Day 122-124: Ciudad Constitucion to La Paz

October 22-24
70ish miles
64ish miles

When riding a bicycle, there are certain road conditions you always want to avoid. The long and straight road is often forgotten as one to be avoided. And we certainly had a long, straight road for the better part of 2 days. After cycling for 30 miles or so of straight, flat road (I cannot overemphasize this point: there was literally, not a single curve or bend to the road for over 20 miles) we were so happy to see this little bend that Spencer shouted "CURVE AHEAD! CURVE AHEAD!" and I was inspired to take this photo. This was the highlight of the day.

Daisy and Jason snagged this campground that also work well for a scene in an indie film. An elementary school's fustal/basketabll court on the edge of a tiny village.

That village was called "El Cien" which means 100, because it is 100 miles from La Paz. Clever, eh?

We woke up the next morning and did it again. Long, straight, boring road. And then it got really exciting when we had to ride through 20 miles of extra dusty construction with lots of loose sand, washboard gravel, and impatient drivers. It was a day of extremes.

Finally, we made it to La Paz, our final city on Baja California. Upon arrival we immediately noticed and fell in love with its distinct cultural... wait... is that a Wal-Mart behind the welcome sign?



Seriously La Paz is a beautiful town. I know this is true because at the ferry station I listened to tourism propoganda for 30 minutes while waiting in line. A couple told a story about getting drunk, riding in the back of a pick up truck (which, they quickly pointed out, you can't do in the USA), dropping their wallet on the road, and then having it returned to them with nothing missing, including all $500 in US dollars. I had a good chuckle with that and the videos other exaggerated claims.

My favorite part of La Paz has been our hosts, who had allowed us to stay in their house for 3 nights and even cooked us dinner and hot breakfast. Jason and Daisy met them at a restaurant in North Baja California while I was sleeping because I was too tired.




Talking with Cops episode 2:

After going through 20 miles of hellish construction, I pulled over to rest and drink some water. A couple of cops were standing a short distance away in the shade. One of them waved me over, so I went over to him. He asked if I was hungry, and held out a styrofoam box of beef and rice. I accepted and thanked him.

He left, and a different officer came up to me after a short while. After talking for only a short while I was surprised at how casual our conversation was. We discussed police corruption and he told me about how it harms the reputation of Mexico's law enforcement officers when people hear about the bribes. Then he told me about Cabo San Lucas, and what happens during spring break. Specifically, he told me what you can watch women and men do together when they become intoxicated. He assured me, "Don't worry, no pasa nada." Later he asked me about what I heard about police corruption and mistreatment of foreigners. I avoided the question by talking about bringing drugs and guns into the country. His response was that it was fine to smoke a joint and he wouldn't bust you.

I left amazed that I was able to understand everything the cop said, and surprised at the direction our conversation went.

I finished the meal, Jason and Daisy showed up, and we went to the next gas station for carbonated beverages.



The desert is full of surprises:

Question: In the photo below, what is the dog missing that makes him unlike most other Mexican dogs? (scroll down for answer)

Answer: He's missing his testicles! I'll bet you were going to say "His right ear." Jasper and his litter mate are the first neutered dogs we have seen in Mexico. He is super friendly, old, and has bad knees so when he leans on you he really leans and nearly falls over. Delightful dog.

Day 120-121 Loreto to Ciudad Constitucion

October 20-21
12 miles, 68 miles

We are back in the middle of the peninsula after enduring a set of mountains and a long, straights section of flat land. The mountains were beautiful, but we paid for it later when we had to endure 20 miles of straight flat prairie that looked like it could have been any prairie in the USA. But with cacti.

These are some of the mountains we had to cross. Sorry about the sun. It has been relentless, as it is in the photo.



The enormous tarantula is by far the coolest thing we saw today. Jason spotted it trying to cross the road. Although they only bite when they are disturbed, picking one up is not advised.

Here is a photo of the area where we will are spending the night. Between the time I took this photo and now as I type this entry we gained 4 more people and 4 more tents.

This is also the most awesome pool design I have ever seen. I floated on my back around Cactus Island several times.

In an earlier post I forgot to mention that our 11 year old friend, Eduardo, pointed out that I have caspa. It took us a while to figure out that caspa means dandruff. I went into educator mode and tried to impress upon him the importance of personal hygiene.

Days 116-119 Santa Rosalia to Loreto

Day 116-119
September 16-19
Rest day, 40 miles, 13 miles, 53 miles


Bargaining, Beaches, and Stingrays

Although it goes against my non-confrontational nature, I have had some success in bargaining for lower rates at the places where we stay. After lowering the rate from 500 pesos to 450 for a night for Kate and Spencer, I successfully got the same rate for Tanja and Meno. Here they are trying to avoid carrying bags up the stairs. Personally I think this looks like more work, but it was definitely more fun.

On the second night of our two night stay in Santa Rosalia, we walked along the shorefront area and along the streets. The streets were surprisingly busy. There were cars bumper to bumper going along the two main one way streets. I'm not sure what they were doing, but the streets were so narrow, the cars so many, and the sidewalks so close to the cars that by the end of our walk my lungs were noticeably irritated. At the end we also got food at a nice little restaurant. It was a most enjoyable time!

 After Santa Rosalia came the first of two beaches we slept at. It was the first one we came to, and when it looks this good on the approach, how could you say no?

The sign said 100 pesos for a night (just under 10 dollars) and we decided that was too much. It was 25 pesos more than we had ever paid in Mexico for camping, so we agreed if I could get it knocked down to 75 we would probably all stay there. After back to back nights of successful negotiating, I was feeling lucky so I went to see if I could get a better price. I told her that 75 was a better price for us, and she after she thought for a second, she said "Okay, 70 pesos."

And that is how I negotiated a lower price than my initial offer.

And I wasted no time to begin splashing in the ocean!

Bug net couple. I hope they don't mind me putting this photo up. I love it. The mosquitoes here bite harder than any on this trip so far.

And we had a nice sunset. Unbeknownst to us at the time we paid, there was a little party going on at the restaurant behind our little palm hut things. So the music went from Mexican/Carribian/Latin themed music, which I was really digging, to 80's rock and pop, then to party pop, and finally hitting rock bottom with Sexy and I Know It and I'm Too Sexy. It was super loud, but I somehow managed to fall asleep shortly after they transitioned back into some Latin based stuff.

Sleeping is difficult in Mexico because of obnoxious dogs that snarl and bark and yelp in the middle of the night no matter where you go. So even when the music died down, we had to endure two dogs fighting throughout the night. Fortunately sleepless nights on the Mexican beach can be remedied like this in the morning:

We swam in the ocean for an hour or so in the morning before getting back on the bikes. We rode for a whopping 13 miles before stopping at another beach for the night.

We stopped at a restaurant/cabin rental place owned by an ex-pat and what I think may be his wife, but I'm not entirely sure. At any rate the woman was rude and mean. We asked if we could get some water, and she told us that we could not because they had just driven 30 miles into town for it. Then when we requested to pay 10 pesos for the internet password (which the sign made clear was available to us for the price as long as you didn't stream, download a lot or otherwise use a lot of bandwidth) she accused us of plotting ot have one person pay and then share the password with everyone else so we could all download high definition, two hour long videos of child pornography porn. She actually did accuse us of plotting to share the password, but not the porn part. I added that part because talked and acted as if that is what we were doing. She was crazy.



The ex-pat was a cool guy though, and as laid back and nice as she was crazy. "I have plenty of water, don't worry about it," was what he said while she went off on a rant about why we should wait until tomorrow to bike 20 more miles to get more water. He also told us about how to find clams in the water in front of his place. Jason, Daisy, Spencer, and I went to give it a try.

We found nothing except for Jason's 2 rocks. Then Jason yelled "Ouch!" very loudly. Turns out he stepped on a stingray!

The proper cure for getting stung by a stingray is to immerse the stung body part in 113 degree water, scalding hot. This temperature is a happy medium that is hot enough to break down the chemicals in the poison, but cool enough not to destroy flesh. It just makes everything swollen. Here is Jason suffering while mellow Ex Pat tells him how he will be fine in the morning. The man talked about Jason's dire condition in the as if it were a bump on the head. His even keeled nonchalance was almost annoying, and probably was extremely annoying to Jason, but I guess he just knew better than all of us that his voodoo-witchcraft-medicine technique actually worked.

As Jason recovered we mad a pot-luck dinner of lentil/carrot/cabbage soup with chicken broth with sides of rice and cucumbers. It was delightful.





Stingray beach.



On October 19, we rode from BuenaVentura to Loreto. This required us to cycle inland a little bit and see some beautiful mountain ranges.

In town I met Eduardo, who explained to me how gearing works, and figured out what all the cables are connected to. Sharp kid.

He also was our tour guide. It was fun talking with him, and I think he enjoyed the company. When we left, he laid on my back saddlebags and said "Don't go! Don't go! Don't go!" Spencer has a picture of it and I'll post it when I get ahold of it. Right now we are at Hotel Posada in Loreto. Tomorrow we head for La Paz, where I will hopefully partake in kayaking and snorkeling!

And now for the daily Mexico fail: This poor dog did not move more than 10 feet at a time until 9:00 at night when the sun had been down for hours and the temperature began to cool. Pet owner fail.

Day 115: San Ignacio to Santa Rosalia

October 15, 2014

San Ignacio to Santa Rosalia

45ish miles

Today marks the end of traveling with Antonie. He will be taking more time off than I am able to do, and so unfortunately we will have to part ways. He is ready to go and do Mexico on his own, and will be especially ready after a couple weeks of Spanish lessons under his belt from La Paz. Good luck Antonie!

From left to right: Philtrons, Antonie, Me

Fortunately for me, there are many groups of people riding through Mexico. For the next several weeks I will be traveling with the Philtrons!

But today I mostly rode with Spencer and Kate, who are pokey getting going in the morning, like me. I never thought I would be one of the pokey ones, but long distance bike tourers are even more up and at em than I am. 

The scenery went from good to great as we approached volcanic mountains, and went through a series of climbs to get a glimpse of the ocean!

Look at the ample amount of space the driver is giving him! Mexican drivers are by far the most friendly I've encountered. My arm gets more tired from waving back to friendly honks, waves, and thumbs up than from anything else. They wait patiently for a safe opportunity to pass you and often give you a thumbs up or a wave afterwards!

These mountains are called The Three Virgins Volcanoes. This brought us a philosophical conundrums: If they are virgins, does that mean that they have never erupted? And if a volcano never erupts, is it still a volcano? And from this, what does that say about humans....

This was part of the descent into Santa Rosalia. The steepness isn't really captured well here.

Terrible roads, great view.

At the plaza, drinking Horchata.... Wait. That's not how the song goes!

In one of my prouder moments I tried to get the hotel guy to lower the price of the rooms because there we would be taking 2 rooms for 2 nights. In the end I did get him to lower one of the rooms down from 500 to 450! But not the other because we were 3 people. Here's what 3 bikes and gear look like in a hotel room. I thought we'd feel cramped, but even with three people, bikes, and gear it feels spacious. It's safe to say I am used to living without "modern comforts."

Around Lake Taho I saw tons of bumper stickers that said "Keep Tahoe Blue." I still don't know what it's all about, but obviously it has to do with preserving Lake Tahoe. And so with that, I bring you the Mexican win of the day:

Day 114-115: Viscaino to San Ignacio

October 14: 45ish miles

Check out the sunburn! Never had that one before. 

The last two days of riding have been wonderful. The scenery, which has always been beautifully green desert, only gets better as we see more mountains and finally, in Santa Rosalia, the Sea of Cortez. And added to that I have the new company of Mano, Tanya, Spencer, and Kate.

Mano (spelling may be wrong) from Holland

Daisy and Jason Philtron

Kate and Spencer

The Philtrons again

Military Man marking the military checkpoints

Day 114 concluded with a reunion of the Philtrons, the Canucks, and Antonie and me in San Ignacio. San Ignacio is a charming little down that has been a victim to the recent hurricanes. We talked with a man as equally charming as the 18th century cathedral across from the central plaza, who told us about the how the hurricane flooded the town and destroyed all the camping areas, in addition to other buildings. We hadn't found Antonie who had rode ahead of us, and when I asked if he had seen him and jokingly added that he had abandoned me for the third time (he hadn't actually ever abandoned me, although one night I thought I lost him but the truth was I didn't see his bike and went 3 miles past the campground he was at) the charming Mexican man said that no friend would abandon me 3 times, and if they saw him they would lynch him. 

He had great recommendations, and so we went to his first which was the town's main plaza which is across the street from a beautiful old church from the (I think he said early) 1700s.

I love seeing so many bikes in one place!

Hurricane damage:

We paid a low price to camp in front of the hotel. It turned out to be a bustling place, not to mention the busy farm animals. We even saw a cow and horse brought across the field.

That turkey really wanted some from the females, but they weren't giving it.

As much as these buggers annoy me when they wake me up in the morning, I have fond memories of being awoken by roosters, so I still smile a little bit.

Tents

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