Dos Amigos explore Baja

From Loreto we headed south again and ended up in La Paz.



we got straight up into a Torta - not 5 minutes after arriving at the beach



there were so many butterflies in the air on the way down, I could feel them splattering down the sleeves of my jacket. When we stopped, butterflies would fly out of my sleeves.



over all, La Paz is very busy, lots of traffic, almost no signs of any kind..... I wasnt that excited about it to be honest. That might have been also because they was an APPLEBEE'S there.



WTF?

in front of our hotel




we stayed with a nice Ex Pat lady - the view from her hotel







Whats some good transportation for La Paz you say? Why not a Hyabusa?



all in all - too touristy for me. I wasnt sad to move on

the next day we moved onto Todos Santos - which I liked much better. Way more local - down home.... real Baja

road to our hotel



our "walk" to the beach



gotta watch out for these...



and these...



the beach was something else though....







Todos Santos.... worth staying for a few days!



after running around all day - its good to stop and get an ice cream

Those trucks travel back and forth between a quarry just east of Ojos Negros and Ensenada multiple times per day. The drivers get paid by the load and believe me that they get to see all kinds of stupid shit on that road. When they are east bound (and empty) they are big enough and fast enough to simply let them do their own thing and stay out of their way. When west bound (and loaded) they are really really slow and so long they are hard to pass

we were almost killed - and I mean missed us by inches - at least once on this road. Honestly I thought we were done.... it was scary

Things get exciting when one of those trucks comes across something like this going the other way!:





Of course tagging one of those concrete poles is not an option! The guys in the 5th wheel were really lucky to have prolly the only cement shoulder on the entire highway right there when he needed it! Jajajajaja!

Nice write up BTW.

Oh, also Coco is bat shit crazy to say the least!

EP,
Baja is a great part of the world....but a few comments....

it is in Mexico.....not California.....(".... middle of the desert - Baja, CA....")




And a guy needs to spend a bit of time looking around BoLA just to appreciate the variety of the desert there and the riding opportunities.... ("....once in Bay of LA I was surprised to see.... there really isnt much of anything there. I thought for sure it would be more of a resort area.... but there is just.... nothing.....")....

Too bad you didn't stay in town in BoLA ... my first impressions in 1994 were on a cold wet day and I didn't like it much either....but these days I think it is a great place to spend at least several days exploring the area...

("......I put the centerstand down and the bike just fell over....").....yep....its sand




(....we took the main road into town which just seemed to end near the beach.....)

:eek1..... Wow....too bad you didn't have a map with that crappy GPS....you TOTALLY missed Mulege....and landed up at La Serenidad Hotel near the mouth of the river and area where fishermen set out from.... Mulege is a gem if you like the more typical Baja....

A bit of research would have helped you enjoy this part of Baja more...

("A few years ago my wife came down here on a cruise and got suckered into one of those timeshare deals. The wife called me and it sounded like a good deal from what she said on the phone. I have her the green light for it but as it turns out the actual cost of the timeshare was about 10 times what she said on the phone.
Needless to say when I found out I was upset. We were in Loreto because one of the time share locations was there and we were there to take advantage of what we had paid for....")


("This place is reserved for super pasty-ass white people....)

Looks like you found the right spot








("... also this is probably the only part of the trip that I can offer as being unique..." ).......

You are sounding a bit critical and cranky....hope your mood picks up so you can enjoy Baja a bit more...

Thanks for the pics and story......

well we went through downtown Mulege - all the tiny streets. It is beautiful and very small. We went all the way through town and you can see where the road had been completely destroyed. There was a kind of boardwalk or something there and a dirt road had been built around it but some of the original road is still being used. Just dont drive into the water.
There wasn't a place to stay that my wife was very interested in so we moved to the other side of town.
And yes the GPS is crappy.

I have to say I'm with motoged on this. Buy a map and your GPS will be much happier though the POIs and auto-routing for Mexico are still a little sparse.

Enjoying the RR, they are all different and unique to the author but the contradictions and ironies in this one boarder on humorous. Looking forward to the next installment!

Bruce

I had tons of maps - when I can I like to navigate with both. To me the GPS isnt interesting - maps are interesting and get me excited about travel.

I understand how this thread can be ironic - Im a pasty white boy trying to escape pasty white people. I hate ugly Americans.... that just means I don't want to be one.

Guess I wasn't clear. I don't think it is fair to be so critical of a GPS (3X? so far in this RR) when you have not loaded detailed local maps to it. I always carry paper as well but having GPS with detailed maps has provided another tool for the kit.

Bruce

well the GPS came loaded with North America, just like my last Garmin. As soon as we crossed the border the lines and markings on the GPS no longer had anything to do with what was actually happening on the ground. Every now and then we would be driving on a "road" but usually it showed us in the ocean, up on a mountain somewhere but usually it was just an arrow in space.
It's my fault for not having done my homework more carefully but I just assumed that if a GPS company shows a road on the GPS, it might actually be consistent with where the road actually is.

ok - the gps has the wrong maps, im a pasty white guy with no inner vision blah blah blah....

back to the trip


Here is one of the many Military stops on our trip. These guys were always very busniess-like but never rude or pushy. Many of them were genuinely interested in the bike and where we had been. Some of them could care less.
They almost always went through our stuff and we were usually on our way within minutes.

Applebee's are all over Mexico as are Walmarts and plenty of other US corporations.
It's not like Mexico is in the dark ages and got indoor plumbing last week.
For a guy who hates ugly Americans you sure are ripping on what you find vrs just taking it in as it comes.
Sounds like ugly American syndrome to me.

I lived in Mexico for a year and every paper map i had sucked...and i'm a map guy. This is how I navigated all the time. http://www.bicimapas.com.mx/LatAm_Eng.htm I used my paper maps for the big picture and used my gps to accurately get them there.

Thanks for taking the time to share the trip with us. I for one am enjoying this road trip. A Baja road trip is certainly on my bucket list after following some on here.

I'll have to get my wife to read this report. She is still a no go on Mexico.

I don't want a stinking Applebees across from my hotel either.

Anyone who knows AJ knows he is not the critical/uptight/fault finding type.

He's a guy who takes things as they come and is merely offering his insights/views.

AJ, appreciating your time and insights.

Ignore the blather/criticism and please continue on with the (Fun!) report.

Thanks

As im sure we are both playing for the same team here - I dont really understand how me disliking the Americanization of Baja makes me an Ugly American. If anything I would imagine the exact opposite would be true. I actually try to speak the language of the countries that I visit, and respect the people that live there.

Nothing made me more sad on this trip than the Americanization of Baja. What's the point of traveling if every time you turn around it's Applebee's? I have a dislike for massive corporate America and whenever I can I try to support local business where ever I go.... whether it's Vietnam, Italy, Ireland or Jackson Hole - support local business.

thanks man - ill try to get another day or two of travel posted today....

Thanks for taking the time to document this. Every RR has it's own flavor and I'm sure many of the observations will ring true and/or be helpful to others who are uncertain what to expect. Having been the length of Baja numerous times I always fined it interesting to read first time impressions!

Bruce

ok on with the trip....

the road from Todos Santos to Cabo was short and sweet - mostly highway





we pretty much just bypassed downtown Cabo. It looked like Disneyland from the road in..... so we hooked and left and headed toward San Jose del Cabo which is just 15 minutes down the road.

On our way Quyen was saying that she was hungry and wanted to grab something to eat. At just that moment we saw a Costco.

My heart sank. If anyone that's been reading this thread understands, I really am against the Americanization of pretty much any country, let alone Baja.
and I always say, "Support Local Business" etc so what did we do? We pulled in and bought a hot dog. I know - this is the ultimate irony but my wife was hungry and they have good polish dogs. Hungry wife beats personal philosophy every time. If you don't understand, you're not married.



I still feel a little guilty about it, however this was the only time we didn't eat/stay at a local spot.



there was some kind of VW car rally going on as well



it was freakin hot that day so we headed down to the closest beach



the water was unreal......



TIM - there is always a dog around that needs love. I think this one actually belonged to a family





after being at the beach for awhile we headed to downtown Cabo to meet someone



Carlos had been working at the Loreto property when we were there. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met in my life. Educated, he spoke more eloquently in English than I probably ever will. He just happened to be on vacation in Cabo while we were there. So we met up with him and bought him dinner.



as seen on the streets of downtown Cabo



after dinner we went back to our small hotel in San Jose del Cabo where they were having a drunken jam session that we were invited into. Somehow they got Quyen and I up on the microphone singing songs for everyone.... Baja Magic? It was quite the sunset too..... the sunsets seems to last much longer down there





for dinner that night we met one of the coolest guys on the trip. Ali. He is from Africa and speaks 5 languages. He was talking with my wife in French then started yelling me in German - then Spanish..... his food was some of the best of the trip. Thanks Ali!



Ali's place.



the next day we set out to find Cabo Plumo which is on the dirt road that runs around the eastern tip of the peninsula.



some of the most amazing beaches I have ever seen







interesting place for Topes....



watch yer step....



the wife wasnt feeling well and she didnt care that we had a full tank of gas and nothing to do for the next week, we were turning back. I was pretty bummed out about this because how often do you travel this way? Am I ever going to see this coastline again? I certainly hope so.....


went back to Cabo to check into the resort there to use a few more credits that we have

When we pulled up the guys working there thought we were lost.... it was hilarious.



it was the worst experience on the trip. I hated it there. Everyone there had just flown in from Ohio, or North Dakota or wherever and we heard people loudly complaining about how nobody speaks English. The food wasn't particularly good, everything was horrifyingly expensive....
We stayed the night, which was long enough to get the wife feeling better then packed the bike back up and made our turn home.