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.