Day 109 - 112: Rosalia to Guerrero Negro

October 9 - October 12

Over the last couple days we stayed at a campground under a grass hut in hopes of avoiding the residual hurricane weather, and wild camped near the beach. The hurricane is creating some very unusual conditions in the desert. Namely thick morning fog and lots of green vegetation and flowering plants. My camera was dead for the fog and plants, so I will add some photos that Antonie took later.

The only evidence I have of the recent rains is mud. Beautiful flowers will come later.



A grass hut with a bunch of stuff under it. We hid from strong winds and rain under here.


This cat became my friend even though he was standoffish with the others. I'm a cattalker.

Wild camping by the ocean.

Looking up at our camping spot from the beach. Antonie is sitting up on the ridge there.

We have been eating at food stalls like these, which are awesome.


And they make food like this.



A picture of some agriculture:

And of the general scenery.

 They take water saving more seriously here than in California, USA!

A hurricane has helped to drop a lot of rain on the desert, and so the desert plants are in full bloom. There is grass beside the road, flowers of all different colors growing on the cacti and other bushy plants, and all up and down thousand foot mountain slopes there is green green green. I have not seen this much green since the national parks in California.

Here are some stories from the road:

Fog in the Desert

The fog has been crazy in the mornings. Some places we couldn't see for more than 50 meters and had to stop for fear of being rear-ended by a semi that didn't see us. In addition to the fog there is so much moisture in the air that in the mornings our tents look like they endured torrential rains overnight. I think this is another effect of the passed hurricane and rains. If so, we are experiencing the desert in a very unique way!

Cactus Touching Story

I saw a tuna growing on a cactus, and it appeared to have no spines. I decided to pick it and see if it was edible. It turns out there are many many fine little spines, like fiberglass shards, that detach and get stuck in your hand, like fiberglass shards. I learned not to touch a cactus, even if it looks harmless.

Mexican Police Interrogation

As I was walking back from pooping in the Protected Cacti Wilderness I was stopped by a truck filled with police officers. It was on the edge of town, but only a quarter mile from the restaurant where we were camped behind. I could see the restaurant from where they police stopped me.

They asked me "Where are you coming from?" in an authoritative voice.

I was quite nervous about being stopped by the Mexican police so it took me extra long to figure out what they were saying. And then I wondered if I should say I was coming from the United States, from Tecate, from Catavino, or from the restaurant, or from the wilderness.

So I asked them "Where from? Or Where to?"

And then they asked me "Where to?"

I said "I'm going to La Paz," which is the ultimate destination on the Baja California stretch, but they wanted to know where I'm coming from at the moment, so I told them "I am camping behind the restaurant. I came from the restaurant, I was looking at the...." And I was too nervous to remember the word for "cactus" so I could only point at them and say random words that started with a C and had an O at the end.

At that point one of the men in teh back (there were 4 or 5 officers in one truck, which was strange to see) said "Oh, los cilios." And at that they started to drive off. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and tried to figure out what had just happened.

I have no clue why they actually stopped me.