tricky, the path around the cliffs quite steep in places and rocky in others. I found myself wondering how Jennifer and Carsten would get on with their camper van and jetski and quad bike, like a small village trailing behind their car, on this difficult road. At least on the tandem, we can get off and push.
I soon started to get slightly obsessive a about our water situation though. The more I thought about it, the thirstier I got and the more I carefully sipped, the more I wondered how little I had left. And then I started asking myself if we had enough to get to the village. How much water did Ben have? How long would it be before I started to get delirious? And so on. All the while this train of thought was of course making me thirstier and thirstier.
I couldn't think about anything else and watched every mile go past on my counter, trying to will us closer to civilisation. Maybe without the water worries, I would have been able to enjoy the journey and the scenery more. This part is quite an incredible ride through a rugged coastline, barely touched by people.We saw one vehicle all morning. As you climb the cliffs and hills, there are great views of sparkling waters, majestic rocky islands and lonely desert plains. It could be similar to the more deserted areas of Scotlands coastline, just under a baking hot sun.
We have been given a few free gifts on our trip but probably what we will always appreciate most of all will be the icey cold water a lady in La Costilla poured into our water bottles today. We almost ran toher house after we heardvoices coming from the deserted holiday homes. I bet we looked a little like desperate Robinson Crusoes. She gave us almost four litres of cold water which we had almost drunk all of on the short walk back to the bike. It was such a boost for us. Especially after my ranting that I explained earlier was drawing to a very thirsty conclusion - we were going to shrivel up! But thanks to that lady, we didn't and from there on, even the road seemed to get smoother, the breeze got stronger and it looked less and less likely that we would die of dehydration. And finally we arrived.
Puertecitos, with a beautiful turquoise bay under the summer heat looked like another ghost town, even after our trek through the wilderness. But we were pleased to find almost everything we wanted there. As we sat outside the shop in the shade, looking for some inspiration, an American, barefoot, came roaring up in his beach buggy.
Even though we will probably go to Cyclists Hell now, the American and Leo from the shop persuaded us to get a lift in the water truck past the road works out of the village. According to all the maps, the road is paved from Puertecitos to San Felipe and beyond. However in reality, there is a good twenty miles of crumby road, in places worse than the rocky past few days, before you get to the shiny black tarmac. There are mixed feelings about this road. Leo says they always fix the same part close to San Felipe and never the broken tarmac near his village. For eight years they have been promising to improve the access into Puertecitos but it always seems easier to fix the good quality part of the road. As far as paving the road back to highway 1 (where we have just come from) he says that it will never be done as it would be too detrimental to the villages on the west side of the peninsular. The American in his beach buggy hopes they never pave the whole road and we can see why. The area would change dramatically, even with the most basic infrastructure improvements. A little later in Las delicias, a young lad with a 4X4 jeep told us his cousin didn't want to spoil the car by driving it over the bad road. We told him we thought that was what 4X4s were for and he seemed to agree. By sealing the road it would be opened up to no end of traffic visitors who currently only drove as far as the roadworks. The charm of our whole Baja 60 trip was the unspoilt natural setting and the lack of people.
So feeling very naughty after cycling EVERY kilometer to cover the whole of Mexico so far, we bundled the tandem onto the water truck and banged and rattled noisily down the "road." Under the guise of looking out the window at the sea, I was actually keeping a close watch in the rearview mirror that no bags or bikes disappeared out the back of the truck into the dust. I was quite happy in the cool of the cab and could see Leo wanted our company on his trip to collect water from San Felipe. But I could tell from Ben's expression that he was more uncomfortable than me accepting a lift and his glare told me we were pushing our luck. So I half-heartedly asked Leo to drop us off in Las Delicias, just after the first 5 miles of fresh tarmac.
We found some ice and sat outside a shop in the shade for a good hour before riding to San Felipe. During this little rest, Ben kept laughing at me as I pretended to understand a chubby little boy,high on artificial colourants, who sat on our table and talked ten to the dozen. He kept chatting to me and even though I didn't catch a thing he was saying, I replied: "ah, si?" in the most interested voice I could. Things got a little complicated when his brother, who had been asleep in a parked car, woke up and started saying I was wrong. About what, I am still not sure, but he assured me I couldn't possibly be right. I probably had the longest conversation in Spanish of the whole trip and one that I didn't understand a word of. Ben found all this hilarious and couldn't possibly help me try to understand.
The road to San Felipe was hot and long and when we arrived it looked like a party town with dune buggies and sports bars everywhere. But after a bit of searching, we found the most amazing wooden palapa tower to camp in. The campsite was a little crowded but we had an upstairs palapa with a roof and sea views to sleep on, far cooler than our tent with the sea breeze all night. I made us a cosy little home on the platform while Ben cooked up a pasta surprise. We couldn't have been happier!
Sunday 31st July 2005
Dayoff in San Felipe
The Most Expensive Town
Summary:no cycling
Internet 30 pesosper hour (nearly 3 dollars)
Bakery 60 pesos (3 times our usual)
We had a really breezy, cool night's sleep on our palapa, so much so that we woke up at 5am! It is much easier to keep cool on cycling days though. We seemed to roast as we strolled round San Felipe. We had our best luck yet in Mexico with the tourist information. It was supposed to close at 1pm and expecting it to be shut hours ago, we went past at 1.30pm and the gentleman inside was still there to give us a couple of road maps. That never normally happens to us here.
However, we mostly kept ourselves to ourselves as the town is extremely expensive, even in low season and even a phonecall home would have been 2.50dollars per minute. In the late evening, we went for a dip in the warm sea. It had been a very hot day but a good stop after our desert adventure.
Monday 1st August 2005
San Felipe to La Ventana 55 miles
Going too Fast
Summary:Flat, tailwind. A couple of hills at La Ventana but only slight. Some smooth miles, some bumpy
Maybe for the first time ever, we went too fast today. We arrived at La Ventana at around 3.30pm and spent the rest of the afternoon sat outside the café, watching people come and go. Still, it kept Ben from getting bored. It was too far to continue to the next village and besides, there had been some talk of machaca burritos at the café. They were actually worth waiting three hours for, which is the time it takes to cook the dried fish.
We had also stopped at El Chinero which has a restaurant and also the army sell drinks at their checkpoint. Ben and I watched in amazement as four motorbikers from Phoenix, Arizona paid extra for bottles of water as they wanted to pay in dollars and didn't want pesos for change, and then proceeded to pour the water over their heads. It worked out far more expensive than petrol and certainly expensive to use to freshen up!
For the rest of the day we rode along the salar, a white stretch to our right. We passed through a swarm of bees on the road, interested in something, but luckily not us. I had been thinking about all the developments outside San Felipe which stretch about 20km up the coast, along the highway. I suppose there must be enough North Americans to fill them during high season but as with almost everywhere on our trip, we have always arrived in the quiet, low season. Besides, you can't really see a lot from the highway anyway as the resorts are a few miles further towards the beach front. So long as these resorts don’t sell iced drinks on the side of the highway, they aren’t really a great deal of use to us, even though they are all marked on our map. But with so many of them under construction, this coast line of the Baja is certainly due some dramatic changes.
Tuesday 2nd August 2005
La Ventana to Mexicali 69.9 miles
Our Last Big Day in America
Summary:Flat (and very hot) along the salar then plenty of restaurants and shops on the stretch from El Mayor to Mexicali.
Motel Azteca El Oro $350 pesos
The nice lady from the restaurant sent us off with more free fruit this morning. Just as well as crossing the dried up laguna was thirsty work. It stretches out on both sides of the road framed by hills and rocky mountains on the west. And every so often a seam of bright white saltruns like a vein through the vast expanse of sand. It seems to run on for ages, especially when you can only go as fast across it as you can pedal. Legend has it that a boat laden with black pearls from the carribean lies sunk in the middle somewhere and Victor at the restaurant confirmed that storylast night. He was quite drunk though.
At the first small village, El Mayor, we struck gold and found ice to fill our water bags. We passed several campsites, but as we were already sweaty, we decided to push on to Mexicali for a full day of cycling; our last in Latin America for a while. The cycling was straight forward enough but the weather was very peculiar. From 50 degrees in the afternoon, we slowly watched a cloud develop over to the east. It hovered menacingly but strangely enough was a dark orange colour. Then, within the last hour of our trip, the heavens opened and first came a sand storm which we had never experienced before. Powerful winds and the dark orange dust being blown straight at us, getting into everything. Then almost as quickly as it had started, it stopped and the sky became full of rain clouds so that when we got to the hotel it was pouring heavily and we looked like two drowned rats in reception. Maybe because of the rain, maybe because of it being our first hotel in Baja, we decided to stay at the Azteca, even though at 35 USdollars, it was three times what we would normally spend in a good campsite. Still, extravagence or not, we quickly made ourselves at home and reminisced about the trip, also looking forward to our big welcome in Palm Springs.
The following day, we pottered about getting some souvenirs of Mexico until, on 4th August, we made our way across the border to Calexico, arriving at last in the USA.
Our Buenos Aires to California cycling trip officially finished 5th August 2005 when we rode all of 5 miles to the Howard Johnson Inn to meet Andre and Helene, Ben's wonderful relatives who came to meet us in a van, ready to put the tandem to rest for a while and ready for us to enjoy some good company and creature comforts and the luxury of .... no pedalling!
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