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entry 9: tijuana, baja california to la paz, baja california sur 11/21/05

Red, white & green - the biggest flag we've ever seen.

Mexico at last! We had done some preparation for the border crossing at Tijuana, such as acquiring our Tourist Visas, Motor Vehicle Insurance and asking about a vehicle permit. A gentleman at the insurance agency said that you could obtain the vehicle permit, which is required if you plan on getting off of the Baja peninsula down the road, after crossing the Mexican border. Having sat through three semesters of Spanish over the last two years I was eager to ask the border guard where to get the permits. What came out of my mouth must have been closer to Martian because a strange look appeared on his face, but something must have connected as he directed us to pull over near a row of office buildings. Asking at what looked like a permit office about getting our permit, the man behind the desk tells us that we need to go into town, only a few blocks away, and there we could find the permits.

Back on the bikes we followed his directions to the correct office and even though it was clearly marked in Spanish, it was still a short maze through one building, down a hall and into a court yard. I had read that border crossings are time consuming and now found out why. The first office stamps your visa then sends you over to another office who checks your passport and tourist visa, then gives you some papers that you take back to the first office. Your new set of papers are then signed and you are directed next door where another person makes copies of all your new and old papers. Then you go back to the second office that had looked at your visa and passport the first time and hand those very same documents plus the ones they gave you and the copies of those documents. Up to now this process has taken only about a half hour. This last step has Lynne standing at one window and me at another. She is working with an agent that knows their stuff and speaks English, while my window appears to be looking in at a classroom of six new agents being taught by someone who started last week and speaks no English. I was given the choice of either paying a $400 cash deposit, refundable when you leave Mexico or paying $29 for the vehicle permit. I paid the $29. It all ended well after another 45 minute and we headed out toward Ensenada .

Obviously they have us confused with someone else!

Highway 1 from Tijuana to Ensenada is a well maintained four lane toll road. The cost was $2.35 per bike to get on and another $2.35 to get off. Taking the advice from our Lonely Planet guide book, we checked into the Hotel Bahia where rooms go for $39 to $69 if you use their online $20 coupon, which we had printed out earlier. You actually get the same room for either rate but our second night was at the premium price due to the Baja 1000 being held in town that weekend. The place was packed with all kinds of vehicles that tear through the desert at break-neck speeds. It was pretty cool to talk to the racers and pit crews, a few who gave us contacts and names of hotels and restaurants down the road.

The biggest surprise we found in Ensenada was Maggie and Norman from England . This couple had, the previous year, completed most of the route we have planned for our trip and are continuing their way northward to Alaska . One of the similarities of our trips was the bikes they were on – two BMW 650’s! We spent a lunch, a wonderful dinner and any chance encounter with them around the hotel asking them for advice on places to stay, border crossings, BMW dealer/shop locations and to hear about some of their great adventures. To find out more about their trip, check out their website at www.panamericanadventure.com. Thanks so much, you two!

Actual mill parts decorate the grounds at the Old Mill.

Taking highway 1 and the advice of one of the Baja motorcycle riders, we aimed for San Quintin about 125 miles south of Ensenada. The road was excellent, although if you’re in a large car, a road with no shoulder must seem quite narrow when a semi that is riding the centerline comes your way. We found the signs for The Old Mill and turned onto the dirt road. Let me remind you that this hotel was recommended by a Baja racer. As we continue down the road it turns from washboard to large stones embedded in the dirt to sand. I may have mentioned earlier that our bikes look like migrating whales and although they are dual sport bikes we consider that to mean single and double lane blacktop roads. I am following Lynne as usual, watching what line she takes on the road, when she hits a section of the road that has been filled in with about 4 to 6 inches of lava rock. Our speed is fairly low, 20 mph or so, and when I see both sides of her bike in quick succession I figure she’s going to go over for sure but at the last second she powers out of the wild gyrations and continues on down the road. That girl has pluck! I decide not to follow her path and hug the edge of the “repaired” section and we continue on. After about three miles we find the hotel and for the price of $35 you get a very clean room, a free beer and a wonderful view if the bay.

The Sequoias of Baja.

The following days ride is up into the high desert, about 2000 feet in altitude. The thermometer on my bike reads 90 degrees but the wind is cool so the ride is quite nice. Except for the vultures soaring in the breeze we see no wildlife. At first the enormous cactus and mountains are interesting but after some 120 miles we are ready to find a hotel recommended by someone who had not been this way for a few years. I have to interject here and talk about the phenomena of gas stations, snack shops and hotels that appear and disappear from year to year. You need to get gas when you are down to half a tank, or in our case, we knew it was 221 miles from the last large town with gas (El Rosario) to the next (Guerrero Negro) and our bikes range is safely 240 miles to the tank. During our two day ride to Guerrero Negro we saw at least four abandoned gas stations and twice that of small stores. We did find gas before Guerrero at Jesus Maria but one can’t say how long it’ll be there. Any way, the Hotel Presidente was recommended but it had changed hands and now is part of the La Pinta hotel chain. A lovely place that was twice the cost of last nights stay, but when you’re the only game in town… Next stop Guerrero Negro.

Guerrero Negro (Black Warrior) is not quite a tourist town, although it is well know for the gray whales that come to its harbor to calve, it is more of a blue collar fishing community. The town is located just south of the time line that brings you to the Mountain Time zone and also separates the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur (south). We checked into the Hotel Posada Don Vicente for $23 (thanks Maggie and Norman for the hotel tip) where the rooms were clean and the showers good – and it also had and unusual choice of adult programming on the TV. We were in need of a laundromat and when we asked at the hotel as to where we could find one, they offered to do it for 25 pesos a load ($2.50) and as it would have taken us the rest of the day and half as much more for us to do, we said OK We almost became part of a local parade on the way to the bank the next morning as the main street was closed down and we had to weave our way through gathering crowds of spectators and a couple of marching school kids. The whales were not down from Alaska yet so we took off and headed down the road.

The ride across the Baja into Mulege ranged from high flat desert to some great winding roads that lead between hills that end at the eastern shores of the baja, overlooking the Gulf of California. If I have not mentioned “topes” yet I would like to advise other riders/drivers to watch out for these road signs that inform you of a speed bump in the road. They are very common and usually well marked on the highways and sometimes in towns. They come in all sizes – from none at all to ones

Many times the views cause you to stop and appreciate the beauty.

so high that even my 6” bike clearance scrapes on. Because they are less expensive and more effective than traffic signals, they are placed on highways when the road goes through very small towns and they need a crosswalk. So when you’re cruising along for miles and miles and then you have 100 yards to go from 55 to 5 mph…well let’s just say you can get some unexpected airtime. We rode through the town of Mulege, didn’t see any hotels that floated our boat so we took another suggestion from motocross Bob and checked into the Hotel Serenidad, located just south of town. The place was very nice but the staff was a bit wooden and at the cost of $71 a night we would have checked out the next day but we wanted to explore the town. We did meet a nice couple, Ken and Chris, while walking into town. They own the Hotel Cuesta Real, which is just a few blocks from the place we stayed and at half the price you get about the same amenities and much better treatment. Mulege is a small town with some ok shopping, I bought a T-shirt and groceries, but it lacked a nice beach to hang out at. We found out later that there are many good beaches 5 miles south of town but the idea of getting suited up, riding the bikes, changing into swim gear, and then reversing the process just seems like too much work. Wow, I am getting lazy.

A lot of travelers we meet are from the U.S., but the ones we seem to connect with either ride bikes or are from England – like Maggie and Norman. Sitting around the pool at Serinidad we met Candy and Ian – travelers on holiday from London. Ian races sports bikes so we had a common interest there and we had a good chat with them about travel in the Baja and life in general. Good people and maybe someday we will see them again.

The next town we hit was Lareto, about 90 miles down the coast from Mulege. We spent Thanksgiving there and I called home to check on my folks – to find the family gathered and an 18-pound turkey in the oven. My dad joked that maybe I’d be eating a stuffed fish instead of a stuffed turkey that night. Well Dad, Lynne and I found a nice restaurant where I ordered a fillet of fish stuffed with lobster, shrimp and clams, but no cranberry sauce! We also did some book shopping in Lareto, as my new supply of leisure books had turned into Lynne’s discarded books - and her tastes require a bit more thinking than my “Flash Gordon meets Superman” preferences. The book shop we found, located a block from the town’s Mission, had walls lined with all sorts of used books in English - as well as artwork and handmade soaps. As we were selecting our books Lynne pulled a children’s book off of a shelf and the owner came over to help. He introduced himself as Beto, and along with his wife, Jeannine (author of the children’s book plus three others, and was also the artisan and soap maker) had moved from the states and opened up the store six months ago. We ended up having drinks with them that night and found out they were in their early seventies, although they looked and acted like they were in their fifties! Beto and Jeannine – best of luck with your new life!

We ended the week by pulling into La Paz, capitol city of the state Baja California Sur, and believe it or not we stopped to eat at our first fast food place since starting the trip – a Burger King. We checked out the ferry situation to get from La Paz to Mazatlan and then checked into a hotel close to the fantastic looking bay that the town is built around. Next week will most likely be spent checking out Cabos San Lucas and the very southern tip of this peninsula.

From Lynne:

I knew I was going to love Maggie when we met - she immediately mentioned to me how disappointed she was that Tom & I had used our bike covers the previous night so she couldn't "have a nosey" to discover more about us. I'll be putting that phrase into my vocabulary for sure.

Our first holiday away from home started a bit rough for me - a few tears of homesickness. Things picked up a bit when the owner of our hotel found the last ten minutes of the Denver/Dallas game on his satelite TV and we were able to see the Broncos win in overtime. We then found a lovely restaurant in Mulege filled with others celebrating away from their usual comforts as well. I ordered terragon chicken (the closest I could find to turkey) and reminded myself how blessed we are to be on this journey.