Bicycling Baja Mexico (March 2001)

Catavina and the High Desert

These are bits and pieces from the journal I kept for this travel adventure. Chuck had just retired and I was due to retire 3 months after I returned from this travel. We were trying something new and it was exciting and scary at the same time. Half way through the travel I lost my camera so there are only a few photos.

Mar 1 - Tucson
Chuck has officially retired from Pima County Juvenile Courts after 27 year there. It is exciting and scary at the same time. Tomorrow we will be leaving to bicycle the length of Baja Mexico. All is ready... the tandem, BOB (Beast of Burden) trailer, passports and us. I seem unusually calm about this adventure... not overly nervous or excited... It all seems very natural. I have the sense that I can deal with all situations that arise. the general plan is to drive to Ensenada, then cycle the approximately 1000 miles of Baja Mexico in 3 weeks and return back to the car by bus.

I'm ready to travel...Looking forward to trying something new... out of the box...out of the ordinary...and it is really happening.

Will we succeed?... What is success?
Will we have fun
Will Chuck and I get on one another's nerves?
Will I miss work?
Will the roads be too rough to cycle and not very comfortable?
Will anything unfortunate happen?
When I return, will I be glad that I went or will I wish that I hadn't ventured out?

Mar 3 - San Diego to Santo Tomas to San Vincente.
 The adventure begins... Details! We needed Mexican insurance to drive our car into Mexico. We needed the automobile registration to get the Mexican insurance. The registration was not in the car! End of that plan!

Plan B: We parked in San Ysidro, CA and cycled across the border to the bus station. then we took a bus to Santo Tomas, just south of Ensenada Mexico. There we started cycling about 3pm. The 25 miles cycling to San Vincente was steep... up to 8% grades. The roads are narrow with no shoulder, but the scenery was unusually lush... olive groves... vineyards.. and the limited traffic was courteous and friendly. Even 16 wheel trucks gave us wide clearance. We cycled until about 6pm. We must plan to stop by 5pm. It was getting dark.

We found Maria's, a home on the main street that rent's rooms and serves meals in their small living room. they gave us a black marker and asked us to sign their wall. They had never seen a 'doble biceclet' (tandem). The room was $15... The interaction was priceless.

Maria's Husband and Hotel Wall

Mar 4 - San Vincente to Colonia Vincente Guererro
. Beautiful green rolling hills and farmland with mountains in the background. There was a very steep climb of about 2 miles just out of town.
Ahhhh..... fish tacos at a road side stand in Colonet. I wondered if I would get sick.... but ate anyway. They were very satisfying on a cool morning. One for about $.70 (US)... and then another.... then another... I don't think that I will ever be hungry again.

Mar 5 - Colonia Vincente Guererro to El Rosario. Head winds.... tired.... taking a break by the ocean... the rolling vaves are very peaceful... the sun is out and the sand is warm.

Mar 6 - El Rosario to Catavina. Rained all night... still raining... pouring!... We are going to take the bus to Catavina in the high desert.

Mar 7 - Guererro Negro. We stayed on the bus to Guererro Negro. In an desert that gets 1-2 inches of rain a year it all dropped in one 24 hour period. Seeing the scenery through the window of a bus was quite comfortable and pleasant. We met Fiona, a woman from London England, traveling by herself to Equador. We all took a ponga (fishing boat) out in the lagoon to watch whales.... friendly whales!

Abarrote (Market) Along the Way

Mar 8 - Guererro Negro to San Ignacio. Cardons, elephant trees, asparagus farms. We passed through a guns and drugs check point. The 'kids' were so curious about our bike that they didn't check our visas. Good thing. We hadn't paid for them so we didn't have the stamp. A chubby little boy was selling ice cream in Vizcaino and the store across the street replentished my supply of lemon and chili flavored nuts.

Mar 9 - San Ignacio to Santa Rosalia. We climbed slowly and steadily out of the jungle, through the deset, up to the microondos (microwave towers at the highest points on the mountains) and then sped down to the Sea of Cortez and the mining town of Santa Rosalia. 10% - 12% grades, curves and 1000' drop. Great to be off the bike. Hotel El Moro is a beautiful tropical place with mango trees.

Mar 10 - Santa Rosalia - Drank coffee and watched the sunrise over the Sea of Cortez. Huge fresh fruit coctels (cocktails) with lime and chili powder! Absolutely wonderful. Chuck bought oranges at a little market. He wnted to know if they were sweet or sour oranges so he asked, "dulce?". The man behind the counter replied, "DULCE?!!! NO! NARANJA!" in a voice that said 'you fool'. The the man was in effect saying, "Candy?!!NO! An orange, you fool"

Mar 11 - Santa Rosalia to Mulege. Mulege is having a very 'gringo' chili cook off in the town square. The proceeds are going to benefit the local schools. We're camping tonight in a magical place about a half mile from thown that is nicknamed the 'Orchard' because of all the avacado, mango, papaya, coconut and date palm trees.

Mar 12 - In & Around Mulege (Moo lo hay). We met Lynn & Roger from northern California last night. They came here to kayak for 2 weeks. They fixed FISH TACOs for breakfast and asked us to join. I called Buffy. Philip leaves in 2 days for the Persian Gulf for 6 months. My heart goes out to both of them.

Mar 13 - Mulege to Playa Santispac in Bahia Concepcion. An easy beautiful ride along the Sea of Cortez. We rented a kayak from Killer Cain who lives on the beach. I want to come back to this area next year and van camp with our kayak and snorkeling gear.

Mar 14 - Playa Santispac to the Southern End of Bahia Concepcion. The water is just like a picture perfect postcard. We are desert camping off a side road tonight. We had our first flat tire today. It took 45 minutes to take the yak/bob and panniers off, change the tire and get everything back together and get going.

Along the Road 728km (430 miles) From Ensenada

Mar 15 - Bahia Concepcion to Loreto. More fish tacos for lunch and dinner. Food is a central part of cycling. After dinner we walked through town again. Loreto has a long cobble stone street for pedestrians only. Artisan shops are on either side. John Spencer offered us a ride to La Paz in his 'Blue Burro'. That's the name for his blue Tracker. It sounded great to us since the terrain between here and there is flat farm and less scenic. It will give us more time in La Paz.

Mar 16 - Loreto to La Rivera(south of La Paz) by 'Blue Burro'.In his working days John was an aero space engineer. He still enjoys exercising his mind. He's a wonderfully interesting and delightful man.

Mar 17 - La Rivera to Todo Santos and San Pedrito. A twist to the adventure... John has 2 vehicles in La Rivera. He's hoping to find someone to drive one of the vehicles, Caballa Blanca, north to San Diego. It's a perfect match up so we'll be driving a van north.

Mar 18 - San Pedrito to La Paz to 30 miles south of CD Constitution. San Pedrito is a great beach camp and having a van provides a new dimension to this trip. We replentished our food supplies and fish tacos wer in order for me. In La Paz we saw the Wilderness Travel yacht with kayaks! That's why they charge $4000 for a week kayaking!.... I'm cured... I don't want to go on one of their adventures... It's not an adventure. I like my own adventure with a Lonely Planet book to help.

Mar 19 - South of CD Constitution to Playa El Coyote. We hiked in the Sierra Giganta. I must learn the correct pronunciation. When we arrived at Playa Requeson tide was low and we walked out the spit and around the island.... magical... It is special to be camped back on Bahia Concepcion.

Mar 20 - Playa El Coyote to Bahia Los Angeles Jct. Bahia Concepcion was glass this morning. I awoke before sunrise and watched the sky become brighter and brighter. It's now high tide... We'll hike and swim and kayak before moving on later in the day.

Mar 21 - Bahia Los Angeles Jct to Playa El Pabellon(near San Quintin). We camped in the desert last night. It's lush... very striking... with cordons and elephant and boojum trees all around.
...There is no gas at Bahia LA Jct... just and abandoned PEMEX and a man selling gas from 5 gallon containers. We don't need that!
...No gass at Catavina.... Just another abandoned PEMEX and a man selling gas from 5 gallon containers. We DO need that! He siphoned it with his mouth to get it started....
...We expected gas at both Bahia LA Jct and Catavina.

Mar 22 - Playa El Pabellon to Tijuana and San Diego. this morning we watched seagulls gather and crack clams by dropping them from 30-50 feet up... then we walked 4-5 miles along the ocean beach to San Quintin and ate a noon time breakfast before walking back and driving on.
We had thought that we would spend one more night on the beach closer to the border... but the weather is getting colder and foggier today... We will drive to San Diego and be there by early evening.

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