Riding down the Baja Peninsula and getting to know Mexico.

The following day we followed the coast down to Bahia de Los Angeles, a little town on the coast. The ride was amazing through cactus deserts filled with wild flowers that smelt like heaven (the gardeners among you will know what I mean by Dianthus/pinks/sweet Williams etc.) There had been heavy rain falls 2-3 weeks before we arrived and it had brought the deserts to life with colour.

Our accomodation was an airbnb that had us ride up a very rough track to a beautiful but simple room that over looked the bay …it was perfect!

We walked into town down the rough hill and past around a hundred dogs who all came out to bark our presence …without malice; they were just letting their owners know there was stranger about.

At the local restaurant Bec ordered a wine, they only had half a glass left so let her have it for free, this pretty much summed up most of the locals there who so so lovely and friendly …apart from the scoundrels in the blue restaurant who they all went to lengths to warm every visitor about!

5th November we and headed across the desert once more and the cactus were still as impressive, it was just this time those rains from 2-3 weeks earlier had also washed away a lot of roads and we ended up going through a lot of road works that sent us on detour though deep sand …sometimes with big rocks thrown in for good measure! At one point we went through a 5km patch that was so rough the caravan in front of us had grey water coming out of the side door by the time we got back onto the tar seal!

We arrived at San Ignacio, an amazing little oasis in the middle of the dessert, and found a local hotel and saw there was a couple of other bikers there too; John and Jay from Ontario.

We walked into town to explore the beautiful square that made us think we must be somewhere in Europe.

We sat and had a margarita at one of the local bars and then got chatting to John and Jay. It was then a case of “one tequila, two tequila, three tequila …floor”

and later that night Bec had to be helped to her room by Nick and a waitress and laid in the recover position! The next morning was not a good one!

From the 6th to the 8th Nov we rented and airbnb in a place called Mulege. One thing we had promised ourselves was that once we hit Mexico, and Baja in particular, we were going to find a place near the beach and just chillax for a few days.

The bugs are starting to grow in size!

The little house was supposedly in a quiet neighbourhood but the neighbours and the dogs must have missed that brief, because they had rock band practise one night for 3 hours and a party another night …but they were also very hard working and started work at 6 every morning on their house renovations. To be honest we found it hilarious and all part of the journey.

We found an amazing beach 30kms along the road and each day would take the bikes there and just lie on the beach and swim in the sea for a few hours. The sea was so warm and we saw fish jump out of the water right in front of us, as well as dolphin and whales sharks. It was magical.

One of the great things about this journey is the people you meet. We had already met Loke, a fellow CB500X rider in Ensenada, and we had also connected with another couple, Jackie and Davide from Ireland, who were also riding CB500x bikes down to South America. It just so happened that we were all going to be in Mulege on the same day so they all joined us for a night at the airbnb, and the local (and very informal) bar!

We have a feeling our paths are going to criss cross on and off for the next? ...how ever many? ...Months!

Wednesday 9th we made it to La Paz and found a great hotel where we could park the bikes directly outside of our room (this is a real bonus when it comes up unpacking and repacking the bikes).

The owner showed us about and told us with great delight how “Itchy Boots” had stayed there a few months before as well as give us the heads up on some of her production secrets. It was a lovely quiet haven in a busy town …and no parties or construction site antics first thing in the morning was a bonus!

We ate in a locally recommended seafood restaurant where musicians were serenading a couple …we were going to see this a lot through Mexico!

The following morning we explored a bit while waiting to board the ferry for mainland Mexico (but Nick is going to write and fill you in on the next chapter!).

But we realised something on this day, after over 14 weeks of travelling, …we realised that we couldn’t imagine going home anyone time soon, this was our “new normal”.

This crazy transient life where we only had each other and our bikes and what ever was loaded onto them.

Every day was different, but at the same time every day had routine, from unpacking our bikes in a certain way (slacken off this strap but not that etc.) to making sure as many of our bags were packed in the hotel or tent ready to put back on the bikes in the morning.

And this new life was freakin’ awesome!

PS this last photo was taken just after someone asked Nick for a photo because they thought he was Harrison Ford. He was very flattered until Bec pointed out that Harrison Ford is 80!