Saturday, October 31, 2009

Wrapping up the trip

After a good night of sleep in the hotel San Nicolas in Ensenada, we drove straight home and made it there by 4 PM.

Friday, October 30, 2009

From San Quintin to Ensenada

After a good night of sleep in the best beds of the week, we drove by the coast at San Quintin and took off towards Ensenada.


We stopped in a cute restaurant to have lunch and talking to the people there, they not only recommended us the good hotels to spend the night in Ensenada, but also they advised us to take route 3 and cross in Tecate instead of crossing on Tijuana.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Driving all the way to San Quintin

After Bahia Los Angeles, we drove into the night to get all the way to San Quintin. The plan was stopping before, but the places that looked good in the map didn't when we got there. Luckily, we found a local with a delivery truck that was going to San Quintin, so we asked him and followed him. The guy was our hero, he even stopped after a military check to make sure we were following him.

From Mulegé to Bahía Los Angeles

We left the hotel in Mulege early in the morning and made a quick stop in Bahia Los Angeles.


We had lunch at Reina's in Bahia Los Angeles and hit the road again.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Hanging out

We decided to spend a quiet day and do some fishing and swimming in that beautiful beach.

 

That night, the wind started picking up and we decided to leave and spend the night in the city before starting our trip back home.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Arrived to Bahia Concepcion

We drove south until we reached a beach recommended to us, Playa el Burro in Bahia Concepcion.

Left San Ignacio towards the coast again

San Ignacio is in the middle of the Baja peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. We hanged out a little bit in camp after breakfast and have fun with some kayaks before taking off.


 
We checked out town and found some pay phones to call to the US, and then continued driving south on Highway 1 until we reached the Sea of Cortez.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Arrived at San Ignacio

We continued south on Highway 1 and saw how the dessert got a little greener when we were approaching San Ignacio.

 

San Ignacio is a pretty cool colonial style town. We drove around a little bit and decided to spend the night in a yurt rented from a couple of Canadians. We heard about the Canadians and their cool camp from a couple of motorcycle rides we met in San Felipe.

Stop at Santa Rosalillita

We stopped at Santa Rosalillita because there was supposed to be very good seafood there. Not only there was no seafood or restaurant there, but we also learned that the government has restricted the amount of fishing the locals can do.

Coco's corner

In our way to Highway 1, we stopped at Coco's corner, which is a traditional place for the Baja races.

 

Coco's corner is a very unique place, and Coco a cool guy. We unfortunately did not meet him personally. We saw a truck that slowed down to a stop when we drove by them. Later we learned that it was Coco and he was actually stopping to give us any advice or help we might need, and to check the pressure in our tires. Apparently, many people travel the gravel roads with too much air in their tires, which leads to damaging the tires and not having good stability.
During the Baja races, people that camp at Coco's corner leave a present behind which gets displayed there as you can see on this picture.




Soon after leaving Coco's corner, we got to the Highway and started moving faster.


Leaving Bahia Luis Gonzaga

We got up very early in the morning and after having a good breakfast, we hit the road going south. The goal was getting to Highway 1 and head south a little faster than on the gravel roads we were driving these first days.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Night at Punta Willard

We figured out right away that the Restaurant and Hotel Alfonsina in Punta Willard was not what we were looking for. The whole strip of houses next to the hotel looked very luxurious in contrast with the only little store and gas station in town. Some houses have planes in the driveway instead of cars, since some of the wealthy people that have houses there just fly instead of driving the gravel road we drove.

We decided to spend the night in a palapa and make a nice fire.

From Puertecitos to Bahia Luis Gonzaga

We left Puertecitos that morning and went south on gravel roads towards Bahia Luis Gonzaga.


We got to Punta Willard in Bahia Luis Gonzaga and stopped to eat and figure out where to spend the night.

 

We tried to get gas, but the dude in charge was watching a game, so only the dog was left behind taking a nap at the gas station.

Hot Springs at Puertecitos

We found out that there are hotsprings in Puertecitos, right next to the ocean.


There's sulfur in the hotspring water so it smells bad, but it felt awesome.

Morning at Puertecitos

This was the view we woke up to in our first morning of the trip.


Saturday, October 24, 2009

First night of the Baja trip

After driving a little bit in San Felipe, we decided to leave the city and spend the night a little south of there in Puertecitos. We got there at night, so we didn't see what the place looked like. We were tired of driving and ready to sleep in our tent.

The Baja trip starts

We took off early in the morning to make it by night pass the more populated areas in the north close to the border in Mexicali.


We stopped for gas right before crossing the border to Mexico to avoid stopping close to the border and to get good gas. Some people told us that the gas in Baja could be not as good as the one we get in the US.

 

Crossing the border was pretty easy and fast, but they stopped us and made us open the cases in the back of the bike. Lito's were a little messy and he wasn't happy about it.

 

As soon as we crossed and left the city behind, we found some desert. It got windy and hot. We were already traveling!!!


A few hours later, we got to the first stop at San Felipe to eat and figure out where to spend the night.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Mounting the tires

We were afraid that mounting the tires might be an issue, but it was easier than we thought. With the right technique and tools, the tires went in with no problems. It might be more difficult out there in Baja, but we at least got the practice doing it in the garage before the trip.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

New tires

One of the most important things we had to do was to get new tires for the motorcycles. Baja is very unforgiving with motorcycle tires and we didn't want to take a chance. We purchased the tires online and got an overnight shipping to Lito's house. The tires arrived on time and now it was on us to change them.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Getting the bikes ready

During the first week, I worked from Lito and Monique's house while we prepared the motorcycles for our trip.


Sunday, October 18, 2009

Trip to San Diego with the van

I took off very early in the morning with the van towards San Diego. The plan is to make a trip to Baja California with the motorcycle I just purchased with my friend Lito, and then bring the motorcycle back to Oregon in the van.


I drove the whole day, and when I got to San Diego, I found Lito laying in the couch with his ankle in really bad shape from a soccer game. He's not as young as he things he is.  ;-)