14july05

ALTO!

we've been stopped at three military checkpoints in baja california.  despite the many stories we've heard of corrupt officials looking to plant drugs or weapons in your car only to be searched 5 miles down the road by their buddies who then demand pay off for not sending you down, we've encountered none of this.  perhaps it's because we've been heading south rather than north (the route the drugs from colombia, bolivia take on their way to the US) or perhaps it's because the right hand drive provides a dependable ice breaker with the otherwise intimidating officers who carry oversized machine guns over their backs, but we've just exchanged pleasantries and been waved on.  the only minor incident was when we crossing over from baja north to baja south by a town called Guerrero Negro. after 200km of dead straight, empty roads we realised the gently waving floating mass we had been approaching was an immense mexican flag suspended some 100 feet in the air. when we finally pulled up to what we expected was going to be a full vehicle search, a teenager wearing a shell suit ran up to the car, asked us whether we were carrying fruits? we said yes a few oranges in the fridge, he said ok how about 10 pesos for a fumigation, we said sorry mate only have dollars, he said no worries off you go and please stop 2 metres up the road, we did and his buddy sprayed a wheel and then waved us on.

san ignacio, oasis town

still gutted to have left beautiful bahia de los angeles, our first stop in baja south reminded us we had so much to look forward to ahead. we pulled into a place called san ignacio springs, a hotel right on the oasis water run by a canadian couple called gary and terri, with their daughter toni and her kiwi boyfriend rhodes and their dogs rocky and lucky.  our room was a detached yurt (?) - a mongolian version of a tipi (with electricity and water) and great value at $50 a night as we got all you can eat non-taco home cooked breakfast with family and other guests, unlimited use of their sea kayaks and boats to go up and down the oasis, plenty of swimming and plenty of help from gary re fixing the persistent problem with the car.

gary drove me to his local mechanic, raul.  although was not expecting to be in and out in a shot, when i pulled up at the garage he was working on the fuel pump of a 1970s miracle-it-still-moved rusty dodge motor home. so  i relaxed and read my book for an hour or two and finally the dodge was fixed and off it set.  he turned to me, i explained the issue of gear oil seeping out the wheel hub, he said lets have a look. we took the wheel off but then the sun was hitting so we needed to turn the car round into the shade so the wheel came back on and i reversed it round and we took the wheel off and then the dodge camper van came back.  their fuel pump had started playing up only 1km down the road.  so out came a family of 10 mexicans, like the animals from noah's ark: kids of all ages, their parents and their grandparents, singing and playing and running around and apparently unconcerned with their fuel pump. of course the mechanic redirected his attention to the dodge, and my reading became increasingly difficult as the children kept asking questions about the car and then the trip and of course the steering wheel on the wrong side. and then another landcruiser pulled in who had collided with a deer and hot water was gushing out his radiator and the kids were screaming and the grandad was drinking my water and mechanic kept tripping on the dog and it was impossible to read and and i couldn't leave because one of my wheels was missing.  i came back the next day and he couldn't fix it.  meanwhile e-j was leisurely doing the washing by the oasis in between naps... is this a man's world?

further south

we then drove through mulege, another beautiful oasis town and stayed the night in loreto, a beachside resort apparently famous for watersports but we found it characterless and dull so next morning drove to cabo san lucas, famous not only because travolta celebrated his 50th down there but because it is the party town of baja california.  hamburgers, beach boys music, bikini competitions on the beach (e-j invited to participate!) and general drunkenness.  we had a good time jet skiing, snorkelling and lazing on the beach but after 3 days of the same thing and witnessing another 8' tall ex marine trying to pick a fight with a mexican waiter we were happy to move on.

"we're not leaving this beach until we can surf"

our last destination was todos santos, probably our favourite place in baja. a sleepy arty town where ex-pats lived alongside mexicans in hippyesque harmony.  the beach down the road was also great and we went every day, initially to take surf lessons then to practice by ourselves and then to give up and do yoga instead (we befriended an english couple paul and lindsay, she was a yoga teacher and now e-j's inserted 2 weeks at a yoga retreat in guatemala into our trip).  truth be told, e-j annoyingly got the hang of it very quickly and by the second day was riding waves all the way to the beach.  i drank alot of sea water.

our last day was spent in la paz where we ummed and erred about whether or not to camp on a beautiful beach but in the end checked in to a very nice indeed hotel down the road.  little did we know, co-incidentally the hotel was hosting the 2005 american asshole of the year competition at the bar by the pool where e-j and i mentally awarded first prizes to all.  went for a run in the morning, nearly died of heat exhaustion and then got on a 16 hour ferry ride (Brittany ferries it is not!) to mexico mainland - mazatlan - looking out our cabin window we can finally see land ahead so better wrap this up but do have time for a quick paragraph on a fantastic american couple and their kids who we met last night at the ship bar.

they met because he was fiddling the books at a bar to warrant a food license and she was a trainee cocktail waitress. it was love at first sight and he said "you shouldn't be working in a meat market like this" and although she was living with some other guy she said "and so who's going to take care of me?" and he said "i will doll" and 6 months later they were married.  they're currently en route to costa rica.  he has his own coffee import company and they're driving down in a vw dayvan equipped with built in expresso machine (which is the only way i can figure they've taken 5 days from seattle to here).  he might be buying a resort in honduras on the cheap.  we hope we bump into them again but fear their caffeine fuelled family speed-mobile is going to leave our glorified electronic gadget and facial cream carrier in its dust.

andale andale!

 

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baja california - the north south divide

 

 

4x4 the TRUCK

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