Blogs from Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, North America

I woke up at 0430; the taxi was picking me up at 0500. I got to the airport at 0520, up to this point everything was going perfect, too perfect. I waited in line to check in and the agent told me she can actually put me on a direct flight to Mexico City instead of having a layover in Atlanta. So I said why not, the less layover the better, right? WRONG! Oh boy was I ever wrong... She told me it was Air Canada that had the flight scheduled, so I proceeded in waiting again in line at the Air Canada check-in. After 15 minutes of waiting, the agent told me my name wasn't in the system yet, and that it usually can take up to 10 minutes. So I took a seat, played ... read more

day 2: trip to the bee hives. we visited and learned about the production of honey. the communities use honey as a cure for ailments such as respiratory infections and asthma. there is a high prevelance of asthma in mexicali due to the dust/sand. children and adults eat honey to help build an immunity to the dust. ... read more

Day 2: Cement Project at Elementary School (photos here and next blog) Immigration Lesson, crossing the border, and visit to migrant home for men. (photos next blog)... read more

Mexicali, 08-10-2002, nighttime. Easy and relaxed cycling today after a good night's rest in La Rumerosa which was mostly a truckstop village with a small comedor, an open air garage, old caravans, rusty mobile homes and a small hotel where I was the only customer. Lots of trucks parked at the side of the road but I presume the drivers to have spent the night inside the cabins of their trucks instead of cashing out on these dingy little rooms the hotel offered at a hefty twenty american green backs. The last thirty kilometers where downhill through a beautiful landscape, the sort of light brown colored granite boulders strangely shaped and thrown around by a goliath, I remember from five years ago when I cycled down the Baja to Cabo San Luca. Hotel Nuevo Pascifica is ... read more

Parque Nacional Constitucion de 1857, 06-10-2002 just past noon. The dirt road I'm cycling on is climbing up and up in an eastward direction. I can feel my lungs heaving inside my chest, my breath is rasping, my body covered with perspiration while my legs are pumping the pedals of my bike. I'm reaching a plateau full with ponderosa pine trees, birds fly across the road, the hammering sounds of woodpeckers emerge from among the trees. Despite the heavy wood smell of the ponderosa trees my nostrils are slowy detecting the presence of water, Laguna Hanson is near and my goal. The basket on the front of my bike is full with Santa Clara mexican beer, food supplies and and a huge two and a half plastic liter bottle of drinking water I bought all this ... read more