July 4
Today was almost like Day 1; it was the first day we didn’t have anything to do. No border to cross, no making X miles to get to Y campground. All we had to do today was ride south. We left beautiful Bufadora and rode Hwy 1 to our decided possible destination of El Rosario, which is the town just before the road turns east/inland and crosses to the Sea of Cortez. It was a nice ride - went through quite a few towns and it defintely felt like we were in Mexico.
We ran into a pair of bicyclists went through traffic with (not sure what town we were in). They were riding thoughout all of Mexico! Their gear and safety flags were awesome. We had a nice chat moving 2 miles an hour through town and gave them a happy honk send off. The locals probably got a good giggle out of us shouting enthusiastically in English in that otherwise cluster of a situation.
After the last “big” town we rode through a marvelous nature preserve. Not sure of its name but it was stunning. The rocks and the vegetation mixed together… and the ocean was just 100 meters away… Sweeping curves on good pavement, no other cars or trucks and we had a slight breeze from the west. Then POOF - we came up on a miliatary checkpoint. I rather enjoy that they exist - perhaps a false sense of security… They were checking all cars and trucks - all people had to exit the vehicle and trunks were rummaged through. Ernie was ahead of me and they wanted to look in his cases, which with the exception of the top case requires the cases be taken off the bike. It’s not arduous but it does take a minute and can be a bit finicky. The soldiers were so annoyed after Ernie (as of course all they found was dusty and dirty camping stuff) that when it became my turn I actually got a eye roll. When I pulled up they asked to see inside the cases so I began taking them off - “no no no” he said and just waved us on. Ha!
That was right before El Rosario, then in El Rosario there was actually no camping… We were paying attention in case that happened and there was some camping about 20km back so we turned around. But when we got to the miltary check point the other way there were now a lot of cars and buses - farm buses where all 20+ campensinos were unloading… we would have been there for at least an hour and it was hot. So we went back to El Rosario and decided to go down that 4km road to la playa, un restaurante, y un hotel. All was fine and dandy and we were having a lovely ride through a nice residential area and then POOF - a thick layer of sand showed up on the road. No bueno… It. Is. So. Hard. To. Ride. In. Sand. With. A. Heavy. Bike. And I had never ridden in sand before so I was freaking out. Long story short we both miffed it ha ha! Bit it hard! Fall down go boom! But (don’t worry parents), everything did exactly what it was supposed to. Us, our armor, our crash bars, our barkbusters (clutch and brake protectors), etc. etc. Only thing damaged was our pride, and even that boo boo went away very quickly. I’m sure it was pretty funny watching me go down (even though Ernie says its wasn’t). I slid on a 4-6” mound of sand right into a prickly bush. I could have imagined it, but I’m pretty sure I scared a bird out of it and it made a rustling pissed off kind of sound when it flew away. So yeah… was scary at first, and lots of adreneline being that situation where you don’t know how you are going to get out of it, but Ernie and I work so well under stress! We just did it. Talked through it and did it. He is amazing. And there was one part of that road on the way back after we took a wrong turn that was so hard for me to keep it together… well at that moment I was amazing too :)
After that we decided we deserved to just stay at the one hotel in town - Hotel Turista. Showers (with a complimentary 10ml pack of Head and Shoulders!!!). Watched a movie in spanish about a dog and cat and some hamster in its ball and some little girl that was a movie star… it had a happy ending and it was good spanish practice for us. Worst part was the bed. It was soooo saggy it wasn’t even good for the few things beds are good for. But we figured it out...
July 5
Hella day. Left El Rosario at 10 am and did a 300km stretch to the other side of Baja. No services, no shade. Just desert. Despite how hot and tired we were by the end, it was quite beautiful and an experience worth doing. Big sweeping turns around even bigger saguaro cacti (some were easily over 30’ tall). Our favorite part was “Catavina Boulder Field”, which is just like it sounds. A high desert field of nothing but saguaros and giant boulders. No photo could do it justice, but we pulled over anyway to try. Overall the drive had lots of wildlife (although none of those footless cows they have signs for… see photos on our map). I am feeling like a “good biologist” by paying so much attention to the flora and fauna around me. Like just now - as we are sitting and relaxing before setting up the tent and such, there are flocks of pelicans going by (we are only about 50 m from the Sea of Cortez). I have a chunk of lecture about pelicans and flight behaviors in my Animal Behavior class, but truth be told I’d never actually seen all of the behaviors myself. Within 45 minutes on this beach I’ve already seen half of them.
Currently at Daggett’s Sport Fishing Camp in Bahia De Los Angeles. There is wifi but we have to go sit at one little spot outside the office, so we’ll do that later. There are these great thatched huts. There are only two other groups here, and both are sport fisherman. I believe the remnants of their catch today are currently being devoured by the gaggle of seagulls and buzzards on the beach (yeah - buzzards on the beach!). There is an occassional frigate that comes through. And beautiful white-gray stone colored lizards. And two unlikely resident dog pals that have paid us a visit - a black pit bull and a white and tan cocker spaniel. Ernie says “You probably can’t be too picky about your friends down here. Only so many to choose from.”
So… dinner last night and tonight… We can count on the mercado to have a few staples, so we decided it was worth trying to see if we can both stomach and count on for the next few months. Pretty much every store is going to have 1) tortillas, 2) refried beans in a can or bag (yep, a bag), 3) avocados, and 4) sabritas calientes (spicy chips). We bought all four and made tacos. Straight up. Slice avocado with pocket knife, squeeze beans out of bag (no heat necessary?), and crunch up chips for flavor. Dinner is served.
Note about Baja firewood. We bought some in El Bufadora. Holy crap. It was cheap ($2 USD) and looked like a cheap bundle of sticks. We both judged said book by its cover. Thought we were getting ripped off. We were very very wrong. I don’t know what this stuff is. Old growth? Dried under spirit of diablos? The bundle had about 10 sticks (half meter long, 5-8 cm in diameter), and we used three the other night and it was killer for hours. Still have two more nights of campfire. This stuff ain’t no zatarra.
Quick note about Karma - it does come around. Must believe that. When we pulled into town we got gas, and the meter/gauge reading thing said 100 pesos and 12 liters of gas (or something like that). Gas attendant filled us both up, Ernie ~10 L and me about 10 L, adding another few hundred pesos. Then he charged us for all of it. So yeah, he is a miserable doofus who needs fun and love in his life. And now we know to check the meter/gauge thing before fueling in small towns where gringos can be easily taken advantage of. Although I’ll counter that with how often hispanics are treated poorly in US America… so it is likely we deserve a bit of mistreatment.
Tara to Ernie, “Is there anything you would to comment on for yesterday and today?”
Ernie, “I am happy to be on the Sea of Cortez. And maybe these girls (i.e., dogs) are here because they are too lazy to go anywhere else. Or maybe they are treating us like guests."
Today was almost like Day 1; it was the first day we didn’t have anything to do. No border to cross, no making X miles to get to Y campground. All we had to do today was ride south. We left beautiful Bufadora and rode Hwy 1 to our decided possible destination of El Rosario, which is the town just before the road turns east/inland and crosses to the Sea of Cortez. It was a nice ride - went through quite a few towns and it defintely felt like we were in Mexico.
We ran into a pair of bicyclists went through traffic with (not sure what town we were in). They were riding thoughout all of Mexico! Their gear and safety flags were awesome. We had a nice chat moving 2 miles an hour through town and gave them a happy honk send off. The locals probably got a good giggle out of us shouting enthusiastically in English in that otherwise cluster of a situation.
After the last “big” town we rode through a marvelous nature preserve. Not sure of its name but it was stunning. The rocks and the vegetation mixed together… and the ocean was just 100 meters away… Sweeping curves on good pavement, no other cars or trucks and we had a slight breeze from the west. Then POOF - we came up on a miliatary checkpoint. I rather enjoy that they exist - perhaps a false sense of security… They were checking all cars and trucks - all people had to exit the vehicle and trunks were rummaged through. Ernie was ahead of me and they wanted to look in his cases, which with the exception of the top case requires the cases be taken off the bike. It’s not arduous but it does take a minute and can be a bit finicky. The soldiers were so annoyed after Ernie (as of course all they found was dusty and dirty camping stuff) that when it became my turn I actually got a eye roll. When I pulled up they asked to see inside the cases so I began taking them off - “no no no” he said and just waved us on. Ha!
That was right before El Rosario, then in El Rosario there was actually no camping… We were paying attention in case that happened and there was some camping about 20km back so we turned around. But when we got to the miltary check point the other way there were now a lot of cars and buses - farm buses where all 20+ campensinos were unloading… we would have been there for at least an hour and it was hot. So we went back to El Rosario and decided to go down that 4km road to la playa, un restaurante, y un hotel. All was fine and dandy and we were having a lovely ride through a nice residential area and then POOF - a thick layer of sand showed up on the road. No bueno… It. Is. So. Hard. To. Ride. In. Sand. With. A. Heavy. Bike. And I had never ridden in sand before so I was freaking out. Long story short we both miffed it ha ha! Bit it hard! Fall down go boom! But (don’t worry parents), everything did exactly what it was supposed to. Us, our armor, our crash bars, our barkbusters (clutch and brake protectors), etc. etc. Only thing damaged was our pride, and even that boo boo went away very quickly. I’m sure it was pretty funny watching me go down (even though Ernie says its wasn’t). I slid on a 4-6” mound of sand right into a prickly bush. I could have imagined it, but I’m pretty sure I scared a bird out of it and it made a rustling pissed off kind of sound when it flew away. So yeah… was scary at first, and lots of adreneline being that situation where you don’t know how you are going to get out of it, but Ernie and I work so well under stress! We just did it. Talked through it and did it. He is amazing. And there was one part of that road on the way back after we took a wrong turn that was so hard for me to keep it together… well at that moment I was amazing too :)
After that we decided we deserved to just stay at the one hotel in town - Hotel Turista. Showers (with a complimentary 10ml pack of Head and Shoulders!!!). Watched a movie in spanish about a dog and cat and some hamster in its ball and some little girl that was a movie star… it had a happy ending and it was good spanish practice for us. Worst part was the bed. It was soooo saggy it wasn’t even good for the few things beds are good for. But we figured it out...
July 5
Hella day. Left El Rosario at 10 am and did a 300km stretch to the other side of Baja. No services, no shade. Just desert. Despite how hot and tired we were by the end, it was quite beautiful and an experience worth doing. Big sweeping turns around even bigger saguaro cacti (some were easily over 30’ tall). Our favorite part was “Catavina Boulder Field”, which is just like it sounds. A high desert field of nothing but saguaros and giant boulders. No photo could do it justice, but we pulled over anyway to try. Overall the drive had lots of wildlife (although none of those footless cows they have signs for… see photos on our map). I am feeling like a “good biologist” by paying so much attention to the flora and fauna around me. Like just now - as we are sitting and relaxing before setting up the tent and such, there are flocks of pelicans going by (we are only about 50 m from the Sea of Cortez). I have a chunk of lecture about pelicans and flight behaviors in my Animal Behavior class, but truth be told I’d never actually seen all of the behaviors myself. Within 45 minutes on this beach I’ve already seen half of them.
Currently at Daggett’s Sport Fishing Camp in Bahia De Los Angeles. There is wifi but we have to go sit at one little spot outside the office, so we’ll do that later. There are these great thatched huts. There are only two other groups here, and both are sport fisherman. I believe the remnants of their catch today are currently being devoured by the gaggle of seagulls and buzzards on the beach (yeah - buzzards on the beach!). There is an occassional frigate that comes through. And beautiful white-gray stone colored lizards. And two unlikely resident dog pals that have paid us a visit - a black pit bull and a white and tan cocker spaniel. Ernie says “You probably can’t be too picky about your friends down here. Only so many to choose from.”
So… dinner last night and tonight… We can count on the mercado to have a few staples, so we decided it was worth trying to see if we can both stomach and count on for the next few months. Pretty much every store is going to have 1) tortillas, 2) refried beans in a can or bag (yep, a bag), 3) avocados, and 4) sabritas calientes (spicy chips). We bought all four and made tacos. Straight up. Slice avocado with pocket knife, squeeze beans out of bag (no heat necessary?), and crunch up chips for flavor. Dinner is served.
Note about Baja firewood. We bought some in El Bufadora. Holy crap. It was cheap ($2 USD) and looked like a cheap bundle of sticks. We both judged said book by its cover. Thought we were getting ripped off. We were very very wrong. I don’t know what this stuff is. Old growth? Dried under spirit of diablos? The bundle had about 10 sticks (half meter long, 5-8 cm in diameter), and we used three the other night and it was killer for hours. Still have two more nights of campfire. This stuff ain’t no zatarra.
Quick note about Karma - it does come around. Must believe that. When we pulled into town we got gas, and the meter/gauge reading thing said 100 pesos and 12 liters of gas (or something like that). Gas attendant filled us both up, Ernie ~10 L and me about 10 L, adding another few hundred pesos. Then he charged us for all of it. So yeah, he is a miserable doofus who needs fun and love in his life. And now we know to check the meter/gauge thing before fueling in small towns where gringos can be easily taken advantage of. Although I’ll counter that with how often hispanics are treated poorly in US America… so it is likely we deserve a bit of mistreatment.
Tara to Ernie, “Is there anything you would to comment on for yesterday and today?”
Ernie, “I am happy to be on the Sea of Cortez. And maybe these girls (i.e., dogs) are here because they are too lazy to go anywhere else. Or maybe they are treating us like guests."