Author: docsurf

Well, this wasn’t exactly a planned event….I’m back in Las Vegas.

Rosa and I had been talking ever since we got to her Mom’s house and it became apparent that neither of us liked how things ended between us prior to me leaving.

So a spur of the moment airline trip later and I’m back in Vegas.  The trip is by no means over, just on hold for a bit.  No remorse on my part because this gives me the chance to sort out some gear issues as well.

I’ll be working on my Spanish both through Rosa (although she is self-admittedly a bad teacher) and with the software Dom gave me while we were riding together.

I’ll let you all know things as they unfold.

On Thursday night prior to the guys leaving we had part of Rosa’s extended family come over to visit.  Much Tecate fell in the ensuing onslaught.  Prior to them leaving, they commented that we should go out to the ranch over the weekend.  No particular plans, just that comment.  So since the guys hadn’t heard anything since they decided to push on to Mazatlan Saturday morning.

Early Sunday morning Beto and I went to the local street market.  Whoa!, talk about a combination garage sale on steroids and a farmer’s market.  There was literally everything for sale…all kinds of fruits and veggies, any type of meats and cheese, as well as new/used everything else.

Beto and I got back home about an hour or so later, but not before he picked up an order of “Cabeza” (head) tacos.  This is an early Sunday morning treat he picks up for his little girl …my god-daughter.  It was fun to be included in their special time.

I was a bit surprised when Akira, Mony, and their three sons showed up late Sunday morning to pick me up.  They were headed off to the ranchito.  I grabbed my camera and took off with them.

I got dropped off in the early evening and needless to say had a pretty good time.

The only downside to being here with family is a complete lack of wi-fi.  We hadn’t been able to post any updates for a bit.

I called Alan the second day we were in town and he said he’d like to come by to see us the next day.  After much discussion between Alan and Lorena giving directions Alan showed up.  Apparently Lorena’s direction had a lot of “come to me”….hmmm for some reason this didn’t help Alan out too much!

Anyway, he showed up and took us to a local house where his houseguest had prepared lunch.  It was pork chops and other wonderful food.  It was a darn good meal.  Alan has a couple of different businesses, one of which is construction related.  Pedro (being a carpenter) asked if we could go to his shop, so off we went.

It turns out Alan manufactures furniture (think entertainment units, closet inserts, benches) out of a pre-cast material that’s kind of like a combination of concrete/plaster.  It’s very durable (termites don’t like it) and cheap.  Alan also has a business of selling Nopales (cactus) to various ladies around town.  He asked me if I’d like to see the family farm and what it’s all about.  The farm boy in me agreed.

He met me at the house the next morning about 7:30 and after running a few errands around the city we headed out towards Pericos.  Alan’s family has been in this territory for a loooong time.  His family ranch is over 150,000 acres and is one of the largest privately owned ranches in the state of Sinaloa.  We hadn’t gotten quite to Pericos when we turned off on a dirt road.  About a mile or so off the highway we came to the family farmhouse and the field of nopales.

Once the truck was loaded up it was back to Culiacan.  I rode all over town with Alan and Inez selling to a wide variety of vendors.  I would have loved to have taken some photos, but felt like it may have been somehow a bad idea.  Since this is Alan’s livelihood I didn’t want to jeopardize it.  We were in some pretty rough and run-down areas, but darned interesting to see.  We finished around 6pm.  The family wasn’t too thrilled I had been gone so long.  I think they thought the worst and I can appreciate where they were coming from.  Culiacan is a rough town.

Having said that, I’d decided I wanted to stay and start my Spanish lessons.  It would give me a chance to speak and understand more as well as give me some time with family.  Not to mention a place to stay.

Pedro and Dom decided to head out Sat morning towards Mazatlan.

Now I just had to find a teacher!

I had been interested to see Pericos as that is where Rosa had been born.  Hate to say it, but I was glad to get out of town.  It was the first town I had a bad feeling about…from just about the moment we rode into town.

The remainder of the ride was nothing special except for one small bit…as I was riding along I spotted a small cathedral on a hill and realized it was a village where Rosa and I had been invited to a big party when we had last visited her family in Culiacan.

I spotted a OXXO and went in to get some water when I spotted Dom and Pedro on the other side of the building.  I told them I knew where we were and I was going up the hill to see the cathedral.  Neither was too interested so I went up by myself.  It was a really nice blast from the past.  I had really good memories of our time there.

I emailed the above photo to Rosa and was surprised to finally get a response.  It made me smile even more than I was in the photo above.  We stopped by the house where we had the party but a neighbor confirmed that the family only came out on the weekends.

We continued on into Culiacan.  We all met each other at a Pemex station on the outskirts of town and rode in to town together.  The traffic was busy as hell, but we got through the center of town without too much trouble.  The same couldn’t be said for the remainder of the ride up to Rosa’s family’s house.  It is located on the hillside where all the TV/Radio transmitters are…yep, part of the highest part in town.

I’ll give Dom credit, as he was able to get up the stupidly steep part of the neighborhood hills.  Pedro and I both had to walk our bikes up and Pedro actually came back to help me out with mine.  Not fun….no joy…I’m just glad I didn’t stroke out!

We finally got to the top only to realize that we had gone too far and got to descend.  It was decidedly easier and I was glad to have those big 203 rotors stopping me.

Rosa’s sister-in-law Lorena met us at the door followed by my Granddaughter.  They both had big smiles on their faces.

Later in the afternoon all the men returned home from work, Rosa’s brothers, Luis, Chuy and Betto.  It was good to see them all.  They made room for us in Rosa’s Mom’s room (she’s currently in Denver visiting family).  Awfully nice of them to do so as it’s the only room with a/c.

After talking with all the members of family it turns out that no one really believed I was riding a bicycle.  Apparently they thought I was riding a motorcycle down.  Seeing is believing.

Dom and I got an early start on the day, but Pedro had mentioned the night before that he’d like to sleep in.  With our riding styles that would mean he’d eventually catch up with me.  The hills weren’t too bad, but the scenery started to turn to desert and the temps began to climb.

About 10am Dom and I pulled into a little oasis nestled on the side of a mild climb.  A sign out front proclaimed “Queso” which should indicate a place which serves up daily fresh made cheese.  We pulled in and the word oasis became very fitting.  For being in the middle of nowhere this was a really nice little place.  Two older ladies were working the place.  There were flower gardens the likes of which I hadn’t seen since I left my house…very pretty.

After having a plate of Huevos Rancheros we decided to sit back in one of their several comfortable rocking chairs.  It probably took me about 5 minutes before I started to nod off.  The owner started us asking if we wanted something but neither Dom nor I could grasp what she was saying.  She motioned for us to follow her.  We walked to the rear of the compound and saw a covered area with three hammocks slung.  Oh yeah!  We both crashed for about an hour or so before Pedro ambled in.  He was about ready to ride by when the owner’s husband saw Pedro and flagged him down.

Pedro commented that it was blistering hot out and the Garmin showed it was 95 in the shade.  Pedro had a bite to eat and hit the road again.  Dom wasn’t sure if he was going to head out now or wait for the heat to pass.  He pissed about for a few minutes before deciding to go.  I said I was going to try to hitch a ride.  I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of riding the hills in the heat.

I stood on the side of the road for about 15 minutes before deciding that I may as well ride instead of just standing around in the sun.  It was a good decision.  The hills weren’t too bad and I actually enjoyed the ride.  I seems I had turned a pivotal corner…at least as far as being able to finally enjoy riding goes.

I caught up with them at the exit into Pericos.  We rode into town and had a hell of a time finding the one and only hotel…oh what a place.  It cost 350 pesos.  I paid and then the owner told us there wasn’t any water for another 3 hours.  We stowed our gear and searched out dinner.  As a side note they both had noteworthy things happen while in search of the hotel.  Dom had some old boy try to hook him up with a local working girl and some local kids try to sell him a bag of weed, while Pedro had the local law enforcement try to sell him some cocaine.  It was the first time they had seen that side of Mexico.  Would be nice if it’s the last time.

Not long after the above photo was taken we got water in the room…although the shower didn’t work…at least we could brush our teeth.

The next morning we would have been on the road fairly early except we couldn’t leave the room…until we could open the door.  The friggin’ lock was froze up.  After banging on the door the owner heard us and after about 10 minutes he was finally able to get it open.  Yep, great place!

We walked across the street for some breakfast prior to hitting the road and I’m glad we did as we met “Alan” who spoke english and said he would be in Culiacan later in the day.  He said he’d like to have us over for dinner while we were there and gave us his number.  It was a nice way to end our time in town.

Too funny, the hotel we stayed in last night was a pretty swanky place…a place where one takes a girlfriend for a few hours of relaxation would probably be the safest way to put it.  The shower was of note because it had fancy curved glass doors (didn’t shut worth a damn) and a digitized system inside with radio and speakers….it didn’t however have a shower knob.  Ah well, we managed to get it to work well enough to use.  Trust me, a screwed up shower is still a shower!

We took off for Guamuchil early the next morning.  This is all pretty flat farmland with lots of corn.  Nothing really noteworthy, but very nice.

We got into Guamuchil mid-afternoon and ran smack dab into the longest line of busses I’ve ever seen.  There was a presidential political rally taking place and busses from all over the state of Sinaloa were to be found here.  Thankfully there wasn’t a lot of pedestrian traffic and we were able to navigate our way to “Centro”, the center, of town.

Never seen such a wide variety of busses all in one spot.

We hadn’t been riding very long before a young kid with a younger passenger pulled alongside.  I don’t recall what we asked him, but from that moment on Braulio was our constant guide while we were in town.  Braulio is 17 and his passenger was his 14-year-old brother.  We told them we needed a cheap hotel and within a few minutes he weaved his way through traffic to the front of just what we were looking for…cheap accommodations!  The owner/manager wanted 580 pesos for a triple room, but it wasn’t available on the first floor (very convenient to have if you don’t want to lug bikes upstairs).  We dickered with him on the price and he commented that he did have a very large room with four beds right down the hall.  We took a look and were sold for a whopping 405 pesos.

When we look for a place we are usually looking for; 1) price, 2) a/c, 3) wi-fi, 4) bike storage.  We really don’t require too much…and come to think of it, we usually don’t get too much, but it’s good enough for our needs.

After dropping the gear from our bikes Braulio took us to a nearby Banamex as I was running low on cash.  It was pretty warm out so it wasn’t surprising to see a group of people waiting their turn inside the ATM room.  I got in line with everyone else and when finally my turn my card wouldn’t work.  Not wanting to stop the flow, I just got back into line.  I realized it was a problem with what I had tried to do and the next time around it went smoothly….thank God!

When I came out I found Braulio’s father had showed up and he was talking with Dom and Pedro.  I think he wanted to check out who his son was showing around and take his younger son off his hands.  We asked him for some lunch options and he told Braulio where to take us.  In a moment we were off and soon were eating yet another great meal.  Funny how good each meal is after you’ve been cycling for a while.

We went back to the hotel for some siesta time and Braulio gave us his cell number and told us to call later.  I had given him 100 pesos for all his help and his eyes about popped out.  We crashed hard for probably four hours before getting cleaned up and ready for round two of Mexicana fare.

We decided we didn’t have anything to lose by calling Braulio and within 15 minutes he was at our door.  We were really surprised when we went outside and he had the family van curbside to take us to dinner.  We went to a great place where I feasted especially well on Menudo (tripe stew….yum) and Gorditas (little corn saucers which hold some meat, cheese, avocado, salsa etc…).  It was all incredibly good.

When we left we were all pretty stuffed but Braulio told us he was taking us for refreshes (usually it refers to a treat of shaved ice with a flavored topping).  We were all very surprised when he pulled up in front of his own house.  It turns out his Grandmother has a stand in front of the house and she sells these all day long.  They probably have 15 or so different flavors from Tequila to strawberry, guava to vanilla.  I picked Chili Mango with a little strawberry.  It was a very good combo.

All the family was there along with a good family from next door.  Everyone was interested in what we are doing.  We had a great time with them.

Braulio wanted to know what we wanted next and although I didn’t tell him why all I wanted was a bathroom…something wasn’t quite right…and for the next few days it wouldn’t be quite right.  Yep, oh great one with the cast iron stomach is the first one with issues.

Regardless it was a great evening.

So our start in mainland Mexico was a bit confused/herky-jerky….slow.  We got up soon enough, but our room didn’t have a wi-fi connection so Pedro

and I went to the office where the connection was good.  I went there with the intention of downloading a bike repair app on my iPhone, because once again my bike was giving me derailleur issues.  Well that turned into checking email, etc.  So about an hour or so passed by before I made it back to the room.

I fiddled with the bike a bit, but truly wasn’t sure if I was only making the problem worse.  Regardless, we got ourselves pretty much squared away, before deciding to get some breakfast.

Dom randomly picked a spot and it turned out to be a pretty good choice.  Breakfast was “Birria”.  A rather soupy affair of carne asada and broth served with fresh tortillas and sides of cilantro, onion, salsa, and a very thin guacamole spread which elevated the dish to damned delicious for breakfast!

Our hosts were three nice ladies who in between bringing us food were very busy giggling and carrying on.  Partly it was Pedro’s hair style/color and partly because one of them was wondering if I was “Papa” to these two.  She was mortified when her co-worker asked us.  I’ve never seen a grown woman so glad to get up from the table and run to a grill in order to hide her face from blushing and smiling.

The next stop was at the local “oficina de correos” or, post office.  I still was lugging around the backpack containing all the items I had taken out of my bags in order to lighten the load and was looking forward to getting it sent back to the states…unfortunately the office was closed.  Because we had gotten behind schedule it was decided to push on to Los Mochis and hope that we could mail from a much larger branch.  Thankfully it was only 24k away and was a flat ride the whole time.

We got there around 2pm and finally located the place.  It wasn’t long before Dom and I stood at the counter while the postmaster went though all the items in the bag.  Of course the first item he removed was my brand new machete.  He let me know that it would not be making the trip.  There were several raised eyebrows at the sight of it being pulled out of the backpack.  We assured them it was merely a camping tool and not to be used for what was going on in their minds!

Thankfully the rest went off without a hitch.  He found a suitable box and got it nicely packed.  A few hundred pesos later and I was given a confirmation number to let me check on its progress home…which should only take about 15 days to get to Vegas…fine by me.

The order of business was to find a bicycle shop.  We found a few, but none had a competent mechanic and we were pointed in the direction of Kiko’s Bici shop.  Dom commented that he had read a blog about the shop and it had a good reputation.  He knew of the shop because there were posters/photos around of the owner’s daughter who is a competitive rider competing for the Mexican international team.

It wasn’t long before Francisco “Kiko” declared my bike to be adjusted properly…time will tell.  Pedro had him check a couple of issues on his bike as well.  They also gave us directions to a good seafood place a few blocks away…and they were right.  The food was delicious with the standout being a plate of overly large looking scallops, but they weren’t scallops…more like abalone.  It was served raw, with lime, onions and garlic and was delicious!

Since we were close to the freeway taking us southbound to Culiacan we decided to find a place to stay nearby instead of heading back to downtown.  We found a place a short ride down the freeway and prior to getting there spoke to a really nice family who was closing up their business for the day.  The offered to let us use the grounds after they left for the night if we didn’t like the hotel.  They were incredibly friendly and we appreciated their offer.  However, a/c, a shower and a OXXO” (think 7-11) nearby was all it took to convince us we made the right choice with the hotel….oh, the OXXO sells cold Tecate beer!

We made up for yesterday’s late start by getting up and on the road by 7:30.  Thankfully for me the riding was again flat, giving me the chance to get prepared for the things to come.  We had a 54k ride towards Guasave.  This is all farmland, a nice change from arid Baja.

My butt was getting tired….just couldn’t seem to find a good spot for it on the saddle, so I was awfully glad to see the sign telling me we weren’t too far away from town.

As we arrived we were met with a couple of kilometers of busses.  Apparently one of the Presidential candidates were speaking and people were brought from all over to attend.

We had just gotten into town when a kid…along with his kid brother, joined us on their moped.  They turned out to be quite the tour guides for us…they found us a cheap hotel, Banamex (Citibank’s sister bank in Mexico), and our place for lunch.

Our guide joined us for lunch and a good thing too.  I ordered the special, was I surprised when she came with a plate loaded with three double tacos.  I could only eat one, Dom one, and Braulio ate the last one…he swore he’d just eaten, but he managed pretty well.

Braulio guided us back to the hotel and gave Dom his cell number.  He said if there was anything else we needed later to just give him a call….what a hustler, but in a good way.

All three of us crashed as soon as we got in the room.  Who knows what this evening holds in store for us?

So after enjoying La Paz for a few days we decided it was time to push on and take the ferry over to Topolobampo in Sinaloa, Mexico.  Sinaloa will be the first state we’ll visit in Mexico.

We bought our tickets on Weds afternoon at the Baja Ferry office not too far from downtown La Paz.  As always, whenever we ride our bikes, we get lots of stares from everyone…I suppose Pedro’s newly minted green hair is part of the reason though.

It was a lot of fun at the ticket counter.  Being the ever effusive kind of guy I am, I started things off with my greeting and asking her how she was (really the spanish I’m most comfortable with…besides, she was cute!).  I bought my ticket and then it was Dom’s turn…unfortunately for him his credit card wouldn’t go through…damn the luck!  Pedro waited….somewhat patiently and gave exact change to the girl which made her smile and Dom blush.  You probably had to be there to really appreciate the moment.

We spent our last night in La Paz eating dinner with Peter, a local tattoo artist, which Pedro/Peter ran into a day before.  We went to a place called “Bandito’s” and I enjoyed one of the best burgers I’ve never been able to finish…typical.

The next day we said our goodbye’s to the staff at Hotel Yeneka.

Pedro had taken off earlier as he was going to stop at a local spa on the way to the ferry terminal and have someone work on his knee…it’s been bugging him and he’s hoping this might help.  So Dom and I pushed off for the 25k ride to the terminal.

The road to the terminal is hilly, which gave wonderful views of the many little bays and the town behind.

The downside of the hills was the fact that my derailleurs were giving me fits again…I had some choice words as I climbed!  Ah well…

When I got to the terminal I spotted Dom just outside the gates.  I could tell something was wrong and once I got inside to join him I learned that he’d been getting the Mexican shuffle….one person sent him one place while another sent him a different way….he did this four times and wasn’t too pleased….along with the fact that once again he’d forgotten something at the hotel.  So I sat tight with our bikes as he grabbed a cab and shot back into town.  It wasn’t too long before he showed back up….with his toiletries bag.

We hadn’t seen Pedro and everyone was getting into line waiting to be let on the ferry.  Just as they opened the gates here comes Pedro…who can’t be missed with his green mohawk!  More than a few stared open-mouthed as he rode up to join us.  He had been delayed as he went to one entry point and had all his bags searched (go figure).

When we got to the entry point Dom was up front and he had to push a button which randomly picks you for further screening or allows you pass through without issue…he got the green light and the Officer at the entrance allowed all three of us to pass through.

This thing swallows a lot of big rigs.  Most of the passengers are the drivers/passengers.  I’m sure this might change on the weekends or holidays, but I was surprised at the lack of pedestrian traffic.

We left promptly at 2:30.  I watched a movie (in Spanish), worked on my Spanish (thanks Dom) and took a fine nap in the Salon (not the hair kind bonehead…the Salon has nice cushy seats that recline).

We pulled into Topolobampo around 9:30 and got off the ferry around 10 or so.  We had been told about a motel in town and since none of us were keen about riding 24k at night we made our way directly there (after Pedro crashed into a concrete barrier….ala PeeWee Herman…I meant to do that!).

We got checked in, unpacked and walked a few blocks into town for some decent tacos and lots of stares.  Wasn’t too long before we were back and sacked out.

Wow, I didn’t realize this much time had gone by since I last wrote.

The three of us took off from Loreto and got to Puerto Escondido…about 25k away.  There was a scenic overlook of the Sea of Cortez and a vendor there was selling green coconuts.

For those of you who haven’t tried one they are unlike any coconut type product you’ve had before.  Since they are green they are still husked so the vendor uses a machete to cut down to the shell and make just a big enough hole to stick a straw into so you can suck out the water.  Once it is gone it’s time to split the coconut in half and using a bent knife he slices away the coconut meat from one half into the other.  It is then presented and a liberal sprinkling of hot sauce and lime juice complete it.  The texture is like eating raw calamari.  Very soft and kinda slimy, but very tasty.

Just as we were finishing up an old VW van pulled in and I got talking with the driver, Scott Thibodeau.  Scott is from Manitoba Canada and is in the Baja doing a videography of the area.  You can see some of his latest on http://www.wanderglobe.com.  Since I had no desire to do the massive climb ahead and he was headed the same direction I accepted his offer to take me to the top…or Ciudad Insurgentes.  Well, as it turned out, I rode with him all the way to Ciudad Constitucion (Insurgentes didn’t have much to offer).

So yet again I got a bit of a jump on the boys (and yes, this will be a somewhat recurring theme!).  I got a hotel (surprisingly difficult in this town as it is full of crews coming in to harvest and work the fields).  I biked around quite a bit of this dusty spot on the road.  There is darned little gringo money apparent here and the blue-collar background shows a nice slice of everyday Baja Mexican life.

I know it’s hard to believe, but I found the best street taco stand in town.  Four tacos…loaded, with a tray of condiments for 80 pesos.  Life is good!

Considering the hill the boys had to climb I was surprised to hear from them early the next morning letting me know they’d be in town by that afternoon.  Knowing they’d be beat I got cold beers located.

A short while later they arrived.  Pedro’s knees were shot and he confirmed that my hitching a ride was probably a good idea.  They crashed (slept) and I caught up on my reading of “Crime & Punishment”…I’m wondering if all Russian novels are this difficult to get through?

When they finally roused themselves we all went out and…you guessed it, back to the best taco stand in town.  It was good time, especially considering I got to sit next to two cuties from La Paz!  Pedro posted a pic on FB.

We pushed off early the next morning and I saw this restaurant as we left…I have to admit I would have loved trying it.

We covered 100k today, my personal best to date.  It wasn’t too bad, but mainly because the road was nice and flat for most of the ride.

We stopped at a little wide spot in the road and filled our water bottles and took a much-needed rest.  The family working the place was pretty nice and we enjoyed vegetable tamales and bean soup….damn good for the soul!  They had a toddler who didn’t know what to make of the three of us.

We pushed on to El Cien which is pretty much the halfway mark for bicycle riders.  We found one of only two places to eat.  This one had a ton of good feel to it.  The owners Manuel and Susana are relocated from La Paz.  They had lots of photos and it seems that Manuel was a hell of a fighter in his time.  He was doing MMA long before the UFC existed…who knew?

We spent the night inside a “casitas”…basically a little stone cabin.  The funny part was being woken up by at least three crowing roosters.  Pedro (Peter) swears at least one of them was sitting on his while doing so.

I got on the road first.  It was pretty chilly out as there was an overcast sky.  The fog from the ocean comes this far inland.

Today wasn’t going to be the flat riding of yesterday, nope, today was riding up and down arroyos over and over again on the way to kilometer marker 75 where the assault on the big hill is supposed to begin.

It wasn’t too long before Dom passed by me.  We rode together for a few before the rolling terrain slowed me down too much.  Here’s a couple of photos which show the difference between the Nevada desert and Baja.

Dom and I figured that Pedro would have caught up with me by the time I hit the 75 K marker, but such was not the case.  It was around 10-11am by the time we got to the restaurant here.  We ordered up some chow (I ended up with the best plate of Huevos Rancheros yet).  Just as soon as we finished and were getting ready to leave Pedro showed up.  He enjoyed sleeping in more than us.

We took off leaving him in anticipation of his lobster tacos.

I was psyched for the upcoming climb…but it really never materialized.  There were a few long gradual pulls but nothing like the climb from sea level leaving Loreto to the plateau above.  I can’t say I was too disappointed.  However, the rolling hills also became much more stretched out and the wonderfully cool overcast riding weather had been replaced by hot…damned hot.

By the time Pedro overtook me I told him I intended to hitch a ride when the opportunity presented itself.  Opportunity knocked around the 45-50k marker when a van pulled over.  The driver had already picked up two younger guys hitching to La Paz but he still had room for me and the bike in the cargo area.  So without delay we loaded the bike and myself into the rear and shut the doors.  The only down side to this was that I couldn’t see a thing…only feel the sharp turns.

About 20 minutes later we were in the outskirts of La Paz.  We unloaded and I gave the guy 40 pesos…maybe it’ll help convince him to pick up the next biker in need.  The 20 minute ride would have easily taken me three hours to complete…I had no regrets.

Earlier I scoured TripAdvisor.com and found a hotel I wanted to try in downtown La Paz.  Hotel Yeneka is a sight!  It’s a funky, artsy place where the owners have mashed together a lot of junk to make it, well….funky and artsy!

Lastly there is “Bush”, an adorable little cat who likes to keep me company as I write.

While waiting for the boys to arrive I met two other travelers who had just arrived, Neil and his brother Chris, from…Las Vegas.  Go figure.  Really nice guys who are backpacking through Baja.  Not long after the boys arrived so it was off to dinner and cold beer.

So we get out of Mulege pretty early, having learned our lessons.  We rode up and down till we finally see the beautiful Sea of Cortez and a small community at Coyote Bay below us.  We decide to stop and get water (a typical thing at any roadside spot) and end up talking with an Americano.  He got us plenty of water and sent us in the direction of Lucy, who runs a hostal.  We’d decided to call it quits for the day as it was so damn hot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sat around for about an hour and about then a group of three enduro riders pulled up.  All three are Australians (two had been working in BC and the third joined them there).  They were on their way to Chile and anyplace in between which caught their eye.  A darn good group of adventurers.  They knew they were crazy for motorcycling the way down and were pretty sure we were even more daft than they were.  They were kind enough to tell us they would place a gallon of water 20k down the road for us.

They took off after a couple hours and we decided that we’d leave after we ate some dinner (hey who knows when we might find another place?).  Dom is pretty good at putting down the chow, so I ordered up some fish, chile rellenos and a pork torta (mexican sandwich).  It wasn’t the best but was certainly filling!  Oh how I regretted that!  As we pedaled up the hills I realized that eating a big meal (even if it might be your last) isn’t conducive to hard pedalling!  Ah well.

As we came down a hill my bike started to handle kind of odd and it wasn’t long before I realized I had a rear flat tire….WTF…I’m riding Schwalbe’s damnit!  We pulled off and Dom is pretty certain that it’s the way Raphael installed the tire liner as the cause.  Regardless we put in a new tube, patched the old tube and were off…but not before something stung/bit my rather large right butt cheek as I was bent over with the tire issue.  Damn!

Anyway as it was getting dark Dom and I realized we needed to push it to get to our night time stop area.  I’ve got a great headlight and Dom a great taillight…unfortunately the way we bike wasn’t conducive to utilizing either at their best…ah well!

We got to our destination and at first thought it was a deserted hotel….well it was …kind of?  As we began walking by the front of it I was surprised to see a young man sitting on the veranda (turns out he is a worker for the hotel trying to get it back into shape).  However, a short distance away we can see a dim light on and hear the sounds of a TV.  There is the problem of getting there.  It’s so damn dark out we didn’t see a driveway to the other place, but we did spot a rather broken down foot bridge crossing to it.  I shined my light on Dom and he went across.

I was going across when I heard someone shout to turn the light off.  A short time later we met with Mark, the owner of Playa Buenaventura, a combination of homes and restaurant.  It’s a wonderful oasis and just what the doctor ordered.  They enjoyed kidding me the following morning for ordering four beers, handing one to Dom and downing the rest!  Hey it was cold…and wet…and I was thirsty!

One of the crew there was Peter.  It turns out that Peter is a cycle tourist as well.  He was going to leave the following morning and we decided to cycle together.  A few beers later we crashed on the patio.

Next morning Dom and I were up early.  Peter heard us and eventually rolled out of his tent.  He told us he was going to have coffee and breakfast and would catch up with us a we rode.  So without further adieu off we went.

As usual Dom was out of sight in no time leaving me to myself…but it wasn’t long before I had company…not Peter, but a skip…in my chain!  Somehow, for some reason my chain was skipping as I pedaled along.  This may not seem like much but it’s a real issue when you’re climbing and a semi is going past and it skips.  It tends to unbalance you a bit.

Peter caught up with me and I told him the problem.  It took a while but finally I caught up to them at a little roadside spot.  We found there was a kink in the chain, but none of us really knew what to do about it.  I hate to say it, but I was pretty friggin’ demoralized.  As we pondered the issue, Mark from Playa Buenaventura pulled up in his truck.  He comes to this spot with his water trailer to fill it up and take back.  I decided to hitch back to his place in hopes of catching a ride into Loreto where I’d meet the guys.

I ended up staying a full day with them.  They are awfully good people and I appreciated the assistance they gave me.  Mark’s wife Olivia made some outstanding soup that went a long way to my mental and physical recovery.  Mark and his son Nathan talked me into going swimming in that beautiful blue water and it too helped my spirit.

They told me that a friend would be swinging by later to join us for spaghetti dinner.  Well it turns out that Steve, a Reno guy, is a bicyclist as well and he agreed to giving me a ride the following morning into Loreto.  Life is good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve and I had a good ride into Loreto.  He’s a kindred spirit and I look forward to having the opportunity to return the favor to him in the future.  He’s 61 (doesn’t seem it) and is currently training to do a race in Maui up the volcano on his bike in August.  I’ll look forward to hearing about it.

I had read about a bike shop in Loreto and that’s where we went…Manny’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn’t long before Dom and Peter joined us and not long before Manny had my bike up and running…as well as Peter’s.  Manny is a remarkable craftsman and anyone in the area would be well to stop by his shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the bike shop we had lunch with Steve before he headed off to home.  He’s got to finish packing as he will be in Reno for the next few months waiting for things to cool off down here.  I had some running around to do in Loreto and they guys were good enough to make sure I didn’t get too lost along the way.

They stayed with an Americano living here in Loreto while I chose the San Martin Hotel (on Benito Juarez Blvd.)…I enjoy A/C!

We’re going to meet tonight for a few beers and we’ll be leaving early in the morning for Ciudad Insurgentes (it will take at least two days so won’t have internet).  Stay tuned!