Ephemerica

Well, we finally made it to La Paz, after 4 weeks and over 1200 km of cycling! We have had several firsts since our last post—our first 7-day consecutive stretch of cycling, our first day averaging over 20 km/h (amazing what you can do when riding downhill with a tailwind), and our first rear tire flat (although it’s our second flat overall).

Since we last posted, there hasn’t really been much to note. We’ve just been chugging away trying to make it to La Paz in time for our hotel reservation at the beginning of their Carnaval. Two days after Loreto, we had allotted ourselves a rest day in Cuidad Constitucion, one of the larger towns in Baja. However, after deciding to spend two days on the beach at Playa Coyote, we had already used that day. Faced with the options of trying to call and change our reservation versus just biking straight through with no rest, we decided to charge ahead. Luckily for us, the terrain (downhill/flat) and wind (at our back) were mostly favorable for the last 4 days into La Paz, otherwise I’m not sure we could have done it! But we’re patting ourselves on the back nonetheless, and getting ready for 4 nights of relaxation in La Paz.

We wild camped two nights during that stretch. The first was our first night out of Loreto, after a seemingly interminable day of climbing. About the time we started looking for a place to camp, we hit a last stretch of climbing where the road ran along a sheer cliff. We had no choice but to perservere until we could find a flat spot away from the road. We finally did find a spot out-of-sight of the road right before dusk, but the area was really hilly and rocky, so we ended up just sleeping out under the stars—which we saw a lot of since the moon was low. That is, until it started clouding over a few hours after dark. Thankfully, the forecast held true and we avoided another rain disaster (although our sleeping bags were a little moist in the morning). The second camping night was much better. We found a spot close to the road, yet totally hidden with flat ground and no cacti!

The highlight of the last few days though has to be our stop in the little town of Santa Rita. Having had some luck now asking business owners for camping, we decided to ask the owners of a deposito (beer store) if we could camp on their property. After getting a positive response and setting up camp, we told our hosts (Enrique and Juana) that we were going to the restaurant in town. They insisted that they could cook a meal of scrambled eggs, beans and tortillas for us—which they did. They threw in a couple of Cokes from the store as well. At the end, when we offered to pay something for the food, after a lengthy discussion between the two of them we agreed on a fair price for the meal. We spent the next few hours getting to know each other, showing pictures of family to each other. They have 5 children, all of them either in the US/Canada or going to school in other towns. We figured that we were close enough in age to their kids that they enjoyed having us around. The next morning they gave us coffee and hot water for our oatmeal, and then we were on our way. We never got the sense that they were poor (owning a store and a new Dodge pickup, having kids in university/boarding school), and were probably considered quite wealthy in their town, yet the fact that they didn’t have electricity (except for by generator) or indoor plumbing would make them poor by US standards. I guess poor is relative to what you’re accustomed to.

Posted by Matthew on February 15th, 2007 | Filed under: Mexico