Sunday Again
Had a great stay at the Oasis in San Ignacio. Ricardo was a
great host. While negociating the rent he sealed the deal with a shot of
tequela each. This morning we spent time working on our blogs. John had trouble
with his iPad loading his blog. Very frustrating.
Got on the road sometime around 11:30 and road the hwy east
to San Rosilia then South
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| Bikes in courtyard in Mulege Baja |
To Mulege. While driving through town Max’s POS KTM quit.
Again! We met some other riders who told us about
a hotel with a courtyard. We found it, got a room and moved the bikes into the
courtyard parking them among the other 12 bikes. The KTM would turn over fine
just not fire. So we started with fuel. Getting fuel, then checked the carb
bowl, got fuel, then the air cleaner, looks dirty after 2 days of riding.
Removed it and the bike fired right up! So as I sit with beer in hand Max is
off getting his hands dirty in gasoline cleaning his air filter again. It looks like we’ll be back on the road
tomorrow morning. Great bunch of guys from all over. Some riding serious dirt
and some, like us, occasional dirt. After riding Max’s KTM I’m jonesing to ride
a smaller bike down here, maybe take a week and go with a group. Pretty cool
how the hotel owners welcomed us and even looked away as we tore into Max’s
bike on their tiled courtyard. At dinner Max started talking to a couple of
women and a guy from the UK. Turns out the women are Canadian and one is living
in Whitehorse! They are down here working for NOLS, National Outdoor Leadership
School. NOLS works with people honing different outdoor skills such as sailing,
kayaking and hiking. I knew my friend Kate from Whitehorse sometimes came down
to the Baja to teach kayaking so I took a shot and asked them if they knew her.
Bingo! Not only did they know her but she, her husband George and daughter
Marin were all at that school right now! The next morning, after saying adios
to our new buddies, we road south to Conception Bay to visit the NOLS facility.
Kate was out with a group and George was nowhere to be found but we did get to
visit with Marin (sorry if I got the spelling wrong) Marin and Merideth gave us
a tour of the place. It’s situated in what I would call one the prettiest bays
I’ve seen. It kind of reminded me of HaLong Bay North of Hanoi with spire like
islands rising out of the Bay (pictures to follow). Great place, great people
and it seems like a great organization.
By now it’s 12:30 and we have 300 miles to go if we want to
make LaPaz for the night so we shove off. The ride from there is boring. All
interior with some small mountains but mostly flat desert. We came up to a
number of semi trucks carrying hay stacked high and wide. On a rest stopped
John made a comment about having on of the loads cut loose. It would be heinous
if I caught on of those in the face. 20 miles down the road the cars
approaching us are flashing their lights at us so we slow down and low and
behold there, right in the middle of the road is a load of spilled hay! I’m
glad I wasn’t following that truck! We rolled into La Paz right at sunset and
found a hotel to stay in for $15 each and they even let us park the bikes in
their lobby. After a good meal and a walk along the maleicon with Max I called
it a night. Oh yea it being Halloween there was lots of costumed people on the
streets.
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| Max, Marin, Me, Meridith and John, Mulege Baja |
Tuesday November 1, 2011
Today we have to figure out how to import our bikes to into
Mex1co (this we have to do before boarding the ferry to Mazatlan. We walk about
12 blocks to the Baja Ferry office (I couldn’t figure out how to call them) and
find out they can’t do a f#!% there. They don’t even have a schedule of
sailings. I’m pretty sure they sail around 6 pm so we grab a bite and ride the
17kms out to the terminal. 1st we had to import the bikes which you
do at the Banco which is conveniently locate right there. You put up a $300
refundable bond show your title, passport and get copies of each which you do
at an office conveniently located nearby and your on the way to the ticket
office. They charge 1750 pesos (about $150) for each bike and driver that
includes dinner and breakfast. We Sail at 6:30 PM and arrive at 8:00 AM. We
plan on riding to Durango tomorrow which would put us in striking distance of
Leon on Thursday for my tire pick up.
Bingo! We rode out to the ferry terminal and we were able to
import the bikes, buy a ticket and board the ferry in one long fell swoop.
While waiting for the ferry a group of 6 or 7 guys all riding together showed
up. I think they were all from the LA area and riding down to Buenos Aires.
They planed on being in panama in 8 days! Must plan on slabbing it the entire
way (if there is such a thing in Central America. Anyway we followed them off
in Mazatilan and what a cluster f$%#! Trying to keep Max and John in sight in
all the traffic is a challenge but 6 or 7 guys? Good luck! The ferry is huge, way more car deck
and way less lounging areas than the Alaska ferries. Seems the priority is with
freight not tourists. It’s a 15-hour crossing and we did have reclining seats
but the heat and humidity made for an uncomfortable night.
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| From the ferry arriving in Mazatlan |
Wednesday
The ferry docked around 9 but it was 10:30 before we finally
got off. It was decided to head straight for Durango since it was only 200
miles away. Getting out of the city took a while but once out it was wide open for about 15 miles
then the road began to climb and turn until we reached "La columna vertebral de los demonios!"
“The devils backbone!” For 100 miles the road carved through the mountains. A
very narrow, winding road with 1000 foot drop offs that we shared with
numerious tractor trailers. The road went from sea level up to close to 9000
feet in less than 40 miles! I would have to include this road in my top 10 list
of exciting roads. We all had our close calls. I made a very ill advised pass
on a right hand hairpin turn around a semi truck. I could see there was no cars
coming down the road so I thought I could get around him on the outside.
Instead he swung way wide forcing me on what little shoulder there was on the
left and causing me to hang out there in the wrong lane way too long! I lucked
out and there was no other vehicles coming the other way. Lesson learned. Max
simply went into a turn too hot and lost his rear and John met up with not one
but two trucks passing a semi coming his way. I would guess our average speed
on this road was around 25 which put us way behind schedule. Did I mention I
hate riding at night? By the time we got to the top of theses mountains it was
getting late with no where to stay so we soldered on, finally getting to the
toll road that took us into Durango. Driving into any Mexican city at night
trying to find a hotel, keeping track of the other two guys while avoiding one
way streets is , to put it mildly, terrifying! We finally just parked the bikes
and went out on foot looking for a hotel with some sort of secure parking.
Found one, ate a late dinner and bagged out for the night. I almost forgot to
mention this day was also día
de los muertos, day of the dead, a Mexican holiday much like our
Halloween except bigger.
Thursday
Too tired (little sleep on the ferry followed by the long
ride here) to think about riding today plus we wanted to at lease see some of
Durango before leaving so we opted to stay another night. Spent the day walking
around town, finding a laundry, looking for some ratchet straps etc. Met a cab
driver who offered to give us a tour of town that night. One hour for 12 buck.
Pretty good deal eh?
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| The boys in Durango |
Friday November 5th
Packed, breakfast and on the road by 9:30 (that’s pretty
good for us. Today we ride towards Guadalajara. After the last experience we
decided to break it up into a 2-day ride. We took the highway towards Zacatecas
and ended up in Jerez de Garcia Salinas, a smaller town southwest of Zacatecas.
The ride was good, traveling along high desert and then through some
mountainous areas. We were up around 5000 feet so the was cool and somewhat
clean. One thing I’m noticing is a lack of garbage along the roadside. I don’t
if the government has finally cracked down or maybe this part of Mexico in more
environmentally sensitive. I guess I’ll find out the further south I go. Every
night there is music in the streets. It may be part of the Day of the Dead calibration
or maybe they are just having fun.
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