The Year of the Snake came to a close with the completion of an intensive one on one Spanish language course that left me twitchy and fairly certain that parts of my brain no longer functioned. My foreign language synapse circuit board sizzled and most likely smoked from a series of linguistic viper strikes flung from my instructor’s potent native tongue. At daybreak on January 1st the gates to The Year of the Horse opened and I galloped south and away from Ensenada.
Apart from the occasional chance encounter with a pod of nomadic highway donkeys, not a whole lot went down as I traveled farther into Baja in a series of short travel days that offered daylight exploration of towns along the way and a better size-up of economic lodging establishments.
My daily routine after Ensenada has typically consisted of waking up from external motivations in the form of tires blowing out, back-alley cat passions, K9 fight clubs, or my favorite – a Blues Brother’s style car retro fit with surplus air-raid horns announcing an important message capable of reaching those above and below ground with equal clarity. Once the fight or flight response was triggered, I typically searched out the nearest café serving coffee, did some route planning and continued down the road.
Highlights:
El Rosario: Kenneth from Sweden who started in Alaska and Paul from England who started in Europe (still not sure how & where he crossed) traveling to the World Cup in Brazil via bicycle.
-Kenneth's page: http://adventureaid.se/
-Paul's page: http://paulbayfield.webs.com/apps/blog/
Bahia de los Angeles: The drive through the Valley of the Cirios (funky tree endemic to Baja) and arrival with a beautiful view of the Canal de Ballenas.
Guerrero Negro: A little whiskey and quality time with Terrence (Arkansas) and Andy (Oregon) a couple of cats in the 60+ range who now reside for half the year at camp Gecko in Bahia de los Angeles.
Santa Rosalia: Kick ass steak tacos on the main drag and a church designed by Mr. Eiffel – famous for his tower.
Mulege: Mago’s Cafe! Amazing food, good coffee and a hub for local travel information from ex-pats who frequent the establishment. The owners – Senor Robin (USA) and Senora Margo (MEX) are very welcoming and have been married three times seeking the legal approval of two countries.
Playa Burro (15 miles south of Mulege): My first experience camping on a Baja beach consisted of good international company, open air palapas, diner & community movie showing at Bertha’s restaurant and a small campfire at our camp.
On Jan 7th I arrived at la casa de Jim & Heather (friends from Steamboat Springs, CO) who have welcomed me for a visit at their crib on the Bay of Loreto.
So,... I'm once again in chill mode in one location for a spell.
