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Published: October 16th 2010
Hola from Mexico (that's 'hello from Mexico' for those of you that don't speak Spanish)..
Just as I was becoming comfortable outside of my comfort zone we head into Baja.....
Setting off from San Diego after 3 days of rest, sending stuff home, buying maps on Mexico and stocking up on toiletries we were ready to go. It's great cycling into a big city but it's even better cycling out of one.
We were quite anxious about the ride ahead of us having heard so many bad, really bad, reports about the killings, kidnapping and robberies happening in the area where we were headed. We decided to avoid Tijuana where alot of the news reports focus and instead head inland, over the mountains, to a town called 'Tecate".
David's now group leader and I'm second in command. Needless to say we got lost 25 miles into our 50 mile ride!
But, every cloud has a silver lining and our silver lining was in the shape of another cyclist called Raphael Alvarez.
As we were heading out of a housing estate in the middle of nowhere (don't ask) a cyclist came up behind and started asking about
our journey, where we were from, where we were heading.. It was Raphael..
He explained that Tecate was his home town so it seemed logical to ask him to recommend a hotel or campground.
Hotel? Campground? No, no, no, no, no.... We were going to stay at his parents house. His father would pick us up at the Border, they would feed us and look after us..
Of course I said no. Being typically English we didn't want to put anybody out...
Raphael would have none of it and before we knew it he was on the phone to his mother telling her about his friends who were cycling through Baja and she was to have the house ready for our arrival!
As we cycled the heat of the day became more intense. Although the ride wasn't that long the terrain was mountainous and there was alot of climbing. I thought I was going to die with heat exhaustion. When Raphaels dad (Ruben) met us at the border I was ready to drop.
We loaded our bikes onto his truck and headed out of town. We pulled up at a beautiful house and the electronic gates opened to
let us in. The garden was like an oasis of calm compared to the hustle and bustle of Tecate.
After meeting Raphaels mother (Josefina) and being shown our room for the night we showered, looked through family photos, ate hamburger and sat outside in the garden chatting to Josefina and Ruben whos English was alot better than our Spanish.
Raphaels brother, Rene, introduced himself and asked if we'd attend an English class he was teaching.
It was the least we could do after the generosity we'd been shown.
The students were wanting to better their English and although they were unsure at first with regards to pronunciation and grammar, they soon opened up and the questions were flying from both sides.
The next morning, after a traditional mexican breakfast made by Josefina, we said our goodbyes and headed back towards the Border.
When we arrived at the Border the day before the banks were closed and we were unable to obtain a visa for entry into Mexico.
We weren't looking forward to it. We'd read so many things about the callous authorities who would only allow 30 days. People saying they'd had to beg and plead and
offer money to be allowed a 180 day visa. We were expecting to wait at least 2 hours for the paperwork to be approved. It was 10.30am by the time we left Ruben and Josefinas and we knew we had a hard 60 mile ride ahead. We were anxious to say the least.
As we headed up the steps into the immigration office we took one last look at each other and headed in. ....
5 minutes later we walked out, papers signed, 180 days approved. Easy..
The ride to our next stop 57 miles away was awful.. Because of the heat and the fact we were cycling in desert like conditions we had to add extra water to the bikes which made them feel a tonne weight. The road out of Ensenada is being replaced and for at least 20 miles we were cycling over rocks, dust and sand.
As the day wore on we slowly had to face the fact that we might have to do our first wild camp. It was daunting. Everything we read warned us against being out on the roads after dark.
When we spotted a truck stop a few
miles away I was mentally preparing myself for the night ahead.
The sun was going down and I knew we had little over an hour left of daylight. When David sign languaged the truckers asking where the next town was (Francisco Zarco) they said it was 20km away.
We ate our Powerbar and our recovery bar at the same time and pedalled as fast as our legs would carry us. I don't know if it was adrenaline, the power bar or the ride 15km downhill (the first downhill of the day) but we made Francisco Zarco within the hour. There was only one problem... There were no hotels in Francisco Zarco!
We'd read a blog that said there was one. David asked a young man if there was a hotel which was quite amusing even under such scarey circumstances. The young man (and everyone else in the village) didn't speak a word of english.
It amused me that the mexican man spoke s l o w l y and L O U D L Y in spanish. We aren't that different after all.
We headed out of Francisco Zarco hoping that the hotel was further down the road...
We'd resigned ourselves to cycling the next 25 miles in the dark to reach Ensenada late that night when we spotted a hotel ahead!!
It was 6.10pm and although they closed the gates at 6pm for some reason they'd hung around another 10 minutes.
The taco booth we'd passed 50 metres up the road stayed open for us and after we dropped the bikes into the room, without showering or changing, we went for some food.
Gilbert, the 78 year old owner of the taco booth, engaged us in conversation for an hour telling us about his family, his life, his land where he grew olives, oranges, grapes. He made us burritos, gave us cheese, tortillas, coca cola.. We couldn't ever have imagined such a good end to such a bad day! Our Guardian Angels have certainly been working overtime the past couple of days..
After an easy ride into Ensenada the next day (Friday 15th October) we booked a hotel for a couple of nights to give us a chance to plan our next move.
I'm annoyed with myself for starting to doubt our trip to Mexico. There's so many bad things happening here that you
can't fail to feel vulnerable travelling around on a bicycle. But you also can't fail to be moved by the generosity and kindess shown by everyone we meet. Even today.. We were sitting in a cafe and a woman (Delila) started chatting to us about our trip. She went away and 5 minutes later she came back with 3 different telephone numbers and email addresses of people she knew in the Yucutan where we could stay or get advice from. Rene, our host in Tecate, has been emailing us with suggestions of places to visit, help he can give and has even offered to get us a British and Mexican flag to put on the back of our bikes!
We've decided that wild camping is not for us and today we looked at buses that can take us through the desert so we don't have the cycle in the middle of nowhere. I'm never one to turn down a challenge but there's some places I don't want to put myself.. We'll keep you posted.....
Adios...
P.s. - sorry Rene if my grammar isn't up to scratch!!
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paul clayton
non-member comment
Baja
Baja Califonia...... It's over 1000 miles long (I think) ....thats a lot of wild camping....glad you've thought about it....the whole journey doesn't have to involve cycling ...as you''ve said its about the people you meet and the places you experience. A bus or a train can offer just as much to your expreience as a bike...so don't feel like your cheeting or anything you've achieved more in two months than mosyt will ever do in a lifetime. Eye of the tiger you two and as the Geordies say ...keep ahad.... Take care Paul,Jeanette,Jamie Lee XXX