San Diego to La Paz, November 13-20, 2012

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So, here's an update of what's happened since I entered Mexico...

I left Ensenada on the 14th to try and get ahead of the Baja 1000 race and see the action out in the desert. First day out, the sun started to go down and I had no idea where the next town was so I just drove off the highway and set up my tent in a cactus field. Deserts get cold at night and I slept in my long underwear.

The next day, I met a couple of chase trucks (support crews for the Baja racers) where I stopped for breakfast and got a race map and some recommendations on where to watch the race action. The desert scenery changed into a Dr. Zoose landscape with weird looking cacti and boulders strewn all over the place. I little while later, I came across a horrible accident that had just happened 30 minutes earlier. a chase pickup truck had gone end over end off the highway (there's no shoulders on the Baja one) and the roof looked crushed; the grass was still on fire and I saw one passenger on a spinal board. The ambulance was already on the scene but I found out later that another passenger had already died and the spinal board passenger was the wife of one of the racers.

I had assumed that the race started on Friday, the next day but when I got to the first recommended viewing point, the first motorbike and just come through and I saw his chase helicopter filming him. Watched a few more bikes come through, then headed further south to a town called Vizcaino. There, I found a room and then went to the pit crew alley where most race teams were stopping, fueling, or changing drivers and navigtors. I quickly met two guys from the States, Mike and Chet, who were the pit crew for two vehicles in the race - a trophy truck (spend anything on it you want and some of them cost a couple million bucks) and a dune buggy. These guys were super friendly and I spent about six hours with them at their site where they fed me, told stories about the race and then let me help with the two pit stops. Basically, I helped Chet lift the fuel containers and fill the truck and buggy.

I also got to sign autographs for some Mexican kids because I was wearing my motorcycle gear and they assumed I was one of the racers. The buggy came through about 1 in the morning and then Mike and Chet were off to drive south all night to their next pit stop. I headed back my room, a much more comfortable 10 min drive down the highway. Spent the next two days driving the rest of the way down the Baja to Cabo; gorgeous roads and great riding. Cabo was pretty expensive so I headed to La Paz on the 18th where I was going to catch the ferry over to Mazatlan and mainland Mexico.

Now, remember when I said I just crossed into Mexico without stopping or having anything signed or stamped because the guy at the border was just waving me through...

...turns out, I should have stopped and asked. When I tried to buy a ferry pass, I was informed i needed a tourist visa and that I could get one at the immigration office...which was closed until Tuesday because of a holiday. On Tuesday, the friendly immigration officials informed me that they could give me tourist visa for myself but because I came into Mexico overland with a vehicle I would have to go back to Tijuana, Ensenada, or Tecate to get a tourist visa that covers the bike. And they did not appear to be moving from this position... so I left and went swimming with some whale sharks instead.

The previous day I had found a dive shop that offered whale shark snorkling trips. And since I wasn't going anywhere till at least Thursday now, I decided to check it out and hopefully improve my day. They took us out in this small boat into the bay near La Paz and we found about four 20-25 foot whale sharks. And they were amazing. They're just cruizing through the water and with flippers I could keep up with them pretty easily. I swam beside one fellow eyeball to eyeball for a good 15 minutes. Definite highlight of the trip so far.

Wednesday, I tried to snag myself a tourist visa at the La Paz airport and they told me to go to immigration office, which I did again, and where I was told again (again) that they couldn't help me. By this point I was getting pretty frusterated and there was no way I was going to bike 3000 km back to and from Tijuana which would take five solid days... so I sucked it up and caught a flight back to Tijuana, hit up the border for the tourist pass that should have cost me $25 back when I crossed into Tecate, and flew back to La Paz the next day with the four inch square piece of paper that had now cost me about $550, with flights. Quite the expensive lesson and easily my dumbest travelling move to date. Back in La Paz, I loaded up the bike and made the ferry with about five minutes to spare.

Now I'm on the beach in Sayulita, spending a few days surfing and lazing around. And that is all. Later,



andrew

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Comments

[Trevor Sterling]

Health & Safety Leader
Good on you Andrew. I hope your health is holding out? Keep well and don't let anyone run you off the road. Living the dream! Keep Having Fun. Trevor

[aloden]

All systems are go, just living the beach life for a few days before heading inland. I've been riding with some other bikers for the last little while and will try and keep that up through the next stretch of Mexico since we've heard it can be a little sketchy.

[Ryan Nickel]

Quote
"Quite the expensive lesson and easily my dumbest travelling move to date." Don't worry you still have at least 6 months to do something dumber.

[Tom]

What's left to do?
Andrew,you are knocking off the bucket list 2 at a time! Good job, Be carefull and carry on!

[aloden]

Thanks Tom! Pretty much every day is it's own adventure so far.