Day 9 - Guererro Negro to Ensenada

We woke up this morning to a cold, gloomy, overcast day but with a lot less wind than last night. After a coffee breakfast, we layered up and set out for San Quintin. About an hour into the ride, the clouds melted away, the temps warmed, and we rode under a blue, sunny sky. It was not warm enough to lose the jackets, but at least we were able to shed several layers. We were stopped at another military checkpoint, but the guard just glanced in each side bag, made an admiring comment about the Harley-Davidsons and sent us on our way. There was a lot to see today - more flowers in bloom than last week that emitted a fragrance that could be smelled even with our helmets on; a horse crossed the road in front of us to join several other horses and a burro on the other side, an osprey landed on a pole next to its huge nest, and we saw a field of black cows with one lone white horse in the center of the herd. There were stretches of road that were rough, but we could see that reconstruction was underway as the road crews were creating a dirt road next to the highway for the detour. Gerardo in Loreto had told us that the road and bridge reconstruction were part of the government's economic development program - there are 300 bridges in the Baja, but only one main road - highway 1. There are a few other roads that branch from highway 1, but very few paved. Highway 1 wasn't built until 1973 - until then, the Baja was only accessible by off-road vehicles or pack animals. There are still some pueblos deep in the Baja that are only accessible by foot or mule. We stopped for lunch at Mama Espinoza's in El Rosario for her world famous lobster burritos. She didn't have any lobster, so we substituted crab (fresca!) burritos, and accompanied them with a margarita. It was very good and towards the top of our list for the best.  When we were travelling south, we had nearly no traffic but noticed there was quite a lot of northbound traffic, so we expected to encounter that on our return trip. We did have a few more cars and trucks to pass than we did on the way south, but there was still very little traffic, and we cruised pretty steadily until we reached San Quintin. We arrived there at about 3:00 and decided to push on to Ensenada so we could have more time in San Felipe tomorrow. From San Quintin, the traffic increased, mostly because of all the little towns between there and Ensenada along with some crazy truck drivers. We arrived at our same hotel as last week, Santo Tomas, at about 7:00, and after showering, ventured out to find Alberto to see if we could still compare his margarita to one of the best. Tequila's told us he was not working there tonight, but to check El Palmar down the street. We did, and found Alberto, who remembered us, and proceeded to make us a a splendid margarita. As we sat at the bar, we noticed the television was showing "Wild Hogs". We thought that was so appropo. We listened to some Mexican music afterwards, then found our way back to our hotel. Steve got distracted on the way to the room by some music coming from the garage. He investigated and found some mariachis performing a private concert for the male members of a family who invited him to join them. He stayed with them for awhile listening and dancing to the music. The rest of us went to bed.

Day 8 - Loreto to Guererro Negro

This morning Gerardo cooked us breakfast and we ate and chatted with him, Debora, and Juanita, another guest and Debora's friend. Juanita, originally from San Francisco, lives in San Ignacio in a big, blue historical home which also serves as a hotel. Wish we had known that when we had stayed in San Ignacio a few nights ago, but maybe next time! After saying our goodbyes, we rode away under a very warm sun headed for Bahia Concepcion, determined to find Bertha's. It was an easy find this time. We realized why we had missed it was because there was road construction and the trucks and machinery blocked our view of the beach and Bertha's below. What a delightful place! Carol and I ordered margaritas, Steve a beer, and Ryaan, water. The guys tasted our margs and we all agreed it was probably the best - but it did score extra points because of the ambiance. The chips and salsa were excellent, too. We left Bertha's and rode to Mulege to find the "beach" at the end of a long, dirt, rutted road. We could really see the effect of the last hurricane with all the downed trees next to the river along this road. We reached the end and met Travis, the American owner of La Casa de Villa restaurant bar at the end of the road. We sat on his pontoon boat as he told us about the hurricane's devastation and how the river we were floating on used to not be there before the hurricane. It used to be the road to the lighthouse that they could no longer access. It was very pleasant sitting on the boat and listening to him talk about life in Mulege, but it was time to move on down the road. We left Mulege and rode towards San Rosalia where we ate lunch at a little restaurant in town. We passed another military checkpoint and, once again, they quickly looked through our bags. We noticed on the way down that they were stopping more cars headed north than south and we think the reason is because of the boat traffic in southern Baja. They need to be sure we aren't transporting drugs brought in by boat. After Santa Rosalia, we had to say goodbye to the Sea of Cortez for a few days as we headed back into the mountains. It was still very warm and tank tops and sunscreen were the dress code. We stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere and met the family who lives there - father, mother, and 2 sons. They had a dog who had 4 puppies about 6 weeks old that were the cutest little things. The mom dog seemed really hungry, so Steve gave her a Power Bar and she quickly devoured it. She was a sweet, well-trained dog, just matted and dirty. As we were leaving, the boys asked us if we wanted to take the puppies (perroitas) with us. We were all really tempted, but we had no room.We had another military checkpoint, but this time we were just waved on. The temperatures were really dropping and the winds were worsening and by the time we got to Guererro Negro, we were freezing, even though we did put jackets on along the way. We found a cute little hotel, the Malarrimo, which has its own restaurant and bar, but they only had heavy dinners and after the big lunch we had, we just wanted something small. So we braved the cold and the winds, and wandered down the street to a little restaurant we stopped at heading south. After chicken tacos, soup, quesadillas, and fajitas, we walked back to the hotel, had a nightcap at the bar, and went to bed. Tomorrow is 265 miles to San Quintin.

Day 7 - Cabo San Lucas to Loreto

We left Cabo this morning 18 hours after we arrived. We dropped south to San Jose del Cabo (which is actually the bottom of the Baja), then east and north heading for Loreto, a ride today of 365 miles. We took a butt break in San Bartolo, then cruised up to LaPaz. It was a very warm ride - no jackets required, except for a short bit in the upper elevations before Cuidad Constitucion. What a change from 2 days ago! We have passed through military checkpoints everyday and they always wave us through - until today. Outside of LaPaz, we stopped at the checkpoint and they asked to look through our bags. Our bags are so tightly packed that the idea of having to pull them all apart didn't appeal to us; however, they just did a quick scan through the side bags and the small top bag. We thought it was an agricultural stop because of the signs around us, but when Ryaan asked his guard what they were looking for, they said guns and drugs. He chatted with Ryaan, in Espanol, about the English translation of "guns" and about motorcycles then we proceeded on our way. The road construction between LaPaz and Los Delores worsened in the last 2 days and we travelled for miles on hard-packed road - construction workers waving at us as we passed. The road construction between C. Constitucion and Loreto was completed in the past 2 days and we had a nice, paved road the rest of the day. We pulled off onto an overlook over the Sea of Cortez just past Puerto Escondido and enjoyed the gorgeous view, then rode on to Loreto and LaDamiana Inn. Debora welcomed us, showed us to our rooms, we showered, and ventured out into the city. Debora recommended La Luna for good margaritas and internet (theirs was down), so I started this blog at La Luna enjoying a very, very good margarita - certainly a main contender for best of Baja. We had an excellent dinner at the Mediterranean- Steve, Ryaan, and I enjoying a variety of Sea Bass dishes while Carol had a Chile Rellano dinner - all while watching the activity along the malecon. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and Steve, Ryaan, and I sat on the patio, enjoying the beautiful evening, recapping our day while Carol called it a night. Tomorrow our day will end in Guererro Negro, a distance of about 250 miles.

Day 6 - LaPaz to Cabo San Lucas

We did it! We rode the entire Baja top to bottom! We left LaPaz this morning at 9:30 with light jackets and rode the 40 miles to Todo Santos over a smooth, new 4 lane highway. We wandered around the town, had a margarita at the Hotel California (not a contender for best of Baja), then headed out to Cabo San Lucas. We knew about the road construction outside of Todo Santos and found it to be hard packed and in small stretches here and there. Then it was a smooth road until about 10 miles outside of Cabo when it turned into nothing but a hard packed, washboard dirt road. We did not expect that, but we did make it through without jarring too much off of the bike, however, it will all be a great highway when it is finished. After driving through the neighborhoods of Cabo and removing all the clothing we could (it got hot!), we eventually found the hotel we were looking for - the Mar de Cortez, and checked in about 3:00. It's a nice little hotel with the breakfast claim of World's Best French Toast. We showered and changed (I have a dress on - I feel like such a girl!), then went to the marina for dinner. We had a very light breakfast and no lunch, so we were all really hungry. We all had fish tacos and margaritas at 'D Joint and the margs are in the running for the best! At 5:30 we headed for the Jungle Cruise boat and boarded for our sunset booze cruise. It took us out to Land's End, cruised the area during sunset, then headed back towards Cabo with music blasting, everyone partying and having a great time. We saw small stingrays jumping all around us - there were dozens of them - and they would just fly out of the water. We have never seen that before! We docked at about 8:30, then walked over to Cabo Wabo and Giggling Marlin. No one was in the bars, so we walked back to the hotel and called it a night. We have lots of miles to ride tomorrow so we do need to get some sleep.

Day 5 - Loreto to La Paz

We awoke this morning to a beautifully, warm day. After a quick breakfast of power bars and coffee, we gave our goodbye hugs to Debora and Gerardo and headed for LaPaz. The road wound us back into the mountains with an occasional peek of the Sea of Cortez and we climbed to about 3000 feet and cooler temperatures. Gerardo had been concerned about a section of the road before Cuidad Constitution that was under construction, but after he kindly made a quick call to the state police, he assured us it was passable for motorcycles. It was not as bad as we thought it would be and we easily passed over it and assumed our normal travel. After we reached the mountain plateau, the bikes were opened up and we cruised at about 70-75 mph. We stopped in Cuidad Constitution for gas and met a Mexican motorcyclist who was on his way from Cabo to Loreto Bay, his home. He spoke no English, but Ryaan served as our translator. He was excited when he found out we were from Arizona because of our proximity to the Mexican state of Sonora. He has family in Caborca and Hermosillo and knew all about Puerto Penasco. We chatted awhile, then he wished us a Buen Vieje as we pulled away. We stopped for a quick lunch at Los Dolores, a tiny blip in the road, where we met the owner of the Mission hotel in Loreto (where we had margaritas last night) who was also travelling to LaPaz. He was also an American from Paradise Valley! As we travelled down the road, we came upon some massive road construction where the entire road was blocked and everyone had to detour onto the hardpack alongside the road. Steve and I walked up the road to ask the workers if we could ride on the far left of the blacktop and they okayed it. I stayed there until Steve, Ryaan, and Carol drove up and the workers and I spent time taking pictures of each other. We were able to ride about a mile on the blacktop until we had to go onto the hardpack and before we knew it, we were back on the road. The rest of the trip was uneventful and we arrived in LaPaz about 3:00. The next 2 hours were spent trying to find a room. The recommended hotels were full, one had no water, and the hotel we finally chose, La Perla has no hot water, but it is a very nice place on the malecon. Right now, I am typing this sitting on the veranda of the hotel overlooking the ocean. We walked the malecon tonight seeking the best margarita, watched the sun set, played with several very cute perros, and settled in for dinner at the restaurant next to our hotel, La Terraza. We listened to live music and in Steve’s opinion, found the best margarita. It is a beautiful evening and are looking forward to another beautiful day tomorrow.

Day 4 - San Ignacio to Loreto

We got an early start, about 8:30, bundled up for the brisk desert morning, and headed for Santa Rosalia. There were a lot of workers alongside the road today and all waved at us with big smiles as we rode by. The descent into Santa Rosalia was stunning - twisty roads with sandy, barren mountains on both sides with the Sea of Cortez straight ahead. We wandered around Santa Rosalia for awhile after peeling off a few layer of clothes, then headed down the coast. We pulled off into San Bruno for a beverage and pictures, then continued on to Mulege. We filled up with gas, then rode into the town and saw Bill and the crew from the Gato Loco window shopping. We joined Bill, Shirley, Owen, Lisa, and CJ for lunch and shared stories about our Mexico travels. After saying our goodbyes after lunch, we rode up to the misson in Mulege, took pictures of the beautiful views, took off our last layer of outerware, then continued our journey to Loreto. We rode past the beautiful bay of Bahia Conception, looking for Bertha's bar, but could not find it, but plan to look for it again on our return trip. The views in this area were absolutely gorgeous with the turquoise waters and white sand beaches. After the bay, the road veered away from the water and back into the desert, so we just opened throttle and enjoyed the warm ride into Loreto. We checked into La Damiana Inn, met Debora, the owner, and Gerardo, who made us some great margaritas, certainly contenders for our best of Baja search, and sat outside with them, talking and enjoying the afternoon . Carol made friends with Ramona, their 3 month old kitten, who was very content to sleep in Carol's lap. After Steve helped Debora pick some limes off the tree, we ventured out into the city and found our way onto the malecon. Bill had recommended the Mediterranean restarant so we could have a great meal and enjoy the view under the nealy full moon; however, the restaurant is closed on Tuesdays. So we stopped at a small place overlooking the malecon for drinks and their margaritas qualified for the worst of Baja, possibly even worse than Hussongs in Ensendada! Then we tried to have dinner at Islas, recommended by Gerardo as a great seafood restaurant, but they were out of fish. We weren't having mucn luck with food, so we stopped at the Mission Hotel for another round of margaritas (did not qualify for the contest), then had just a so-so dinner at LaPalapa. It was time to head back to the hotel to plan our travels for tonorrow.

Day 3 - Catavina to San Ignacio

We woke up this morning to sunny skies and no wind! After breakfast at the hotel, we filled up with gas. Catavina does not have a gas station - we have to buy gas from the "gas guy". We walked up the road, ordered our gas, he delivered it to the hotel and poured it into the tanks. There are no more gas stations for quite awhile, so gas in Catavina is crucial for tanks that only hold 5 gallons of gas. We spent a few more minutes taking pictures of the beautiful scenery all around us. There were a variety of cactus that we had not seen before and lots of yellow flowers as far as we could see. The roads from Catavinia to Guererro Negro have quite a few patches that are pretty bumpy, but still easy to maneuver. These are the kind of roads that we had expected since we crossed the border, but all have been smooth and pothole-free. The winds kicked up again on the way to Guererro Negro, but it still was a warmer ride than yesterday. We stopped in a small "town" to get gas and noticed a huge nest on a post on the opposite side of the road with birds circling it. The station attendant told us it was a fisher eagle nest and the eagles were flying around looking for food. He said there were 15 nests in their town. Carol thinks they were osprey nests which is another name for the fisher eagle. We found a bank in G. Negro so we could pay for our tourist visas, then found a place for lunch that also had internet so I could post my blogs from yesterday since I had no internet or phone service in Catavina. The terrain changed after we left G. Negro to what we had expected - desert landscaping with sand hills dotted with cactus and scrub. It was amazing to look around and see desert for miles all around us, then suddenly a tiny town pops up out of nowhere. We have seen cows, horses, and goats along the road every day, but today we saw some donkeys, and then a lot of vultures attacking a dead cow next to the road. The temps started rising as we rode and by the time we arrived in San Ignacio, it was hot! We checked into another Desert Inn hotel (same chain as Catavina), but the spooky thing is they checked us into the same room numbers as Catavina! Then we met Marilyn and Jim from Los Barillos, who know Maggie and John who we met last night! It's such a small world. Happy hour was spent outside in the courtyard so we could enjoy the sun and warm weather, and we chatted with the other travellers, most who have dogs with them because this is a dog-friendly hotel. We walked to dinner at a little place in town next to the zocalo (town square) where we met a San Diegoan couple also heading for Cabo. We ordered margaritas and concluded that, so far, Tequila's still has the best margarita. Our new San Diego friends told us that we will find some competition for Ensenada in Loreto and Los Barillos. Steve and Ryan are now in the courtyard, beer in hand, discussing the day's events, while I am creating this blog. Carol has gone to bed. We plan to be up and out early tomorrow heading for thewarm east coast of Baja.

Day 2 - Ensenada to Catavina

We left Ensenada at 10:30 this morning after sleeping in later than we had planned, but still not too bad after getting in at 1 am last night. After eating breakfast at our hotel, we bundled up for our ride, planning on a few hours of colder temps. At 5:30 pm when we checked into our hotel in Catavina, we were still bundled up and shivering. We spent the entire day battling high winds and unseasonably cold temperatures, but the scenery on the ride made it all worthwhile. The route was a motorcyclist's dream - winding roads that climbed to elevations of 2000 feet then back to sea level with very few other vehicles on our southbound road. The topography of the Baja is not at all what we expected - rolling hills, green pastures, and vineyards, changing to flatter lands butting up to the Pacific with red flowers covering the desert floor, to more typical desert landscaping with lots of saguaro cactus, to a mixture of cactus, rocks, and huge boulders as far as we can see. We even saw a few prickly pear cactus farms, growing cactus to make nopalitos (cactus tacos). We stopped in El Rosario for a quick lunch at a quaint B&B owned by an American and his Mexican family, including a 3 month old Chihuahua and a 2 month old part-Rottie puppy. When we arrived in Catavina, we were very ready to be off the bike for the evening. We checked into the Desert Inn, a very nice hotel in a very tiny town. We met some other Americans, Maggie and John, who are travelling north to Seattle to John's home from Maggie's home in Los Barrillos, between La Paz and San Jose del Cabo. They joined us for happy hour at the hotel and we spent a few hours swapping stories. Maggie gave us some insights as to where to stay in our upcoming towns and the bars and restaurants that we need to visit. Although the margs won't be an entrant into the best of Baja, they were still quite tasty. We all enjoyed tortilla soup for dinner, then after everyone else retired for the night, Steve and I went out for a quick walk to look at stars and enjoy the evening. It didn't last long because it was cooold. We got to bed at a decent time, looking forward to the next day's ride.

Day 1 - Chandler, AZ to Ensenada, Mexico

We left Chandler today a few minutes before our planned 7:30 time under sunny skies and 71 degrees.Our route through Maricopa, then through Dead Cow Highway (238) to Gila Bend was uneventful although I think Dead Cow Highway is preparing us for Mexico roads. Nonetheless, that part of the trip was uneventful and we headed out for I-8 towards Yuma. Steve and I were prepared with headphones - he listening to Sammy Hagar and Mas Tequila and I listening to my audio book. After we crossed the California border, the temps started getting cooler and after we turned off off on I-94 we stopped and added another layer of jackets. We followed 94 to the 188, although the road markings were scarce, we eventually found the signs to the border and crossed into Mexico at Tecate. We stopped right after the border so that Steve and I could go into immigration to get our tourist visas (Carol and Ryaan still had valid visas from their trip to Belize) and although we could not pay because the banks were closed for the rest of the weekend, we were still able to apply for the visas, get them stamped, and now have 7 days to pay our fees to the bank. We found a great little place for lunch at La Placita across from the city plaza and after some Tecates (in Tecate), tacos and burritos, we headed out for Ensenada. What a beautiful ride! The roads were better than most of Arizona back roads and about 1/3 of the road was 4 lane with wide shoulders. We passed by wineries backed by mountains and green vineyards. We arrived in Ensenada right on schedule, found a quaint hotel at $40 a night, and set out to find the best margarita in the Baja. Ensenada's best choices are Tequila and Los Amigos with Hussongs having the worst even with the 2 for 1 margs. We explored the immediate area of Ensenada where we posed with Superviagraman, watched the barking sea lions on the pier, and listened to mariachis (much to Ryaan;s chagrin).We met Armando at the Licores Plaza store with the saddest story of immigration and deportation from California's legal system. Tomorrow we set out for San Quintin, El Rosario, and Catavinia.

Itinerary and Map of Baja

We are packing the bike today and Carol and Ryaan will be here about 5:00 to stay overnight. We plan to leave about 7:30 am to start Another New Adventure.

Itinerary:

Saturday, May 22, 2010 Chandler to Gila Bend to Yuma to Tecate (91°/62°) to Ensenada  65°/50° sunny

Sunday, May 23, 2010 Ensenada to El Rosario to Catavina

Option #2 Ensenada to Guerrero Negro  85°/65° sunny

Monday, May 24, 2010 Catavina to Guerrero Negro to  San Ignacio  87°/62° sunny

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 San Ignacio to Loreto  87°/68° sunny

Wednesday, May 26, 2010 Loreto to Ciudad Constitucion to La Paz 94°/63° sunny

Thursday, May 27, 2010 La Paz to Cabo  89°/67° sunny

Friday, May 28, 2010 Cabo to La Paz to C. Constitucion to Loreto 87°/68° sunny

Saturday, May 29, 2010 Loreto to Santa Rosalia to Guerrero Negro  89°/65° sunny

Sunday, May 30, 2010 Guerrero Negro to Catavina to San Quintin

Monday, May 31, 2010 San Quintin to Ensenada to San Felipe 

Tuesday, June 01, 2010 San Felipe to Chandler

2954 TOTAL MILES