I crossed the border from Baja California Norte to Baja California Sur with gusto. After a day hitchhiking I was keen to get back on the saddle and was on the road at the crack of dawn.
I've passed through about 12 military check points in Baja. I've had no issues myself; as a cyclist, they just waive me through. I've spoken with others traveling by car, however, and it sounds as though they basically function as bribery stations. Extorting from tourists /people things like soda for their kids or, of course, money. A host of mine told me one time he was pulled over by a cop and the cop ends up saying to he and his passenger :"you don't have your ID, he doesn't have his seat belt on, and I haven't eaten dinner", suggesting they need to pay him off to avoid fines.
I arrived Guerra Negro midday. A busier town known as a launch point for whale watching tours starting later in the winter. Here I had my first dose of fish tacos in Baja.
Delivered as only fish /shrimp on tortilla, I learned it's a do-it-yourself kinda deal with the salads/sauces. Which I prefer anyway. Especially given they're only $1-1.50/taco.
A couple days of flat desert cycling
brought me to the oasis town of San Ignacio. A nice little town with a river that fed palm trees,
Here I stayed at 'la Casa de ciclistas' run by a family of 4. Prompted by the idea of a French couple who ended up staying with them for 2 months redesigning their back yard to accommodate camping cycle tourists.
Meeting their family and playing with their pets was really nice.
Here I met and had a lovely time exchanging travel experiences with a South Korean couple who sold their house 19 months ago and started cycling in China, then around all of SE Asia, then flew to Calgary Canada, cycled up to Jasper (like I did last summer) and then down the US coast to where I met them. They intend upon going to Argentina, for a total of 2-2.5 years and they reckon it will cost ~$45,000USD all up. Money well spent if you ask me!
Soon I reconnected with the coast and found Mulegé. The same river that passes through San Ignacio ends at the ocean in Mulege, and the palm trees seemed to have followed it.
It's a lovely little town with less tourists and I found a beautiful hotel that was basically empty.
A former prison above town is now a museum. The prison had both men and women. The non crazy men were allowed to leave to go into town to work until 6pm and then they were called back by blowing a conch. The crazy men were quarantined in this square to circumambulate ad infinitum (below) O_0
Mulegé is also known as the access to Bahia Concepción and its beaches. I heard there were little to no services along this stretch, so I loaded up on supplies, weighing my rig down to well over 90 pounds.
I first landed at Burro Beach. It has basically been turned into a snowbird retirement community. Renting the land from the government, these folks are allowed to modify their structure as they see fit, as long as they maintain a thatched roof. No running water and off the electric grid.
I next landed at playa Rueqason. Known for a spit to an island that is revealed at low tied.
Pretty views but very shallow water and mostly empty of people, it was not as worthwhile as I was hoping staying at these beaches.
South to Loreto, another long stretch in the desert.
Cacti forests
Vultures sun bathing /posing, I mistook them for statues at first
The long desert stretches started to get to me. With basically no services between towns and hot, full sun days, I was becoming a bit weary.
The next stretch would be the longest yet. I set out early to try to summit a 1800' climb before full sun. It was a nice climb but the 2nd half the day was flat desert with no shade and headwinds- a somewhat tortuous combination. And without a visor or a hat, my face got scorched...I ended the day looking like a raccoon.
I pedaled 95 miles to Ciudad Constitución, my longest day yet and it was a tough one. Then it was another two 70+ mile days of desert cycling before I reached La Paz.
To my dismay, the wind did not falter and consistently blew across or in front of me, making the sunny stretches quite trying.
When I finally crested the last rolling hill to see the ocean and La Paz, I was giddy. Excited to finish the day, to be in a small city and for a day's rest.
I quite like La Paz. A small city, on the sea of Cortez, an outdoor culture, with a vibrant downtown full of interesting shops, cafes, bars, restaurants that are alive with people out and about. There are a lot of tourists and gringos, but not overwhelmingly so. As a testament to how warm and friendly people are, I ended up having 3 protracted conversations my first night with people I met out on the town.
I asked someone at one point where I could find an area with different places to eat that wasn't touristy. I ended up at 'the market eatery'. Basically a food court of mostly woman chefs with their own kitchen. Even though it's much of the same food you find in restaurants, there's no pretense about the food, the setting or the service, so it's also much cheaper. This is my kinda place.
Before catching the ferry from La Paz, I decided to do the loop down to the end of the Baja península-Cabo San Lucas.
First to Todos Santos where I had a warmshowers host arranged. A nice town center atop a hill not far from the beach.
South towards Cabo San Lucas I stopped in Pescadero to check out Cerritos Beach, known as a great surf spot.
The coastal highway south made for some nice views, despite the growing traffic towards Bajas tourist epicenter.
As the quintessential example of the result of excessive western tourism and development, I have nothing positive to say about Cabo San Lucas. Yachts, luxury retail, overpriced food, bars, hotels, strip clubs and hoards of guys pushing drugs, I had no interest in staying.
The amount of development going on north of Cabo blew my mind. For about 15ks there was nonstop high end luxury resorts /hotels and more being constructed.
San José de Cabo, on the other hand, was a more quaint town where I found a great family restaurant and a church overflowing with people and song.
Returning to La Paz for a few days rest, I made a day trip by boat over to la isla Espíritu Santo. A really neat island; many spend days circumnavigation it.
You un see here an image of Baja shining through the rocks :
I even got to snorkel with loads of fish and sea lions. The babies are playful like puppies, darting about underneath you and jumping around you.
I really like La Paz. I ranks in my top 10 favorite cities in the world. I was sad to leave. But it was a 15 hour ferry ride to Mazatlán, Sinaloa on the main land.
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